recolle | OCTOBER EVENT LOG

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OCTOBER EVENT LOG

SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS
The city of Recollé...the temperature's dropping, the night grows longer, and all around there's an air of unease that comes during the trick or treat season. With Halloween just around the corner, the city seems to be the perfect place for happy haunts...what will you do today?

I.
There's a chill in the air at the beginning of October. The leaves have all changed colors and most have fallen off of the trees in residential areas. However, even with the sun high in the sky the temperature doesn't warm up. The chill continues to bite through no matter where you are, sometimes even following you inside.

And then…well, and then you might just see a face appear.

Whether you're the type to scream or to laugh, once you notice the spirit it will become clear that they're all around you. Some will make themselves visible while others are prone to hiding and playing pranks on residents of the city. That project you were working on for school? Suddenly trashed. What's that weight on your shoulders holding you down? Will random faces appearing ever stop being weird?

These ghosty tricksters are making a new home for themselves and are happy to stick around. They come in a variety of colors, may have way too many eyes to count or other strange and unusual features. Try as you might, characters who are not gifted with supernatural abilities will not be able to understand what they're saying without some form of a ghost communicator. Will you try to banish them? Or will you join in on the ghastly scares?

II.

Things are weird with ghosts haunting the city in broad daylight. But at least you're safe in your own home, aren't you? What better way to end a long day than to change into some comfy pajamas, pile on the blankets and snuggle up to a pillow.

But things aren't nearly as calm as they seem. The little twists and the turns of the city seem to be imbalanced again as Unreality works its magic on Retrospec users.

One minute, you're having a nice dream. Or maybe you're one of those who doesn't dream at all. Maybe you're getting your snooze on in the comforting blank space of your mind. It's all nice and pleasant for a while until the midnight hour hits.

No matter when you fall asleep, between the hours of midnight and dawn nightmares plague your vision. They may range from anywhere between showing up to school with no pants to falling straight off of a cliff to the ocean below. Perhaps you dream of monsters and mayhem, spooks and scares. These range from things that you know to be true of this life, but also, perhaps, some of those pesky memories you've received since your arrival on the Retrospec network. But the good thing is that you aren't alone. You may be able to run from your dreams, but you'll crash right into someone else's instead. You can run from your nightmares, but good luck escaping. The dreamer will have to awaken first.

III.
Ghosts during the day, weird dreams by night. That shouldn't be too hard to avoid, should it? But how can one truly escape themselves…what a great question. It is a question that several Retrospec users often ask themselves as memories begin to come back. Items, powers, things that do and don't belong to you may make you wonder who you truly are and what is and isn't real.

It's faint at first, so light that you may not even notice it. But as October goes on, it becomes much harder to ignore a thick fog that rolls in and settles around the city's perimeters. It's still easy to navigate through Recollé and the different districts but the fog itself is a bit…distracting.

Staying out in the fog for too long proves to be strange on its own. Shadows lurk around corners watching you, and sometimes out of the corner of your eye you'll recognize a figure from one of your past memories. A feeling of dread may wash over you the longer you remain in the fog. However, the most disturbing thing about it is that something's not quite right about the scenarios the fog brings out. Like the nightmares, you recognize that these visions are a little twisted, but there may just be one specific horror that haunts you repeatedly. Without the ability to recognize it, it's harder to know how to escape and unlike the nightmares, these figments seem a little…too…real. They'll loom and outright attack their targets and anyone nearby, engaging with all users who dare try to encounter them.

Unravel the twists in this fog and fight against the visions swarming you. The only thing to fear is fear itself…right?

IV.
Normally the Retrospec building is locked up tight but today the front door appears to be wide open. In fact, it seems as though amidst the fog, the ghosts and other strange on-goings of the city, the door remains propped open and inviting all brave souls to enter and explore.

Stepping into the building, residents will find that the lobby is decorated for the Halloween season. Plastic bats hang from the ceiling along with small rows of pumpkin lights, pictures of witches on the walls and a large bowl of candy on the receptionist's desk. While it doesn't appear like much, residents may also notice two other things. First off, on the desk next to the candy is a large folder of papers. Those nosy enough to rifle through them will find a stack of notes from a certain Jim Halloway with a list of questions, notes, and poll ideas. After the events of August blindsided him and the others at Retrospec, it seems as though someone is taking his job a little more seriously. There are notes also written in an unidentifiable language, but those probably aren't important. Really.

The most important thing of all, however, is that just down the hall there's another door slightly ajar. Residents who have been in the city for a long time know that this doesn't happen often, and those who wish to explore may approach the door and find a set of staircases. The moment you set foot on the first step the door above slams behind you, leaving you in complete darkness. The darkness lasts for a few minutes before there's a slight buzz and fluorescent lights spark above, lighting up a long, winding hallway. A path to another facility, perhaps? The only way out is forward.

The road less taken isn't any easier though. As residents walk down the unnervingly silent, white hallway they will begin to notice that their surroundings will warp the further they get from the door. The sleek walls turn into stone, sometimes dirt, sometimes shrubbery as the hall extends into a labyrinth of paths.

Even Retrospec couldn't stop the anomaly from affecting them this time. The labyrinth begins taking on a life of its own as you work down the paths. Vines crawl out from the walls to almost lovingly wrap around you before constricting and pinning you to a wall. Large, glowing red eyes follow you through various pathways. Parts of the path break away and open large craters into the floor and your greatest fear manifests right before your eyes with every wrong turn. The distinct lack of a Retrospec logo anywhere nearby may be a hint that this wasn't supposed to happen.

Those who fail to get through the labyrinth will flicker out of existence momentarily, disappearing for five minutes before returning just outside in the lobby. But for those who are clever, brave, and have a bit of luck on their side they will find a reward waiting for them.

BONUS. - Only for those who play through IV

The end of the labyrinth leads explorers up and out of the final path, dumping them at the far end of the Recollé Woods. This area is miles from Tisse and further than most people have been allowed to travel thus far. However, waiting in front of the exit is a bunker surrounded by foliage.

The bunker itself has a Retrospec logo on the doors and though it's not the clean, state of the art appearance of the building in Tisse the layout is fairly familiar. There's a receptionist desk but instead of a computer there appears to be a typewriter. A rotary telephone also sits on the desk, but the line seems to be out of order. Dust and cobwebs are thick in the corners of the room and there are a handful of doors in a small hallway that appear to be unlocked. Specifically, there are four doors, two on either side of the hall with four certain animals on each: a wolf, a rabbit, a bear, and a koi fish.

Each room appears to have a certain aesthetic to it, but on one wall in each room there sits a large chart and a contract. The chart contains a list of names, family members all sharing last names but no way of separating how these family members are connected. The contract, however, explains the following in full detail:

Clarence Vanderweele, Georgia Mahoney, Phillip Spinnato and Myrtle Cavendish will embark on a venture to begin saving worlds that are being destroyed across the universe. They will organize rescue teams to scout various worlds and collect "seeds", though what this entirely means isn't made clear. These seeds will then be brought to a safe haven to foster and grow to preserve the worlds while the four founders of the city design the new universe.

There is also a copy of the Retrospec contract signed by Vanderweele, a company designed on reflection and retrospection. The contract outlines the mission of Retrospec as a whole, which is to monitor the stability of the breaking universe, save as many worlds as possible, and regrow the populations.

And finally, with a little digging, explorers may find a copy of a formal letter addressed to Vanderweele tucked under the typewriter itself. Outlined in the letter are the original goals of the Founders, along with a subnote:

Due to the unspeakable acts caused by you and your hand in the demise of Phillip's family line, by order we declare that you are no longer fit for this operation. You will be held in a facility elsewhere to await for sentencing.

Our operation began as a preservation of life, not simply your own. We will begin restructuring to undo the damage immediately.

Residents are free to come and go from the bunker as often as they please. Nothing will change about the setting, and any time someone tries to remove artefacts from the building they will be returned to their rightful positions. The walk back to the city from the woods may take a few hours, but it seems as though it's the only way back after all.

Welcome to

recolle's October event! Here are some notes for you.

The Mob Psycho ghosts will appear and disappear to player discretion! Characters can figure out how to banish these ghosts from their vicinity using purified salt or other spirit-purging aspects. Characters without supernatural sense/ghost sight can see these ghosts but they may appear faint and may not stick around long! However, these are now a permanent fixture in game.

For nightmares and the fog, you may use AU memories, made up AU things, canon memories you have received, and your one pre-approved memory that your character has not received yet to warp! Warping does not mean it has to be the opposite; it can just be twisted into whatever you want. Characters can be injured, but please note that the death penalty still applies in this case. Be sure to check out the mod question thread on the plotting post. Remember: your freebie counts only when your character deals with their warped, pre-approved memory. Please submit this freebie as normal.

You may also create your own logs or inbox threads based on these effects. Effects will go through the entire month! Any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ this dream takes place at derse's moon. it's cold, but you can breathe the air even though you can see the night sky clear as day before you get to the center, drifting through the purple city scape. it's a blur of memory, but the clearest part is at the heart:

the tumor, what was inside, a timer counting down from 5:22 second by second; two stone beds, one with the red gear of time and one with the yellow sun of light; and a boy in purple standing on the time bed, attention fully caught by the countdown.

he'd come here because rose couldn't be allowed to come alone (he was supposed to be the only one to die) and now he can't leave even though she's gone. he can't remember what happens next - or does anything happen next at all?

you were supposed to save her is a quiet but audible whisper in a boy's voice, and dave's hand is white knuckled on his sword. ]

[The first clue that this isn't where he's supposed to be is, of course, the fact that not only do none of his surroundings look familiar, but they also look like nothing that he would've possibly dreamed up on his own. His dreams don't involve purple cities and stone beds, red-and-blue machinery and countdown clocks.

It's interesting, though, that time plays a role in this one. It solidifies who this probably belongs to, in a way.

It also leaves him wondering whether it's right for him to land on the empty yellow bed and alight there, but even if it's not something that belongs to him specifically, the dream seems to suggest the need for a sense of balance that way.

He doesn't miss the whisper in the air. He doesn't miss Dave's white knuckles, either.]

You know what's going to happen when time runs out, don't you.

[He says it softly, and it's not a question.]

[ it's a little jarring as he looks over and it isn't rose, but rose isn't here and in any nightmare one of the most terrifying possibilities is that she can't be. if he'd been just a little slower getting to derse's moon, when rose was on her last life and being attacked -

he could be standing here alone, sword in hand, looking over at someone else taking her place after failing to save his sister in the biggest way possible.

there's something in the back of his mind that says this isn't quite right, but he has always known what happens when the timer runs out: ]

Yeah. I die. ...You shouldn't be here, dude, you don't have to get caught up in...no one else was supposed to have to.

...Is that why it has to be you? Because if it's you, then it's only you, and no one else?

[That's not such foreign logic. It's the sort of trade-off he would make himself, he's sure of it. Better me than them.]

[ he remembers this argument - it should be me but both of them disagreed about who "me" should be. ]

They need her more. John and Jade - it's supposed to be me. But she's not...

...It's you by process of elimination, you mean. Because you're the one less needed?

[The skepticism is there in his tone, evident without being overpowering. Still, Dave had left a sentence unfinished, and there's coaxing to be done to try to get the whole thing free of his tongue.]

She's not what?

I'm expendable, that's the point.

[ of a time player. die so everyone else doesn't have to. fix things with a dead body, only this time it's more absolute - isn't it?

it's the question about rose that distresses him more than the deepseated belief that his life inherently has no value beyond what he can give to his friends. ]

She's not - here - I didn't make it in time...?

[ because he didn't, he dreamed he didn't, and that's worse than anything else that could happen, surely. ]

You're not expendable. The logical choice, maybe — I don't know the circumstances — but the two aren't one and the same.

[He lets out a slow breath, gazing down at the yellow stone beneath his feet.]

Does that sound like you? Not making it in time?

I'm a glorified reset button. [ but he does pause at the question. not making it in time - does he do that?

the countdown has been steadily going on the bomb, but when kit asks certain questions it wavers and the seconds stretch out longer and longer.

too late. there's blurriness at the edge of the darkness that is the moon surrounding them, a flicker of a blue-and-black planet with fireflies; a sense of heat from a volcano; when was he too late? he has failed them, he's pretty sure he has failed them -

but was he too late for rose? ]

Even the Knight of Time doesn't always make it there. Not if he's not supposed to. [ but was he supposed to? ]

[Instinctively, his eyes dart to the ticking of the clock. He's no Knight of Time, but it's not difficult for someone halfway observant to notice that before now, the countdown had been keeping to a steady rhythm, and now the tempo has started to change.

That's the theme running through all of this: supposed to. And Dave is really the only one who could possibly know what's supposed to be happening here, but maybe that's enough as it is.]

Things only happen the way they're supposed to, don't they? If you're not supposed to be there, then you don't. If you're supposed to be the one, then here you are.

She's not here. Is she supposed to be?

- Yes.

[ it's said slowly, very slowly, as the countdown slows further and further. ]

Because neither of us won the suicide mission dibs argument. But I remember - [ he hesitates. does he actually remember finding her dead body, or does he not? dave's frowning, and the clock speeds up again, but he's not sure. his nightmares for months have been littered with the bodies of his friends.

for years, counting another life he is still in the process of remembering. ]

- what happens next - ?

What happens...next?

[All of a sudden, Dave's not the only one starting to look like something is starting to jar free from his memories, wiggling around and coming loose and getting perilously close to falling and breaking wide open.]

When that clock counts down, you both die...

[He pauses, and this is a gamble — but it's a gamble, he thinks, that's worth rolling the dice on.]

...and something happens next. Don't think, just answer. What happens next?

[ don't think. just answer. dave says without thinking, following an order on automatic: ]

The sun.

[ they die, and then there's the sun -

kit shouldn't be here. ]

- you need to wake up, or you'll die, too. [ rose's stand in; the seer of light. it won't be permanent and dave isn't even sure it will hurt - is this a dream? it has to be, and the purple dreamer clothes flicker, shift to jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and back again. ]

Because I'm not supposed to die here.

[He says it softly, maintaining the theme.]

There's still time left. Tell me about the sun.

It's -

[ there's green light at the edge of the scene now. sometimes it crackles. that's the power that jack had, jack and the white dog who was maybe a mail lady, and he remembers what that power gave them the ability to do -

(chronological error; that doesn't make sense, does it?)

- and he's dreamt about that, too. ]

- the green sun, won't do the font bullshit Rose was on about, it's what the bomb does. It has to exist.

[Well, that's a lot of nonsense and gibberish, but fortunately this is a dream, which makes it much easier to chalk it all up to Dream Gibberish and not have to try to sort out which of it is Dream Gibberish and which is just Homestuck Gibberish.

Besides, he sort of thinks he follows it, a little.]

The bomb...makes the sun?

[...]

And that's supposed to happen, too.

That's how this ends.

[ or begins. the terminology might not be important. the time on the clock is fluctuating wildly, slipping down to one second and then back up again to the full count. ]

- But I might be able to skip us past it.

[ it's said after a long pause, struggling with what is real or isn't - but the main thing, here, is to make sure someone else does not die. he thinks he needs to get to the green sun to wake up, but he can't make someone else live this. ]

And you die, without dying. You survive, and come back...because there was something more that had to happen.

[He hesitates, watching the clock veer around wildly.]

Do you see John and Jade again?

[ john. his roommate john. jade, who left.

the countdown is still all over the place, and dave holds out his right hand towards kit. ]

- I do. I think the way to wake up - I have to see the sun. Trust me for a second?

For more than a second.

[He nods, and reaches back for Dave's hand with his own.]

[ he can't stop the fact he has to die, but he can definitely try to spare someone else the memory. kit takes dave's hand and the countdown plummets all the way to zero.

in that second, as the bomb goes off, dave yanks himself and kit through time (through the dream) with the flicker of red gears and clocks. he can't skip the fact it happened but he can skip the record ahead to take them to where it ends: floating in space before the green sun. dave's clothes flicker again to something more his color as he lets go of kit's hand and looks down at the sun.

this is how the dream ends, although usually the nightmare ends with his death and rose's. but this is how the event ended, right? a new beginning, in front of a sun they'd been tricked into making.

the sun is flickering, and when dave fully looks at it, the dream fades - and presumably kit wakes up to a world that makes sense. unlike dave's canon. why is homestuck the way it is. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OCTOBER EVENT LOG

NIGHTMARE: KURAMA

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