recollecters: (Default)
Recollé Mods ([personal profile] recollecters) wrote in [community profile] recolle2017-12-03 05:51 pm

DECEMBER EVENT LOG

MINI-EVENT
Ho Ho Oh No...
The city of Recollé...is far too busy with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season for a strangely foreshadowing forward. Let's see what the city is up to today, shall we?

I.

Are you ready for holiday cheer, Recollé? On December 3rd there will be a giant commotion in Tribunal Terrace that marks the start of a big ReVA sponsored event. This holiday charity drive has one simple mission: spread goodwill around the city by doing various acts of kindness for strangers! Whether you've been raring to go since November or are just dropping by to see what people are up to, you'll be given the spiel by a ReVA volunteer lingering nearby.

• Participants will have a partner to complete chores with.
• The ReVA coordinators will be making the list of chores, and the participants will be checking it twice-- to make sure they finished all of them, that is!
• Each team member will earn one ticket that can be entered into a grand prize drawing. Teams can come back for more chores, which means they can earn more tickets to try and win higher tiered prizes.


The front of the ReVA office building is the hub for these chore teams to check in with. If you missed the sign up date, don't worry, you can still do your part! ReVA volunteers will be selling baked goods and hot cocoa. For those who might want to do some Christmas shopping, ReVA is also selling donated craft items from the various clubs at the community center, which include anything and everything to hats and scarves from the knitting club, whittled statuettes from the woodwork club, candles from the DIY home decor club, and on and on. All the proceeds will go to the local children's hospital. So stop by for a midday pick me up, or just to say hello!

II.

All across the city patrons begin decorating for the holiday season and as an ever-growing melting pot it's easy to spot decor recognizing several holidays. While you may find menorahs in the windows of some shops in Tisse and inflatable Santas on the lawns in Viea Village, Retrospec users will also find themselves surrounded by a few other things.

No matter where you are, garland appears to be draped on the walls and ledges, dangling down just enough to ensnare you and intertwine you with anyone nearby to become a part of the holiday display. Though it's several feet of colorful plastic, the binds are fairly easy to escape with some teamwork.

December is also the season of flavors, and who doesn't love peppermint? Stores in Chata and Tisse have discounted prices on candy canes in all sorts of flavors including new red and green striped patterns. Tempting, aren't they? You may wish to be careful with them. They taste fine (probably, but with taste being ineffective it's hard to say) and they're great for decorating, but these candy canes have the unfortunate side-effect of stickiness. Like superglue, the candies will stick to your hands and you will find your hands sticking to everything else (doors, vehicles, people, you name it.) While the stickiness isn't permanent and citizens will only stick to any given surface for ten minutes at a time, the effect will continue all the way until the candy canes are eaten.

Maybe they should just be used for decoration instead...

III.
It might be your imagination at first. After all, when you turn your head to pinpoint the sound of the fluttering wings you will find that you're all alone. You go about your day as normal, hearing the shifts and swishes of wings beating together and just when you think you're safe you hear a squeak.

Looking up, it becomes quite clear that the source is...a bat? Maybe it is a few bats, but the longer you look the easier it is to see that the head of the bat is made of a tiny red bow and the wings are leaves. Some bats are decorated with little white berries, but upon closer inspection, everyone will come to the same conclusion: it's mistletoe.

Mistletoe bats soar through the air like any other bird and seem to happily follow citizens and hover overhead. The bats won't be satisfied until their job is done, and only when a kiss is shared will they take flight to spread cheer to someone else. Most of the bats aren't too picky what kind of a kiss takes place (a kiss to the cheek, hand, or even an exchange of a Hershey's kiss or some other creative loophole will do), but some bats are more persistent than others. The longer the bats are ignored, however, the louder they will squeak until their squeaks begin to sound... melodic? But that's okay. They are pretty harmless otherwise.

IV.
The first day of winter isn't officially until December 21st, but that doesn't stop the weather from changing the atmosphere of the city. The sun shines weakly and it's nearly impossible to step outside without a jacket and some boots, sky grey and snow and ice frosting the windows and sidewalks. The trees have all lost their leaves and birds have seemingly flown south for the season. Seems stereotypical, doesn't it?

Every now and then though at various points throughout the month, citizens will suddenly feel the earth move like an earthquake rattling the city as snow swirls around in little cyclones and flurries in all districts. It falls quickly and a fresh coat of snow graces all surfaces in Recollé as the sky above seemingly switches from blue to gray almost too-quick to notice. There is no pattern to be found in these little tremors and though they aren't necessarily dangerous you may wish to hold onto the nearest steady surface.

But the minor earthquakes aren't the only reason the ground may be unstable. Patches of ice seem to pop up in different locations on the sidewalks and streets, and perhaps they may even appear right under your feet! Watch your step, or you may slide right into the arms (or back, or legs...) of a stranger.

BONUS.
With the failure of phone calls and emails to people outside of the city, it seems as though things are bound to get worse as the mail system begins slowing down as well. Online outfitters will refuse to deliver to the city and mail from other places will be lost or arrive at a glacial pace. But what about sending mail out? Well, the post office is still up and running, but while you may be trying to mail that nice fluffy afghan to your grandmother, the package will get redirected and delivered to someone else in the city. Holiday packages and regular mail continues to be misdelivered all through the month of December and you may end up with more than one surprise.

Meanwhile over at the Retrospec mailbox a large, beautifully decorated Christmas tree sits near the mail slot and several boxes and bags sit under it. Check it out if you'd like. There's probably a package with your name and corresponding ticket number on it.

Welcome to [community profile] recolle's December's mini-event!

Please remember that you may claim any 10-20 point item as a freebie for the month of December (and this must be claimed before December's over!) New characters are also eligible for this freebie!

Special thanks to Rayne & AJ for providing the write-up for the first prompt!

The prompts are simply loose guidelines for you guys to play with and make up your own fun adventures for the entire month of December! You may also create your own logs or inbox threads based on these prompts. Any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here.
prometheanflame: (no enemy Stands today)

Chores

[personal profile] prometheanflame 2017-12-04 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Many people at the soup kitchen have seen Mohammed before. The new volunteer at the front treated him like any helper she'd just met, but the overseer gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder, the cooks exclaimed their surprise to have him show up as one of the charity event volunteers. He finds the storage for aprons and gloves in a matter of seconds and takes out a set fit for a big man like he.]

What's your size?

[personal profile] compendiem 2017-12-04 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
Uh. Small.

[ He's not terribly tall, and he's a bit distracted as well, always a little overwhelmed being in an enclosed space with so many people, let alone in a place where everybody knows each other and he alone is a stranger. ]

You volunteer here often? They seem to know you.
prometheanflame: (smug)

[personal profile] prometheanflame 2017-12-04 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
[He pulls out a small apron and gently tosses it at Minato.]

Not that often. I last came here in September. [A cook shouts "You used to come every month before!"] ...Okay, so often. It's what I do in my free time.

[With that, he snaps the apron open and tosses the top over his head.]

[personal profile] compendiem 2017-12-04 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ He slips the apron over his head and ties the straps at his sides, washing and drying his hands before donning gloves. September feels like a very long time ago, and he can hardly remember what he was doing back then. Keeping busy so he didn't have time to think, most likely. He wouldn't have time to do things like this either. ]

Seems like life's gotten busy since then. [ ...lowers his voice, in case the cook overhears and thinks Mohammed is double-timing ] You were volunteering at the park too, though. With the shelters.
prometheanflame: (talk talk)

[personal profile] prometheanflame 2017-12-04 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[He doesn't whisper back.] Yes, I was. I could have gone to the kitchen instead, but I was invited that weekend.

[Now with the gloves and apron neatly tied on, Mohammed is ready for serve the meals. The cooks move out to the front to set up the bowls and serving utensils before carrying out the giant pots of soup.]

I do a lot of volunteering in my spare time.

[personal profile] compendiem 2017-12-04 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Because somebody asked, huh... That's why I'm doing this too. The whole ReVA thing.

[ Which his sister was in charge of and had worked herself into the hospital scrambling left and right; the least he can do is make sure things get done properly, even if losing his spare time means losing sleep. ]

Think this is okay? As long as it fills people's bellies, it doesn't matter if there's no taste...?

[ He lingers behind Mohammed, content to stir the pots periodically to keep things from sinking, filling bowls and handing them to Mohammed to hand over to waiting hands. An unnecessary extra step, but he doesn't quite feel up to smiling and interacting with people. ]
prometheanflame: (no don't do the thing)

[personal profile] prometheanflame 2017-12-05 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Mohammed warms his hands by a couple degrees. Not enough to keep the soup hot, but it doesn't cool off as quickly while he hands it off. The warm bowl should help protect each person from the cold until they find a place to sit.]

It's not completely tasteless. [He waits until there is a break in the line and lowers his voice.] And nobody wants to be reminded of that, Minato.

[personal profile] compendiem 2017-12-05 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
It's completely tasteless. [ His voice is almost always kept low and quiet, not wanting to be overheard, but this time he raises it a little. ] It's still relatively healthy, though. Supposedly. Dunno what goes into the soup.

[ These are all true things, but saying them out loud... there are some nervous glances in the line. A little shuffling, uncertain of what exactly is in this soup they're serving. ]
prometheanflame: why is this his life (proud mom of four disasters)

[personal profile] prometheanflame 2017-12-07 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[Just because it's true doesn't mean he should say it.]

...It's three-bean soup, that's what it says on the sign. [Thank god he actually read that before hand. He has no clue what sort of ingredients go in there - vegetables and beans, likely - but it comforts those in the line a bit.]

[personal profile] compendiem 2017-12-09 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ Do beans belong in soup... It's not something Minato's ever tried before, and tasting it now wouldn't do him any good, so his gaze drifts off towards the warm, busy kitchens with some longing. ]

Looks like you can handle the front lines. I'm going to go see if they need help cooking.