DECEMBER EVENT LOG

[recollecters]

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 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.

Comments

iv

[kabloom]

[ mimori was also looking up at the sky when it happens. at first, she thinks she might have just imagined it, until kirigiri says something. ]

The sky... did something just now, right?

[evidentiary]

...I believe so. What do you think you saw?

[ TO CONFIRM ]

[kabloom]

It flickered for a moment, didn't it? Around when the snow started falling.

[ it could mean nothing. after all, it's not like they're strangers to losing colors here, but... ]

I don't want to seem paranoid...

[evidentiary]

No, that's exactly what I thought I saw, too. With your confirmation...I think it's safe to say that neither of us imagined that. But "blue" was meant to be fixed...

[kabloom]

If it isn't completely fixed, would they have told us so? Or kept it to themselves?

[ she can see the argument for either side. ]

Or maybe something else is causing it.

[evidentiary]

I don't see why. They bothered to update us about it at all, after all...it isn't as though they had to do that, or as if they gained anything from lying?

[kabloom]

So... it could be something they don't know about.

[ which is Problematic. ]

Do you think it's something we should worry about?

[evidentiary]

It's something to keep in mind, but...I don't know if we should "worry". Fretting about things we can't immediately investigate won't do our emotional states any good?

[kabloom]

You have a point, especially on top of everything else we have to worry about.

[ still. it's too bad it's the sky; the only way you can catch it is if you're looking up at that exact moment. ]

I guess we'll just have to keep a close watch just in case it happens again.

[evidentiary]

Have you noticed anything else off this month?

[ the kid seems observant. ]

[kabloom]

There's the earthquakes? All of the ice at least matches the time of the year, even if it all appeared suddenly.

[ it's inconvenient and dangerous, sure, but that's just winter. ]

The tremors are... odd though.

[evidentiary]

Perhaps the city is planning to shrink again...?

[ it's half to herself, half to mimori. ]

[kabloom]

It shrunk?!

[ she was not around for that one.

she isn't even sure why she's surprised, considering everything else. ]

[evidentiary]

At least, a bunch of the stores...combined.

[ WHY. ]

[kabloom]

That... doesn't sound legal?

[ she isn't sure? she is not an expert on property management. then again, it's not like a bunch of illegal stuff doesn't occur all the time. ]

I wonder what's the point in that though.

[evidentiary]

[ continued here ]