recolle | DECEMBER EVENT LOG 2.0

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A sister...?

[That's something strange to remember about his other life. In the way that Zack has to wonder how different their family is in this "other universe." He's not sure how he feels about it. Would Elliot's "sister" be his long lost cousin? Or...]

Did you see what she looked like or anything like that?

[Honestly, Elliot's not sure how he feels about it either. He knows he still had a dad in that other life too. Or...did, if what Retrospec said about the world being gone is true. It was still beyond uncomfortable to think about having another family. He looks down right uncomfortable saying it, as if he feels like he's doing something wrong- admitting he has other family.]

Yeah. S-She had red hair, like mine.

And she- uh, she was being really dramatic too, like you.

[Zack understands by now that all these past lives and memories can be so different than their current lives. And that it's no ones fault that these things are coming back to all of them. It's invasive so Elliot's obvious uncomfortable demeanor about it ... Almost makes Zack angry at Retrospec. What's their deal making people go through things like this. To question and wonder about family...

He puts a hand on Elliot's shoulder, his expression softening to something a little sad but optimistic.]

Hey, no matter what these memories tell us. Nothing's gonna change.

[Then his smile returns, casual as always. He jokes,] And who knows, maybe I was just your red headed sister in the past world.

[The reassurance is badly needed and appreciated. It's a worry that's been preying on his mind a lot. Natalia's question So you're saying you aren't my cousin? unnerved him more than he wanted to admit. The relationship with his dad's side of the family was shaky enough, he didn't need these memories to call into question his ties with his mother's side]

R-Right. Thanks...

[He'll look up at the joke, smiling a little]

Yeah, maybe you--

[He blinks, now noticing what he honestly should've noticed before]

Your eyes..?

[As they all learn more about themselves from these past memories it's going to be something that Zack thinks about often too. His family is very important to him so with these themes of "different families, sisters, are they really cousins" coming up for all of them Zack has to make sure they know that they're family... No matter what. No sort of random past lives- true or not- will change that.

Zack blinks at Elliot's question and then nods, running a hand over his closed eyelids before opening them again.]

Really blue, right? Like someone amped up the vibrancy to ten? I was gonna ask if you knew about anything that would cause something like this...

[You're a good dude Zack. This is why your fam loves you so.

Elliot meanwhile is staring at the eyes, because whoa he's never seen any eyes glow that intensely before]

Yeah, they're really blue. I've never seen anything like it, so...no, I don't. Sorry.

But if it helps, I think they're pretty?

[He grins at that. Good, he thinks they're pretty too. In a weird radioactive nuclear mutation kinda way.]

Goes with my pretty face, right? Hmm. It's probably something from the other world or whatever too.

[He shrugs.] Guess as long as it's not killing me.

P-Probably...it's almost like they glow....

[So strange.]

Yeah. I haven't heard of any changes being dangerous in that way...so it should be okay?

[He crosses his arms over this chest.]

Here's hoping. So far everything that's been coming back to be has made zero sense. If glowing eyes is the worst of it, It'll be okay.

[Sigh.]

Y-Yeah...here's hoping.

I'll...I'll try to see if I can find anything about glowing eyes. Might be a longshot, but you never know.

Thanks, Elliot. I don't know what I'd do without you.

[Really. Ever since he's started to notice bizarre things and have bizarre things happen to him? He's glad for his cousin.]

[Well for starters you'd have to learn how to google]

Aw, it's nothing. That's what family is for.

[Because that's what they are, no matter what the memories say]

[Google? But that's a pain in the butt...]

You bet. Come on, let's get some lunch.

Oh is it that late already-?

[He looks at his phone clock. Sure enough, it's lunch hour]

Wow, morning sure flew by! Okay, let's go!

DECEMBER EVENT LOG 2.0

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Gonna wrap this thread here if that's okay!

Sounds good to me!