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recolle2018-04-03 05:59 pm
recollecters) wrote in recolle2018-04-03 05:59 pm
APRIL 2018 EVENT LOG
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THE WIND RISES The city of Recollé. By now, several of you have probably heard of the regions just beyond the city and some of you may even plan to travel! With the world at your fingertips, there's nothing stopping you from exploring and learning about the world around you. On the other hand...well. When it rains, it pours. I. Pesgare is known for its rainy seasons and even while it storms the markets are ripe with wares, the townspeople are friendly and the little village remains profitable. However, as April continues onward the rain doesn't let up. In the early part of the month disaster strikes in the form of a tsunami. The waves crash and pull the whole city underwater, disrupting the lives of the villagers and the area at least 300 miles out including all fishing boats, islands and more. Strangely, you won't notice until you cross the appropriate nautical points, dragging you straight into the water. Upon entering this region you'll find yourself unable to breathe at first, struggling until an air bubble fits itself over your head. The need to breathe is no longer a pressing issue and it allows you to get a clear view of the village. The village itself is mostly intact and the citizens of the village have their own bubble-esque helmets helping them navigate the waters. Delighted by your presence, they'll ask for help with Pesgare's restoration process of rebuilding shops, fixing their wares and even breaking apart a dam a few miles out from the village to drain the water. Though draining will help, it will still take time for the village to dry out. However, the longer you stay under water helping out or enjoying your stay, the stranger you may begin to feel. Your might find yourself gasping for air every now and then while being in the bubble. Perhaps your throat will remain dry and parched no matter how much water you drink. Or, perhaps, you'll look down and notice the bright shiny scales popping up in patches across your skin. Do you continue to help or do you abandon ship? You may want to make your decision quickly. The more fish-like you become, the louder the sound of the sea becomes as it calls you home to drag you further into the abyss below. II. It starts out innocently enough. One day you're out in the city going about your day, and the next the earth begins to rumble and the ground near the subway splits. The tunnels underground collapse in on themselves as a large region made of chasms, caves and forges uproots itself and begins to float higher and higher into the sky right above Recollé. Anyone nearby can watch as Respatrum floats upward and they'll be able to catch the glimpses of the small fire spirits escaping their hearths, cackling all the way as they race through other parts of Respatrum and even down into Recollé. These creatures will begin to inhabit large statues of varying kinds, aircraft, and appliances such as stoves, microwaves, televisions and more. The residents of Respatrum will extend a large bronze ladder down from the region in the sky to the city to allow citizens the chance to visit and return the spirits to their rightful hearths, but that's not always easy! While the fire won't burn your hands, the spirits are mischievous and having the time of their lives. Even if you manage to coax them out of their current hiding places, they'll be more than happy to hide inside of you instead. Those possessed by fire spirits will feel warm and suddenly overconfident, brash and unruly as they do things they may not have felt brave enough to do before. The longer the spirits reside in you, however, the more likely it will be that they make themselves too comfortable. A change of heart alters your personality entirely to be more reckless and dark feathers begin to sprout as large raven-like wings appear. Though the wings will help you fly, the longer you're possessed the harder it will be purge the spirits and bring Respatrum back underground where it belongs. Items from Respatrum cannot be brought to the city of Recollé and will immediately be possessed by fire spirits to jump back up into the sky. While it's easy to bribe the spirits with games, objects and promises, purging the spirits from these objects will take work and may require you to bring all items (or yourself) to the people of Respatrum to remove the pesky creatures. III. For those of you who want to get away from it all and take a vacation to Bosuma, you're in luck! The forest is bright and luminous as usual and the weird night pollen seems to have worn off. Your emotional state seems to be free from influence and you're able to enjoy a nice relaxing stroll through nature. Strangely though when you try to leave you'll find yourself on a path you know you did not take on your way in. Your feet seem to be on autopilot as you wander further and further into the woods, away from bright flowers and happy animals and deeper into thickets of vines and marshy wetlands. Trying to backtrack leads you on a continuous loop deeper and deeper into the woods as you soon come across a bubbly swamp, lush greenery and a small stone house. As you approach the house (or even as you try to leave), you'll find yourself confused about how you got there and you may not even recognize the people you're with. Who are they? And better question, who are you? Your own name? How could you have possibly forgotten something such as that? Fear not. While you ponder your name and your mere existence, the door to the house will open and a young woman will step out. Taking pity on you, she'll give you a glance and bestow a new name on you. It may be one with some significance to you or it may be one you've never heard of before. However, with a new name and a new identity comes a price. The witch has waited quite some time for new souls to enter this part of the woods. Memories are tricky, aren't they? Surely you want your memories of your life back and not just memories of another life you may have lived. The witch is kind and benevolent enough to take you by the hand and make you a deal. Complete one task for her in three days' time and you'll return to who you once were. If not…well. You'll find out. Tasks may range from something as simple as being kind to a stranger, performing on stage, collecting half-priced Easter candy or anything that will challenge you. The witch knows your greatest fears and will push you into tasks that conflict with your comfort zones. You're free to return to the city, of course, but the countdown begins as soon as the witch seals the deal. If the task is not completed in three days time, no matter where you are in the world, you'll find yourself pulled right back to the woods to take on a new appearance. Others will have to find you in the woods and identify you, giving your true identity back and helping you reclaim your rightful memories lest you lose yourself forever. IV. Perhaps you're feeling particularly brave and take a trip to Magatus. Known for its bright, colorful lights in the sky and its wintery atmosphere, it may surprise you to find that setting foot into the region sends you straight into total darkness. A dizzying sensation hits faster than you can blink and you'll find yourself knocked unconscious. Minutes later (or perhaps hours, or maybe even days), you'll awaken thanks to the howl of a wolf nearby and find yourself in a hidden cave not far from the main town. The sky appears to be its same beautiful colors and no injuries are present. Upon closer examination, a new mark appears on your skin and seems to glow an eerie color not unlike the heart stones from February. The color may even be the same. This mark cannot be rubbed off and it glows even through layers of clothing. Asking around the village will render little answers as the townspeople acknowledge it's a mark and think nothing of it. After some time though perhaps you'll get lucky and receive the answer you're looking for. "A curse", they say, and they gesture to the forest at the base of the mountains and surrounding the town. Wandering into the forest seeking an answer, you'll find yourself growing weak and fatigued, energy fading and the mark glowing even brighter as you hear the whispers of several voices around you. Coming from the trees, you'll hear them discussing your personal failures and things you regret, things you've been running away from or things you harbor guilt over. Maybe it's a lie you told your parents, or maybe it's something much, much larger. Even when you return to the city the mark stays though it doesn't glow as bright. As you ignore the mark, or even as you puzzle out how to remove it, the mark will begin to spread over your skin as more time passes. Without breaking the curse the mark will begin to sting and act as a constant reminder that it's there, bringing forth physical ailments as well. Those who are cursed will begin to feel feverish and delirious, chills running through them and something akin to a particularly nasty case of the flu plaguing them. Nightmares begin to haunt them as well any time they close their eyes, the mark manifesting their failures into their dream-like state. Whether by word of mouth, trial and error or simply talking it out, it becomes clear that the only way to break this curse is by admitting the failures the trees have brought forth and receiving forgiveness whether that's from who you've wronged, another party involved, or yourself. As the curse is broken, the mark simply dies down and all signs disappear into your skin, leaving you free to return to Magatus without fear of infection again. V. But what about those of you who decide to stay home this month? April is the beginning of spring and that includes Spring Break for all Recollé schools. Now seems like the perfect time to kick back and relax, right? Think again. At least once a week from April 3rd until April 30th, citizens of Recollé will hear the sudden flurry of papers and impact of boxes as piles and piles of undelivered mail falls straight from the sky (missing Respatrum, somehow) and into the streets below. There are letters and care packages, orders from Amazon.com and important documents and even some "FRAGILE, PLEASE DO NOT DROP" boxes that appear in these piles. As the wind picks up, the packages begin to dance through the street and scatter around the city and you may find yourself slapped in the face by a letter addressed to a friend. A stranger's package might appear on your doorstep. As citizens begin to sort through the mail it becomes clear that these are packages sent from all over the world from outside of the city to those living in Recollé, a backlog of undelivered mail from several months ago until now. While there are no signs that the outside world is aware mail hasn't come through, the packages themselves are a bit…unusual. Seemingly normal on the outside, as you approach to pick something up some packages may take on a life of their own and transform. Envelopes will open up and reveal razorsharp teeth, shouting the contents of the letter to whomever it is addressed to. Packages will sprout legs and begin to run away to engage you in a game of tag. That pesky wind continues to be a nuisance as it blows heavily and creates a whirlwind of color and letters that trap you in place. Good luck with your spring cleaning, Recollé! You're going to need it. BONUS. While all of this is going on, the cherry blossoms are blooming, the birds are singing, and sometime on April 4th, all Retrospec users will receive a message from Zee. Jo already gave you the heads up, but we're working with some weird effects that are sweeping in as residual from other places. Kind of makes it hard to gauge just what's happening out there, but hey. At least Maury took a vacation finally. Citizens will also find as spring rolls in, small rabbit-like creatures begin popping up...and multiplying...and will be more than content to follow Retrospec users around. They love being fed and exploring, but do take care not to follow them too much! They don't always notice where they're going and could very well lead characters right out of the city and toward one of the other regions. Welcome to recolle's April's log! The prompts are simply loose guidelines for you guys to play with and make up your own fun adventures for the entire month! You may also create your own logs or inbox threads based on these prompts.For prompt 3: please do not give your characters their canonical name as their new fake name! If they do not already remember their canonical name, we ask that you come up with something else. Other characters who do not venture into the swamp will remember your character's name but they will be unable to speak it for the first three days, or until characters complete their tasks. Characters who fail and lose their identities will still have mannerisms of their former selves but will need to be identified by others to regain their true selves. For prompt 4: the curse mark can be located anywhere and spread anywhere, and it can be any sort of failure your character would personally be affected by! You are also free to play with physical ailments and nightmares as much or as little as you'd like. For prompt 5: this is only mail coming from the outside and addressed to characters in-game! This is not mail that is outgoing and after this mail will resume its usual "cannot be delivered" status. At this time, phone calls out are still unavailable. FINALLY: Each prompt is eligible for one free memory! That is to say you are able to earn up to five extra free memories if you thread all five of these prompts. For freebies to qualify, we ask that the thread that you turn in working toward each objective is a minimum of 5 comments from you and shows clear intent to work toward each prompt's goal (i.e. helping in Pesgare, rounding up fire spirits in Respatrum, regaining your name/doing your task for Bosuma, breaking your curse in Magatus, and delivering mail in Recollé). Please note that we will not accept multiple threads for multiple freebies on the same prompt. Any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here. |
no subject
Haru squints as the village comes into view. It... is quiet, though she's never been here before, so she can't really be sure. But if Naoto says that it is, then it must be so.]
I don't know... What if they come back to find us gone? Will they come after us again?
[They could fight them off, she knows that for a fact. But the fact that they were all knocked out in the first place, and got this... curse placed upon them - that puts things in a different perspective.]
no subject
[She pauses at the edge of the village, mulling over how they should go about this. Haru's questions are all valid concerns, and there is something to be said of anyone who chooses to intimidate by acting from the shadows. But with nothing to go on as far as the identity of whoever knocked them out, all they can do is keep pushing forward with their most obvious objective first.]
I doubt it. They would've kept us chained up or locked away somewhere if they really wanted to keep us. [A musing glance down the streets, looking for a place to stop.] Even if they do come for us, they've given us a reason to be on guard and pissed off at them, and we know we're not going to go down as easily as before.
[Minako steps through the door of the nearby diner-like establishment, shaking the snow off from her hair.]
For now, figuring out what these marks are and how to get rid of them are our priority. And if we find out more about our mysterious tattoo artists along the way, then all the better. [She gives them a bright smile.] I'll order our hot chocolate, so why don't you three ask around?
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I’ll keep a lookout for anything! Even the smallest of blips!
[ Futaba personally doesn’t think anyone is lying in wait for them; all signs had pointed to whatever whammied them from the back has long fled. But honestly, it doesn’t hurt to be careful. After all, there aren't any clues whatsoever to this problem and she for one doesn’t want to be caught unaware again. (She's still salty she was caught unaware in the first place.) ]
But it'd be really weird if no one knew anything. Someone should at least know something, especially in a place like this.
[ Applying video game logic to irl doesn't always work like that but given the nature of recolle, it honestly hasn't failed her yet. She'd eat her flash drive if they ended up completely empty handed by the end of their search. It's only a matter of finding That One Person or Thing to ask. ]
There's gotta be a rumor or legend. There's always a rumor or legend.
no subject
[She frowns.] Really, all they did was... act to inconvenience us. Other than this mark, they haven't done anything of consequence. Unless it was a prank, then that indicates that the mark itself was the objective...?
[She taps her chin in thought, glancing at Futaba.] Ordinarily, I'd say that there is no reason to expect there to be a "rumor or legend," but my time here has taught me that coincidence and truth often overlap here. I think there's a good a chance as any that you're right.
[Wouldn't be the first time video-game logic has applied here.] Let's split up and ask, then.
[Which Naoto walks off, to do exactly that.]
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Would you like to accompany me? I feel we'd cover more ground if we're together for this.
[She did notice how Futaba kept close to her as they made their way here.]
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Once she brings the drinks to a table in the back, she leans over and starts asking the patrons sitting beside her about the marks. In the time the team had come down from the mountain, it's spread from the spot on her wrist to a few centimeters past her wrist and completely around it, and she's startled to see it when she pulls back her coat sleeve.]
Uh oh.
no subject
[ Futaba grins just a touch sheepishly at being caught but she agrees all the same because who would turn down spending time with Haru?? Not her for one.
(She gives off a much more of a sweeter harmless air than Futaba could ever attempt to emulate as it is. The villagers are bound to respond more positively to that than her own attempts.) ]
We'll blast through the villagers and figure this out asap!
[ Or so she hopes. And off goes Team Harutaba and their epic quest to bring back at least one (1) clue to aid them on their event quest. They'll be back in a jiffy!! ]
no subject
So she goes off, talking with everyone who will talk to her. Most of them don't know anything about the mark, and it's starting to get a little frustrating. Until someone does.
That doesn't help her mindset, really.
Naoto is the first one back to the meeting point, waiting outside with her hands in her pockets until the others return.]
I found some local superstition, but that might be enough. And you?
no subject
Most of the villagers don't give much information regardless of how either girl asks. It's a mark, they say, which is obvious, and Haru can only respond with a "well, yes, but-" before the villager moves on. During that time, her mark had spread, one tendril of it going around her wrist just above the tattoo while the rest spreads up and down by an inch or so. It's enough to make her questions a bit more urgent, though no less polite.
Then someone does answer their question, but doesn't supply them with much else.
It's not enough, but that's about all they'll get at this time, and Haru's sure their hot chocolates are turning into cold chocolates at this point. So she and Futaba return, with Haru rubbing her wrist where the mark is.]
We heard much the same thing. That it's a curse... It may come from the forest itself?
no subject
[Her own short investigation hadn't turned up anything-- in fact, the villagers she'd talked to had been somewhat dismissive, which is frustrating, but at least they have some kind of clue, vague as it is. It's just that there's a lot of forest up in these mountains, they wouldn't be able to comb every part of it even if they wanted to.
But it's still better than sitting around waiting to see what happens when these tattoos get bigger.]
After we finish our hot chocolate, we could head out? Unless you guys want to rest up first, it's getting kind of late.
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[ Back into the forest they go...!! Yeah!!
... If they're really, really lucky, maybe it's like finding the meaning of life and the answer to this puzzle will just show up like sudden enemy encounter. Of course, it also requires wandering in circles for hours in a forest but at the moment, she'll do whatever it takes to deal with this itch. ]
I'm all powered up to keep going!
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[She glances up at the sky. It is very firmly dusk now, and even that light will fade rather rapidly.] I'm of two minds. It could be dangerous to go out like this, and I'm not exactly an experienced camper.
However, on the other hand...
...personally speaking, my mark is growing. And I'd rather try to solve it more rapidly than not.
[Cocoa sounds great though]
no subject
[She looks at her own wrist. It's true, her own mark had been growing, and she's not sure she wants to wait for what it'll be like in the morning. But it is getting late, and not only will it be harder to find what they're looking for, whatever they're looking for, but who knows what lurks out there?
Cocoa sounds really great right now, especially with this decision they have to decide on.]
Maybe we can bring our drinks with us as we go... wherever we decide to go. If we do go to the forest, I suggest we all stay together. We'd cover more ground if we split up, but at night, we'd only increase the potential danger.
no subject
You're completely right, Haru. We shouldn't split up, not when everything is a giant question mark right now. Let's take our hot chocolate to go, and get to the closest forest as soon as possible to search for clues. When it gets too dark, we can make camp and continue in the morning. Come on, girls!
[She creates a mound of whipped cream on top of her hot chocolate and then stands, whisking herself out of the tavern. Off to the forests...! Which means off to the mountains, and traversing icy, rocky paths under the dying light of the sun and the ever present aurora borealis.]
Keep an eye out for anything that-- ow!
[She clutches at her wrist, hissing out.]
What the hell?
no subject
[ Or so she hopes. Once again she desperately glad to not be alone in this. For one, it sure cuts down on her own quiet whining of having to do legwork half of investigating. This is just So Much Nature for a computer geek like her. Why can't these answers just come to her instead??
She starts though, when Minako cries out, clutching tightly to her own cup of ridiculously overly sweetened cocoa. What happened?! Yet before she can even ask the rustle of leaves behind them catches her attention and she turns, looking deeper into the forest. ]
....Hey, did you hear that?
[ She could have sworn she heard a moment of horror movie levels of surround sound whispers just now. Because that's exactly what they just needed on top of everything. She has such a bad feeling about this. ]
no subject
It's interesting to see Futaba's abilities. She remembers seeing something similar that Rise had, in the TV world. She wonders if there's a connection.
But then her mark begins aching, only a few seconds after she hears Minako make a noise, and she sucks in air through her teeth. It's a dull throb, so she can ignore it.
And she hears what Futaba says.] I...
...the trees are moving.
[True, they're just swaying back and forth, nothing more.
But there's no wind. Her flashlight's light just illuminates the bark as the trees sway back and forth, rhythmically. Unnaturally.]