recolle | APRIL 2018 EVENT LOG

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APRIL 2018 EVENT LOG

EVENT

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. The city itself is mostly fine, but if you're heading out stay in touch as much as you can. That's the only advice I have for you at this point while we're working on tempering the storm and clearing out the effects. The RRI will be taking more volunteers for other assignments as things come up, but that's always the case. That's always going to be the case if this keeps up. Anyway…best of luck, Retrospecters.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Kaede hates seeing him like this, and she really hates to see him cry. She squeezes his hands. ]

He didn't waste it on you. I'm sure he would be happy to see where you are now. [ She says that with a lot of conviction. ] He thought you were worth saving.

[Maybe he would be happy to see Ishida as he is now. He's in college and puts in effort in all of his studies and volunteer work. Those are the sort of things that his friend always valued.]

...after he died, I wanted to ensure that his values and spirit lived on somehow. [It's only fair if Ishida carried on his life, right? ...It was the only way he could stop being worthless, by being more like his friend.]

[ She doesn't really know exactly what his friend's values were but... ]

I bet you're doing a good job at keeping that alive! I know you wouldn't do anything other than your best for that.

[He grimaces for a moment, before taking a deep breath and giving Kaede a shaky smile. Kaede likes how he's been thus far, so that means he really needs to keep up with this! It's not like it's entirely fake anyway, but there are some days he just feels exhausted and angry still.]

Of course! I intend to carry on his values and life with each day I live! Each hour, even!! I-it's what I have to do!

[ Each hour, huh... That concerns Kaede and she frowns a little. ]

Don't do it because you feel like you have to, though. He would want you to be happy, right Kiyotaka? [ She squeezes his hands again. ]

Only carry on his legacy because you want to. [ And because of that part about each hour, she adds: ] And when you want to too.

I have to though!

[If it was anyone else, he probably would've snapped that response. But with Kaede, his voice is only a bit loud as he looks at her with a desperate sort of expression.]

And I want! I want to all the time! I'm far better like this-- you would agree! You wouldn't want to be around someone that caused their best friend to die!

[He pointedly doesn't answer the question about his friend wanting him to be happy.]

How can I agree when I don't know what you're like otherwise? [ She's sure she would like him regardless—,positive, really. ]

I don't think you caused him to die either. It's just what happened when he rescued you. [ Kaede says that quietly, not wanting to argue on that. She believes what she says, of course, but she knows it's not her place to convince him of that either. ]

And if you did... I would still want to be around you. I know that for sure.

[ She cares about him a lot, as a friend... and as she's realized more and more lately, as more than that. At this point, Kaede's sure that it would be nearly impossible for her feelings to change. ]

Angry, isolated. I was mad most of the time... angry at everyone, including myself. All I did was cause my parents to worry about me, even though they were so busy with work.

[Really, he was good for nothing. He excelled in nothing, put no effort into anything. Most of the time, he just wanted to keep away from the other students, because half the time they picked on him anyway-- until he snapped at them.

He's about to bring up the fact that he's the reason why they were at the ocean in the first place and how his carelessness about regulations caused the whole accident, but Kaede's next statement gives him pause, his words dying in his throat.]

Y-you'd still want to be around me...? Why?

Yeah. [ She answers that quickly and with no hesitation. ] I care about you. A lot.

[ Kaede feels a little embarrassed saying that, but it needs to be said. ] Part of me is really glad that you have the app, because I don't know what I would do if you didn't. That's probably selfish but... I'm still glad.

[ She gives him a small smile. ]

Besides, I used to be angry like that too. It was for different reasons, but I kinda get where you're coming from.

[Ishida looks flustered by her admission and he hurriedly responds.] I care about you too, Kaede. If you feel selfish in feeling that way... then I'm selfish too. Because I'm glad that you have the app.

[Even if they have to remember a terrible killing game in the process, he's still relieved to know that she's here like this. The others are still dependable and Ishida considers them friends, but Kaede is special to him. H-he's not sure why and he doesn't know how to explain it, but he certainly feels that way. It's not just them being part of the same club.]

...You were like that too? [He's surprised, he always assumed that Kaede was like this for most of her school life.]

[ That... probably makes her a lot happier to hear than it should, and she's tempted to tell him as much too. But she decides not to, at least for now.

She nods at his question. ]

Yeah. In middle school and the beginning of high school, all I wanted to do was leave the town I grew up in. I even hated my grandparents for a while too. I did stop feeling that way eventually but it took a while.

[It's really hard to imagine Kaede hating anyone... let alone her grandparents. He can't imagine what they might've done-- or maybe it was nothing at all. After all, his parents are good, hardworking people and he was a waste of potential until the accident.

... As terrible as it may sound, he's kinda glad that she wasn't always a wonderful person. Ngh, does that make him an awful person?]

...What made you change your behavior?

My grandmother got really sick and I had to help my grandfather take care of her.

[ She looks down, a little embarrassed. ] All of that made me realize how important they are to me and that what I was doing was really stressful for them.

[So, that's the reason... even before she 'grew up,' she was still a good person at heart. He should've expected as much! Despite the guilt that remains in him, Ishida looks at her with a small smile.]

You're a truly good person, Kaede. To realize their importance and work on improving yourself from there! [And for some reason, he can't leave it at that.] B-being around you makes me want to try even harder to be the best person I can be!!

[But she did just mention that she's willing to be around him, regardless. It makes him feel conflicted in some ways, because he wants to be the best he can be around her, but he also wants to show that he trusts her and is willing to 'drop' the act slightly. Not that he's putting on a facade, but...

Ishida drops the smile and slouches slightly, clearly upset.]

[ Hearing that makes her happy, really happy. Knowing that she can inspire him to be better... it makes her want to do the same thing.

Seeing him suddenly let go a little, though, makes her both simultaneously relieved and worried. Relieved that he feels like he actually can be himself around her, and worried at seeing his smile disappear.

Kaede lets go of his hands, but steps closer to warp her arms around him in a hug. ]

I feel the same way, actually. You make me want to be better too. [ Saying that aloud is a little embarrassing, but Kaede doesn't care. ]

[At first, he's surprised when she hugs him, but Ishida only tenses for a second before he relaxes and wraps his own arms around her. He's not sure how he's able to inspire anyone, especially Kaede, when he's like this... but it makes him feel a little more confident that he doesn't need to be completely perfect all the time.

He feels tears prick at the edge of his eyes as he continues to hug her.]

D-don't know how you can get any better...

[ She leans her head against his shoulder, embarrassed at that despite herself. ]

There's lots of ways I can get better! Everyone has things they need to work on, and I'm definitely one of those people.

[She brings up a fair point; everyone should always work to improve themselves. Maybe her admitting something like is what makes her truly inspiring, as strange as that may be.]

You're right!

[Err, maybe he shouldn't say it like that.]

N-not that I mean you have a lot of things to improve on, b-but I understand.

[ She leans back a little to smile at him. ]

I know! [ She even giggles. ] I hope you know you can come to me whenever you're feeling down, by the way.

[It's a similar thing that she's said to him before... and something Naegi has mentioned as well. He'll probably always struggle with it at times, but he definitely feels better now compared to earlier and most of all, Kaede doesn't hate him. It's the best possible outcome he could've hoped for.]

I know and I hope you feel the same way too, despite knowing all this.

I do! [ She says that enthusiastically to make sure gets that feeling across. ]

I think... I feel that way even more now. [ Kaede smiles. It's probably a weird way to feel, but it's true. ] I guess it's because you trust me enough to tell me all of that. I feel like I can trust you even more because of it.

[...She trusts him more now? It's a confusing thing to consider, but he can also understand to some degree as well. Even though he allowed something horrible to occur in the past, he still trusted her with that information. Does that mean he should tell her everything, no matter what? Is there a limit to it? Is there a line that he might eventually cross where she won't trust him any longer?

...Well, maybe he doesn't have to worry about it, since that's the most terrible thing that's happened for him.]

I-I'm glad to hear that... [He looks a little embarrassed before turning his attention to the sights around them, wanting to move the topic of conversation.]

Want to stay up here for a little longer? I-It's a nice view from up here.

Sure!

[ She smiles at him, turning to look at the view herself. It's nice, seeing the city like this. It's not something she's ever done before. ]

I kind of like being up here. I never realized just how big this city is.

It's the first time I've looked at the city like this.

[It's really the first time he's been on a roof like this.]

...It does seem big though. With all the volunteering and studies we have, we don't really get much time to stand around and appreciate something like this. But... I'm glad it's with you!

[wait what is he saying. Ishida feels his face turning red.]

U-uh... I mean, I'm glad that you enjoy the sights too!

[ She laughs, but it's obviously a happy laugh. ]

I'm glad it's with you too. [ She smiles at him. ] Standing up here almost makes it feel like everything's back to normal for a little while.

APRIL 2018 EVENT LOG

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