recolle | (no subject)

EVENT

REVERTED.
"Every moment is a fresh beginning." - T. S. Eliot

Happy July, Retrospecters. Can you believe it's been nearly a year since the city was under attack and several of you were pulled and lost in Unreality? Time sure does fly, doesn't it? But don't fret. It seems as though the city is in for a real vacation this time...rest easy.

THE BEGINNING
Recollé has been fully restored thanks to the effort of the citizens working to paint the city back to life and breaking down the layers separating the city from most of its non-Retrospec users. The sky is painted multiple colors (a permanent fixture, it seems) and some buildings and plants are extraordinary but everything appears to be in solid, functional condition. All buildings are where they should be. The roads are safe. And everyone around you appears to be preparing for one of two celebrations...

THE 4TH OF JULY
With the 4th of July tomorrow, citizens of Recollé are preparing for their own celebration. Much like last year, the city will be preparing with a large gathering at Peach Beach, food trucks aplenty, discounts at several stores in Tisse and Enprise, and of course at 9pm sharp the beautiful and historical fireworks display will begin. Street vendors sell glowsticks and lemonade as everyone gathers to watch the show in the sky.

This year, however, while the fireworks display still shows events of the city's history citizens may recognize a few new scenes added to the show. As they look up into the sky they'll notice scenes depicting several of the events that have happened over the last year ranging from the Retrospec bingo games to the nightmare fog to the mistletoe bats and more. This year will also include scenery and displays from the four regions around the city. Perhaps you recognize these events a little too well. Care to share the tale with your neighbor?

TANABATA
It seems as though this week is a non-stop celebration though. As the 4th of July ends, several members of the city are hard at work in preparation for Tanabata. Celebrated on Saturday, July 7th this year, residents are hard at work decorating areas in Tribunal Terrace and Chata with massive colorful streamers and moving in several bamboo plants. Stalls are set up and prepared and carnival games line the sidewalks for citizens to play.

On the evening of the 7th, all are invited to attend the celebration and try Japanese cuisine, play a few games, and most importantly write a wish on a colored sheet of paper to hang on one of the bamboo trees.

No matter how citizens choose to celebrate at this festival, for anyone who makes a wish and hangs it on the tree they will soon receive a Retrospec ticket in their mailbox. While your wish may take time to be granted, good fortune is upon you and a free gift has been provided.

THE NPCS
NPCs are back in the city and all is well. They are unaware of the layers they were caught between but they are grateful and happy to see you again! Professors will be lenient of students whose finals have been delayed, employers will inquire about your vacation time, and your friends and family may constantly badger you for time and attention. Isn't that nice?

In addition, citizens of the city may now place calls to members outside of the city for up to five minutes. While that pesky growling problem still appears at the tail end of all conversations, citizens will be able to reach out to anyone in the world and speak for that length of time. Let's just hope your loved ones aren't too bothered by the previous radio silence.

THE DREAMS
What was that about resting easy? Perhaps you won't be able to as well as you'd like. Though everything appears to be fine, the moment you close your eyes beginning on July 3rd, you may find yourself plagued by strange, unusual dreams. As you dream you'll find yourself experiencing everything from wild scenarios set in space or on a pirate ship to everyday, mundane interactions. Your dreams will reflect who you are, but...maybe in a different light. Perhaps your siblings aren't related to you in your dreams, or perhaps your hair is a different color. Maybe you find yourself dreaming about a whole different lifestyle than the one you currently possess. Why, you could even be one of the lucky ones and dream about those memories you've been receiving since you've joined the app.

Then again, you'll also find that you aren't dreaming alone. When you look, you may find that someone has joined you. It's easy to move in dreams and intrude on other people's dreams. You may choose to watch the scene play out or find yourself able to change scenarios within these dreams. Some of you will recognize what is and isn't real, but...what is real anymore? Aren't you curious what it all means?

The moment you awake, however, these dreams will fade away and simply be dreams.

THE QUESTS
If you're looking for a way to pass the time and bring a little adventure to your life, a new feature on the Retrospec app is the quest hotline! By submitting a request, Retrospec will generate a new task for you to accomplish either in the city or around one of the four regions. While Retrospec cannot claim that all tasks will be exciting, all tasks given are important to the functionality of the city.

Or perhaps you're interested in exploring Mementos or Tartarus...? Just what are these new places anyway? Strange.

Happy questing!

THE REGIONS
Travel is available once more for the regions outside of the city, though do watch out for the common monsters that still linger between districts. It will take three hours by boat southward to Pesgare, an hour underground eastward to Respatrum, two hours west via horseback to Bosuma and seven hours via driving north to Magatus. Depending on where you travel though you may find some surprises waiting for you.

Fishing season is at its prime in Pesgare and it's the perfect place for a seaside getaway this summer. The region remains untouched and stable, and the economy is thriving once more thanks to the repairs after their tsunami and the work of Retrospec users.

In Respatrum, the workers in the mines don't seem to mind the heat and continue crafting and creating. Anyone who ventures into these parts will be put to work, but may be rewarded with small tokens and hospitality from the natives of this region.

Bosuma, however, is a little different. The Swamp Witch is nowhere to be found though the forest is alit with bright, blooming flowers, strange multicolored animals and friendly natives from a nearby village in the woods. Monsters lurk the deeper parts of the woods, but one would actively have to go looking for them.

But should one linger in this region for too long, they may soon discover that they'll start to see things...not just things, but people. Vivid, life-like forms of people you've seen in your memories will appear before you even if you're unaware of who they are. They seem to beckon you to come closer, happy to see you and encouraging you to explore the forest further. Some of these forms may engage in combat if the relationship you remember is a hostile one. Should you follow or fight them, however, you will soon find yourself lost in the woods and it may take days to return to the city. Do keep sight of what's real, won't you?

Finally, over in Magatus, for anyone who has ventured there before they may be expecting the snowy mountains and ski lodge. However, it's summer! Snow isn't fit for the summer and as residents approach the region they'll come to find that the ice-capped mountains have been replaced with cliffs, sand dunes and a desert-esque climate. The iced-over lake is now perfect for swimming and further exploration will lead you to a path in the mountains that's the perfect height for cliff-jumping into waters below. This is the perfect region for you outdoorsy, camping types. Just be careful of the scorpions and rattlesnakes out there.

THE CITY
It's summer vacation everywhere. How are you spending your days? Maybe it isn't such a bad idea to listen to Joanne and plan your days with fun and exciting ventures. Parties and meetings and spending time with your friends...it sounds nice, doesn't it? Even if some of you may notice your friends seem...off.

The city is peaceful. Everything seems to be calm and safe, so much that you may not even notice the difference at first. It all begins in mid-July though. One moment you're sitting in a café and the next you realize you're wearing an apron and you feel as though you should be working behind the counter. One moment you're sitting in your bedroom and the next you look up and notice that the items on your wall have changed. These little hallucinations are minimal and only last a few moments, but they will begin to increase as the month goes on and leading straight into August.

But hey. It's probably nothing to worry about.

Welcome to

recolle's July log! The information above provides loose guidelines of things occurring this month, so please feel free to make your own prompts based on these. You are also free to create your own logs and inbox threads.

Regarding Tanabata! If you would like to claim a free 10-20 point item, please head to the regains page and submit as normal! Please indicate that it is a Tanabata freebie.

Characters are free to travel to one of the four regions this month (Pesgare, Respatrum, Bosuma, Magatus), but keep in mind the effects/changes as listed above.

As a reminder, you may qualify for an additional freebie this month by threading out a dream sequence with at least one person experiencing a new AU! This thread must be at least five consecutive comments from you.

Any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here. Be sure to review the mods' question thread on the plotting post for important information as well!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Chiyo watches that entire exchange and winces as soon as she sees Lina trip. There's a huge sigh of relief when the older girl catches herself. It's not long before Chiyo approaches and offers a similarly-colored tanzaku to the one the magpie stole.

"Do you want another one? It's not the same, but it's blank."

...That's strange, that people are actually offering help to her. Lina did just nearly beef it, though. Maybe Chiyo's taking pity on her. Lina takes a moment to straighten herself up (gets harder every day) and forces a smile.

"I appreciate it, but I need to get that one back. I don't know where the bird's going to leave it, and I don't—" She doesn't want anyone seeing what she wrote. Of course. But she can't say that, so she course-corrects mid sentence. "Think it's going to actually work if it's not hanging up, you know? Can you help me get it back instead?"

That's a big ask and she doesn't expect the help in return. Why would she?

Was it a super private wish? Chiyo wonders. "Did you sign your name on it?"

Even if Lina didn't, it's not like Chiyo has the heart to say no. If that's the one she has her hearts set on it, who is Chiyo to deny it? Sometimes, it's hard to write down a wish or to admit you want something to happen.

"Okay! Let's go get it back, and then hopefully your wish can come true!" She looks off in the direction the bird flew. "Ready?" she asks in case Lina did get hurt in her almost fall.

"Ready," Lina agrees once she's finished checking herself out to see if she really did hurt anything. Not that it would stop her if she had, because the wish... it's something anybody who knows her would already know, but it's so. It's heartbreakingly embarrassing to admit that she's wishing for it when she already knows wishes don't do jack or shit.

If people cared about the wishes of others, after all, then Tentei would never have been an asshole to his daughter and Lina wouldn't be chasing a bird through the city and nearly eating shit in the process.

"We're only going to scare it away if we're too noisy or fast," she says as though she knows anything about what they're about to do. "Have you ever, um. Chased a bird before?"

"No, but I think if we try to feed it or lure it with something shiny, it'll come?"

Chiyo has no idea how bitter or embarrassed Lina is about her wish, but that's not going to stop her from thinking about catching birds.

"Most black birds like shiny things, right?"

That's the stereotype.

Lina nods. "That's what I've heard. Um, let me see if I have anything..."

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a faded pink wallet that, at one point, looks like it may have had some kind of design on it. She doesn't know why she bothers opening it up when she already knows it's going to be empty, but she does anyway. It's a discreet look, one that doesn't tilt her wallet forward too much, and she keeps it open only long enough to get the idea across before putting it away.

"Nothing." Faking a sigh would be too pathetic, so she holds off from that, at least. "If you have a coin or a... compact or something, I'll hold it in the sunlight for you."

"Oh, um...!" Chiyo unzips her mini backpack. She doesn't have a compact mirror, but she pulls out a metal water bottle for Lina to take. "Hopefully, this can work! I'm going to walk toward the bird now."

She tries to be as sneaky as she can, which isn't very, but she is moving slow.

And she does take it, carefully watching the way the sunlight reflects off it to make sure when it's facing the magpie she actually has some idea of how it might come at her. Once that's taken care of, her attention goes back to Chiyo, who looks like she's making good progress on sneaking up on this bird.

As Chiyo gets closer, Lina starts holding the water bottle in the sunlight, tilting it back and forth to make the reflection move just a little. The magpie's attention seems to shift with a few quick head turns and a tilt of curiosity, but she doesn't know enough about birds to know if that's just how they are? The point is that it's stationary for the moment and doesn't seem to notice Chiyo, nor does it want, necessarily, to take off and dive-bomb Lina's shiny thing. For the moment.

Lina's tanzaku is still in its beak, and the situation is almost making her heart race. What she wrote isn't devastatingly private or anything, but wishing for help from the gods to have enough money to keep surviving is the kind of thing that she doesn't want getting out. And she doesn't know Chiyo well enough to tell if she'll read it or not if she gets there first.

Chiyo creeps slowly, carefully. Every time the magpie shifts, she pauses, scared she'll spook if she moves when it even so much as looks at it. It's like her own imposed game of "Red Light, Green Light."

Soon, she's close enough and jumps for the bird. It startles enough to chatter and drop its treasure. Chiyo dives for it before the bird can pick it back up.

"Got it!" She holds up a hand triumphantly even as she's pretty much eating dirt. The important part is she's successful, no matter what she looks like to get there.

And it flies off in Lina's direction but she's already running forward, to Chiyo's side, ready to return the water bottle and try to snatch away the tanzaku before she can read it. The only issue is that she still has to pretend to be a regular human being who knows how to prioritize situations and care about other people. Which is cool.

Lina gets down on her haunches next to Chiyo and she's wearing a huge smile, relief playing at the edges. "Good work! Thanks for your help. But, um. Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

Her free hand has to be used to help Chiyo up, which is. Inconvenient. (Could she just put down the water bottle? Probably, but she doesn't want to be obvious about it.) Her eyes flit to the tanzaku as she offers help.

Luckily for Lina, Chiyo is a good girl and just puts the thing Lina most wants in her hand instead of taking her hand. Here is your written wish. Keep it, throw it away, do whatever with it.

"It's no problem! I'm not hurt! I'm a-okay!"

As if to support that, she sits up without a problem and with a smile on her face, all reassurance. She suspects nothing from the older girl.

Oh, thank god. Awesome. Lina takes the tanzaku back and hands off Chiyo's water bottle in almost the same motion, her fingers deftly folding the piece of paper up so her wish can't even be seen accidentally anymore.

"I keep forgetting kids are invincible," Lina says with a forced grin. It's condescending to call Chiyo a kid, maybe, and it's sure as hell not accurate to say that anyone younger than Lina can't actually be hurt by anything, but, well. That's not going to stop her from doing it.

"Do all kinds of stupid stuff like this while you still can. When you get to my age," the positively ancient twenty-one, "You won't be able to treat your body like that anymore." Sorry, was Chiyo expecting Lina to be a good role model?