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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!

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Anna let out a slow sigh, feeling the tension in her chest starting to leave her body. At least he wouldn't suddenly change on her. Probably.

"I can't stop you," she said, but it wasn't as resigned as it might have been. She was trying to sound more... casual. Almost like she didn't hate the idea of somebody else talking to her at the moment.

"Well, you can. And you're welcome to do so if you think I'm being ridiculous," Kasen let out a small, largely mirthless chuckle.

"When I was about your age, I had a very similar conversation with my parents. Well, maybe calling it a conversation is being too generous...," he let out another sigh.

"I was an artist. That's what I was, it was what I wanted to be. I wanted to create art. And I wanted to go to America to do it. My father, on the other hand, wanted me to inherit the family business, as his eldest son. He also wanted me to be straight and give him grandchildren. So we had differing perspectives on my future, to say the least."

Anna listened quietly, almost politely, and laughed despite herself at that next-to-last sentence of his. Maybe he knew what he was talking about. Maybe she could stand to open up to him a little.

"They want me to study military history. Like they've been forcing me to do for 18 years, and now that I have the chance to not do that, they hate me for it." She was certain of it. Nobody who spoke to her like they did had any sort of room for doubt or nuance.

"What did you do after... all that?" she asked, sincerely asking for help like 27-year-old Anna would never have done.

"I went to America," Kasen sort of just shrugged. "At that point, I was a legal adult. My father couldn't stop me. And I had no real hope of gaining his graces, since he'd already moved on to putting all of his expectations onto my brother...," something he actually did regret pretty deeply. As different as Izumi and Kasen were, he still didn't think his brother deserved to feel like try number two...

"I lived as a starving artist for several years, relying mostly on generous boyfriends to help me get by. Wouldn't... wholly recommend that part, but I did find my own life, and my own way," Kasen smiled softly, brushing his own hair back briefly.

"I don't... really know the first thing about military history. At least nothing on my own, that isn't something I learned via cognitive osmosis with my other self. But I do know that feeling that was reflected in your eyes back there..."

"The desire to be your own person, not just a reflection of someone else."

This man's words made Anna think of her sister and what her parents might do to her now that this entire argument had happened, how she might end up being pushed or pulled in one direction or another and how little she deserved to receive all that... and Anna's back straightened, flat with the wall.

Though she'd come to say that she was fine being a "burner kid" and letting her parents get it right with her younger sister, Anna couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. This family wasn't her problem anymore, but her kid sister didn't deserve the worst of whatever was going to happen. She'd keep all this on her own shoulders and protect her sister from everything else. That was just how this was going to work.

"It feels like we're the same kind of person..." She didn't laugh at that, but the thought was very curious all the same. "Are you, um." Here was the big one. This was a stupid question to ask because there was only one answer, or she had to assume there was only one answer, but her own nerves wouldn't let her get away with not asking. "Are you happy?"

Ah... That was the most important question, wasn't it? He'd done all of those things, had all of those experiences, in pursuit of what he'd thought would make him happy. And part of him wished the answer were that simple, but even in the last several months, he had struggled to find an excuse to give a sincere smile.

"It's... a journey. Not really a destination. I struggle. I have days, weeks... months, where I feel nothing but anxiety and frustration. I see a therapist. I used to take pills. Am I happy? I can't honestly say. I know I'm not ashamed of where I am in life, though. And I know I wouldn't change it, either. So maybe that itself is a form of happiness. I can't say for sure."

Medicine. Therapy. Being an adult seemed really difficult, even though she already was one, technically—she just had to figure a lot of it out on her own. Mostly on her own? But she appreciated hearing what he had to say all the same, and found herself silently nodding, just tiny little shifts of her head, along with most of what he told her.

"If you don't regret it, you're doing the right thing," she said, giving a very juvenile form of one of present-day Anna's stronger philosophies. "It really isn't easy from here out, is it?" she asked, knowing that it definitely wouldn't be. With no home to go back to, as far as she knew, she'd have to find a place to live in the city and a way to afford it, but as long as she had Rose to help keep her grounded, she could do it. She knew she could.

If you don't regret it, you're doing the right thing

Probably a bit too simplistic... But even so, he couldn't find it within him to pick the nit on that one.

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy," another bit of philosophy, sure, but it seemed to fit the mood.

And she certainly appreciated her nits unpicked right about now. Forcing a smile (but doing much less forcing than she expected), she nodded.

"It's going to be really hard. But I can do it. I made it this far doing what I didn't want to do." She almost sounded confident. Weird. "Imagine how much ass I'm gonna kick when I want to do something."

Kasen noted that shift in her tone, his smile broadening, another chuckle on his breath.

"The sky's the limit. Who knows, my ass might even be among the kicked," and a more open laugh.

Anna laughed at that a lot more brightly than she expected, but everything sounded bright when she hadn't been smoking for especially long yet.

"Are you planning on doing something to piss me off?" she asked, not really sweating the logistics of where and when they might even next meet.

"Not at all, but I had been hoping to clash blades with you again. On a purely friendly level, of course."

The laugh Anna made at that was a little more confused, that polite sort of laugh that people did when someone told something they knew was supposed to be funny but hadn't really heard it properly.

"What do you mean? I don't have a blade." Except her pocket knife, but that didn't really... clash.

"Well, you'll figure it out eventually, anyways," Kasen dismissed her confusion with a wave of his hand. No need to spoil everything.

Figuring out what he meant didn't exactly seem like a priority; Anna was happy to shrug it off. Maybe he was mysterious, or maybe he just hoped they'd run into each other again and swords would be involved, but either way this was a dream and it was easy to justify strange things happening in dreams.

"I guess I will. And I'm going to be really good at it." Figuring things out on her own, that is. "Thanks. For your help."

"You're welcome. I'm glad anything I said was useful," Kasen let out a small sigh.

"Even if only in my own dreams."

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