recolle | (no subject)

EVENT

Inverted
The city of Recollé...this feels familiar, doesn't it? Everything about your precious city seems to be calm albeit weird, but that's normal for these parts. Is this just how life is now? Or should you be preparing for something else...?

I.

Hopping through dreams seems to be old hat by now. Have any of you experienced a good night sleep this last month? It seems as though it's inevitable to avoid falling into someone else's dreams, but at least the waking hours are safe...

...until the 5th of August. Though you may be awake and able to carry out your every day lives, Retrospec users will soon find that their surroundings will warp around them to reflect dreams they've been experiencing or memories of places they're familiar with. Hallucinations of these places will be solid enough to encompass you and those around you. People from your dreams and memories will exist and actively encourage you to chase after them, digging deeper to understand who you truly are.

Some of you may find it a step further and discover yourself stuck in someone else's memories swapped out for your own, their hallucinations enclosing you and leaving you trapped in a place unfamiliar.

The entire city may disappear right before your eyes as you roam the new landscape of these memories. Objects can be taken from the scene of the dream and pulled back into reality as a catalyst to break the hallucination. Monsters from the scene can be slain or a user can be coerced into forcing themselves to break the illusion themselves by rejecting what they're seeing. The possibilities are endless and mostly harmless.

After all, several of you have experienced this before, haven't you? While the fog from last October isn't infiltrating the city, your hallucinations are as they spread far and wide, even going so far as to notify NPCs of certain changes around them.

Good luck explaining that one.

II.

Dreamshares and hallucinations are quite cumbersome, aren't they? Manageable though they may be, they're nothing but a mild annoyance at this point and it may feel as though you're making some progress in avoiding them.

However, for several users, falling asleep and waking up may have some rather drastic results.

Upon awakening, you may find yourself somewhere you aren't familiar. You might be in someone else's bed, or perhaps you're in an entirely different district than you fell asleep in. Something feels off about yourself and you'll wake up with a slight headache and dizzying sensation. It will pass within the hour, at least.

It's only when you start to look closer that you realize something is incredibly wrong. These hands don't belong to you, nor do these clothes or these walls. Your mind is the same and you remember everything as it should be, but your body belongs to another. You may recognize the person whose body you now inhabit, or perhaps you're incredibly unlucky and you've been swapped with a stranger.

Get out there and find your match, Retrospecters. Swapping back won't be as simple as you may hope. It seems that the ability to swap back to normal is unique to every set of citizens and can range from talking things out, bodily colliding with one another, falling asleep and hoping it fixes itself or other circumstances.

The longer you find yourself in the body of someone else, however, the more you'll find yourself taking on their mannerisms or obtaining their regained memories for yourself. You may even start to believe you are that person now. Careful not to lose yourselves.

III.
Never fear! Despite the bodyswapping that seems to be going on, Retrospec will still recognize users as themselves. Posting to the network will still attach the correct name to the correct users even if they're wearing someone else's face. The trouble, it seems, is that Retrospec itself is starting to fall apart.

Some posts may appear twice due to errors in accepting new posts. Messages will be sent to people you don't mean to send them to, and in some cases your entire name field may be changed to a name you don't recognize. Messages will appear scrambled on occasion, and most importantly while you're posting you may receive strange messages as well.

Small, descriptive blurbs about yourself will appear in your mailbox detailing information about yourself, places you've gone, items you've received and notations about unique properties and abilities you may have. Pictures of you from your current location will be mailed to yourself, and one of two words will appear.

For those who have been on the app for over a year, they will receive: Alpha.
Anyone who has been on the app for less than a year will receive: Beta.

What does that mean? That's a great question. Perhaps you should ask one another.

IV.
So really, you might come to realize that a good solution to escape all of this ridiculousness is to hightail it out of the city and head for one of the four surrounding regions. Nobody needs to stay in Recollé. It's summer vacation! School doesn't start until September and if things don't improve in the city it might be easier to process what's happening outside.

For those who venture to those regions though they'll notice a distinct difference in them from their usual presence. Magatus is still covered in sand instead of snow, and for anyone who enters Bosuma they'll notice that the flowers are beginning to blacken and wither. The water levels around Pesgare are below average as fish begin to struggle to find new places to live, and the temperature in Respatrum has dropped to an unusually chilly 80 degrees fahrenheit.

While natives of Magatus don't seem to be alarmed, the other three regions will be distressed and uncertain of how to change what's happening around them. They will mention that there have been signs of this coming for some time now but that it's unlike anything that's normal for the region.

More importantly, however, they'll pause when they look at you and they'll be hesitant to continue. It seems they'll be more distracted by bright blue Retrospec symbol tattooed on the side of your neck, glowing even through any fabrics you may be wearing. The symbol will disappear and fade once users return to Recollé, but should they venture out again the mark will return with a vengeance.

BONUS.
On the evening of the 5th, every single user will receive an unmarked, unlabeled package addressed to them. Should they choose to open this package they will find several puzzle pieces in monochromatic colors.

As users begin to put together the puzzle, they'll notice that some pieces are missing. These pieces can be found scattered around the city in locations they usually frequent, but the full picture remains blurred no matter how much of the puzzle they complete. It's only when you find the last puzzle piece and slip it into place that the picture comes into focus.

The colors are muted but the image is clear. A backside view of yourself is clearly outlined in the light from the door, but there's a message printed at the bottom of each puzzle in the same Retrospec blue.

"Turn him to any cause of policy, the Gordian Knot of it he will unloose, familiar as his garter."

Welcome to

recolle's August event!

As notated, this is the first event log! The effects of this log will only go until the night of 8/16. After this time, a new log for dream dives and further information and other things in the month will go up on 8/17!

Please note: dream dives have not started yet! They will not be icly in effect until 8/17.

For Prompt I, any items taken from the hallucinations should be small-scale items if they are canon-based. If they're AU-based, please keep them at a reasonable size. Characters should be able to carry items themselves in order to retrieve them from the dream.

As a reminder, if you are planning to keep changes to your AU at the end of this month, please leave us a comment here!

Finally, 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

I know. I know, Mika. That's why it hurts.

[Why Yuu had apparently vowed to avenge them. Not knowing until apparently years later that Mika survived because he'd been turned. Not that he's broached that can of worms yet. Or ever intends to if he can help it. Still, he shudders, shoulders hunching from the tension of being so worked up.]

[Noticing that Yuichiro is tensing, Mika brings his hand to his shoulder instead. It's hard to deal with by himself, but knowing that his friend goes through the same pain somehow makes it easier.]

Did we ever get him?

We....I remember him burning.

[And screaming because of that torture. But. That...that wasn't their doing. They'd been talking of rescuing the noble, so that was actually the opposite. Somehow, of what they wanted at the time. Possibly for more answers about the Seraph project, Yuu guesses, from what bits and pieces he does recall.]

Good. He deserves it.

[Mika doesn't question that. No one survives a burning the way Yuu describes.]

His screams. I can still hear him.

[He doesn't know if they end up saving Ferid or not. Just that the noble was burning. Ferid had been keeping them. Even after he was the one who had slaughtered their orphan family. So what did he even get out of then making Yuu help him bring them back again? Yuu isn't sure. Perhaps he should and would be more paranoid and cautious regarding that, once he calms down more from this.]

[Mika's not finished ranting about the vampire, but Yuichiro's choice of words puts a stopper to it. The way he says it makes it sound like he regrets it.]

[It's because of Yuichiro's big heart. He can't deal with suffering. Mika glances to his side, feeling his anger wane.]

It wasn't your fault. He was cruel. You didn't do anything wrong.

I know he was. But still.

[Even knowing what Ferid did, that still didn't mean Yuu wasn't unnerved by the sight, by the sound of his screams as the noble vampire burned at the stake, left out in the sun like he was. Yuu was one so swayed by his emotions, after all. So ready to lash out in anger or sob, so quick to smile or laugh. But mostly, this just creeps him out some.]

I hope he won't show up here. Will you tell me if you see him?

If Ferid.....? Well, yeah. We'd want to know. To be careful.

[Though that might be somewhat difficult given their memories of Ferid. Even if he might not remember it all. If one of them were to encounter the noble vampire here, knowing what they did about what Ferid had done in their memories. Yuu isn't sure what might happen.]

I don't care if he doesn't remember if he gets here. That gives us an advantage for once.

[Mika says so grimly, remembering how small the other children had been when Ferid had slaughtered them, and taking such pleasure in it.]

Advantage? I guess. But I mean....things might be different here?

[Ferid wouldn't be a vampire. For one thing. At least, not right away he wouldn't be. He hasn't seen Ferid around yet but here, he might not necessarily have that same colour hair and eyes. He might live elsewhere and not ever move here to Recolle.

As much as instinct might scream for Yuu to immediately punch the guy. And he might. Or he might barely manage to restrain himself, but. If Ferid was around? He wouldn't remember doing all that. Wouldn't have done any of it.

Somehow, it was easier in a way to think on that for others and not yet quite necessarily associate that distinction with Yuu himself. The things he did and remembers. That he still feels guilty over. Even if it might not technically have been him? Yuu's fists clench, as he tries to figure his complicated feelings on that.]

It won't be that different. I will never be his friend.

[That much he is sure about. He could never forgive the person who killed their family.]

[Misunderstanding the reason behind Yuichiro's clenched fist, Mika simply touches his hand gently as if to offer support.]

I won't let him come near you.

I'm not saying we'd necessarily be friends, but.

[This is....complicated. Definitely. Yuu can't be sure how he might react either if he saw Ferid around. But still. His hand unclenches almost instinctively to then take Mika's when he feels that touch in effort to try reassure and calm him.]

Nothing for that anyway but to wait and see, I guess.

Then... What are you saying?

[Mika is honestly confused by Yuichiro's hesitation. They have no reason to give that murderer any kind of sympathy, so why is his friend sounding like he does?]

[His fingers curl around Yuichiro's, his fingers warm and dry.]

I'm just...I don't know. I mean. These memories....it's a completely different life to what we have now.

[And that in turn meant they turned out somewhat different at least. From the different circumstances and environments they'd been in. There were no vampires, there was no virus, or at least not the same deadly kind as back in their memories of Japan. Ferid here might not necessarily be a killer. Might not attack them. Might not try anything. If they run into him at all.]

I know. I'm grateful for that.

[That is all he can say about it. The memories he's gotten are disturbing, to say the least. Sometimes he wonders if his life is even safe here.]

[He feels at home, though. Most of the time. Some strange flashbacks can't ruin that.]

Do you think we've changed much, since then? On the inside, I mean.

Changed? Well. Everyone does over time? Some in more obvious ways than others.

[At least as far as Yuu figured. Besides, they were still so young yet. They would probably change further the more they grew older, the more experiences they had and went through. That was just part of life. Nothing was a constant except a few certain people he was closer to.]