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EVENT

Reverted
The city of Recollé...have you looked beyond the city lately? It may be time to do so.

I.

The good news, perhaps, is that everyone is back in their original bodies. The last few weeks may have been trying and embarrassing for several of you, but never fear! You're all in this together.

The nice thing about returning to your original body is that everything else seems to disappear along with the unintentional swapping. Your dreams on the evening of the 16th and the 17th are unoccupied and you're blissfully alone. Hallucinations fade away and the city almost feels brighter and cleaner. The messy paint job from May and June slowly flakes off to reveal a sparkling almost-new landscape below. All buildings, landmarks, flora and fauna are back to their original colors. The sky, however, is still painted a strange wash of colors and symbols.

The other nice thing about returning to your original body is that it's much easier to feel the sudden, sharp pain on your palm at midnight on the 18th, a needling high-pressure pain that lasts for all of 30 seconds. Upon looking at your hand, however, you'll notice something new.

In bright red font there's a new marking that reads: 13 Days:23:59:59.

58. 57. 56...

The timer steadily counts down, each second synced with each beat of your heart. As the days pass by the timer will slowly shift from the red to a dark, ominous purple. The glow of the mark becomes harder to ignore, and there doesn't seem to be a way to remove it. Good luck with that.

II.

The Retrospec app doesn't seem to be much better. The scrambled messages and posting errors seem to have stopped and users are no longer receiving messages and pictures about themselves.

In fact, the app seems to be quiet for a while.

As users continue to use the app they will find that any post, comment or message that they send via the app will be tagged with a different ID. Instead of their name, all messages will be from Alpha##### or Beta#####. The string of numbers will be unique for each user and cannot be changed at any time. Individual mailboxes will be attached to your name, but the Alpha/Beta ID has made its way there, too.

Over the course of the rest of the month, Alphas (those who have had the app for at least a year from August 2017) will find that messages to other Alphas are sent more easily than to Betas (those who have had the app for less than a year from August 2017) and vice versa. Messages to anyone from the opposite "faction" may drop out half-way or appear blank entirely. It might be wise to find a better mode of communication in the meantime.

III.
Even if you're alone in your dreams, you're not alone in the waking world. No one is free from the timer on their palm, though they may come to find that it impacts some users more than others.

Some users will experience a steady pulsating in their hand as the timer counts backwards, each second ticking by. Standing still just long enough will send the pulse out of their hands and through the rest of their body, over their arms and through their feet straight into the ground.

The earth begins to shake under these unlucky users, little quakes and trembles that spread out and seek out anyone else nearby. Whether you know this person or not, whether you're alone or several of you are impacted by this earthquake, the ground beneath you splits open and you're pulled straight down into the crevice, falling aimlessly. Instead of finding your own life flashing before your eyes, you'll find yourself witnessing events, faces, and memories that are important to the user the pulses came from.

On the outside of things, the user will promptly collapse into a coma-like state no matter where they're at. Inside their mind, however, a scene begins to set itself to welcome you as you land. It isn't a memory and it isn't a hallucination. It's a construct of someone else's innerworkings that have trapped you and blocked you in.

As the haze around you dissipates, the puzzle you received earlier this month floats in front of you. Whether you have finished building it or not it is now fully completed and all of the words have faded except for "Gordian Knot."

Your cell phones will not work in these dreamscapes, and even Retrospec seems to be disconnected. It's up to you to venture further into someone else's mind and help them untangle whatever mystery is hidden within themselves.

IV.
So about that timer. As time begins to run out, more and more people begin to experience dream dives and encounter the knots of others that they must fix. Even inside the dreamscape, the timer glows just as brightly as it had out in the real world and it continues counting down.

At least it gives you a sense of time and just how many minutes, hours, or days you've been stuck inside someone's subconscious. You might even realize that the timer is directly tied to just how much time you have to unravel the knots of your friends, loved ones, and strangers.

Easy, right? Take caution, citizens. The monsters and demons lurking in the corners of someone else's psyche can manifest to something quite powerful. You will not wake up and be booted out of someone's dream if you are attacked, but your physical body and mind will shut down and remain unconscious for one week.

Be careful how you approach these knots, however! Should you change any part of them too much, the host will find themselves rejecting this new information. Too great of a change will result in the loss of an important memory to them and no way to recover it inside the dive.

Even with these possible losses divers are responsible for fixing what's gone wrong and relieving the knot wound tightly in the host's mind. Venture forward, explore, and break it apart to awaken then. You will be greatly rewarded for your effort.

Failure to break the knot and save the host from this comatose state will result in all parties suffering a loss. At first it may not be obvious, but over time it will be clear an important memory or item has left your possession.

Is it just limited to dives though? Some users will feel that even with successful diving they don't quite feel like themselves. It seems as though there's some further self-evaluation they must meet in order to fully recover who they are...or were, as it may be.

Tick-tock, Retrospecters. Mind the time.

BONUS.
Ever since he moved in back in February, the lights have always been on in Zee's office and home at the top of the Towers. Office hours are whenever he feels like making them and he's usually reachable by phone, email, or app.

However, beginning on the 18th, messages to his inbox begin to go unanswered. Checking the inbox itself will reveal a change as well.

Delta#02018329 is no longer receiving messages.

On the 19th, the lights go off permanently. Beginning on the 20th, anyone who ventures to his office will find the building empty and locked, no sign of Zee at all. Reaching out to him receives a bounce-back error message.

Any previous correspondences with him will remain, though his name has been replaced with his Delta ID.

It's hard to say what's happened, but after some time, all users will finally receive a message from Delta#68422.

Stop him.

No other messages will be sent or received from this account.

Welcome to

recolle's August event, part 2!

As notated in the plotting post, the dreamdives are now live! Players are in charge of creating their own unique dive experiences for characters to explore and play through. These can be as harmless or as dangerous as you'd like. However, please be sure to let us know here if your character will be failing a dive and what memory/item they will be losing!

For Prompt II, characters IDs will be comprised of the following: The date your character first appeared on Retrospec (so in Zee's case, that was 02/01/18) and the last four digits of your character's IC inbox as found in the HTML (in Zee's case, 8329.) These IDs will be more relevant in September, but for ease of playing/making sure no one ICly overlaps please use these numbers!

Friendly reminder that if your character will be keeping their new AUs, please reply to this comment on the OOC plot post! As per Prompt IV, characters who are failing to recover their original AUs will begin to notice something is off and will not be able to accomplish what is needed to regain their original AUs. What this is is up to you!

As per the plotting post, threading out successful dream dives will earn you a free memory! Qualifying threads must be at least five comments from you and can be from you either hosting a dive or participating in one. Please note that failed dives will not be eligible for freebies.

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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[III/IV]

[The stone walls of this castle soared to enormous heights, its towers overlaid on a hazy, indistinct city beneath—all set into a mountain that loomed over the fields below. The castle's walls rang with the clatter and creak of armor as soldiers patrolled its halls.

The corridors are tall and well-lit, furnished with tapestries, wall hangings, and paintings. Of Amelia, of her brothers, all flickering between human and dragon forms, her husband—and what's meant to be Kurt. Something seems...off about the last one, though. It kept changing to that of a different young man the longer it was looked at.

And there always seemed to be a bird around, no matter the location. Perched in a tree in the courtyard, nonchalantly preening its feathers on the shoulder of a statue, sitting in a windowsill or on a bannister.

Kwik-kwik-kwik the cuckoo calls, just in case anyone forgot it was there.

Proceed further into the castle, or out into the courtyard?]

[One minute, he was springing to help his mom. The next, he found himself at this odd castle. And with such familiar-looking decorations! But it was kinda disorienting how they all kept changing... Kurt rubs his eyes as he looks around.]

Mom? [He calls out just in case, as he voyages further into the castle.]

[There is a slight, cold, but definite burn crawling at Kurt's wrist as a mark appears there.

One of the soldiers pauses in his patrols, bowing his head politely. His face was impossible to make out behind the helmet.]

Prince of Daein. Do you require something?

Yow! [He winces, even as slight as the burn is, and he looks down at the mark on his arm.] What...?

[But then he blinks as he looks up towards the soldiers.]

Um... uh... um... Prince? [He adds in confusion.]

[The soldier's face was hidden, but it was easy to imagine a slow blink on his face from his pause. The rest of the patrol stands quiet and disciplined.]

...is something the matter, prince?

[Okay, this is really weird. They really seem to think he's a prince! He looks down at the mark on his arm and then up at the soldier.]

...I'm... looking for my mom? [After a beat, he hesitantly adds:] ...Queen... Mom...?

Edited 2018-08-22 17:46 (UTC)

[That was a response the soldier knew how to answer. He straightens, and nods.]

The Queen Mother is in the gardens, prince. Would you like an escort there?

[The Queen Mother... wow. Kurt hesitates for a moment, but then he gives a nervous.]

Um... yeah. Fo' sho! Y-you know, it's easy to get lost in a place like this! [Especially when you haven't been here before. But maybe when he finds his mom, things will be cleared up.]

[The guard paused a moment longer, parsing what Kurt had said. A moment more, and he straightened with a nod.]

This way, prince.

[The other guards on patrol fell into formation behind Kurt without any prompting, and the first guard led the way down one of the side corridors.

The cuckoo also tags along, though with less fanfare. It flutters into a windowsill until they pass, then goes ahead into the next one. In between preening its wings, it seems to be looking at Kurt.

Kwik-kwik-kwik it calls.]

[Wow, a whole entourage of guards! Way to make a guy feel important. He follows the head guard, glancing around as they move. And he also notices the cuckoo following him. And... looking at him. That's weird. Still, he waves meekly to the bird.]

Yo... Bird's the word?

[The bird keeps looking at Kurt, whatever thoughts were in its head an inscrutable mystery. The guards don't seem to notice it.

Kwik-kwik-kwik.

The corridor is just as richly furnished as the last room, with many of its form-changing paintings repeating. The dragons seem to become more fearsome each time, though, with openly bared teeth and bristled claws rather than dignified majesty.

The guards lead Kurt through a doorway out onto a balcony overlooking a sprawling garden and courtyard below. Amelia is there, looking down at something in that courtyard. Her dress is much more elaborate than it usually is, with gold touches on its edges and delicate black lacing.

The cuckoo makes one more appearance, flying over Kurt and passing over Amelia's head with another kwik call. She turns at the sound, but doesn't notice the bird. The lead guard bowed politely.]

Queen Mother, your son wished to see you.

[Kurt just continues onwards, with occasional glances at the mysterious bird, and growing a bit concerned with the increasingly fearsome depictions of the dragons. But at least none of them come alive.

Then they finally come across his mother at that courtyard. He's relived to see her in one piece! And wearing a dress he's never seen before. It definitely seems to match the environment.

He waves meekly towards her.]

Here I am! [A beat. He's not sure how to continue from there.] Um... Are you okay?

[Amelia seems pleased to see him--or at least, not disappointed or annoyed or anything negative. Close...enough?]

I am well-- [but when she speaks his name, it doesn't quite come out right. It's a garbled mix of "Kurt," and a name that sounds like "Pelleas," both spoken at the same time and overlaid on each other. Amelia doesn't seem to notice the gaffe.]

Step closer. Is something the matter?

[Kurt gives a confused blink in response to that mangled name, and then he uncertainly starts to step towards her.]

W-well... Yeah! You were just in trouble, and now we're... [He motions to their surroundings.] ...here! What's going on...?

In trouble? [Amelia's brow creased in a frown.] I am quite fine, Kurt-Pelleas. [That name was still spliced.] Are you not feeling well?

[As Kurt approached the balcony, he could see what she had been looking at so intently.

There was a black dragon down there, pinned flat and chained to the flagstones of the courtyard. More than a dozen soldiers were maintaining the chains, tightening ones the dragon thrashed loose or throwing more chains on the creature as they broke. The dragon's markings were subtly different from Amelia's, with more red on its wings and spines down its tail, but still.

One of the soldiers was jabbing a weak spot near where the dragon's neck met its torso with a crude lance tipped with a needle of something, again and again. An odd little man badgered the soldier, shouting, "More, more! It needs a higher dose!"

Amelia could do nothing but scowl at the spectacle, her expression tense and grim.]

[She says she's fine, and she doesn't look like she's hurt... but everything else is confusing and concerning to him.]

Pelleas...? [He repeats that aloud with a confused blink. And he looks on to the dragon, amazed at seeing another one in person. But his heart practically hurts as he beholds the way that it is being treated.]

...What's going on? [He says, with his eyes fixed ahead.]

Is that not your name-- [Amelia repeats both names at once, glancing at Kurt.

But her gaze doesn't linger, shifting back to the imprisoned dragon below.]

...I cannot stop it.

[She didn't fully explain, but that part was truthful. She had no power to make it stop, not anymore.]

Come on, that's not funny. Unless I have a middle name I don't know about, it's just Kurt. [He tries to correct her with a soft frown. Something's wrong...]

What? But we have to do something! That- that dragon's suffering! [Shouldn't she feel more of a compassion for dragons now that she is one, he wonders.]

[Amelia glanced at him sharply, with pursed lips and slightly narrowed eyes.

The cuckoo called from a tree, hidden in the garden. Kwik-kwik.]

Your name is-- [she says both names at once again, though "Pelleas" seems a bit more pronounced.]

[Was there an awning on this balcony? There is now. The supporting pillars seem too many and too close together. Ornate and decorated, but still like--

The bars of a cage, penning Amelia in.]

If I could do something. [Her voice was quiet, but stern.] I would have.

Y-you did it again! [Kurt's really getting weirded out by this now!

He does briefly look up towards the tree, to try to spot the bird, but then he notices those bars.]

Was that always like this... [He blinks and shakes his head.] Wait, but aren't you like, a queen right now? And you're a dragon too. You have the power!

[A frown.]

Spoke your name?

[Amelia doesn't seem to be following.

The cage was just big enough to accommodate Amelia's dragon form, it was true--if she stooped and curled up like a lizard, and even then only just.]

Power is not an infinite resource, Pelleas. You must learn that.

The- the wrong name! I'm not Pelleas. [He pauses.] Am I?

[He looks around at the cage-like structure with growing concern.]

I know it's not infinite. But - but I'm sure you have enough for the job! Come on, Mom... We have to do something!

You are my son. [It's an infuriatingly ambiguous answer.]

[Then Amelia fell quiet, turning back to the grim spectacle below. The dragon was snarling and snapping far more now, straining against the chains that held it.]

Even if I could, you would be injured. This...space-- [she didn't gesture at the cage. She didn't need to.] --isn't big enough.

[The bars were maybe far enough apart for Kurt to slip through--not physically, but through another way. Amelia, though, was stuck. Unless she tore the cage from its moorings...]

Yeah, that much is true! It's... the name...! [He tries to point out, but it's starting to feel hopeless.

Kurt shakes his head.]

Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, I promise. [He'll see if he has to try to sneak in a teleportation or not.] You can do this, Mom! I believe in you!

[Ah, the optimism of youth.

...and yet.

Amelia didn't face Kurt again. That would be suspicious. But she continued to speak, her voice low--for only him to hear.]

...you are certain you would not be harmed?

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digthefuzz - 2018-10-01 03:36 (UTC) - Expand

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