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[recollecters]

EVENT

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Re:Configure

Prologue.
It's on February 5th that every single Retrospec users receives a message from the liaison known as Zee Carlisle. Several of you have visited and expressed concerns already, but none of that mattered in the grande scheme of what needs to be said.

The thing about the city and the layers below is that the metaphysical can easily become the physical with the power you all possess. It's just a "handy" little trick that comes with intermingling soul essence. Thanks to my field agent, we've received some data that'll help advance our research to help track Vanderweele, stabilize the layers and figure out our next step.

The next step, of course, is going beyond.

You're not ready though. I know that, you're not, but I think I've figured out some workarounds. Just be careful and try to control yourselves. You'll need to embrace who you are and take the next step to protect yourselves.

It's not about finding keys anymore. It's about becoming them, generating the doors yourself and getting ready for things out there that're bound to be bad.

Keep balance in mind. And don't try to hide from what's happening. I'm not sure how this is going to manifest but this is all still you.

Well. That's not ominous, is it?

I.
Not long after the announcement, anyone looking in the sky will soon notice something strange happening. While the moon hangs peacefully in the night sky, the second moon that had appeared some months ago begins moving on its own, slowly beginning to eclipse the regular moon. As the two of them overlap one another, a soft blue light emits over the whole city and in your head you'll hear a faint animalistic cry. Some of you may hear the roar of a tiger while others hear the whinny of a horse and others hear the shrieking of a monkey. These sounds only last for a moment…and then there's silence. The moons split apart again and everything seems to go on as normal.

The next day on the morning of the sixth, you wake up and find yourself feeling incredibly chipper and rejuvenated, ready to take on the world and all things in it. Nothing can bring you down today and even those who are usually fussy or angry will find it hard to stay that way for long. Positivity is key here, and as you go about your day you'll find your thoughts are often drawn to capitalizing on positive qualities that you may not even know you have.

This doesn't always mean it's a good thing, however. Just because a trait is positive doesn't mean that it's only meant to do good. Being overzealous and foolhardy can cause a clash and several of you may find yourselves being too caught up in your own traits to notice they'll imbalance the people around you. A person who finds themselves in strong possession of being charming may wind up over-promising several things to several people in order to win favor. Someone who's suddenly lucky at love will have to fend off admirers that come from all sorts of directions. Goal-oriented minds will find that they're creating several to-do lists and pushing themselves too hard to finish all of the tasks at hand. Each trait manifests itself differently for each person, but it's the year you were born that seems to determine which set of traits are being amplified. It's a pattern that will take time to recognize, but talking to one another may help bring this comparison to light.

In addition to the consequences of your actions, the traits you exude will be capable of giving themselves a physical existence in the form of small, ordinary objects. Creation of these objects is for the most part involuntary and users will not always know how these will manifest. Do be careful, however. An overabundance of each trait may get you in trouble and the objects themselves will backfire in ways you may not expect. Those who are popular can wind up generating several friendship bracelets that physically bind them to too many people. Those whose sense of humor has been amplified could bring a laugh-track to life, a small object that cannot be paused and will chuckle at everything that's said no matter how serious it is. It's possible to resist giving in to these traits and avoid generating these objects, but the longer you resist the harder it will be to concentrate on anything else until the creation is expelled. You'll find your resolve weakening and compelled to give in as the days march on, but the longer you wait the more likely the objects will appear unstable. Perhaps it's best to continually create instead. You never know what you might get.

II.
When the night falls, things change and suddenly everything you may have understood about what's happening doesn't make much sense at all. As the sun sinks below the horizon and the two moons rise again, something in your personality shifts and all of your positive feelings fade away. These emotions are soon replaced by something darker and more negative, altering thoughts and ideas to the point that you may feel like you're a completely different person. Moodswings may run rampant, and insecurities will be heightened the longer the night draws on. Some of you may find greed threatening to overwhelm you, or impatience clouding your judgment and causing reckless decisions to be made. While these may not be traits you possess normally, it all comes back to when you were born and what traits the stars seem to have determined to be yours.

While you can still display independent thought and will when you possess your positive traits in the daylight, the amplification of your more negative qualities begin to overshadow all else. Giving in to your darker side is much easier than fighting it off and indulging in these traits never hurt anyone…except for perhaps yourself. While positive manifestation creates objects in abundance to the point of annoyance, negative manifestation seems to generate the metaphysical into a physical being that causes harm. The creation of elements bound to your negative side allows these objects to slowly drain away your energy, zapping the goodness out of you and leaving you as a pale, empty shell. This can be remedied by finding someone who's managed to hold onto some form of positivity, or even going to a place with plenty of lighting to drive back the shadows. Exposing yourself to either of these will help you recognize what traits have possessed you this time.

But what about your "normal" personality? Where has it gone? It's still there buried deep beneath the surface but it's much harder to reach when your less-than-stellar qualities are amped up to the point of consuming you. You may need to find people to remind you of who you once were and allow them to convince you to try and focus on your positive sides again. An imbalance is the likely outcome without someone to check on you. Being alone isn't really an option now, but can you convince others to stay? That's something only you can answer.

Additionally, you'll have to do something about the object you've brought forth in the dark hours. Leaving objects out in the open without binding them to some form of light will allow the creations to begin reaching out and draining anyone nearby. Of course, you can try to destroy these objects as well...but you may wish to remember that time is a factor here.

III.
There are two moments in each day in which your personalities will come into alignment and you'll have perfect clarity of the situation and who you are. During the hour of sunrise and the hour of sunset, an eclipse-like effect appears in the sky and allows users to grapple with both sets of traits. At the end of the day, you're still you, but these hours will give you the advantage to learn how to cope with veering too far in either direction and learn the sense of balance.

Working together, users will be able to generate items from both positive and negative traits during these hours. They must then learn how to fuse them together and create a balanced concept. Where there's light there must be darkness and while the answer may not be obvious at first, the overlayering of the sun and the moon(s) serves as a hint that perhaps the combination is the key you seek. Strangely, users are able to stare straight at this eclipse without worrying about damage to their eyes. Perhaps it's not as real as you think.

As objects come into being, willed into existence by embracing your positive and negative traits in performing some sort of action or skill encompassing the idea, they will begin to multiply and it will soon be up to users to find what items may match with someone else's items. An item created from love may go well with something created by indulgence. An item manifested from insecurity may react just as well with an item drawn from kindness. Should a user try to form an item created from two positive traits, it will explode into a shower of fireworks that rise up and spark above the city. For those who attempt to shove two negative traits together, a large smoke bomb will go off instead and the items will be destroyed, forcing users to start all over again.

Should users finally get it right and create an acceptable object, something unusual occurs. The object begins to glow and duplicates itself, hovering in front of both creators before they soon dissolve into black and white sparks that wash over you and add a thin, iridescent sheen to your skin. Your phone will beep loudly, announcing that a new feature has been unlocked on your Retrospec app and drawing your attention to a brand new map and a QR code to be scanned. The map will lead to a randomized location somewhere in the city of Recollé, and should a user choose to follow it they will come face to face with another silver door, QR scanner firmly affixed in the center.

Try all you'd like, citizens. These doors will not budge just yet, but the QR code will be accepted. A new message will appear once you've been scanned.

Make some preparations. The doors will open on the 17th and a group will be led down to undo what's been done. You in?

…time to make some decisions, it seems. What will your choose? At least there's a moment's reprieve to decide.

IV.
For the most part, this is actually fairly tame in comparison to usual Retrospec nonsense. It seems as though this storm can be weathered together and as users seek out one another it's easier to combat these effects with minimal damage. Create objects to manifest doors? That seems fairly simple and though the mysterious preparation message may leave some of you uneasy, it's the right direction to go.

Naturally, of course, there's someone who isn't too happy that light and darkness are becoming balanced and in sync.

On the morning of the fourteenth, positive traits are amplified as usual during the sunlight hours. It's a beautiful Valentine's Day in the city of Recollé. Sweet coffees are on special at both Expressive and A Good Bean. Romantic comedy marathons are queued to air all day long at Flix. Sweet Stems has a discount on flowers by the dozen, and oh look, there are black wispy hearts floating right past you through the air.

Wait, what?

Perhaps you're an overly curious type who will follow the hearts, or you may just be unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. These hearts are slow to move, floating aimlessly until they spot a target upon which they zip forward straight into your own heart. A tattoo manifests somewhere on your person, heart-shaped and black, and you feel an icy chill run through your veins as all kindness, love, and "goodness" are washed away to be replaced by the traits you've combatted in the evenings. Overwhelmed by the effects of the heart, the power within you begins to churn and give life and form to your personal darkness. A musician will be able to play notes that come to life, stabbing their victims and putting them into a deep sleep. An actor will be able to give in to their overly dramatic side and create set pieces around them, manipulating people nearby into "performing" for them. A hair stylist will have the power to create scissors out of their hands and grow out their own hair to use as a lasso to trap those they wish to punish.

The darkness in your heart will generate something different for every single individual, and no "villain" will be alike. Chaos will run rampant during the light hours and those uninfected will have to find a way to reverse this curse. The infected will recognize this as a "kissing disease", and through trial and error the uninfected will have to seek out the new tattooed marks and kiss them away, freeing the characters from their binds and bringing light back to the surface.

Good luck getting to each mark though. It will take teamwork and some clever thinking to outsmart the infected and hold them down. With a little skill, you might just be able to create your own objects to pin down the problem and save the day.

BONUS.
Beginning on the fifth, a few things will happen. For one thing, anyone who visits the liaison's office any time after this point will find that the door is locked and the office is empty. That's probably nothing to worry about. However, messages will be sent to each user's phone over the course of the next few weeks with status updates.

Users will find themselves in possession of what looks like a digital map of Recollé with several black dots scattered around. As each user successfully fuses an object that manifests a door, a black dot turns white and flashes on the screen. Over time, all of these doors will begin to appear to show users locations that may grant them access to the next layer.

Users will also find themselves in possession of a short biography about themselves. Featuring information such as their height, weight, level of combat and other key notable traits (three best qualities and three worst qualities), these biographies also appear to have notes added about regains you've recovered or events that have happened in the city.

Too bad these biographies aren't just meant for you. The moment you read over them, the biography forwards itself to just about anyone on the Retrospec app and you'll receive someone else's biography to read over instead. Not long after, a video call will connect you to this new person and cannot be disconnected for a minimum of fifteen minutes.

This gives "getting to know each other" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? Maybe you'll learn something useful today.

NOTES.
Welcome to recolle's February event part one!

You can claim three freebies on this log!
-Players may claim one freebie for manifesting an item and dealing with the consequences. This item may be a positive or negative trait, and this thread must be at least five comments from you.
-Players may claim one freebie by fusing one of their objects with someone else's and creating a door. This thread must be at least five comments from you.
-Players may claim one freebie by healing someone from the kissing disease. This thread must be at least five comments from you.

-Please keep in mind that the bonus is a bonus prompt! If you do not want your character's biography floating around for other users to see, you do not have to be affected by this prompt.

-While the Chinese zodiac traits are linked, these are merely suggestions that you can build off of. These traits will be what's most prevalent and attached to characters, but you're free to have others in a similar vein show up. Objects manifested from these ideas into real life may also vary and the above in the log are simply examples.

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 additional information as well!

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( coding by fleeting )

Comments

MOD QUESTIONS

[recollecters]

Please leave all mod questions regarding this log here!

Re: MOD QUESTIONS

[standalonehuman]

For the bonus prompt, is the user's canon name or Recolle name on the biography?

[dereban]

I can't believe I'm asking this, but for the kissing disease, in order to cure someone, does it have to be a physical kiss or can I like, have a character put a Hershey's Kisses on top of the mark to cure it?

[thisloveisjustice]

How attached do people feel toward the items they generate? Are they compelled to pick them up and keep them? If they try to get rid of them, do they come back?

[standalonehuman]

I:

During the daytime, Togusa feels amazing, for a guy who got shot a few weeks ago. He attributes his upturn in mood to the micromachines speeding his recovery (and to the two marks on his neck that he is keeping covered up with a turtleneck sweater against the returning cold.)

But one thing Togusa is known for is his steadfastness, the kind of dependability that means he needs to be returning to work as quickly as possible, since he has the energy for it. Right?

At the Department, he is buzzing around, not remaining contained to his office, offering to help out with any little task that needs done. Ferrying papers, making more coffee, Togusa is on it. The other officers are either glad to take advantage of his generosity, or mumbling that he's getting cooped up and he needs to get the energy out somehow.

He's handing over a file to the Chief when the first gold star sticker appears. He chuckles at it, like a lower school reward for doing a good job. But they don't stop coming.

Whether inside or outside of the Department, Togusa seems bound and determined to make himself useful to people. Need groceries carried? Suddenly Togusa is there to help. Get across a busy street? See if he doesn't flash that badge to stop traffic. And after each 'helpful' deed, another large gold sticker appears, spilling out of his pocket or stuck to some part of his clothing.

II:

It's night time when the other side of the coin starts to come out. Togusa's hard-working personality and detail-oriented mind can ever so quickly slide down into obsession. It seems he's carrying around those black folders again, whether he is hiding away in his office at the Department, holed up at either his house or Koutarou's, or even out in public at a coffee shop.

The folders contain the printed out details or even handwritten notes of Retrospec's crimes. Togusa pores over them again and again, comparing incidents of weapons being given out, injuries appearing on people, or the many ways in which people have tried to attack Retrospec's data fortress before. It is all overlaid with a frenzied energy. There has to be something he is missing.

If he is allowed to continue at this long enough, another book will appear among what he is working on. The cover remains blue, but the title and contents are translated into English.

He has generated a copy of Catcher in the Rye.

III:

During the 'between' hours, Togusa can finally let himself be bone-tired exhausted. The traits are literally making him burn the candle at both ends, so when they let him go, he will be catching any kind of rest that he can. Which is a problem, because deep down he knows these hours are the only time he will be clear to figure out what is really going on. But he barely has the energy to figure it out.

Bonus 1:


-Hitori Togusa (joined February 2017), Age 29, born October 18. Born in Kawasaki, Japan.
-Came to Recolle for college, became a naturalized American citizen.
-Officer of Recolle Police (promoted to Detective rank April 2018).
-Heavily investigating Retrospec and unreality disturbances. Stated publicly he aims to arrest Retrospec leadership.
-Recieved cyberbrain implant (Please reference: Micromachines). Sustains communication over Retrospec network through implant.
-In possession of Tachikoma multi-ped artificially intelligent tank unit.
-See also Mariko Aramaki.
-Converses most frequently with Tatsuo Kihara, Shuji Tsushima, James Barnes. Koutarou Takao (lapsed).
-Philosophical, searching for a deeper meaning into life.
-Hard-working.
-Optimistic when it comes to the goodness of people.
-Over-thinker, often denying what he is told in order to look for a hidden angle.
-Binary sense of justice, black and white view of morality.
-Temper problems.
-Likes dogs.

-Note: Mister Togusa continuously insists that he is a separate entity than his soul. Continued denial may lead to long-term difficulties.

Togusa is still gawking at that final line when he realizes the image just got sent. Oh no.

Bonus 2:

It seems that Togusa isn't the only one going through some personality changes. Togusa got a present from Retrospec just for Isamu the Tachikoma: a new canister of oil! So, after giving Isamu a much-needed tune-up, he replaced the Tachikoma's oil canister with the new oil, not thinking anything of it.

If anything, Isamu has grown even more curious in the last week. For those who haven't met him, Isamu is a blue robot the size of a small sedan car. He is following Togusa up the sidewalk, and seems to be mid-way into an excited discussion.

"...but very early references to the soul make no distinction between the human body and the human soul, making the assumption that form predates function! You can tell the true fundamental function of a human being because it emulates the form of its creator!"

"Where did you get this idea, anyway?" Togusa is watching Isamu very cautiously before he dares jump in to the debate.

iii

[brushy]

[ evening hours are the times where ahmi closes up for the day and heads out to grab something to eat. the supermarket gives her an array of fruits to choose from, and some lettuce and such to make her salads. thing is, she returns right to her workspace— because that place is her home. there’s a small room in the back just for her.

returning to petal flow with some brown bags in her hands, and perhaps luckily, she happens to spot . . . goodness, such an exhausted looking man.

her immediate desire, above all, is to help. ahmi is older, surely, but . . . god (her, haha), she can’t help but to look at him with the concern a mother would, ready to take an exhausted child into her lap and straight to bed.

she, instead, takes a seat on the bench he finds himself in, and looks over. she didn’t want to disturb him if he was asleep, but he also didn’t want to leave him alone. ]

bonus 2

[thisloveisjustice]

Tatsuo only caught the tail end of Isamu's statement as he walked up, having spotted the blue robot from across the street.

"Is he discussing the existence of the soul?"

Philosophy, not one of Tatsuo's strong points. But boy will he watch Togusa hash it out with a robot. Because who wouldn't want to watch a robot discuss something like this?

I

[psykick]

Rinka is dealing with a 'multi-tasking' trait and frankly it's a little out of control (ignoring the fact humans can't actually multi-task b/c they end up switch-tasking instead). There is only so much tasking her brain can keep track of, and right now texting her Japanese study group about when they're going to meet (in Japanese, b/c they enjoy hard mode) while walking across the street is not meshing with also paying attention to traffic.

Please stop this girl before she gets herself run over Mr Police Officer.

bonus 1

[motiv8]

[So hey! Guess who's got a way less interesting biography to trade and who's also now in a video feed with Togusa? This guy!]

...Ah.

[This isn't the first biography he's seen today, for better or worse, so he's already aware of the whole video thing by the time he's looking over this.]

Um, hey there, Mr. Togusa. ...Would "Detective Togusa" be better?

[What's more properly polite?]

[dereban]

♡ option i-a ( two threads max for this prompt, please! )

[ Seeing that message on the fifth sure is worrying in ways that seem to amplify her concerns, especially given the fact that she's spoken on the idea of becoming someone different and that concept still... honestly terrifies her to her very core.

And it's because of that, mingled with the fact that she's been struggling with sleep that makes things worse, but the positive feelings that swirl in the air seem to take over her usually distrustful nature.

There's no need to worry about anything, all she has to do is focus on staying on top of things so nobody can see through her. She has classes, after all, she's going to live her life normally in spite of everything and if she has to do something to help with the situation...

Well, that's something to figure out when that comes.

But while she might be feeling rejuvenated? Her body seems to have caught up to her and she just collapses right on the spot.

Welp. A little help, please? ]

♡ option i-b.

[ After that little issue, she's not going to let her mistake with that stop her in the slightest bit, as she winds up with a phone full of notes - a little "to do" list to make sure that she stays on top of things.

Of course, one of those things wind up being to find a job, since she desperately needs the money after sinking some of her allowance on two high end video games in the last month...

Which, of course, leads into taking a little bit of a risk that she wouldn't normally do.

Applying for a cosplay cafe.

Which means that people might find Raina in a costume, blonde wig and staff and all, standing right outside passing out flyers with a smile. She's even using a rather different voice than usual, a higher pitch that makes her sound like a practically different person. ]

Hello, would you like to take a flyer? There's a promotion coming up for Valentine's Day and if you come alone on that day you'll get a special promotion and service from one of our lovely waitresses! If you have any questions, though, feel free to ask me. ✩

[ She sounds way too enthused about the whole thing that there's no way that anybody who knows her would actually think that it's actually her.

Although someone with good ears that have her voice before might catch on slightly, but it's pretty difficult. ]

♡ option iii.

[ Fuck.

She gets off work a little bit before the sun sets but once it hits that hour and she gains clarity, she can't help but be really angry.

This isn't her personality, she's not like that at all. She wants to fall apart and crumble because of it.

But she can't just simply do nothing, so she shoots out a quick text onto the network, posting as Queen: ]

Is a "change of personality" what the message meant, because I can't possibly be the only one who's noticed themselves acting slightly off, and I'm just a little concerned.

♡ wildcard

[ Want to play something else completely different? Hit me up via PM or at endlesseight! ]

i-b because i'm pretty sure i'm legally obligated

[motiv8]

[Rean's just going about his daily business of being as helpful as humanly possible and making his way downtown, walking fast, when—]

Ah? Um, sure.

[He doesn't even realize what he's taking a flyer for until he takes it, having not really been listening to the costumed girl's spiel. (He's busy on Valentine's, anyway, so no worries. He's not that sad.)

But there's something about her that makes him just stop, squinting a little bit. She might seem like a totally different person to most people, but this is her brother. He knows her better than anyone.]

...hang on a minute. Raina?

OTA!

[sleepingknight]

I.

[Yuuki's never exactly been unpopular - both online and in real life, she's a cheerful and reasonably sociable girl and that's enough to draw people in.

That said, there's never this many people trailing behind her. She smiles at any who approach with a friendly enough demeanor, but by the afternoon it's pretty clear even she's starting to get tired of it.

Even when she gets cornered, she handles it calmly enough, continuing to chatter away as she furtively looks for someone reasonably safe she can latch onto as an excuse to leave.]

Yeeeeeah, that show's pretty much my favorite. The jokes are really... fun...

IV.

[Dragons seek to help others yet do not seek help themselves.

Right now, Yuuki's more in the position to help for sure. Thus far uninfected, it seems she's wised up to the cure, as ridiculous as it may feel.

As a result, the moment she sees anyone acting oddly, her new instinct is to duck behind the nearest available cover. Hopefully she can do so without being noticed - and not only that, but spot the pesky little mark she's going to need to target.]

Come on... just turn a little more...

Wildcard

[Want an option not already here? Hit me up with a scenario and I'll roll with it! Alternately, plot something with me at danidanidanica!]

I.

[jurai]

[Thankfully for Yuuki, one of Crow's most positive traits is his need to look out for others and save them from less desirable situations. Even if that means being a little forceful and pushing them outside their comfort zone...but it's the thought that counts, right?

He'd woken up in the best mood he's had since he can remember, red eyes practically glittering like garnets as he walks down the street. It's not until he sees his petite little friend in need that he takes note of the...fanclub she's got following her.

And more importantly, how not-down she is with it.

Don't worry Yuuki, giant samoyed to the rescue!]

Hey! You finally made it!

[Made it to what? Who knows? But if she's got 'plans' it may turn off unwanted attention.]

I thought you'd never get here!

[motiv8]

I. even if driven to the wall
[The beginning of the month has been a steady stream of being put down for his recklessness, but it doesn't appear to have stopped Rean.

Or maybe that's just the overwhelming positivity talking? It's probably that. It's not that Rean's normally morose or anything, but there's definitely an excitable energy about him today that isn't otherwise there.

If he sees anyone looking like they could use some assistance, with anything, he beelines right on over and speaks up.]

Hey, need a hand?

[He really shouldn't be putting himself out like this to so many people. There's no way he'll be able to keep track of everything... and doesn't he have, like, homework to do? Nevertheless, here he is. Take his offer? Try to make him settle his ass down? It's up to you!]


II. strain
[At night, though, things are very different.

Maybe everyone shutting him down and calling him out really has gotten to him. There's a storm of emotions swirling in his chest, following him around like a dark cloud.

He has been trying, he has been trying so damn hard since he got onto the app. He hasn't actually put himself out like this in years, if ever – can't people just appreciate anything he's attempting to do? But as always, that's quick to reflect right back onto himself. Of course they can't. Why would he deserve it? Sure, he's been trying, but he's been failing. And it's not like he's been the only one running himself ragged, he's been feeding off the kindness of others himself. And what has he offered in return?

If Rean has plans with people, they'll be suddenly and abruptly cancelled. He doesn't stay strictly in his dorm room, but if anyone spots him around town he'll probably be holed up by himself in the corner of some cafe, brows furrowed as he scrolls through his phone like he's looking for something, anything to distract him. Three guesses about how that's going for him, first two don't count.

If anyone approaches him, he'll look up, but there's a darkness in his lavender eyes and his tone is sharp.]

Can I help you?


IV. internal twilight
[Rean manages to miss any indication of the wispy hearts for the majority of the daylight hours on the fourteenth. To be fair, he's a little distracted – both by his own need to get involved in everything he sees, and because he has a fake date today! He and Crow (well, C, he can't make himself say Crow for some reason, but while that's weird and all why would he let that get him down?) spend a hearty chunk of the afternoon talking to one another over waffles at the Wiffle-Waffle. Gotta take advantage of those sweet, sweet couple's specials, even if they're not actually a couple.

Rean will absolutely be Crow's fake boyfriend for free waffles, though. He has priorities.

It's after they part ways that one of them catches him. Ah, being in the wrong place at the wrong time; Rean's eternal curse. It catches him off guard when something small and black zips towards him, but before he can even react it's already fished its way into his tiddies made itself at home inside his chest.

Rean stops dead, ice running through his veins and feeling a tightness and pain in his chest, behind his newly-formed scar. There's something else new, too: a tiny little black heart mark on his neck, just behind his ear and nearing his hairline.

Running into this dark Rean will not be a matter of finding him. Although he's now dressed head to toe in black and adorned with useless belts and other cold steel and leather accessories, he's somehow blending right in with the crowds or staying in what shadows there are. He'll sense others long before they know he's there, and it's easy to follow people until they're alone. And once they are...

Something will slash through various objects around them, the slashes leaving lines of light in their wake until Rean appears in front of whoever he's ensnared, sheathing his sword. Those objects he slashed through will all fall in at once, half-burying them under the pile of debris. Coolly acknowledging his handiwork, Rean will step forward, speaking in a low growl.]

You'll be staying right there. Where I can keep you safe.

[Yandere protectiveness is a go, apparently. That, and going straight back into his embarrassing teenage goth demon prince phase. I'm sorry. No kissing unless your character's name is Crow Armbrust, please, but you're more than welcome to have your character get the hell out of dodge!]


bonus. dignity
[So, uh, hey. Who got all this information, how, and also why? Rean hasn't even wrapped his head around how utterly embarrassing all of this is until it's already sent itself to someone else.]

- Rean Schwarzer (joined November 2018). Age 20, born May 21. Born in Pittsford, NY. 5'8", 141 lbs.
- See also: Elliot Craig, Crow Armbrust
- Basic swordfighting ability and higher than average strength. Has some speciality in Japanese-style swords.
- Student at Recolle University since age 18. Has yet to declare a major.
- Often picks up odd jobs from Craigslist, Fiver, or local bulletin boards.
- Hard-working and open to doing various types of work
- Cares deeply about others' well-being
- Innate leadership ability, able to pull people together toward a solution in times of crisis
- Low sense of self-worth
- Highly likely to put others before himself, potentially to his own endangerment
- Struggles with indecisiveness and feels as though his life lacks purpose or direction


wildcard
[As always, I'm open to just about anything! Either hit me up with something random or plot something with me at needlemouse!]

yeah you know what let's go iv for horrible

[dereban]

[ This certainly is a surprise to see and hear and it causes her to freeze and tense up slightly as she brings her hands to her chest, definitely looking concerned for him in spite of traits wanting to peek out. You're more than simple traits, Raina, she tries to tell herself, a little breathless as she tries to figure out what she should say. What can she say? ] . . . Rean? [ Her voice seems to crack a little bit at the way his voice seems to have a certain edge to it and while there's a part of her that screams danger alarm bells in her head to run, this is still her older brother, her one and only friend. There's no way that she could ever run. ] Is. . . this some sort of joke? Are you going full chuuni? [ She's trying to say things like that to hide away her insecurities; she's supposed to be ahead of everyone, a leader, she can't show weakness here, and especially not in front of him. ]

[thisloveisjustice]

I.
Tatsuo has never been particularly ambitious. While he's perfectly capable of setting and achieving goals, he generally doesn't keep pushing. Thus why he's held the same position at the crime lab for nearly ten years. He knows what he's good at and he mostly sticks to that. Occasionally his supervisor will ask him to do additional tasks, and he'll do them, but he rarely asks to take on new tasks unless he's truly bored (which pretty much never happens as there is always another case to work on).

But this month... he's feeling a little different. Rumor is the lab supervisor might be retiring at the end of the year. And for once, Tatsuo thinks, 'Hey, I could do that.' But after ten years of just doing his work (for the most part), he has to do something to get noticed. Like offering to take on more workload than usual. Topping up the supervisor's coffee mug when he notices it getting low.

Outside of work, there are plenty of other aspects of his life where Tatsuo can feel ambitious. Like cooking. Tatsuo isn't the worse cook out there, but he's still definitely a beginner. But despite the fact he's not tried to make anything Japanese before other than omurice, and barely remembers the food his mom cooked for him when he was a child, he's scouring Union Grocery for the ingredients necessary for homemade miso ramen.

II.
While Tatsuo is occasionally moody on his own, he usually bounces out of it pretty quick. But this month, once the sun goes down, Tatsuo's emotions start to vacillate, widely. It's like it's 2017 again and he's just gotten back from three weeks in unreality. He starts withdrawing from social engagements he agreed to during the day and when questioned over it is rather curt over the fact he just doesn't want to.

He doesn't quite notice how out of character he's acting until one evening when he snaps at one of his students. The hurt expression on the student's face briefly cuts through the fog that's been shrouding his brain, and he stammers out an apology. But by the time he gets home, the incident simply adds itself onto the pile of things to be moody over.

Even Yujirou has noticed how... out of sorts his human is, and while he does his best to comfort Tatsuo, his efforts mostly go unappreciated.

One evening as Tatsuo lays on his couch, contemplating how ridiculous his life has gotten, he feels something cold on his hand. Looking down, he sees a swirled stone ring on his right hand. Now where did that come from? He idly twists the ring around his finger a couple times, before dropping both hands back down to his chest.

III.
During sunrise and sunset, Tatsuo mostly just dreads the oncoming day or night. While he's glad he's at least not eating through any vacation time, all the extra stuff he's doing at work during the day is leaving him a little tired in the evenings, which doesn't help with how he's feeling at night time (actually, it's mostly the ring).

After several days of cycling back and forth, and a couple days after the ring manifests, Tatsuo sends out a text through the app.

Has anyone gotten any odd objects? Not from the mailbox? I got this ring and I haven't gotten any memories related to it. It just appeared on my hand one night.

BONUS
- Tatsuo Kihara (joined May 2017), age 32, born Oct 7 in Recolle
- Height: 5'9", brown hair, brown eyes
- Mother killed by drunk driver, resulted in placement at Recolle Orphanage
- Maintains close relationships with multiple orphanage friends (please reference "MURDOCK, MATTHEW" & "MATTHEWS, DEREK")
- Attended Recolle University, received BS in Forensice Science (2009), has worked at city crime lab since
- Pupil at Utusuki Dojo from age 10, assistant teacher age 16, full instructor age 22
- Holds 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin karate
- Converses frequently with Hitori Togusa, Matthew Murdock, Mariko Aramaki, Derek Matthews
- Items received: cell phone, police badge w/ name: Ikuo Ryuuzaki, three handguns (only one of which is registered), silver necklace, jacket, toy dinosaur, photograph
- Physical change: gunshot wound to upper-left abdomen, no exit wound
- Experiences painful headaches due to repressed memories in previous life
- Still holds a grudge for August 2017. Takes issue with monkeys, waterfalls, tombs, castles, witches, skeletons... probably more
- Good listener, extremely loyal, general cheerful disposition
- Blind to faults of people he cares about, does not handle conflict well, easily manipulated by those close to him
- Adopted dog (June 2018), Golden retriever, 10 yrs old, name: Yujirou. Makes homemade dog treats.

Tatsuo stares at his file again, not sure whether to feel flattered or called out. And then he realizes it's forwarded itself somewhere. Shit.

BONUS

[brushy]

[ oh no . . . she tried not to read, but the last sentence is what gets her attention enough that she looks away too late.

ahem. video connected, she waves. ]

Hello?

[invocate]

I.
Li-Na is energetic by nature. She gets up early to put in an hour at the gym before eating breakfast. She's the first on the barre in her dance class. Every movement she makes, while fluid, has an underlying current of energy.

Now take that and ramp it up to ten.

While she normally enjoys a latte in the morning, lately she hasn't even felt like she needs the caffeine kick. She just gets up and goes. And goes. And goes. And goes. She's bouncing from one thing to another like a pin ball, sometimes skipping right over lunch to instead cram some extra studying in at the library, because ... why stop? She feels great!

Once her classes are done in the afternoon, it's off to Dancinerate to squeeze in some extra practice before she teaches her toddlers. Or off to the Rec Center to take a capoeira class. Or attending some extra lecture or event on campus. Or maybe she's arranged to meet up with a study group.

A home, she cooks up a storm. It's Chinese New Year and that means she's missing Hong Kong more than ever. So she cooks all of her favorite foods and all of Xiaolang's favorite foods, and probably goes a bit overboard.

The bad thing about being extremely energetic is the fact that energy has to come from somewhere. Not to mention her body can only take so much strain. Sooner or later, she's going to crash (especially with the meal skipping).

II.
But just try to tell her to stop.

As soon as the sun goes down, something hot flares up inside Li-Na. She already has something of a temper, but it tends to run cool and quiet until the very last second. But this month, it's hot and fast, and flares at the littlest things.

Cut in front of her at the coffee shop? Take the last triple chocolate brownie? Or maybe just look at her funny? Whatever it is, Li-Na is getting in people's faces and giving them a thorough tongue lashing. Hopefully, you're not on the receiving end.

She could probably use someone to rein her in, but that person is going to have to put up with her temper.

III.
In between, Li-Na tries to do some degree of damage control. If she went off on someone the night before, she tries to track them down to apologize, before she slides back into angry mode. Which is why you might have a very sheepish and apologetic Li-Na approach you, early one evening.

"Um... about last night... I'm sorry."

BONUS
- Li-Na Yiu (joined July 2017), age 19, born Feb 22 in Hong Kong (prev. name 'Lenalee Lee')
- Height: 5'6", dark green hair (orig. black), purple eyes (orig. brown)
- Parents killed in car accident, placed in care of relative for 2 years in Guangxi, older brother became legal guardian after
- Studied at Hong Kong Youth Ballet Academy and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
- Received HKDSE in 2017, attended Recolle High school for 1 year before applying to Recolle University as Dance major
- Items received: weapon called 'Innocence,' takes form of armored boots; three different uniforms, communication golem, hairclips, pillow with face on it (???)
- Boots have purifying properties and enhance leg strength, speed, and durability
- Additional abilities: walking on water, super sonic speed, tornado creation, 'meteor blade'?, crystalline shield
- Participated in initial exploration of Bosuma, asked for cake for teammate
- Converses frequently with James Barnes, Xiaolang Li, Elliot Craig, Derek Matthews
- Warm-hearted and kind, takes interest in those around her, quick to protect people
- Trust easily broken, quick to hold grudges, quick to jump to conclusions

Note: named dog 'Spotted' in Mandarin after expressly instructed not to name him Spot
Note: need to find way to measure ability to synchronize with Innocence

[hauhra]

i. roleplaying means to play a role

[ It is a vibrant paint job despite the brisk winter breeze brought on by the clouds scattered throughout the air today, the colors on the tabletop miniature lush and majestic beneath what rays of the afternoon sun do succeed in breaking through the condensated barrier. Even the (half) hash-shaped scar on the right cheek of the miniature is conspicuous for its size, hinting at an almost professional-grade quality of production; and yet, despite the sheer level of detail from the semi-accurate ancient Egyptian garb that adorns the miniature’s body to the wild, moon-white hair atop the miniature’s head, it is, in fact, the work of one of the Retrospec network’s own.

Unfortunately, regardless of to whom it belongs, whatever admiration anyone might have for the craftsmanship that had gone into the thing is probably going to be cut short when it starts climbing your pants leg to try to either pick at your back pocket for change, or to dive into your handbag in search of your wallet. ]

ii. bonus

- Bakhura Farouk (joined July 2017), age 18, born October 25th.
- white hair (originally dark brown), brown eyes, 5’9”, 115 lbs.
- lost his parents in an accidental apartment fire at the age of 5 and was refused by his extended family in Egypt; placed in the foster system
- because of his grief, developed an intense enthusiasm for the occult and started acting out around others even at the cost of being adopted or making friends
- copes with his loneliness through games, especially tabletop games and video games, and is an extremely sore loser
- was renowned as a delinquent at Recolle High School until his memories convinced him to reconsider his life choices; believes that his other selves had a just cause but went about pursuing it in the wrong way and is afraid of walking the same path
- now has a job at a local game store and is striving to be a better person than his “other” selves, though still somewhat rough around the edges
- has the Millennium Ring, a Duel Monsters deck, and clothes from his former life
- has a so-called “spirit monster” called Diabound and minor telekinetic abilities, but is otherwise less magically powerful than his other selves for the time being
- rolled to seduce the merman in August 2017 but did not offer himself as the bait
- failed a mission in Respatrum because of a particularly painful memory regain
- took down a handful of viruses with Albert Matthews
- tolerates people more than he did when he first joined the app but still reluctant to trust them overall because his childhood fear of abandonment now manifests as a fear of people forgetting about the app
- loyal and overprotective deep down
- practical, strong-willed, and extremely goal-oriented
- can be reckless and moody, but has been showing signs of improvement recently

[ Bakhura is sneering at the file in his hands, unaware that it's been sent off to some unknown party while he protests its contents: ]

Tch! What a load of shit. I do not have a fear of abandonment and I'm not overprotective. Who wrote this, anyway?

[ Wait, how long has this video call been on?

Shit. ]

iii. wildcard

[ Go nuts. PM hauhra if you wanna hash something out first. ]

i

[motiv8]

[Oh, hey, this thing is really cool! And what amazing craftsmanship...

Rean's not too familiar with the world of tabletop gaming, but enough to know what he's looking at. And it does distract him, momentarily, enough to even get him to bend down and examine it a little closer when—

Why is it moving. WHY IS IT GOING FOR HIS WALLET. That's his emo wallet chain, little figure, you stop that!]

H-hey!

[Time to fight a miniature? This is his life now, apparently.]

[psykick]

I.
Rinka's a busy girl. She's got school and sports and even a part time job. And on top of that she still tries to earn good grades, which means lots of studying. But there's only so many hours in the day. So what's a girl to do but multi-task?

She takes her textbooks to the gym and works on readings while jogging on the treadmill. She has a teammate call out Japanese vocab during tennis practice. And as a teenager she already uses her phone constantly, but you'll find her texting and pretty much not looking where she'd going at all... maybe stop her before she walks into the street?

II.
It's like during the day, she's able to focus 110% on what she needs to do, but at night... poof, the focus is gone. She sits at a table in her favorite coffee shop or in the library, staring at her homework and wondering where the hell to start. Math? History? Physics? Or maybe Japanese? Or maybe she should get up and refill her tea...

Rinka groans and flops her head down into her hands. She has to start somewhere or she's going to get nothing done at all.

III.
It's kind of hard not to notice the post-it notes that just... keep appearing. They're very useful after all and more often than not end up in her school planner. But why they keep appearing... Rinka's a little lost on that. She doesn't recall buying the post-its? They're just... there... especially when she needs one.

The pair of dice rattling around in her pocket. Those are extra weird. They're not your usual six-sized dice with dots. Instead, they have 'yes,' 'no,' and 'maybe' on the sides, twice for each choice. She simply found them in her backpack one evening and felt compelled to hold onto them.

The presence of the objects just... bugs her, especially during the two hours of the day she feels most like herself. So when she spots someone else she knows is on the network, she flags them down.

"Hey, have you noticed something weird going on?"

BONUS
- Rinka Smith (joined Dec 2018), age 16, born Jul 3 in Recolle
- Height: 5'4", light brown hair, brown eyes
- Mother, Jane Smith, executive at [large international bank]; father unknown
- Very athletic, on varsity teams for Girls' Tennis and Track & Field
- Received intangibility/phasing ability via glowing fish
- Converses frequently with Rean Schwartz, Albert Matthews, James Barnes
- Outgoing and personable, strong team player, strong desire to help others
- Sarcastic, doesn't look before she leap, overly competitive

Rinka gapes at her file. What the hell? Retrospec keeps files on them? On the one hand, she probably shouldn't be surprised. They're Retrospec's guinea pigs after all. But on the other, some of this is just... borderline rude. 'Overly competitive'?

And then it forwards itself to someone else. As someone else's gets forwarded to her.

"What? NO!"

[usurpers]

ＥＹＥ ＯＦ ＴＨＥ 🐅
[ those who look beyond the city’s horizon will see thick smoke clouds rising daily from recollé woods during the early hours of the morning. maybe there was a faraway thunderclap, but no storm in sight. get there any later than 9am, and you’ll find nothing there, with the smoke gone and no signs that there could’ve been fire.

get there early, wander deep enough, and you’ll find one elusive eren jaeger (he’s been very elusive and terribly quiet lately) sitting under a tree, a motorcycle parked close by and . . .

a massive pile of crystal balls. scars drag down eren’s face, and he picks up the spheres one by one, no bigger than a marble, giving them a shake before clicking his tongue with impatience and tossing it into a box. an overflowing box. the more he picks them up and shakes them, the more he becomes vocal and a little more irritable, grabbing granola bars by the handful and tearing the heads of three at a time.

he can’t stop making these crystal balls man these balls are on fire (no they are not on fire but what’s he going to do with all these balls???) ]

ＬＯＵＤＥＲ ＴＨＡＮ Ａ 🦁
[ come to the biggest music store in recollé from sunset to dark, and you might find that speakers blare with voice and sound. they always keep their doors for people of all levels to play with each other, and it seems like one person in particular has managed to gather and constantly lead players who flip flop between instruments to join in on some no-strings-attached rocking.

eren manages the drums in an intensely aggressive manner, all while doing something different: with headphones and a hands free mic attached, he’s picked up vocals, all of which are mostly . . . equally aggressive, in both screaming (screaming) tone and lyrics (which include but are not limited to):

💥 end transmission
💥 pretenders
💥 excuse me
💥 public enemy
💥 composition

it’s been a while (like years) since he’s sang like this, and every so often, an older man comes over to give him water and pointers. yes. coaching. he’s preparing the ground for GIANT⚡️ROBOT, folks. and you bet your ass he’s projecting and you can bet even further that he’s using this new outlet to its greatest extent.

characters are welcomed to grab an instrument and join in no matter how much you know. there are plenty of guitars to add and improvise, as well as other strings, blowing instruments, microphones and more— eren’s hanging around a girl a lot during free time, picking out bass guitars and switching out designs to best suit her robot legs.

add your piece (and favorite song) to the circle. if eren sees you, he’ll call you over once wordlessly, only with gesture.

he’s being nice. he’s not using the mic. don’t make him use it. ]

ｒｏａｒ
EREN JAEGER (joined Sept. 2017), age 20, born March 31st. Height: 6’1, brown hair, blue eyes, born in Philadelphia, PA.
— Assault and homicide of his father led to abrupt rebellious behavior at 13. Fought anything that moved.
— Switched schools constantly to avoid expulsion.
— Heightened interest in Paramedicine at age 17, behavior stabilized (please also reference CRAIG, ELLIOT a̴̳̝͚̹̾͆̆̈́n̸͙̝̗̫̓͊̇̎◾️ ̸̪͕̦͔̓̇͘̕Ĵ̴̫̯̤͋͑͜͝A̵̩͖̤̼͊̾̒͗EG̷̡̟͚͌̃́͘ͅĖ̸̛̫̘͍̏͗ͅR̴͕̪͇̣̾͘͝͝,̵̗̩̳̯̈́́̐͛⬛️CL⚫️V̶̧͙͖̼̏̌͋̀▫️R̶̰̤̹̓̿̃͘ͅ // ERROR)

— Gained access to father’s inheritance at age 18.
— Currently a paramedic student at RU.
— Works as a part time patient tech at RECOLLÉ GENERAL HOSPITAL.
— Major hobbies: Drumming, Giant Robots (Prerequisite: Giant), scale model construction.
— Specialized military training (see: 3DMG, Regained Memories), hand to hand combat specialty.
— Titan Shifter (see: FOUNDING TITAN, ATTACK TITAN & WARHAMMER TITAN)
— Remaining 4 of 13 year lifespan countdown paralyzed.
— Regained memories, PAGE ONE, PAGE TWO
— Passionate, motivational and excels in utilizing willpower.
— Morally righteous grey.
— Selfless to a radical point of selfishness and/or self destruction.
— Sensitive, intense, short-tempered but generally well meaning.
— FREEDOM. That is all.
— Strong sense of self Critical identity disorientation, debugging options in effect.

[ and in an instant, you’re connected: to eren aggressively stuffing his face with a banana and staring back at you. ]

ＷＩＬＤＣＡＲＤ
( let’s do something different )

CHICKS DIG GIANT⚡️ROBOT

[hauntedsavior]

[Anna hasn't had a whole lot of time to learn how to play bass, but she knows how to use a sword. she can coordinate her hand and eyes (nope!) pretty well, though both her hands are still mostly stuck working in tandem. she doesn't sound... awful when she plays the black-bodied bass she's liking right now, and she's been getting some tips from the employee all evening, too. she's not quite confident enough to be cranking her volume or playing in lockstep yet, especially because she doesn't know all the songs, but she's having one of the better nights of her life. when she doesn't stop to think about it too hard.]

[right now she's pulling off one of the basic moves that she's seen bassists do in concert tons of times before and facing away from everyone, towards the wall, acting like she's fiddling with her amp. sue her for being avoidant. but Eren's been going back and forth between all his stuff and helping her out and she appreciates him maybe more than she has words for. honestly, she's picking it up faster than she thought. on his next trip back over to help her out, she quits idly plucking the low E and looks over at him.]

You know, for someone who doesn't know how to play, I could be doing worse.

[jurai]

I.5 Final Remix

[On the morn of 02/06, Crow wakes up feeling the best he's felt in ages. Maybe it was just a delayed effect from Ahmi's session, but his aches were gone, his worries even less so. He felt good and a wanting to do good in the process.

He should be sharing this good mood, shouldn't he?

So that's when Crow hits the streets with his phone, taking up jobs from his phone and offering to help people with their mundane tasks. Look at all these things people need done! Exciting!]

Hey, didn't you put up a little request on Craigslist? I'm here to give ya a hand.

[At least it's not money that's fueling him this time. However, he will get bored about halfway through the task and have to skip out early. But he'll make sure it's mostly done, okay?]

II.5 Final Remix

[Nighttime is another story. Crow's never really been one to be loud and obnoxiously an asshole, and even his worst traits make him somewhat tolerable in public.

However.

It has fed into a weakness of his that he's been mostly able to keep in check: his gambling. While Crow was never all that great about the extra money he made, he never frivolously threw it away like he's doing now, his credit card in hand and punching in the details into his phone. Something he had put a lock on with two passwords to keep him from efforting to put it in.

Well, his need to pull on his gacha led him to look for those passwords, put it in, and is ready to keep pulling. No one's even sure if he's going for something specific. After all, he'd pulled his dream idol just a few weeks ago.

Now...now he's just doing it for the thrill, and it's the one thing that makes him feel alive instead of slipping deeper and deeper into his aggressive, suffocating thoughts of his whole situation in this city. That he'd up and left home without any contact, and virtually isolated himself from his child life.

A feeling that ate at his heart every day and plastered with a smile and a goofy attitude.

If you try and take that phone from him, he may or may not get a little aggressive. But it's just a game, right...?]


IV. Chain of Memories

[It wasn't like Crow didn't notice the little hearts floating around. It's just with everything else weird that's been happening in Recolle: the fire, the zombies, the everything, floating hearts seemed relatively harmless.

It's not til one aims for his heart and buries inside it that he feels his happiness, the one thing he'd slowly started to regain over time, and his general willingness to help others start to leave him, and instead, his greed and loneliness start to take hold.

Should you see Crow, he'll have a deck of cards unlike any other--they're almost like glass, clear and with the different suits and numbers on them etched on their surface. However, from the way he shuffles them, they bend and flick with the same threshold that a normal card would have.

If he sees you, he'll smile, his playfulness starting to show, although not in the same way he'd usually show.]

How about a friendly game?

[He flicks those cards much like you'd start a game of 52 pickup. But instead of them falling to the ground, they hover around him like small barriers and hovering projectiles. That disease is ready to defend itself from any potential threats.

Good luck getting to him...although, there is a kiss that both doesn't involve contact and works from far away, isn't there? Can you think of it?]

Bonus: Birth By Sleep

CROW ARMBRUST: (Joined Oct. 2018). Age 22, born December 17th. Height: 6'1'', black hair (turned floral white), brown eyes (now red)
-Born in Portland Maine.
-Parents left at a very young age, raised by his grandfather Wren Armbrust
-At age 18, grandfather passed away
-No remaining family other than distant relatives in Florida. Held a funeral and left Portland for Recolle
-Care for his grandfather and first aid on camping trips led him to want to pursue Paramedicine
-Used his inheritance from his grandfather to pay tuition and locked the rest away
-Hobbies include: Card games, darts, billiards, fashion, mobile gaming
-Perfect hand-eye coordination
-Weapons knowledge and abilities: Twin orbal pistols, double sabre, basic hand to hand self defense
-Elements: Dark and Water
-Signature dishes: Fish burgers, Lobster Rolls
-Relaxed, laidback, caring, and fun-loving
-Self-sufficient to a fault, secretive, a bit distrusting of others to shield his own heart's most vulnerable parts
-Keeps his darker memories of past life to himself
-Genuinely surprised people go out of their way to care for him
-Can be surprisingly ruthless in his judgement and will hold a grudge, depending on the situation
-Alias: C.
-Closest friends: Rean Schwarzer, Elliot Craig, Astrid Renouf
-Pets: Cat- Pachinko Armbrust

[It's in that moment that all the colour drains from Crow's face, the Cliffnotes of his life story laid out bare for everyone to see. Sure, it wasn't completely tragic...

But it was his.]


Wildcard.

[Want to do something different? Let me know here or hit me up at rceus !]

II.5 (which is a game i still need to play)

[frostythehitman]

[ James just happens to walk by while Crow is absorbed in his gacha and can't help but stop and watch. For several moments, in fact--he doesn't mean to sneak up on him and spy, but he's just very good at it.

Up until the moment he can't help but snort in laughter once he realizes what he's looking at over the guy's shoulder. ]

You're really gonna pay for that?

[godcards]

IV.
[ Darkness is something that Malik is, for better or worse, intimately familiar with. He doesn’t seek out one of the hearts, it happens to find him while his guard is down; it barely even feels like there’s a change, as far as he’s concerned. It doesn’t take him long to realize that he can quite literally, project darkness onto others. It’s almost like smoke at first, clouding anyone’s vision that gets near him, and shrouding them (or so they think) in total blackness. The thick, wispy shadows disappear once exposed to light - such as streetlamps - so Malik takes care to avoid those too, lurking in dimmer areas to ambush any unsuspecting passerby.

He just laughs. No quip, no villainous monologue this time. As long as he can surprise someone and watch them squirm - being able to have the upper hand makes him feel good.

Good luck! ]

BONUS.

-Malik Ishtar (Joined March 2017), age 18, born December 23rd. Blond hair, purple eyes. 5'11", 135lbs.
-Parents are immigrants from Egypt.
-Placed in foster care at 5 years old. Frequently switched homes, and recently aged out.
-Ran away from a group home in March 2018. Homeless for about two months, but has been living in a hotel since May 2018.
-Angry. History of behavioral problems.
-Has a split personality (see Addendum). Very dangerous.
-Suffers from chronic back pain due to nerve damage.
-Converses frequently with: Bakhura Farouk (possibly his only friend?)
-Likes to shoplift at Freshens.
-Used a fake ID to get tongue pierced.
-Spends a lot of time loitering around town doing nothing in particular.
-Dropped out of high school last October.
-Ambitious. Independent. Cunning.
-Self-absorbed but also somehow full of self loathing.
-Avoids discussion of regains, whether it is items, skills, or memories.
-Thinks having secrets makes him cool.
-Makes bad choices like it's his job.
-Just wants attention.

[ haha welp. what can he even say to that??? thankfully for him, this Addendum wasn’t included in the blurb. this is already hard to read now that it’s all laid out. ]

WILDCARD.
[ all up to you, or hmu in a PM and we can hash something out. For any incorporated zodiac shenanigans, malik is a metal dragon. ]

iv + bonus

[brushy]

[ she’s seen his file. in fact, she’s seen quite a few files from quite a few people— she found a way to disconnect at the last minute. it was late, after all, and people should speak of their past and confront their problems only if they want to. this boy though—

oh, this boy. she had a feeling, from his behavior, from his words, but knowing about it all— forgive her.

she wanted to help so, so badly.

how to go about it? well, she had to think of an approach. look through her knowledge of psychology and even further into studies she once wrote about to receive her masters. she’s returning to petal flow, her workplace and her home, after a quick trip to the library for the evening.

when she hears a laugh in the night, ahmi looks up.

mm. she should get going. she holds her purse closer to her, and her short heels click against the pavement as she crosses the street. ]

[fiddlestick]

IV. Anyway, here's Wonderwall
[Elliot's been pretty lucky with the daily personality changes. Being a rabbit, the personality was just...more of himself. Sure he'd be friendlier in the daytime, and more insecure in the nighttime, but it's hard to notice a severe difference with him. It's just him.

So maybe that made him lower his guard for the 14th. Valentine's day is always a good holiday to get extra money, so he's out doing street performances on his violin. Unfortunately for Elliot, he fails to notice until it's too late the black heart that flies into him and appears as a new tattoo on his cheek.

All of the sudden, the music starts to...change things. While he plays slow melodies, the people around him start to slow down, feel drowsy, even fall asleep right outside. Fast melodies is the opposite, people start being hyped up on energy and start dancing against the will to the beat. Don't know how to dance? Doesn't matter, your feet seem to!

If you want to cure him, you're going to have to be creative as anyone who gets close enough will start getting affected by the melody. Maybe some earplugs? Or some other idea, if you have one]

Bonus
- Elliot Craig (joined September 2017), age 19, born June 20th in Queens NYC.
- Height: 5'4", Weight: 115lbs.
- Born out of wedlock to Rianna Fairweather and Mike Murdock. Rianna married O. Craig and took married name.
- Craigs died in a fire in 2007. Mike died after in a car accident.
- Raised by aunt and uncle in Queens, strained relationship.
- Large amounts of extended family in Recolle. See also: Lucille Fairweather, Natalia Fairweather, Rayne Fairweather Zack Fairweather, Futaba Ishiki-Murdock, Orihime Ishiki-Murdock, Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, Penelope Raban.
- Engaged to Eren Jaeger
- Came to Recolle in August 2017 for college.
- Aspiring Musician, plays piano, violin and guitar
- Street performer. Regularly performs at Club Sunshine and the Catmosphere
- Lives with Akira Kurusu, Yusuke Kitagawa, and Goro Akechi
- Magic user, specializing in healing and elemental magic
- Elements: Water and Space
- Cooks magic food
- Highly Anxious, low self-esteem, always berating himself
- Dislikes physical exercise, lower than average physical ability
- Strong fear of fire
- Borderline pathological need to be "useful".

Wildcard
[Got another prompt for me? Bring it on!]

iv

[usurpers]

[ valentine’s day came a day early this year.

eren’s leaving the hospital tonight and doing something different: no car, no motorcycle. he’s all about walking in the crisp february weather today, a day before lover’s day, to make sure his mind is fresh. his thoughts are sound. slowly, he’s pushing things into place. gears click and feel much better where they are. could he keep this up? could he keep improving like this? would he feel comfortable in his own skin?

he hopes. he hopes so. he believes in himself— and who he loves in this life, to see to it.

with scrubs on and a light jacket over his uniform, headphones press snug against his ears, listening to something a little more ambient compared to his usual metal. it doesn’t quite prepare him seeing people fallen on the street. one after another, after another— he runs to the first one in a rush, pulling his headphones off. alive. sound. no visible wounds.

. . . music?

eren checks on the others, to make sure they’re well and propping them up onto walls, before he goes further, turns the corner— and fights for his eyes to lift from sudden heaviness. ]

Elliot?

[breakingvoice]

ii. you're falling apart so you're running away [night]

Lina's taken to walking the streets tonight and most nights since the beginning of the month. Why should she bother staying inside when everyone she loves seems to be losing the app and her apartment doesn't even feel like home anymore? It's a night like this that you might run into Lina with a small squadron of black spheres following her, rolling behind her like they have minds of their own and a goal in place.

It's easier for Lina to justify just... doing things like this. Whether it's something as simple as walking into a grocery store and taking something—who's going to notice? who's going to stop her?—or cutting through a construction site to get to the other side of a city block, breaking the rules seems to come with an unnatural ease to her. It's after one of these things that another black sphere seems to pop out of Lina's body and join the group, and it's around that point that she actually stops and looks behind her.

She recognizes the spheres as grenades, though she's only ever seen them in movies before. It's strange, but not as strange as anything else lately, and her gaze turns skyward instead once she realizes she's standing in the moonlight. She focuses on the second moon, the shattered one—the one that Jen remembered. "This is your fault," she says bitterly to nobody that she's noticed around, though it's definitely directed at the moon. "Everything was fine until you showed up."

iii. i think the problem is your pride [daybreak]

It's another cold morning in Recolle and Lina's spent all night out of her apartment, going from bar to bar to diner to iHOP when even the diners started shutting down. It's harder and harder lately to fall asleep, which means she has to hear Jen's alarm go off at 4:45 so she can go work out, but knowing that it's not her in that body anymore is tearing Lina apart inside.

She has fewer grenades with her tonight, fortunately, and she looks into the sky from her booth in whatever place she ended up at just before dawn. The bodies in the sky are doing their weird dance like they have for the past couple days, but it's harder for her to focus on it than usual. Maybe because she's looking at an eclipse and it's not burning her eyes out of her skull.

Maybe because the longer this goes on, the brighter her expression gets, until she's looking at one of the other people in the diner and smiling without having to force it very much at all. "Hey," she offers. "You want to have breakfast together?" This doesn't feel... too terrible. Being social. It's the only way she can keep herself going, right? Meeting new people, spending time with them. She just needs to be as stubborn with her determination as she is with everything else.

x. you're shielding your heart 'cause you're too scared to stay [wildcard]

((here's my plotting comment for Lina, or i could also be swayed to throw Anna more into this, hit me up here or at roseward if you're interested in anything!!))

iii

[dereban]

[ Social is definitely not Raina's sort of thing - she can fake it, she's always done it all eighteen years of her life - so she's actually rather surprised when she's invited, so she just. Winds up pointing at herself, rather confused. ] Me? [ "Really?" ]

[flametheif40]

1. What is that strange ticking noise?

Al usually doesn't see too many things as completely urgent, but during the day, he is out and about, set to do good in a food bank, or a food kitchen. trying to help prepare or serve food pushing himself to the limit.

Clocks and watches of all sorts are littering up the place...and they are ticking...LOUD! A reminder that there is work that needs to be done!

"Hey! nice to see you! Mind lending a hand? I think I might have bitten off more then I can chew."

If you work, the clocks won't tick so loud, slack off and they get louder.

2. It's just a hole, in my heart.

Trying to appease the clocks and his inner ambition he worked extremely hard, too bad during the night the feeling of dread in his heart just gets more intense as he craves...things.

During the cover of night, he will do what he has always done, steal. This time, there is a black hole that follows him around, sucking in people's money or other material things that are worth something get sucked in.

It grows bigger and Al gets paler, trying to steal to fill the void in his heart.

"I need more..."

He mutters more to himself more than anything. Gaining a little bit of relief when he steals something.

4. Shut up, I was always this way.

You hear some painful screams in an alleyway nearby, if you investigate, you will see Al with his flaming knife pointed at a gangster, who is utterly terrified and is holding his burned hand, with the gun he was holding on the floor. Al was sick and tired of trying to be "nice" only to be mostly unappreciated, or how he can never seem to hold to anything for long and now some asshole is trying to shake him down for protection money as if he were still a weak child that couldn't defend himself? Just like when he was homeless, no...this will not happen again and is going to make sure everyone knows he has power now and he will use it.

"You think you can fuck with ME?! Now, either YOU pay me for the privilege of living or I will roast the rest of your pathetic body!"

Al furiously threatens the gangster, revelling the obvious power he has at this moment. The black mark on the side of his neck, close to his shoulder has brought out a darker sadistic side of Al out, one that he usually tries hard to suppress.


Bonus

-Albert Matthews(Birthname, Albert Bahar.)
-Currently adopted by the Matthews family for two years
-5'6, 141 pounds, 17 years old
-Student at recolle high, failed one year
-Suspected in being involved with criminal elements by the LAPD and several recolle officers
-captured in recolle by police after running away from his last adopted family in Los Angeles
-Suffers from undiagnosed PTSD, in addition to undiagnosed Kleptomania and borderline depression
-fighting strength is correlated with Magoi, difficult to measure, strength also varies with the form he uses
-Regained use of fire magic, swordsmanship, enhanced reflexes and speed.
-Upon first use of his magic, nearly burned his local neighbourhood while fighting viruses, nearly died, life saved by Derek Matthews
-Resilient
-Empathetic
-Often kind under the guise of self-interest
-Emotionally unstable, however is gradually working on being a "better person"
-Police investigation due to suspicious magical activity in January 2019, escaped multiple pursuits.

Al frowns...he KNEW someone was keeping tabs on him! Wait..crap!

"Look, that fire thing was a complete accident, my house was being invaded okay?" He says defeinsively as if the othe person was already judging him

two!

[dereban]

[ Raina was never the type to stay out late, but today was one of the days that she had to work a little overtime at the cafe. Even though she worked late, she knew that there were people that might walk by and recognize her - hence why she's still in full costume (wig and contact and all), practically unrecognizable at a glance. And even though her negative traits might be in play, one of the traits that seems to play on both ends seems to win out, frowning quite a bit. ] What the hell do you think you're doing? [ Her voice is a little tense, darker than how she would usually portray herself. ]

[decipere]

( option i. )

[ kokichi isn't unfamiliar with taking on a leadership role. with the large success of his guild, vivarium, he has been leading large groups of people for years now. sure, it's one thing to lead people online through video games and it's another to do it in real life, but he has always possessed the skills to somehow gather people to follow him (whether it's out of their own will or through his manipulative ways). with the extra effects from recolle doing its thing, though, his ability to round up everyone has only magnified and that's why if you had the (mis)fortune of walking down the streets, you'd find a large group of people following him around. they easily block the sidewalk and trying to get past them without going onto the road is nearly impossible. ]

[ in fact, should you come across this large group, kokichi will stop and lean slightly down to address you. ]

Hey, hey, you look like you're doing nothing. Why don't you come and join me?

( option iv. )

[ since figuring out that his emotions and personality are modified by the day and night, kokichi has been making an effort to keep to himself. he would stay at home, but he still has things to look for, things to do, and things to figure out so he ventures out. unfortunately for him, though, he goes out at the wrong time and one of the black hearts capture him. the mark appears on the back of his right hand and he immediately frowns, but he can't stop here. he still needs to go out and figure out kind of "preparations" he should do to get ready for the 17th. ]

[ however, everywhere that kokichi goes, a deep dark smog follows him. it practically pours out of him and covers both himself and the area around him like a heavy fog. it's difficult to see, perhaps even a little difficult to breathe, but it follows him everywhere and he walks slowly to avoid bumping into anything or anyone. however, he can't say the same for anyone else bumping into him. after all, with all this fog, you can barely tell that he's even in there. ]

( bonus. )

- Kokichi Ouma (joined Feb. 2019), age 21, born June 21
- Height: 6'1"
- Black hair, brown eyes
- Online alias: "zero."
- Online avatar: purple origami mouse
- Originally completely different: crybaby, pushover, weak
- Completely changed personalities at age six: the bullied became the bully
- Has one younger (by three years) sister (see "OUMA, YUUKI") who was hospitalized at age 13
- Leader of "Vivarium", an online guild, created at age 16 for the younger sister to cope with loneliness in the hospital
- Currently still leads "Vivarium" and runs charity streams with the younger sister to donate proceedings to charities that help sick children
- Nicer than he lets on (see above example)
- Arrived in Recolle in August 2015 to attend Recolle U for software engineering
- Lives with the younger sister
- Highly manipulative
- Compulsive liar
- Do not trust

( wildcard. )

( ooc: feel free to come up with another option if you like! you can contact me through a pm to this account or my rp plurk at northpaws. )

option i

[dereban]

[ She just wanted to get past this area, why does she have to deal with this crap... which is completely amplified with her annoyance to want to be ahead of other people in life, so she is definitely not going to be a follower, here. But none of those feelings slip through as Raina just plasters an all too innocent smile of her own. ] My apologies, but I don't know what you're planning on doing and you shouldn't just assume that someone simply doesn't have any plans. I just want to get through.

[blondferret]

I.
Derek is feeling particularly social this morning. Like... he actually desire to talk to everyone. He even greeted that one co-worker he usually HATES with a hug and a pat on the bat.

At work he was fairly hyper and positive. He probably hasn't been in such a great mood in a long time.

By the time lunch comes around, or perhaps when he's talking a stroll around the city, he swings his arm around your shoulder, pulls you close, and grins.

"Hey! How's your day been?"

He has this goofy, lighthearted grin on his face.

II.
Nigh falls and Derek is in a mood. There are two possibilities when you run into him: He's shifty and is glaring at everyone on the street. He keep himself very far away from people and is brooding over his cup of coffee in whatever cafe he's in. Are these people really his friends? What do they want from him?

Or, you might see him with this evil smirk on his face, wand his hand, and you might see him subtly moving his wand under the table, poking out from an ally, or from behind a parked car.

NPCs and others are suddenly legged locked, birds are chasing them, battling snakes, or something worse. It's hard to catch Derek after he does it, because he will quickly apparate away with a loud CRACK!

Eventually Derek starts to realize what he's been doing, abusing his magic, and he's almost horrified. While having these conflicting feelings two things one night land his his lap. A friendship necklace (ya know, the one that is shaped like a heart, but it is split in two with two separate chains, yeah that cheesy kind of thing) and a tie clip. Derek gawks at the pair of necklaces, while the clip he is more interested in. it's a simple silver bar with a black circle at one end. Upon closer inspection he realizes... it's a spy camera.

BONUS
-Derek Matthews (joined Sept 2017), age 26, born Sept 21, 1992. Platinum blond hair, grey eyes, born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.
-Involved in a car accident at age 4 when his birth parents were on the run from the mob, right outside of Recolle. He was the only survivor and suffered from complete amnesia until recently.
-Although he goes by Derek Matthews, his real name is Damien Marlow. Derek was actually the name of his childhood teddy bear, which now has the name of Mr. Bear.
-Spent three year in the Recolle orphanage before getting adopted by the Matthews family. 4th child out of 7.
-Attended Recolle U and double majored in Forensic science and Chemistry
-Currently work as a CSI for the Recolle Crime Lab and lives by himself with a Siamese cat (Blaise) and a Eagle Owl (Bronte)
-Items received:
*Hogwarts Express Ticket
*Hogwarts Letter
*Prefect badge
*Lots of book on magic (though mainly blank)
*Nimbus 2001
*wizard candy
*wizard money
*Hogwarts Uniform
*1st year supplies
*Wand, 10". Hawthorn, unicorn hair
-Has many magical abilities: Has currently remembered 34 magical abilities, though is capable of more. Still needs to remember
-The spells range from curses, charms, hexes, conjuring, and transfiguration.
-Converses namely with Tatsuo Kihara, Li-Na Liu, Alexander Cumore, and James Barns, and Anna Lehmann
-Regains memories consisting of magic, school life, and evil wizards.
-Physical Change: got a scar across his body from a curse
-Straightforward and comes off as brash
-Very paranoid about Retrospec and blames it for why his girlfriend left him.
-He doesn't always think before he speaks
-Once he likes a person, he's fairly loyal
-He has a difficult relationship with his brother (Albert Matthews, who is also on the app).

Derek stares at the profile reading through it, wondering what the heck it was. Then, to his horror, it sends to... somewhere.

"SHIT!"

What was revealed on it that he cared so much about? Oh, his actual name and that the name is goes by was what he named is teddy bear as a child. But mainly his birth name. He really had wanted to keep that to himself and Tatsuo!

II

[psykick]

One night, Derek happens to pick the cafe Rinka is studying in for his brooding session. She's struggling to focus on her homework so any distraction is welcome. So when she notices him sitting in the far back corner, glaring at the people around him, Rinka starts watching him over the rim of her latte.

She doesn't know Derek all that well yet, but his behavior strikes her as rather un-Derek-like.

Due to her current indecision issues, it takes Rinka a good ten minutes to settle on walking over. She stops by the counter first and gets a chocolate croissant to bring him.

"Are you feeling okay?"