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Recollé Mods ([personal profile] recollecters) wrote in [community profile] recolle2019-02-05 05:06 pm
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EVENT
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 [community profile] 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!
motiv8: (⚔️ 1)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-23 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
Haha, well, isn't that how a bunch of famous bands got started? You'd be in good company.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (stern/anger)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-23 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
You better still be my friend then

And maybe out of your sister's thumb?
motiv8: (⚔️ 31)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-23 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
Count on it.

...but maybe count a little less on not being Raina's pocketbook. I'll see what I can do to afford your masterworks, but I have a feeling she'll have things to hold over my head as long as I live.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (Shocked/panic)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-23 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
[Al takes a moment...Raina...the name is familiar, then his eyes shoot wide open.

The cold "I'll bitch my way out of hell" clone girl that gave him a massive headache?!
]

SHE'S YOUR SISTER!?

Fuck...I'm sorry...soo soo sorry
motiv8: (⚔️ 24)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-23 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
[...???]

Why?

[SURE SHE HAS BLACKMAIL ON HIM but she's still his sweet little sister!!]
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (surprised)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-23 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
[Al's jaw just drops with his eyes open like "seriously?" Before trying to really explain what he is feeling.]

Because I could easily believe that she would be the kind of girl to be utterly ruthless and those are the worst ones to owe money to.

Granted that is just my first impression of her, and I saw her punching her clone...

On top of sleep deprivation, not a fun time for all involved.

Don't even think I even helped that much, which, reminds me,

does she have the user's guide yet?
motiv8: (⚔️ 38)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-25 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
Eh... I don't know about that. This is just how she and I have always been. At the end of the day, it's not like I'm not happy to dote on her anyway, and she's really just messing with me.

[She's only partially messing with you, Rean, and you are way too soft.]

Y...eah, everything last month was pretty jarring for her. She'd just moved to town and then to have to deal with all that... it was a pretty rough awakening. [Sigh!] But yeah, she does. I made sure to send it along.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (Default)

Al, your heart is in the right place...but you already messed up bad.

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-25 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
[Al is mildly concerned...but it's not like Al met her while relaxing on the beach, so maybe she does have a playful side?

Rean seems to belive so, so Al just takes a breath of relif
]

Okay good, I was really worried about her.

I offered her the file but holy crap she was cold as hell and refused it, didn't even give me a username to send it to.

So, I figure, just give her space and let her adjust, last thing she needs is to be around, well, me.

Cause I'm soooo stable.

[Points for self-awareness, but you already flipped out on her, you just didn't recognize her in the cosplay outfit.]
motiv8: (⚔️ 13)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-25 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
[Rean would say she does! But... Rean is also hella biased, so maybe we shouldn't listen to Rean.]

I'm sure she was just stressed out. Sorry you had such a rough run-in with her, though.

Probably for the best, although I wouldn't blame yourself too much for what happened. Last month was a lot for everyone, after all, and you were sleep-deprived besides.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (disappointed/indiffrent)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-25 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
True, True.

As you said, chances are we are going to see the rough side of people.

But, last time I had a really rough month, I made an enemy.

And I'm pretty sure he is going to kill me one of these days.

But I still saved that asshole's life last month, anyway.

[In the roughest way possible...seriously, included a super punch to the gut to help him not choke.]
motiv8: (⚔️ 44)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-25 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
An "enemy," huh...? Do I want to know who?

[That's... not a real question. Of course he does. He's just kind of afraid of what the answer might be.]
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (annoyed)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-25 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
Probably not.

I've almost gone to the bottom of it now

hopefully, I will sit down with the blubbering inconsiderate asshole

be at least somewhat civil, say sorry for a major fuck up.

And hopefully, he is smart enough to let things be or, at the very least, smarten up so he isn't at my mercy again if he is going to just bitch about it.

[Seriously...super...punch in the gut...Al gave the guy a pass when he punched Al in his jaw, so in Al's mind, they were even. And major points should go to Al for saving the guy's life when he could have EASILY let him die.]
motiv8: (⚔️ 46)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-25 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
...That only makes me more curious, you know.

[A sigh, then he rests his chin in his hand.]

Just tell me.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (sad)

1/2 sorry this is going to be long

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-25 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Al takes a deep breath, in for a penny in for a pound]

It's Xioalang.

Last summer, I had it really rough...

I...relive the night mom got killed every now and then.

Usually, nightmares, very rarely out in the open and that was BEFORE I got on the app.

[Al stops for a moment and collects himself, taking a few more deep breaths before telling the story.]
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (sad)

2/2. Really sorry...your the 1st person he has talked about this to.

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-25 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
It's kinda a long story...

But when I first got on the app, I didn't know anyone and I kept to myself. I didn't want to care about anyone deeply and lose again.

My entire family that was off the app, disappeared overnight.

My in-app brother takes me to his place to live with him, we fight, I realize that it was stupid and he deserved to know why I was so messed up.

I figured that out too late, cause...the next two months after, he completely forgot about me, and so did the friends I JUST made because of the app.

Also, add how I was hallucinating so frequently that I was scared to sleep because I would hear gunshots when no one was around, and if I did sleep, it was usually me reliving the night mom got shot.

and sometimes even when I was awake I would see her, so, I was in a really dark place.

I tried making other friends, tried to reach out to anyone to try to feel sane.

His girlfriend remembered me and she was really nice, she was worried about seeing the future at the time and I felt a little helpful.

Cue giant castle attacking the city and met his girlfriend Sakura in a cupcake shop and was happy to see her.

I tried to be friendly, seems like I epically failed and she snapped at me, so I snapped HARD and yelled at her what I thought would hurt her the most.

I didn't talk to her, thinking I had to apologize to her but I felt really bad about it and wasn't sure how I wanted to do that.

Cue him turning into a werewolf and attacking me, afterward, he tries to demand why did I yell at his girlfriend on the network after I did him the favour of trying to say "I forgive you for that one time you attacked me and I set myself on fire because I didn't want to hurt you", very discreetly.

And since, you know, the reason why I did it involves hallucinating my mom's death and all my personal shit storms I had to go through, I didn't want to say that over the network, so I got mad and told him to screw off and his girlfriend will know shortly.

I sat down with her last month to say sorry and explain and found out that her and Xioalang actually swapped bodies that weekend I "met" her, so I poured my guts out for no reason.

Which pisses me off more, because if he wants answers from me, he should have been upfront with that sort of thing.

Also last month, he refused my help, almost died and I had to drag his body away from the firewall, give him magic Pepsi blue, he starts choking, so, I punch him in the gut to force him to breathe, which, yeah, hurt like a bitch so he punches me in the jaw but, you know fair enough.

and he still has the nerve to be all bitchy and mad about ME SAVING HIS LIFE!

I could have let him die but he didn't.
motiv8: (r7)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-25 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[Rean's quiet as always as he listens, nodding every now and again to indicate Al still has his attention. Idly, he traces his finger around the lid of his mug, trying to figure out what to say.]

...I mean, if you're worried, I can't judge you. I only know Xiaolang exists because I'm on the network, I've never actually spoken to him.

[So unlike last time, Al can't upset Rean by talking shit about a friend!]

That said, it... certainly does sound like there's a lot of bad blood there. But... Xiaolang's pretty young, isn't he? And so are you, in the grand scheme of things. So it sounds to me like there's a lot to be gained by both of you just... taking a step back to breathe and coming at this without either one of you assuming the worst of the other.

Of course, that's me talking from only hearing one side of the story and not even knowing one of the parties involved, so I could be totally wrong, too. It just seems to me you're both pretty hot-blooded, and that's gotten the best of both of you.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (sad)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-26 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
[Al just sighs]

Look, I know I messed up first and started this entire cycle.

I can understand why he would get protective over someone he cares about because I have someone that I want to protect likewise.

I don't want this to keep going, but when I see that guy's face...I want to freaking punch that stupid face of his, because if he would vent out bad blood publically when trying to understand what I was going through...

How much would he talk behind my back?

Also, if his girl couldn't put two and two together. That makes me worry about whether or not I can trust him. Because if he is lying, or hiding things from the girl he loves, what would he do to me? Someone he hates and thinks would actually be a threat.
motiv8: (⚔️ 7)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-26 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Listen, I'm not trying to pin this all on you. He needs to grow up and learn to deal with this reasonably, too.

I'm not trying to say this is something you alone can fix. And I know you can't control how he reacts to things. I'm more musing out loud, than anything.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (serious face)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-26 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
The fact is I sinned first, for sure he is going to focus on that alone.

Even if that screeching asshole tried to publically shame me.
motiv8: (⚔️ 31)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-26 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[Thiiis is going nowhere fast. He really probably shouldn't be getting involved, but he doesn't like seeing people fighting.]

Well, I mean, step one from your end might be to stop thinking of him as a screeching asshole...
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (annoyed)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-26 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Hard when he screetches and tells everytime I see him.

Except the first time with his puppy that was kinda nice
Edited 2019-02-26 18:05 (UTC)
motiv8: (⚔️ 32)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-26 07:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[You really don't make this easy, do you, Al?]

Maybe just focus on that first time with the puppy, then? Like I said before, it's not just you. But you're the one I'm talking to right now, so.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (sad)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-27 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
True, I'm just worried if we don't stop this soon, people will get hurt.

Or worse, the app does something to one of us to exploit this and make something way worse then it is...

and it would be my fault...

[At least he didn't bring up the super CW warning that happened there...but yeah, he is making a bigger deal out of this then it really is.]
Edited 2019-02-27 00:40 (UTC)
motiv8: (⚔️ 46)

[personal profile] motiv8 2019-02-28 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[...]

Believe me, I understand that fear.

[He's only seen a small taste of what the app can do, after all. And there's a small part of him that never forgot his shadow in the mirror in November, never shook exactly how unsettled it made him.]

That's why I'm trying to help, as much as I can. I don't want to make this out as all your fault, but you're the only one I have access to right now and I doubt it'd be good for anyone if I just approached him out of the blue about this. So all I can really do is offer you advice.
flametheif40: http://magiicons.tumblr.com/ (come on)

[personal profile] flametheif40 2019-02-28 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[Al sits there for a moment and nods, understanding the point, but he grins one second]

Well...I mean we both have sword skills right?

Sooo...I'm not saying we SHOULD have a massive sword fight with you playing interference every so often...but,

you know, if it worked in [Name of generic shonen ninja/samurai anime] then I don't see a downside in trying, other then some fire and water coming out to play.

[Al said jokingly to hopefully lighten the tone]

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not a problem! life happens

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