recollecters: (Default)
Recollé Mods ([personal profile] recollecters) wrote in [community profile] recolle2017-05-03 08:57 pm

May Event Log

EVENT
RISE AND SHINE
Spring is upon the city of Recollé now. The rainy season is starting to pass and the last of the winter chill has officially shaken off. The weather is perfectly spring-like with flowers blooming all over the city and the local wildlife rousing from their hiding places. People everywhere find themselves awakening to the sound of birds tweeting and the sun shining peacefully on them as they're drawn from the world of dreaming.

Too bad that's about where the peace ends today.

I.
It’s a leisurely morning when you first wake up. The sun’s rising and peeking in through the curtains of your room, birds are chirping happily, and you find yourself drowning in your sheets with the floor much, much further down than you recall.

Wait, what?

You don’t think that you’ve shrunken at all. After all, your clothing still fits perfectly fine. The trouble with it all is that all of your furniture has enlarged several times its usual size and the walls tower over you more than before. Getting ready for your day is going to be a challenge, but the outside world can’t be that bad, can it?

Think again. Buildings skyrocket dozens of stories higher than they originally were. The button for the crosswalk dangles over your head tauntingly. The tires for your school bus are coming dangerously close as you try to cross the street. Be careful out there!

Is there a safe path to avoid further incidents? As the days go on, citizens will find that if they look down a series of lit-up circles appear under their feet. Stepping on one will cause the Retrospec app to open, and a song will begin to play. How long will this go on? Unfortunately, Retrospec seems to be working just fine and will autoloop until your path of lights meets someone new. After all, isn't social media about bringing people together? Best get to exploring and seeing what’s out there…or, maybe, who’s out there.

II.
Speaking of exploring, it's much easier to see the wear and tear of the city at this size. With everything much larger you may notice that everything about your nice city isn't quite so nice. Cracks in the sidewalk present a hazard when walking everywhere and there are fractures in the buildings themselves. You may wish to avoid them entirely for your own safety.

But for the more curious residents (or anyone accidentally finding themselves falling into these cracks) a venture into these spaces will reveal something a little mysterious. Swirls of black float through space, occasionally punctuated by flashes of images and words. Presented almost like a movie, you may not be able to pinpoint what exactly you’re seeing but it seems to be calling your name to draw you further in. At first, the interior space in these cracks seems to expand and the images become clear. It’s…space? No. It’s stars, lots of stars and there’s a rumbling sound that seems to echo through the cracks along with voices becoming more persistent as they cry out for help. The swirls and mist become thicker with each step. Will you turn back? Or will you press on and risk getting lost in the echoes of voices you don't recognize and images you can't identify?

Those who turn back will find themselves on another path of light, resetting their device and urging them onwards to find someone new. Those who continue forward though and wish to seek the truth will find themselves assaulted either with a whirlwind of memories they’ve already obtained since they’ve received the Retrospec app or blacked out by the darkness as the mist becomes impenetrable.

How will you find your way back? It may be wise to work together on this one to retrace your steps.

III.
Despite the fact the city's experiencing some sizing issues, responsibilities are still important and these problems won't stop your boss from demanding you show up to work on time. Did you get lost on your way to school? What a bummer that this is the day your professors spring a pop quiz on you. The challenges of every day life are even more challenging and as per usual, many people don't even realize there's something wrong. Though your pencil may be taller than you are, you won't be allotted extra time to write things down. Even worse, navigating past shopping carts and down grocery aisles is nearly impossible, especially in larger, more crowded places like Freshens.

Outside isn't much better. Beginning on the fifth of May, clouds begin to loom overhead as the rainy season reminds citizens it's not over yet. All around you critters begin to jump into action to prepare for the inevitable storm. From this level of the ground it's easier to see ants hard at work hauling items 30 times their body weight. That caterpillar might be good for hitching a ride back home. Watch out for the furry four-legged beast running your way!

Speaking of beasts...well. Just because you're no longer your original size doesn't mean your furry and feathered friends won't be. Maybe you're lucky enough to have a companion you can hitch a ride with. Or maybe you aren't so lucky after all. Your pets may like you just fine, but other people's pets and even the insects will give in to their animal instincts, prone to chasing and sometimes outright attacking citizens (Retrospec users and non-Retrospec users alike.) Can you fight? Guess you'll have to find out.

Oh, and you better hurry...the rain that begins later in the afternoon is most unforgiving. At this size? It's quite easy to be swept away in a flood.

IV.
Do you hear that? Everything seems to be amplified now and with the rain pounding down around you for the next five days the echoes are even louder. This time, however, the words are much more distinguishable. Above the din of a hauntingly beautiful song, you may find yourself being coaxed to come out into the Apprassage Woods, whispered promises of your most sacred desire filling your ears. Perhaps it's irrational, like scoring well on college entrance exams. Perhaps it's something much bigger like seeing a loved one again long after their passing. Whatever it may be, the song is almost overpowering and tempting.

Along the way, bright, towering flowers serve as a guiding light deeper and deeper into the woods. The further you travel, the louder they echo those desires back at you, even louder than the song itself. Strangely, for those who have been gifted with a supernatural sense or the ability to see ghosts, you may find that there are figments flickering through the trees encouraging you onward. You want their help, don't you?

There are ways to break out of the song's trance, but it will take teamwork and effort to ground each other back to reality. It seems as though the rain itself may very well be the culprit. Will you seek to find shelter? Maybe you're lucky and happen to have a pair of ear plugs in your pocket. Do your best to guide each other home. The woods aren't very friendly after dark even with the fluorescent glow of the flowers.

BONUS.
The nice thing about being pint-sized is that it's much easier to go where you probably shouldn't. Should you find yourself back in Tisse and in front of the Retrospec building, you may notice it's much easier to slip under the cracks of the front door. Several of you may have been in this lobby before. Like usual, the lights are on. At this size, however, it's easier to hear the echoes of footsteps somewhere above you.

But don't worry about them. Being this size means that it's more possible now to enter some the previously locked rooms. Some rooms don't have enough space to crawl under, of course, but the two rooms that do will reveal something quite interesting. There isn't much in the way of furniture in these two rooms, but every inch of the walls and ceiling remains covered in maps. Not all of these maps are blank. Some of them appear to have small splashes of color varying in size and shape, like an incomplete picture. Some of them also appear to have images on them, such as a Chocobo, or an apple with a smileyface, or a strange die. Furthermore, after the fifth of May, citizens may notice one of the maps now has a picture of those strange glowing flowers from the woods.

Should anyone be ambitious enough to count in these two rooms (though really, that will certainly take time), they will come to find that there are roughly 110 maps in all. And with a little digging, they can explore and attempt to open drawers and closets in these rooms. Together, they will discover there are an additional 30 maps, including one with a picture of a strange-looking doll.

So you want to learn more about these maps, huh? For anyone who tries to draw or write on the maps, they will find that whatever they deface the maps with stays there! However, the moment you exit the room anything you drew on the map will appear on any surface of your skin that's available. Tearing the maps doesn't seem to work either. The maps can only be removed from the wall in one whole piece.

If one were to take a map from the rooms, they would only be able to get to the doorway before it dissolves into ash and creates a miniature dust storm for everyone nearby. Strangely, the map will reappear on the wall and the cycle will repeat itself for days on end.

The maps really, really don't like being touched.

What does this all mean? What a great question.

Welcome to [community profile] recolle's May event! All characters will be begin in-game AU'd as Recollé residents. You may use any of the above prompts for ideas or make up your own depicting your Recollé AU! Prompts do not have to be set in the districts listed above. You can review our list of locations for what's available and be as creative as you'd like.

As another note, by participating in this log in a thread with five or more comments from you with a character you have not tagged previously, you are eligible for one free memory regain! This means you can claim a memory without a trigger required; we ask that it be low-impact for newer characters, while characters who have been here longer can scale upwards. However please be sure to submit this regain to the regains page and just specify "May Freebie" in the explanation portion of the form. Please see our monthly plotting post for more details.

If you would like to explore parts of the city in their enlarged state, please contact the mod team so we can get you a write-up of what your characters may or may not find! This also goes for if your character has regained any supernatural sensing and you'd like for them to interact with the figments in the woods!

Starting on 5/5, the Echo Flower from Undertale will act as your newest world change! Once the event wraps 5/10, the echoing of desires will stop and they will return to providing white noise and echoing the last thing they heard. These flowers will only remain in the woods.

Any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here.
sharplydressed: (rapid sweating)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-11 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my god! What about me screams villain, huh? First evil genie, now this?

[He never asked for the ultra villain life but here he is...]
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-11 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
You are so the dramatic villain type! You know, the one who would give dramatic speeches and have capes that blow in the wind even on days where there's no goddamn wind. I bet you'd even have a patented evil laugh.

[ karkat fits all of these categories too, actually, but he's a hypocrite. ]
sharplydressed: (who put you here)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-12 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
[This just in, Recolle's future supervillain squad is going to involve two nerds who make up entire backstories for fictional vampire losers and pretend to be anti-exorcists.]

What kinda impression have I left on you where you think I'd do any of that! [...] I mean, except the cape part, 'cause they're pretty high-fashion right now.
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-12 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
See! That is exactly the kind of excuse a villain would use for wearing a cape! You are already down a dark and dangerous path and you aren't even aware of it yet!

[ karkat even points dramatically at him and everything. ]
sharplydressed: (loudly complains)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-12 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
[Just HOLDING HIS ARMS UP IN A BIG X SIGN as if he's warding off some sort of future evil...]

No way, no way! I'm just acknowledging trends! And the fact that I totally don't wanna be doing stuff like this forever.

[Which is followed by a wide gesture out toward the Big Big World, as if to encompass all of the bug slaughter and general terror they've been through.]
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-12 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, so tyranny is just a temp job for you then? It doesn't pay the bills as well as it used to?

[ karkat nods his head knowingly, as if suddenly everything in the world makes sense to him. ]
sharplydressed: (actually 5)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-13 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
Tyranny?! I'm saving lives, here!

[By KILLING ANTS AGGRESSIVELY.

...Actually, he does sound kind of like a well-intentioned but still probably evil super villain.]
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-13 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he just shakes his head, and places a sympathetic hand on kashuu's shoulder. ]

There are better ways to do this. You can step away from the dark side.

[ this is star wars now, apparently ]
sharplydressed: (the "needs a nap" brigade)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-14 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
See if I help you out the next time a flood of ants comes your way.

[HUFFS.

...It's not like he'd actually ditch anyone to an ant flood, though. With the sole exception of Jim.]
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-14 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
Or maybe you brought the flood to me, to earn my trust? That is such a classic villain move, why didn't I see through it before?

[ it's like the lion king's stampede scene, or whatever the recolle equivalent of that is, except with ants and real people. ]
sharplydressed: (lemme think about it)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-14 07:14 am (UTC)(link)
Look, if I had the ability to command a flood of ants, I definitely wouldn't be using it to just chase after people on the street. I'd charge with 'em into Retrospec and sic 'em on Jim.

[HIS HATE FOR JIM IS SO DANG STRONG.]
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-14 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Is that building even actually used for anything other than being a blight on the skyline? I bet Jim is the kind of person who prefers working at home, and he just sits on his ass all day stuffing pecan flavored ice cream into his asshole.

[ why is jim the most hated person in this city. ]
sharplydressed: (ugh)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-15 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Jim sure has just smacked the bullseye of mockery right onto his forehead... But he's soon going to steal colors, okay. Jim alone, singlehandedly, the one lone villain.]

You're probably super unfortunately right about that... And I don't think anything's actually in there. Not people, anyway. ...Or if people are there, maybe they're also super tiny or invisible or something. I mean, apparently everything is possible.
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-15 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe there's like a secret entrance somewhere that we haven't found yet? A second elevator that goes down instead of up.

[ karkat most elevators go down. he means a secret basement level, though, because those always exist in spy movies. ]
sharplydressed: (peering in)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-16 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Fortunately, Kashuu gets exactly what he means and doesn't even have any rude smarmy remarks for him...]

Or maybe there's a bookshelf with a book that you can pull and it'll open up into a whole secret building?
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-16 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Fuck, maybe there's like a button you press? I hope it's a button, I've always wanted to press one and have something cool happen.

[ he pauses, trying to figure out where such a button would be placed. ]

There's no secret doorbell at the front, is there?
sharplydressed: (PINKY OUT)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-18 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
If there's no secret doorbell, there's definitely gotta be some kind of secret knock. They wouldn't be a very good secret building if they didn't have super cliche security measures like that, y'know?

[What's better than a hidden button in a book that opens a secret door?? Ridiculously complex secret knocks that never work even in the movies!]
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-19 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe you have to knock to the exact beat of a specific song? Like... fuck, Bohemian Rhapsody or something?

[ can you imagine someone knocking on a door to the tune of that entire song while trying not to get attention. ]
sharplydressed: (like that!)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-20 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
[WHAT A RIDICULOUS THING... Which makes it 100% perfect for his next super serious suggestion.]

If we ever have to start some sort of underground vigilante club to fight Retrospec wizards or whatever, I'm totally marking that down as our knock.
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-20 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes.

[ he agrees almost immediately, as if this is truly the best suggestion anyone has ever made that has left no room for doubt. ]

It's the only way to keep us safe. That knock.
sharplydressed: (it's like this)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-20 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Good! Then it's settled. Now we just need a secret society and we'll be totally set! Knowing some of the people around here and on the network, that's probably only a matter of time. Y'know, if it hasn't already happened and we just weren't invited or something.

[Who even knows what these shifty people get up to behind the scenes. He's too busy worrying about being shrunk again...]
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-21 05:59 pm (UTC)(link)
That's true. It would be a little stupid to advertise it on Retrospec considering the people we want the form the society against... runs... Retrospec...

[ like it's convenient because they all use it, but also, there are a few holes in that plan? and by a few i mean a lot. ]
sharplydressed: (like that!)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-22 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Someone would blab about it eventually, though.

[Ah, his strong, strong faith in humanity... Sometimes these things just get away from you though, he isn't judging. Too hard.

Yet.]


Maybe we should keep an eye out for sketchy-looking papers that seem like they might be codes for "join our secret club"?
alienates: art @ nymphicus (Default)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-06-22 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
How can we tell if it's a sketchy paper for secret clubs that we want to join or if it's for a club that we don't?

[ like. there are a lot of types of secret clubs out there, and karkat is fairly certain half of them are for things they want to be nowhere near. ]
sharplydressed: (peering in)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2017-06-23 09:04 am (UTC)(link)
Trial and error?

[That's the kind of thought process that gets a man killed.]

I'm sure we'll come up with something. Y'know, once we're actually not the size of Polly Pockets.

[HE HAS A LOT OF FAITH IN THEIR FELLOW RETROSPEC USERS... (No, no he does not.)

But after a quick peek out and upward, he'll gesture above toward the now birdless immediate area.]


I think our friend's gone.

(no subject)

[personal profile] alienates - 2017-06-23 21:14 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] sharplydressed - 2017-06-25 07:19 (UTC) - Expand