recolle | [open] the disaster awakens

WHO: Ren Lowe & YOU
WHERE: Groceries and related stores in Chata, Recollé Public Library (& University library), Cabin Eleven, Recollé Square, out and about
WHEN: 15th-22nd
WHAT: Ren can't pretend things are normal, and he's taking it out on people. And also having an existential crisis.
WARNINGS: Obvious anger management issues. Something that may be mistaken for suicidal thoughts? No for-real ones though.

[A: Chata]

It probably doesn't look too good, that a tall man who's clearly been in a fight recently is yelling at service person. Yes, today he's going to be That Guy. What is he yelling about? Prices for some basic food being too high, or the store being out of something, or a special offer being printed wrong—does it really matter? He's getting way too angry over it, and someone should probably step in before it escalates. Or maybe you work at some sort of grocery store and are the one getting yelled at? He needs to be told to chill and probably leave, either way...

[B: Library]

When he's not yelling at helpless store clerks, Ren can be found at the libraries—or rather, one can find him unapologetically bumping right into someone, and/or snapping at them to get out of his way. He's not raising his voice, at least, because he doesn't want to get kicked out, but that doesn't mean he's going to be polite, unfortunately.

When he's not harassing people, he's sitting somewhere, reading the books he's picked out—reincarnation is what he's looking for, so it's mostly religious and philosophical books. ... though at times he may also fall asleep face down in one of those books.

Part of the time, he does research on the public computers, but he can be found growling when the Retrospec application just happens to pop up out of nowhere. In some cases he even gets frustrated enough to pound his fist onto the desk, just once. At least he isn't breaking anything?

[C: Etc]

Your standard "come bug him" option. Ren can be found moping in the corner at Cabin Eleven while drinking the cheapest shit there, lying obnoxiously in the middle of the park in Recollé Square and squinting at the sky, or standing around in the city glaring at random passersby and the buildings he once thought were normal. Maybe he's standing on a bridge somewhere and scowling over the edge. That could easily look pretty bad for a guy who's got bandages on his face, bags under his eyes, and a set of clothes that look sort of shabby...

[Wildcard]

[OOC: Feel free to hit me up at

lumieresdedragon or PM me with any other ideas!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Karl didn't think very much of it when a haggard-looking man of about his own age roughly pushed past him as he weaved through the shelves of the Philosophy section of the Recollé University Library. He just assumed the guy was your typical overworked graduate student. But when he walked back toward the reading area holding his own thick texts on metaphysics and saw the same man passed out at a table, a book about philosophical-religious thought in the Indian subcontinent propped up in front of him, he stopped and looked closer.

The man was shabbier and rougher than he had noticed at first glance, and sported several visible bandages. He didn't really give off the air of a graduate student either; frankly, Karl thought, he looked like a man with only a precious few nerves left to fray, even while asleep.

Karl frowned and wondered whether he ought to wake him up. He had certainly done his fair share of dozing off while reading in college, if that's what this was, and there were a few memorable crunch times right before papers and tests when he would have desperately appreciated someone having woken him up before he had burned several irretrievable hours passed out in a too-comfortable chair.

And if this man wasn't a student... well, either way, Karl was a priest, and this was clearly someone who could use some help in some aspect or other of his life. He came to a decision and quietly approached the man's chair from the side, reaching up to softly tap him on the shoulder.

"Hey," he said, equally softly.

Ren's first reaction to the attempt at waking him was a discontent mmph and a briefly furrowed brow, but after another second passed he jolted slightly, not having expected to wake up in such a position. He shot up in his chair, a frazzled look about him as his eyes darted around the room and at the unfamiliar man.

"Wha—wh—"

But another three seconds passed, and he realized that everything was still... normal. Or as normal as it could be. He wasn't spontaneously a different size, he was starting to recall where he was, and none of the other horrible things his imagination had cooked up over the past couple of weeks had come true, yet. He'd just had an impromptu nap in the library, that's all.

He took a deep, if shaky breath, scrubbing his face with a hand as his shoulders lost some of their tension.

"What is it," he mumbled, sitting back and hoping that the fatigue would go away sooner rather than later. He was starting to get the beginnings of a headache.

Karl stared at him with raised eyebrows, a little taken aback by the way the man awoke. He had expected a small jolt, certainly, but not the sort of hunted near-panicked look that seemed to seize him for a moment there. But the man did seem to mostly calm down fairly quickly and Karl in turn tried to school his expression back to a polite calm.

"Ah... it's nothing," he said, still a bit at a loss for words, "I just... thought you might want to be woken up before you slept for too long, is all."

He gave the stranger a brief glance at the explanation, and though he wasn't exactly happy about being woken up in some ways—he really needed the sleep—it wasn't like he could get mad at the guy for it. He was just trying to help.

Knowing that didn't mean he could drag forward the proper enthusiasm or gratitude, however; his tone was almost flat when he replied.

"Right. Thanks."

Letting out a quiet sigh, Ren frowned down at the open book in front of him. After a brief moment of staring, he turned a few pages back; he'd lost his train of thought thanks to that impromptu nap. But it was only a couple seconds more before he seemed to give up, flipping the book shut entirely and mumbling to himself with a defeated look on his face and a brief shake of his head.

"Not like it matters."

Karl wasn't bothered by his lack of enthusiasm; he wasn't much of a lark himself. Still, he didn't move away for a few moments yet, glancing vaguely around the study area as though looking for a good place to sit and read (which he really was; if he turned out not to be needed here, he did still have his own books to peruse.) But the sound of the closing book brought Karl's gaze back around and he looked down at the man with mild sympathy and veiled concern

"... Are you a student?" he asked after a moment, experimentally. "I could help you study, if you like." He quirked his lips in a little smile and indicated the books in the crook of one arm; a collection of commentaries on the works of the early Church Fathers, a study on the evolution of metaphysical thought from the late middle ages to today, and a short reference text for various forms of Kripke semantics. The gesture also seemed to take in his visible roman collar.

"You could say I have some expertise on religious philosophy."

Ren watches the other man for a moment again, his gaze almost uncomfortable for how long he examines Karl, but eventually he shakes his head, deciding to be honest.

"I'm not, no, just. Trying to wrap my head around something."

Maybe this guy can help, even if he's not sure Catholics believe in reincarnation. It could be a step; priests are supposed to be good at giving advice and guiding people regardless of their religion, right? He runs a hand through his curly hair as he glances at the couple of books he's got in front of him, stopping his hand at the back of his scalp and leaning his elbow on the table.

"I haven't ever been spiritual, but I'm starting to wonder if I should be."

Karl took the prolonged gaze without any hint of discomfort. If there was one thing a new-made priest got used to very quickly, it was being stared at.

When the man spoke once more, though, his eyebrows rose again very slightly, and he watched his expression and manner with renewed focus. The thought had occurred to him briefly earlier, but now...

"I apologize if this seems like a strange question, but..." Karl trailed off for one uncertain moment, and then went on. "Have you ever heard of an application called 'Retrospec'?"

Letting out a sigh of something like relief, Ren's posture slumps slightly. Someone else who might understand, thank god.

"It's why I'm having an existential crisis," he answers. "I don't know what to think about all of it. The world changing for no reason and nobody seeming to notice but us."

It was a lot to take in all at once—first the application with a name he hadn't told anyone in Recolle, then realizing things about the horses and fruits, then physically being changed in quick succession... It's a wonder he's hasn't had a complete mental breakdown.

Karl sighed a little as well, though less in relief and more in ironic self-resignation. Common-day troubles he had some confidence in his ability to help people with, or at least in his capacity to find someone else who could help them. But he was largely at a loss when it came to Retrospec, and by all accounts everyone else was just as lost as he was.

"I understand, my son" Karl said, nodding and offering the man a small smile that was somewhere between encouraging and apologetic. "I think all of us on the application have been having existential crises of one degree or another." Even if nothing else, he could offer a truly sympathetic ear.

"You are one of those people who were initiated into this unfortunate brotherhood just recently, I take it? Right before the, ah... small problems started?"

Ren can't help himself—he narrows his eyes just slightly at being called my son by a man who looks roughly the same age, but he supposes it's a part of the priestly package. So he lets it slide.

"That's right." The small problems. That's... an ironic way to put it, given just how much the whole thing had shaken him.

"I haven't even... seen anything yet, like some of the others, but the rest of it has just..."

He lets out a frustrated noise, his free hand curling into a fist. He bangs lightly on the table, just enough to make a noise, but the desire to actively punch something is definitely there.

"I thought I was on the way to getting my life together, maybe, and then this. Nothing makes sense."

[open] the disaster awakens

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