FEBRUARY EVENT LOG

[recollecters]

EVENT

FOUNDER'S DAY It's finally here. This is the day the city has been waiting for. It's a day like no other when every resident of Recollé can be found buzzing with energy and excitement. Shops open early. The Recollé High School and University marching bands begin to play, and over in Tribunal Terrace Mayor Mayer strides up to the microphone atop his beloved giant chicken, Seabiscuit. --wait, giant chicken? You're sure the Mayor has something important to say, but all you can do is focus on the fact that Seabiscuit didn't have bright red feathers the day before. The rest of the Mayor's speech may not get through to you, but it's his last sentence that makes everything official. "Welcome to Founder's Day! Let's do our part and celebrate the city that we love." I. All of the hard work from the days prior has paid off. The weather is slightly brisk with no chance of snowfall until well into the evening and businesses are booming. Shopkeepers and employees working today will have their hands full taking orders from customers and keeping up with demands. Maybe that 50% off deal on wool-knit scarves wasn't such a great idea. On the other hand, residents that aren't working today will find the streets pleasantly busy. Chata has plenty of sidewalk sales to peruse. Music and the scent of cinnamon-sweet coffee will surely lure some people to the businesses in Tisse. School is closed for the day but an open campus tour runs a few times a day at the university, and the Founder's Day play is performed once in the morning and once in the evening at the Atrium. Are you enjoying a day with your friends? Or are you stuck behind a register wishing you were? Wherever you may be, the spirit of Founder's Day is all around you. II. At noon sharp, the bands strikes up again as crowds gather around Tribunal Terrace. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the main attraction! That's right, it's time for the annual Founder's Day Parade featuring the city's newly elected royalty: King Kurt Wagner, Queen Maya Aimoto, Prince Ryoji Mochizuki, Princess Rose Strider, Duke Viktor Nikiforov, and Duchess Arlene Sinclair. The marching bands play with gusto as they stride through the streets, the Recollé High and Recollé University cheerleaders right behind them. Beautiful floats follow in their wake, all decorated with flowers and depicting the historical events of the city. One thing that's different this year, however, is the addition of beads from the King and Queen's float at the end of the parade. The Recollé Royalty's float-helpers sit on the edge of the float tossing colored strands of beads and candy to the audience below. Most residents may not notice, but the beads seem to be shaped like a new logo some residents are quickly becoming familiar with. Residents will find that wearing the beads will produce some interesting results though. Are you on a romantic date? Your beads might slowly turn red with passion. Are you nervous about one of those floats suddenly veering off and rolling down the hill? Your beads might turn pitch black. No matter what district you're in after the parade these beads will respond to your current mood, and even if you take them off they seem to mysteriously turn back up in your pocket. If you take them off and try to get rid of them often enough, they might just appear around your neck, and you won't be able to remove them for the rest of the day. Then again, this doesn't seem to be a rule so much as a pattern. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to ditch the beads to your pocket instead of having them prominently displayed no matter how many times you do away with them. Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve. What's up with that? The beads may not be everyone's first priority. After all, once the parade's said and done someone has to be on clean-up duty. Will you volunteer? III. Later, back at Tribunal Terrace, residents who passed by a large metal truck earlier in the week will quickly see what all of the fuss was about as Mayor Mayer walks Seabiscuit down the street, monitoring over a small, gated pen for Chocobo-back rides. You know the Mayor used to own a horse. Seabiscuit has always been a beautiful Palamino with a shimmering coat. Asking most of the other residents, however, will earn you a concerned look. Recollé has always been home to Chocobos. What's a horse? Nearby there's a petting zoo that has been set up by the same company. Thankfully, those animals look familiar. Goats, sheep, bunnies and other small animals reside in the petting zoo. Are you the type to feed them? Or are you stuck on pooper-scooper duty? Gross. The Chocobos themselves seem friendly enough, though the little ones are prone to nipping at hair and fingers. Are you brave enough to get closer to take a better look at these mysterious creatures? Do try to be careful...especially since some of them are prone to running away and relocating themselves in other parts of the city. Seems like even the Chocobos want the Founder's Day special from Expressive. IV. Mayor Mayer, as good and true as he is, isn't one of the most careful people in the city of Recollé. It would make sense to keep Seabiscuit away from the city's pride and joy, the world's largest ball of red string. If you've been in Recollé for any length of time, you'll immediately recognize the ball. Large enough to see from any district, the ball has been wound and displayed near City Hall for years. Too bad Seabiscuit isn't one for tradition and this creature does startle easily. It's hard to say what caused the poor thing to become so scared that it kicked the ball right off of its pedestal, but once it starts rolling there's no stopping it. The red ball of string picks up pace, rolling down the streets and unraveling to tangle up anyone in its path. The string winds its way around the city and all districts, seemingly pulling people in and tying them up with at least one other person. It seems that the only way to undo this mayhem is to find your other half and work together to unravel yourselves. BONUS. You don't remember that building in Tisse being there. Was it there before? Perhaps it was empty in the days prior to Founder's Day, but today a small neon sign illuminates the front of the building with the name of its current business. Retrospec. Huh. Isn't that the name of that app that installed itself on your mobile device? As you've noticed by now, all aspects of the app are available to use. But there's still something ominous about that building. If you're brave enough to go inside, you'll find… …nothing. The building appears to be empty save for a few chairs in a waiting room-type area and a large fake potted plant in the corner. There appears to be several doors and even an elevator, but it seems no matter how hard you try you can't access any of those. What a waste of time. (And why isn't there a staircase?) There's really no point in staying here when the festival's outside waiting for you. When you try to open the front door to exit though it appears to have locked behind you. Are you alone? Hopefully you aren't alone, that would be quite dreadful. Of course, you can try a few things to break out. You can try ramming down the door for example. That won't work, but you may certainly try. Though the city is full of creative people with undoubtedly interesting methods of breaking free, residents locked inside Retrospec will find that the only way to open the door is by using the Retrospec app to post a status update, comment to someone else's status, or post a picture from their Founder's Day adventures. Is there a right or wrong way to do this? That's for you to find out. Time to get creative and maybe make a few new friends! Welcome to recolle's February event! As a reminder, all characters will be begin in-game AU'd as Recollé residents. As with our TDM, 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 a note, the effects from the beads in the second prompt can last throughout the month if you would like, but will fade as soon as February is over. Additionally, you may post Retrospec updates in your top-levels on this log for the bonus prompt if you wish to keep everything in one place. As another note, by participating in this log in a thread with five or more comments from you, you are eligible for one free memory regain! This means you can claim a memory without a trigger required. Please see our monthly plotting post for more details. Any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here.

Comments

[daemonized]

[rip bigby

And so, it seems, that Jade is actually more than pleased with his choice of scarf. Ardyn's grin widens, and he actually lets out a pleased chuckle at her enthusiasm.]

I'm glad to hear it. [He also doesn't care that people are looking -- the best gift in the world ever is about to be purchased, what does it matter?] You know what? My treat. I'll buy it for him, and you can have the honor of presenting this very regal article of clothing to your father.

How does that sound?

[rhapsodeity]

[ it's like watching a daisy pop up out of the ground, isn't it? the way she just gets so excited her body language practically shouts. ]

Are you sure? You don't want to give it to him yourself?

[ but she clearly doesn't mind, because she's chewing her bottom lip with her big goofy front teeth with the grin still in place. whose genes possessed that trait, considering bigby and elizabeth both seem to have perfectly good teeth? who knows. the only for sure thing here is that jade is excited and doesn't mind giving bigs that scarf, but she doesn't want to take away from the fact it's a gift from ardyn, either. ]

[daemonized]

[He waves a hand at her in a dismissive sort of way.]

I'm one-hundred percent certain. I'd rather you see the look on his face -- and I'm sure it'll be a glad one -- after being presented such a unique and thoughtful gift.

[Or rather, Ardyn is shrewd enough to know that if he tried to give it to the man, he'd be flat-out laughed at and the gift rejected. If Jade did it, however? He certainly wouldn't be in any position to do so. Obligation was key. He might even be forced to wear the thing.

Ardyn digs in his pants pocket, pulling out his wallet. He hands her enough money to cover the scarf, with a little more to spare.]

Here. To cover the price.

[rhapsodeity]

[ if you think jade's not going to catch the extra here, you're a fool, ardyn. she's too honest of a girl, so despite the fact her expression betrays she isn't convinced, she takes the money. she checks the tag, counts the money. it comes out to something more than what the scarf's marked down as and maybe ardyn expects a teen to simply take his money, but jade doesn't. she shakes her head and smiles slowly. ]

You gave me too much!

[ the extra is held out for him to take back. look how sincere she is. it's the liz in her - or maybe the bigby refusing to take in any kindness. who knows? ] I'll give it to him, but do you want me to say it's a joint gift?

[daemonized]

[Listen, in this AU, Ardyn is actually a pretty decent guy, despite his relatively smarmy attitude. The extra money might be held back at him for him to take, but it's too late! Ardyn has already slipped his wallet back into his pocket, and heavens, it'd be way too much trouble to take it out again.

And so, nope, he's stuffing both hands into his pockets. He shakes his head.]

Ah, did I? It's fine. Keep it. Buy yourself something; that's what the sales are for, after all.

[He grins.] And you can say it's a joint gift if you like. It's true enough that I helped pick it out for him.

[rhapsodeity]

[ jade wolf is nothing if not the sort of child who believes in second chances. (and sometimes third chances, to boot!) trying and trying and trying is part of who she is - ardyn perhaps recognizes that this headstrong attitude is something that both of her parents have. jade smiles lightly. ]

Well, I won't say no then! We'll say you bought me a cup of tea, what do you think?

[ sounds fair. she's just a high school student, after all, it's fine for a caring adult to make sure she stays warm in this weather. ]

I will make sure he knows, don't worry. He doesn't look like it, but I definitely know he appreciates it when people think of him.