recolle | JULY EVENT LOG 2.0

Entry tags:

JULY EVENT LOG 2.0

EVENT

CRASH AND BURN
The last day of the ReConvention finds con-goers crowding the convention center for last-minute panels and purchases. The halls fill with attendees bartering for wares, attending autograph sessions and showing off their cosplays. But for a select number of people, time is of the essence.

Those who scanned their QR codes at the Retrospec booth will notice that their countdown clock draws closer to zero. With each second ticking closer and closer to the end, a sense of urgency settles around the crowd.

But, perhaps you’re one of the ones who will carry on as if nothing is happening. Or maybe you didn’t scan your code at all. It doesn’t matter though. There’s nothing stopping the clock from its descent backwards, and as the timer strikes zero a loud, piercing roar echoes off of every wall of the convention center.

I.
Those who were brave enough to scan their received QR codes (and even those who didn't but received one regardless) will find that their mobile devices shock them, a quick electric burst that leaves behind a white-hot sort of pain. When you open your eyes after the initial hit, a floating treasure chest appears. While there may be multiple chests surrounding you, it seems you may only open those with your name on them.

Another beam of light shines upon opening your prizes, orbs skyrocketing through the air as they circle briefly before settling around you. A surge of energy ignites within, and for some lucky few new companions and items have also been rewarded to those who played Jim's game. But…perhaps they aren't the ones you expected. Perhaps they make no sense at all. Why not give them a try?

II.
But seeing how the convention center continues to shake, it might be better to find out what’s up. The source of chaos can be traced back to Seto Kaiba's gaming booth as a projector in the wall releases monster after monster that pour out of the projection and come to life. Though the TV above Kaiba’s booth is shattered, the projector keeps rolling and the monsters appear while destroying the booth itself in their haste to be free. Among the rubble left behind the blue glow of the Retrospec symbol shines brightly from a side-panel of the projector.

For those in the convention center, there is the option to run and hide. With the building shifting due to the onslaught of attacks, piles of drywall, cracks and crevices and more provide for good hiding spots to give you time to make a new plan.

Of course, there's always the fight option. What will it take to bring these beasts down? Maybe it's best to lure them outside instead and away from civilians.

III.
Or perhaps that was a bad idea. Whether citizens manage to wrangle the monsters outside or not the beasts will make their way out on their own, fighting amongst themselves and chasing people through the city's streets. Even those who didn't attend the convention will find that the infestation spreads to every district of the city itself, and their QR-given items and abilities kick in. They aren't going for the kill, but they will follow any moving target including those who aren't on the Retrospec network. Though these citizens may run, hide or need rescuing, if asked they will simply remark that the city's always had a bit of a monster problem.

However, now that the fight's moved outside, it's easier to see the distinct red tint to the monsters' eyes every time they blink. A monster that has to forcibly change direction will flicker for a moment, like an image buffering and loading. Even when a monster unleashes an attack, some fighters may take the full impact while others get away with minor to no damage. In those moments, it's easier to bring them to a halt.

When a monster meets its demise though, something strange happens. The flickering is more rapid and faster, and the creature will dissolve into black blocks and spores that evaporate into thin air. What the hell was that? Now probably isn't the best time to ask questions.

IV.
The fighting rages on but with the sun still hanging in the sky it's impossible to tell what time it is. One of the monsters seems to have knocked out the nearby cell phone tower, too, taking down not only cell phone reception, but the entire Retrospec network as well.

It goes on for what feels like hours with the sun beating down from above. Retrospec users battle monsters and fight to reconnect while the network errors out any time someone tries to send a message about the city under attack. It seems as though a new wave of monsters appear just as the last one dies down.

It's with a sudden jolt that reception on your mobile device returns, but Retrospec appears to be in a maintenance mode where the network is still inaccessible. A quick glance at the date on your phone reveals that instead of the mere hours you thought, nearly five days have passed by and you realize the date is now August 3rd. Upon that realization everyone's devices begin to chime with several notifications and the monsters all seem to pause for one brief moment. Not long after, Retrospec members will also find themselves frozen in place no matter how hard they struggle. The spell on the monsters breaks as they swoop upon these unfortunate few, picking them up in their claws, hands or mouths. A large swirling portal opens not far away and one by one creatures dive straight through the portal with the Retrospec users.

These portals may spit you out anywhere in the city, but several of them send residents to Peach Beach. Strangely, the monsters are nowhere to be found, but way out in the distance appears to be a creature, swallowing up the ocean in a swirl of waves.

You can try to run out to fight it, but the moment your feet touch what used to be the ocean floor a forcefield throws you back to the sand allowing the ocean to slip away right before your eyes. The moment the last drop is drained, that monster disappears, too.

What happens next? To be continued…

And welcome to the wrap-up of the ReConvention! As Prompt IV says, monster attacks will continue through all five days (July 30th, 31st, August 1st, 2nd and 3rd) and the network will not be accessible to anyone in-game from now until August 3rd when a mod-posted Retrospec post goes live! Please feel free to play with the monster attacks as you wish! You can have your characters escape via glitches in the monsters, or you can fight the monsters and and your character can actually take damage for a real battle (though death is not an option at this time.) We leave that up to you!

Please do not post any threads in this log or in your inboxes set for after this log just yet! We will be setting up August's event via this log and for plot purposes we ask that you refrain from doing anything prior to our Retrospec post on 8/3.

Those who are in Group One or Group Two will learn more about their small-focus teams on August 3rd when your logs goes live.

Please direct questions about this log to the mod comment here. Thanks!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[...Are you thinking that they're just going to merge into some kind of - ...okay no never mind that's exactly what he's thinking as well, he can't even fault you for it.]

Believe me, you aren't the only one.

[With that said, he takes a couple of shots into the group of...whatever they are; while they don't mutate, and they don't combine into one impressively angry thing, there are a couple of things that he doesn't quite seem to be expecting as a direct result of the gunshots.

The first is that the bullets seem to pass right through them.

The second is that while he expected the shots to aggravate them, he didn't foresee the reaction - one of them darts forward, aimed directly at his chest, piercing his body and passing through easily.

The impact, if it can be called that, doesn't hurt at all, physically; however, it does drop him immediately - the gun falls to the ground as he sinks to his knees, folding in on himself immediately with his head lowered and arms crossed tightly against his chest where the thing had hit him. He's breathing hard, and though he doesn't seem to be injured in any way, he doesn't seem inclined to get up, either.]

Albert!

[Well that sure was a thing that just happened. Jaeger's lost sight of the thing that passed through Wesker, but that doesn't matter right now because whatever it was just dropped his friend on impact. He should be looking for it and trying to find a way to kill it before it can come after him as well, but he hadn't expected it to actually injure Wesker this much.

He doesn't really seem injured, though? What the hell is going on...?]

Are you okay? Can you stand?

[Jaeger's trying to split his attention as best he can to make sure any more of those things don't hurt Wesker or himself, but it's hard to do that when his best friend's been taken out so easily.]

[He doesn't even try to say anything in response, even though he knows in there somewhere that he should; he just remains where he is, and after a moment he'll shake his head a bit, though it's difficult to tell what it's in response to - the question of whether he's okay, whether he can stand, something else entirely, just a motion to try to clear his head...

His breathing remains jagged but at least it's steady; god, he couldn't even explain what's happening to him if he wanted to - and he should want to, Jaeger is being good to him in a way that he doesn't deserve and clearly if he was worth anything he'd at least try to make it up to him but it's not like he'd even know how to anyway so it's best to just stay down and stay silent and eventually things will pass, just deal with what he deserves because he doesn't deserve much but he deserves to feel like this, and then -

And then what, go back to existing without really being a part of anything, he supposes, he doesn't have anyone and what Jaeger's offering him is temporary because it almost always is, and honestly he deserves that too, better that all of this end before things get unfortunate in other ways, before he actually snaps and kills someone because that's always been the concern, hasn't it, most people actually feel things when they do negative acts but he doesn't because he's fucked up and broken in ways that he really doesn't like thinking about so he just shuts them down so he doesn't have to deal with them, and that's cowardice in the end, isn't it? He should just embrace the fact that he's too fucked up to get anywhere, stop dressing it up in trying to help people and trying to be a good person and just accept that that's never going to happen because he doesn't deserve-

...He's. He's going to be down here for a while.]

[Ohhh, this is bad. This is really, really bad. He has no idea what happened or where those little monsters got off to, but Wesker's having some problems and won't - or can't - talk about them, so Jaeger shifts his priorities. He transforms his weapon into its sword form since it's easier to maneuver with it, but he drops to his knees beside Wesker, reaching out his free hand for the other man's shoulder.]

Albert, listen to me. We need to move, ja? Will you let me help you stand?

[He tries to ignore how badly his hands are shaking and how his voice wavers a bit at the end. He doesn't know what's going on and he's nervous as hell, but he has to do something.]

[He flinches almost immediately at the contact, though he doesn't try to draw away; it'll become...evident, fairly quickly, that Jaeger isn't the only one that's shaking.

He still can't make himself say anything; the thought of it makes his chest tighten up and his breathing quickens a bit, though he eventually seems to realize in some vague way that that's...not good, and he forces his breathing to slow a bit before he straight-up hyperventilates. The contact is obviously striking him strangely, though, and he can't really force himself to accept it, but he isn't trying to move away, either - just...allowing it without encouraging or discouraging short of just kind of. Shaking.]

[Jaeger's grip tightens immediately. He's not sure what the hell happened but that thing did something to Wesker and now he's like this and he's never seen Wesker act like this before. It's terrifying. What is he supposed to do? How is he supposed to help?]

Are you in pain? Can you nod if you are? Please, Albert, I don't know what to...

[He trails off then shakes his head. No, he's not going to start acting like that now.]

Nod if you're in pain, shake your head if you aren't, alright? Let's just start there.

[It takes him a moment to register what's been said, he shouldn't...need this level of guidance, he should be able to handle this, fucking worthless -

There's a pause, but eventually he'll shake his head. No.]

Okay. Okay, that's good.

[His grip loosens a bit on Wesker's shoulder. He can get some answers out of him, then. Jaeger doesn't let go of Wesker's shoulder entirely though, just leaving his hand there despite the shaking.]

Can you stand? We aren't safe here, we need to move somewhere else.

[He's trying his best but his voice is shaking.]

[Again, it takes him a moment; he shifts again, like he's considering it, before he manages to unfold himself a little. Unwraps his arms from where they've been folded against his chest, settles his hands down on the ground nearby. His fingers brush up against the gun where it had fallen next to him; for a brief, confused moment something crosses his mind, something vivid and ugly, an easy way to remove the problem that he's causing -

His hand jerks, shoving the gun away from him, sending it skittering a short distance across the ground.

No.

The action seems to bring some clarity with it, though it isn't much; he'll manage to push himself up at least, standing up and brushing his clothes off - the motion is absent, vacant, something to do with his hands to try to clear his focus a bit.]

[There goes the gun, um. Okay. That's definitely not a good sign and Jaeger doesn't want to let go of Wesker for long enough to grab it. But eventually he does, if only because Wesker's standing. So Jaeger retrieves the gun, but he doesn't hand it over to Wesker, instead he shoves it in his bag and picks up Wesker's as well. He can carry both for awhile.]

Will you be okay to follow me?

[If he had a free hand he'd have it on Wesker's arm right about now, but he doesn't want to put any of their belongings down.]

[He remains quiet, but he'll nod eventually, adjusting his gloves a bit as he does so. Yes, that's fine.]

Okay, good.

[Jaeger starts moving then, though he doesn't proceed too quickly and he'll glance back over his shoulder to make sure Wesker's following him.]

[He is, most definitely, and after a while he'll catch up to keep pace - less because he wants to and more because he's less of a liability like that. Even if he can't be useful (or won't be useful, it's more like he won't be useful, isn't it, he could if he tried, he should be better than this but for the time being he's apparently content to be fucking worthless, isn't he) at the very least he can do what he can to not be some sort of fucking detriment.

He feels strange without the gun, but it's for the best that he doesn't have it, nor the bag containing the spares; he's still got the S.T.A.R.S. knife on him if he absolutely needs to get something off of him, but for the time being the guns are better off with Jaeger.]

[It's good that Wesker has caught up, he seems to be doing a bit better now. The walk all the way back to Wesker's place is a long one, but Jaeger doesn't plan on trying to make it all the way there. Instead he's going to redirect them toward one of the alleyways - it's not the same one they were hiding out in before, but it's narrow and it'll protect them from flying monsters at least.

He checks down it before he motions for Wesker to follow him into it. Thankfully there aren't any monsters here.]

We'll wait here for a little while, okay? I don't know what happened but you seem... out of it.

[To put it lightly.]

Do you know what happened?

[He's not really expecting an answer.]

[He'll accompany Jaeger in there, but he's not particularly going to like the conversation, he can tell that much already. The question he gives him confirms it almost immediately.

He can feel his posture tightening up a bit; he shakes his head eventually. No, not really.]

[Jaeger sets the bags down, but he doesn't let go of his weapon. He does reach out for Wesker's arm again though, just sort of resting his hand on it like this isn't awkward. The shaking has died down a bit, at least.]

It's alright. We'll just have to avoid whatever those things are from now on.

[...]

Can you speak at all?

[It takes him a while to work out how to respond to that; technically he can, it's just kind of a matter of...working through whatever all of this is.

He'll nod eventually, though the gesture is odd, and it's fairly obvious despite the dark glasses he always wears that he's not making eye contact.]

[Jaeger waits patiently for Wesker to find a response. He's not entirely sure what to make of that response, but he nods anyway.]

Albert, it'll be okay.

[His hand is shaking again so he tightens his grip on Wesker's arm.]

Right now it probably doesn't seem like it, but I'm right here, ja? I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here for you, for whatever you need.

...I know.

[It's...quiet, and oddly breathless-sounding, but at the very least they're words, and for the time being that's what matters; his chest still feels tight, impossibly so, and it's hard to force through it, but they don't have time for him to continue to fuck up like this - ]

I know, I...

[He shakes his head after a moment.]

Fine, it's... It's fine.

[Jaeger brightens at that and he pats Wesker's arm sympathetically.]

Even if it isn't fine right now, it will be. I have complete faith in that. We can rest here for awhile and we'll return to your place whenever you feel you're up to it, okay?

...That's fine.

[There's a bit more behind that one when he says it; that's...fine, that sounds fine - ]

I don't know what happened... I'm not physically injured. I can tell you that much.

[All right. All right, that's. Slightly better. Jaeger is familiar and that always makes it a bit easier, recovering from things like this, just...give him a second.]

I'm glad to hear it. I was really worried, you know!

[He still is, but he's doing his best to hide it. His voice isn't betraying him anymore, at least.]

...I know you were.

[There's something weird in his voice as he says it; he twitches a bit before just...shaking his head again.]

I haven't had that happen in a long time. It's not common. But it's not the first time, either.

[There's no sense in trying to deny it; he really was worried. He still is. Wesker can probably tell.]

...I don't understand. What happened, exactly?

[He can, yes; he won't mention it, but he can tell.]

The...sudden inability to speak, I suppose. It's happened before; it's often stress-related, and usually not half as severe.

[...]

Everything else was new, that part less so.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject