recolle | september mini-event log

MINI-EVENT

All's Well That Ends Well
Summer's officially drawing to a close in the city of Recollé. Students and faculty alike begin to prepare for classes to resume. Vacations come to a close and stories are shared among co-workers. The amount of beachgoers lessens which each day and the nights start to become a little cooler as the leaves slowly change color. Unreality is kept at bay for now. But that doesn't mean the city's entirely back to normal...

I.
It's a beautiful day and many citizens in the city are embracing their last days of freedom. With a long weekend ahead of them, several people pack up and head back down to the beach to welcome the ocean home and partake in the annual End of Summer party. Much like July's celebration, Peach Beach is the place to be for food, fun and sun. The food trucks are back (and seriously, is this the only action they get?) and the stage is set up for musical and theatrical performances. Soak up some rays and spend the day with your friends, and don't forget to take advantage of the end of summer deals on the boardwalk.

However, the party doesn't get too far before there's the sound of a something soaring through the air. One by one, beachgoers will notice several boats falling straight from the sky and down into the ocean creating huge waves that crash against the shore. Tour boats, sailboats, and even a houseboat will plummet down into the water, miraculously avoiding crushing any swimmers. Make way, everyone: the boats are back and they're making a splash.

II.

Perhaps you're new to the Retrospec network and you've spent the last couple of days trying to remove the persistent app. Or perhaps you've been a part of this group for a while and you're currently filled with dread bracing yourself for whatever will inevitably come this month. It's not a bad assumption to make and though it may seem as though all things are normal for once, it all starts with an innocent text message.

From an unknown number, all users will receive a picture message along with a smiley face. Though there's no name or message attached to it, several users may know exactly where this came from.

Try as you might, replying to the text message won't work. No matter how many messages you send, the last half of these messages are unknowingly sent out to various Retrospec users. Likewise, you may receive other out of context messages from other users experiencing the same weird effects. Well that's inconvenient, isn't it?

III.
You know, texting can be considered overrated. Why text when you can settle for good old-fashioned face to face communication? With several new faces in the city and the autumn season beginning to settle in, there are plenty of places to go and people to see to unplug for a while. Now that all of the monsters are gone things seem to run smoothly as you go about your daily business. While there's some debris left around the city, the buildings are all in one piece and NPCs seem to be as oblivious as always.

It may be unnoticeable at first. After all, how many people look above their own head? Not many. At any given moment unprompted and unannounced, a gray wispy cloud appears overhead displaying any thoughts you may not wish to share with the public. While the thought bubble won't remain at all times, it will pop up on and off throughout the month of September changing messages and even changing color when speaking to someone face to face. Think your professor's talking too much? Want to ask out that cute barista? Good thing they can read all about it!

IV.
Even with the embarrassing texts and thoughts, this appears relatively tame by Recollé standards. Maybe the effects of unreality really did mess things up and the team's too focused on fixing it. Or, perhaps, this month's twist is a small one in comparison to the temporal storm of August.

On the other hand, it wouldn't be Recollé if things weren't a little more physical, now would it? Settling back into everyday life, users will find that things seem more vibrant now. Sights are brighter, smells are more savory, and sound is sharper than ever. Sound has become so loud, in fact, it's almost as if the sound waves have taken on a life of their own. No matter where you go or what you do, sound will make itself present in new and interesting ways. Musical notes will float out of your mouth as you sing along to your favorite song. Glaringly red jagged lines wind themselves around the feet of someone being yelled at. Storm clouds follow and drench someone who's crying. Hearts rise up in the air like bubbles and pop into small showers of confetti with every expression of love. Sound is fluid and expression is free; there seems to be zero limits to what shape the noise will take.

What are you doing today, Retrospecters? You may find yourself dealing with one, two, or all three of these strange phenomenons.

BONUS.
Over in Tisse, the Retrospec building is as sturdy as ever. Several of you know by now that there is more to this building than meets the eye, but even with the map in-hand it's impossible to navigate anywhere the building does not wish for you to explore.

Today, the doors to Retrospec are open to anyone interested in visiting. The lobby appears to be empty as usual and the receptionist desk in the center of the lobby is completely abandoned. Surrounding the desk, however, are several items. In fact, these are all items Retrospec users bought from Jim Halloway's wedding registry during July's bingo game. Several of these items are useful, such as his and her towels or silverware,
but other items seem outlandish or useless such as meme t-shirts, rubber ducks, and other assorted odds and ends. A stack of thank you cards sit on the receptionist's desk but it appears they have not been started yet.

Although none of the rooms are available for entry, underneath the television mounted on the wall sits a DVD clearly labeled "for educational purposes only." Should anyone put on the DVD, they will find a variety of clips from events from the last several months. Strangely there does not appear to be anything from the nine groups that were split between reality and unreality. It's a nice review of the year so far, isn't it? Perhaps it's time to explain to some new users just what this world is truly capable of.

Welcome to

recolle's September mini-event! The prompts are simply loose guidelines for you guys to play with and make up your own fun adventures for the entire month of September! While prompt I is only for the long holiday weekend, the rest of the prompts and the bonus can take place over the course of the month. You may also create your own logs or inbox threads based on these effects. All effects will cease on 10/1 at 9pm EST. Any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I think we're trying but failing.

"Prepared for everything" is a goal strived for, but unattainable.

Perhaps not prepared, but being unshaken by is a good goal to achieve.

Become like water, and be able to flow around obstacles without altering your state.

How well can we flow when kept in tanks, though? Because we most definitely feel contained by our uncontrollable situation.

Water adapts to its container. It has no shape, otherwise.

Exactly. We're trapped. Unless you want to convince me it's all in the mind?

Is that your idea of trapped? Even the ocean is a container of some kind.

... Currents, high tide, low tide.

Still more predictable than what this city does. We're more the school of fish that don't know what we're doing but stay with each other for lack of knowing anything else.

Perhaps that's not an unfair assessment...

But, personally, I don't regret the connections I've made as a result. Not yet, at least. Being like water, having those connections, has helped me adapt to this madness a bit better than I would have otherwise.

...

[ Ritsu does. The words regret and connections remind him of the accident at the mansion, and he stops drawing in the sand. ]

Really.

[ It's flat and void of emotion, but it almost feels venomous. Bonding with others only to lose them can only register to Ritsu as a mistake. ]

-Kasen was never the best at braining out social interaction, but it was hard for even him to miss that shift in tone.-

... I'm sorry. -The wounds of that evening were still fresh for all of them, but he had no idea how close Ritsu and Ryoji actually were.-

... It's not your fault.

[ Ritsu manages, after some silence. He'd wanted to keep a good lid on his emotions, but that was too much to ask for apparently. Maybe it was because Kasen was another eyewitness to his sin. ] I'm sorry too.

[ And with a sideward sweep, he cleans the pointless equation. ]

... I can't say whether or not resentment and blame are useful. I'm an artist, not a therapist.

... But I can say, personally, neither has ever helped me in my life. I try to avoid them.

It's different in the matter of taking a life.

[ The gravity of the subject matter never intended to turn this way. Ritsu resists the urge to somehow snap the twig in half with merely his thumb, things didn't need to get even more out of form than his own low-burning self-resentment. ]

...

"The purpose of all swords is to cut" -Kasen shook his head, the words still having that strange, alien quality to them. They were not his own, and yet...-

Despite that, I can't relate.

It's good you don't.

Nobody should be like this. [ He's beaten up people in his memories and laughed about it, and strangled one with such lack of remorse. But he didn't kill them. What strength did that him hold, and why did he abuse it in such a way?

Up until this point Ritsu was convinced he wouldn't let himself become the person in his memories, but at least he never hurt someone who was actually dear to him. ]

Even so, part of me wishes I did.

What good is an artist if I can't fully empathize with a human experience? What good is a human at all in this situation?

-Ritsu wasn't alone in his struggles against an identity that seemed so incongruous with his own. But for Kasen... how did one cope with being a tool designed to kill, when he'd always thought of himself as a creator?-

... It's not an artist's job to embrace all suffering, that would be... too much for any one person to bear, I'm sure.

Being a human kinda sucks.

[ Existing in general kinda sucks, but here, being a simpleminded animal would have sufficed. ]

... I suppose you're right. Even so, an idea of humanity is what creates art...

If I am anything else, can I don't understand what I am meant to do.

It's not as if there aren't artistic animals but... that's fair. Their tools and abstraction ability are more limited.

I can't speak for creative lifestyle because I'm not an artist. Just living simply and worry-free... I've envied the unaware masses for a while now.

It runs deeper than that, but... I don't want to burden you with my problems.

... It's alright. I don't know if I'd be the best at emotional counsel, anyway.

[ Very far from it. ]

But seeing as we've fought together, we're not strangers, either. So... um, don't be one, is how the saying goes, right?

[ For when they're in better shape. ]

I don't intend to be... Like it or not, you're stuck with me now. -Kasen managed a chuckle. They may not ever be in better shape, but, well...

Misery adored company.-

september mini-event log

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"can i don't" wow

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