LOADING...OVERFLOW

[recollecters]

Hello Users, For those of you who are new: Welcome to Retrospec™, the last social media network you will ever need. You are one of the few selected to test this exciting new platform based on our cutting-edge algorithms. Membership is not currently open to the public. However, we hope you will come to see how useful Retrospec™ is, given time. We have for your use a variety of features such as text, voice, video, and image posts. We encourage you to explore our many options. For all, new and old: Please be advised that should you go above and beyond the call of duty for Mr. Halloway's little game in the coming days, there may be a reward granted or information given. 100% completion would be the goal for that, should you have an interest. If you have no interest in the matter, please feel free to carry on as usual. R&D will not be handling further communiques for this month, or possibly the next few months. This should not, of course, have any impact on your usage of Retrospec™. The first milestone for the second of the colors lost has been met, and accordingly we have diverted resources to fix what could be fixed. R&D has alerted me that a bigger loss may occur in the near future, and I would advise you to be careful, though I am afraid neither they nor I can be much more detailed than that. Finally, I would like to extend congratulations to those of you who have now reached your sixth month. We hope you will continue to accept our assistance in these trying times. Thank you for your patience, Janet Wiseman Human Resources Retrspec Incorporated As of this post green fruits and flowers of this color regain their pigment. (Note: this is not all plants. This is just for flowers and fruits!) Please feel free to use this post as a network mingle. Every toplevel can be considered a new post, and threadjacking is permitted. No NPC response will be given. Usernames are the character's full real AU names, not aliases or chosen nicknames or usernames, and seemed to have filled themselves in; nothing characters do can change or obscure their names currently. Any new characters will find that the first photo they upload is locked as their profile picture for the rest of the month. Characters who have been in game since February will find their profiles now have a 6 months badge. It does absolutely nothing of note. This post is an overflow from the original post here. Feel free to either carry over threads from there or create entirely new ones.

Comments

[feistytrader]

What a coincidence, I'm already halfway there.

[Not really, but it gets the point across.]

You want anything while I'm out?

[Holy shit, the rare food offering. It's happening.]

[maskreant]

[ !!! ]

watermelon.

[feistytrader]

Can do. Be right there.

[True to his word, it doesn't take terribly long for him to show up; Totodile's the one that does the knocking for him, as his hands are a bit preoccupied with the biggest watermelon he could find.

...Look, sometimes it's fun to be comedically excessive. Sometimes that means you might get yourself some watermelon out of the deal, and watermelon is absolutely delicious.]

Hey Akira, I got your watermelon!

[maskreant]

[ Akira's mother is home, but she has locked herself up in her study... So it lets him be the face of welcome as he opens the door, looking down to the watermelon with these sparkling eyes. ]

It's huge.

[ Then there's the Totodile. ]

... He's huge.

[ Since this is the first day he actually realizes this isn't normal. ]

[feistytrader]

And he's one of the smaller ones. I've remembered a lot of others.

[This must be even weirder than the damn missing horses for him. He got an easy month to adjust to things. ...But anyway, the watermelon.]

Hope you're hungry.

[maskreant]

Starving.

[ He opens the door for them to come in. Into the kitchen they go and he'll take out... hm. A butcher knife? ]

... I didn't know there are more firecracker pop crocodiles.

[ What? Akira is more than sure this is the only one he has seen. ]

[feistytrader]

...I don't know if there are more firecracker crocodiles, but there are definitely a bunch of different weird magic animals.

[The two of them stroll right into the kitchen; Totodile wants to see what's going on, so he tries climbing up various obstacles until Silver cuts out the middle man and holds him up to see.]

How's the life of realizing this stuff's not normal treating you, anyway?

[maskreant]

[ Akira may or may not be Too Interested in these Weird Magic Animals. Okay, he's very interested. Totodile is already cute, so he can't help but wonder what else is there?

One fine chop into the middle of the melon is unfortunately not enough. It's time for Akira to struggle getting the blade through. ]

Doing all right. I kind of like it? I can finally understand weird magic animals are not normal. Is that weird.

[ His cat peeks around the corner, watching them in suspicion. ]

[feistytrader]

[Well, while he's struggling with the watermelon, Silver... will continue to be of no help whatsoever and keep talking, although Totodile's noted the cat and turned his head to look at it.]

The way I see it, it goes in stages. Mildly creeped out but excited, more creeped out but who cares, your past life's a damn anime, everything's great. Then the rougher memories come in around the same time that everyone is going to get on retrospec and try to help you have an existential crisis, because no one has any tact.

[Not that he has much tact, but at least he hasn't tried to tell everyone their lives are fake or their parents were killed off by the powers that be.]

I think the next stage is that you just sort of accept that you've completely lost control of your life. ...Maybe that's why I bought you an entire watermelon. Damn.

[Despite all of his words, he's speaking about everything pretty casually.]

[maskreant]

[ He's quiet at first while there's quite the disturbed expression on his face. Unsure... of what to say, he slowly cuts the watermelon finally in half. The fruit awkwardly separates and wobbles on opposite sides as his eyes are on his friend.

What the hell? LIKE SERIOUSLY? Let him chop the rest of the watermelon as his cat finally approaches Totodile. ]

Thanks for the watermelon. I'll remember it as compensation for ruining the whole Retrospec experience for me.

[ Watermelon ready and plated, they can all dig in. ]

Did you go through that full cycle, too?

[feistytrader]

[Totodile approaches the cat a little, then sort of just... plops down on the floor. Come hang out with him, he's good company.]

I don't quite think I'm at the sweet nirvana where I've adjusted to my bizarre life yet, but I'm getting there.

[Hopefully.]

Sorry to break it to you early. If it helps, some of it really is pretty damn cool.

[He gestures in the direction of Aoi. Aoi's cool? He's totally cool. He's also looking at Akira expectantly. Pass him some watermelon from down here with the cat, man.]

Some guy in my memories has a badger with a fire mohawk. That's definitely cool.

[maskreant]

[ Kitty makes sure to rub against Totodile before getting comfortable. They seem happy. Akira can feel the intense look from the firecracker pop crocodile, so he ferries a good portion of the watermelon and places it in front of him. Morrigan is a picky eater, so he doesn't even try to swipe at it. ]

At least I'm not that far behind.

[ He hopes he can be on the same level as everyone else, including his friend, one day. But... a fire badger? He's telling himself he shouldn't find it cool, that they should take whatever weird flashbacks with a grain of salt— ]

That does sound cool... you can roast marshmallows over its mohawk. What can Aoi do?

[feistytrader]

[Watermelon get! ...It's a little strange to watch a little crocodile eat watermelon, but Aoi gets right to it. He holds out a little for Morrigan for a moment, but hey. More for him.]

His big thing is water. It's not much when he's messing around, but he's practically a fire hose when he wants to be.

[Munch munch. Aoi doesn't bother to turn around.]

Don't worry, I've only known about this stuff for two months.

[maskreant]

[ Akira is quiet as he lets it sink in. This little guy can shoot water like a fire hose? Is it bad that he's having thoughts of committing arson just to see this in action? At least he has enough self-control not to voice this thought or make an attempt.

Just. Going to munch on watermelon as he stares Aoi down. ]

I'm sorry.

[ Well, that was out of nowhere. ]

[feistytrader]

[Well, it's enough to get Aoi to turn to look at Akira, at least. What. You have your own watermelon, buddy. He's minding his own business over here.]

...Why?

[Because that was in fact absolutely out of nowhere.]

[maskreant]

[ It's all right. Akira averts his gaze and kind of looks down at leftover watermelon, still chewing on his a little longer in silence. ]

You've been going through all of this for two months...

[ And he couldn't do anything to help. He didn't even know or notice. ]

[feistytrader]

It hasn't been too bad for me.

[It's been a lot, and a couple of his memories have been rough, but there are others who have had it way worse than him. Elda, Shuji, Ryoji...]

I just wanted to give you a heads up. If you remember anything that freaks you out or make friends with some dragon, I don't mind hearing about it.

[...That's a lot more spoken sincerity than he usually bothers with. Damn.]

[maskreant]

But—[ But he gets the point from the words that follow next. Biting back what he wants to say, he also tries to quell the stir of dark emotions brewing in his stomach. It's fine. Silver is right.

Akira smiles softly while regaining composure. ]

If I'm friends with a dragon there's no way I would keep quiet about it. [ Everything else is unfortunately fair game. He tries to reword what he wanted to say earlier: ] Even if it's not so bad for you, I want you to know I'm here.

[ And here is where he stuffs Silver's mouth with some watermelon without warning. ]

[feistytrader]

[He opens his mouth to say something... To be greeted with watermelon. On one hand, it's delicious. On the other hand, this totally makes it hard to decide which direction to take this conversation in.]

I'd hope you're here, if you're gonna ask Elda for my hand in marriage.

[In the end, he goes for something stupid, but rest assured, he'll remember that, Akira.]

[maskreant]

Right. I should probably make preparations... Maybe a fruit basket.

[ And he goes along with it anyway? But he remembers how Silver reacted to her appearance when she forced her way into their conversation. Pensive, he kind of binges on watermelon. Don't worry. He'll cut up some more.

In the end, he decides not to press it. Silver will tell him when he wants. ]

What's she like? I need to know how to answer her interview questions.

[ Some dumb stuff it is. ]

[feistytrader]

[Good thing he picked up such a huge watermelon, huh. ...Aoi's eating the god damn watermelon rind, so not a single piece is being wasted here.]

She's old money, for starters. She's overbearing and fussy. She's got a real nasty temper, too. But she's actually pretty cool, too. She's five feet tall, and I have no doubt in my mind that she could kick the ass of anyone twice her size. Her dance moves are definitely from decades ago, but she's enthusiastic about them anyway. She's reliable.

[Reliable. He'd rather eat live bees than admit that about anyone out of his age bracket, yet... Here he is. At least Akira has long since understood that there's absolutely nothing about him that's cool. ...That's not the biggest concern here and he knows it, but it's something easier to digest.]

All I do is make her worry and give her grief, so the sooner I'm out of the picture for her, the better.

[maskreant]

[ ... Ah. Totodile is a garbage disposal. Akira is definitely entertained by watching the crocodile chomp through it all. Morrigan, too. Don't worry!! He's still intently listening.

It's true. Akira has never deemed Silver as "cool" per se, so nothing about this seems embarrassing to him. Also, he has no plans on ratting Silver out to his foster mother. That would be too cruel. ]

Then you'll support her when she grows old, right?

[ He can totally imagine it. ]

[feistytrader]

[...He never considered that, actually. Coming back to her after he's older and has his life together... That doesn't sound too bad, does it? It's not like he needs to be particularly loaded to do that, either. She's more than capable of taking care of herself financially.]

I don't know. Maybe. I've got a long time before I need to worry about something like that.

[maskreant]

[ This is his friend, Silver, with great and secure plans for the future. There'a dry laugh as he hears that answer... ]

I'm sure she'll appreciate it, so keep her in your thoughts. You'll never know when people disappear.

[feistytrader]

...Sounds like there's a story behind that.

[It's casually said; he's not going to pressure Akira into saying anything. At the same time, plenty of things came to mind when he heard that, and not a single one of them were pleasant.]