Don't worry, she laughed when she saw the royalty results too. And then shrieked in terror.

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto 2/12 near Recollé

So, I've got a ... question. The freaky things don't exactly seem to be stopping, and one thing hit me as really weird. The whole. "Founder's Day Court" thing. It didn't stand out to me until afterwards, but... well. I looked back through what's been posted to Retrospec so far, and... There are definitely more than a couple of us chosen from that who are also on THIS. That ... seems more than a little odd, doesn't it?

[Someone seems to be lacking a certain amount of energy that's normally on display. Why, it's not as if many more "freaky" things have been happening, right?

I mean. Unless you woke up in the middle of the night with some awfully weird visions in your head, or you're desperately trying to stave off the desire to build a conspiracy wall in your bedroom.]

Comments

[clear_eyes]

Rachel Hishimura The beads they were throwing. They were shaped like the Retrospec logo as well.

I'm starting to think they have something to do with city government.

[It's a good thing Maya isn't talking to Rachel in person because Rachel wouldn't be able to hide sounding pre-occupied about "weird visions" of her own.]

[strongestheart]

[Ahahhahaha, oh good, they're on the same page. And don't even know it.]

Maya Aimoto AND THERE WAS THAT WEIRD BUILDING PEOPLE WERE TALKING ABOUT TOO!
Maya Aimoto That's too many things to not be connected.

[clear_eyes]

Rachel Hishimura Too many things to keep track of it feels like.
Rachel Hishimura And it was the Mayor's "chocobo" that caused a lot of attention on Founder's Day...

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto That chicken tried to kill us.
Maya Aimoto We were obviously getting too close.

[Yes, tried to kill you. With... string.]

[clear_eyes]

Rachel Hishimura I doubt it was actively targeting us, Maya. But that's still someone important at the center of things.

[onceandfuturemascot]

Alice Penelope Drake There's absolutely a conspiracy going on here, not just a publicity stunt.
Alice Penelope Drake I'm sorry.

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto It's the thought that counts...?
Maya Aimoto I mean you were trying to be optimistic.

[onceandfuturemascot]

Alice Penelope Drake Half reassurance, half denial, yes.

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto Well, sometimes you've gotta work with what you've got!
Maya Aimoto Admittedly we don't really have a whole lot here...

[me_matey]

May Sfondi shared a photo. 2/12 near The Mayship

here you go. you found a way to complain about being popular. congrats.

[strongestheart]

[Really. Really?]

Maya Aimoto Who's complaining?
Maya Aimoto If you don't think that's weird I've got a guy elsewhere who thinks an entire species morphing into another one isn't anything worth worrying about.

[me_matey]

May Sfondi hey hey easy gurl im just pullin ur leg. tryin the lighten the mood b4 u work urself into a shoot, brother

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto Ah, sorry!
Maya Aimoto This whole thing just has me super antsy.

[swordere]

Melody Sharpe Wait, seriously?
Melody Sharpe If it was just this, I might chalk it up to coincidence.
Melody Sharpe But no, this is definitely for sure related to all the weird things that have been happening. It has to be.

[strongestheart]

[MELODY, HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT YOU MIGHT LOOK LIKE WITH PURPLE HAIR? Maya doesn't have to.]

Maya Aimoto I'm pretty sure! At the very least, there's several. At most, it could be all of them at this rate!
Maya Aimoto The more it is, the weirder it gets.

[Not that she's thinking there's something rigged in the voting necessarily, perhaps something about them as inductees to this application have something compelling enough about them to be voted for, look she's having a rough month and might be losing her mind, let her have this.]

[swordere]

Melody Sharpe There has to be some reason for that.
Melody Sharpe Especially considering those beads.
Melody Sharpe But it feels like the more pieces we find of this puzzle, the further away we get from solving it...

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto Those beads were super weird too, did you ever try and get rid of them???
Maya Aimoto But I don't guess you've ... run into anything else? Had anything else weird happen since then...?

[rosettareflected]

Alicia Clover I feel it may be more accurate to say that all or almost all of the royalty are members of Retrospec. That is part of the mystery... and it only deepens as time passes. I am not quite ready to declare the situation suspicious, but... It is highly unusual.

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto Narrowing it down to just us seems weird!
Maya Aimoto Unless maybe something in the voting made us the choices... somehow?? I don't know how something like that would work, but that also seems like too huge of a coincidence. There's hundreds of other people that could have been chosen!
Maya Aimoto But I guess there's a sort of thing of... if everything seems suspicious, narrowing down what ISN'T is harder...?

[She thinks a moment before adding to that, before doing so:]

Maya Aimoto Um, I don't guess you've seen anything else weird since then, Alicia...?

[rosettareflected]

Alicia Clover When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Coincidences are all well and good,
but at a certain point we have to take foul play into serious consideration.

[The other comment catches her off guard, and it's a second before she replies; how much should she say? She saw something, certainly, but... is that what Maya's asking about?]

Alicia Clover Weird? Weird in what way? Because I'm still not over the chocobo thing, so that's still weird in my book.

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto Right, right... that's what I'm wondering, at this point...! There's too many things going on, and they all seem to point back here, don't they?

[She pauses a bit to herself before continuing. She... can trust Alicia, she's fairly sure, at least. Of course, anyone can see this, but she doesn't really think about this-]

Maya Aimoto I mean, since then, since Founder's Day. Have you seen anything else peculiar? Maybe like. Things other people wouldn't?

[Mmmmrrrr.]

Maya Aimoto Like anything you think is just... in your head?

[It's not like a quick gander at other posts won't reveal Alicia has seen just that, but it's rude to assume.]

[oceanicbutterfly]

Caroline Banks Actually, I'm not sure any of the winners aren't on this.

[strongestheart]

Maya Aimoto YEAH!
Maya Aimoto If you assume everything else is connected SOMEHOW - and with it all happening at once, it's kind of gotta be right?? - then this can't just be a coincidence, right?!

[oceanicbutterfly]

Caroline Banks The question is, why?
Caroline Banks Fixing what's essentially a popularity contest to be won by members of a secret social network who know horses used to exist?
Caroline Banks I don't think I'd even accept a children's cartoon with that premise. It's too silly.

[strongestheart]

["Fixing" isn't what she was trying to imply, and in fact sure wouldn't make her feel great, but she can't blame anyone for coming to that conclusion. It is ... weird, regardless.]

Maya Aimoto Yep. It's super silly.
Maya Aimoto It does start to feel like someone is messing with us. Specifically.
Maya Aimoto But most of us were pretty much unconnected before this mess...