repeter | AUGUST TDM

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AUGUST TDM

TEST DRIVE

AUGUST TEST DRIVE
The city of Recollé.

...yeah. Yeah, it's just sort of a mess...

What will you do today?

I.
What the hell happened here? Perhaps you're new to the city, or perhaps you've finally started to notice just how bad the damage is to the beloved city of Recollé. The convention center is still crumbled in pieces and several local shops have boarded up windows and doors to prepare for reconstruction. Vendors on the street try to urge residents to purchase monster insurance for all of their home and vehicle needs. But the moment you step outside, you'll find yourself greeted by a member of the Recollé Restoration Committee as they thrust a hardhat into your hands and eagerly chatter about your new assignment.

Whether you find yourself in Tisse and assigned to haul pieces of stone around or you're placed over in Apprassage to pour cement, you'll find you aren't alone in these tasks. It's nice to meet your coworkers, isn't it?

II.
But really, what caused all of this? This is completely insane and while some of you may be willing to help rebuild the city, others might wish to solve the mystery. Poking around the various districts, NPCs will explain that monster attacks "sometimes just happen" which seems pretty strange in and of itself. Monsters shouldn't "just happen", should they? And where are these alleged monsters anyway?

Careful what you wish for, though. Exploring too much and straying off-task will lead to finding some things you may not want. These creatures will immediately hone in on new Retrospec users and begin to chase them, though they won't outright attack. While the smaller ones may be destroyed with a bit of effort, it might be wise to either cut your losses or find someone with a bit more experience to take on the larger creatures. Don't worry; there's bound to be someone to help.

III.
By now, you may have heard the rumors from some of your fellow Retrospec users that several members of the network have disappeared. You may even hear the rumors that those members are lost in "unreality" and that the city itself is a bit...unstable. But they're just rumors, right?

Everything seems fine as you go about your day (monsters notwithstanding.) However, any time you pass from one district to another suddenly a list of names scrolls past your line of vision . As the list comes to a halt and lands on one name, you may recognize it as a friend or a stranger. If you're lucky, you may get a holographic video connecting you to someone still in the city. If you're even luckier, you may find someone speaking up inside your head due to a telepathic connection. Go ahead and say hi. You just might get some answers from those who have been lost and those you haven't met yet.

IV.
As the night begins to set upon the city, a warm sleepy feeling rolls through. Whatever you're doing, it's hard to fight off the urge to curl up under a shaded tree and take a nap. After some time it's nearly impossible to ignore any longer and no matter where you are, you'll instantly fall asleep. Strangely, even

The place that you wake up, however, may look very familiar to you. You've seen this place before. In fact, you've lived through this very scene before. Maybe it's the little league game you scored your first home run, or maybe it's your high school prom. These are your memories played back to you, and glancing back you may find that again you aren't alone. Any Retrospec user has the ability to pass through these pockets of time and can stumble right into your memories. The memory pockets can appear no matter where a person is, and they'll be able to view and interact with the memories they see. Take a walk through your childhood neighborhood. Sit through the nightmare of your college entrance exams. These memories are yours as you've lived them. However, try not to change anything about the past. Memories can be quite tricky if meddled with too much.

BONUS.
While the makers of Retrospec are a bit scattered and busy at the moment, it seems as though they have failsafes to keep their systems up and running. The latest update push operates on its own and begins to download to your device. Your profile remains the same as always (your name and your photo), but it appears you won't have access to it until you apply one of the brand new filters to your picture. Seems easy, right?

Maybe you should have given this a second thought. As soon as the filter's applied to your photo, you might find that people are stopping and staring at you as you go about your day. They may or may not comment, but what's evident is that something's going on that you're unaware of. A quick glance in your phone's camera, a storefront window or a mirror will reveal all. That fun filter's now applied itself to your face with no hope of coming off for a while. Have fun!

Welcome to the

recolle test drive meme! All characters will be begin in-game AU'd as Recollé residents. 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. Please note that TDM threads can be used as samples, can be kept as game canon, and can also be used for bonus points for future item regains. Share a few minor details of your AU, tag around, and have fun!

For continuity's sake, for the first time we will be stating that the TDM is dated IC 8/17! This is all in one day. Potential applicants/characters on the TDM will revert back to NPC status on 8/18 and will not remember the events of the TDM until the mod-posted Retrospec post goes up 9/1.

Members of Group 2, since the TDM can be considered game-canon, prompts III and IV are open for you to tag around to new players while stuck in your locations outside of the city!

For Prompt III, members of Group 2 may telepathically connect to someone even if there's a video option, but their faces and surroundings will be obscured! Other members of the game + potential applicants may use video if they wish.

For Prompt IV, please remember these are memories from your AU and not your canon! Should characters deviate from these "memories" too much, they will find themselves thrown back to the beginning of the memory to start over!

And finally, the filters provided in the bonus are just examples and you can swap in any others you want.

Your August TDM directory is here, and your AU workshop is here! Our mod questions thread for this TDM is over here!

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[The name it stops on is 'Tatsuo Kihara.' Who has been missing since the 3rd and who no one at the lab even remembers exists... with the exception now of Derek.

As Derek expresses his surprise over what he's seeing, Tatsuo is getting a surprise of his own. A voice, in his head. That sounds just a bit like a friend of his.

Out in the jungle he and eleven other people were dropped into, in the central chamber of a temple/tomb filled with monsters and puzzles, Tatsuo groans and covers his face with his hands.]

It's finally happened. The stress from the monkeys and the sand scorpions and the skeleton horde has finally gotten to me. I've cracked.

[ Derek suddenly hears a voice inside his head that isn't his own. Something about sand scorpions and a skeleton horde? He looks back at the name on the list. Tatsuo Kihara? He knows that name...how does he know that name? As if a cloud of smoke was dissipating in his mind he suddenly realizes it's Tatsuo, his childhood friend and co-worker and has been missing for two weeks and he didn't even notice!]

TATSUO! What the hell! Where are you? Why are you in my head? And skeleton horde?

[There is is again. The voice. The sounds kind of like... Derek now that he thinks about it. Odd.]

Huh. Since when did my inner monologue sounding like Derek?

[Derek didn't know why, but for some reason Tatsuo's thoughts were in his head. He didn't belive in magic or any of that supernatural mumbo jumbo. It was always science that answered his problems. Maybe it was some rare gene that is finally manifesting itself later in his life and he can hear Tatsuo because his is the first person he really ever connected with...well, that he can remember connecting with. Blast his stupid childhood anmesia, he did not want to think about that problem right now. Ok, first things first, is to make Tatsuo realize that this isn't in his head and that there is probably a logical reason for it.]

Tatsuo, this isn't your inner monologue. This is Derek, and I am in Tisse walking home. Some random list of names appeared out of nowhere and your name showed up. Next thing I know I am hearing you inside my head. Could this be some weird gene defect and for some reason I am having telepathic powers....damn it, that doesn't even make sense. Why is this happening?

Edited 2017-08-18 04:06 (UTC)

[No Derek, it is not a gene defect. If only it was a gene defect. IF ONLY.

Tatsuo straightens up physically as he realizes that the voice isn't some portion of his own psyche. He's not sure what's going on, but he needs to exploit this connection to its fullest.]

Derek? Damn. You've gotten the Retrospec app. Look at your phone.

[On the one hand... he's not the only CSI on the app anymore! On the other, Derek is a good friend of his and he doesn't want the man he thinks of as a younger brother to get sucked into the nonsense that is Retrospec.]

A retro what app now?

[Derek pulls out his phone and swipes through his apps. A bright blue one he doesn't know sticks out.]

Blue? Wait, why is this so surprising? The sky is blue... [Derek looks up at the sky and see nothing but grey] WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE SKY? Tatsuo I can't see blue except for on the app! What is this thing?

Edited 2017-08-18 04:33 (UTC)

[Tatsuo groans. Yep. Derek has the app.]

Retrospec. Don't try Googling it, you won't get any hits. It touts itself a social media app, but that's not what's important. What's important is that now you can see the differences. The way the world is now, and the way it's used to be. Only the people on the app can see it, can tell when something is off.

[Derek looks up at the sky. There are more differences besides the sky not being blue anymore and this funky weird telekinetic link? Running his hand over his face he tries to think of other things that could have been different in the past. Blue shirts! There use to be blue shirts! But what else?

Uh...outside the color blue, I am kinda drawing a blank here...

[Tatsuo sighs internally. He really does hate being responsible for the mental anguish he is about to inflict on his friend.]

Think about the following words briefly. Horse. Fruit. Green.

[He's truly sorry for this, Derek. Truly.]

[Horse? Fruit? Green?...GREEN! His best friend's eyes were suppose to be green but they are grey now! He quickly does a quick turn around his surroundings.

The grass is suppose to be green! Why isn't the grass green? And where the hell did chocobos come from? I went horse back riding every year at summer camp! Where are the fucking horses? And the fruit! Since when did fruit start dancing? How can anyone eat fruit that is moving! That is absolutely morbid! Your food should not move! Especially when they were not suppose to move in the first place! What the hell Tatsuo?

[Derek places his hand over his chest, trying to calm himself down]

Sorry...just...OH MY GOD!

[Okay... Tatsuo does get a slight chuckle from Derek's reaction.]

Heh... welcome to Retrospec, the last social media app you'll ever need.

[Social media app? All Derek could comprehend is that it changes things in the world. Derek looks at the blue app on his phone. He presses his thumb to the threatening icon and the app opens up. He starts scrolling through it.]

What is this? I just opened it by the way. How is it any different from Facebook? I'm just gonna delete it. I don't want to waste space on my phone.

[Derek tries to remove the app from his phone. To his great annoyance, he fails.]

Yo, Tatsuo! Why the hell won't it go away?

[Tatsuo waits while Derek tries to delete the app.

Because he knows it won't work. But it's kind of funny when a new person tries.]

Yeah. It's weird like that. Only people with the app can see the app, as well as the Retrospec building in Tisse.

[Weird doesn't even begin to cover what Derek thinks of this whole thing. He makes a mental note to looks for this so called "Retrospect" building. His finds all this new information really annoying because he feels he has enough stuff in his life going on; work, rent, girlfriend who he hopes to be a potential fiance, childhood amnesia issues, and his search for the identities of his deceased parents. He would rather not add more to this really. Trying to mentally calm himself down he realizes he still has no idea where Tatsuo is.

Enough about this stupid app. Where are you and how did you get there?

Edited 2017-08-20 04:37 (UTC)

[Tatsuo can almost hear gears turning in Derek's head as he tries to make sense of this whole thing. And then Derek throws in the towel... or at least he thinks he does.]

I am in a crypt, in an ancient temple, in a jungle. As for how I got here... portal.

[Derek tries to stay calm, but with a response like that it was proving difficult. Being in a crypt, in an ancient temple, in a jungle is one thing, but getting there through a portal could mean Tatsuo could be there at any point in the space time continuum. This kind of science Derek does not know much about. He deals with blood and poisons for goodness sake, not some star trek string theory timey wimey wibbly wobbly crap! Derek runs his hand through his hair and turns around in a few circles as he tries to wrap his mind around all this...this stuff! Questionable apps, random stuff happening, Tatsuo somewhere in space and time in a crypt...OH MY GOD A CRYPT!]

Oh my god you're in a crypt! Are you buried alive? Oh my god how am I suppose to get you out of being buried alive if I can't even figure out what part of space and time you are in?

Tatsuo, do you have any idea what time period you are in? Maybe...maybe I can get some of my old university friends who did more in quantum physics and string theory and we can get you out of there! Oh god, my life is becoming a sci-fi TV show!

Edited 2017-08-21 04:03 (UTC)

[Oops. There goes Derek on one of his tangents.]

Deep breath, Derek. Deep. Breath.

[Mostly, he wants Derek to stop going on about the space time continuum, because that kind of thing makes his head hurt.]

We are kind of stuck here, but if we can... solve a puzzle, we should be able to get out?

[He hopes. He really, really hopes]

[How dare Tatsuo have an Indian Jones adventure without him! They were like brothers!]

Did you just say "WE"? There are multiple people with you? How many people are missing in the city?

And dude, if it is just a puzzle, maybe I can help. What kind of puzzle is it? One additional head could help right?

[Oh, I'm sorry! The next time I get mysteriously kidnapped and dropped in the middle of WHO KNOWS WHERE, I'll be sure to tell them to grab you too.]

Uh, other than the eleven other people with me, I don't know if anyone else is missing from the city? I hope not.

[Because he seriously does not wish this on anyone.]

The kind of puzzle where you have to search through nine different rooms for four pieces. Oh, and some of the rooms themselves have puzzles or monsters that try to kill you.

[Yes, you do that!]

Is there ANYTHING I can do to help you? Maybe describe some of the puzzles. I can't help fight monsters but... [Derek tries to calm himself with taking a few deep breaths]

GODDAMMIT! WHAT IS THE POINT OF HAVING TELEKINETIC POWERS IF I CAN'T HELP YOU! WHY ME?

Whoa whoa, Derek, chill man. The app does weird things all the time. This telepathy is probably due to the app. You said you saw a list of names right? That might be me and my teammates.

And I'm sorry, but you can't help me with the puzzle. We have to find the pieces ourselves and put it together.

There is something you can do for me though. If you see Officer Togusa, tell him I'm okay, that we're trying to get home.

He is aware of this shit too? Why the hell am I coming to this so late?

And are you meaning to tell me that every crazy thing going on in this city, you and whoever else being stuck in some Indiana Jones death trap, and us hearing each others thoughts is ALL because of some APP? WHY ARE YOU SO CALM!

New people get added to the app in groups. I was added back in May. Togusa's had it since... February I think? Longer than me at least. The whole weird stuff and the app are definitely correlated. We can't proove causation yet.

[Tatsuo winces slightly. Too loud Derek, too loud.]

And I'm calm because getting worked up is exhausting and a waste of time.

[Derek tries to calm himself down, for real this time. Tatsuo is right. Freaking out will get nothing done. And honestly, between the two of them, Tatsuo has more reason to freak out and he's calm! Derek finds a bench to sit on and take a seat. He is sure he looks like an idiot just flailing out in the middle of the sidewalk.]

Ok...your're right. I am calm now. I promise...but...now what?

For now... if you see Officer Togusa, let him know I'm okay.

[For now. Who knows what the next day will bring?

And then things went to hell in a handbasket. Monsters start pouring out of the tunnels as Anya fits the puzzle pieces in their spots. And then a beanstalk erupts from the floor.]

Shit. Sorry Derek. Gotta go!

[Because it's either join the skeleton horde or climb that beanstalk as fast as he can.]

(no subject)

blondferret - 2017-08-22 04:35 (UTC) - Expand

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