repeter | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Talk about being doubly confusing. Light (or Snake, since he's known by this delightful nickname as well) doesn't get the benefit of a video or a visual. Just a wall of noise and names and explanations. While Carlos can see him, Snake gets an abrupt audio connection he didn't have before.]

Quite. I'm not quite certain what's happening either. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?

[ What? This guy--? Why are his eyes closed? ]

My name's Carlos Craig. I'm sorry that it suddenly ... that is, my phone decided to suddenly message you out of nowhere. I don't think, hm, I don't think that we've met.

[ He says as he holds his chin. His little brother Elliot is going to be going to the university for music. So Carlos went there at least once to look around, and feels like he's seen this person. Could it have been from there? ]

Your voice doesn't sound familiar. My name is Light Averly. Is it possible you've seen me on campus somewhere? You're not in any of the science programs, are you?

Oh. No.

I went there once or twice with my little brother, Elliot. He's going there for the music program. Isn't that kind of amazing? [ Oh wait. He probably shouldn't gush about his younger brother when he's trying to just talk to this person normal like. ]

Right, well, it's nice to meet you, Light. I'm afraid that, well, it just grabbed your name. My phone, again. It just grabbed it out of thin air. I can't explain it any better than that.

[Light tilts his head to one side, thinking about Carlos' words. As he goes on without opening his eyes, it's increasingly clear that he may be blind.]

That's an unusual feature of a phone. At the very least, I know why I suddenly have a bunch of audio messages assaulting my ears.

[He does perk up the mention of music.] Oh is he? I take a few classes for the harp. What does your brother play?

I thought so, too. Might just be a little glitchy. But at least I am not a telemarketer.

[ So it was at the University! He nods and realizes that the person he is talking to might not be able to see. Not just with how Light is keeping his eyes closed but in general. ]/Small>

He plays the violin! He is really great at it. I really think that he could probably end up playing professionally if he wants. [ Excuse him. Big brother mode. ]

And the harp, huh? That is pretty tough to play, isn't it?

Oh really? I do enjoy getting to know musicians. I wish I could play the violin.

I do play piano in addition to the harp. It is challenging, but it's not as though the notes are in different places depending on the instrument. Having them be uniform is wonderful.

Oh. I guess that makes sense.

[ Right. ]

And this may be odd to say... I'm probably meddling more than I should, too, but since you'll be there at the university would you be willing to look after my little brother?

I'm not a music major. I'm working on my master's degree in physics but I can certainly help him out whenever I'm around. Point him in the right direction, as it were.

[Snake is what you call an overachiever.]

[ Oh. Wow. ]

I'd greatly appreciate it. But wow, all that and working on a master's degree... that's real impressive!

The music is a great stress reliever from the science and the clashing of egos in my department.

[Fighting for time and then fighting for jobs later on will be very much a thing. The music is a nice fallback while he's trying to get that tenure position somewhere.]

I can imagine. I always feel a little more at ease when I hear my little brother play his violin.

[ He closes his eyes for a second. And he pauses before frowning. ] Hey, no one's like being on your case at all, are they? [ This is Carlos. Carlos cares a lot. About everyone. ]

I do enjoy violin so I'm eager to hear him play if we're to meet.

[This question honestly surprises Snake. He tilts his head, considering Carlos' words.]

There's always someone out there who wants to give me a hard time over things I have no control over. I wouldn't have time to do anything else in my life if I got upset over it.

[In other words, he's quite used to it at this point. How else can he practice verbally eviscerating people?]

[ He frowns. ]

That may be true... but well, you're my little brother's senior, right? [ This is a flimsy excuse, but. ] So, I'll get upset about it for you. [ Light seems like a nice guy. He probably just lets all this stuff roll off his back. That isn't something that sits well with Carlos. ]

Hmm. You are quite the overprotective older brother, aren't you?

So am I. My sibling isn't here, but I'd always do what I can to look out for her.

I guess that I am.

[ Oh? Bonding! ] It's a pretty great feeling, isn't it? Knowing that you're doing something to keep them safe.

I haven't been able to talk in person with her for a while. I think she's probably the same age as Elliot.

Really? Elliot is eighteen now.

[ Gushing about siblings is the best. ] Maybe she'll be able to come to this city soon on a scholarship. I ... that is... it's nice to be in the same city as the person that you want to protect rather than hoping for the best while far away.

So I hope you'll be reunited soon.

Perhaps. She sort of does her own thing back home, but it would be nice to have immediate family nearby.

Do you just have one younger brother or more siblings?

AUGUST TDM

III

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