recollecters: (Default)
Recollé Mods ([personal profile] recollecters) wrote in [community profile] repeter2018-01-17 08:44 pm
Entry tags:

JANUARY 2018 TDM

TEST DRIVE
JANUARY TEST DRIVE
The city of Recollé...

What do you mean the city's behaving for once?

I.
The large opaque dome enveloping the entire city continues to stand tall and firm, though this may be the first time you've noticed the dome itself rather than believe it's simply an eclipse effect. Faintly reflective in appearance but blocking the outside world, the dome still allows the warmth of the weak winter sunlight to seep through. It isn't hard to breathe, and the flora and fauna seem to be responding just as naturally as always. But the city of Recollé is pitch black except for the light citizens shine themselves.

The dome stretches incredibly high over the city, but anyone who can get close enough to it will find that they can briefly see themselves in the surface. Upon touching the dome, it appears to be smooth and almost rubbery in texture despite a shell-like shield appearance. Soundproof and unable to provide clues to what's happening outside of the city the dome is also harmless for those who wish to touch it and examine it, causing it to bounce a few times under light impact. However, do be careful not to trigger its defense mode! Should anyone attempt to damage the dome itself, it will light up with a bright, sickening blue color for three seconds before delivering a shock to its attacker and rendering them unconscious for an hour. Perhaps you'll get lucky and you'll only deal with the too-hot-to-touch surface that self-activates when the dome is threatened, or the spikes that appear at the source of impact. The dome seems to have a temperament of its own. It may be best to treat it the way you want to be treated.

II.
Going about your normal day, the darkness seems endless aside from whatever light can be shed via flashlights, cell phones and interior lights inside buildings. However, as you wander the streets of the city, under your feet a swirl of yellow light appears before darting ahead, bouncing and bobbing its way over snow and concrete to create a clear path for you. It's a little convenient to have a guide to follow, but you're not the only one. Others around you are following their own lights and they all seem to gather right at the entrance of the old subway station. Perpetually under construction for as long as you can remember, the station appears to be wide open for anyone who ventures in.

The light will guide you for roughly twenty-five feet before it dies down again. You're allowed to turn back, of course. There's nothing stopping you...except for the vine that suddenly snakes along the ground and wraps around your ankle, hooking onto you and beginning to drag you further into the tunnels. Now would be a good time to start calling for help.

III.

Back in the city itself, it's hard to say who, exactly, is to blame for the first hit. People are minding their own business and moving on as if everything is perfectly natural as usual. However, in addition to the hustle and bustle small barrels appear on every street corner with an assortment of colored guns. The moment you step up to investigate one of these barrels it becomes a little more clear what, exactly, is happening here.

A bright red, green, or blue dot appears on your skin as the laser light hones in on you. Someone's decided to make you their next target in a city-wide game of laser tag and you have precisely ten seconds to run. For anyone tagged by the guns, a confetti-effect of red green and blue dots will appear all over you lasting for up to fifteen minutes before you're back in the game.

Will you grab your weapons and join the game? Or will you dodge as long as you can?

IV.
As the evening sets in, there's a smell in the air. It's not the usual winter-y scent of peppermint or warm soup or anything like that. No, you soon realize that the smell is buttered popcorn and now instead of the barrels of laser tag guns there are carts containing popcorn machines, bottles of soda, candy and more. These carts don't move and they do not seem to be manned by anybody so feel free to take as much as you'd like! At precisely 7pm, the street lights dim a little and the dome above you starts to...glow? It glows and a picture stretches all the way across the sky as a movie begins to play for your enjoyment. Maybe it's the first of the Galaxy Fights series, or it could be that crazy archaeologist turned fortune-hunter Kentucky Smith. The movies will rotate one after the other for the rest of the evening until 7am when the street lamps come on, but for now grab some blankets and a good seat. There's always time for a movie with some friends.

BONUS.
Of course communication to people outside of the city is still out of the question. Of course it is. There are absolutely no signs of that changing anytime soon no matter how many times you call or text or email. Snail mail is nearly impossible and don't even think about videochatting.

On the other hand, it seems as though the powerlines above are beginning to spark, pulsing in patterns of a bright blue color visible to the naked eye. What's up with that? Trying to get a closer look will only reveal a thick, crackling sort of energy that is surely not dangerous in the slightest and is nothing to worry about.

The energy won't leave the powerlines at all, but instead the next time you use your phone for anything a song activates instead. It's loud and it can't be shut down, but once it ends you may find yourself in a video chat with a fellow Retrospec user. Say hi!

Welcome to the [community profile] 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 current players, please remember that TDM threads can only be used for bonus points, not regains.

Please note: you will need a reserve to apply, and current characters must have full AC posted at the time of their reservation.

Your January TDM directory is here, and your AU workshop is here! Our mod questions thread for this TDM is over here!
sharplydressed: (considering)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2018-01-31 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, like naginata or spears or guns, I guess.

[A classic choice but not his number one pick... That said, he's not in a rush to go diving back into the tunnels either, so he'll just mosey along as Atsushi backs away.]

Mmm... Not all the time, no. But no one ever really knows when things are gonna get dangerous, y'know? So it's kinda like, better safe than sorry. You don't want to get caught out here without a way to defend yourself if things get bad without any warning.
idealest: (such a mournful sound)

[personal profile] idealest 2018-01-31 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's almost like Tanuki is an animal who can't answer Sakichi or something!!

Sakichi frowns and wipes his face again, then bundles Tanuki underarm. He turns toward the nearest beautician before she can escape. ]


Excuse me, ma'am. Is this yours?

[ The addressed ma'am takes a bland look at Tanuki and shakes her head. She doesn't know whose squirrel that is, but it's very cute.

Sakichi stares at her heavily. Squirrel........???

???????

And so his mission becomes asking every person in the building what this animal looks like to them and who owns it. Enjoy the ride, Tanuki... ]
sharplydressed: (ya dang punk)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2018-01-31 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, well, ghosts and dragons and demons and gods aren't supposed to be real either, but here we are.

[RAISING HIS HANDS welcome to hell, Rise.]

We don't really know that, though. Just that it's a company that's been around for a looong time, like a family affair kinda thing.
hauntedsavior: (analyze your apathy)

[personal profile] hauntedsavior 2018-01-31 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
Shit. What did he do now?
sharplydressed: (rethink it)

[personal profile] sharplydressed 2018-01-31 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
[He doesn't even judge, considering he spends so much time around Yasusada who is equally paranoid in equally dingus ways.]

I just don't wanna lose, is all. It's a real pain keeping things clean like this! [...] And I guess it's not as annoying as some of the other things this place has thrown at us.

[He still remembers the time his phone became a perpetual cricket noise machine.]
liarboo: (Call me that!)

[personal profile] liarboo 2018-01-31 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
[He's...mostly on time. Like 5 minutes late, don't kill him! He's still relearning the ins and outs of the city and what routes are best.

The place looked nice from the outside, and inside he could see why Lessy would choose it. It's been years, but it was good to see things hadn't changed so drastically that the other man's tastes were the opposite of his childhood self.

It takes him a second to spot Sanji, but not because he didn't recognize him, Sanji had just chosen such a spot far from the door he was almost hidden. But as soon as he spotted him he felt nerves start to kick in. He was nervous meeting anyone new--or hadn't seen in a very long time in this case--but this was something slightly different.

If Lessy had replied to any of his letters he had sent after he moved back to the States things might be different right now. Now Usopp has to wonder what had made Lessy decide to ghost him. Did he still have whatever quality that Lessy had disliked so much...? Maybe this meeting was just some weird rich person politeness?

He hesitates for a moment at the door, but he notices that Sanji has noticed him and it's too late to run now. Instead he raises a hand in greeting and starts toward him.]
livingimpaired: (Default)

[personal profile] livingimpaired 2018-01-31 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
In some ways.

[ He relents with the same empty smile. ]

It is. But it is one that I am particularly fond of. [ One of the very few things that he is fond of. ] My father was the original owner of this shop and asked me to keep it running. [ Which Kei assumes was his dying father's means of grounding him so that Kei would not wander aimlessly literally and metaphorically. ]
livingimpaired: (Default)

[personal profile] livingimpaired 2018-01-31 05:15 am (UTC)(link)
< I see. Should I attempt to say hello to him? Though I suppose it would be odd for me to do so... >

[ A beat. ]

< It won't kill you. > [ Probably. ]
lowgrip: (u16)

[personal profile] lowgrip 2018-01-31 05:15 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, a tire iron can tear down a lot of stuff that is sturdier than a bubble, ya know?

[It wasn't like she really had any reason to be afraid. He wasn't mad at her anyway, and certainly was not in the habit of taking his anger out on people, especially not if it was actually directed to some stupid inanimate object like a big ass dome in the sky.]

Mmmmmmmhhh.... Yeah, yeah, fine. You go on ahead, I dunno what I'm gonna smash up but it's gonna be somethin'. Probably nothin good.
matchbreaker: (FROM THE START)

[personal profile] matchbreaker 2018-01-31 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
< I have a good sense of smell and it's all I can do not to tear up from this. But I know, I can handle it. >

[ . . . ]

< You can greet him if you wish! He's eighteen, so really I've only so much say over him. >
lowgrip: (u03)

[personal profile] lowgrip 2018-01-31 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
I mean, MAYBE. It's not like I look at my phone... often...

[It might be a burner. Or maybe he just hated to talk on the phone and/or he had debt issues. Not a big deal, right? He hardly paid attention to what apps he DID download.]

Yeah okay. You did say I probably wouldn't believe you so you definitely realize how nuts that sounds, right? You sayin' there's an app for Insight??? Sounds like a load o' bull, but I mean hey. Whatever. I could just be tripping right now. Maybe you ain't even real. Maybe the dome ain't either, and I'm just wailing on the side of a brick building or somethin' somewhere.

[That sounded unlikely but he wouldn't write it off. IT sounded more likely than having an app that made him suddenly able to notice crazy stuff going on around him that he had simply not noticed for the past year.]
livingimpaired: (Default)

[personal profile] livingimpaired 2018-01-31 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
< I have absolute faith in you, Elda. >

[ His smile never reaches his eyes. But, again, that's just who he is as a person. ]

< Is he already so rebellious? I never became rebellious in my youth. You would think so with moving to a new country that it would make a person ... change. I suppose I changed in that I decided to become less of a worry for my father. > [ Kei makes idle chatter like that will distract enough for her to eat. But what he says isn't untrue. He did decide to change so that his father would be rewarded for doing something for him -- his common sense said that should be done for him. ]
matchbreaker: (In ADOBODOBODOBO)

[personal profile] matchbreaker 2018-01-31 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
< He was rebellious long before now, I think it's more accurate to call him independent these days. Or trying to be, at least. >

[ . . . Okay.

Okay.

She can do this.

Inhale... ]
idealest: (your darkest moments)

[personal profile] idealest 2018-01-31 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
"The other things"...?

[ He has to think back. He didn't notice the dome or the chocobos. What other wildly abnormal things has he been overlooking? Digging into his memories for his own odd behavior is strange, like looking back on another man completely. ]

You mean like when we were unable to taste anything... and we were being plagued with flying mistletoe.

[ Surprise dawns on Sakichi's face even as he speaks. Why did he think those events were normal? ]
dandyofawolf: (Oh!)

[personal profile] dandyofawolf 2018-01-31 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
[Biffy is just about to yawn at how boring the movie is when...he has Yogi clinging to him.

He stares at him in mild surprise. Really? He finds that scary?]
dornen_kiste: (Default)

[personal profile] dornen_kiste 2018-01-31 06:02 am (UTC)(link)

[ It's a very scary thing! He doesn't do well with even a little bit of scary. Well, okay, he can handle the nice sort of scary, like in a kid's movie, but movies like this he really couldn't handle without a friend nearby. Monsters and zombies - definitely not his favorite cup of tea, though he would go if a friend want to. Said friend usually ended up life Biffy was now though, with Yogi pressing his face into the lush fur and waiting for the moment to pass. ]

Is it over?

[personal profile] promisedyou 2018-01-31 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
I see, I see...! That's not too bad, though. I've never had mapo tofu before, but I'd definitely like to give it a try. I might even bring someone with me.
redarm: (redallenscar002)

[personal profile] redarm 2018-01-31 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
[He'll watch her write down the list, trying to remember the names. He's never heard of any of them, it's a pretty new genre for him- which is pretty great. He sure has exhausted the horror and cooking show selection netflix. So he could use something else]

Alright, I will. Thanks, uh...

Shit, sorry. What's your name. Again?

[This is what he gets for never interacting with people at school]
stressweets: There's more to me than just flying, and I bet there's more to you, too. (078. marks and recreation)

[personal profile] stressweets 2018-01-31 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ ...Irritating, Tori. ]

Please stay right here, then.

[ not really a pleading thing but anyway, it'll have to do, because Tsukasa's off right after; he won't be long, he's just getting a cart and coming back with it. His own groceries are neatly tied off and on the bottom!! It's good.

A gesture to the basket. ]


You can put those in here instead.
concasse: (grin↠ let's do this)

[personal profile] concasse 2018-01-31 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
Yo.

[Sanji raises his own hand, a smile flirting across his face before it vanishes. Which might not be encouraging given the train of Usopp's thoughts (and Sanji would feel terrible knowing them, what his first and only friend must think of him), but he's trying in his own way. Some of his gruffer features smooth into a more pleasant expression, bringing forth the resemblance to that fussy, frustrated kid of their youths.

Chin fluff and curly eyebrow aside, he doesn't look that different.

He's say the same of Usopp, honestly. It's hard to tell with all that winter gear on him, but it's nice to see he grew up and healthy -- but not so much he can't recognize the boy in him, either.

It's enough to bring back some of his smile. With a nod, he gestures at a seat for the other to take.]


Shit, you got tall. [NOT AS TALL AS HIM but hey!]
Edited 2018-01-31 06:38 (UTC)
crudest: (♚ poko poko)

[personal profile] crudest 2018-01-31 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh!! He squirms underneath Sakichi's arm. That's not comfortable!

He's gonna try to scamper up to sit on Sakichi's shoulder instead.

That said the answers differ.

Sometimes Tanuki-san is a squirrel. Sometimes he's a rare breed of dog. What a cute hamster! Did you overfeed your gerbil?

Tanuki-san might try to eat some nice-smelling makeup.

Don't let him do that.]
kindhearted: (✒ unsure)

[personal profile] kindhearted 2018-01-31 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
Ah...

[Roji seems a little hesitant at first, but the more he thinks about it, the more he thinks it'd be good to bring up this topic with Byakuya. Worst case scenario would be that he'd have no idea what Roji's talking about, which could be...bad, admittedly. He doesn't want to sound like he's seeing things, because that would no doubt worry his friend. But maybe Byakuya would have good insights into the situation, no matter how it ends up panning out.

He turns to Byakuya, box of candy now in hand. He's just holding it idly though, focusing more on their conversation.]


Okay, I know this might sound really weird, but... It's been dark for way too long, hasn't it? Even if it's winter, it's not supposed to be dark all the time.
hauntedsavior: (spare me your obsolete empathy)

[personal profile] hauntedsavior 2018-01-31 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
[exactly. she didn't think he was a threat to her or others right now. she just. she worried. with a sharp exhale, she pinched the bridge of her nose.]

Look, I'm not leaving you out here alone. There's a lot of weird shit going on and we're in this together. [that was probably enough of an indication that this whole dome business was messing with Anna, too. time to walk it back.] I can't make rent if you bite it, so I have to keep an eye on your ass. God knows you don't have any to spare.
kindhearted: (✒ in shining armor)

[personal profile] kindhearted 2018-01-31 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, wow! That's super kind of you.

[He can't even imagine it, but if he were to guess, he figures that it must've been a really rough situation. So to turn around and help others in the same situation... He thinks that's a really strong thing to do, too.]

I bet you'll be great with those kids!
lowgrip: (I'm already on my knees)

[personal profile] lowgrip 2018-01-31 07:06 am (UTC)(link)
Are you calling my butt flat?

[Clearly, this was the most important part of the conversation. How dare she???? Nic gives her a huff and a pout, his free hand going to grope at his own ass, just to be sure she was wrong. Okay, so it wasn't like. A GIRL'S butt. What do you expect? He was doing his best.]

You just want a ride home on the bike, admit it. Guess that's fair, but you know I ain't got a spare helmet on me, so you gotta deal with mine. And I made sure it smelled extra bad today.