repeter | JANUARY 2018 TDM

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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

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(AU workshop comment right here!)

I.

Look, Cyan wasn't a scientist. He wasn't even, like, an architect or a mathematician. It felt like he woke up one day and only just now noticed this giant... roof... thing, over top the city. As if the fact that it wasn't already winter, so it was cloudy and cold all day, now it practically nighttime, and it was depressing. Heck, he almost thought he'd woken up in the middle of the night with the way it was pitch dark out.

The up side was, it was still the middle of the day, and Cyan didn't have work until later that night. His desire to investigate the weird dome had been out of pure boredom and curiosity, rather than having any hope of understanding what was going on. He'd poked and prodded while trying to keep his cellphone hefted so he could see if anything happened, but nothing... really did. It was like, sort of squishy? Not quite squishy, but sort of bouncy.

He picked up a pebble with his free hand when the rubbery quality had piqued his interest. He tossed it up and down-- once, twice-- and then threw it right at the dome's wall. It... wasn't like it was a real assault on it, but a spike protruded out straight for his face where the little pebble had made contact, and Cyan practically yelped with surprised and jumped back.

"What the hell?!" And then, of course, the nervous laughter came. "W-What is this, some kind of movie prop?!"

Sure, go with that.

II.

OK, so maybe the whole total-darkness thing wans't... all bad. I mean-- ok no, it was still super bad, and very concening, and Cyan had no idea what the fuck was going on, but it was hard not to find an awed amusement at the way the lights appeared underfoot, swirling over the snow and across the ground towards... wherever.

He hadn't even made it to the old subway station yet-- he hadn't exactly put together that was where they were going. Instead, Cyan had been amusing himself with the guiding light, stepping delicately around around the path the light left behind. He hopped and skipped like he was a kid trying to avoid the off-colored tiles, and eventually he even started humming to himself; stepping and bouncing to the imaginary music in his head.

IV.
Alright, fuck it. The weird darkness-bringing biodome lid was growing on him. Well, ok no it wasn't, but it seemed to be providing a lot of entertainment. Like, literally, there was popcorn machines and movies appearig on the not-sky. Cyan had been a fan of the Kentucky Smith movies when he was little, easily enthused by the harrowing stories of adventure and discovery (even the fourth one wasn't really so bad!!).

It was during one of those that he seemed to pop out of nowhere while you had their back turned, smiling at someone who seemed to be idling alone, a little box of popcorn in hand and his elbow propped under his chin while he leaned on one of the popcorn charts.

"Hello there, gorgeous~. You're not out here catching a movie all on your own, are you?"

Mana jumps at the sudden voice speaking out to her, turning to him and blinking a few times in confusion. How did he... she was normally pretty good at sensing people walking up behind her, but this guy must be ridiculously light on his feet.

"That was the plan, yes," she responds, a thing of popcorn and a soda in her own hands, and a fold-able lawn chair tucked under her arm.

Oh he prided himself on being light on his feet. To point, he pushed himself up and then hopped up onto the popcorn stand like he was light as a feather. Apparently he couldn't sit the fuck down, but at least he wasn't intentionally getting more up in her space.

"Oh, that's no fun. Look around you! There's a movie on the sky like it was being played by the stars themselves! That's the sort of thing you want to share with someone else, isn't it?"

Cyan no, people were eating food from that thing, don't track your dirty shoes all over a sterile counter. Though, all things considered, it was very impressive how poised he was.

"Well..." she didn't exactly have a lot of people on speed dial or anything, here. "You might be right."

The food was totally protected from any potential dirt being tracked around off the ground. See, it was totally fine.

And regardless of any potential mess, he let out a cheerful laugh at the steadiness of Mana's answer, and picked at a few kernels at the top of the popcorn. "Then how about joining me in some friendly company for the night? Kentucky Smith happens to be one of my favorites."

"Tonight? Yeah, I'm totally alone tonight."

Felicia had no shame in admitting that as she indulged in the typical concession stand snacks that were being offered around town for once. Kentucky Smith had a special place in her heart, for it reminded her of the times when her Mom was still alive and her family was whole. They would gather on the sofa friday nights with microwave popcorn and sugary drinks, laughing together in the way that tight knit families did.

Those days hadn't been around for a long time.

"It's not bad, though. Sometimes I like watching movies like this."

"Oh, it's not bad at all! To tell you the truth I had a fondness for these sorts of movies when I was a boy." And, also right now, but that was a lot less cool to admit right off the bat. Well, sometimes. Kentcuky Smith wasn't that embarrassing.

"But it can be a lot more fun when you share it with someone else! If you don't mind the company?"

"My name is Anna."

God, this was why she didn't want to stick around here any longer than she had to, but if she didn't stand here watching all these movies then she'd never hear the end of it at work and that was worth putting up with creeps trying to hit on her.

"Is this your technique? Find the least captive audience possible and hit on them until one of them falls for you?"

"Ah--" The confrontation did admittedly have Cyan start a bit, buuuut it's not like it hadn't happened before. Sometimes people even threw things at him! Or threw him out. Of places.

"N-No, that's not it at all!" He said with a nervous laugh, lifting his head from the palm of his hand so he could hold it up in a small gesture of mercy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend. So-- I'll start over! Anna, was it?"

Now, she had a couple options here. She could entertain him, humor him, see how long he was willing to flounder. Or she could shut him down entirely with two words. And one of those options seemed a lot more fun than the other.

"Annalise," she said, pronouncing the final E like the proud German name it was. "But if you're this bad with words already, Anna is fine." Her arms crossed over her chest as a smirk came to her face and her weight shifted to her back leg. "Go on. Keep hitting on the random girl you don't know anything about."

"Annalise? That's a pretty name." And look, he even managed to pronounce it properly! It paid off, when your mom came from the old world. And judging by the grin on his face, Cyan seemed to have recovered from his flub. Here's hoping he'll stick the landing.

"Well I may not know you now, but that's the fun in talking to new people! Getting to know someone you've never spoken to before! You could meet your new best friend or your soulmate any day on the street!" Still, at least he straightened up his posture and wasn't leaning around like a weird lecher anymore, instead extending a hand out to shake.

"I'm Cyan. Now it's not so random anymore, see?"

"All right, Cyan," she said. His name was interesting enough, but she figured that was where the interest ended. After a pointed glance at his outstretched hand, she tilted her head up towards his face instead and narrowed her eyes.

"I'll make you a deal. Give me an elevator pitch." If he couldn't even boil himself down into his most desirable qualities, he wouldn't have a chance with anyone, much less her—not that he stood a chance with her to begin with. "Tell me why I should think about dating you. That's what you're after, right?"

"Dating?" Hahaha whoah, even for someone as ridiculous as him, that was still a pretty tall order. He didn't let any sudden anxiety cross his face at least, and he just chuckled some more, casually taking his hand back and and lightly holding the bottom of his chin like it totally wasn't embarrassing. instead he just laughed lightly in amusement.

"Come on, I'm not going to propose something so serious off the cuff! I'm not a total creep." ~~By certain definitions at least.~~ "I'm just askin' if you want company to watch the movie that's already playing on the sky. Not any kind of commitment." besides for all he knew she could have a boyfriend or be gay or something "Although if you still want a description of my best qualities, I'm more than happy to provide."

"And whether I say yes or no, you're going to stay here and try to talk to me all the way through it anyway," she responded coolly. Coldly, practically. "But fine, whatever, I think I get the gist of what's going on. Something belongs in a museum or whatever."

She definitely wasn't giving it enough attention and didn't really care. "Hit me. Your best qualities. You've got until I get bored."

"Not the best material, but it's not bad!" Yes, completely unperturbed by the callout, and he just kept going on with a smile and his affable affect.

"Well, I'm funny, charming, good looking if that's what you're into--" He said with a win. "--plus I can make a hell of a cup of tea and do a pretty nice jazz square." His expression went thoughtful for a minute as he paused, before he went back to the grin with a bit more of a dash of bashfulness. "--That's not an innuendo, I promise. It's a dance step."

Edited 2018-01-27 05:52 (UTC)

"I know what a jazz square is," she snapped back, not knowing what a jazz square was before this conversation. Maybe she'd let this go on a little longer; he had just given her an opportunity to raise and then dash his hopes. Which might have been a little mean, but she was sure he'd find a way to bounce back. People like him always did.

"Show me," she said. "Your dance moves. Solo."

"Oh, Cool!" Despite Anna's snap, Cyan's expression only brightened by the seemingly shared knowledge. The fact that she was lying went completely over his head. "Not many people do, unless they've played dance games."

Nevertheless, Cyan pushed away from popcorn cart, and immediately moved into the dance on command. He did a jazz square to start, of course-- he'd brought it up, he might as well do it-- but after that he moved into steps with more energy and sharpness, quick flicks and turn like a street performer or a backup dancer in a music video. It was just a quick few moves, but at the end he swooped down and made a spin on his hand like a breakdown, and then kicked back up onto his feet.

"Not bad, huh?"

Oh, right. Those games that Anna had never had the money or inclination to get into. Fun at parties, maybe, but not really for her. And she'd expected the kind of dorky-looking stuff that those kinds of games implied, so to see Cyan, well, actually dance... Anna had to admit, she was a little impressed.

Like hell was she going to show it on her face. "I guess," she said, her arms crossing over her chest. "How many people have you won over with... that?" Part of her wanted to make a reference to some kind of electric boogaloo, but she only had the barest idea of what she would've been talking about.

"Hm..." He rubbed his chin in thought for a minute. Had he ever actually used dance moves when talking to girls.

"Well it got me a girlfriend in high school. And a kiss from a boy." Hm... he wondered what Tyrone was up to these days. "Mostly I just have fun at dance clubs. And everyone else has fun too when they can meet someone who's excited for the same thing. Have you ever tried it?"

"I don't do clubs." Well, that was one way to shut down that line of conversation. She was being incredibly receptive to all of these advances, and she totally recognized it. But the problem was that she was focusing a little more on what he'd said before that question.

"You're bi?" she asked, her eyebrows raising just a little. Hadn't been expecting that from him. Still feeling like she had the power in this situation, she decided to ask a risky question—not because of what she said, but what it implied. "How long have you known?"

"Sure." Admittedly, Anna's focus on that did sort of have him sweating, but-- it's not like she seemed to be hostile about it (he knew some girls liked the idea of boys kissing boys just as much as guys liked girls kissing girls, but she didn't seem like the sort to be like that), so he just kept smiling. A bit less of a toothy grin, and a bit more bashful with the crease in his forehead.

"Maybe since high school? I'm not sure, but I was in my school's theatre all four years. A lot of the art kids were... experimental." He gestured in the air and chuckled awkwardly, aware that this was kind of officially crossing into 'TMI' territory. But, she had asked, so it's not like he wanted to leave her hanging. "I had a crush on one of the boys at school, but he wasn't really into dating. Though I did get that kiss."

"But I think some of the others were more into just being nonconformists." Haha. Awkward. "I think they were well-intentioned at least. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," she lied, and took a second to process all of that. So maybe she was completely wrong about this—from the way he looked, she kind of assumed he was trying to be hyper stylish just to get attention, like peacocking or whatever. But he could've just as easily been a decent guy who just dressed like that for fun. Or on purpose.

After that second, she spoke up, revising the thing she'd been planning to say to shut him down entirely. "Took me 18 years to figure out I was gay." But she wasn't using the kind of tone she'd planned on. It almost seemed like she wanted to have a conversation. This was more interesting than the movie, suddenly. "I thought you were just some thirsty tormented straight dude. My bad."

"Hah!" It was hard to tell if he was laughing over being called a thirsty straight dude, or over the fact that Anna was apparently gay. Really, the latter wasn't that much of a disappointment though. The girl was clearly closed off, but she seemed nice enough.

"Don't feel bad. Although I am far from tormented, thank you. That's only for when we performed Shakespeare." He gestured himself with a hand flat against his chest, and his toothy grin was back. Unable to sit still, he leaned against the popcorn stand again and hopped back to sit on it. "So what took you so long? Please tell me you didn't go through the whole thing of having a boyfriend before you figured it out."

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By pure luck putting her in the right place at the right time, Soleil watched Cyan's newest attempt to pick up a girl. Maybe her cousin would pull something off to justify her thinking he was cool. If Recolle had proven anything to her, it was anything was possible.

Except the woman was gone with a scathing comment and not looking too happy.

"Wow. Um. Maybe she's playing hard to get?"

Well, it was at least better than a slap in the face, which had absolutely happened before. he could've done without doing it in front of his little cousin. Ever since she'd started going to college it just meant that she was more privy to his hilarious romantic failings, so he simply let out an exaggerated sigh and leaned his chin on his hand and his elbow on the popcorn cart.

"Trust me my dear, they're never playing hard to get. But never fret, there are always more fish in the sea!" Not that he was ever going to acknowledge the fact that that was important to Soleil, because he was never going to acknowledge that someone who he used to babysit was old enough to date. Ever. When his dramatics were over, he dropped the pretense and smiled like a normal person instead. "What're you doin' out here? Shouldn't you be studying?"

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Laslow | Fire Emblem: Fates

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