repeter | 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

[He opens his mouth, and takes a bite.]

[And it's good, especially since he hasn't eaten since lunch! But it's way sweeter than anything he's used to eating, so it takes him a minute to adjust.]

Man, I can practically feel my teeth getting cavities... but it's good!

Yeaaaaaaah!

[Gar cheers as Kaden is brought to the dark side.]

See, guy? What'd I say? Amazing, right? And look at how much more of it there is! This city has been pretty lame so far, but I'm ready for more of this kinda thing.

...Oh, man, candy apples!

[Gar rushes to a cart a few steps away and drools.]

You wanna have more, right?

[Hey now, he's not quite on the dark side yet. Sugar is a lot to process!]

What, more? You want more?

[Candy apples... Apples covered in candy? That's too much.]

Why not just apples without the candy whatever? I mean, the candy bar was enough, wasn't it...?

One candy bar is enough?

[Gar arches an eyebrow at Kaden before shaking his head and sighing.]

You have so much to learn.

OK, first, there are two basic kinds of candies. Chocolate - and everything else. Every dessert needs to have something to appeal to both categories, or else you're not gonna feel like you're getting your proper dessert intake.

There's also subdivisions.

Chocolate bars aren't real desserts; they're just snacks. You can have 'em whenever. So we've only filled like, a quarter of the chocolate quota.

Anyway, this is a candy apple, so we're filling the other quota now - and because it's also fruit, it only counts as half.

See?

[Gar chomps down on a gooey caramel apple and sighs in contentment.]

I mean, one is enough for me.

[Kaden looks at the remains of that caramel apple with disdain, and then up at Gar, furrowing his eyebrows in concern. He really hopes this kid brushes his teeth, yeesh.]

You really know your stuff when it comes to sweets, huh? That's pretty impressive! I've never known anyone that was so dedicated to junk food.

[At least he's getting something healthy with apples. ... even if it's coated in sugar.]

[Gar shrugs as he continues to take enormous bites of the apple.]

What can I say? You gotta be passionate about the things you love.

And one candy bar's not enough, no way! Here, just like... take a bite. It's mostly apple, it'll be great, I promise.

[it's about 20% apple and 100% sugar]

That's right! If you're not passionate about it, how can you show off just how good it really is?

[Somehow, though, he doesn't really think that apple is mostly apple, and his expression reflects this.]

Ehh... Can't I just eat a regular apple? They're just as sweet, and they don't need all that caramel on the outside.

Nah, it's illegal. The cops'll come.

[He waves an apple around enticingly.]

You can't eat it without the caramel! It's like... heaven for your taste buds. The caramel's sweet, the apple's a little sour, and you gotta pair 'em together.

OK, take a bite and I won't bug you anymore!

[he totally will]

Wait, really? There are police for this sort of thing?

[How did he get himself roped into this. He was just trying to be nice!!]

Okay, okay. One bite, since you're so enthusiastic about it!

[Never be nice to children. You give an inch and they take a mile. Be merciless and swift in your dealings with teenaged boys.]

Yeaaaaah!

[It's kinda weird that Gar is so invested, but he grins so brightly that it's hard to think he has any other motive besides that he Really Loves Junk Food.]

OK, but if you're only gonna take one bite, you gotta pick the right one. There's caramel, caramel with chocolate, caramel with mini marshmallows, caramel with graham crackers, caramel wi --

[the list is like 20 items long]

and nutella.

If you can't decide, you can try a bite of each.

[On one hand, Kaden wants to turn everything down and stick to his guns as far as food goes. But on the other... This kid is so enthusiastic because he's indulging him, and he'd feel bad if he up and left now.

It doesn't stop his expression from falling a bit at the sudden options he has to choose from. That list is just overwhelming!]

Can we just... keep it simple?

Oh.

...Yeah, 'K, going classic works. You should probably try it first just so you know what to expect in the future.

[Gar nods solemnly and retrieves an extra caramel apple for Kaden.]

If you suddenly feel like you wanna keep going, don't worry, that's normal.

[The caramel apple is heavy in his hand, even with the stick being sturdy enough to hold the weight, and for a moment Kaden eyes it as if staring long enough will remove the caramel entirely.

It doesn't. But he can hope.]

Alright, here goes.

[He takes one bite, a small one.]

Ugh, it'sh shticking to my teeth...

Dude, no, that's like, the lamest bite ever. Of course it's gonna taste bad if you do it like that...

[Gar sighs.]

Here, you gotta go all in.

[He demonstrates with a healthy chomp on his own apple.]

JANUARY 2018 TDM

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject