repeter | APRIL TDM

APRIL TDM

TEST DRIVE

APRIL TEST DRIVE
The city of Recollé. A beautiful city you've called home for quite some time. While things can be a little weird, isn't that true of all homes? It's fully spring now, and there are flowers to be found everywhere. April's showers are a familiarity as well, the occasional downpour or drizzle keeping you on your toes.

What will you do today?

I.
April showers bring May flowers, right? Well, there are already plenty of flowers to be had, but that part of the old rhyme being true doesn't save you from the first part of it. While the weather forecasters do their best, their success rate for predicting the rain seems to be about fifty-fifty. Unfortunately, sometimes when they do predict the rain happening, they misjudge how bad it's going to be. Was the sky was clear when you last looked outside? It may not be quite so clear now. Hope you remembered to bring an umbrella today.

But it's not so bad, really! Maybe if you forgot to prepare, someone will share their umbrella with you. Not in the mood to talk to anyone? You can probably find some thrifty umbrella vendors on the streets of Tisse. When in doubt, there are always some loaner umbrellas scattered around in Apprassage at the Recollé Library as well. The library asks that you return any of the mismatched loaners found at the door, but it's not like the system is that strongly enforced. Well, other than the library stamp on the umbrellas, that is.

If you find yourself in Chata today, you could always buy a magazine off the street corners to hold overhead. If you look like you may buy something, vendors don't seem to mind if you idle under their awnings. Check out the latest fashions coming this spring while you wait it out. It looks like buckles are in, but some of the high fashion clothes look a little odder than usual. The hot, new dresses range from large like a billowing tarp to appearing more like an artfully arranged handkerchief than anything else. Fashion sure is weird sometimes.

II.
Recollé Square in Tribunal Terrace boasts a huge assortment of flower gardens scattered throughout the district, though they all appear to be whatever citizens felt like planting at the time. In fact, only flowers in Apprassage seem to match, especially around the University. Today, while the rain's stopped, a large group of people seem to be taking advantage of Recollé Square's mismatching for flower picking, crown and wreath weaving, and bouquet arranging. The activities seem to be loosely led by the city's PTA and some of the other socialite groups from around town. Then again, for long-standing citizens of the city this isn't unusual either. You seem to remember that this is an annual sort of thing even though there isn't actually a name for the event.

Some booths are set up around the park to swap seeds, flowers and food for cash or gossip, the guidelines a little more loose outside of the business districts. It seems as though lot of families are picnicking this weekend. There's even some kind of contest going on for the best flower crown - though usually the city tends to collectively pick a kid for the winner, so your best artistic talents might not get you the admiration you crave.

In addition, there's the most accurately judged flower-growing contest if you've been waiting for this day for a year or more, but that event tends to have the same people involved every year and the majority of Recollé isn't too heavily invested in it. They're here for the picnics and flower crowns, and it seems about the same as it always does. This year, though, there do seem to be more flowers than ever...and for that matter, they're a lot bigger than usual, too.

III.
Despite some of the fashion fiascos the magazines are displaying, maybe you should spend some time shopping this week. It may come as a surprise to you that your clothes haven't been fitting properly as of late. Those skinny jeans are just a hair too loose, and your favorite shirt seems baggier than it used to be. The problem, however, is that every shop you go to seems to stock clothes with the same issues. You're down a size or two or three, or maybe they're just marking everything down wrong. And surely you don't have the time or money to replace your entire wardrobe...will you take your chances? Complain to the store's manager? Or maybe you're an unfortunate soul who has to try and explain the unexplainable. Maybe offering a coupon will appease shoppers today.

IV.
Apparently walking around your neighborhood isn't quite as safe as it used to be - or it isn't safe if you want to trust your eyes. One second the little old lady who lives at the corner appears to be walking her pitbull just as she has every day for the last several years. The next, the pitbull is gone and she's walking a rather angry-looking caterpillar. Blink and you'll miss it, but as time goes on you'll see more and more of these larger-than-life insects wandering around. No matter how hard you try to explain it, the only other people who seem to see this as the least bit weird are people with the Retrospec app.

Oh, do you not have the Retrospec app? Think again. The sound of chirping crickets will follow you until the next time you look at your mobile device or a public computer, prompting you to accept a profile and upload a user picture. Congratulations! It seems as though you've been selected to be a new tester!

...it's going to be one of those days.

BONUS.
While the Retrospec app only infrequently has posts from the company itself - and those have thus far proven to be universally useless - this month there is an onslaught of updates. At least once per day there's a picture of a new type of flower or insect, along with a "fun fact" about whatever the company has posted.

Did you know, for example, that wasps feeding on fermenting juice have been known to get "drunk' and pass out? Ancient civilizations burned aster leaves to ward off evil spirits. Ticks can grow from the size of a grain of rice to the size of a marble. Roses are related to apples, raspberries, cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, pears and almonds. Houseflies find sugar with their feet, which are 10 million times more sensitive than human tongues. Praying mantises prey on other insects, and perhaps you'd better watch your step.

Wait, what?

As usual, any attempt to get the company to reply about the increasingly disturbing information they're sending out is useless. The daily facts grow less and less useful and eventually seem to be nothing but fun facts about how flowers and bugs could kill you or one another. Kind of unfortunate for you, if this is your first time getting any messages whatsoever from the app. How do you unsubscribe? Good luck figuring it out.

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! The April 2017 TDM directory can be found here. The April 2017 Workshop can be found here. The mod questions comment is here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i. don't rain on my parade
[Katherine is a girl that's got a lot going on at any given moment. There's a schedule she has to stick to, and assignments that have to be done on time and properly! Which means that as the skies erupt in their sudden downpour, there is a very distraught-looking young woman standing at the doors of the Recollé Library, looking at the skies and the rain while holding a large stack of folios in her arms. Each one is painstakingly labeled and all the documents inside are secured in case they were to fall, but still... the water would soak through the cardstock covers in an instant. She'll never make it from here to her car without ruining the top layer of everything she's been researching here!]

Oh, no... not today!

[Are you a good Samaritan willing to walk a poor college student to her car? Or do you see her crouching, trying to pick up one of the "loaner" umbrellas from its place in a cubby near the floor? Careful! That pile isn't exactly stable and it looks like it might fall at any moment...]

iv. katherine in wonderland
a. the mad hopper
[She's been working too hard. Her guidance counselor even warned her about this, that the workload she's set for herself this semester might prove difficult as the semester continues on, but Katherine certainly didn't expect it to manifest itself by way of hallucinations! Because one moment she's watching Dr. Keller from down the street running through the park with his golden retriever, just the same way he's done for as long as she's been alive, but between one breath and the next it's no longer a dog but a cricket that's hopping alongside him, rubbing its limbs together to chirrup as it hops.

Katherine's just going to head up to the nearest person, reaching out to get their attention.]

Excuse me! I'm sorry, but... do you notice anything strange about Dr. Keller's dog today? It looks like she's running a bit strangely.

[To put it politely!]

b. the looking glass
[First crickets loping through the park alongside a master and now crickets chirping from her phone? She almost can't even bear to look and see what's going on now. But phones are meant to be silent, and so Katherine's pulling out her phone, her brow furrowing in surprise and bemusement when she sees that somehow, some new social media network's downloaded itself to her phone.]

Retrospec?

[She'll try a couple of things first to try and rid herself of the app, but it becomes pretty quickly apparent that no matter what she does, it's always going to come back. She frowns, suspicious, before snapping a quick photo of something (or someone) nearby to set as the profile picture until she can get this sorted out. And then--]

Wait, how did it already know my name? Is this app skimming data somehow off of my phone?

[Oh, just wait until her father learns about this. Katherine's shaking her head; some poor app developer is going to have a very bad day very soon.]

c. [wildcard me!]
[If we've already discussed pre-game CR, feel free to go with any of that if you'd like to play it, or if none of these prompts have struck your fancy, hit me with your best shot! I'm up for anything!!]

Edited 2017-04-17 04:30 (UTC)

[Beyond the university, the library is practically Rosalind's second home, because of course it is. A large research section and endless books on all kinds of topics: why on earth would she ever want to leave? Really, the only reason she heads home at all is that the library closes at ten.

. . . well, that and you can't bring in food. A girl's got to eat.

Anyway. The point being: Rosalind is very nearly always at the library, and she certainly is now. She's just heading out, actually, a large umbrella at her side, when she spots a familiar figure edging towards the Island of the Misfit Umbrellas.]

Katherine.

[She ducks her head, trying to catch her eye. Her tone is a little stiff, if only because she's still not quite used to her cousin, but friendly enough.]

Are you quite all right?

Oh--Rosalind? [Katherine isn't quite so still, but she's certainly startled to hear her cousin's voice! She instinctively turns toward her, yelping out an "oh!" as her pile of folios starts to slide. Quickly she's adjusting her balance, tipping back slightly so that they all slide back into her body, safely between her arms again.]

I'm fine!

[For the moment.]

I just--um, Rosalind, would you mind handing me one of the umbrellas there? I've got to get these all into my car and my father will kill me if anything happens to these files...

[Or... you know... maybe share that lovely big umbrella you've got there...? But of course, Katherine's far too polite to actually ask that of her cousin. After all, she might be off to something important, and she certainly can't impose on her that much, right?]

I do think that's technically theft.

[NOT THAT ANYONE CARES, but Rosalind really does enjoy teasing her a little. She's never had any family she could do that with.]

Come along. I'll walk you to your car if you'll give me a ride to the university.

[For a moment, Katherine's mouth drops open in a small "o" of surprise--but her eyes are full of laughter, and a moment later the surprise is gone, replaced by a smile as she nods.]

It's a deal. I'm headed that way myself, actually.

Do you have a class to teach this afternoon?

Mm, one of my 101 classes.

[AND BOY DOESN'T SHE SOUND ENTHUSED. It's really not the poor students' fault they don't know much about physics. That's supposedly the point. But nonetheless, Rosalind pulls a little face as she opens the front door and puts up her umbrella.]

Katherine Lutece | Katherine Plumber | Newsies

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iv.b, hello, retrospec

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