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

((in-progress app here and au workshop comment here))

i | caught in the rain;

[It's late afternoon, and all of his appointments are done for the day. It's a good thing too, because Fai very definitely forgot his umbrella this morning. It was clear when he left the apartment! He dashes down the sidewalk under a tented newspaper held above his head, hoping to catch the taxi parked at the curb not far away. Except there's a young lady also making a break for the same taxi. If it weren't such horrid weather he'd probably just let her have it, but he's almost soaked through as it is, and his newspaper won't hold out much longer.]

Excuse me, miss! Can we share?

[She doesn't even notice he's there through the driving rain--or if she does, she makes no indication. The young lady dives into the back seat of the taxi and soon there are only taillights in his vision. Fai sighs.

And then sucks in a breath as a passing car kicks up a torrent of cold water and drenches him completely.

It's really not his day.]

ii | FLOWER CROWNS;

[There is a grown-ass man, a six-foot-tall grown ass man no less, sitting cross-legged in the grass with a small gaggle of teenage girls clustered around him, and they're all making flower crowns and laughing like they're old friends. Never mind that he won't win the competition for Best Flower Crown. Sometimes you just have to stop and play with flowers.

He's already wearing a crown of pink flowers himself, so this next crown has to go to someone else. He unfolds his lanky body from the grass and bounds over to someone nearby, presenting the crown as if it's a well-earned trophy and grinning like a dork.]

May I?

wildcard | a good bean;

[Fai's curled up in a booth by himself, a half-empty, syrupy-sweet iced coffee and a sugar-laden pastry in front of him on the table. He's not paying attention to that, however--he's in the process of digging through his messenger bag for... something.

A textbook on clinical psychology goes on the table, followed by a small stack of case files. A sudoku book. A dog-eared, trashy romance novel. A sheet of gold star stickers. A kazoo. A sparkly pen with a tuft of pink feathers on the end. A bag of hard candies. A Chinese finger trap. The list of oddities coming out of this bag seems never-ending. The blond is clearly not paying attention to much else at the moment, so feel free to sneak up on him, or not, as you prefer.]

wildcard;

((got another idea? want to work something out? hit me up via PM or you can find me at

hellblazing!))

Edited 2017-04-17 04:32 (UTC)

[A skinny figure approaches, in messy pigtails and loose-fitting clothing apparently unearthed from wherever colorblind hippies go to die. He's balancing another drink of the "liquid candy" variety and a huge chocolate meringue on a tray, trying not to get his bag stuck on every chair on his course through the café.

He stops and hesitates a bit a little ways a way from the other man, but then walks up with a wide smile and a small wave, shifting the tray so he can hold it with one arm.]

Fiacre Lachance, is that right? [He's already prodding at Fai's belongings like a weirdo, running his fingers over those pink feathers and tilting his head to read the cover of the romance novel. Why.]

Mmph?

[Fai looks up, a purple glitter-gel pen stuffed in his mouth while he shuffles through the remainder of what's in the bag. For a moment his expression is completely uncomprehending and then he grins. Around the pen. Which he finally thinks to dislodge from his mouth.]

Hi there! You must be--no, wait, don't tell me--

[His attention returns to the messenger bag for just a moment. Just long enough to produce a crumpled half-sheet of paper which he squints at with some effort before smiling again.]

Soujirou?

[Soujirou waits patiently and obediently, although he does scoot some of the debris gently out of the way, setting down his own tray.]

That's me. I'm sorry I'm a bit late, I had an appointment that dragged out a bit.

[He sits down, hauling up his bag in his lap, and then he... proceeds to start dumping out stuff from his own bag too. Something is going to get mixed up at this rate. Is that finger paint?]

They gave me some papers to hand to you, I think most of it is some standard stuff about job disability accommodations, but most of that doesn't apply to me anyway. [He pauses, and then smiles a bit sheepishly.] I feel like I'm doing this backwards, aren't I?

Edited 2017-04-17 05:25 (UTC)

Oh, it's no problem, really!

[Fai flaps a hand at him dismissively and begins shoving things back inside his bag. When his brain catches up and he realizes Soujirou was reading the cover of his novel he blushes a bit and makes sure to grab that particular item off the table next. (It's an old Harlequin, how embarrassing.) So yes, he's probably not paying complete attention to what goes back into his bag. Oops.

At Soujirou's question he pauses in his own flurry of motion and smiles.]

Maybe we should try this introduction thing again?

[He holds a hand out over the clutter on the table.]

Please, call me Fai.

Fai D. Flourite | Tsubasa Chronicle

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ii; flower crowns!!

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