repeter | 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

If you've got something covering your face nobody knows anything about you. I'd rather a hero be honest.

If you genuinely like being a hero, your smiles would be honest. [He's just going to ignore the last two things.] A real smile is a real smile.

Nobody's honest. Not all the time. I'd much rather follow a hero that could be anyone. Heroism shouldn't be some golden standard. It should be something that anyone could rise up to meet, even if it's not a simple or easy journey.

There are honest people. Few and far in between, but they exist. It's not easy or simple, but that makes the ones who fulfill that clear and honest niche better.

Good is good, no matter the source.

[But they're reaching an impasse. Silver glances at whoever he was arguing with before he walked in.]

Who does this nerd think is better than Captain Might, anyway?

[Like they aren't all nerds here, arguing about the merits of each superhero.]

The Scourger. [Extra fictional Punisher.] I bet it's because he's gritty and dark.

["They're so much better than all those above shining hero of justice--"]

They are not.

The Scourger is the bottom of the barrel. If you want a dark and gritty bad guy that's actually cool, there's The Bat Knight. He's got the big tragic past going on, but he doesn't kill anyone and does his best to help the bad guys out.

[Arachno is pretty cool too.]

The Scourger, though? He's not even a superhero. He's just there so people can feel good about watching people die.

If that's your taste, the Bat Knight is the better choice. His bad guys need help and his comics are better than any one of The Scourger's.

Just be honest and say you want a villain instead.

I don't know if I'd call him a villain. He kind of toes the line between the two. He's definitely a jerk, though.

[But with all of that said-]

So are you gonna buy something?

[He's not sure he's even willing to call The Scourger a hero, even in the loosest possible sense.

At least he'll drop it for now.]

The first issue of All New Falconeye. The universe rebooted again.

Let me know if it's any good.

[...Probably so he can ask to borrow it. In the meantime, he's going to get a couple of those little boxes that can have one of ten superheroes (or sometimes a secret mystery hero.) One may or may not be for Shouto. Maybe.]

This writer is good. Especially with the superpowerless heroes.

[It should be.

Captain Might may be Shouto's favorite, but the normal human heroes have a special place on his bookshelves.]

One of these days, you're gonna grab some spandex and try to play superhero, aren't you?

[That would be cool, wouldn't it? Some kind of weird superhero gang.]

No one could stop me.

[Who knows if he's actually joking or not.]

Just let me know when you do so I can help you out. I'll even be a shitty sidekick.

[Are they serious? Are they joking? Who the hell knows.]

Really taking one for the team.

I'll let you know.

[He might be joking. Maybe.]

I'll think of some cool nicknames and get us some masks or something. It'll be great.

[They will continue to be joking right through actually punching a guy.]

Why would we need masks?

[Vigilantism is frowned upon in everyday society, Shouto.]

...Probably so we don't go to jail.

[He considers it for a moment.

On one hand, it would definitely piss off his dad. On the other (more important), it would worry his mother.]

... Fine. There's a few in the theater club we aren't using.

[...This is a horrible idea.]

Do they look cool?

Some of them.

[There are some flame masks and he just does not like those.]

APRIL TDM

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