Recollé Mods (
recollecters) wrote in
repeter2017-04-16 09:01 pm
APRIL TDM
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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 |

Mafuyu Kurosaki | Oresama Teacher
ii.
[ Finally. Finally. After a week of house arrest, Mafuyu is finally let out outside, just in time to make it to the events at the Square before all the best flowers are picked clean away.
Of course, she's not here to make crowns. She's here because she'd missed last week's water fight at Apprassage and she needs to make up for it. Kept inside all week, she's sick of water with all the rainy days as of late, so it'll have to be flowers: cradled in the basket she makes by pulling out the hem of her shirt is a growing assortment of flowers that'd been discarded by the crown weavers, petals missing and stems torn through but perfectly fine as ammunition. Mafuyu hides behind trees and around the corners of buildings, and the moment somebody walks by?
BAM FLOWERS IN YOUR FACE
It's harmless fun, unless you're allergic or a stem pokes your eye out... which in that case, really sorry, but it's even more of a reason for Mafuyu to make a break for it the moment the handful of flowers leaves her hand. ]
iv.
[ A giant hornet buzzes angrily around town, a collar hanging loose between the thorax and abdomen and the rest of the leash trailing below, just out of reach of Mafuyu's hands as she runs and jumps and yells after the insect with every attempt to catch the handle of the leash. ]
Down! Heel!! Change! back! right! now!! TYSON!!!
[ Those who have been living around the neighborhood might have heard this name before, shouted by Mafuyu at the family dog that she takes around for walks somtimes, a friendly-ish rottweiler who never fails to bark at family or stranger that pass by the Kurosaki front yard, and one that's failed obedience training three times already, but uh. She's still optimistic.
People who aren't familiar though, probably still think she should be running away and not chasing after this massive stinging insect? Maybe you should run. Maybe you decide to help out and grab the leash. Maybe the hornet lands on your head (p l e a s e) ]
iv. 1/2
2/2
No! Bad! Fuck off!
[ He will fight you, giant stinging insect, HE SWEARS. ]
1/
—Get him! Take him down!!
[ She shouts at... Yato? The dog-turned-bug? Either or both, it doesn't matter which because they're both in front of her and Mafuyu takes advantage as Tyson slows to hover menacingly over Yato's head, so she can close the gap between them and lunge at the end of the leash— ]
2/2
you can't hide these from her ]
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Mafuyu?! Those aren't for you! And be careful, they're delicate!
[ Now it's both Yato and Tyson hovering around her. Yato lunges to take the cupcakes back-- ]
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Mafuyu dances out of the way before Yato can grab the cupcakes back, thinking he wouldn't dare take the box by force if it's really as delicate as he says, but that puts her closer to Tyson, who's always been a glutton and even now aims for the cakes with that nasty looking stinger and Mafuyu freezes— there's chocolate frosting on some of the cupcakes and Tyson is still a dog at heart and this is the hardest decision she'll ever have to make. ]
Yato— PASS!!
[ She throws the box his way, because maturity is learning to let go.
this isn't maturity ]
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[ WHY IS SHE THROWING THEM!! He tries to catch the box as gently as possible, but it is a very fancy pantsy box designed to be handled like glass... so along the way, the top flies off, cupcakes gently lift from place, and Yato is left fumbling with one very unbalanced half-box of cupcakes
which he ends up butterfingering to the floor anyway. ]
...
[ this is coming out of his paycheck isn't it ]
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No- look, it's okay! [ Mafuyu steps forward and picks up one of the cupcakes, half the frosting stuck to the pavement and the other half featuring new gravel sprinkles. The best thing about cupcakes is that the lower half is wrapped; she twists off the top of the cupcake, leaving just the disappointingly plain bottom cake. Holds it out to Yato. ] See? It's still edible. Now hurry up and salvage the rest!
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[ The sight of that disappointing cake bottom, presented to him like it's a brilliant solution, fills Yato with a cold and fathomless sensation. With the mechanical precision of a man whose soul has left his body, Yato reaches over and slaps the hand holding the top half of the cupcake up into Mafuyu's face. ]
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Mafuyu splutters, spitting out frosting and gravel and if any of that gets on Yato's face, it's his fault for standing so close and caking her in the face in the first place ]
—Stupid! That's the wrong half! It's this one!
[ She doesn't throw the bottom half. No, to get the point across, she can't miss; she's grabbing Yato by the collar and will smear it over his face herself ]
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How could you?! These are my good clothes!
[ Cupcakes are delicious but also so oily and it's going to be a chore getting these stains off!! So he's very much going to try and slam dunk a cupcake on her head and give her a cute pastry crown...
meanwhile Tyson's just chilling I guess ]
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...Who dresses up in fancy clothes just to buy cupcakes?! Just wear normal clothes, Yato! And stop wasting food!
[ Forget cupcake ammunition, she's going in for a full-body tackle at this point, aiming to bring Yato to the ground with complete disregard to his good clothes. Him wearing something nice is weird, she'll never be used to seeing him like that. ]
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I wasn't buying 'em! I was delivering 'em, no--thanks--to--you!
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Who's going to believe that?!
[ It's not enough to stop her, not until both arms and legs are immobilized, maybe even her head as she attempts to smash her forehead against Yato's in attempt to get him off her. Anything, really. Limbs are flying, cupcakes destroyed, all bets are off. ]
Why don't you have a car?! Like a proper delivery boy!
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[ ... Really he just doesn't have a license...
He wrestles with her long enough to take a few good knocks on the face, at which point he growls and quickly scrapes a fistful of icing off the floor. He'll try to sweep her arms aside long enough to give her another biiig, heaping helping of icing to the face, because really at this point he's just getting revenge for all the time and money this is going to cost him... ]
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[ Only when she passes by a store with a recycling center outside, but look, she's not completely destructive against the environment, only certain cousins whose maturity stops at his words and doesn't extend to his actions. Because getting icing into her eyes, accidentally or not, is playing dirty. And before that happens, Mafuyu isn't afraid to open her mouth and bite, icing be damned. ]
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ii.
What the hell?!
[but he catches a flash of a person running off so, of course, he goes to chase them because why would you throw flowers at him]
Hey come back here, you little shit!
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[ Ah- that gave her away, but whatever.
There's no fear in Mafuyu's unrestrained laughter as she tears down the streets, but somewhere in her mind she knows she should have it, because that's an adult's voice behind her and if he catches her, it's game over. She has no clue which of them is faster, not without waiting to see whether the voice seems closer or further away the longer she runs, and waiting isn't exactly an option.
But she grew up in this city, knows it like the back of her hand, and has zero qualms dashing across the park into the neighborhood beside it, intent on jumping fences to slow her pursuer down. ]
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having lived that life, he knows she's not really going to listen if he sits her down to give her a Talking To, but also: he wants to be a Stern Adult so he's going to chase her down. yeah. that's a totally an adult thing to do.]
Get back here!
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Ugh... which would be a less painful death...?
Mafuyu stays perched on top of that fence, ignoring the barking and snapping on one side and the very quickly approaching Majima on the other. Game plan: wait until he just about reaches her, hop the fence, then hop back over the fence while the dog chews him up. That could work... She hopes and prays. ]
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Hey, careful, it's not worth jumping into that yard.
ii dear lord
He was here for his run.
He is no longer here for his run.
Minding his own business as he is, as he checks his phone before getting started, he grunts in surprise when he finds himself getting a handful of flowers thrown in his face. Thankfully he's not allergic, and the way his bangs are he doesn't get any stems or anything square in his eyes, but. There are flowers. Thrown in his face. He has petals sticking to his hair and sputters at the pollen, but it's not enough to distract him from the familiar culprit that books it away. ]
What the hell, Kurosaki. [ And that would be one (1) agitated Koushuu chasing after her, because of course he does. ]
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Come on! I know your reaction time's better than that! [ Not that it stops her from heckling him. She has to. She can't help it. ] Don't tell me you're slacking off on that and running! I'm helping you train!
[ The practice partner nobody asked for, it's her ]
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It's probably a good thing she got a head start. ]
Bullshit! [ At least he doesn't sound too mad. Just normal mad. ] Get back here.