Recollé Mods (
recollecters) wrote in
repeter2017-04-16 09:01 pm
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
APRIL TDM
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 ![]() |
no subject
[This dingus is just naturally the kind of person who hemorrhages compliments Just Because... It's both a blessing and a curse (for the people around him, mostly), since it means he's a walking embarrassment eight times out of ten.
That said, he'll hold the stem end out first in case he wants to take it for himself, but also offer:]
Want me to pin it in place?
[Since boy does he know how tough it can be, finagling flowers into the back of your own hair... The braid he's wearing today is speckled with baby's breath that he snatched up from arrangements in his home, and getting them to lay perfect at the very back had been actual hell.]
no subject
[He deliberates, with the hesitance of someone who doesn't generally let people touch his hair and yet is clearly trying to decide whether to make an exception this time.]
...It would be a help. Just try not to dislodge the band too much, would you? It's harder than you might think to get everything to lie flat back there.
no subject
[And true to his word, he'll be very careful indeed with the whole flower transfer. He takes the camellia out gently, not so much as tearing or folding a single petal, and holds it out to be taken. Once his hands are free again, he'll work in the tulip stem in its place, careful not to mess his hair up.]
—There! Wanna take a look?
[He says, pulling a hand mirror from his pocket... Who even carries these around in the age of the selfie camera??]
no subject
[He accepts the camellia gingerly, cradling it in his hands — he'll have to incorporate that into a wreath somehow, he decides, and preserve it — and tips his head, appraising the look of the dark bloom at the back of his head.]
It certainly is striking, I'll give you that. Do you do your roommate's hair often?
no subject
[There are apparently a lot of little things that go into this nonexistent job...
But he seems pleased that his choice is accepted, and after a good look has been taken, he'll set the mirror back down.]
Isn't it? Red and black's pretty much the best color combo. [His own outfit probably makes it clear that that's his Genuine Opinion, too... It may even seem like he's going all out with red cosmetic lenses at first, too! But no. No, they're the real deal. His anime life.]
I do whenever he lets me, but that guy doesn't even remember to brush his hair some mornings.
no subject
[He turns his head a little more, back and forth like he's feeling out the new weight of the tulip at the back of his head instead of the camellia, and then eventually nods.]
Of course, it's also no excuse to look sloppy. And it's why mankind invented ponytail elastics, no doubt.
no subject
[But that's why people like him exist! To make sure the sloppy miscreants don't show up to work without pants.]
—That's a nice crown too, by the way. You gonna enter the competition?
no subject
[It's an interconnected, self-fulfilling issue, after all.]
Is there a competition? No, I hadn't planned on it — I'm really only making these for fun. They remind me of...
[He hesitates.]
Well. Home, I suppose. In a certain sort of way.
no subject
[Shaking his head! It's a modern day tragedy... But he'll nod at the question - even if it's just a small competition, nothing official. At the mention of home, he looks curious.]
Oh? Did you have lots of flowers where you grew up or something?
no subject
[Hmm.]
...My mother likes them. Because of the way they'd brighten up a room. So I'd often find myself getting them for her, and...well, there's only so many bouquets one can get before needing to do something different.
no subject
[He's curious, of course, but it's also not really his style to pry too much. Instead of asking more, he just nods.]
Makes sense. I'm sure she really appreciated the creativity, y'know? I mean, don't get me wrong, bouquets are totally gorgeous! But it's nice to see 'em used in other ways that bring out their beauty.
[Waxing poetics about flowers, the life and times...]
Can you make anything else?