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repeter2017-04-16 09:01 pm
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 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. |
aloy | horizon zero dawn (alison)
I.
[Of course, it would have to start raining cats and dogs as soon as she stepped foot outside. And, naturally, this would have to happen when the forecast had, well, foretold, all sunshine and sunny weather for days. Without a shadow of a doubt, this unfortunate weather would also happen on one of her rare and thus treasured half days. (Just school, for once, no work.) The overly-chipper voice of the meteorologist is still ringing in her ears when she plucks out her earbuds, pushes her hood over her head, and decides to gun it to the library.
At least, that's the intention. "Gunning it" turns into a slow jog, then she stops to look up to the sky, to hold out her hand and let rain droplets catch in the cup of her palm.]
...It's not bad. [Said in a murmur, soft and pleased.] Peaceful.
[...
Some time later, it mounts from a drizzle into a downpour, and she's forced to find shelter. Alison's a fan of the great outdoors and rain didn't hurt anyone, least of all the plant life that was likely starved for it, but last she checked, she wasn't a tree. It's not a good idea to admire the weather and end up drenched to the bone, no matter how much you enjoyed it. Besides, she can hear the rumbling snap of thunder in the distance.
It's why she finds herself huddled underneath the awning of a corner shop, idly flicking through some issue of Prada, or whatever the hell this was. She was never going to understand high fashion.
She stares out into the steady downpour instead, after a while. She's smiling, faint, her thoughts turned inward, though she spares a bit of conversation for whoever's huddled underneath the awning with her.]
If I'd known it'd be this bad, I would've stopped for coffee.
IV.
[The rain earlier in the week has stopped, for the most part. Everything's cast in a hazy mist that precluded real rain. The gray, foggy atmosphere seems to make the streets quieter, gives everything a distant, dreamlike quality. The pavement is still wet underneath Alison's sneakers as she jogs her way through her neighborhood. It's so mundane, so peaceful and ordinary, that she almost dismisses the enormous moth tugging some horrified person about by a leash as someone picking the wrong day to fly a kite.
She catches sight of it at a distance, a couple streets away, separated by two high fences and a backyard that, to her surprise, has its own giant bug: a particularly unpleasant-looking (and gigantic, couldn't forget gigantic) centipede.
Alison thinks at first she's going crazy. Then the screams start, and she realizes that what she's seeing is real. From a scientific standpoint, it's fascinating, but it's worry for others and not simple curiosity that makes her break into a run, launch her way up the first backyard fence with the graceful ease of a rock climber, then make her way up the second (carefully, this time. She doesn't want to alert the gigantic, many-legged abomination before getting to the moth.)
Maybe it's your backyard and maybe it's a neighbor's, but either way you'll catch sight of a redhead carefully stalking her way through grass, heading for a rake leaning against the siding of the house. Help her out? Marvel at her apparent insanity? Try to stop her from skewering what was until recently, your beloved dog Spot? Choose your poison.]
[wildcard]
[Choose your adventure! Aloy (Alison) is a student at Recolle U, mostly focusing on the hard sciences, and a part-time apprentice/volunteer??? park worker as she works through her degree to become a full fledged state ranger (I THINK, I'M STILL DECIDING...), so she can be found at the flower festival or anywhere where a lot of outside or a lot of mind-rending studying can be found. Here's her AU workshop comment, though I'm tweaking things as I go...bear with me.]
I
Yin doesn't exactly do "friendly" when she's chilled to the bone and woefully unprepared. water still drew lines down her bare arm-and-a-half and dripped to the ground near her soggy sneakers. she scoffed. ]
Hah. [ she cast a sidelong glance to see who had joined her in the streetside storefront. the tension in her lips caused her studs to point more upward like fangs rather than just dull spikes. ] They sell umbrellas at Starbucks now?
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Funny. [The wiseass at the end of the sentence is implied, but she doesn't seem offended.] Don't give them any ideas. They have insane markups as is. [She adds:] Coffee would be nice. Warm.
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[ seems that the first round went to this clever new girl. the idea put forward was far too appealing. made her more aware of just how cold it was out. Yin sighed. ] You know what else is warm? A shot of Jack.
[ Yin pats down her one of her pockets. ] Too bad my flask's at home.
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[She raises an eyebrow at the mention of alcohol, and for a time it seems she is going to leave it alone. Then:]
It'd cause a blood rush, but your core temp would drop like a stone. [...] And it's 2 in the afternoon.
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she raised a brow and shrugged her shoulder. ] Those are the kind of facts that stops alcoholics. Shit like... biology. And time zones. [ it's five o'clock somewhere, etc.
Yin turned her head up and peered out at the dark clouds blocking out the sky as far as one could see. ] Besides. You can't even tell the sun's still out when it's this bad.
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another shrug. ] I don't care if the sun wants to poke its stupid head out or not, but if it doesn't at least it could be raining hair dries or something.
[ the worst part of this is that Yin's actually completely sober. ]
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[She reaches out, lets water capture and pool in her hands, flicks it off her fingertips. Playing in the rain was for kids, but she could indulge here, a little.]
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Ah-- well, yeah, getting stuck without an umbrella at a coffee shop would be better for sure.
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Less cold, for starters. And more indie music. [A little snort, then:] How long have you been cooped up under here?
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[He shrugs, putting his phone away for the sake of politeness.]
At this point I'm waiting for middle school to let out.
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Waiting for middle school? [He seemed young, to have a kid of that age, but Alison supposed it was not wholly unusual.]
I was on my way to class. I usually jog there, but that's a bust right now. My dad would say I'd catch my death.
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[He rattles it off, hand gesturing quite animatedly, speaking with them as much as his voice.]
What actually gets you sick in weather like this? The way your nose runs, a little, and the fact that most people stay inside and around each other instead of spreading out.
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Oh, I know. [Her tiny smile widens some.] Try telling that to my dad, though. I did once when I was eight [someone, an aunt or a teacher, had given her a medical book and she'd read it voraciously, and read it over again whenever she got bored.] and he didn't let me leave the house until I was in four layers of clothes. He still doesn't.
[It's said fondly, however, with an edge of exasperation that's more for show.]
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I guess parents get that way. It's hard not to overdo it with them. When you're the dad, your whole job is just to know best, so when your kid figures it out on their own it's like watching the car drive itself, y'know?
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Maybe another time. Some years down, when she'd settled. Right now, she asks Reigen:] Are you a parent? You sound like you're speaking from experience.
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iv. hi robyn
And after that, it took no time at all to realize no one elsefound it the slightest bit strange.
No, as far as strange thing go, this girl crawling on top of the residential fences is much more problematic. Unperturbed, Nui looks up at Allison with one hand shielding her eyes (both of which are present) with one hand. She sighs breezily.]
Jeez, I wonder...should I call the cops or the circus?
hi shay!
Which is really, really gross. She doesn't quail at most things, but who liked centipedes?
She's about to jump over the second fence when the voice makes her start. Her grip goes white-knuckled on the fence board, then relaxes.]
The circus, definitely. [A quip that's only slightly breathless, her voice low and perhaps a bit strained, if one knew what to look for.] Always wanted to be a lion tamer. Can you get out of the way?
sigh all of my icons rn are from when she's completely lost her shit
A lion tamer, huh? Well... I guess I can see it! You've got the look for it.
[She doesn't get out of the way, not yet.] Are you gonna hop on down?
it kind of makes this conversation more charming though
Sure, if you want me to fall on you. [This conversation is beginning to make her, for lack of a better term, antsy.]
it adds to her charisma, right?
No way! Don't judge a girl by her looks. I could probably catch you. [After lingering just long enough that it's clearly, painfully intentional, she steps back far enough that Alison now has a place to land.]
that's one way to put it
She feels it all the way up her thighs, but...nothing broken. Or twisted, and no bruises. Though now came the harder part — getting around this...person without alerting the giant centipede, which she is beginning to think is an insane figment of her imagination. If it wasn't, wouldn't a lot more screaming be happening?
Right?
...Well. Maybe the best thing to do would be to ask. The white-faced person being dragged along by the moth has since disappeared around the corner. Alison breathes in, steels herself, and says, in a low voice:]
I take it you don't see that.
[She doesn't specify what 'that' is, since it should be pretty obvious.]
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What to do? String her along like a crazy person? No, she's probably going through exactly the same things that she is, the slow dissolution of her reality that she's trying to let wash off her back like water.]
Nope, I see it! What's the problem? Everyone else is acting like it's fine, so it's probably not a big deal!
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[Deadpanned, not a question so much as a disbelieving statement. The centipede moves again, a bizarre and unsettling twisting of its limbs in the air, and Alison feels goosebumps of mingled unease and disgust rise to life on her arms.] Even if everyone else, [A wave of her hand to indicate the whole of the area they're in] is acting like it's normal, it doesn't strike you as, I don't know, completely bizarre, that we're seeing giant bugs?
[Her voice hasn't risen, but lowered to a sharp, disapproving hiss. If she wakes that thing up and it comes after them, they're sitting ducks.]
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