repeter | JUNE TDM

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! tdm

JUNE TDM

TEST DRIVE

JUNE TEST DRIVE
The city of Recollé. The kids are out for the summer and the weather's just fine. The sun's shining brightly, not a cloud in the clear gray sky. Everything seems at peace and citizens are out and about, smiling to one another and enjoying each other's company.

Oh, and this thing (complete with cardboard cut-out) has currently taken the place of the founders' statues in Recollé Square. But that's probably not a big deal.

What will you do today?

I.
What is this thing? Why is this thing here? For those of you in Tribunal Terrace today you may wish to investigate the five-foot-tall spinning wheel. How did it even get here? And where did the statues of the founders go? Even if you cannot answer those questions, it's hard to ignore the urge to give it a spin.

Check out those colors go 'round and 'round. Depending on what number you land on, you will find a notification pop up on your phone with a short list of…words. Are these supposed to be qualifications? Weird. That was a waste of time.

However, the moment you walk away you will find yourself accosted by various recruiters wherever you go, congratulating you on your impressive resumé and leading you to an office in Chata. Their offices have been equipped with tabletop-sized spinning wheels much like the one in Recollé Square that will spin 'round and 'round, determining the position you qualify for. Are you ready to show how these traits make you the perfect applicant? It looks like you have time to consult with your fellow candidates before your turn comes.

Or perhaps you've managed to resist spinning that wheel. The recruiters absolutely love your willpower and determination and want you to join their team! For those who can resist, they will still find themselves whisked away by recruiters to the same office and thrown straight into training to prepare for interviewing their neighbors. Recruiters will set up pairs of interviewers and applicants, leaving them alone to ask the hard-hitting questions and pick the most qualified candidate. Do your best and beat out the rest! It's your time to shine.

II.
Just because school is out for the summer doesn't mean Apparassage is quiet. Students and faculty alike are bustling about already preparing for the next school year. Campus tours of Recollé University run every two hours, and there are open house tours of the local elementary, middle and high school. Perhaps you're a future student exploring the campus and getting to know your future classmates. Maybe you're faculty or a student guide wrangling the kids and keeping them in line. Or you just might be one of the unfortunate ones who have found yourself with six weeks of summer school.

However, no matter where you find yourself in this district things get a little tricky when you're ready to leave for the day. The sidewalks outside of the buildings have all disintegrated, revealing a large void leading to nowhere beneath your feet. Without a clear path it seems impossible to escape, but stacked at the entrances of every doorway are large tiles with the letters of the alphabet carefully printed on them. When you look across the devoid path, you may notice you have a partner in a similar position with their own stack of letters.

Get ready to expand your vocabulary. Building a bridge of connecting words may be your only chance of getting home before sunset. Strangely, as the letters are laid out they seem to suspend mid-air enough to hold your weight as you make your way carefully across this pit. Balance and precision are key in this game. The stack floats along behind you as you cross the void, letters seemingly adding to the pile to provide more materials to build.

But like all games, there can be only one winner. Those who clear their letters first will arrive outside of the district safely, free now to come and go as they please. For those who do not clear their stack in time, you might have luck jumping from word to word to cross the finish line. Try as you might, if this is the method you follow, the moment you land on the winning word to leave the district the letters will glitch out, sending you plummeting into the void and landing on a long slope down to the bottom. Upon landing, you will see a series of chutes and ladders one can use to climb back up. Some ladders lead back to Apparassage. Some lead straight into Tisse, and some even lead to unexpected places. Where will you end up? The journey is up to you now.

III.
The days are longer, the nights are shorter, the sun is shining and it's noticeably warmer. Isn't it a perfect time for a summer potluck? The citizens of Recollé seem to think so and have all gathered today in Hollingberry Field with friends and loved ones to share food and fun. Kids chase after each other in friendly games of tag and hide-and-seek while other attendants mingle with one another, piling plates of food and sharing with their neighbor.

Why, even Mayor Mayer is out today for this summer kickoff with his lovely red Chocobo, Seabiscuit.

As the evening begins to wind down, however, there's a startled cry from the Mayor as he realizes someone has kidnapped his beloved pet from right under his nose. Was it you? How about you? Everyone has become a suspect and it's up to you to solve whodunnit. The Mayor provides everyone with a pen and a pad of paper divided into three sections for a suspect, a method, and a location. Grab a friend (or even a group of strangers) and get ready to interrogate each other to crack this case.

(With a little looking, however, it's easy to see that Seabiscuit's merely wandered down the hill away from the park. But maybe it's better not to tell the Mayor. He seems very adamant about this game.)

For anyone who manages to solve the case, the Mayor will be immensely grateful and reward you with a valuable prize! Congratulations! However, for anyone who fails to solve the puzzle, or even anyone found guilty of this heinous crime, by order of the Mayor you will be subjected to jail time for a full half an hour. (The Mayor can't stay too mad at his citizens. He loves them all.)

IV.
A nice, leisurely stroll through the entertainment district of Tisse seems to be in order. Summer sales are aplenty and now's the perfect time to shop 'til you drop. On the other hand, that doesn't seem to be the only thing dropping in Tisse. Do you hear that? Perhaps it is easy to ignore the sounds of stone crashing to the ground. Construction isn't unusual in this district. You think maybe you passed an ongoing demolition on your way inside a shop. But the crash happens again, and again, and again, a loud string of booms growing closer and closer.

Are those buildings tipping into one another? Or is it your imagination? You may not have time to answer while the string of events is put into motion. A crane swings overhead, knocking into a well-placed boulder that begins to roll down the street. Cranes, pulleys and wires move in sync as the ball rolls right toward you. Will you run? Will you collide right into the next set of traps? You may recall learning about this type of experiment once upon a time, coming to realize the elaborately planned Rube Goldberg machine spans the entirety of the city.

Maybe you're one of the lucky ones and you find a safe shop to dive into to escape. Or perhaps your sole focus is to run and get as far as you can, failing to notice that the large boulder herds you right to the end of the district and into a caged-in area. Make yourself comfortable. Someone from the outside will have to free you. But hey, maybe you aren't alone in this trap. Misery loves company, doesn't it?

BONUS.
The Retrospec app is at it again, just as useless as it's always been. After downloading to your device and allowing you to upload a profile picture, the app seems to take over your phone. Any time you open your phone to use it, a splash screen appears prompting you to pick one of the brightly colored wedges (or one of the two grayed out ones.)

It's time to exercise your brain and buff your trivia stats. Answering a question from your selected category will allow you to use your phone once again, but if you get it wrong? Retrospec will encourage you not to give up and try again.

...or, you know, you could ask someone to help figure out the answer. Hey, that person looks like they're bursting with knowledge! Perhaps it's best to see if they can help you stop this madness.

As usual, any attempt to get the company to reply are futile. Once a question has been answered correctly, phones will return to their usual functionality until the next time it settles into idle mode.

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!

Your June TDM directory is here, and your AU workshop is here!

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I. trivia bonus

The thing about this, besides being extremely suspect and something Kon does not remember putting on his phone in the first place, is that he's... not really that bothered by the random trivia. He's lost hours to falling down the rabbit hole of clicking related articles on sites, and is voracious for knowledge at large.

So, for the most part, he does fine. Rick Astley occasionally serenades him when it's really obscure, but he's answering most of the questions correctly whenever he wakes his phone up again.

But if he hears someone getting serenaded nearby, he looks up from his own phone and gives it a little waggle.

II. whodunnit

Kon looks at Seabiscuit, warking softly in the distance.

Kon looks at the pad of paper he's been unceremoniously given.

Kon rolls the sucker in his mouth from one side, to the other, and heaves a sigh, before scratching the clicky end of the pen against his temple. Well, all things considered, this is pretty normal, isn't it? So he just watches the chocobo continue its trek into the great unknown of the grey city, and then reads over all of the names, places, and methods that have been listed.

No one said he couldn't play along.

III. rube goldberg

The hilarious thing about this is that, during the last days of school in the university's engineering department, they'd... him and his team had made a Rube Goldberg to pass the time. Just a little one, out of spare parts they'd had lying around.

So this is more than a bit much.

At first, he doesn't notice the rumbling, too focused listening to his phone serenading him - look, even he doesn't know about snail teeth, all right? - but then he feels it. Pausing, he frowns, looks up, scans the area, and then promptly double takes when he sees the boulder rolling down the street. It's completely against logic, and he has to jump off the street to avoid getting run over, like hell he's pulling an Indiana Jones right now.

Sorry if he knocks into you, but, also, it was for your own good, sending you both into a shop's entryway like that.

IV. wildcard

feel free to hit me up with your own prompt, or contact me at

folklores if you want to hash something out! au workshop is here.

Edited 2017-06-17 04:46 (UTC)

[ Kiryu's been... stumped, quite frankly. He's been good at math, pretty okay on science, but history and arts have him jamming to Rick Astley every single time. It's not terribly obnoxious on a personal level, but if Kon is walking up to him it must be bothering the people around him, huh... ]

Uh, yeah, actually. [ Boy, what are the chances that he'd run into his ~~insufferable~~ former classmate! ] Thanks, Kon. Do you know anything about the Incans? Or... when they held the first Winter Olympics?

[ There's a twist of amusement in response to the look on Kiryu's face, but Kon just pockets his own phone after idling it, eyes dropping down to his ex-classmate's phone. Rick Astley continues singing on, as you do. Apparently. ]

No problem, Kaz. [ Still just as casual as always, he tilts his head as he considers the trivia that's been thrown at him. ] It depends on what the question is for the Incans, but the first Winter Olympics were held in 1924. In Chamonix, France, if I'm remembering correctly.

It was something about "what city was found by some guy in some year," I think?

[ Which is. Helpful. Good job, Kaz. He's at least able to solve the other one with "1924." ]

Ah, the Winter Olympics one was right. How do you remember all this stuff?

[ His eyes narrow. That's... yeah that's helpful, my guy. But Kon just shrugs, like it's not a big deal, thinking it over. ] What city was found by some guy...

[ At least he can answer his non-trivia question. It is, admittedly, with what would amount to a trivia question, but whatever. ] "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." [ A beat. ] Photographic memory and too much time on the internet. You maybe want Machu Picchu for the other one.

So you just like memorizing weird facts? No wonder you were always breaking the curve in class.

[ He's impressed, not judging, honest. He even tries entering Kon's suggestion and gets the right answer. That's some skill, bro. ]

Oh, it was Machu Picchu. Damn, you're good at this.

[ this list is pretty ridiculous. why can't an actual detective try and solve this? this isn't their responsibility. ann huffs a bit, clicking her pen on the tablet. the chocobo probably just ran off on its own somewhere, let's be real. ]

Don't forget riding off into the sunset. Makes for a great movie.

[ normally she wouldn't say anything, but this is just. ]

[ Listen, Mayor Mayer takes everything very seriously, especially when it comes to his citizens or his beloved giant chicken. The clear answer is to entrust everything to said citizens, apparently. Kon's not even going to bother questioning the logic at this point, considering the damn chocobo's obviously fine. ]

Fair point. Especially if we're the ultimate culprits. [ He waves his notepad a little, indicating his own name on the list - when he's peeked at other peoples', and knows that their names are on their lists. ]

[ this is all so silly, and the mayor's taking it so seriously. why couldn't they just have a nice potluck without getting thrown into this mess? well, either way... ]

Yeah, and jail doesn't look so bad, huh?

[ she gestures on over to the bouncy house. honestly? ann wouldn't mind spending half an hour in there. join her kon ]

[ Seriously, just let them eat food, hang out. There's no need for this Clue mystery going on. At least there's no murder..? Yet, anyways.

He follows her gesture with his eyes, assessing the bouncy house contemplatively. Almost like it was planned out this entire time, really. But Kon isn't sure he can give Mayer that much credit. Still, he holds his hand out to Ann when he turns back to her, like a gentleman requesting a lady's hand, eyebrows giving a little wiggle. ]

Wanna be Bonnie and Clyde for a free pass at the bouncy jail for thirty minutes?

I like the forklift idea, personally, since it means someone lifted up this gigantic chicken with one.

[ the mental image is hilarious?? he looks at the paper. ]

It doesn't really say motive though. Maybe they wanted nuggets? [ at that, he glances back up, towards where the chocobo is to yell out, ] WHAT DO YOU TASTE LIKE?

[ Well.

He has a point. ]

Probably one you'd find in the back of a surplus store, I'd imagine. They're the perfect size for it. [ He snorts, but then it devolves into an actual bark of a laugh when he yells after the chocobo, grabbing his sucker so he doesn't lose it in the process. Jesus. ] Shit. Like ostrich, maybe?

[ it probably earned a few stares, but honestly, it is a question for the ages. ]

They kind of look like an ostrich somehow fucked a chicken when you really look at them. [ he tilts his head, still staring at the chocobo, but it's a little too far away to properly be able to judge the ostrich to chicken ratio. ]

[ Whatever, it is. They have to ask all the questions. ]

They kinda do. Apparently ostriches taste a little like beef, though, so I have no fucking clue what a chocobo would taste like. [ For some reason this information has never crossed his path? Which is interesting, but he looks after the slowly fading chocobo with Karkat now. ]

... Do people eat them?

[ he has... never actually looked to see if there are any chocobo dishes. since they replaced horses, and horses were not things typically on the menu, karkat assumed the same would be for chocobos.

but they're birds. people eat birds. not all birds but... ]

[ mary's been staring at this question for a little bit, finally finding one that stumped her: "before he turned to acting, what was marky mark's only #1 song?"

who the fuck is marky mark? she stares at her phone, stares at the annoyingly bright yellow background, and feels the distinct urge to throw it in a river-- especially when kon appears over her shoulder like that.

mary jumps, clutches her phone to her chest. it's still playing "never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down" from her flat chest. ] Y--no! Mind your own business!!

[ she'd rather DIE than accept help... as rick astley continues on, making her cheeks flush red. ]

[ Kon's grin curls across his face like the fucking Cheshire cat, imitating the Jabberwock, because that's the kind of friendship that he and Mary have thus far. Any chance to harass her is a good one, especially when they're a weird... upperclassman/underclassman combo, in that he's younger and he's the upperclassman.

Without hesitating, he drops his arm around her dainty shoulders. Even at the risk of getting his ass (nuts) beat in. (He is prepared to move in the event that she goes for a nut punch or tries to stomp on his foot or some shit.) ]

You sure? That song's a 90s classic. [ He caught the question before she hid her phone. ]

Bite me. [ that's mary's answer to that, thank you very much! especially with that dumb grin on his face!!! she turns her head to glare at the offending arm thrown around her shoulders, giving his hand all of her best poison before she announces ] You've got three seconds to get off of me before I'm the one doing the biting.

[ hand eventually removed, mary huffs, silencing her phone with the hold button. it should just give her a different question when she unlocks it...probably. ] What are you doing out of your cave? Aren't you going to get a sunburn?

Edited (read the whole tag) 2017-06-18 15:46 (UTC)

[ Kon obviously counts on the hand dropped on her shoulder - one, two - raises his hand and arm off at three, pulling his own phone out to unlock it again. Which country was the scene of the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s? it asks, and his response comes immediate and easily with: ] Kenya.

[ It unlocks, the Retrospec logo coming and going, and he scrolls through the page he'd been looking at earlier. ] Once every seven years, much like a cicada, hermits break through the Earth's surface to soak in sunlight and fresh air so that they may escape the sentence of their careers.

[ mary glares at him for a second longer until the arm is removed, and daintily reaches up to brush her shoulders off. god only knows the last time he showered!

well, not really, she can probably figure it out, but still. mary pulls her phone away from her chest and opens it again to a fresh new question. what artist recorded the international hit "poker face" in 2008?: ] Lady Gaga.

[ complete with a pointed "ha!" look. see, she gets music. ] Does that mean I never have to see you again after this? Oh no.

[ obviously not considering they're...friends... kind of ]

[ the serenading that was coming for a while from Elliot's phone is cut short abruptly with a loud clatter made from the phone being thrown towards the ground in frustration ]

No! I don't need help! Because I'll never be using this stupid phone again!

Black magic for sure!

[It's really hard to tell if the other is playing along or legitimately into this. Maybe it's a bit of both. It's not like he believes either happened (he definitely saw Seabiscuit earlier).]

Usually alien abductions happen through a flying saucer in the air right? [Look. All the cartoons and movies told him so.]

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JUNE TDM

kon shinonome | amatsuki

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