repeter | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

mmm?

[Someone turned from within the flower shop that he'd just ducked into and looked out the door, only to see a colossal boulder that looked like an oversized pinball roll right by. Her eyes popped a bit and then she sighed, rubbing her forehead and tending to the lifeless, gray leaves of the floral arrangement in front of her.

Seriously, roses looked weird with the only green being her cloak, and not the leaves.]

Ah, it would seem the games have begun again. [She was trying not to sound blase about it, but in her accent, her annoyance probably came out that way.] Welcome to Enchanted Blossoms. Are you quite alright? Nothing crushed you, yes?

Games? Again? I'm -- no, this is not alright! What the freaking hell is this?!

[Physically, he isn't crushed or harmed or anything but. That doesn't mean Kyo is anything remotely resembling calm at all this. He has no idea what the heck just happened but that is a definite safety concern. What if others aren't as quick as him or not as close to the shops to escape it?]

Shouldn't we go out and check if everyone else is okay?

That... [She gestured languidly at the door out before smiling at him quietly and shrugging.] Would probably be what Retrospec is doing to us this weekend, and as long as I do not have to worry about the building being crushed, I am happy. But...

[She started to head in the direction of the door, cracking it a little to look out one direction and then another. Her eyes scanned for people that she knew... and for blood smears.]

Do you hear any screams? Most of my friends are probably smart enough to stay inside, though I should probably give a few of them a call, just to be sure they know not to stay in the streets.

Well, I guess we're lucky it hasn't destroyed buildings or anything yet, but still! The hell is with this Retrospec?! I was kind of busy getting away from it myself. I'm not sure if others were farther ahead or something. The boulder itself was kind of loud, so. Yeah. Probably should check in with friends or family.

[Those that might actually be out and about around this time anyway. Just to be safe. He doesn't think he actually saw anyone get flattened and squashed but of course he was mostly keeping ahead himself and keeping an eye out for a way out of the path of the thing.]

[She tapped in the answer to 'name a marsupial' on her phone, and while the two of them were talking, she was sending out text messages, leaning against the wall next to the door. It was quiet right now, and Mikoto didn't stop them from having their phones as long as they got work done.]

Very lucky. And I doubt you'll find proof, but Retrospec likes to cause strange things to happen, regularly. Tell me, do you remember when there used to be horses?

Hors -- of course I remember horses!

[Hors -- wait. That seems a little too familiar. Like he should know it because this was someone close to him. Family. But nobody in his family actually owns a horse, do they? Let alone 'is' one....? Kyo shakes his head, a hand to his temple.]

Dammit. This stupid nonsense.

[She sighed and nodded. He remembered them, which meant that of course he thought all of this was odd. He was on the app.]

It is going to take a minute for everything to sink in. You are safe here, and try not to worry about anyone out there. Most of them should be safe normally. They won't think any of this is strange, and will probably just avoid the boulders by not going out.

[Probably.]

They don--how can they not think this is insane?! Staying inside doesn't mean there isn't a boulder rolling down the street!

[Seriously. It might take more than a minute or two for him to fully calm down from this. Kyo's generally pretty loud anyway, but still.]

Because the people who have let you see that there once were horses and never Chocobo are messing with all of their minds too. They don't notice anything is wrong. I know it is insane... but it isn't their fault.

[She shook her head. Yeah, this was nuts and she knew it, but it was what it was.]

Like it isn't our fault we're caught up in this and remember....horses. Sure.

[Insane is only one of many words he could think of for this sort of situation, really. Kyo has never been the most subtle though. Or the most quiet when he gets worked up or something flares his temper.]

You seem a lot more used to this at least.

I've had six months of it to get used to it. That, and I'm French. We're good at appearing blase unless someone ruins the wine and cheese plate, haven't you heard?

[She gave him a little grin at that, winking.]

So you're saying that being French is part of the excuse, huh? If you say so.

[The wink would have him a little flustered, but he'd probably go red if anyone winked at him, being so unsure at times, socially, as the family outcast of sorts and all. He gives a shrug.]

French, Japanese. People from all over, here, I guess.

It is a big town, and quite a few come from around the world for the opportunities. I do not regret it, myself. And yes, I would say being french is part of why I am always trying to be non-chalant. [She sighed and glanced back from the door.] I will admit some days are easier than others.

This, oddly, is not the worst I've seen.

JUNE TDM

IV

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