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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( is he sure what this is all about? no, not really. it's certainly exciting. also confusing. until roughly yesterday, he hadn't known about things like the colour blue, or something called a horse. in fact he's still not sure he knows of either of these things, except he remembers something about them, and he's a little disappointed when he looks around and finds that his eyes are a startling grey in the mirror. he's very certain, out of nowhere, they should be green.

then he found the forget-me-nots. yes, the flower for their illustrious city. the one you're not supposed to pick?

yeah. he's holding a few semi-wilting flowers in hand as he sits across the interview table from you. yes, you. he's pleasantly confused, which is to say he's confused as to how spinning a wheel (exciting!) and being accosted by strangers (alarmingish?) and dragged into a job interview (amazing!) all in short order has his head spinning and him smiling at the person sitting across from him. )

Hello! I'm Reynir. This is a pretty clean place, isn't it? I really admire that.

( he may, or he may not (but he does, don't mistake this), he's just also prone to start rambling without the indication that he should stop talking. )

So is this the part where you ask me questions? I'm not really sure I understand what I'm interviewing for... but I'm pretty sure I can manage something related to this!

( he has no idea what "this" is. which job are you interviewing him for, anyway? )

( luck! what is luck? Luck is managing to not hurt himself sliding down the vortex of NOTHING that had swallowed the streets of apparassage. what a very distressing dream? it's probably a dream. he's taking it in stride with a sort of thin veneer of "okay, this is okay," mostly manifesting as resolutely climbing up a ladder. or a chute. he's pretty equal opportunity here.

or he's doggedly hanging on and grunting as his feet slide out from under him and he's holding on with sheer determination and saying, audibly: )

I've got this! Just a little... further...!

( he's not even halfway up, and there is, for some reason, a kitten in the hood of his hoodie. a tiny pink nose pops out and tiny ears and eyes criminally large and adorable for the size of its face regard anyone passing by, the kitten is judging the person carrying them.

as Reynir starts sliding back down this chute... you may want to join in the judging. or lend a hand. or laugh. or climb on. we're all equal losers here! )

bonus

( Reynir isn't stupid. he's an idealist, not always in helpful ways, and he trusts his instincts more than perhaps he should. except they tend to steer him not to the worst possible ends. his instincts got him here to Recolle! this has been one of the biggest, best experiences of his life. getting off the farm (he loves his parents, and his siblings, but he wanted exciting adventures like they had for himself, too! there's such a big world out there, and a little... major allergic reaction to peanuts wasn't going to stop him! ... so there!) and into the city has been one adventure after another.

except now he's staring at his phone and feeling like a fool because he has no idea how to answer the questions it keeps asking. he is, however, getting really familiar with the uplifting message retrospec plays after every incorrect answer. which may be why he's sitting on the steps of the library, singing: )

Never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you...

( softly while attempting to answer the following question: What is believed to be created when a star collapses? )

What is believed to be created when a star collapses... more space?

( no. he knows that isn't the answer, which is why he doesn't type it in, frowning instead. )

[ Um, Emil was pretty sure there was supposed to be a prize involved in all this, but then they shoved him around and shouted some words past his head and pressed a clipboard and some notes to his chest, and he sits down with Reynir and feels like he's in a dream with how jarring that sudden transition was. ]

Hey, I'm Emil and you're here to--

[ What job interview? They kept mentioning something but why is he conducting this interview, he has zero qualifications to... ]

...make ice cream, I guess?

[ What? How is he supposed to interview anyone on that? Emil's never worked at an ice cream shop! He doesn't know what questions to ask, so as he flips through the papers looking for something relevant, he nervously tries: ]

What's your... favorite flavor?

( he's got this. yes! ice cream! he even smiles at that, though that first question... a doozie. there's going to be a right and wrong answer? how? it's like... getting to know you. oh! oh for recommendations!

or so he's going to guess, so beyond his initial look of breif confusion, he smiles and offers Emil an answer. )

Vanilla cinnamon? I like most flavours really, as long as they don't have peanut butter or peanuts involved. I'm allergic.

( he adds. helpful. )

My throat would swell up and I'd stop breathing and it sounds pretty horrible so I'm extra careful about what I eat. It's amazing how many things might have come into contact with peanuts? There's so many tiny warning labels to look for. But I love dairy! I'm really good with dairy.

( Reynir, sundaes at ice cream places often... have peanuts... that go on top... )

[ UM ]

Maybe you shouldn't be working at this place actually, you'd definitely have to handle peanuts? I mean I'm not sure, I don't even know... what ice cream store you're supposed to be interviewing for.

[ He looks extremely confused, and then around at everyone else, who seems to have gone with the flow and are properly conducting interviews which are proactive and engaging and super professional. At least, that's what Emil thinks looking at everyone actually asking and answering questions.

This was such a mistake.

But he feels so bad just giving the guy an outright rejection, maybe there's um an office position for the business side of the ice cream store? ]

Do you... have a resumé?

[ Maybe he can just bullshit his way through that. He could at least kill a half hour pretending to read it slowly, and then asking questions that are already answered on the paper! ]

( UH )

... I... do?

( he fumbles for his phone one handed, keeping hold of the flowers with his other hand, and manages to work it free of his pocket. he also manages to near thwack the flowers on the table, pulling them back as he accidentally drops his phone on the table. his shoulders hike up and he leans forward, slamming his hand over his phone with a wide eyed, apologetic look. cue the more sheepish expression? )

I didn't know we'd need one on hand, things were moving kind of fast, but I have a copy saved on my phone? If that works?

( please say it works. please say it works young also not perhaps natively born American man. )

[ Emil sympathizes with this clumsy boy because he too is clumsy, but honestly how either of them got in this mess, he's not sure. He doesn't even know that, if he likes this guy, he'd be able to hire him. Because... he doesn't even work at this ice cream store! He doesn't even know which ice cream store it is!

And he doesn't even know if it's legal to hire this guy when Emil knows he's allergic to some of the things he might need to handle... ]

Okay, uh... Reynir Árnason.

[ He pauses. ]

Wait, are you Icelandic?

[ He should've known from the accent, really, except that Emil is so bad with accents that for the first minute or so he definitely thought Reynir was an American native... ]

[Not too far away from where Reynir is doggedly clambering up his ladder-slash-chute, a challenger approaches!! Except this challenger is working her way up her own ladder with much more speed and hustle than Reynir seems to be able to muster.]

[And also she's laughing. She's probably crazy?]

[Sigrun stops when she notices Reynir starting to slide back down, gives him a weird look with a lofted brow that's half-judging, half-pitying, then leans casually with her arm hooked through one of the rungs of her own ladder as she shouts down.] Hey wimpy kid, you okay down there? Need a spotter?

( he manages to check his backward slide, more or less, and cling on while some crazy but highly athletic woman is talking at him? shouting at him? he smiles by reflex, because it's great, when you smile things are usually pretty good. even when you're dreaming about pits and chutes and ladders and laughing women.

it's all good. )

No, I'm fine, thank you! Though could you help take this kitten? I didn't want it to get hurt down here, or lost...

( he looks back over his shoulder and frowns. why was a kitten even in this district anyway. did it belong to someone? he shivers, looking forward again. this time his smile's a touch more sheepish, but hey, laughing lady might agree to take the kitten. that way he doesn't have to worry if he does fall. everyone wins! )

[Sigrun shoots a dubious look at the kitten, and also at Reynir, who she is pretty sure might die in the abyss if she doesn't help him.] Iunno, I have some pretty bad luck with cats. If that thing tries to eat my face off, I might just chuck it back down the chute.

[Nonetheless, she starts hopping and leaping her way over, across ladders and slopes over towards Reynir. Check those sweet lunges! She knew keeping up on her cycling would pay off.] Cats always seem to take care of themselves anyway. How 'bout you, beanpole? What're your gym grades like. [She finally lands on the next ladder over from him, within arm's reach, and reaches a hand out to him to help pull him up the next rung, unabashedly cheerful.]

( what does this woman do to cats? then again, she's likely joking. no one would really throw a kitten down the chute. cats were good about landing on their feet. kittens less so.

she's awfully nimble, on the other hand, and he's wishing he was out doing something like scaling bounder strewn landscapes instead of this television game show dream. if he concentrates hard enough, will the setting shift? he's already reaching back out to Sigrun while he's considering that possibility, accepting her help to transfer from his slow, inexorable slide down the chute and over onto a rung of the ladders. which, if he thought about it, might have been the better course of action, but in dreams logic rarely needed to be logical, and so the chute seemed as fine a choice as any. )

I don't have a gym membership anymore? I did for a few months when I first got here.

( it was nice. then you got to use the showers, too. plus all kinds of interesting people were at gyms. not always the good interesting, but still interesting. )

I don't think any of them were really graded.

( he's missing the point. that is, perhaps, not unusual for him when things are asked out of apparent context, but at least he seems congenial enough, one hand checking on his kitten passenger while the other has firm hold on the ladder rung. )

[Do you want to risk this, Reynir. I mean, she's probably joking, but.]

[But.]

[This kid is long but he's lanky, so it doesn't take too much effort for Sig to help pull him over to the ladder- which sways a little bit with the weight of them both now on it. Hopefully it doesn't collapse and plummet them both to their untimely deaths!]

[She laughs good-naturedly at his weird reply, because she's assuming it's a joke.] Thaaat's cute. You should really go to the gym again, though! It's good for you. I can show you the place I go to, it's pretty great.

[Which might be a weird offer to make to some kid you just met while crawling out of a feverdream death pit, but Sig was kind of weird in general. And they were in this thing together!] Okay kid, you go on ahead of me, and I'll spot you from below. Just a little bit more upward!

[He happens to hear the other ask out loud the trivia question.]

I think the answer you're looking for is blackhole.

[He's not completely sure, since it isn't his expertise, but he doesn't think it's wrong either. He gives Reynir a small smile.]

The trivia questions are kinda tricky, right? It took me awhile for me to unlock my phone, but I eventually got it! Even when I chose a category that I was more familiar with; it gave me questions about things I don't think I've ever heard of.

( Reynir perks up, looking around to the man addressing him, flashing him a smile in return. for one, it's polite, and for another, he's generally actually happy to meet all sorts of different people. doubly so when they're helpful, like this man, offering an answer that sounds better than "more space" for sure. )

Is it? Great! Thank you!

( he says thanks before he's even filled in the answer, though it gets all the more heartfelt once he clicks submit and his phone screen reveals itself in its full glory. it's to the point where he leaps up off the stairs and has his arms in the air: victory! though his exuberance simmers down as he turns and beams at his New Friend, showing him his phone screen (what a nice shot of a ... is that a sheep?) as if that helps communicate how amazing it is he can access it once more. )

You've got the new app too, right? Or I guess it's not new... the Retrospec app? I've never been invited to use an app before, but I think it downloaded this trivia thing at the same time. I only got the one about shearing right.

( he turns his phone back around to look down at it, going from the faint frown that'd followed the announcement of his general failure, right back into a reflexive sort of smile. )

Oh — right! I'm Reynir, thank you for helping me get my phone open!

( said phone gets juggled to one hand while the other is thrust forward for shaking, a touch overeager. this is officially more success with his phone and a friendly stranger than he's had in the whole like, last two weeks! except that nice old man who threw a sandwich at his head. so kind of him to feed Reynir, really, especially when he'd been talking to the pigeons at the time. pigeons who then flocked for the sandwich, so he'd shared, but... you know. a friendly face now is welcome. )

[Sidon smiles brightly at the other.

Hey man, who is he to judge. That's a cute sheep and his phone screen is set to a goldfish. His goldfish that is great and he loves posting pictures of. It's a good fish and that is a good sheep.]

Yeah. It's been a bit of an annoyance when you want to access your phone and you have to try and answer pop trivia you aren't, ah what's the word, understanding of. [The word he was looking for is knowledgeable, but close enough.] I learned a lot of new things today from it though!

Cedric.

[He shakes Reynir's hand in an enthusiastic manner. The overeagerness just seems to brighten Cedric's smile.]

[Tuuri has no idea how she got roped into interviewing someone for this job, but well, here she is! Time to put him at ease with some casual banter.]

Hi Reynir! I'm Tuuri. I like your flowers.

[Excellent. Casual banter accomplished. She's pretty good at this, she should consider asking Majima if she can do some hiring at the club... She clears her throat, shuffles her papers, and glances down at the job description.

Oh.] Well, this is a position as a mime, so... I'm sorry, but you're already talking more than you should be. [But yikes, that means that the interview should already be over, huh? And she can't turn him down just like that.] --But I'm willing to overlook it, given your excellent qualifications! Please tell me more about those.

[Please do, because Tuuri is just looking at a piece of paper that says "mime" and nothing else on it.]

( his eyes light up: she likes the blue flowers! good, people should love this blue thing. it's pretty cool! so is green, but green's kind of hard to find right now, but that's not the point. the point is he's opening his mouth to say, "hey, these are blue, right?" when she points out...

... he's already talking more than he should be for this position. of a mime? Reynir's hand comes up to clap over his mouth, flowers clutched in his other hand and held up in a kind of gentle dismay. gentle, because he doesn't leap up or look as caught offguard as he feels: his expression sort of freezes in mild surprise.

now he has to tell her about his qualifications. as a mime. what do mimes do, other than play extensive charades?

honestly, he has to admit he's never seen a mime perform, never watched one on film, and only knows about them through word of mouth. he can't even remember what his spin the wheel of qualifications landed on, so he's stuck here with wilting flowers, a job interview he has no idea what to do with, and qualifications no one else had run by him.

he's got this. probably. he's going to try to have this. his hand falls away from his face and he smiles (closing his eyes, look how sincere this is -- and it is, after a moment) before giving Tuuri a thumbs up. that's a good signal. he's fairly sure that's a good signal. unless it isn't. his eyes slit open and he waits to judge her reaction before he taps a hand on his chest to indicate "I" or "me" and then... sweeps up from the table. he stands tall, peering around the room. this is like make believe back on the sheep farm. watching the flock with the dogs, but giving his imagination room to roam.

which is about when he lights up, seeing something in the "distance," and... pantomimes... walking that way. except marching in place is a little silly, and he tries not to look at Tuuri (please be giving him a chance at this job he's suddenly not sure he wants at all, unless it pays, and he's hard to fire from it, he does have a hard time holding on to things for some reason or another) but then he has to, and when he does, he thrusts out the flowers. yes! uh. he looks at the flowers, then gestures to the whole of the room. he will plant this... meadow? with flowers! to sell at market.

Tuuri, please stop him. he's pantomiming the planting of flowers, their watering, and their growth. all to "pick" them, gather them into his actual flower bouquet, and offer them to Tuuri with a smile... and a palm... held out......... for money.

because he's in a business venture. not anything else.

a thought strikes:

what if miming is nothing like charades? )

[Despite the fact that she literally just told him to stop talking, it takes Tuuri a second to figure out why he stopped talking. But hey, this makes sense! He's trying to become a mime, right? Isn't a successful audition the ultimate qualification for a mime? She'd better sit back and watch him go. She even gives him an encouraging smile when he starts!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it turns out that charades are not the best way to convey one's resume. Tuuri followed the beginning well enough. Thumbs up, perfectly understandable! Pointing to himself, okay! Looking for something, awesome! Going off in that direction, sure! For a second, she thinks she's supposed to take the flowers, and makes half of a motion to reach out and grab them-- But no, then he keeps going, and this is where he loses her.]

I... [That just looked like a series of artistic hand motions, but now he's offering out the flowers to her again... and his hand...? Whatever, that seemed artistic and entertaining enough. Tuuri smiles wider, still looking awfully lost, and... shakes his outstretched hand, in a false show of confidence. Surely she can bluff her way through this!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

JUNE TDM

Reynir Árnason | Stand Still Stay Silent

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Bonus

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i

you deserve this nonsense

I love you