JUNE TDM

[recollecters]

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!

Comments

oh my god

[dryeye]

[Well, you know, that's what happens when you have your nose in your phone all the time!! You miss things, like your teacher's discovery of a gaping void in the sidewalk outside the exit. But apparently some kids just need to learn these things the hard way, and Aizawa only blinks slowly at Cutter as he continues past and tries the door for himself anyway. It's kind of exasperating even by dream standards--which is where Aizawa is currently operating from, now, until something comes along to prove otherwise (that ideally doesn't involve voids in sidewalks in any shape or form)--and he draws to a halt himself halfway down the hall, turning to watch over his shoulder as the kid opens the door.

Honestly, he wouldn't have been surprised if the void were suddenly gone for him or something, since dream logic usually goes that sort of ridiculous way. ...In retrospect that actually would have been less surprising than what actually happens. A reaction to a void isn't so unexpected either, no, but the door-slamming and yelling fit that follows? Alright, that's a little jarring.

Aizawa stares at him incredulously, and continues to do so as Cutter moves to start stalking past him down the corridor. What even was that, just now? (An appropriate reaction to a void outside? Well, maybe, but--) He should probably say something. He wants to say something. And so he ends up saying...the first thing to come to mind, more or less.]

Sharpe--if you're not going to watch your language in the school hallways, the least you could do is keep it down to a reasonable volume.

[Look, it's practically knee-jerk at this point, he's the only responsible adult figure in the vicinity right now....

But then Aizawa is stepping after him with an irritable air, because he'd like to leave this building eventually too. Ideally through an exit that actually works, maybe....dry as a desert:] I see you took my warning to heart. I suppose you'll listen even better next time, won't you?

[explodosafe]

[In his defense, it IS his teacher and he is not being given a good reason to pay attention to him for once. Cutter tosses him a dirty glare that turns into a brief widening of eyes when he realizes who it is that has his attention on him. The angry question why the other is staring dies in his throat because even Cutter isn't hot-tempered enough to pick a fight with "Math Demonition-Man" Aizawa out of the gates.

So he stuffs his hands deeper into his pockets to hide their shaking and glances away just long enough to silently say that he isn't looking to pick a fight before his face etches into a defiant frown and he is meeting Aizawa's eyes again.]

...they are doing this thing again. It's one of their games.

[He doesn't bother to elaborate, assuming that Aizawa is held by the same magic that is keeping everybody else that hasn't been "chosen" by Retrospec as one of their beta testers from noticing or remembering that something is off for long. Or maybe he and the others are just going slowly mad, what with the strange memories and body modifications and whatnot people keep claiming to get. He tries not to think to hard about it, because this is something he doesn't know how to fight or defend again.

It scares him.]

One of the basement exists is maybe still fine. They shouldn't come after you if you just stay put.

[dryeye]

[Fortunate for Cutter that he stands down just in time, really--the brief dirty glare isn't exactly missed, and Aizawa's already in a bad enough mood to have absolutely no patience for a shouting match with a rude student on top of everything else blocking him from leaving work and going home today. (He would absolutely fight you, young man--verbally, anyway--and maybe that rumor always going around about him being alarmingly expulsion-happy might just come true, you never know...) But as it is...Cutter's yelling fit seems to have abated, at least, so that's an improvement. And just as the dirty glare is noted, the looking away and stuffing of (shaking?) hands into pockets is noted too.

Which paints a picture a bit less rude, and more...huh?

Aizawa blinks slowly at him, visibly unimpressed by the cryptic advice.]

What are you talking about? [What was that about staying put...well, Aizawa is already set on doing the exact opposite of that, if the way he's still matching Cutter's pace beside him is anything to go by.] I'm headed home about now, actually. I take it you're doing the same. Who's "they", the ones that made off with the sidewalk back there? You're going to have to catch me up on these new trends, you're not giving me a lot to work with here.

[Pros to treating all of this like a bizarre dream sequence: being able to keep your sarcastic humor relatively intact, apparently.]

[explodosafe]

[Cutter shoots him a glance, unable to keep the surprise and suspicion out of his face. Shouldn't Aizawa have forgotten that something is up by now? Unless... ]

You got it too? Damn, it's really spreading like a virus.

[First Todoroki and Anya, then Mafuyu and Midoriya and now even Mr. A?! If this were a zombie epidemic they'd be all toast with the way this just keeps passing on! He quickly shakes his head to get rid of the mental picture of illness-torn moving dead bodies and killer viruses that are spread over the internet and heaves a deep sigh, missing the sarcasm aimed at him. Instead he slows his pace down to match Aizawa's and offers him his phone after pulling up the message he had been looking at before.]

Here. Look for yourself. [Activating a second tab, he calls up another post.] This one too. You don't need to waste your time with the comments, they don't ever reply to them.

[dryeye]

[Cutter's reactions continue to be very strange in turn, from Aizawa's perspective--especially when he finds a phone abruptly being all but shoved in his face unprompted. This is what finally slows his steps to a halt, at least temporarily, if only in order to give both Cutter and his offered phone a nonplussed look.]

Alright, hold on, slow down. What would a virus have to do with... [Gingerly...accepts the phone after a decent pause has been established, though. He frowns at the first post on display, half-intending to just sort of scan over the text--but the blue logo catches his eye first, before mention of colors in the post body itself follows suit, and that...gives him pause.

Since, yeah, for the last day or so he hasn't been able to see...those colors. He'd wondered if something was up with his eyes. He had been most definitely awake, that time.

An extremely unsettled feeling sinks in, all of a sudden. He frowns at Cutter now, over his phone.]

...You keep skipping ahead. I'd like to start from the top, please. What does this have to do with sidewalks, Sharpe? [Can we take this one bit at a time maybe, if you're so set on being as dramatic as possible about this...........he's old and tired and kind of running low on patience again ok]

[explodosafe]

[He waits impatiently for his teacher to connect the dots, shifting from one foot to the other in a bad attempt to vent the energy that has suddenly build up inside his body in response to the bout of adrenaline being faced with a sudden abyss has given him. This all is not normal, and man, if Cutter doesn't know it! But he still gives Aizawa an exasperated look because explaining would make sense, but it also means slowing down and sitting still somewhere.]

I don't know. All I know is that they most likely either caused this- this predicament... that we're in, or they know who or what is responsible for it. Your guess is as good as mine.

[Giving up on staying calm he tosses his arms up and paces back and forth with quick, restless steps before he accepts that that won't help either and rests his back against the wall with a sigh.]

Listen, Mr. A- [He turns his eyes back on Aizawa and gives him a look that has nothing to do with insubordination or them being teacher and student anymore. This is bigger than stuff like that.] I can't give you all the explanations I bet you want because I don't know a lot of what is going on myself.

[He licks his lips, shooting a wary look up and down the corridor.]

...I can try to answer your questions as good as I can, but only under two conditions: 1) you keep checking one side of this corridor while I make sure nothing nasty comes out from the other. 2) if I tell you to run you'll run, no questions asked. Okay?

[dryeye]

[This is...awfully uncharacteristic. This entire situation is jarringly uncharacteristic, especially when he's still not entirely sure how said situation even reached this point. It's hardly as if he and Cutter are particularly acquainted, either, but all the same...all Aizawa's memories of interacting with this kid have never involved the level of agitation he's showing now.

On top of all that ominous phrasing...it's pretty alarming, admittedly, to the point that it's getting hard to ignore even if this really is just an especially weird dream or something. But that particular mental exercise is getting more strained by the minute, too, the longer this goes on. --That's ridiculous, though. What else could it be? Sidewalks don't up and vanish like that. Students don't come up to him and show him strange posts on their phones, talking like...]

You know, all of that sounds very reassuring. [What is this, a horror movie all of a sudden? He follows Cutter's glance up and down the corridor, still frowning, and wonders what they're even supposed to be looking for. But he starts moving down the hall again, slowly, assuming Cutter's probably going to follow suit--and he's offering the phone back, if Cutter does.] ...You're saying this building isn't a very ideal place to talk. So we'll step outside first, then, since the second exit isn't far from here. --And we'll see what happens, alright?

[...Though now he can't help but eye the passing open doorways a little warily himself, because paranoia is apparently pretty contagious like that. Great.]

[explodosafe]

[Cutter flashes him a humorless smile. He almost wishes that he had fangs or some other unnaturally sharp teeth to add to the dramatics of the moment, but just almost. Better keep that thought to himself before somebody takes it as an invitation.]

Just wait until somebody you know as sane and rational calls you at one in the morning to tell you that they suddenly remember that they're a superhero who immolated himself. [He takes the phone back and pockets it. Falling into step next and half a step behind Aizawa he keep looking up and down the corridor while one of his hands lingers close to a pocket in his jacket. Cutter gets a lot of flack for his nickname, but behind all the jokes the fact that he is very skilled at delivering cutting blows remains a many times proven truth.

It's only after the second exit comes into sight that he relaxes with a sigh.]

Seems like it's just whatever is up with that missing paths for now. Sorry for the panic, but in the last weeks I had run for my life a few times too often for my liking. Wouldn't have always made it without some help, too.

[dryeye]

[Careful what you wish for there for sure, Cutter........]

I'd prefer not to wait at all, actually. ...I'm not sure I even want to ask what you mean by "immolated himself". [Ridiculous. All of that sounds ridiculous.

Not at all the fighter of his past life, Aizawa simply continues on with the same tired posture he's been maintaining up to this point, one hand absently on top of his shoulder bag. He frowns sidelong at Cutter as they move along, getting a distinct sense that he should...maybe be reacting a bit more strongly to hearing all of this than he is. But that would mean mustering both the energy and the investment, and he's still not sure if he wants to do either of those things right now. But that still...really warrants a response? That's a lot, right there.]

You're talking like you've been attacked. Please tell me that you've at least tried to contact the police about such an incident, because if you haven't I'm probably going to have to do it myself.

[Reaching for the door first, he tugs it open.


Oh, that sure is a decided lack of sidewalk out here too.]

[explodosafe]

[He barks out a laugh at that, neither willing nor able to keep his reaction down.]

Yeah, sure. Why don't you try asking anybody we meet if they think there's something strange about suddenly missing exits here?

[He shakes his head, not waiting for an answer.] They won't believe you. You can swear up and down that the sky is blue and always has been and all you'll get is a funny look and the question if you're alright.

[Besides, what should he have reported? Forest fires and giant bugs the size of a van and an even bigger cat high on catnip that almost crushed him with a mistaken loving headbutt? Not to mention that ghost...

He shudders and trips over his feet at the memory of that screaming, wailing thing he had once encountered on the nightly streets.]

...nobody but other Retrospec users is going to believe me anyways. Oh right, you better expect some crazy packages being delivered to your door sooner or later as well.

[Why is he not surprised that the second door is a letdown as well? Raising an eyebrow Cutter leans against the threshold.]

After you, Mr. Aizawa. And by immolated I mean he set himself on fire. He burned and felt a big something about having broken a promise rather than the pain from the fire. I asked him if it wasn't a dream the first time I heard it.

[dryeye]

[There's a lot he ought to respond to here, there really is. Almost nobody believing in the weird things going on? "Crazy packages"? A friend of his--well, no, he knew what 'immolated' meant, he'd just been sort of hoping it didn't...literally mean that. But no, apparently he actually did, and...

Well, no. Even still, none of that quite holds a candle to the fact that there's another abyss opening up in front of them where a sidewalk should have been now, on the other side of this door too.

So Aizawa's simply silent for a moment or so, instead, pausing on the threshold himself and scowling at all of this. Eventually, very slowly, he draws forward a couple of steps down the stairs outside the door that--should have led to pavement. That did lead to pavement, just this morning. But now...he stops halfway down, and stares down the hole stretching out in front of them with a nearly offended expression.]

...What's this. What is this? [Asking himself more than Cutter, at this point, with an irritably flummoxed air that might be a novelty to Cutter as well; it's probably something different enough from the tired but composed poise he tends to maintain in the classroom. On the bright side, it would appear that Aizawa has skipped straight from panic to weary, baffled acceptance...so at least there's that?

But that doesn't mean he has to be happy about this. ...About any of this...he looks over at Cutter.]

Your explanation skills could use some work, just so you know. You don't just dump multiple pieces of wildly different information on a person at once, you're supposed to go one topic at a time while checking for comprehension in between them. We're going to need to start this again from the top later. [Look, he's even pointing a little at you, he's serious here....but then his attention is sidelined from Cutter to the corner of the door he's standing next to, and the stack of--tiles?? On the ground by his feet. Aizawa ends up pointing at those next, a new frown settling on his features.] --What are those?

[explodosafe]

[Oblivious to Aizawa's suffering and his part in it Cutter raises an eyebrow, looking the tiles over curiously. Funny, he hadn't even noticed that they were there up until it was pointed out to him.]

Are those letters? [He doesn't even try to keep the surprise out of his voice. Or the confusion out of his face as he keeps staring at them, unwilling to make the mental leap that his gut instinct is pressing him toward. Missing ground... Tiles.... it's a game... No. No way, no way! He is not going to engage in something like that!

. . . . .


Damn.]

Looks like scrabble to me. As for my explanation skills... I'm sure they're better when there's less gaping holes around, so sure, we can try it once we're safe one more time.

[He seriously hopes he didn't just jinx it. Did the network posts mention any deaths? Damn, he should have paid more attention to it!]