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

Because you can't take your eyes off him? Because he can't stop talking about you? [Fai pauses for a moment to stir his drink with the straw] Because I've never had a guy look at me the way you look at him. Face it, honey, you've got it bad.

[A statement which is perfectly punctuated by Fai being a total dork and pulling the straw out of his drink to lick the whipped cream off the bottom. Dork.

...but he's still right, Kenta.]

[At first, Kenta can't find anything to answer. He just stares at Fai, his face unreadable. He doesn't look angry or surprised, just... blank.

Jirou is his friend. His best friend. For a long time he was his only friend. In his view of the world what he and Jirou have is just ... normal. Maybe they're closer than friends but honestly they're almost brothers.

But Kenta doesn't have experience with having brothers, or with dating, really. On some things he's much more innocent than he looks.]

He was my first friend. My only friend. Of course we're close. That doesn't mean we should go out.

[One of Fai's eyebrows arches high above the line of his sunglasses, and then Fai stares pointedly at him over them.]

There's no way he's your only friend, a sweet guy like you? You're exaggerating.

[He shakes his head and takes another sip of his drink, still holding the straw to the side.]

Besides, even if that were true--there are friends, and then there are friends. I've had plenty of friends, and none of them have ever pulled the 'I want to devote my life completely to you' thing. Because that look you were giving him? That's what that was.

Just so you know~

... I don't make friends very easily.

[For reasons he's not going to explain now because hey, I just met you.]

I didn't think I was doing anything that out of the ordinary, really.

[That's his normal, and also Jirou's normal, and he honestly doesn't have much to compare it with.]

[Fai squints at him, then smiles brightly again.]

Maybe you just haven't been around the right kind of people! I'll be your friend! I mean, assuming you don't mind how annoying I am.

[He says that completely nonchalantly, as if it's just a given.]

And as your potential new friend, I would advise mentioning it to Jirou. See what he thinks about it!

I can't say I had ever been around the 'right' kind of people before I met Jirou.

[In fact he'd basically been surrounded by the completely wrong kind of people for a child, if you look at it that way.

As Fai speaks self-deprecatingly again, he shakes his head and frowns.]

You're not annoying. Why would anyone say you are?

[He's actually finding Fai really easy to speak to. Sure, it's not the instant, deep connection he feels with Jirou, and obviously they don't know each other's past, and Kenta knows someone hiding something painful when he sees them - personal experience - and he's not going to pry.

But like Jirou, Fai seems to be able to contemplate the lighter things in life and take joy in them. It's easy to see that being dressed like that today makes him happy, and that it shows on his face. Kenta has never really been able to be so free with his expression, not when the people around him keep trying to second-guess what it could mean.]

I'm pretty sure he hasn't thought about it either. Why would he?

Well that's easy enough to fix! I can introduce you to my friends if you want, if Jirou hasn't already introduced you to some of them! A sweetheart like you shouldn't have any trouble making lots of friends--and not just because you wear fancy, expensive suits.

[Not that Fai's friends are the sort to take advantage of that, or so he'd like to believe.

He laughs at Kenta's question, as if the answer is so obvious as to be silly.]

You're only saying that because you like Jirou, and I'm kind of like him. In a less pretty, less amazing sort of way. But we can't all be that crazy-talented and awesome!

[Jirou hasn't thought about it either, hm? Well, that Fai can very easily believe. Jirou's a very live-in-the-moment sort of guy, and both of these dorks seem like they worship the other without really thinking about it. But hey, that's what friends are for: to give them a swift kick in the ass.]

Hmm~ Maybe I'll have to have a talk with him too, then~

You're not less pretty than Jirou.

[This comes out completely naturally, and it's obvious it's not just protesting for the sake of protesting. Kenta really thinks Fai is pretty so he's saying it, that's all.

He doesn't seem all that fazed by Fai saying he will speak to Jirou. He finds the idea a little outlandish and he's pretty sure Jirou will too, but he's not opposed to Fai mentioning it even if he's not sure what the end goal is here.]

I should go and see if he needs to change of if he wants to keep the kimono on.

[Kenta's response surprises Fai--for a rare moment he's speechless before flashing an apologetic smile.]

I'm sorry, I wasn't fishing for compliments there. But thank you.

[He leans over and plants a friendly kiss on Kenta's cheek and then makes a shooing motion with his hand.]

Go on, go take care of your sweetie. I'll hold down the fort here!

[Fai's fighting a low-grade panic at the idea of being alone at the bar, but it shouldn't be a problem. There are bouncers here for a reason, he still has his sunglasses on, and there are plenty of people around. He should be safe enough inside, at least for a little while. He turns to grab both of their glasses and hold them up to flag down the bartender again. Yes, he's absolutely going to drink both of them.]

[Being friends with Jirou means being used to being touched and kissed at random intervals. Honestly, Kenta is is usually rather prickly when people who are not Jirou do it to him whereas Jirou can get away with anything, but Fai doesn't feel like he's trying to ingratiate himself.

Kenta may be oblivious to certain things, but he can be quite insightful and observant for others. And someone being tense or stressed is something he can notice from a mile away, if only because it tends to happen a lot to people around him.

He hasn't asked Jirou why Fai needs an escort and he's not going to. It doesn't matter. What matters is that Jirou asked him to make sure Fai was okay, and he won't be okay if left alone.

So Kenta grabs the glasses from Fai's hands and puts them down, signalling to the bartender that they'll be back, an catche's one of Fai's hands in his.]

Come along. You don't have to talk to anybody if you don't want to.

Wha- Hey!

[Fai yelps a little as the glasses are pulled from his hands. You don't just take alcohol away from him like that!! Of course the yelp and the protest amount to roughly the intensity of a kitten mewling. He doesn't put up a fight when Kenta grabs his hand and allows himself to be pulled along, wobbling only slightly on his wedge sandals because he wasn't exactly expecting this little journey.]

What...? Okay, I just... I thought maybe you'd want a minute or two with your sweetie!

I see him every day and I just need to know if he's going home now or later.

[Kenta walks backstage without asking for permission - being this tall and imposing has davantages. From the way he nods a few hellos here and there, t's clear his face at least is familiar to a lot of people. When he reaches the dressing room for the artist, thought, he stops and turns to Fai.]

I'll only be a minute.

[In fact less than that. He just pokes his head in speaks for a moment and then comes back out.]

They have an after party, so I can just drive you home when you want to go.

JUNE TDM

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