repeter | AUGUST TDM

Entry tags:

! tdm

AUGUST TDM

TEST DRIVE

AUGUST TEST DRIVE
The city of Recollé.

...yeah. Yeah, it's just sort of a mess...

What will you do today?

I.
What the hell happened here? Perhaps you're new to the city, or perhaps you've finally started to notice just how bad the damage is to the beloved city of Recollé. The convention center is still crumbled in pieces and several local shops have boarded up windows and doors to prepare for reconstruction. Vendors on the street try to urge residents to purchase monster insurance for all of their home and vehicle needs. But the moment you step outside, you'll find yourself greeted by a member of the Recollé Restoration Committee as they thrust a hardhat into your hands and eagerly chatter about your new assignment.

Whether you find yourself in Tisse and assigned to haul pieces of stone around or you're placed over in Apprassage to pour cement, you'll find you aren't alone in these tasks. It's nice to meet your coworkers, isn't it?

II.
But really, what caused all of this? This is completely insane and while some of you may be willing to help rebuild the city, others might wish to solve the mystery. Poking around the various districts, NPCs will explain that monster attacks "sometimes just happen" which seems pretty strange in and of itself. Monsters shouldn't "just happen", should they? And where are these alleged monsters anyway?

Careful what you wish for, though. Exploring too much and straying off-task will lead to finding some things you may not want. These creatures will immediately hone in on new Retrospec users and begin to chase them, though they won't outright attack. While the smaller ones may be destroyed with a bit of effort, it might be wise to either cut your losses or find someone with a bit more experience to take on the larger creatures. Don't worry; there's bound to be someone to help.

III.
By now, you may have heard the rumors from some of your fellow Retrospec users that several members of the network have disappeared. You may even hear the rumors that those members are lost in "unreality" and that the city itself is a bit...unstable. But they're just rumors, right?

Everything seems fine as you go about your day (monsters notwithstanding.) However, any time you pass from one district to another suddenly a list of names scrolls past your line of vision . As the list comes to a halt and lands on one name, you may recognize it as a friend or a stranger. If you're lucky, you may get a holographic video connecting you to someone still in the city. If you're even luckier, you may find someone speaking up inside your head due to a telepathic connection. Go ahead and say hi. You just might get some answers from those who have been lost and those you haven't met yet.

IV.
As the night begins to set upon the city, a warm sleepy feeling rolls through. Whatever you're doing, it's hard to fight off the urge to curl up under a shaded tree and take a nap. After some time it's nearly impossible to ignore any longer and no matter where you are, you'll instantly fall asleep. Strangely, even

The place that you wake up, however, may look very familiar to you. You've seen this place before. In fact, you've lived through this very scene before. Maybe it's the little league game you scored your first home run, or maybe it's your high school prom. These are your memories played back to you, and glancing back you may find that again you aren't alone. Any Retrospec user has the ability to pass through these pockets of time and can stumble right into your memories. The memory pockets can appear no matter where a person is, and they'll be able to view and interact with the memories they see. Take a walk through your childhood neighborhood. Sit through the nightmare of your college entrance exams. These memories are yours as you've lived them. However, try not to change anything about the past. Memories can be quite tricky if meddled with too much.

BONUS.
While the makers of Retrospec are a bit scattered and busy at the moment, it seems as though they have failsafes to keep their systems up and running. The latest update push operates on its own and begins to download to your device. Your profile remains the same as always (your name and your photo), but it appears you won't have access to it until you apply one of the brand new filters to your picture. Seems easy, right?

Maybe you should have given this a second thought. As soon as the filter's applied to your photo, you might find that people are stopping and staring at you as you go about your day. They may or may not comment, but what's evident is that something's going on that you're unaware of. A quick glance in your phone's camera, a storefront window or a mirror will reveal all. That fun filter's now applied itself to your face with no hope of coming off for a while. Have fun!

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!

For continuity's sake, for the first time we will be stating that the TDM is dated IC 8/17! This is all in one day. Potential applicants/characters on the TDM will revert back to NPC status on 8/18 and will not remember the events of the TDM until the mod-posted Retrospec post goes up 9/1.

Members of Group 2, since the TDM can be considered game-canon, prompts III and IV are open for you to tag around to new players while stuck in your locations outside of the city!

For Prompt III, members of Group 2 may telepathically connect to someone even if there's a video option, but their faces and surroundings will be obscured! Other members of the game + potential applicants may use video if they wish.

For Prompt IV, please remember these are memories from your AU and not your canon! Should characters deviate from these "memories" too much, they will find themselves thrown back to the beginning of the memory to start over!

And finally, the filters provided in the bonus are just examples and you can swap in any others you want.

Your August TDM directory is here, and your AU workshop is here! Our mod questions thread for this TDM is over here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

II.

[Gallagher Brando thought himself a reasonably, rational man. He didn't believe in supernatural nonsense, although it was fascinating to him on a certain level. Which is why he found himself in this situation now.

[You can find him there. Wholly serious face, eyes locked with... a spirit rabbit he's holding in his hands. How he is keeping a straight face while doing this is a miracle but anyone who knows Gallagher would, at this point, expect that from him. This is just how her operates.

[No matter how impossible it may seem.]

III.

[And speaking of odd supernatural occurrences... he now has another one. Specifically, Gallagher now has to contend with a mysterious voice spontaneously appearing in his head which is, all and all, marginally less weird than the rabbit but still quite odd. And privacy invading.]

"Ah, hello. This is a bit startling, so apologizes if I sound somewhat awkward."

[Gall don't kid yourself you always sound awkward.]

"You're telling me. Who are you?"

[ The voice on the other line is unmistakably a child, who sounded alarmed at the beginning, but quickly shifted to try calm himself. Ritsu would have been more guarded and accusatory, but... the voice felt vaguely familiar? Like he's overheard some conversations with this person back when he was in the city. Maybe seen him on TV? But Ritsu's memory of people's names was never his strong point. ]

"How much did you hear?"

[ Ritsu's got a pretty active mind, so there's all sorts of mind clutter trying to be sorted with dangerous auras, creepy monsters, mention of a piano and the lack of lighting. Along with the rest of his group, they were on their way into what seems to be a haunted mansion, so... ]

"Nothing, really, until now."

[The sound of the child's voice puts him slightly at ease. He was expecting something more malicious than this, so he'll take Ritsu as a pleasant surprise. In fact, that causes a noticeable change in his tone the next time he speaks. Well, he telepathically speaks. It still sounds somewhat awkward but... Gallagher hasn't spoken to anyone telepathically before, so all of this is kind of odd and uncanny for him. But, he thinks he'll adjust eventually.]

"So, then, you didn't start this engagement?"

"I... don't think so?"

[ They're both equally confused about this then, great. There's one dart he can throw in the dark as to this person's identity, and it's going to absolutely be off mark. ]

"You don't work with Retrospec do you? I'd have a lot of questions if you were-- but we're never that lucky."

"No, I don't. So, whatever questions you have I'm afraid I cannot answer."

[He wishes he can though. He has a lot of questions of his own too, ones he wishes he could answer for himself and for others. Somehow, he imagines there are many, many others who are feeling similar things.]

"My name is Gallagher Brando. Now, what's your name?"

"I figured."

[ Gall can actually hear the mind sigh too. Don't worry Gall, Ritsu's just at that broody age, a few years early. ]

"Ritsu Kageyama. Are you in Recollé? There's someone I want to check up with..."

[ He never got back home to see Professor Lumiére before he plummeted down a portal and into a whole new mess, he didn't want to be additional cause of stress to an already tired man. ]

"Ah, who do you wish to speak with? I could definitely arrange a meeting, depending on the individual."

[He has plenty of connections in Recollé due to his position, after all, and such a thing would certainly be within his power. Of course, that all rested on just who Ritsu wanted to get in contact with. Likely a relative or something. Of course, that meant...]

"Are you not in Recollé right now? Where are you?"

[ Ritsu nods, not minding how... weird he might look right now to his teammates. Maybe they're having their own silent mind conversations too, he's not going to bother checking or asking. ]

"We're headed into a mansion? Been in this swamp for a week, and abandoned mines before that. Encountered some dangerous creatures. I know it sounds unbelievable but we're all still alive."

[ He can't list out those individuals by memory. As previously said: godawful with names. ]

"It's Professor Nikolai Lumiére, he works at the university and was entrusted with me for my overseas study. Please inform him I'm alright. There's no reception here so... I'm surprised there's suddenly telepathy? ... Of all things. But it's better than nothing."

"...Well, about that..."

[He doesn't know how to say this. It's not something he even really wants to say given the nature of what the topic is but... he feels like he should tell Ritsu anyways. Since it does involve him.]

"...I spoke with Professor Lumiére recently. I knew he was taking care of a kid, although I was unaware said individual was you. I brought you up. He told me, roughly, that he didn't know who you were. It seems you've been erased from his mind, in some sense."

[ Erased?

Ritsu lets the words sink in, and he doesn't... mentally speak for a while. When he finally speaks again, it's reluctant, but calm. ]

"That may be for the better."

[ Not that Gall can see it, but Ritsu folds his arms. ]

"I wouldn't have wanted to torment him with disappearing for a little over two weeks. This isn't the first time his memory's been cleared of something." [ There's a bitter edge in his voice. ] "That's what Retrospec does. It messes with our heads. I'm sorry you're... probably involved with this now too."

"...Better to be involved in this than to let people simply go through, whatever this insanity is, alone. At least I know I can do something about it."

[As ever, Gall wouldn't simply let something like this occur idly. His moral compass was too strong, and so if he could do anything about the situation, even if it meant being dragged down into hell, he would do it in a heartbeat.]

"But that means... if your guardian has forgotten you exist, then when you get back to Recollé, you will have to create new boarding arrangements."

"Oh."

[ But was this memory alteration permanent? If it was, then their time together would just disappear like that. Ritsu felt... not necessarily sad, but somewhat hollow at the idea. Admittedly, their conversations have felt a lot emptier since he couldn't confide about the stranger things that happened (which were the only things that happened over summer). To have their tie like this severed.

Was this really okay?

He puts a hand over his chest, resigned, but not letting weakness show in his voice. ]

"I suppose I might. I'll contact my parents and figure something out."

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