repeter | AUGUST TDM

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! 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

i.

Hooooooooly shiiiiiiiiit.

[it was like she was really seeing the damage for the first time. She looks around her, clutching the hard hat to her chest. It was a little weird that they were throwing her, a 14 year old girl, into the reconstruction business, but she didn't argue.]

What the fuck? Can you believe this?

[Ellie's asking the closest person, her voice straining with awe and excitement. The city was in shambles!]

I wonder if we'll see a real monster?

iii.

[She's so jazzed. She waves at the hologram in front of her, poking at it, and grinning widely when her hand passes through it.]

Dude. Do you know that you're a fucking hologram right now? How cool is that?

[poke, poke, poke.]

This is literally some sci-fi level stuff right here.

wildcard!

message this journal and we can do an individual prompt--!

Probably won't see one if you let yourself get dragged off to play Becky the Builder.

[Luna had been following the trail of destruction and volunteers, mostly out of curiosity, after she'd escaped from the man trying to get her to actually help fix things. Ugh. But she stopped when she heard Ellie speak, looking over at the older girl with a mischievous grin.]

'Course, if there are any monsters. For real. They'd probably be hiding right? We'd have to go find them.

I'm not gonna let myself get dragged off. No way!

[she plops the hat on her head, safety first. And because the hat was cool as hell, she was keeping it as a memento for herself. She turns to Luna, grinning in excitement at the potential sneaking off to go find some monsters.]

Alright, so if you were a monster, where would you hide? 'Cause I'd hide in the arcade and wreck some annoying asshole boys.

If I were a monster...

[The way Luna said this, it could've been she was thinking it over, and it could've been 'wait, I'm not a monster?' Either way, she absently looked around the area. There were lots of people working to repair the damage, but mostly on the street for now...]

In some of the broken buildings, probably?

[unfortunately, Ellie is not deep enough in to pick up on that difference. She thinks Luna was treating the question seriously like she had. So, she grins. Broken buildings, those were bound to be full of all sorts of weird things. That was fine by her.]

So they can really wreck stuff.

Wanna check one out?

Well, that and nobody would know they're there so they wouldn't be getting attacked?

[Luna was all about good hiding places. She nods, grinning, but holds up a hand.]

Sure, but hang on.

[A quick glance around, and she slipped away to swipe a hard hat from where someone had made the mistake of putting it down. And then back to Ellie she came as she plopped the hat on her own head so they matched.]

After you.

[See, she knew having a helmet would be smart. Ellie looks pleased-- and now she's slipping down an alleyway to find the closest abandoned building. Which can't be far.

In fact, why not the convention center? Seems as good a place to start as any.]

['It seemed like such a good idea at the time...']

I was here for the convention... [Luna said as they approached the side entrance. It was blocked over with police tape, but she ducked right under it.]

I left before everything went crazy though. I think.

[Remembering then felt strange. Like it had been normal even if it...wasn't normal.]

I'm hoping we won't.

[Because honestly, if it's anything remotely dangerous - while she'd have no reservations about jumping to Ellie's defense because Protect Children - it'd be great if they could get out of this without anyone being hurt?

So excuse her for not sharing the enthusiasm.]

If they're dangerous enough to cause this much destruction, then...they should be avoided.

That's no fun. [a sigh and then a pout. She puts on the helmet, and then marches away from the group.

She was going to find herself some monsters-- safely. That how she rolled. Because what enterprising 14 year old didn't like to get in at least a little trouble?[

I'm gonna go find one.

[...well, it's not unexpected. She seems like the type of 14 year old who would. Adventurous, bold. Not bad things to be at all, in her opinion...at least when it isn't directed towards finding dangerous monsters.

So she hurries after her.]

I really don't think it's a good idea. You shouldn't wander off by yourself.

Why does it sound like you want to see one...?

[ Naegi has already put on the hard hat that he was given like the pushover that he is. Hello, Ellie, meet Naegi. If you thought that Souji's bad luck on that one trip with Mako was bad, Naegi is 103710123919 times worse. ]

Because I do, duh.

[she doesn't sound in the least bit bothered. In fact, she puts on her hard hat, and grins widely at him]

Wanna come?

[Ellie.... has her own tremendous streak of bad luck.................................. so of course let's put these two together]

[ This is why they need adult supervision. Naegi himself doesn't count as one so they need Joel asap. ]

You're actually going to go look for them?!

Heck yeah!

[does this look like the face of someone who's joking? She starts to pull away from the crowd, and to head down an abandoned alleyway. Without Joel here to stop her, and another adult to tell her what to do, she's going on an adventure.

Be her less cool Riley.]

You coming or not? 'Cause I'm going.

[ But if he's Riley, he'll die :( Also, oh my god, why is she starting to walk away. Why is this happening? Naegi doesn't want to go but he also can't just let her walk off to her own death alone... that's just irresponsible. ]

H-Hold on, what are you going to do if you find them? It's not like we can fight them.

Then don't draw their attention.

[and there she goes, she's headed towards some of the worst damaged areas. She just wants to see a monster-- can't he indulge that?

She checks to see if he's following her]

My name's Ellie, by the way.

[ Why is Ellie like this.......... Yes, Naegi does follow because he honestly can't just let some teenager wander off into danger so even if he can't really do anything to protect themselves, he should at least keep an eye on her. ]

I'm Makoto. [ He'll speed up his walking just a bit so he can walk beside her and not behind. ] Were you at the convention during the attack?

Ah, AHHHHH!

[ Hana is unprepared for the interaction to even start, but when the other girl--the list said her name was Ellie--starts waving her hand through her form, that's almost more than she can deal with. She tries to swat at Ellie's arm, only to have her own hand pass right through the projection of Ellie that she sees. ]

Stop! How are you doing that?

[ Eren's done enough of moving debris and cleaning streets without any concrete answers. He was exploring the broken streets with Titan, a handsome German Shepherd when they pulled him off to the side, dropped a hard hat on him and tied the leash to a pole. Eren's annoyance only stirs the boiling pot of limits until it's reached, rather quickly after the girl he's with puts the cherry on top. Why were they doing this? Why were they taking orders when they're not even getting answers? As lost as Ellie (but a lot more roused), Eren finally flings his hard hat to the ground and rushes to the pole for his equally impatient dog. ]

Screw this, fucking— bullshit—

[ Untying the leash from the pole, Eren guides Titan back to the side walk, going towards and past Ellie. ]

I don't know, but I'm gonna find out. [ They were in the same situation: suddenly waking up to Recollé in a mess they've never noticed. With the head associate up ahead, roping in more people to work, Eren hushes quickly. ] Now's your chance if you're tired of bullshit, too.

[ That's a somewhat surprising thing to say in response, it's almost as though... ]

You nearly sound excited by the prospect of seeing one. [ Well, it would be interesting, that's for certain. Wouldn't most people be scared?

Well, either way - Beato herself wasn't interested in helping with the damage if that's what they wanted them to do. ]

[Peter wished he could be adult here, batting down dreams and delivering boring facts without a hint of joy or spite to it (making it even more irritating).

But now he's as uncertain as the children. Monsters in the real world are a thing now? Is reality as everyone knows it a joke? Is the city going to get more and more warped until not even the ignorant can live as they are anymore? Who knows.

Peter thinks that a teenager is an inappropriate person to show his bitterness to, but his answer comes off as dry.]

I can't say.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

AUGUST TDM

ELLIE | THE LAST OF US

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