AUGUST TDM

[recollecters]

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!

Comments

Haru Okumura | Persona 5

[gunsandveggies]

I.

[Where once Haru may have brushed off the damage as just something that happens, now Haru is really seeing what's happening here. Where once rode down the street with her moped without a care, now she drives it slowly with a hard hat sitting at her feet, staring at the wreckage as she heads toward her assigned area.

Once she's there, she's busy hauling some of the lighter pieces of wreckage to a vehicle much larger than her little moped. She's carried heavy bags of dirt before, so this is nothing to her. Still, after a while, she lets out a sigh as she wipes at her forehead, then looks to the person closest to her while adjusting her hard hat. She loves hats, but not this one.]

Why does this seem strange only now?


II.

[Tragedy! Haru's cute little moped has fallen onto its side, though thankfully not wrecked, as she herself stands by it, white-knuckled grip on the only thing that she could grab as a weapon: the broom she was given to clean up the shop she was heading to. There are five monsters surrounding her, and though they don't attack, they still loom at her aggressively while she swings the broom as if it were a baseball bat.]

St-Stay back!

[They're rather large, and Haru's never even been in a fight with a person in her life, let alone a monster. She could use some help!!]


III.

[This is... new. Then again, just about this entire day has been new to her, but this is new in an entirely different way. First a list of names, and now there's a hologram in front of her?

Haru slowly reaches out, only to yank her hand back when it goes through the hologram of the person in front of her.]

Um... Hello? Can you hear me?


wildcard!!

[Make up a scenario!]

III

[fiddlestick]

[Today's been a weird day. He just got to this city and it was....well, it was nothing like he expected. He didn't expect it to have so much rubble, or that there'd be monsters all over.

Also he didn't think there'd be...video chats without the actual screens? So when Haru's holographic pops up, he looks just as surprised to her]

O-Oh! Uh- hello!

[gunsandveggies]

[Haru lets out a noise of surprise while taking a step back. This is just like the movies, or even the video games! She stays that way for a second before moving her foot to its original spot.]

So you can hear me!

[fiddlestick]

Y-Yeah, I can. [He scratches the side of his jaw with his index finger] Couldn't tell you what's going on though...

[Other than I think I'm starting to lose my mind]

II

[missingache]

[It might not do much damage, but a traffic cone comes sailing out of nowhere to hit one of the monsters. This is more of a distraction method as a boy slides in front of Haru with.... a golf club? Don't ask. It's a valid weapon! Shiori is a little too into "LET'S FIGHT" mode to notice just who he's saving.]

Get out of here! I got this!

[gunsandveggies]

[Haru takes a few steps back as the boy saves her - a boy she knows. If she didn't have a death grip on her broom, she would've dropped it from surprise. Instead, she spends a few seconds unable to get any words out before she says in more a squeak than anything:]

Shiori?

[missingache]

[That voice...! Shiori looks over his shoulder enough to confirm who it is, eyes going wide.]

Haru! [This changes the situation considerably. He turns to face the creatures again, moving into a more defensive stance.] If you're not gonna run, stay behind me, okay? I'll protect you!

III

[youraffection]

[ He's been running around in the jungle and in tombs Indiana Jones style--yes, that's a real thing that is apparently his life now--with a group of people he mostly doesn't know. So it is a little surprising to hear a voice he hasn't spoken to in a while, but one that he takes zero seconds placing... ]

H-Haru??

[ He might not see her, but she can see him--sort of. Blurry, like a bad connection. ]

[gunsandveggies]

[Now that she's getting a good look at the hologram, Haru knows this person. She hadn't seen him for a while, but she still instantly recognizes him.]

Yosuke??

[She almost reaches out again before pulling her hand back, instead letting it rest against her chest while she leans forward towards the hologram. It looks like he can't see her in return...]

Where are you? What's happening right now?

[youraffection]

[ Yes, that's definitely her. He's not sure if it's a relief to hear from her or not, given the circumstances. That and he isn't even sure how he's hearing her in the first place, but nothing really seems to make sense anymore. ]

I--shit, I don't even know. That's to both questions, by the way. Everything's a big friggin' mess--

[ His voice becomes muffled for a moment. ]

Where are you? Are you okay?

i

[crudest]

Which part, the actual disarray of everything or the fact that these hardhats are still as unfashionable as they were decades ago?

[Baren himself is not wearing a hard hat - he's passing by, followed by a gentle giant tanuki who seems to have a number of first aid kits on his back - though he is pausing for conversation. He looks tired and fatigued... but determined, at least?]

[gunsandveggies]

Well... [That gets her to chuckle despite everything, even taking off the hard hat for at least a moment.] That, yes. But - Everything's such a mess, and it's like I only noticed it to...

[She trails off as she looks up at the giant... raccoon?]

[crudest]

[definitely a giant raccoon... dog. he does a little friendly shake of his tail. hello there, miss.

Still, Baren manages a raise of his brow and a grin.]

Hmm? Maybe the magic spell is wearing off on you then, miss...

ii

[maskreant]

[ The monsters have considerably slowed in their attacks and movements, but there are small incidents just like this once in a while. Even if Akira's muscles ache and his mind is rather fatigue, he can't let someone fall prey to such beasts.

Especially, when she's holding a broom as a weapon. Akira's quick to take out Arsene's cane and easily take out two from the back before slipping beside her. ]

Should I stay back, too?

[ It's totally a pick-up line because she has a cute voice, but then he turns and— ]

Fuwa-chan?

[ wait shit he wasn't supposed to say that out loud he has never even called her that (except in his mind)?!?! Has a small panic attack in front of these monsters who are... confused. ]

Okumura... I hope you know how to work that broom.

[ He hopes that saved his pathetic ass. ]

[gunsandveggies]

[Akira you are so lucky she only knows like, 0.3% of the Japanese language and thus doesn't know what Fuwa-chan even means, so your pathetic ass is saved. Haru's more concerned about the monsters, and the guy who just saved her.]

Aki?

[Now, that's a name she does say out loud and has no shame in doing so. She looks at him a moment longer, then the broom, before facing the monsters again with a tightened grip on her "weapon".]

I-I don't, but I'll try!

[It's a lot more comforting when there's someone by her side, even if her grip on the broom still leaves her knuckles white and obviously shakes along with her tremors.]

[maskreant]

[ Saying his name, even if it's a nickname, shakes hims back to reality. It felt like he has been walking in a trance from work and around, taking care of monsters along the way, but he's fully awake now. Alert and poignant, he twirls the dagger in his hand once with ease. ]

Don't worry, I have your back.

[ He tries to reassure her in words and through his actions. When one of them comes at them, he evades to the side and lets it run against his blade. It glitches like a virtual game, disappearing in blocks.

A monster comes at her, but he trips them, forcing it to fall flat onto its face right in front of her. It's ready for its beating, broom master. ]

iii

[twostringsonebow]

[The person jerks around oddly fluidly, as if suspended, and the only notable difference about this Goro and the one she knows is that... he has gills? He very much has working gills on his neck.]

That's not a voice I've heard in a while. [...] Much less in my head. Are you alright, Haru? Where are you?

[Don't have gotten wrapped up in this as well... He's worried enough about his other friends, worrying over her as well would be terrible. This telepathy thing is so weird.]

[gunsandveggies]

[Of course Haru recognizes that voice. She remembers not hearing it for a while as well, and though she wasn't worried before today, she is now. Without thinking about it, she reaches both hands out to touch his shoulders, though as expected, they go right through the hologram.]

Goro?

[And everything he said goes ignored, because she notices the gills on his neck then. Of course, not knowing what the heck's going on, Haru thinks they're injuries instead, so she takes a step back and gasps, hands flying to cover her mouth now.]

Wh-What happened to your neck?! Are you all right?! Y-You need a doctor, I'll -

[Haru looks around and takes a helpless step to the side, torn between wanting to find a doctor and wanting to stay, knowing that he's only in hologram form and thus she has no idea where he even is right now.]

[twostringsonebow]

[His neck-- oh, oh, oh no, he's shaking his head with a reassuring smile, touching them lightly.]

It's alright, Haru, they're gills. I'm, um, I'm underwater at the moment, they're keeping me alive. It's a little weird, to be... no, it's very weird, to be honest, but I've gotten used to it at this point.

[God, he wishes he could see her, but her voice is well enough.]

Now, are you alright? Are you still in the city?

I

[embraves]

[Cloud keeps adjusting the hardhat on his own head, unused to wearing it. He doesn't try to hide the way he eyes Haru's moped at a distance before his attention is taken by her question. (His own motorcycle is parked not all that far away, black and shining.

He wipes at the sweat on his brow before taking a moment to consider this. He hadn't... realized this until now. That this was normal to him before. It must've been, right? It's not like this is the first day he's moved to Recolle, but it is the first day he's noticed anything weird in this ridiculous capacity.]

...That's a good question, actually. I don't know.

[gunsandveggies]

[Cloud might be eyeing Haru's moped, but she herself is eyeing that beautiful, shining motorcycle near it. Ah... her goal someday. A different color, perhaps, but the thought of roaring down the road in something like that...

But him actually talking to her get her to snap out of it, hands locked behind her back and eyes up in an innocent fashion, an effort to make it seem like she wasn't admiring the motorcycle at all. The seriousness of the situation gets her to look back at him, however, a frown worrying on her face.]

It's like waking up to something new... I don't see why no one else is noticing this.

II Let's throw Haru into the deep end.

[burningblossoms]

[Yukiko would recognize Haru Okumura's distinctive hairstyle anywhere. Slowing down the blue minivan (that all her friends call the Mystery Wagon) to a screeching halt, she leaps clear of the car and rushes to her friend's side. In her hand, appearing from a hidden pocket in her sleeve, is a piece of black-lacquered wood that makes a metallic -snakt- sound as it locks into place. A war fan, like something out of an old samurai film.]

Haru!

[The monsters were...really weird, striped balls with waggling tongues, and she'd encountered them before. Annoying, but not really dangerous if you knew what you were about.
Interposing herself between the semi-circle of creatures and her friend, Yukiko looks over her shoulder for only an instant, her glasses gleaming in the late afternoon sun.]

I'm with you! Don't panic and get behind me. I'll deal with these.

Teach that girl how to swim

[gunsandveggies]

[Haru doesn't think she's ever seen Yukiko with that kind of weapon before. She seems so sure of herself, and Haru's struck with the thought that she'd love to be like that someday. For now, though, she takes a step back towards her moped, the very thing she was protecting in the first place, and grips her broom hard.]

O-Okay! Please be careful, Yukiko...!

I.

[sheikchic]

[Zelda isn't too bothered by the manual labor, either, except that this outfit isn't remotely suited to it. If she'd been planning for this, she'd have worn boots and jeans at least. But the strangeness has been bothering her all day, and she's happy to take a break for a second to talk about it.]

I don't know. Everybody seems to think it's totally routine, but... I don't remember any monster outbreaks prior to this one, do you?

[gunsandveggies]

[Oh no, that outfit in this kind of environment... Haru can understand that; she's wearing leggings herself, and there's already a tear in one of them that runs down the side of her leg. She'll have to do something about that later.]

No, not at all... This is the first time this has happened, right?

[People telling her otherwise has been making her doubt herself a little, even though she knows she's right.]