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

Especially weak teenage girls...[Huff...]

Do you think maybe...we could switch jobs for a bit? I can bonk people on the head and you can screw this in for me? [She points to the stubborn bolt.]

I don't think I have the proper training to do this effectively...Or like...at all. In the first place.

[Ryousuke takes mild offence at the insinuation that all he does is hit people over the head, but it's brushed aside for other things. He crouches down to take a closer look at the half-screwed in bolt.]

This sort of thing should be easy, right?

[Don't jinx yourself now, Ryousuke...] Pass me that. [He nods to the wrench beside her.]

[With both hands, she presents him the wrench to take.]

All yours, mister! [And she'll be grinning with delight that the burden is no longer hers alone to bear.]

You can do it! Succeed where I failed! Go, go, go!

[Taking the wrench, he fits it to the bolt.]

Don't make that face while passing off your responsibilities... [Focused on the task at hand, Ryousuke trails off, a short grunt escaping from his person. When screwing it tighter doesn't seem to work, he turns the wrench the other way in attempt to remove it. Soon he's putting all his strength into twisting the bolt, arm shaking with the effort.

It doesn't budge at all.]

[Ayano has to turn around for a moment while she makes LOUD CRUNCHING STIFLED LAUGHTER NOISES]

See? [she flips around and points at the bolt sternly]

It's like the sword in the stone!

...Except neither of us are King Arthur.

[Ayano is speaking (laughing?? at him??) but Ryousuke doesn't seem to pay her any attention. His entire world has been narrowed down to this stubborn bolt, and the wrench attached around it. Nothing else.

Ryousuke straightens up, dusting off the front of his pants. Has he given up...? Nope! Instead he brings a foot down onto the wrench handle, pushing all his weight against it. With the sun bearing down at his back, he glares right down at the small bolt, like that will somehow cower it into submission.

Is he ok........]

[Ayano can't help but feel...responsible for this. Look at him. All she did was pass her suffering onto him. It's kind of admirable though. She actually wants him to succeed. Maybe he just needs a little encouragement?]

No...Maybe you are King Arthur! [Ayano pats him lightly on the back.]

You can do it! I believe! [Jumps up and down a bit.]

Be my hero! Turn the bolt! Do it! You can do it! Do it!

[PLEASE DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM. THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT SHE SHOULD BE DOING.

This guy is way too stubborn. It's a matter of pride, he can't just let this tiny chunk of metal defeat the two of them. He gives one last push downwards and— the wrench loses its grip, slipping off and clattering to the ground. Ryousuke, having leant his weight against it lunges forward, but he manages to catch himself.

There's a long, extended silence.]

This... [he starts off soft, a deadly undercurrent to his words] ... it's broken, isn't it?

[Is he blaming the tools now?!]

[Blinkblinkblink.]

Can...wrenches be broken? [Ayano will bend down to pick it up.]

I guess it could be...bent? [She wiggles it around a bit, as if that's going to do anything. It doesn't.]

[She walks beside him and leans her face in front of his to get a better look at his expression.]

Are you okay...?

[Ryousuke doesn't lean back any, even if she's invaded his personal space. All he does is return his hands to his pockets— mouth still upturned in a smile, but it seems more... forced than before.]

It's broken. [He insists.]

[Eventually he relaxes the tenseness in his shoulders, not quite defeated, no way, but maybe he will actually listen to reason now. Maybe.] It's fine, I'll leave the concreting to you instead.

[Ayano can keep his job now?]

[Shrinking in terror as he mentions concreting. Ayano doesn't even know what that MEANS.]

If it's broken, we should go get another one...or wait for somebody else to bring one?

I don't really know how to "concrete" so...
[Peeks around his shoulder again.]

What if...instead, we took a quick break, and went and got a coke?
[Her hands find her hips quickly as she starts grinning at him.]

We've been working so hard at this! Why should we have to pay for someone's mistake of leaving us a broken wrench? [Really, she just wants an excuse to leave and get a cherry coke.]

[Having mostly regained his usual serene composure, Ryousuke thinks to remind her:]

Oh? [a hum] Didn't you just take a break?

[It's obvious Ayano doesn't want to be here. When it comes to himself, slacking off is simply unacceptable - and although he doesn't quite agree with other people, he can't force them to care the same way.]

If you can't put the same effort into it, you don't have to be here. There are plenty of others who can take your place.

I mean...I guess...

[She has to pause as his words slowly sink in--cheeks starting to flush a bit red. Why does he have to be such a jerk? Or at least talk like a jerk...This is summer school all over again. Ayano huffs her red cheeks out at him.]

W-Well! I! Didn't want to be here in the first place!

You....You...Mark! [She's trembling, mostly with fear, because being angry at a stranger is terrifying and she has no idea how he's going to react. She points an extraordinarily shaky finger in his face.]

D-Don't talk down to me!

[There's a finger pointed right in his face, but it doesn't seem to bother him all that much, expression still impassive. Ryousuke's perfectly aware he sounds a bit abrasive. It sounds unkind, but he just doesn't bother sugarcoating it for her.]

You wanted to leave, right? If you don't know how to lay the concrete, you can learn. Otherwise, there's a vending machine down the next block.

[Stop Talking Like This...

and who is mark??????]

[FINGER SHAKING INTENSIFIES. Ayano huffs loudly and turns her back to him, marching off...

Until...

She flips back around and scamper back up to him, face now more flushed than ever.]

No! You are not going to beat me! I can lay concrete! I can lay concrete in my sleep! [And at this point her eyes are glistening like she's about to cry. Who knew working at a construction site would be so emotionally overwhelming.]

I'll sh-show you! And when I'm done laying that concrete, m-maybe make use out of it and drop you on that stack of dimes you call a neck! [JUST...YELLING AND CRYING. She sniffles and wipes her nose with her sleeve.]

[... Is she leaving or not? Didn't she want to go home? Well, it's still promising to hear she's not quitting just yet, so this is probably the best outcome. Also... it's a little hard to take her declarations seriously when she's crying, so he's decidedly not taking any of that to heart.]

Do your best.

[He almost seems to perk up at that. Feel free to drop a block of concrete on him, if you can.]

Now that you've made up your mind— [He starts to move towards the cleared area, where some other workers have partially set up wooden frames to pour. His hands are folded behind his back as he makes to stroll away.

He raises his voice slightly as he calls over his shoulder:]

You coming?

[Oh how badly she wants to storm away and be done with this jerk now and forever. But there's also part of her that feels stubbornly resigned to A: Prove him wrong about her, and B: Not get in trouble for abandoning what is apparently her civic duty. So Ayano drops her head in shame and follows along.]

Y-Yes sir...[a sniffle again as she mutters something under her breath. Probably something mean. Or pathetic. Actually, definitely something pathetic.]

Show me how it's done, boss...I guess...?

[The slants of his eyes narrow even further (apparently it's possible). It's only until they cross the site to the main concrete work, does he stop and turn his attention back at her.]

Just Ryousuke is fine.

[He looks at Ayano expectantly.]

[She just kind of stares at him for a few seconds. What does he want from her? Is she supposed to start doing something with the concrete...? Oh! Her name. He wants her name, right?]

Nice to meet you, Ryousuke!

[...

...

Wait, she didn't say her name.]

Oh, uh...I'm...My name is Ayano. Tateyama. Terranova.

The first.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

AUGUST TDM

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject