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

[There's definitely overlap even if Dave doesn't know it yet, even if Dave won't see it for some time. There's overlap and there's something that speaks to the John Egbert he remembers because, at their core, they're the same, aren't they?]

If I wanted you to fuck off I would have told you to fuck off already. So...you can stay for now.

Couldn't leave you if I tried.

[ it's not like he had a whole lot of luck cutting other people out, either. ]

Other advice: talk about sports less.

Okay then. Stay however long you want. But I don't even talk about sports that much?

"Some" is way more than anyone ever needs to?

I play two of them, how do you expect me never to say anything about them to anyone ever again?

Willpower?? Alternately, stop playing sports and spend more time watchin' television.

I prefer movies over TV and I watch plenty of those. Does that count?

Depends on what your favorite movie is.

And what if I said I didn't have a favorite? Not everyone can pick just one thing, Dave. [He's sliding off of the counter finally to wander toward his living room.]

[ dave abandons the half-eaten cookie but takes his juice box, and trails along after. ]

You totally can, though. What's the movie you want to see when you're sick, or tired, or just want to zone out? The one that makes you feel better. Stupid or serious or whatever. The one you want to nail up posters for.

[Dave will probably notice that the house is quiet and the rain is heard pattering against the windows. Upstairs is quiet and the living room is spacious. The fireplace isn't burning anything but there's a couch and a TV, along with a few overflowing cabinets of movies and such. He seems to consider that though.]

I still have a lot of those. But if I had to narrow it down, probably Die Hard, Ghostbusters, Princess Bride, Interstellar, annnnd...I don't know, Say Anything? This is a lot harder than you think since comfort movies and poster movies are two different things.

Princess Bride is a great choice. [ ghostbusters is expected.

...

he finds it weird as fuck that con air isn't on the list, and shifts uncomfortably. ]

It's quiet here.

It's about as classic as you can get. [Luckily he outgrew Con Air in this universe so he's just going along with it.]

It's usually quiet at this time of day. I have the house to myself for at least an hour or two between practice and when people come home. Does that bother you? [Because it bothers John sometimes and it's why he's perfectly fine allowing a boy in a dream to follow him back here.]

[ regain his love for con air and then play out becoming disillusioned with it again tbqh

biggest character arc?

dave goes to the window, looking out. ]

Not really. I've never minded silence. I used to find it unusual? [ before he remembered that it wasn't. the apartment had usually been fairly quiet, save whatever sounds dave made. when he left his room, he mostly tried to keep it down, even though sometimes it didn't even fucking matter. it wasn't like silence or noise was ever more soothing. here, before he remembered, it hadn't bugged him, either. dave always liked to keep up a chain of conversation in text or in person with other people, but it wasn't a distraction from a lack of noise, ever. ]

And I don't think I would mind actually being alone. [ because when he had been actually alone, on his planet? he hadn't needed to keep up the constant chats as much as he had in the apartment, not alone. ] But I like being around people, dependin'.

[Shhhh let me live.

Dave will see a perfectly quiet suburban neighborhood and a lot of rain. John seems to be moving through the house and even picks up a feather duster to clean while he talks.]

I like being around people, too. Normally when we are not rained out some of us stick around longer on the field just hanging out and practicing longer. And anyway people are always preferred? I think I would go crazy without other people to talk to.

You get used to it. [ until he'd gotten online, he'd never had anyone to talk to but himself. bro was always silent, although cal sometimes wasn't, and -

dave breaks off the chain of thought abruptly, turning away from the window to scan the room. ]

Well, you wouldn't, that's true.

Is it that obvious? [He can't help but laugh as he moves items on shelves to dust.] I think I just really like people! Being isolated and away from them does not sound like my idea of fun or a thing to get used to. But I wouldn't blame anyone else for feeling that way.

It can be easier - anyway, blue eyes, tell me more about what you did as a kid.

Well now that is a strangely invasive question. [But he doesn't seem too opposed. And he doesn't seem opposed to that nickname either.] Which part should I tell you as my subconscious? The part where I had a happy and functional childhood, or the part where things went weird?

I want to know both. [ or everything. ] But why don't you tell me whichever part you're willin' to talk about?

[He gives him a funny little smile in response.]

Childhood was childhood? I hung out with my friends, I went to school, I got into soccer and baseball in high school and now I'm going to college. [Way to completely gloss over everything, John.] It's nothing special? Sometimes I would help my Nanna at her bakery, sometimes I'd do other things. [He's mostly just not sure what, exactly, Dave's looking for so he keeps it simple.]

[ helps out at the bakery. nanna, not dad. dave tips his head to the side, looking straight at john and just...trying to figure him out. the similarities and differences. it doesn't quite hurt in exactly this fashion when he looks at aradia - at ami - because honestly, they hadn't known one another well. karkat's an entirely different matter because they were close then, eventually, but they aren't now.

his siblings -

none of them remember. but it's closer to what this is like. he looks at rose these days and he knows her, he knows her better than anyone else knows her, maybe, but she's not rose lalonde. there are similarities and there are differences and both of them hurt. ]

Things went weird. Your [ dad ] parents?

[If he minds the staring he doesn't say so. He allows Dave to look at him and he remains quiet while awaiting judgment.

In a way, he knew the question was coming even if he doesn't understand why.]

I never met my mom? She died around the time I was born, so. [A shrug.] My dad's around somewhere? Probably.

[ i dunno why my friends got to have adults around who cared about them.

he'd been so jealous for years but he'd never wanted them to not have that. ]

I - [ never knew my mother until i was sixteen, only had bro until he died and fuck only knew where he spent most of his time, he didn't do bonding ] - can relate.

[ he skips away from the topic, saying nothing further on that, and asks at random (not at random): ]

Your best friend?

Yours left, too? [Left, of course, being the implication that he used to exist. He doesn't dwell on the subject though.]

I have a lot of friends so I think I need a clear idea what "best friend" means in this case? I have a really good friend I met online. I have guys from my teams. I have friends at school that I will never see again, probably, because I am going to college and I do not plan on staying in touch.

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