OCTOBER TDM

[recollecters]

TEST DRIVE

OCTOBER TEST DRIVE The city of Recollé... When the crypt doors creak, and the tombstones quake, spooks come out for a singing wake. Happy haunts materialize and begin to vocalize...grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize... Every year during the Halloween season, the city of Recollé comes to life with plenty of fall activities for everyone. There's something to do in every district if one were to take a look. What will you do today? I. Family fun seems to be the theme today over in Tribunal Terrace. Several tables are set up and in a semi-circle near Recollé Square with stacks of pumpkins, carving tools, paint and anything else you may need to create your own jack o'lantern. Other stations are set up for face-painting and games to win mini-sized candy bars including a ring toss, bowling, and bobbing for apples. Be careful with the apples though. They like to wiggle and jiggle with their happy little faces staring up out of the water. ...so maybe apple-bobbing is for the brave at heart. Are you the artsy type to carve a beautiful pumpkin? Are you helping to run the games (or even cheating to get more candy)? It's time to relax and let your creativity flow. II. Pumpkin-carving not your speed? Never fear, horror is here. Over in Tisse there's plenty to do for those looking for a little more adventure. Several coffee shops have harvest specials made with pumpkin, maple, and pecan flavors. Over at Flix a monster movie marathon and costume contest are taking place (with a prize of two free passes for the best monster costumes.) But the highlight of this district is the annual haunted funhouse. Anyone daring enough will find the usual spooks and scares in a haunted house, jump scares and fog machines galore. But...the house certainly didn't look so big from the outside. How did you possibly get shuffled straight to the center? No worries. This hall of mirrors will guide you out safely...if the walls closing in don't crush you first. It's a race against time as the halls narrow, and if you're one of the lucky ones you'll escape and exit through the main doors. For those not quite so lucky, the walls will stop just inches from crushing you completely before the floor drops open and you find yourself on a slide, falling through the dark and tumbling into an underground room filled with plastic skeletons, rubber spiders and more. There must be a way out, right? Hopefully you aren't alone and you can navigate the lair with a friend or two. III. Meanwhile, the rest of the city's usual hustle and bustle continues. The shopping districts are busy, students wander the sidewalks after class, and that oddly-shaped ghost appears right in the middle of the crowd. Wait, what? You could have sworn that ghost wasn't there before. Maybe you don't even believe in ghosts. You may blink a few times to clear your vision, but the faint outline of the ghost remains as a few more of them pop up around the city. They won't speak, but they will cause some trouble for anyone who gets too close whether it's by playing pranks on passerbys, stealing items and running away, sitting on a person and applying a gravitational force so they can't move or other crafty, sneaky tactics. Are the ghosts messing with you? Or are you going to find a way to mess with the ghosts? IV. As the sun begins to set, a strange sort of fog rolls in. Several citizens of the city may not even think it's unusual and others seem to capitalize on the weather. The Churchhill Downs Stables are hosting their annual haunted hayrides through Recollé Woods as soon as the sun sets. There are plenty of carts and chocobos saddled up and ready to go. Once passengers are seated the chocobos begin to trot forward into the woods as a pre-recorded ghost tour of the city takes place. The stories range from silly ones about two ghost children who like to play hide and seek in these woods to scarier ones about a jilted lover chasing her husband off a cliff at the edge of ocean. For the most part they're a bit cheesy and in good fun, but something about this haunted ride seems a bit...off. Peering into the fog you may see something strange that follows you, be it a monster or a shadow or an object. You may hear things whispering your name and you may see your greatest fear manifest right out of the fog and chase your cart through the woods. Even worse, it seems to follow you right out of the woods and back into the city. No matter where you run or where you hide, the fears from the fog will track you down and they change for every single person in the city. Will you run or will you fight? You may wish to be careful since the creatures will fight back. BONUS. With only a few short weeks left until the end of October, Retrospec's Halloween Mode is in full swing and popping up on new users' devices. Retrospec users will find their application decked out in cheerful Halloween colors, and their userpics in a randomized (work safe) costume. However, there's always a trick to each treat and this time the seasonal mode can't be turned off for new users. Notifications chime with zombie groans, a rousing game of Candy Crush must be played and beaten before you can use your device again, and the new Trick or Treat function has a few upgrades. When a user enables this function, they will be met with the phrase "Trick or Treat?" Users who select "treat" will get one virtual candy! Yay! The catch though is that they will also find themselves in a costume representing that specific candy. Should a user pick "trick", however, they will find all sorts of harmless but unpleasant things happening to them including but not limited to pranks, being splashed by vehicles driving through puddles of water, being unable to speak in anything but rhymes and other such things. None of these effects last over ten minutes, but the game will show up periodically over and over again and even giving you the option to play the game with others. 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 current players, TDM threads will not count toward your Trick or Treat freebie! Additionally, please remember that TDM threads can only be used for bonus points, not regains. Please note: you will need a reserve to apply, and current characters must have full AC posted at the time of their reservation. Your October TDM directory is here, and your AU workshop is here! Our mod questions thread for this TDM is over here!

Comments

[notbunaga]

[She recognises that voice ok. It is the voice of a boy she has to run back to, grab by the wrist and drag along.]

Make yourself useful!

[compendiem]

[ His ability to understand is quickly breaking down, but the very last question is one that comes through loud and clear. He shakes his head at the rest of it all, and then offers what he hopes would be helpful:

silence, actually, at first. Because what good is knowing his name, or that he's a student, or somebody who hasn't even lived in Recollé for two whole weeks yet and therefore has no idea about anything? He thinks a little harder. ]

Your guide. We'll find the way out.

[ And what he comes up with is a lie, but whatever, maybe this will help calm Nazuna downn. ]

I

[maidhem]

You and your chocobo?

[Don't mind a giggling Felicia, who managed to get her hands on an ear of corn and was offering it out to the chocobo for a snack (without the officer paying attention) when she caught those words uttered aloud. She grinned at the thought, delighted.]

It sounds like a wonderful bonding opportunity for you and your feathered friend!

I. I'd probably scream too

[blind_badass]

[Snake, idly wondering if he should get a pumpkin for his apartment, startles at Zack's scream. He doesn't immediately know who this is based on a scream.]

Good Lord! What is wrong with you?

[cardcaptured]

[As absorbed as Xiaolang is into hacking carving up his pumpkin, he's not so entirely unaware of his surroundings that he'd be able to miss someone watching him nearby-- especially not someone with a very conspicuous wheelchair and an annoyingly familiar face. He chooses to ignore her initially, focusing on trying to get the knife to make a smooth groove on the edge of one of the few holes he's managed to make, but the pumpkin is too thick and everything's all jagged and weird and why is gripping things with these paws so hard, oh my god.

When Mimori finally speaks, he gives her a sour look, which would probably be more effective if he didn't have fluffy wolf ears stuck to his head.]

It's not supposed to have a face.

[Although it's looking an awful lot like this though, weirdly enough.]

[orderslove]

[The entrance looks a little corny but Euphemia knows all too well that looks can be deceiving.]

Yes, exactly.

[Her own tone echos someone trying to not be scared.]

Then we should go inside, right?

[alienates]

What?! Oh my god, no, bust your own stupid ghosts and leave me out of this.

[ LET HIM LIVE, and yet, he allows himself to get dragged along. ]

[orderslove]

[She gladly takes the hand and hopes to the ground below. Suddenly, there is a much larger feeling of dread in her stomach as she holds her hands tight to her chest. This feels like a very bad idea and the fog only seems to be getting worse.]

...what was that? [She then sees some movements and keeps close to Minato.]

[putabowonit]

[Bless you Minato. The signal eventually registers for her and she trails off mid-question. The entire situation is strange enough that embarrassment has not fully set in yet, but she does start to feel how.. Well, loud she was being. She nods sheepishly at his question]

I'll feel it in the morning, but I'm alright. [she looks up towards the celing. Is this.. no way, is this part of the haunted house? A creeping look of irritation can be seen starting to show on her face]

Is this part of the haunted house? They should have asked us to sign a waiver for something like this... [she sighs, and looks around] I suppose there's not much to do but look for the way out.

[sketchythief]

[ He lets out a miserable noise of pain and the ghost doesn't budge. It doesn't look like he can move freely while it's on his head. It looks up at Bruno and sticks out its tongue while waving its... "arms" around. ]

I think my face hurts...

ib

[compendiem]

[ All of those are questions that have run through Minato's mind at some point today, but he's too hungry and doesn't care enough to give up the caramel apple he bought, half the backside already eaten so that just the face stares out at Foggy as Minato turns to him. The apple continues to smile and jiggle despite being impaled on a stick, and every once in a while, some of the toffee or peanuts threaten to fall off and Minato just sticks those pieces inside the apple's mouth for safe keeping.

Really, his answer to those questions are "maybe." But also, "does it matter"? ]

Murder is a term used for other human beings.

[ So at the very least, it isn't murder. Does that make him feel any better, though... ]

[putabowonit]

[Charity's nose wrinkles at the... hodgepodge of stuff on her home screen. But then her eyes widen at the most important thing. Wow... yeah, there it is]

"I don't even know what I'll be enjoying yet." [it's a dry remark, but some of the edge comes off her voice, as she sighs] "What a weird small world that you're part of this." [she glances over, looking at the people still walking by]

"No one said anything when that ghost appeared. Is it just... certain people? Whoever has this app?"

[wantnotneed]

[ She looks down at the apples again, trying to see if they have teeth. ]

It doesn't look like it, but teethless things can still give welts and the like, you know? It's terrible!

[putabowonit]

[Charity smiles fondly at her last comment, and starts to pick at her own pumpkin as Hikage talks. Under the tattoos and quiet voice she's... a sweet kid. The tattoos has always been something she wanted to know more about, but in her mind it would be wrong to ask unprompted. That's the kind of thing to be shared, not pryed out of a person. As she listens, she starts tracing a thin line in... some shape, it's not clear yet. But looks a bit too big to be a face]

We were tentatively planning for this Friday, but it's flexible. If you want, I could set up a smaller group, or just we could go? [she smiles again, and glances over at Hikage's pumpkin] If you work hard at something, you should get to bask in the glory just a little bit.

[spirithacker]

['Help me cheat': the magic three words for a small child who likes to rub how smart he is in everyone's faces. Especially one who would like to regain control of the situation.

Shinji loosens his grip.]

What are we going to do?

[alienates]

I mean, yeah, probably, before someone thinks we're just part of the decoration.

[ ...

right. that means they should... go in. karkat sighs, before taking the first few steps into the funhouse. ]

This place looks so fake. It's like the barely even tried.

[compendiem]

[ Minato shrugs at the question. The only haunted houses he's ever gone through are those low budget Japanese high school festival ones set in classrooms and hallways, and this is the first actual haunted house he's ever been to— it never occurred to him that this wasn't a part of the entire experience: he was properly frightened when the floor opened up, after all. ]

A waiver would take the surprise out of it... [ Assuming it's all still part of the experience, anyways. There aren't any floor lights guiding the traffic through the house in a single file line anymore, so he supposes they're free to wander. He finds the closest wall, and reaches out to keep the tips of his fingers on it. ]

...Something like... the right hand rule for mazes, right?

[storytelleroftime]

"Yeah. People with the app have more awareness than others, essentially. Only people in Recolle have it, so... it's not that odd for me to be on it."

[Retrospeccers? In my city? It's more likely than you might think.]

"But you can enjoy such things as losing a finger, being de-aged 15 years, monster attacks, and other such delights."

[emotionmore]

Mm. If any of the other kids made pumpkins, invite them along too.

[Since they worked hard, too. Slowly, she carves out another eye - another thin, narrow line.

Idly, she turns the pumpkin over in her hands, tilts her head at it.]

Are you basking in my glory? [Hikage's been in and out of the system for longer than Charity's been old enough to volunteer, so they aren't exactly the deepest relationship the world's ever known. Charity's only a few years older than her, after all - Hikage hardly even thinks of her as an adult. And they haven't spent enough time together to have any kind of sisterly relationship. They're more like cousins, maybe.

But there's something comforting about having her around, and the fact that she is a volunteer is a reminder to Hikage of all the people that have helped her out.]

... Kidding. I'm not that great. [With the eyes done, she starts to carve in the mouth.]

[compendiem]

[ Minato taps his shoulders. ]

I'll lift you up so you can see above the mirrors.

[ From above, it's a lot less disorienting, and Shinji would be able to tell him where to go with much more foresight, like solving a maze on paper with an aerial view instead of blindly guessing which way to turn when presented with a fork in the path. ]

[orderslove]

[Offering a small giggle she nods.]

That would be for the best?

[Almost glad not to the be the first one inside, she follows behind him.]

Seems that way? Oh, I'm Euphie. [Names would be good, right?]

[spirithacker]

Right! I-I was just about to suggest that myself!

[No, he wasn't - panic had made it difficult for him to come up with anything. But there's no harm in claiming it had been already in his plans.]

Let me up and I'll guide you out of here!

[kabloom]

Ah... well, that shows how talented you are then. Making a face without meaning to.

[ she smiles, before holding her her hand. ]

Do you need any help? Your paws seem to be... non-opposable.

[gudaguda]

[ Sakura sighs. Did she really want to deal with this? ]

I guess I can deal with it...

[ She resheathes her sword. ]

I haven't gone out except for work. I don't like the fog.

[compendiem]

[ Minato shakes his head, coughing into the crook of his arm as he makes the mistake of breathing in the fog too deeply; it's cold and wet and reminds him too much of lying in the hospital trying hard to catch his breath. Those are the sounds he'd been hearing, he's sure of it, the murmur of voices filtering through the trees before them but making no sense as they reach his ears. ]

Kids, maybe. [ Hopefully just some kids who got a kick out of scaring them and will leave them alone once them leave. ] Sorry I stopped the ride short... I though it might be better to head back to the city.

[ Where there's light! And people! And buildings to stay inside to get out of the fog. He's not a huge fan of this weather. ]