recollecters: (Default)
Recollé Mods ([personal profile] recollecters) wrote in [community profile] repeter2017-10-17 08:38 pm
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OCTOBER TDM

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 [community profile] 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!

[personal profile] promisedyou 2017-10-19 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I suppose it's worth a try.
glacian: by ponponpon (❄Better than the warmth of summer)

[personal profile] glacian 2017-10-19 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
You're wiser than most. [She means that as a compliment.] Too often do people judge others based on their preferences.

It's a self-destructive cycle born by man's inability to accept one's differences.

[A faint frown tugs at her lips as she continues to work on her pumpkin. Just why did she sign up for this? Oh, yes. Her father. He would appreciate the gesture beyond words.]
adoringpast: (side glance)

[personal profile] adoringpast 2017-10-19 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Why are we even talking about chess pieces? That's all they are.
coinflipped: (96)

[personal profile] coinflipped 2017-10-19 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[He makes a disgruntled sound at this, but he knows how this goes. It's annoying, but whatever. The rent here is good or something, who knows why he hasn't moved his shop.]

There are no ghosts here.

[....he crosses his arm and says this like it obviously the right answer. Still, given his shop was 'haunted' before the ghosts happened... right.]
standalonehuman: (TogusaLaugh)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-10-19 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
The quiet stillness is enough to get anyone's imagination filling in the gaps, the same problem that Togusa was describing before. And then, when the fog is generating things from that imagination, half the time? But it shouldn't, for Freya, right? She's not on the application.

The comment makes Togusa laugh. "The exact opposite, actually." So he'll fill the silence with noise, keep talking to set them both at ease. "We recently got back in touch, and now that I'm no longer his student, we've become quite good friends. I still think of him as a teacher, though, remembering the lessons I've learned from him."

[personal profile] promisedyou 2017-10-19 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahaha, I suppose that's true!

[ But at least Mio's not unwilling to follow with the biggest shit-eating grin on her lips as she oohs and aahs at the fog machines and the lights. ]

This isn't too bad... what do you think?
scythegun: (DECISION ⇝ you're totally fucked)

[personal profile] scythegun 2017-10-19 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh come now, you don't have to lie to me! I've always wanted to meet a real ghost! So where are they hiding...?
coinflipped: (89)

[personal profile] coinflipped 2017-10-19 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[Though his teeth--]

There are no real ghosts to meet here.
coinflipped: (84)

[personal profile] coinflipped 2017-10-19 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think I installed it, then again, I'm bad with phones in general so maybe I did download something.
fiddlestick: (ok but before murder how bout talk?)

[personal profile] fiddlestick 2017-10-19 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Hehe, somewhat! Though I do play at the Catmosphere sometimes.

This is more like...a job? It's at Club Sunshine.
faeblooded: (confident)

[personal profile] faeblooded 2017-10-19 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[It was an urban legend. Often legend had a grain of truth, but who could say for sure-- not that Mattie was going to come clean quite yet.

It was Halloween, after all.]


Yeah. It was so long ago that it doesn't come up often anymore, but talk to folks in the libraries and they'll tell you all about how that poor couple one time just welcomed the wrong person into town.
glacian: by ponponpon (❄Better than the warmth of summer)

[personal profile] glacian 2017-10-19 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
The relief Togusa feels is telling. There doesn't need to be any words between them, not when Togusa whispers her name with such unspoken reverence. She reaches out to him, her gentle hand resting upon his once he's more settled. Gentiana cannot imagine the burdens he endured until now but she secretly hopes she wasn't one of them. Her gaze is downcast as she thinks, clearly her mind lost in a sea of unasked questions.

"They?" She questions with an arched brow. It doesn't take her long to figure out whom he meant by that but she's mildly surprised Retrospec said anything in reference to her. "Ah, then they're were aware of what transpired but offered no...explanation?" Gentiana frowns just a little.

"There's much we do not know still but they cannot elude the truth forever." Her frown softens into more a smile again as she warms Togusa's hands within hers. Everything feels so different now, so strange. How come she feels so much better now? Is this a manufactured feeling crafted by Retrospec or does this belong to her? Gentiana doesn't know the answer yet but she does know that she feels awake now.

"There's no need for apologies, Hitori." She means it.
faeblooded: (eager)

[personal profile] faeblooded 2017-10-19 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
--Not what, make this ride more interesting?

[She flashed the stranger a teasing grin. Oh, she had no intention of stopping without a better reason.]
faeblooded: (whining)

[personal profile] faeblooded 2017-10-19 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Sure thing... as soon as we get outta this thing.

[which, given the winding nature of these passageways, was going to take an ungodly amount of time.]
headpatmenace: (pic#11791348)

[personal profile] headpatmenace 2017-10-19 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
...

I didn't look

I thought it was just cloudy.

[Rean.]

[personal profile] cardcaptured 2017-10-19 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Sakura hadn't landed on top of him (thank goodness!), but she was close enough to startle Xiaolang once he's finally gathered his bearings and opens his eyes.]

W-WAH!

[He shoots up to a sitting position, heart racing (but that was just from the adrenaline of the whole experience, right? Right??), only to accidentally knock his head against hers and fall back down again. SMOOTH.]

Ow...

[He attempts to sit back up once more, carefully this time, putting a hand on the quickly throbbing spot on his forehead. At least the mitts were good for something.]

I'm fine, I'm fine, don't worry. [Well, aside from his sore behind and the forehead bump, anyway, but more importantly--] Are you okay? Did you get hurt?
alienates: (pic#11569897)

[personal profile] alienates 2017-10-19 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ and he does catch up!

and by catch up, i mean, he runs right into her, right... most likely sends both of them tumbling down the now slanted hall. whoops. ]

[personal profile] promisedyou 2017-10-19 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe, but people like to compare themselves to them, right? The queen has a lot of freedom in chess, after all. ☆

[...]

Not like that philosophical stuff matters in a match.
faeblooded: (confident)

[personal profile] faeblooded 2017-10-19 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
We'll have to give eachother a call.

[Mattie ammended, flashing Maggie a grin at the notion of having someone else to look out for besides her mom and the few people she knew who had that damned Retrospec app. It was a crazy lifestyle to lead and she was sure it was going to wreak hell on her efforts of trying to do better for herself... but, fo the connections it offered, it was worth the trials that came with it.]
fiddlestick: (why is this)

[personal profile] fiddlestick 2017-10-19 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[Rean]

I'm not surprised....if you don't have the app, you don't even notice that it's weird, actually.

O-or the lack of green, or the face on the fruit, or even the chocobos...
putabowonit: (healing)

[personal profile] putabowonit 2017-10-19 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[she shakes her head at his apology, but doesn't interrupt. He's doing a fine job, it's not his fault this subject matter is ridiculous at best. As he continues to mention examples she nods to show that she's following... but this all sounds too crazy.

That is, until he waves his hand like that. Her eyes widen]


Wait, what? That's... [terrifying] This is all a lot to take in. Have there really been monsters wandering around the city for the past few months? And people who have the app they-- we just don't notice it?
putabowonit: (hididng)

[personal profile] putabowonit 2017-10-19 09:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Unreality..." [she says it so casually, like a coffee shop down the street, but the rest of her story sounds so... horrible. Her brow furrows into a concerned frown]

"M-Maggie, I'm so sorry. That sounds terrifying."
standalonehuman: (TogusaConcerned2)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-10-19 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Gentiana's hand on his is another relief. He had been questioning, second-guessing, asking if there had really been something between them. Right when he had gotten up the courage to try to ask, she forgot. And so he buried it all back down. But he turns his hand over, grips hers back, not hard, but firmly, to reassure himself that she is here.

Togusa looks stricken when she forgives him so quickly. "But I left." The self-recrimination that he hasn't said out loud finally spills out. "I didn't- stay. I am sorry that I wasn't immediately back at your side, when you forgot." He looks down, there is a slight shame in his tone. "I promised that we could weather anything Retrospec did to us together, but then I left."

His voice shakes, and he can't look at her when he answers her earlier question. "They said your soul had slipped out of place. But they didn't explain how they knew that, let alone how they decided to let you go when it did happen. I got so- angry at them." A tight, quiet growl of the word. And even that isn't enough to express just how intense Togusa got in that moment.
wantnotneed: (pic#10624535)

[personal profile] wantnotneed 2017-10-19 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Manon huffs, looking at Junpei a bit before looking down at the grinning apples. ]

Well, if you're so sure, then why don't you go first?
wantnotneed: (pic#10624535)

[personal profile] wantnotneed 2017-10-19 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Manon was going to laugh, but-- ]

Ah... You could have just left it at the scream without saying all those other things! It's definitely not as satisfying now.