repeter | OCTOBER TDM

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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

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!

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[The children running out is one thing. The grown man actually following them is another. However, he only takes a few steps before he stops, looking over at Sakura with a slight frown.]

Oh, wait. There...isn't any free candy, is there? [SIGHS.] S-sorry, I got a little excited...

[He glances, self conciously, at the ground.]

Thanks for that. By the way.

Don't fret so much.

[Jafar's voice comes from behind, sounding almost exasperated. Then again, it's either he sees the closing walls or he just doesn't seem bothered by it.]

Keep walking.

Try as she might to recall every little details regarding the last few months, Gentiana couldn't. Something happened to her, something she can't explain. Utterly vexed by this strange mystery, the college professor decided not to trouble herself any further about these missing memories. She knew something happened to her in the Summer but she couldn't recall a thing. The woman had a funny feeling that her friend Togusa knew something but so far, he seems completely oblivious of her plight. Nevertheless, Gentiana persevered and continued on with her seemingly mundane life with relative ease until this unfortunate afternoon.

"What is...this?" She mumbles to herself quietly as she scrolls through her phone apps. "Retrospect?" She blinks her eyes slowly in confusion. Isn't this the same application Togusa mentioned to her once before? Seems so. Most of her students never even heard of it but some claim it's a useful tool that connects them with all forms of social media. Very curious about what this app can do, Gentiana peers at it closely when it opens up her Facebook page suddenly. It seems like every ordinary app she ever seen, nothing new, then why does she have this odd sense of dread washing over her? Gentiana let's out a confused hum.

"Ah, Togusa." She places her phone down once she spots him from the corner of her eyes.

Edited 2017-10-18 16:42 (UTC)

[ CAN YOU BLAME HIM FOR BEING SCARED BY THAT SWEET GOD ]

[ nazuna yelps, thankfully not screaming this time, and scrambles backwards, pushing himself away from the source of the noise and grabbing a rubber skeleton leg to wield like it's a weapon. ]

Wh-- sh-shtay back! Or else!

[This is a perfectly brutal move to most people.]

[Howard is not most people.]

Oh. Just like that! [He looks so relieved.] Ah, look how much better it looks...it tastes normal, doesn't it?

[Bruno, too, is refusing to accept that ghosts exist while, uh, still trying to solve these problems.

Still, he jumps when he feels a tap on his shoulder, before relaxing as he realizes that it's not a definitely-not-a-ghost.]

How despicable, to pick on a child like that... Of course, I will gladly lend my assistance.

Togusa didn't mean to spot what she was looking at, honestly. He just came up at the wrong angle, and blue still stands out so starkly against anything else. It's a shock. But a good one. Togusa freezes, and the look on his face turns stricken, slowly morphing into...hope?

"You-" A breath in. "You can see it?" His heart pounds in his chest. No, don't get your hopes up. Too late. "The- application. You've got it."

Please. Please. Let this be true. He takes a step towards the table, not quite sitting down yet. His voice shakes with effort, despite his attempts to keep himself steady. "Do you remember? February, and March? Things that were happening in the city?"

And then after when the colors vanished and there were monsters and Togusa wanted to know if she was safe but she didn't think anything had happened. Is it selfish to wish that she remembers?

[Magi can be easily mistaken for one of the kids, though she's a bit older. Of course, she's been watching for a while, enjoying watching a man squirm. But a small twinge of pity at this pathetic showing has set in and so she jumps in, grabbing a hold of his hand for a moment. Of course, she knows now people not on the app think she's a young looking adult so... might as well take advantage of that.]

"Ah, so this is where you have wandered off to. Move aside children, my" [She thinks up something quickly,] "-assistant and I have work to do."

[She pulls on his arm a little, mouthing the word "run" to him. Hoping he at least has the brains, if not the social skills, to catch onto her little plan.]

[Bruno absolutely hates it but there's no way he's admitting that, especially to a classmate.]

N-Not at all! Why, it's a fascinating opportunity to learn about... [uh, about...] ... forms of entertainment and the horror genre!

[Ha... ha...]

[Ritsu rarely thought of how his actions might scare someone but the fact the other person wasn't quieting down causes him to sit up from the pile of bones. Red eyes looking at Nazuna, he stretches and then looks around. Oh right...he was trapped in this hole?]

Or else?

[Bruno's been wandering about, taking the opportunity to observe the festivities. It's hard to miss the crowd of children, though, and he found himself drawn to it out of curiosity.

After a bit, he's about to leave, when Nazuna calls out.]

Ah—certainly. What do you require?

What-- is your blood made of ice or something?

[She flashed Jafar a frazzled look over her shoulder, peturbed by how he was seemingly unbothered by how the walls were trying to eat them, but kept trudging forth like he was prodding her to do.]

Do you not see the obvious trap we're walking into here? This house is possessed, you know-- the soul of some axe murderer from a hundred years ago is living in these walls!

[ oh god. nazuna clutches his heart with his other hand, as he realizes there isn't some horrifying monster under the spiders, but rather, a--guy his age?

nazuna exhales loudly, his shoulders dropping as he comforts himself a little bit. oh my god... eventually he rubs his temples. those red eyes are creepy, but at least it's just a sleeping college student and not a vampire or something.... ] W--were you sleeping under there? You scared me half to death!

Way to steal the punchline there.

[She said, flatly. Of course there was always someone around who was going to try to one up her showmanship-- and she was just trying to make the ride more interesting for these poor saps who got suckered in!]

"Hey, I'm a writer. I can't help but jump into the storytelling game."

[She's looking mighty pleased with herself too, grinning her trademark smug grin.]

"And I, the great playwright Maggie Mayvin, have totally killed it."

[Nope, not a demon...but him being a vampire is still up for debate. Right now, he stretches a little more before looking around the room and then back to Nazuna. He nods with a small grunt.]

I was trying to sleep, yeah? I did? [His face looks pretty neutral, he didn't even seem to see how he could have scared someone.]

["Hinata why" has definitely been her anthem for the last 17 years.]

Ugh, I hope not. What a waste of a good first kiss. [Because he is her baby brother and she! Refuses! To believe his lips have been sullied already!!] They're kind of creepy-looking aren't they? What's with the faces? [Have they always been this weird-looking?]

Yeah.. you're so famous I've never even heard of you.

[/badum-tssh. She couldn't resist the verbal barb at the pomp and the ego, not when she had been one upped like that in the middle of her own game.

A wiser sneak would have just been laying low and enjoying the ride (and the chocobos, which were insanely adorable). But, this one couldn't be said to be 'wise.']

"...Fame has nothing to do with talent. But I digress. What are you doing in this straw, exactly?"

[Oh shit Mattie look out she's gonna catch you and... do nothing whatsoever about it.]

[Taken away by her thoughts, Gentiana almost didn't notice the woman's approach until her hands were upon hers. She blinks her eyes slowly as if unable to comprehend the kindness bestowed upon her.

Why is she so surprised? Aren't people typically kind? Something warns Gentiana that's not always the case. It's as if she's seeing humanity for the first time through old lenses.

She feels odd.]

You have my gratitude. [Gentiana whispers in thanks. Her peculiar accent sounds a little thick despite her best efforts.]

I did not mean to disrupt your lesson.

[She does her best to conceal any traces of blood from the view of the little ones. The children look so surprised, some worried.]

[Bruno has the expression of someone who has no idea how to deal with women. This would be because, in fact, he has no idea how to deal with women.]

... Huh? [a beat] I-I'm not sure if my presence would help...

This is nowhere for someone to be sleeping... [ jesus. calmed down a little, nazuna keeps his hand on his heart as he tries to return to a normal, functioning human being. what kind of person sleeps under a pile of rubber bats...]

How long have you been here?

[With a hmph she crossed her arms and turned her face away, pointedly not looking at the haughty blonde.]

If you're such a good writer, then why don't you tell me?

[one]

[One might notice some tall fellow bent over one of those large bins full of freezing cold water with their head completely submerged. Wait a while and try not to feel too concerned when that head of black hair doesn’t come up for air any time soon…

Because eventually it happens and Zack pulls back out of the bucket of water with a loud growl and a fruit clasped tightly in his teeth—

That’s screaming and laughing.]

Aaarrrghh!!

[two]

[Alright, haunted houses aren’t so bad. The maze isn’t even that bad. He likes to think that he’s got a thick enough skin for all of this and that a bunch of plastic skeletons or spiders and kids in crappy masks are no big deal for someone as put together as he is.

Unfortunately all the bravery in the world doesn’t stop the (not so) manly scream that comes from his mouth as he slams into a mirror wall and someone in a costume jumps out and shouts at him. Are you there to witness this?]

Boy- That smarts!! How the hell do you get out of here?!

[three]

[Zack blinks a few times as he stares at what appears to be some strange person in a weird ghost costume. Or is it a costume? Either way, the ghost thing seems to be staring right back at Zack with a very disturbing grin on its face.

Zack reaches a hand up to run through his dark hair.] Do you see that? Or is it just me?

[He frowns as the ghost seems to mimic his exact movement, a weird gangly ghost arm coming to rub its hand over its head as Zack had. Creepy.]

[four]

[Zack whips his head around as he hears a familiar voice murmur his name softly from somewhere out in the hazy fog. It leaves a chill going up his spine and he gets uncharacteristically quiet.

He hears the voice again and he frowns deeply. It’s a soft female voice that sounds too familiar. Confused, he keeps trying to peer around the fog to catch a glimpse of what might be trying to trick him.]

They sure take Halloween seriously around here...

Edited 2017-10-18 17:57 (UTC)

"Hmmm..."

{She knows a little trick to this. Be vague enough that whatever you say could encapsulate a good deal of possibilities, and guess with something that you think is likely or fascinating. So she says,]

"You're running away from something, aren't you? Or perhaps, you're hiding from something. Your past mistakes, say?"

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OCTOBER TDM

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Zack Fair | Final Fantasy VII

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