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

[creatability]

[Mary is just about to start working on stuff, to get everything back in order and make a new strut when...yes, that sound definitely drives her upright.

Her hand tucks behind her back, and where Mattie can't see it, she makes a small knife almost by reflex.]

I don't know!

[Consternation hits her, and she grimaces at the fog around them.]

Really wish there wasn't all this fog laying about. Can you see anything?

[compendiem]

That's a good idea.

[ He hands it back to her instead of fidgeting around with it, glancing over to where the booth is. ]

Think you've got the hang of it now, though. Would you try for the prize again?

[falsepretentious]

[More like a handbook of bullshit!!

Byakuya shakes his head.]

If your resorted to that, then you'd have to share the glory of your victory with me. Is that really want you want?

[compendiem]

[ Three days. That says nothing about his confidence of how long it would take for people to realize they're stuck down here, but rather the limit they can survive without dying of thirst— a time limit, so to speak. Minato has to get to work in about an hour, so that's his personal time limit, though he would like to get out in less than that, if at all possible, leaning back when Ochako leans forward so he can maintain his space. ]

Here's a way out.

[ He nods his chin up at the slide that had deposited them down here. Children climb up slides in the playground all the time. This one's a bit steeper, and slipping means almost breaking your neck, but it's the most direct way out of here if they can figure out a way to keep their grip. ]

[maidofmistakes]

Yeah, sure! [She takes the ring and hesitates before giving a nod.] I should probably go give this back, anyway. Thanks a lot!

you made me nostalgic, so lets see if i can dust this off; iii

[erasedexistence]

[Yoite looks caught off-guard at being suddenly accosted by someone, giving him a rather level stare while he went on about his keychain. When he finishes, he gives Yukimi a shrug, but after a moment of brief deliberation, he opens his mouth to speak.]

...I'll help you look, though.

[He had a soft spot for cats, even in keychain form.]

[bozhemoi]

[ She tries to look as nonchalant as possible, as if asking for them was an everyday occurance. ]

Reference for a painting.

[ But at the mention of having dirt on her brother she can't help but nod and then smirk. ]

I don't think he's going to take kindly to me blackmailing him just to get out of homework.

[bozhemoi]

You got it, Dave. Pretty sure I can work with the glasses.

[ She tilted her head, brush in hand as she thought through a couple of ideas. ]

I do like a challenge.

[compendiem]

Yeah.

[ Just because something is natural, doesn't mean it's right. Of course the eyes bother him, but it was a slow growing concern instead of a sudden realization that the apples he has been eating all his life should probably not be staring back at him as he peels the skin off its face. Slow meant he had time to reason things out, just as he'd done with Foggy, and with nobody else finding anything wrong with them, it's easy to convince himself that the unsettling feeling is just him. ]

I just try not to let it bother me. People are allowed preferences, though. Some don't like eating animals and go vegetarian. Some don't like eating apples and... don't eat apples.

[ He likes apples, though. He can't be that person. ]

[bozhemoi]

There isn't one because you are just too good of a teacher.

[ And not hers up until now. There was still conflict in her little teenaged heart over that.

She rolled her eyes at his reaction before pointing at Jack. ]

Hey, he could totally pull in some cash as a model pumpkin. Let those looks pay for an apartment. He could be kept in the freezer until he's needed for modelling gigs. I could make you move back in with Mom and Dad and me and Jack could live the Bohemian lifestyle of artists.

[compendiem]

Yeah. Good luck winning the prize.

[ Which he has full confidence she'll get, because she's got to be a master ring tosser now that she understands the physics behind it, right? right ]

[bozhemoi]

[ Natalie's eyes widen before she lets slip with a curse that her brother would probably not be proud of. ]

That's awful. I don't even know what to say, it's all sounding so dumb in my head. But you're okay?

[ Not that losing an arm wasn't enough. ]

[devilsadvocato]

Yeah! Welcome to American Halloween where it's all about consumerism! Decorations everywhere, scary movies, and eating all the candy you can stuff your face with! Not the healthiest version of the holiday but when you grow up with it you look forward to that cavity-inducing treasure trove all year long.

Wearing costumes to work is by far the best part for the adults. I've taught entire classes in character and I like to think my students didn't absolutely hate me for it.

[The line moves up again and Foggy hands his ticket over to the lady watching the entrance. He greets her with a nod and points back over his shoulder at Euphie.]

We're braving this thing together.

[compendiem]

[ The lights outside are pretty dim, not helped at all by the thick fog that's been covering the city this month. Minato makes a mental note to ask his manager whether the store front can at least be lit up a little brighter, so that it can be seen and others can see and not trip and fall as Sion must have done, quick to believe as Minato is, when the explanation sounds reasonable. And it is, because Sion is also right that he shouldn't be out here, when he's needed back inside the coffee shop where there are customers to be attended to, his own over-reactive imagination about warnings of street thugs being just that: an overreaction.

Sighing, he offers a hand to help Sion up, a nod of his head in agreement that he thinks that's a good idea too. ]

If you need it, I keep painkillers in my locker too. ...Caffeine makes it stronger.

[ A subtle hint to buy a cheap cup of black coffee so the manager doesn't kick Sion out for loitering. ]

[dejerate]

....N-nothing. Must have been daydreaming or something.

[Yuu tries to shrug it off, shaking his head and running a hand through his messy mop of hair, turning his attention back to the other. He probably just imagined it, since it seems gone now. Just that time of year, encouraging them to watch scary movies and go to those haunted houses or whatever. Right? It's just from all that, making him think he saw something, or someone just then.]

3

[floret]

[ A fellow university student (although he's a couple years older and definitely way shorter) has spotted Rean's sidewalk travails...

...and has no idea how to respond. Eventually, he asks: ]

Are you okay?

[ I mean for all Jamie knows this is how people are unwinding nowadays. Maybe this dude is enjoying himself. ]

[surprising]

It wouldn't be the first time they handed out superpowers, actually...

[ an entire month of being able to go invisible was rad, except it was also a month of fighting monsters — and in the end, he never got to use it for pranks. ]

I'm not sure. They're still smiling, right? Or they could be sadists, and they found it exciting to watch their apple friend explode.

[dejerate]

Sure it can.

[Yuu chuckles, shaking his head once Zack releases him for his teasing. Still, Zack isn't wrong. Eventually, this place would close for the night. Morning. Whenever. So they were still on something of a time limit to make it out.]

But yeah. We should keep going. Uh, this way?

[He shrugs, pointing over to the right, the opposite direction he'd come from.]

I.

[floret]

[ It's not like Jamie was trying to eavesdrop, but sometimes a particularly odd comment will break through into the consciousness of even the most spaced-out passerby (in this case, an undergrad on his way to do... something. For school, probably. ]

...Why dogs?

[ Surely this isn't how this fancy-looking gentleman treats little dogs?? ]

[deservingoflife]

I want to, umm... What's your name? I'm Noni.

iii.

[floret]

[ There's a long line and only one other barista working, and Jamie's got a long shift ahead of him... But man, the customers have sure started acting out early. Everyone gets weird around this time of year. ]

Um, s-sir... Please feel free to take your time looking at the pastries, but could I ask you not to touch the glass...?

[maidofmistakes]

Kara! Kara Lee. I kind of just moved here, ish.

[servileness]

A lot of things sound cute coming from children.

[ She smiles a little when the kid comes up to Nazuna. ]

That's a nice drawing. Are you going to hang it up somewhere?

[ She means either Nazuna or his sibling. ]

IV.

[floret]

[ A fellow university student is here... looking kind of out of it. (If they've ever had a class together, Jamie might be recognizable as that one super short Japanese kid who always looks out of it.)

When Biffy approaches and offers the invitation, though, he blinks and returns to Earth! ...Then he quickly shuffles to one side in order to get out of the way of whoever it is Biffy was actually talking to. ]

[dejerate]

Who said anything about breaking them? We'll just go around them.

[As long as they don't literally try walk or wheel themselves into the mirrors somehow by accident, it'll be fine. Probably. He figures it can't be that difficult. He doesn't initially think much of it, a lot of places have those mirrors that make you look all weird, right?

So he tries to help her navigate them, not paying the mirrors, their reflections as much attention beyond trying to avoid hitting them.]