repeter | OCTOBER TDM

Entry tags:

! tdm

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!

Page 94 of 148

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[For Mary, it was almost a necessity. She needed it to get from place to place because of Matt's disability, and he certainly couldn't have one. Having a car was just important to them. And it'd been a parting gift from the 'rents anyway.]

Sounds good. Now...get on.

[Stop stalling!]

[ Oh, Clover sees those red ears. She gestures at her own ears. Eren's not getting away without a little trouble. ]

Really? What do you know of desperation, and what do you know of romance? It's not polite to ignore questions.

[Her threat doesn't ring nearly as hollow as she thinks, for the same reason that Kamui goes out of his way to hide any injuries he can from her. If she did get mad enough to scream and yell and fight her morals into him, her scolding wouldn't even register. But when he sees the fear in her bawling eyes, he becomes painfully aware that those tears are his fault.

He's made her cry enough already. Now he has to make up for that.

...Right after that comb stops snagging his frayed braid.]

Ah, wait- Braid, braid!

[He pops his hairband between his teeth and unwinds his braid at breakneck speeds. Everyone gets at least one vanity, okay.]

I agree.

[She gently reaches up to offer the bird a diffident pet on the wing before starting towards the pumpkin kits.]

Buttercup can definitely have a snack. I hear pumpkins are good for chocobos.

[Picking one, she pays the fee and gets her kit, settling it down on a table between them.]

Any idea of what to carve?

That's true... [Even if he feels like his ego is being poked at right now.] As unfamiliar as they may be, surely they are not all this, ah, peculiar.

[Hopefully.]

Haha, sorry. New York's only broken reality in the movies.

[or had to fight off giant monsters- but he bites his tongue on that one for now]

Not really...just that it has something to do with a company called Retrospec. [!!] Oh! You should check your phone! Usually people who notice this stuff have a Retrospec app on their phone.

No, actually — Retrospec sent it to me. You know, the guys that run this app? They also gave me my hair color, too.

[ he's only 21, he promises... he points at his hair, a light shade of silver-white, before accepting his sword back. ]

If you say so! Some people are concerned with all of these weapons running around, but I think it's fine.

[ That's a pretty subjective question. There's... not really a reaction from Minato, head bowed and dripping blood from his bangs as if still in the middle of processing what had happened. The liquid is thick and sticky, with a somewhat musty smell for how long the trap must have been waiting up there without anybody to trigger it before they came by, and he would very much like to go home and take a shower and never leave the house again. ]

...On the bright side, [ because there is one, in the middle of all the painfully obvious downsides he doesn't need to voice, ] it'll be easy to backtrack by following our footsteps, if we make a wrong turn.

[ Minato likes dogs, especially the ease of which they go out for walks, following alongside but generally stopping and going where they want to go and all he needs to do is hang back and make sure they don't run into traffic, or too far away, with his line of vision being the leash in this case. The fake bone in his hand gets double duty in between clattering against the walls and poking at Hinata if he wanders further than arm's length. ]

Storage basements have one door usually, right? Bet the light switch is all the way over there too, so there's no point looking for one back here...

Did you come here with Ryo-nii, or on your own?

[ He can't see or hear very well, but there doesn't seem to be anything near ahead or behind them. It's getting closer to a real scare house the later into the night it gets, younger children and their parents headed home and thinning out the crowd somewhat. Otherwise, the darkness inside the building meant the time of day doesn't matter for atmosphere, and he's grateful for the very dim light so he can yawn without really offending anybody, tired more than bored as he tries to appreciate the work that had gone into the props and ambient noise. ]

[ Minato doesn't have enough air in his lungs to scream, and definitely not when the rest of his breath is knocked out of him when his back hits the chute, letting go of Shinji's legs but too slow to reach out and break his fall when they slam onto the ground at the very bottom.

He vaguely tastes blood in his mouth, bottom lip throbbing, but he doesn't get up. He's just going to lie here and pretend to be dead so he can finally get some peace. ]

[ Minato shuffles on next to her, but he also gives her this look. ]

I work with senior dogs. Most of the day is nap time.

[ Vitality happens during meals though. He too would perk up at the mention of meals, but it's too late into the night now to think about eating anything. ]

Wish they'd allow dogs in here though... A rescue dog would be useful.

[ Certainly, it's nowhere close to being a Giant Meaty Mitt. In any case, it's definitely much more elegant than Jamie's. ]

Well... you're right.
Maybe you fixed mirrors in a past life and accumulated enough good mirror luck to avoid a bad outcome now...

[ This is getting complicated. Actually, now that he's thinking about it, does Jamie even believe in superstitions about mirrors...? Somehow it's never come up until now.

Anyway, the one thing he can be sure of is that a warm, friendly guy like Leon is so nice, he's probably the last person who'd ever want to do something like destroy the world! (Jamie just feels sure of that for some reason.)

They shake hands. (Once again, a tiny hand rests in a less tiny hand.) ]

Yes! I'm Jamie Doh... let's go!

[ If this really is a gimmick, Ochako's right in that it'll take time for everything to reset, at least the for the length of time it takes for a group of people to pass from one end of the room to another as not to give away the surprise for people around them.

He looks from the slide to Ochako, down somewhere to the side of his feet, and then back up. His confidence in his upper body strength hovers near zero most days, but he doesn't let this on. ]

Doesn't matter to me. We both have to go, but the order... I guess if it doesn't work, I could probably [ catch? maybe not ] break your fall better than the plastic skeletons.

[ It's late enough into the evening that nobody's really stopping by anymore and Minato's mostly just hanging out too, a laptop open on the counter he leans against and every once in a while he looks up to survey the store. He catches Fuuka's eye first before turning his gaze to where she signals a glance towards the windows— it's hard to see with the fog so thick, but that looks like a person? Maybe. A potential customer, at any rate, so after a few more moments of wondering whether they'd come in, he pushes off the counter and heads for the door, pushing it open with his foot just an inch so that the warm air inside doesn't escape. ]

No loitering... Do you need—

[ ...? He pushes the door just a bit further with his shoulder, blinking into the night. Did the person already leave? ]

[ Minato knows that feeling very well. If he blinks and finds himself missing four hours, either he'd fallen asleep at his desk or has achieved flow in his art. It's really too bad he can't do either of these things while working the shop, although this late at night he can doze off a little in between customers, thankful for the little bell on the door that chimes with people enter. Or bang open the door, whichever.

He stands up a little straighter with the new arrival, but that's all the surprise he allows himself to show as he turns and faces Yusuke. ]

Good— [ -night doesn't work. This is why he likes working mornings and afternoons, greetings naturally built into the time of day. ] ...to see you. [ Yeah, that's enough awkward politeness for today. ] What do you want?

Yes, yes. We'll put it back.

[She combs out all the tangles, rubbing his hair just a little more with the towel before starting to braid it for him.]

It's so chilly, I can't believe kids are bobbing for apples in this weather. I'd be afraid they'd...

[She trails off. She knows she's being excessively fussy, but a bad experience is a bad experience.]

The weather might be driving me a little crazy. Somehow, for some reason, the faces on fruit started to seem a little strange to me...

[ A solution... ]

Well...
Exactly what is the problem?

[ Clearly this gentleman is unhappy about something related to looking or not looking at his spectral companion there, but... damned if Jamie can figure out the issue at its deepest level. ]

[ Don't look at her that way. That's rude. Even elderly dogs can be spry if they're excited. ]

Senior dogs would pick better places to sleep, but yeah, more dogs around would be nice. Not in here exactly, but maybe there could be a table for rescue dogs.... it could help people who are overwhelmed by any of the activities, too.

[ Dogs know how to love as much as they know how to eat, and it'd be good for everyone. Like therapy dogs but not as trained. ]

I can act like a lady!

[ She puffs out her cheeks just a little bit, looking a little frustrated as she folds her arms over her chest. ]

Besides, they're not going to be scared of me. That is, if they don't give me a reason to.

[ Of course it goes back to that... ]

It wouldn't really go bad in one night just from a little bite mark, would it? [ That doesn't sound right, but he doesn't know enough about apple oxidation to dispute it... ]

--Oh! Or do you have to sleep with it there for, like, days?
--And you can't put it in a plastic bag or anything?

You can even get stuck in a costume with a partner, so yeah, it's pretty hard.

Touché.

[ She can't help but sigh... ] Maybe this is just some crazy dream.

[ STORY OF HER LIFE

But if she puts this much effort into everything she does, something must come of it, even if it's the tiniest of realizations that they can maybe filter out whatever it is the ghost has stolen. She turns on her heels and falls into step next to Hinata, wishing she had something on hand to simply chuck at the ghost and knock it out of its hands, or at least let it pass through its head out of spite. ]

Think a soccer net might work, or are the holes too big? Bet we can find something at the school or the park, either way!

Scary has nothing to do with age, you know.

[ Mio just is less sensitive to that sort of thing, given that she had to pretty much grow up fast. ]

But if you insist. [ She then clears her throat and goes on to start her horror story. ] So, there was a couple once. They decided to go into this very haunted house together. I mean, the guy probably thought that he could comfort his girlfriend if she got scared. The two of them kept on going and then--

[ And that certainly was a loud scream. ] What was that? You heard that, didn't you?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 94 of 148

OCTOBER TDM

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject