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repeter2017-10-17 08:38 pm
recollecters) wrote in repeter2017-10-17 08:38 pm
Entry tags:
OCTOBER TDM
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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! |
Gentiana | Final Fantasy XV
V: Many Happy Returns
Togusa had made a lunch not-date-because-these-aren't-dates with her and no matter what, he was going to keep it. He still feels conflicted when it comes to Gentiana, but the conflict is settling down the more he talks with her. Whatever it had almost been between them, it had vanished when she had left the Retrospec app. And Togusa hadn't known what to do for weeks. It took significant urging to get him to even call her again, try to reconnect, and then he was doing his damndest to make sure that things stayed casual. That he didn't expect too much.
Togusa still appreciates all that Gentiana is, so that he can appreciate the friendship that they are cultivating. But then things slip in, like seeing her in a dream, or thinking he saw her in the fog. He has to believe that he is approaching this the right way.
The smile that appears on Togusa's face when he sees Gentiana in the University coffee shop is genuine, like the horror of the last week can be left behind him for a few hours. It shows on his face that he still greatly enjoys her company, despite everything.
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"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.
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"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?
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"I--" Gentiana trails off as she tries to recall everything that happened prior. The memories come and go like a silent black and white film with just a flash of color here and there. She can't recall everything but when she looks at Togusa again, it's now with more familiarity. "Hitori?" She calls him by his given name for the first time in months.
"The eyes are windows of the soul." Gentiana recites with a little smile upon her lips. "I can see you at last, Hitori."
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Togusa slumps into a seat, like his legs are giving out. His eyes are still intense when he looks at her, as so many things want to rush forwards at once. "You- I-" He can't decide what to say first. He swallows so hard there is a click in his throat. "It was like a part of you was missing," it finally comes out in a rush. "They said-" He shakes his head again. No, not that.
His hand reaches out on the table, shaking before he sets it down, close enough for her to touch, but he isn't quite so forwards yet. "I wished for you to come back. I am sorry that you're dragged back into this, but, you're here." His brow is tight, but raised, a mix of sorrow and gratitude.
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"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.
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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.
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"You are only human." She says with a faint sigh. "There's only so much a person can endure and what was forced upon you was most cruel." Gentiana looks at her again, her familiar green eyes seemingly brighter than before. "It took time but you returned to me. For that, you have my gratitude." Gentiana can hear the anger in his voice and she quickly tries to soothe it away with love. She gently caresses the back of his hand in hopes of easing that anger away.
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"That you can just forgive me like that," he smiles when he raises his head again. "If it happens again, I know better, I'll return, I'll stay. Because- you were still you."
His smile turns a little shyer. "I've still enjoyed your company these last few months. Even if it felt like something was missing." To be there for her, in whatever form it actually took. That was what he admitted to Mariko, wasn't it? What he really wanted.
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The shy smile upon Hitori's face wins a quiet chuckle from her. "I've been told in times past that I'm quite...frigid usually." Gentiana admits with a louder chuckle. "I'm glad you found my company so welcoming."
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Careful there. Hold it upright so that the blood has a harder time of feeding the cut. I'll find something proper to take care of it.
[She steps away again, leaving Gentiana with her handkerchief. The white cloth is soaking up the blood well though a soft splotch of red slowly spreads through like a stain spreading through snow.]
Children, everything is fine, but please put your knives down until I'm done helping this woman. [She gives her reassuring order to her students before rushing to fetch a first aid kit.]
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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.]
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It's quite alright. I didn't think it was your intent to cut yourself like that. Here.
[She holds out her hand for Gentiana's, the other holding the spray.]
This will sting, but I don't know when that knife was last cleaned.
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[She responds in good humor despite her previous shock. There's still something oddly foreign about being tend to like this. Gentiana doesn't like how vulnerable she feels but she masks it all with a smile.]
Some would say that a little bit of pain heightens the art.
[That's a slight joke on her part. Gentiana isn't a masochist. She offers her hand to the woman with a faint smile. Something about the woman reminds Gentiana vaguely of her deceased mother. Maybe it has something to do with the red-clad woman's maternal leaning.]
If I may so ask, are you a teacher over at the high school?
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But she lets it go and takes the seat next to her as she applies the spray and then the bandage to the cut.]
The elementary school actually. At least part time right now. I'm trying to see how a few things work out.
[Her life here has brought her through a number of experiences, but has also left her at a lack for a clear path.]
pampkin!
Heehee!
The reward of suffering is experience. [She replies once she takes the little bandage case. Gentiana is careful as she plucks one of the bandages out. She doesn't want to sully it with blood.]
Quite a morbid saying but very much true.
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[It's a rhetorical question at best. Gentiana doesn't expect him to answer her but he could if he so desires. She's quiet as she cautiously bandages her finger. The shock she wore earlier has all but faded.]
Creating art can be quite a cruel venture at times despite all of its rewards.
[Her gaze lingers upon his wounds for a moment.]
Is art truly worth this sacrifice made in blood?
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Always, always, and forever. Art is what makes us human, and that's no mere platitude. If I can still create art, than there is still part of me, no matter how small, that has humanity. And I cannot put to words how important that truly is.
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[She gives him a rather curious glance now. That's a rather deep and profound answer, one she would expect from a man so utterly enamored with arts.]
That's quite a concept considering most would deem that "faith" proves their humanity. [As in faith in a higher power.] Or perhaps their sense of morals.
[Now that her finger is all wrapped up, Gentiana passes the little bandage case back to its generous owner.]
My gratitude.
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I think... or perhaps I choose to believe, that humanity can mean many things to many people. This is how I choose to express my own, but I would never put myself in a position to judge the humanity of another. -Not after everything he was going through, still struggling with.-
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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.]
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