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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Today is slightly awkward for Togusa. This month has been harrowing, and even the past week alone has been the most intense of Togusa's career. But it's his birthday. He didn't tell a soul, he thought he's kept it under wraps, but people who have known him longer might still remember even through the chaos. He didn't want to make a big deal, just wanted to let the day pass quietly, with one exception: Gentiana.

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.

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)

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?

The look upon her colleague's face is startling. There's so much hope within those soulful brown eyes, so much unspoken through just his gaze alone. Gentiana suddenly felt suffocated by his gaze. "That I can." She answers at last after a moment of hesitation. The woman blinks her eyes slowly in surprise as she glances down at her phone again. How come this odd blue symbol instills so much hope into him? Gentiana doesn't quite understand what's happening here but Togusa seems so pleased.

"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."

Togusa lets out a sound, hard to describe. Relief and surprise and gratitude all wrapped up into one. His shoulders lower, as if he lost a huge burden that he was carrying. "Gentiana," whispered back, with all of the reverence he has been holding himself back from putting on her name.

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.

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.

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.

She's here. Gentiana is most certainly here now. She feels as real as she did when they first went on their blind date. A faint smile tugs at her lips when she remembers that evening. Who would've guessed Cupid's bow would strike twice. She feels awful forgetting all about the time they spent together and even now, her memory is still nothing other than a haze. However, Gentiana can tell there's something between them by just the way their fingers lace around each others. It feels so right to hold his hand like this, so strangely complete.

"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.

Even looking at her now, it's the same feeling Togusa had when he saw her at the date, when that very first text had come in from Souji with her name on it. It's a childish, giddy elation, quiet in his heart. The feeling soothes his anger at Retrospec. It doesn't forgive it. But how can he hold on to anger at a time like this?

"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.

Her smile blooms into true honest gratitude. Gentiana is a very forgiving person but she does recognize that she wasn't always like that. Maybe something in her far distant past changed her but she's willing to forgive Togusa for his faults. That much is certain considering how gently she holds his hand. "Let us hope that such misfortunes do not strike a second time." She urges with the gentlest smile she can muster.

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."

Togusa's eyebrows raise, and he snorts. "You're kidding, right? That's the last word I'd use to describe you. Maybe it's because I could see the passion in you for your favorite subject right off the bat." There has always been a deep passion in Gentiana, for whatever she is talking about, truly. Togusa can get it to come out the most through discussing literature or philosophy, two of his own favorite things to talk about.

"Welcoming is a word for it." Togusa's hand briefly tightens on Gentiana's. The other question in his mind has to come out. "Can we- start again?" He looks up at her more fully. "I've missed you. A lot. And not- just as a friend." There is another surge in his heart, he is taking a risk, but one he refuses to wait to take.

Not again.

"I didn't know what to do, if I thought you weren't in a right state to commit to something more. Not. Fully able to say if you wanted...me." An immediate blush high on his cheeks.

The reassurance is touching but it's his innocently asked question that truly makes Gentiana smile. How could she say "No" to that face? She can see just how hopeful Togusa is and hear the nervousness in his voice. This is the man she remembers from her college years, the gentle young scholar who always glanced her way.

Gentiana says nothing at first, her gentle gaze washing over him brief before suddenly leaning forward. Instead of answering with words, she answered him in a kiss instead. It's a chaste kiss, one right on the cheek, her answer is evident. She's willing to try again.

Togusa's heart stops as she leans in, he gets just enough time to realize she's going to- And then she kisses him. Light, and sweet, and so fast, it's gone again too quickly. But if Gentiana thought he was blushing before, it is nothing compared to the redness that rises right where she touched.

"Um- Okay." A very genuine smile. "I think that answers that." He is talking just for the sake of talking, because there is a sudden soaring feeling in his chest. Like all the time apart can just melt away, the odd standstill that he had been holding himself back on was completely worth it, if he could have this moment.

If he did this the right way. That was important. Because it means so much more for Gentiana to be looking at him with those eyes, the ones he knows are truly making the choice to move forwards. He gazes right back at her, and he doesn't even notice the boyish smile that has crept onto his features with a simple happiness.

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OCTOBER TDM

V: Many Happy Returns

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