repeter | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I mean, yeah, probably, before someone thinks we're just part of the decoration.

[ ...

right. that means they should... go in. karkat sighs, before taking the first few steps into the funhouse. ]

This place looks so fake. It's like the barely even tried.

[Offering a small giggle she nods.]

That would be for the best?

[Almost glad not to the be the first one inside, she follows behind him.]

Seems that way? Oh, I'm Euphie. [Names would be good, right?]

Karkat. [ he pauses once they get their first look inside. fake cobwebs, and fog? he actually frowns at the fog, considering all of the creepy figures that have been appearing from it all month, but it seems like this is just made from a fog machine. he moves on. ]

I bet this is just going to be jump scares.

Nice to meet you. [The fog is a little unsettling already for her, since it seems to be something to not be trusted. As they walk though she takes note of the surroundings and then laughs softly.]

Those aren't too ba--AH!

[As she says that something drops from the ceiling and she lets out a scream.]

[ he screams too, mostly because she screamed since he didn't see the prop drop. karkat even jumps slightly... and then once he realizes that they are both definitely not dead, or getting attacked, he relaxes. well, "relaxes." he still looks like he is ready to bolt at any moment, but he's no longer yelling. ]

Ha. Hahaha. See? They'll need to try harder than that to scare us.

[ HE SAYS, AS IF THE TWO OF THEM DIDN'T JUST SHRIEK. ]

[Euphie sees the prop and then laughs, it was a fake ghost...very fake. Still the thrill of being alive leaves her laughing before she takes a deep breath.]

Right? That wasn't too bad!

Whoever is scared of shit like this must feel pretty ridiculous right now.

[ because the two of them definitely do not fall under that category.

in any case, he will start moving again, trying to fan away some of the fog with his hand. at least now they know stuff can drop from above, so... maybe they can keep a higher alert going. ]

This place didn't look that big, so we should reach the end in no time.

[ lmao ]

Exactly! Though it is all in good fun right?

[Scared? Of course not...

Walking close she jumps at some wall thumps but tries to keep her mind elsewhere. Just got to get through this and then she can go home.]

It should be too long then!

[That is until it starts to look more like a funhouse with the creepy mirrors.]

Uh. [ he slows down. he hasn't been too Big on mirrors ever since he got his horns, but since they're covered, he corrects his pace. ]

I guess they decided to take funhouse literally. I guess we won't have to worry about cheap jump scares here though, they wouldn't want someone to jump and break one of the mirrors.

[ HE SOUNDS... MORE RELIEVED THAN HE MEANT TO... ]

[Mirrors were a good and nice change of pace here.]

It seems like it? Though that means less scary things...which is a pity?

[She tries to save it but she is just as glad. Walking in front of a mirror she laughs a little at her reflection as it makes her much taller.]

[ meanwhile, this asshole is just making faces at himself. normally, he would comment on how what she said definitely came out as a question instead of a statement, but doing so would call out to the fact that both of them have been pretending to not be babies.

it's another few minutes of walking, before he turns to her. ]

Is it just me or does this place seem a lot bigger on the inside? I swear to fuck we should have been finished already.

[Laughing softly she watches him making faces before doing some of her own faces in the mirror. This was a lot more enjoyable than the scary part. His comment does bring her attention back to him though.]

Hm? It really does seem big? Maybe that's how funhouses are?

Maybe. [ he still sounds suspicious. this is the face of someone who is too used to dealing with the nonsense that this city has to offer, so the moment something seems strange he immediately goes into alert mode. ]

They probably have some big scare planned for as soon as you leave this area though.

[Euphie was still new and fresh to anything strange here...or most places actually.]

...that would be bad.

Yeah. But I'm sure we'll be able to handle it. What's the worst that can happen, besides potential death in a funhouse?

[ rip

and, as if on cue, the mirrors very suddenly start moving towards them. ]

That would be the worse!

[Euphie lets out a small yelp as she moves closer to him and watches the walls.]

Oh no.

OCTOBER TDM

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