repeter | OCTOBER TDM

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! 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The door leads to a set of equally creepy looking stairs, with rickety planks for the steps, looking as though they might break out from under you if you stepped on them. Distantly you can hear the sound of screams and other spooky noises, as well as the occasional set of footsteps walking overhead. The whole thing smells musty and stale, as if they aren't often traversed, somehow.]

Thank you.

[Marina steps in ahead of Cleo, taking a hesitant step on the first stair and wincing at how much it groaned under her weight.]

This does not look safe.

Perhaps it's only made to look that way, but...

[She enters, examining the stairs... and when she shuts the door behind them, there's the click of the lock.]

... It seems we have no other way to progress. Shall I go first?

I mean, logically they're not allowed to hurt us at a haunted house, just like the actors aren't supposed to be able to touch us or anything for legal reasons. So like, there's no reason to believe any of this is actually gonna be dangerous to us or anything. Still, this has been a really weird haunted house experience.

[Marina frowns at the sound of the lock closing in behind them, taking in a deep breath.]

No, no, it's fine, I'm already here anyways. Let's be careful to hold onto the railing while we go up, though.

[She takes a couple more steps and apparently that sets some sort of sensor off off, as a fake monster pops out of a slot on the wall with a terrifying shrill shriek, right smack dab in front of her. Marina yelps and stumbles back a few steps, catching herself on the railing only to let out a short laugh at herself as she gets out of her daze.]

That was cheap!

[Cleo's hand is on her sword at the shriek, and without any hesitation, she's between Marina and the fake monster. But her reflexes fade, and she looks quite embarrassed when she hears Marina laugh, releasing the grip on her sword's hilt.

Her tail has puffed up in alarm, though she's trying to will the fur back down into its normal state.]

It- It is quite cheaply-made... It's not very good, is it?

Anything can look scary when it's this dark and it pops out of nowhere -- yeesh, you're not wrong, though. So cheap looking!

[The monster retreats back into the wall and Marina rights herself, walking back up the steps to be just behind Cleo. How did she get the tail to do that...]

I appreciate your first instinct was to protect me, though. You're like a knight~

[help her

she's dying and very red]

Ah... No, it's nothing that noble, I'm just trying to become a police officer, so...

[oh god she's so embarrassed.]

I- I'm just glad it was nothing big... I'll stay in front this time.

Oh, word? That's awesome! Are you in college?

[You're lucky it's so dark in here, Cleo.]

Good call, you can save me from all the baddies waiting in the corners.

[wink!]

That's right. I'm in my second year now...

[oh god. why are you doing this to her marina. she's so lucky it's dark.]

I- I'll do my best... I've never been to a haunted house like this before.

I'm in my senior year of high school, myself -- I just transferred here this month. Kinda late, but our house took a while to sell 'cause the town I came from is so small.

[You and her both, Cleo...]

Well, at least we're experiencing this weird haunted house together, instead of being alone.

Oh? Where are you from?

[She seems interested.

wait is marina lucky it's dark too, is that what i'm getting here.]

That's true... I wouldn't know what to do on my own here.

[they've both never been to a haunted house like this before! but if they were closer she might've teased cleo a little bit for the blushing, but fortunately it was only their first meeting.]

I'm from a small coastal town in California called Destiny, it's pretty dinky so I'd be surprised if you've heard of it before. My dad wanted a change of pace, and what's a bigger change of pace than moving from a small town to a big city?

[She might be a little sore on the subject, but she keeps it out of her voice.]

Say, is it just me, or do the stairs seem to go on for a long time?

I see... I haven't, but I've never been outside of Recolle. Mostly...

[Her trip into unreality doesn't count, right? Right.

But Marina's comment gets her to pay attention.]

You're right. We must be at a second floor by now, at least...

[So she just. Pulls out her phone, and turns on the flashlight function.]

Either this is really long, they're using that trick to make the stairs look like they go on longer than they do, or both.

[She'll go ahead and turn on her light, too.]

You're gonna die in here..... [a voice whispers from behind them, causing Marina to jump a bit and look over her shoulder. When nothing's there, she lets out a breath.]

They must have a speaker in here somewhere.

[She just snorts dismissively at the whisper, but looks back at Marina with interest.]

What trick is that? If I know it, maybe we can see if they are.

The end of the stairs would have a painting or projection, probably the latter, showing the stairs going on for longer than they do, and there'd probably be an exit hidden on the side next to it when you reach it. We'll just have to keep on moving, as tiring as it might be to climb a bunch of flights of steps.

(Turn back while you can...) Fuck nah you're gonna get me to climb stairs twice!

Well, it will be good exercise, if nothing else.

[fitness nut cleo ritter.]

Although, you would think we would have reached the top by now...

[She has some unfortunate suspicions, but isn't sure how to bring it up.]

I guess.

[actual lazy ass, marina hartmann. it wont be interesting to her until she considers the idea of being able to kick ass...]

Maybe it's taking us to a floor above the floor we fell down from??

That's what it feels like, but we should have already made it that far already...

[She pauses, and then kneels down to touch the stairs.]

... Although, from how the walls closed in earlier, there might be an alternate answer.

[Marina pauses behind her, curious.]

What are you thinking?

If, for example, the stairs move down at roughly the same rate we go up once we reach high enough up the stairs, using the darkness to hide it, we could keep running up forever without actually moving.

[she straightens up again, looking up and down the stairs.]

Ohhh my god, you think they'd actually pull that? That's devious.

[Never-ending exercise, that's the real horror in this haunted house.]

What are we supposed to do about it? Run faster so it can't keep up?

I wouldn't put it past them, after putting that wall in and dropping us down below.

[but exercise is good, marina???]

That may work... Or it may be something in that monster that popped out earlier.

What do you think we should do?

[Marina wasn't sure, 'cause running was not her first priority here.]

[She thinks, looking up at the wall and the stairs.]

Let's try the monster, first. If we run up the stairs and it's the wrong answer, it will just tire us out, and we won't be able to do anything.

Alright, I can agree with that.

[She moves to head back down the stairs, unsure of which step it was again exactly, but trying to brace herself for the thing inevitably popping back out again when she reached it. Marina flinches when she does trigger it and takes a step back, but keeps one foot on the floor board in question so she wouldn't forget.]

Now what?

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