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

AU Workshop Comment -- He's kind of a loner, off the radar kind of guy, so definitely looking for just loose friendly connections, nothing too demanding! So please feel free to have seen him around.

I. SIDEQUEST FOOL
[ This happens to him more often than he'd really like to admit. He was just walking by, saw an unsupervised little girl struggling to saw through her pumpkin and... Offered to help and somehow got roped into the project at large. He looks ridiculous there amongst the children, a very tall, scruffy man in sunglasses, helping this gaggle of children to saw open pumpkins, doing all the difficult fiddling bits of their designs, telling them, ]

Yes that's... very scary.

[ Someone help him, he peers over his sunglasses with a helpless, pleading look. ]

II. BOO
[ It's been a long time since he was frightened by a haunted house, but he is an insufferable people watcher. He's loitering at the far end of the haunted maze with a coffee, watching as people come out giggling nervously, happy. He smiles to himself.

And with a bolt of mischief, he leans towards one of the passersby and says, ]

Boo.

[ His grin when you turn to confront him is roguish, friendly. ]

III. I AIN'T SCARED OF NO GHOST
[ A cigarette droops from his lips, his hands tucked into the pockets of his leather jacket. He's staring at the voiceless ghost, thoughtful. He turns his head to speak to another onlooker, ]

What do you think that is?

BONUS. UH???
[ He's frowning at his phone in the bar, trying his best to beat this level of Hallowen Candy Crush. He's failed so many times in a row, he finally turns to the person at the bar next to him, ]

You any good at this?

[ Men like the guy who calls himself Hyperion (and whether that comes from a pretentious reason or not is up for debate) are the sort that come over places like this after a long day. There's a lot of figurative shit he's in charge of cleaning up every day, a lot of reasons to think people are a general waste of his time and anyone's empathy. At best they're useful. If you can trust them, that is.

Being useful can include having a conversation, though, and the more meaningless the better. Being addressed to help out in a game meant to blind out your brain with saturated colors and wacky mechanics might not be the best way to start, but it's a start.

The answer should be all over his stare. ]

Do I look like I would be.

[ Or like he uses a phone at all? Sure, if he needs to text or call his bosses, but other than that... How does I care. ]

[ Saif gives a sideways, self-effacing smile. It's not that he guy doesn't have a point, it's just: ]

You never know. Was in the bar next to a guy a couple weekends ago, he was a few thousand levels in.

[ He sets the phone down, leaning back in his tool in favor of his beer. ]

Some people are just good at it. Looks like it doesn't take any skill, but...

[ A chuckle, a shrug. ]

Did he have a full time job.

[ Hyperion has a way of... conveying sentiment, despite a very flat tone. Irony that doesn't really invite friendship, without venturing into hostility, either. ]

Might mean something that you ain't any good at it. [ Save yourself while you still can, dude. ]

[ Conversely, Saif Essa has a way of always appearing friendly, even despite an utter lack of sentiment. He found relationships could be stifling and disastrous, so he kept his distance with a boyish smile, his eyes elsewhere. ]

They got day jobs, probably why they're bored enough to keep playing, eh?

[ He can't imagine himself at any kind of desk job, he's been free range much too long at this point. ]

Maybe I'm just too simple for it.

[ He can make fun of himself with the best. ]

Get pretty bored too, still ain't pickin' that up. What does that say about me.

[ Too simple for it, too? Because he'd rather give himself a little more credit, in spite of his utter lack of self-esteem. ]

That there are other games you prefer?

[ Too literal? Saif chuckles, taking another lazy drink from his beer. ]

I like pool, myself.

'Course you do. [ Which is to say: he knows exactly your type, coming into these places, being the center of your universe with a charming smile and alcohol for a casual companion. They're the ones meant to convey how it easy it is to have a good time, they're the ones who infect a small crowd to feel confident enough to chase his good graces.

Why would he jump to such an immediate conclusion? Because that's who his brother was, down to a T. ]

Sudoku.

[ Is he serious? Is he still showering this conversation with irony?! A mystery. ]

[ He opens his mouth, maybe to protest, but he can't argue with that tone, can he? Instead he just presses the tip of his tongue to the back of his teeth, saying without saying, shrugging. Well, you've got me pegged. ]

The one with the numbers? Fun once or twice, I don't know about doing all of one of those little books though.

[ Still companionable even after getting called out... ]

And maybe I don't like playing by myself.

Al-Azraq (Saif) | Original

bonus, ay-o

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