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

[ out of every activity here, gerome is lingering by the apple bobbing station the longest. he's not doing anything about it however, simply having a staring contest with the apples floating about on the water. it seems like he's deliberating something... and if you look closely enough, there's a bearded dragon poking its head out of the bag he has slung over his shoulder. ]

[ there is absolutely no reaction from said lizard but gerome seems to be communicating with her just fine anyway. he glances from the apples back to her, then marches up to the person running the game. ]

play

[ the idea is preposterous to him, honestly? why would he stick his face in there? ]

[ gerome, normal people bob for apples... ]

iii.

[ like many others, gerome finds himself tailed by a ghost. it's not even a scary one - more obnoxious and annoying than anything. it tugs on his hair on occasion, then skews his glasses, only to fly out of reach with a cackle when he tries to bat at it. his attempts at verbal assault is ultimately futile... and gerome decides that the best way to get rid of the ghost is to leave the area.

except it doesn't, because now he has a ghost still trailing after him. minerva takes curious chomps at it once in a while, but gets nothing but air. maybe he should have stayed where he was and asked for help? it's too late now... so he's walking up to the first person he sees, snapping. ]

wildcard.

[ pm me if you'd like to plot out anything specific! or comment to his au workshop link here ]

Edited 2017-10-20 02:08 (UTC)

Ooooh? Are you sure you want to get rid of your ghost friend, though~?

[ hinata, while he has noticed the ghosts now being a thing, is...

apparently just fine with it. WHATEVER. there are ghosts, they mostly seem to be harmless pranksters, he can roll with it. ]

Gerome, you're going to make him cry, you know!

I don't care.

[ there's another tug on his hair, and minerva almost falls out of his bag from chasing after the ghost's tail. ]

I've had enough. Do you know of an exorcist or not?

Well, noooo. But I bet we can figure it out! Isn't salt and holy water what you need? If that's the case, let's ransack a diner for some salt.

[ he's not sure he should suggest ransacking a church for holy water...

even hinata has limits... ]

[ gerome would not be above ransacking a church if matters are dire enough, but... he'd rather not ransack anything at all? ]

There is a convenience store around the corner.

[ if normal salt is what they need... if that even works at all. gerome bats a hand at the ghost once more, as it blows raspberries at his head. without waiting for hinata, he turns to speedwalk in that direction. ]

Then to the shop the amaaaaazing exorcist duo goes! Hey, we should come up with our special moves on the way to get the salt. We don't want to have a lackluster exorcism, do we?

[ hinata, gerome doesn't care...

anyway, he cheerfully speeds up to keep pace. ]

Something like, "Begone! Sparkle ray shot!"

[Hello, this is one Minako Arisato coming over when the poor volunteer staff member waves her over and asks if this one guy can pay for an apple without playing the game. She looks official enough in her uniform that matches all the others, save the different color of the shirt and the walkie talkie she's wearing on her hip. And she looks delighted at the sight of the bearded dragon peeking over his shoulder.]

Hello there, cutie! [That was to Minerva. Now looking at him, she continues.] All of the apples here are for the game, so I'm sorry to say we can't sell one to you. You might be able to find something in the food fair area, though!

Those would not do.

[ his girl has discernible taste, ok... the regular apples won't satisfy her. ]

What if I pay twice the fee for one apple? Personally I believe that's more than suitable.

[...whoa, so free with his money...then again, if she knew he was doing it for his little friend, she probably would've given it to him. But she doesn't, so!]

Are you really that against playing for it?

What makes you think I'd want to do that to myself?

[ he would pay any price for minerva... well, except sticking his face in the water, apparently. ]

Because it's a game. It's fun.

[Obviously...? Or maybe not.]

But if you're that against it, maybe I could do it for you. I could use a bit of a break.

OCTOBER TDM

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