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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That sounds boring. I've never seen the point in organization. I'm fine with leaving things the way they are.

[It's amazing, really, how they get along so well - Howard is the epitome of laziness and chaos, while Royce is uptight, strict, and detail-oriented when it comes to planning out his life. Maybe opposites really do attract.]

But if it works for you... [He puts Royce's mug down so he can lounge back in his chair with an abysmal posture any good mother would cry about.]

Your work asks for that kind of stuff, so I'm not really surprised.

[ He'd been about to ask for it back, to be honest. It's that point in the day when things start to get wearisome, inviting restlessness, and the agreeable mid-autumn light beyond the plate window does little to help. Only Royce would consider being away from his work a wearying responsibility, but here he is and he'll take anything to perk up a bit. It's the end of the week. People socialize, or... whatever they do with other people, one supposes.

Howard's certainly a departure from his daily life, anyway. He's... challenging. In a sense. Another thing to figure out, but not unpleasant company. Far from it, really. ]

Boring, huh...

[ The way he says it, you really get the impression he's dying to prove how it's not. But, well, he can tolerate Howard's various eccentricities in exchange for Howard tolerating his. That seems fair enough. ]

But leaving things as they are, you, why, if you did that, there'd be nothing to write about. Right? Nothing worth exploring. Stone unturned...

[ And Royce can always appreciate a good mystery, even if it's the solving that really lights his fire. ]

There are some things that shouldn't be explored.

[He throws out the ominous statement seemingly at random, but honestly, in his experience, it's true. He's researching shipwrecks that happened in the part of the world which he fears beyond all else: the ocean.]

[And something tells him he shouldn't meddle too much with what goes on in its depths.]

But yes, yes, I suppose it's...necessary to have some organization there. I have to map out routes and such, tides, weather, and the like. Somewhat grueling business. But the result is worth it.

[He twirls a strand of his hair around one finger.]

So...I'll correct myself. I'll leave most things as they are. I'm not going to cause more trouble for myself if it's not needed.

[ What's the value of a world you can't take apart? No, that's not quite right, though. Not quite right. How do you value a world you can't understand, inside and out? How do you show it, if you aren't hungry for its secrets? "Some things shouldn't be explored," Howard says, and something echoes inside Royce that he can't completely explain. Something that feels, somehow, older than he is. Something that feels... it feels different. Yes. Somehow it feels different.

He watches, with brighter eyes than the average person might feel comfortable with, as the light glints off the smooth coil of Howard's hair. ]

Trouble... You think there's trouble? Well, you're. I mean. Superstitious, you could say—not, I guess, to undercut the idea that there are things that are unexplainable, leastwise... with the tools we have now. They certainly are that.

[ He takes a quiet little gulp of coffee. He's feeling more stimulated already. ]

Handled any artifacts lately?

I'm cautious, Royce. [He tilts his head, eyes narrowing - no light is glinting off them. None at all.] It's different from superstitious. If you go to deep, you'll find things that you...simply won't like, you know. Things that aren't meant for you.

[Royce does seem like the kind of man who jumps first, too eager to uncover everything within his reach. Which makes sense, given his profession, but Howard still doesn't want to think too hard about that sort of fate for Royce. To dig too deep under the earth, peeling open the crust to see what's below...]

Artifacts? [He perks up at that.] Well, yes, I suppose, yes. There's this...necklace, recently found. Made of dark obsidian, can you believe that? They've only retrieved some of the beads, but oh...

[A sigh - he sounds immensely pleased.]

They're so black. You should see them shine...

[ He can't believe it, but he can imagine. Black as the sky. Black as the infinite void. It's a tall tale if you're Royce, for whom everything can be explained, even if we don't know it yet. He does take some pleasure in Howard's elaborate fictions. He does. Because that's what they are, really, despite the mostly-outgrown, childlike wonder deep inside that hopes otherwise. Right?

Right?

Flying too close to the sun is only a thing that happens to those who don't understand what the sun is capable of. His eyes lower as he sips his coffee. Through his lashes they look pleased. ]

From the sea? But then, where did it come from?

[ Things don't just come from the sea, after all. Howard. ]

Where do you think?

[He lets that question hang in the air for a moment so that he can finish off the rest of his drink. Howard might not really appreciate his own latent talents for horror and the like, but even he can admit, he's somewhat good at keeping the sense of suspense.]

It was one of the treasures carried by an old Spanish ship they recently discovered off of the coast of Florida. At least, they think it might be. They have still yet to find the entirety of the ship, though they believe it might have been an unknown extra ship that was part of the famous sunken fleet of the Urca de Lima...

[There he goes, talking about stuff only he knows. That's fine. It doesn't matter to him. He knows Royce doesn't mind his ramblings. A lazy sort of smile creeps over his face as he watches the other sipping at his coffee.]

Either way, it's quite beautiful. Though the way you ask your question almost seems to suggest that you believe, perhaps, that it didn't come from a shipwreck at all.

Edited 2017-10-21 05:04 (UTC)

[ It's one of the many things he enjoys about Howard's company; the man's a showman even if he doesn't know it, least once he gets going. He'd say Howard's enthusiasm is contagious, but... well... that isn't quite the case. Not quite the case. ]

Well, I've lived long enough... seen—enough. Enough to be comfortable with the unknown by now. With life's mysteries. Plenty of those to be found, anywhere you look, right? The cosmos. The sea. The spaces between. Between what, between... why, between everything, I suppose.

[ What are they even talking about we just don't know, but they seem to be enjoying it. And that's something he likes about Howard, too, the way speaking with him sometimes tugs at some sort of loose thread in a darkened corner of his mind, one he can't seem to grasp on his own, but he wants to, but he's, he's afraid of it, a little, but he wants to. ]

So, I suppose they are. Beautiful. That is.

The mysteries?

[His thin eyebrows arch upward on his forehead. Beautiful, he says. Yes, sure, perhaps he can agree with that. But it's beautiful in the way a burning fire is beautiful, or an anglerfish's mouth is beautiful. Something pristine, in the way it holds the potential for danger.]

Well, I can't say you can put such things in museums, to be admired. It would rather detract from the experience. No, the beauty is in leaving them alone., I think

[He shakes his head, his dark green eyes widening ever so slightly.]

That is, unless you think diving headfirst into the unknown is worth the price of seeing such beauty up close...

Of course. Of course.

[ The cafe is bustling around them, but here they are, two grown men in a sea of college kids, ensconced in their own esoteric little world. Royce hums thoughtfully, voice low. ]

You can't possess it, um, something like that. Hold it. In your hands. Can't do it. But—you can... try. To comprehend. Figure things out. That's the next best thing; maybe even better! Matter of fact.

[ He's fidgeting a bit, a pen balanced between his fingers. Stand-in for the cigarette he's craving. This always happens, when his mind starts turning—when it's given something substantial to chew on for a while. He feels vaguely like he's trying to convince Howard of something here. ]

It's why I do, well, what I do. The tiniest components of this universe can't be grasped. Can never be... grasped. But—they can beee... [ He gestures, then seems to make some sort of breakthrough, half-smiling. ] grasped. Understood. You see? Not so different, in both senses of the word.

[ It's just, old Royce, you know... he's never been one to just let things lie. ]

You wouldn't take it? If you could? The opportunity. To understand the deep sea so thoroughly, so... completely...?

[There it is again. Royce wants to know, he wants to know, truly, and while Howard can't fault him for it, he can't help but feel a sort of unique dread sink within him. He feels like some audience member watching a horror movie, seeing a character about to open a door that contains something that wants to rip him apart.]

[And yet, a part of him doesn't seem to mind the idea. How odd. To witness a man possibly opening the gate to his own destruction...]

If that is what you wish to do with your life, Royce...I won't attempt to stand in your way. You're too stubborn to be told otherwise. As for me?

[He stares at the other, but for a moment it's not like he really sees the other, but he's staring at something that is far beyond the perception of the both of them. His tone wavers.]

That sea almost swallowed me whole, Royce. If I tried to understand it like you say, why...

[A pause. He swallows.]

I don't think I'd ever come back.

I haven't forgotten.

[ Some might call the coolness of Royce's tone unsympathetic, but this is far from new information. And Royce, for his part... try as he might, he possesses no such trauma in his background, no experiences so explicitly formative as that. There's a hollowness when he thinks back on his life and what brought him to this point, an emptiness, and with both parents several years dead and no other remarkable roots to speak of, it's like...

Anyway. It's interesting to look at Howard looking into nothing. Before he can stop himself, he chuckles softly. ]

Howard... you know, the things I've done, my life's work, visualizing what the world is made of, and sometimes it's like—my word, sometimes it's like you just... see it all, don't you? See it all. Unassisted. With the naked eye.

[ It's that he's envious. Maybe. ]

[He's sort of glad that Royce isn't falling all over himself with sympathetic words. Sometimes, he's received condolences from others when he reveals the almost tragic accident of his childhood, but it's always seemed too fake, too simple for Howard to really appreciate. What happened, happened. Of course, it's terrible, but he likes the fact that a select few just acknowledge it and move on.]

[His attention moves back to Royce, his hollow stare now boring holes into the other man's green pair of eyes.]

You make it sound like it's an ability worth having. [He lets out a low chuckle, though the unreadable expression of his eyes doesn't change.] Not as if I do have such a skill...but if I did, I would wonder just how much sanity I'd have left rolling around in my head. Such things come with a steep price, you know.

[ Few people meet Royce's gaze with any kind of comparable intensity. Royce maybe loses himself for a brief moment, searching, struggling for a foothold. He doesn't find one. ]

I've yet to find that that's... quite the case.

[ ...and after another beat he glances away at some errant particles of sugar left on the far edge of the table. ]

So... Halloween plans?

Hm.

[The stare broken, he turns his gaze to his coffee cup. Ah...well, it's not like he expected Royce to answer any differently.]

Buying all the candy when it's on sale. [He shrugs.] I don't plan on going out anywhere. You?

[ Hah. Could've predicted that. ]

Not so different from last year, I expect, or the year before... orrr the year before that.

[ Turn off all the lights and pretend no one's home, drink a fair amount of bourbon, and watch documentaries about space. ]

You're gonna be out of luck. Least until November 1st. Not a moment sooner.

You need to change routines every once in a while, you know. [He shakes his head.] At least share some of that bourbon with me...

[That last statement gets Royce the answer of a light snrk.]

You don't think I know? I look more forward to that date than the actual Hallow's Eve. I'll be filling my home completely with what I get. It's my goal.

[ That raises Royce's eyebrows a bit, but he starts with an awkward little pleased sound at the immense gravitas of Howard's promise. ]

Oh. Well... well, sure. Why not? I haven't watched a thing about the ocean. Not yet.

[ And certainly not anything as much to Howard's taste as... he anticipates. Should be quite something. ]

Not yet? Missing out, really, though I tend to get a little nauseous around the images of water, myself. Its somehow worth it, though.

[It allows him to experience the ocean without having to go there.]

Anyways...well, name the time. And I'll be there, if you're fine with it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OCTOBER TDM

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