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

[ Noni's crouched a little away from the landing spot for the slide, looking intently at the rubber spider. a couple people had come and gone, but for the most part Noni had been here for about an hour. he seems to have finally been satisfied with his rubber spider viewing and notices Ochako back ]

Huh? Oh! A game? I thought haunted houses were just a walking attraction, but I guess it could be a game! [ he walks over to her with a smile and an eyeball head in his arm ] Wanna try to win together? I'm pretty good at finding navigating!

Usually they are, but I guess they're doing it differently this year?

[ She seems uncertain, but this guy is nice enough! Why not work together? ]

Sure! We'll win faster if we work together! But... [ Ochako gives the thing on his arm a dubious glance. ] That... is part of your costume, right?

[ he holds up the head to show her it better ] Yeah! I was gonna join the monster costume contest later! But it's hard to see with it on so I thought I would just take it off for now.

[ also the rubber spiders and bones he swiped were in the head right now as a stand-in for a bag. taking out his phone from inside the head, Noni turns the flashlight on to get a better view of the basement ]

It looks pretty big... Maybe we should go to the wall and walk along it. We'll eventually find a door, right? [ he pauses ] Oh, and my name's Noni! What's yours?

All those eyes, and it's still hard to see?

[ It's hard to suppress a snort at that. ]

That's a good idea! There has to be a door somewhere, or there wouldn't be a room here. [ Makes sense! She smiles at him before picking her way through the piles of Halloween decorations to find a wall. ] I'm Ochako. Nice to meet you!

I guess more isn't always better!

[ he walks towards a wall as well, still looking down at his feet now and then to see if he spots any Halloween decorations that he hadn't seen before ] Nice to meet you too, Ochako! Did you come in here to pass some time until the costume contest too?

N-No, not really...

[ She gives an embarrassed little laugh, smoothing down the skirt of her witch costume with one hand. ]

I didn't think my costume was good enough to enter the contest. Honestly, I just wanted to explore the haunted house with friends, but we got separated when the walls started closing in.

What, really? [ he directs his cellphone light towards her to get a better look at the costume she wore ] I think it's really nice though! It's not scary, but it's really cute. You should enter anyway, it'll be fun!

[ he returns to lighting up their path ] Maybe we'll find your friend while we find our way out too.

You think so? It was kind of last minute.

[ Ochako knows she doesn't always give herself credit where it's due, but for a rushed project it turned out... okay? She smiles. ]

Maybe I'll give it a try if we get out of here on time. It was supposed to be in an hour or so, right?

It doesn't look last minute. But yeah! The contest starts in about an hour. [ he grins ] So we better do our best to get out of here by then!

We've reached the wall, so I'm sure we won't be long! [ sure enough the light hits a dark-colored wall, and Noni begins walking alongside the wall ]

[ A blush colors her cheeks. ]

Thanks! If we make it in time, we can do the contest together!

[ Since he has the flashlight, Ochako lets him lead the way. Her eyes wander while they follow the wall, scanning all the piles of Halloween decorations. ]

I wonder why they’d leave all this stuff down here, though. Why not use it upstairs or outside somewhere?

Well, maybe it was part decoration, part cushion. It would be dangerous to land in the concrete. And it makes this place look more deserted and creepy, I guess?

[ he kicks some of the decorations around as he keeps on walking ] Or maybe we just fell down the haunted house trash chute.

[ Ochako makes a face, sticking her tongue out in disgust. ]

Gross. I hope not.

It must be for cushioning, [ she decides with a nod. ] There’s no way the whole… [ With her hands, she makes the shape of a box and brings them closer together to imitate the walls closing in. ] ...shrinking thing they did wasn’t on purpose.

[ it takes a moment to understand what those gestures mean, but he lets out a small "ah!" when he understand she means the hallway with the mirrors ]

Oh yeah, that whole getting thinner thing was kinda scary, but also thrilling. Like a movie! I'm glad it didn't actually crush us flat. I don't know how it all works, but it was really convincing.

I was a little worried it would.

[ She should’ve known better, Ochako thinks with a small sigh. It wouldn’t make sense to really do that in a public attraction like this, after all. ]

I guess I got a little caught up in the moment… But it still is like a movie, right? [ She perks up again easily. ] The heroes fell into the trap, so now we have to find our way out!

Yup! Although, if it was a movie, there might be several other traps waiting for us. We should be prepared!

[ Noni's light shines a hallway, it seems they have finally found a way out of the room. its dark though, and hard to see what's at the end of it ]

... ...[ he looks at the corridor before turning to Ochako ] I really hope there's not like a boulder thing that'll chase down here or something.

Other traps?!

[ Suddenly anxious, she peers down the hall suspiciously. ]

If they made the first one so realistic, there probably is something else. [ She puts on her most determined face and looks back at Noni. ] We have to be ready to run, just in case!

[ seeing her determined, Noni shakes off his own slight nerves and nods back just as resolved. holding his head more comfortably, he goes in the hall cautiously ]

Let's be careful, and if we hear something that sounds suspicious, we run.

It’s better to stay close for this sort of thing, right?

[ So she follows close behind Noni while still allowing him plenty of space, taking careful steps as if that will help if there’s a trap they might activate somewhere. She keeps her eyes and ears open, straining to find the first sign of trouble. ]

I don’t hear anything yet… Maybe it’s okay after all?

OCTOBER TDM

ii-b

no subject

hahahha sorry about that typo - "finding navigating"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject