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

[ Yato very much notices her changing the subject as she tells him not to change the subject... but you know what, that's fair. He wouldn't expect her to confess that she was running away from anything to a perceived stranger. ]

Yeah. Like I said, we used to work together at the arcade. Then I got laid off when I got into it with one of the customers...

[ He sits up, only to cross his arms and legs thoughtfully, reminiscing. ]

I... was friends with Yuuko too, remember? You got steamed at me when I kissed her, then you slapped a shock collar on me in the middle of the night.

[ still wild in hindsight ]

Then you helped chase off someone coming after me, and that's why he came back and burned your place down later. You probably remember it differently, like he was trying to rob you or something, but he was there because of me.

Watch who you're accusing there, buddy. I'm not some psycho who slaps shock collars on people.

[Except she is...but she's never gone that far before so clearly she knows she wouldn't.

...still. She stands in front of a table to sit against it.]

I'd say you're mistaking me for someone else, but it's not like Yuuko has any friends. [Well. Many.] ...is this a retrospec thing too?

[ Shoots her a look. She is definitely a psycho who slaps shock collars on people. That Yuuko dig was pretty harsh too, damn. ]

Yeah, it's a Retrospec thing. Kind of a me thing too, 'cause I'm a god.

[ He raises himself just enough to hang over the lip of the table and stare across it at her. He remembers how she reacted the first time he told her about the god thing. ]

Don't ignore me. I'm a god of war. For real.

[Aki watches him reposition himself, then moves to mirror his position on the opposite side of the table by crouching, looking him in the eyes.

For just a moment.

And then-]

Alright. I believe you.

... You do? Really?

[ He was super ready to get rebuffed, hence the sudden switch back to transcendent hope on his face. ]

A lot of weird stuff has happened...

[Whereas back then a lot of weird stuff hadn’t happened yet.

But suddenly, even if the action itself isn’t sudden, she reaches out to pinch Yato’s nose.]

Besides...you remind me of a dog. And dogs don’t lie.

So even if it isn’ t true, I think you believe it earnestly. And that’s okay.

[Compared to someone just trying to fool her.]

[ It isn't full recall, but it isn't outright rejection either and that's good enough for Yato. Being likened to a dog is also not always ideal, but Aki loves her dog so he will take that for a win!!

So even though his nose is getting pinched, Yato beams. He's been told (exactly once) about the residual feelings people can have toward him after they've forgotten him. What the head forgets, the heart can remember. Yes!! This must be the love and affection shining through from Aki's core!! ]

I love you too, Aki!! Hey, so, [ he sidles around the table on his knees until he's next to her ] what happened after those portals opened up and everyone got sucked into unreality? Do you remember?

[She scoots away to the adjacent side.]

Don't make this weird.

Anyway, we ended up on a sunken ship full of skeletons. I got impaled.

Then we were stuck underwater for a while. I had to infiltrate a cult of man hating sea witches.

Then there was a cave full of shadow people or something...it gets kind of hazy around then, but I remember fighting off a bunch of them.

[She almost ends it there, then-]

...sorry if you were...worried or whatever.

[ yes the heart probably still remembers

somewhere in there

Aki's adventures sound wild (Yato's face protests at her getting impaled), but all the adventures were pretty wild at that time of year so at least he doesn't look nearly as surprised as he could be looking. He was very much worried, but he won't confess as much at this time even though it's pretty damn obvious with or without mystical empathy powers.

Ahem. ]

So you're not a heroic spirit anymore?

[She shakes her head.]

I've lost just about everything they gave me. Powers, my sword...even the golden skull.

[Her eyes are even brown again.]

Do you like it better this way?

[ He looks at her with interest. Having the memories (mostly) but losing the changes sounds like it could be an ideal situation for some people. ]

...

[She seems to consider him for a moment, then-]

You can keep a secret, right?

Uh-huh.

[ He even leans his ear in for good measure. ]

I feel...[She pauses to consider how to word this.]

Back then, I needed someone else to help me stay earthbound or I'd fade away. It might sound inconvenient relying on someone else like that, but...

To tell you the truth, it was like a part of me I never knew was missing got filled. It wasn't bad at all.

[She sighs.]

I dunno...it's hard to explain, but... with that missing it's almost kind of lonely.

[If she knew he was involved in this she'd literally die for being so sincere.

But whereas she was sounding a little pensive there, she switches to sounding firmer in tone, like what she says next is a reminder to herself more than anything else.]

But we can't just go throwing our humanity away without thinking about it.

Once retrospec is gone, we need to make sure we can go back to society intact. Being pragmatic about this, I guess I'd stay human.

[ He knows whom she's talking about, of course. He even knows exactly what she's talking about. His connection with her had started out strange and overly personal, but by the time he'd gotten used to it, he'd found it not only comfortable, but comforting.

Her secret ended up being even deeper than she intended, so he'll do her a favor and keep that a secret from herself too. Truth be told, it's reassuring to know that he isn't the only one who's felt a little lonelier without the contract. ]

I don't know how far society's gonna get without Retrospec. Tons of information started floating around once we got back from unreality. Seemed to imply that Retrospec is what's been keeping this city in one piece.

[Now that's interesting. She never heard about that...for obvious reasons.]

How?

[ He finally rises and seats himself properly at the table. ]

My group found data on some flash drives in space about something called the "Recollé Project". Had a map of the city on it and everything. It went on about the "rebirth of worlds" and claimed that preserving one life from a world would be enough to help it take root again, as long as the specimen started regaining ties to the world. It's "less about reincarnation, more about reconstruction."

From what I've heard about Retrospec's employees, they're dedicated to keeping the project on track. They gave us everything we needed to fight off the "reality storm", and it seemed important to them that we all got home safe. It sounds like the company's seen its share of infighting in the past, so who knows if the motives at the top are pure, but I'd say the grunts we come in contact with are serious about having noble intent.

OCTOBER TDM

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