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

[ Hooray! He's done a good deed. ]

That's true... but I don't have any regular cigarettes. [ Those things'll kill ya! ]

Maybe the ghost thinks you should quit?

Tch! Only thing worse than a thief is a ghost that can't mind its own business.

[At which point the ghost just cackles while it circles the duo mid-air. Huh, it must feed off temperamental assholes.]

... Maybe if I got a ladder... no, that's dumb, even for me...

[A soft muttering as he squints his eyes in thought, rubbing his chin -- sorry Jamie you sweet summer child, Sanji's already forgotten you're standing there]

[ Time to give it the old college try! Jamie cups one hand around his mouth and calls out in an earnest but courteous voice: ] Excuse me, Mx. Ghost! Sorry to bother you, but could you please return that cigarette? This gentleman here needs it for physiological reasons!

-- Oi oi, stop making me sound uncool...

[That's a petulant complaint at best, seeing as Sanji's staring in Jamie's direction with honest surprise. Is he really pulling double duty trying to help him get his cigarette back?

Even the ghost seems intrigued by this development... except two seconds later sticks out its tongue and gives the two of them a raspberry. NO DICE, IT'S HIS NOW. To add insult to injury, it darts low enough to just barely graze the top of their heads, hooting in delight]

Oh to hell with you then! At least light it if you're not gonna give the shitty thing back!

Oh...? Sorry... you said you had a nicotine craving, so I just assumed you were chemically dependent. [ guess it's true what they say about what happens when you assume... it makes you look like a douchebag.

Anyway, he watches as the ghostly action continues... ]

Oh well. We tried.
...It's kind of strange that it can hold on to a corporeal object, isn't it? I wonder what kind of principles are involved.

... Corporeal, did you say?

[Glancing at Jamie, then back at the ghost (holy shit, he's right), then Jamie... until finally Sanji's eyes light up like the devil and he bends down, picking up a stray rock near his shoe.]

Good observation.

[He launches the rock at the ghost's head and nearly scares the thing shitless. The cigarette is dropped immediately]

Hooo, that worked.

Ah!
Wow, it really worked...
Ghosts are pretty strange entities, if you think about it.

[ He'd like to congratulate Sanji, but this seems like a pyrrhic victory, because now the cigarette's lying on the dirty ground...
Surely Sanji doesn't still want it...
Like, no judgment or anything, but... ]

[Walking over

Bending down

Picking up the dirtied cigarette

... Wiping it on a piece of his shirt like it ain't no big thing

So in all actuality, Jamie should be judging the hell out of him, especially when Sanji glances over like he lost all shits to give.]

Damn bastards need to stay out of my way, is what I think.

[He punctuates the statement by jabbing the tip of his cigarette in Jamie's direction - don't forget it, kid!! - but before he can finally enjoy his hard earned winnings, there's a screech and a holler above them, the ghost circling above their heads in a flurry of motion.

Right before it dive bombs the two students, so. They might want to duck out of the way]

[ ...despite all evidence to the contrary, Jamie's still holding out hope that Sanji's not going to put it back in his mouth at this point. Like, no judgment!!!! ...but wow, it would just be great if he didn't!!

Lol, but he is using it to gesture forcefully at Jamie. Rude tbh.

--But there's a more pressing matter at hand!! Jamie's a little slow to dodge, but he's quick to answer the vengeful ghost's howl with his own battle cry: ]

Not in the face!!

[That battle cry was so lame both the ghost and Sanji stare at Jamie like "For real." Judgment has been cast.

-- The ghost also gets close enough to lick Sanji in the face because apparently it's all about that kind of humor. Why hurt your targets when you can just gross them out?]

THE HELL? YOU NASTY-ASS, SHIT-FACED--

[Sanji's definitely not smoking that cig now, that's for sure]

[ Hey, they can judge all they like; what's important is that he got results. A ghost didn't like his face, after all. ]

Oh, gosh.
...
I guess I'll leave you two to it?

OCTOBER TDM

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