repeter | OCTOBER TDM

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! tdm

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

[He gives her a sour look and curls his lips in a way that shows some of his pointed teeth, grinding together.]

Or not aim at all.

[He tosses a ring and it lands -- on a tiny green frog.]

Oops?

[WHAT IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THAT?!?]

[ This time, she doesn’t even try to hide a laugh. ]

Maybe if you kiss it it’ll become a prince?

[ Snickering, Ochako turns to line up her own shot. This one falls a little short, not even hitting anything so much as leaning against a smiling little ghost. She frowns, and goes for the next ring. ]

Just one more try… I’ll get it this time.

[He makes a face, looking at the copy of the frog he was handed over with a big fuss.]

A princess would be better...

[Grumble grumble, at least she's got the same bad luck. Cutter watches her, but since it's literally the last of their rings he figures he can be nice.]

Here, try it standing and holding it like this.

[He moves behind her and places a hand on her shoulder, gently pulling and nudging her to stand a little straighter and more to the side so that the hand that's going to toss the ring aligns with her head when she is taking aim.]

Well, you never know until you try!

[ The last thing Ochako expects is for him to offer advice, but maybe they both need a win here? A real one, not just a maybe-frog prince. With Cutter’s hand to guide her, she adjusts easily to squint over the ring. And if she aims a little further right like before, but with a little less power behind it...

Before she can ruin her form, she tosses the ring and holds her breath in anticipation. It’s going to be close again, Ochako thinks, but will it hit…?

She stares in shock when it actually does, but only for a second. Then she’s throwing her arms in the air, giving a little hop and whooping in victory. ]

We did it! Finally. It feels like I've been here all afternoon.

You probably were. [He smirks at her, pleased at himself for being a big help to the key to victory.

Cutter steps back to dodge her little victory dance and crosses his arms in front of his chest, head cocked to the side.]

Doesn't need a hero to get something like this done right, huh? Congratulations.

Maybe you were the hero all along and you just don't know it yet.

[ Ochako sticks her tongue out at him, blowing a quick raspberry before turning imperiously to go collect her prize. She… actually has no idea what it’s supposed to be, she realizes belatedly. She’d mostly just wanted to prove she could hit it.

And she did, help or no help! It counts! So she simply smiles at the clerk and points at the target as if he hadn’t already been watching. ]

That one!

Yeah, the hero of teaching people how to properly shoot maybe.

[He rolls his eyes, knowing that they have been many times over this and will be even more with neither of them willing to budge.]

You owe me one after this!

Hey, you missed just as much as I did!

[ Statistically that has to be true, right? Like, percentage-wise? Cutter may have played a few rounds less than she did but he missed plenty, too!

And it turns out the prize for hitting that particular jar is... the biggest Toblerone that Ochako has ever seen? She stares at it in wide-eyed surprise as the clerk hands it over. What's she supposed to do with this?

She turns sly eyes back to Cutter. ]

If you take half of this, I don't owe you anything.

[ Half the prize for half the effort of winning, right? ]

I wasn't aiming for anything in particular, though! [He is quick to jump to his defense, but when he sees her prize Cutter cracks up.]

Wow! A giant chocolate bar?! You musta been really hungry to work that hard for that! Hahaha-ah?

[Wait, what? He eyes the Toblerone again, mouth already opening to say no when an idea strikes him and he changes his mind.]

Deal. I can use that as a thank you gift the next time I see a certain girl.

I didn't know what the prize was!

[ She gives a little huff, cheeks puffed out in irritation as she starts to hand the candy bar over. But at Cutter's words, she pauses, a sly grin spreading on her face.

That may have been the wrong thing to say. ]

A "certain girl," huh? Is that the princess you wanted?

Dude. Why did you try that hard for something you didn't even know what it was?!

[Where's the logic in that?!

Cutter's eyes widen in realization of what he's just done and he stumbles back, shaking his head.]

Ohhh no! No! Forget it!

Maybe I just wanted to prove I could do it!

[ Even if that took a little help...

But she shakes that off and takes a step forward, laughing. ]

You can't just say that and expect me not to ask! C'mon, Cutter, who is she?

Nobody you need to know about! Not what you think she is to me, either!

[He's not helping his case by turning red.]

You're blushing.

[ She wouldn't normally press like this, but Cutter's always fun to mess with, and he's definitely making the effort worthwhile! ]

Do I know her?

How the hell am I supposed to know?! Do I look like I keep tabs on your social contacts?!

[The more she pokes, the more he gets flustered even though this is silly because there isn't anything to get flustered over at all! She's just messing with him and he knows that, but he can't help but react anyway.]

[ She claps her hands together, smiling. ]

Then it won't matter if you tell me who she is, will it?

[He stares at her.

Squints.]

...No. You're not going to out-female-logic me to spill it to you. It's not even romantic so knock it off, will you.

"Out-female-logic?"

[ That one makes Ochako pause, squinting dubiously back at him. Well okay, whatever. ]

So what is it, then? Because people don't usually blush like that if they're just friends.

[ She says as if she'd know anything about that, but that's beside the point! ]

You really want to know something, but because you want to know it you're trying to make me think that it's unimportant whether you know it or not! That's a logic like a pretzel!

[Not that Cutter is above trying the same thing as well. But it's about the principle!]

I'm blushing because you're indicating we could be more than that!

[ Oooooookay. She just stares at him for a moment, unimpressed, and... laughs. ]

You're putting way more thought into this than I did. [ Just for the record. ] I was just thinking about how you said you'd wanted a princess and all, but if it's that big a deal, then...

[ SHRUG. ]

So do you want part of this for your girl or not?

I was just joking about the princess thing. [He has to try hard to not to pout at her. Or do the manly version of it at least, already because pouting nowadays results in him biting his lips open really fast.]

Yes. But they're not "my" girl! [He shudders at the thought.]

You’re a little defensive about her, aren’t you?

[ Just one more little prod, and now she’s done. For real this time! So she’s going to drop it there and just hold out the candy bar so Cutter can get his portion. ]

Okay, but hurry up! I still want to see the haunted house today.

You'd be too if you were talking about a guy who's almost twice as old as you.

[He bares his teeth at her but then takes her offer and helps himself to the candy bar - exactly half of it, just like they said.]

...thanks. This should work as a house-warming gift. Wait, the haunted house? I heard that there's something off with it.

[ Twice as old…? The temptation to throw in another jab about that is hard to resist, but she does anyway. No point in dragging that conversation out. ]

What do you mean? It didn’t look so bad - just a bunch of cheesy Halloween decorations.

[ She’s not ashamed to admit she likes those. ]

[He isn't going to tell her the story about him and the acting teacher of one of his best friends, so it's good she isn't digging any more. Or the story about him, the maybe?crossdresser and the housewarming party. Or some of the stuff that goes on at his working place since Club Sunshine believes in equal chances for everybody.

Come to think of it, his life has definitely taken a turn for the weird ever since he arrived in this city.]

I dunno... [He squirms and rubs his head.] Seems like some people are taking weird ways out of it. Or aren't coming out, somethin' like that.

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