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

[ STORY OF HER LIFE

But if she puts this much effort into everything she does, something must come of it, even if it's the tiniest of realizations that they can maybe filter out whatever it is the ghost has stolen. She turns on her heels and falls into step next to Hinata, wishing she had something on hand to simply chuck at the ghost and knock it out of its hands, or at least let it pass through its head out of spite. ]

Think a soccer net might work, or are the holes too big? Bet we can find something at the school or the park, either way!

Soccer net should do it~! After all, what it stole is bigger than that! It's a basket of goodies! Hey, you'll get half or more of course! Let's go go go!

[ TRY TO CHASE IT TO THE PARK - they could probably be doing something better than this with their lives and yet. ]

[ Mafuyu would put her life on the line to rescue a basket of goodies a ghost can't even eat. Hinata's faster than her, so she'll leave the bulk of the chasing to him, peeling off to the side so she can cut through the alleyways again. ]

Keep it going, and I'll pop in from the right to drive it towards the park! Meet you there!

[ They're close, so it shouldn't take long, and it's a nice day out and hopefully the nets are already set up so they can swoop in and interrupt a game and go ghost hunting with the soccer net raised over their shoulders in the same way other kids leisurely catch butterflies in the summer. ]

[ hinata is actually a good cook i can't believe mafuyu now has a chef on retainer? who specializes in sweets? ]

Roger~! ♪

[ AND HINATA WILL MEET HER TO SWOOP UP A NET which they almost definitely steel from some innocent soccer players, leaving a lot of yells in their wake... ]

[ She needs nobody else. Hinata is her only CR now.

The screaming tells her that the ghost has been herded in the right direction, and Mafuyu follows right after it to see a handful of indignant and tearful grade schoolers, but before she can tell them they'll get the net back, or offer some of the goodies for lending it to them, or tell them to stop yelling for a second so she can yell over them, the ghost pops into view and they scream, fleeing from the park and that solves that problem.

They left behind their soccer ball too, which Mafuyu immediately kicks up on one foot and dribbles as she sprints down the field until the ghost is caught in between her and Hinata. ]

Pass!

[ She shoots the ball towards Hinata— it goes right through the ghost as expected, but that also catches it off guard, almost dropping the basket in surprise. ]

[ she can call him up at 3am and be like MAKE ME SWEETS and he'll be like OKAY, SURE, this is terrible.

also, hinata is good with athletics; he's keeping pace easily, and he catches the ball with his knee and bumps it into the air, before preforming a spinning kick to send it sailing back. ]

Pass, pass!

[ he does this without twisting the net. while the ghost is shook as heck, THEY CAN PRESUMABLY SLIDE THE NET THROUGH IT AND SECURE THEIR BASKET! ]

[ This ghost chose the wrong pair of people to terrorize, the ball sailing through its head, the ghost stuck between the two of them who it could pass right through, but not without getting the basket snatched away now that they're prepared for it. That moment's hesitation is enough for the net to fall from overhead, Mafuyu stomping down on the metal pole in triumph as it catches the basket and pins it to the ground. ]

Ha! Give up, ghost! We're taking this ba—AAAAAHH!!

[ Whatever ghosty magic it used to carry the basket, the net isn't immune from, the entire thing hurtling twenty feet into the air with the two of them still hanging onto it. ]

Whoa whoa WHOA!

[ UNFORTUNATELY they quickly passed the acceptable limit for like. jumping off this net, whoops, and if the ghost goes higher - ]

Mafu~~yu! Think you can grab a tree with your feet? We're gonna have to brace against something!

[ - THIS IS A STUPID PLAN WHAT THE FUCK. but hinata is already adjusting how he dangles here, trying to hook a foot around something to stop them flying forward. ]

[ She's not sure about that, but she tries anyways, throwing a foot out and the net slightly off balance as her side of it passes by a tree— not being able to gauge her own strength just means her leg kicks apart the tree branches, accomplishing nothing but tearing up her leg. ]

No good! Let's try this—- catch!

[ She shrugs off her jacket and flings one arm sleeve over towards Hinata. ]

Cover up the holes! It'll be like steering a kite!

[ MAYBE???? This is so stupid, but what's new, the only way to solve things is to try everything, even if that thing is parasailing a soccer net. ]

Catch~! [ sing-songed as he catches the jacket, but. uh. ]

Mmhm, that's a grand idea! [ NO IT'S NOT ] I'll do my best! Hinata Aoi's jacket, adding to the fray!

[ because two? jackets? to parasail is better than one? he's tying them together and trying to make a parachute thing to steer with...

the ghost is looking back at them like "what the actual fuck, man", and that's fair. they deserve the judgement of the undead. ]

[ The ghost just... stares... It's ghosty magic lifting them up and not a real gust of wind so honestly, the ghost should just dash them into the ground and give them a merciful death. But no. Mafuyu ties her end of the sleeve to the post, the fabric of the two jackets catching air and creating enough drag that their ride stabilizes for a miraculous moment. ]

What d'you think: should we aim for the Towers, or go for a water landing?

A water landing! It's a little like jet skiing, isn't it?!

[ HINATA, YOU'VE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE EITHER, HOW IS THAT BETTER ]

[ Water landing/drowning/dying it is! The ocean is a much bigger target than the Towers, so this is easily done, the jackets doing a fine job— until Mafuyu's knot comes undone and their sail gets torn apart, leaving them to plummet towards the sand. ]

[ AND THEN THEY DIE

no probably what happens is hinata panics just as much as mafuyu but tries to

ok well ]

Hey!!! We'll let you keep the basket, just saaaaaaaaave us!

[ appeal to the ghost.............. ]

[ Appealing is good... The ghost, who has been watching over them all this time as if watching a train wreck, hears Hinata's pleas and decides to be benevolent, maybe doing a good deed will save him from the hell that is the pair of them and it can pass peacefully onto the afterlife.

The net stops in midair right over the sand and tips the two of them over and out onto the ground— which parts as soon as their feet touches it and they sink down like it's quicksand until they're buried all the way up to their necks, just stay there forever and stay out of trouble, kids. ]

OCTOBER TDM

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