repeter | OCTOBER TDM

Entry tags:

! 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

[It's not as if Booker is a technophobe, but Rosalind can't remember the last time she saw him hunched over his phone. Although, to be fair, it's not as if they spend all their time together, so perhaps this is simply a new side of him.

It's a side he's going to have to put away for the moment, though; she's impatient as she strides (almost perfectly, she's only a little breathless, her foot aches only a bit) towards him. But oh, I never even downloaded this, and she raises an eyebrow.]

And what app is it that has you so intrigued?

[ Oh this game is complete garbage.

Total garbage.

Which is why he's playing it and getting ridiculously entranced in it. But the second he hears Rosalind's voice, he damn near tosses his phone to the ground. Booker jolts, but it's brief enough that he hides the fact that she startled him in the first place.

Damn it, Ros.

Booker huffs, turning the phone around to Rosalind. ]

Won't let me close out.

[ FIX IT. ]

Edited 2017-10-25 19:13 (UTC)

I'm a professor, not a cell phone expert.

[But she's taking the phone anyway, because she's nosy and it's easier just to look for herself. And while he's a new user, she isn't-- so the moment she takes his phone, Retrospec unlocks itself for her, her picture appearing in the corner just as it always does.]

There, now. Look at this.

[Will he be able to see it? Probably, Rosalind thinks, and feels a strange sort of swoop in her stomach.]

[ Booker offers nothing more than a feint little grunt to her argument. Obviously she has it figured out, because he hears the stupid sounds for the stupid game shut off. He perks a brow, peeking over her shoulder.

His brow furrows. It seems to instantly unlock and appear with Rosalind's name and picture. Which makes zero sense to him. ]

It never did that before.

I didn't tell you to download something, Ros. Do I look like the kinda guy to pay for an unlimited data plan?

You need to learn to stop whining.

[But even her irritation at his gruffness can't temper her growing pleasure. So he's got this app, does he? So he's finally part of their odd little group, and good lord, she makes it sound like a cult when she thinks about it like that, but no matter.]

It's not an app I downloaded, and it's not one you'll ever be able to remove from your phone. But on the plus side, it shan't cost you a penny.

[A beat, and she glances behind her, just enough to smile. God, but she loves being cryptic.]

It does rather change your perception of things, though.

That wasn't--

[ Goddamnit. This back and forth is never going to stop, is it?

Booker snatches his phone back while Rosalind explains, and it doesn't at all make sense to him. It can't be removed?

Needless to say, the second he takes his phone back, the game of Candy Crush is running again. Booker exhales a sound of irritation; he really can't stand this new technology these days. Too complicated, it doesn't work and--

The game is over with. One accidental tap, and suddenly the app unlocks, revealing his picture and his name.

Booker DeWitt.

Booker raises his brow and tilts his head back a touch. ]

The hell is this?

Edited 2017-10-26 18:48 (UTC)

Welcome to Retrospec, Booker.

[She comes in next to him, peering at the cell phone. And yes, there he is, and oh, this is delightful, she's gotten so tired of lying to him about everything going on in her life.]

Come along. Buy me something from some hideous street vendor that isn't Halloween themed and I'll explain as we walk.

[ Retrospec?

Booker looks about as confused as ever, but he's not exactly the type to outright voice it. Not intentionally, at least. But he doesn't like being confused, and he certainly doesn't like being left in the dark. This is apparently something Rosalind has known about for a while, and she's refrained from telling him. He doesn't necessarily have to know everything about her, but she's the closest thing to a best friend he'll ever have so this is... Unexpected.

Rosalind demands he buy her food, and he's back to scoffing and rolling his eyes. Booker puts his phone back in his pocket, deciding to walk alongside her. ]

Right, because I'm the one living in a decked out apartment full of fancy antiques and lab equipment.

Don't worry, I'm all for feeding the poor.

[ HE'S GOT THE TAB. SURE. DON'T YOU WORRY. ]

What did I just tell you about whining? It's not an attractive trait.

[But she falls into step next to him. Tugging out her own phone, she offers it to Booker-- not to hold, but to simply look at. There's the Retrospec app, and once she opens it, there she is: Rosalind Lutece, her picture sensible and, unfortunately, sporting cat ears.

Fucking Retrospec.]

It's an app made about a year by a company based in the city. It installs on any device you use, computers or cell phones, and it will transfer to anyone's device. If you were to take my phone now-- and don't, please-- it would log you in.

It's a small community of users-- I think there's about two hundred of us right now. And it . . .

[She pauses, trying to think of how to say this. But then, finally:]

It warps reality.

[ Booker doesn't even bother getting into it about the whining and how "unattractive" it is. That's a road he knows better than to tread on by now, and so he holds off.

He does, however, raise a brow to the cat ears on her profile picture. Booker opens his mouth to say something, but Rosalind continues before he can.

Looking at the app itself, it's completely unfamiliar. But oddly elaborate. He walks in toe to her, neck craned as he looks over her shoulder to look at the application and register its interface. Pretty straight forward, there are connections to social media, widgets... Nothing he's got a good understanding of, but he knows a "tap here" directive when he sees it.

At the last part, however, Booker finally snorts. He shakes his head. ]

Warps reality.

[ He doesn't sound convinced. ]

Very funny.

Booker, what color are my eyes?

[She doesn't glance up at him as she says it. Let him discover this on his own.]

[ He almost panics at that question. Mostly because 1. It's gotta be a trap and 2. Has he ever paid attention enough to remember what they're supposed to be?

Think, Booker, think. Don't try to look at them, because then you've ousted yourself.

Wait. ]

Blue.

[Correct. And yet she glances up at him, her eyes somewhat widened so he can see their color: grey, now, a color she's still resentful over.]

[ Well, she doesn't tell him he's wrong, so maybe it's not a--

Rosalind looks at him, and Booker stops. He takes an abrupt step back and his eyes widen a little, until his brow outright furrows and he points to her phone. ]

You're trying to tell me that this, this invasive app, is warping reality.

As a respected physicist. You believe that.

[ Look, maybe this is just an elaborate joke. ]

Edited 2017-10-26 19:38 (UTC)

. . . I haven't solved it yet. But yes. I believe it because I've spent nearly six months having to live through oddity after oddity, and after a certain point, denying it is simply pointless.

Colors are gone. Certain animals are gone. You'll start to think things are strange, though everyone around you will assure you things have always been this way.

[ Booker squints. ]

Six months.

[ And he's hearing this now from her? They talk damn-near every day. ]

Who have you been buying from?

[ Drug dealer. Names. He needs names. ]

Who have I--

[The penny drops.]

I'm not taking drugs!

[Whoops, she said that a little too loudly.]

[ Booker keeps a pretty cool expression here, but he’s not convinced. Clued in precisely by the way he crosses his arms. ]

I’ve been living in this town for close to a year now. Never saw or heard of any of this, and now you’re telling me?

You wouldn't have believed me if I told you. You barely believe me now, and if I tried to show you--

[No, you know what? There's an easier way to prove it. Rosalind glances around until she meets the eyes of a random man.]

Come here, please. Tell me what app you see on this phone.

[The man stares down at her phone, then back up at the two of them with a nervous chuckle. Is this some kind of prank show? There's nothing . . .?]

[ Booker isn’t quite convinced. Not at first, but Rosalind goes on and now she’s pulling a man aside and— ]

Ros, you ca—

[ She does anyway. Grabbing the man’s attention where he looks about as confused as ever and finally admits to seeing nothing but a plain screen. Booker knits his brow again, leaning forward to look at the screen.

Not only does it show Retrospec, it switches to his name when he gets close enough.

Booker gapes. ]

... Scratch the food cart. We’re going to my place.

[ Because this seems like a deeper conversation. ]

[I told you, she doesn't say, but it's clearly written on her expression. Everyone should always believe her no matter what she says, because she's always right.]

You can ask questions on the way, if you'd like.

[ Jesus Christ, this is... He's not even sure how to register it. It's bizarre, and honestly makes little to no sense to him. Rosalind's a put-together type, smart; he has no doubt she has some sort of logical outline to this whole thing...

He grabs his phone again, taking another look, staring at the strange application, squinting at the fact that his profile picture has devil horns and an obnoxious, swirling mustache beneath his nose. Booker purses his lips, scrolling through and finding the network posts that were never there previously. ]

So, for starters.

Why?

Why do you suddenly have it?

[She shrugs. The smirk is fading from her face.]

It's random chance, as far as we understand. There's no pattern to those who come here . . . ages, sexes, races, occupations, social statuses, all are different. The only constant is that we all live in this city.

[ His lips press into a fine line. ]

And the changes in reality are owed to... What? A magic app? That's it.

No. More like . . . a company that has the ability to warp and change our reality.

[She glances up at him, all traces of mirth leaving her expression.]

I still don't entirely understand how, but I do understand pieces of it. But I suspect you wouldn't be interested in the science behind it.

SLAMS IN HERE

HI

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

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject