NOVEMBER TDM

[recollecters]

TEST DRIVE

NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE The city of Recollé... What do you mean the city's behaving for once? I. The Mayor's growing desperate with Thanksgiving right around the corner as those gosh darn turkeys continue to elude him. The birds that escaped at the beginning of the month continue to wreak havoc over the city as they mingle with the crowds and lay their golden eggs in less than convenient places. However, with the clock counting down to Turkey Day, the birds appear to be a little more aggressive. You may find yourself actively chased out of a shop or your classroom by one of these wild birds gobbling angrily all the way. Perhaps a bird is nesting in the middle of the sidewalk forcing you to take a new path. Or perhaps you've come across one of their golden eggs, but be careful! It doesn't take more than a gentle touch now for these eggs to explode, showering anyone nearby with surprises such as candy, shaving cream, mud, bugs, plastic cars, crayons or other small tokens. Will you attempt to catch the birds to turn them into city hall for the $50 reward? Or are you too busy running around to avoid them? II. Even with the turkeys on rampage, that doesn't damper the holiday season. Citizens from all over the city are preparing for the festivities of the month. Over at Tribunal Terrace several members from various volunteer groups and the Community Center are organizing their small annual Thanksgiving day parade that kicks off the city's potluck dinner. Grocery stores are swamped with shoppers picking up last-minute supplies for their big meals and you may find yourself fighting for that last jar of gravy. Over at the community theater, children prepare for their Thanksgiving pageant and it's a flurry of activity from costumes to rehearsals to last-minute stage preparation before the big day. There's plenty of work to be done whether you're acting in the pageant or working on-set. The theater will need as many volunteers as possible to pull this show off. Granted, there are plenty of things to go wrong in the chaos. One of the parade floats begins to drift away from Tribunal Terrace and rolls down the street on its own leaving volunteers to chase after it and fight off an onslaught of turkeys. Lights blow out in the theater and some wiring and set pieces need to be repaired. And did that person's grocery cart of food just hit your car? Good luck. Are you prepared for your celebrations and willing to help your fellow neighbor? Or are you a last-minute straggler left high and dry? III. Earlier in the month several stores had discounted prices on all things blue and it looks like the prices just keep dropping. With green fully restored to all items in the city, items such as clothing, art supplies and food change prices every hour, on the hour. The city of Recollé knows a good bargain when it sees it and hundreds of people hit the streets to snatch up what stock they can. It's like Black Friday came early and after a while some stores can't even keep up with demand. Maybe you're among the crowd hunting for just the right shade of green for your holiday packages, or perhaps you're some poor sap who got called into work at 6am on your day off to deal with a swarm of customers. No matter who you are though, you will find yourself having to answer the age-old question: which color is better, green or blue? IV. The blue skies have only been back for a few weeks before the gray of winter rolls in again. The wind picks up a little and the ocean crashes against the shore down at Peach Beach. The city grows dark each day beginning at about 4:30pm and the temperature drops little by little. It's on November 18th that residents will find that there's a bit of frost on their windows when they wake up that Saturday. Toward the early afternoon, the first snowfall of the season begins. It's nothing much, mostly flurries that swirl and dance through the air and cause a burst of excitement among people. Some residents may even remember it's very similar to the Founder's Day holiday. Though this won't be the last time it snows in the city, there's something magical about the first sign of winter as fall exits. Get out there and build a tiny snowman or catch snowflakes on your tongue. At least the turkeys seem to retreat from the snow itself. BONUS. Over the course of the month residents will find that the spotty reception they've always had has grown even worse. Static rings out over the line and long-distance calls stop going through. Emails bounce back despite numerous attempts, and don't even think about getting clear audio or video through Skype. No matter how hard one tries, by November 30th it will become incredibly clear that all phone calls, texts, emails and video chats to people outside of the city have been shut down. The internet will continue to function as normal (browse and share those cat videos to your heart's content) and inner-city communication functions just fine. You can try calling your service provider...but who knows if you'll get through? And last but not least in the world of inconveniences, in some instances your calls and emails may be rerouted to fellow Retrospec users. Sorry about that! 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, 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 November TDM directory is here, and your AU workshop is here! Our mod questions thread for this TDM is over here!

Comments

Harry Potter (Jamie Lim) | Harry Potter | Nonna

[phoenixchild]

[Jamie Lim is a 25 year journalist at Recolle Times, looks more like the guy who portrayed him/Harry, and is an adopted child of Chinese Filipinos. You can find his workshop top-level here or you can contact me at NonnaMari or at Discord (Mariposa21 #4257).]


I. TURKEY SEASON!
Turkeys gone cujo, really? Jamie looked stumped as he sees in front of him a plethora of wild living turkeys running around the front area of Recolle Times building as he got out from work one late afternoon.

He felt tempted to catch these fat feathered fiends, but even being a journalist himself, he wasn’t sure if he’s willing to run around and tackle turn them like a headless chicken, therefore nearing screwing up his reputation he has been growing since joining the publication after graduation. Still, he would like to give a try. So he grabbed the nearest flying shopping bag, and started chasing the turkeys down like there’s no tomorrow. Of course, that’s going to be an interesting story to write about: imagine that, Jamie Lim, a journalist of Recolle Times, hunting down turkeys a few days before Thanksgiving. As stupid as it sounds, of course.

He pulled off a good fight, probably capturing two or three and gathering a couple of golden eggs, but it proved to be a nightmare for him: turkeys, alarmed by his presence, went nuts and started to peck on him.

“Diyos, patulong na ako!?!” He panicked in the inside as the turkeys kept on harassing him.

II. Thanksgiving Shopping
Freshens is more packed than usual, so shopping for a good meal for this time can be a pain in the butt. This even frustrated Jamie, who’s looking forward to help out in the family kitchen for the holidays since his roommate’s going to be having dinner with some family members this time again (for odd reasons beyond), as he tries to navigate around the throngs of shoppers in the supermarket. Ay naku!, How long could this get more crowded? he grumbled, as he began to feel tired from trying to keep his patience afloat.

It did changed when he comes across the produce section: his eyes gleamed in excitement as he gazes at the cranberries, not-living apples, and gourds of butternut squash. He was assigned to make a vegetable/fruit side dish this year, and he happened to come across a recipe that have those ingredients. Thank God that he has the other ingredients the recipe calls for. He happily took them, got them weighed, and proceed to check for other things the dinner might need.

IV. Winter is Coming (Sorry, Gotta use that Games of Thrones inside nod somewhere!!)
Jamie woke up to notice that his bedroom window in his Tisse apartment has 'fog' and frost all around it and all over. Wiping the residue will reveal to him that winter is slowly entering into her shift. That means one thing: snow ball fights are going to inevitable to avoid.

Wanting to check it out, he quickly took a shower, changing into some winter appropriate clothing, munched a bowl of cereal & milk and chugged down a glass of water, and headed outside. Snow is falling delicately, like flower petals in spring. Just as he continues to look around this winter wonderland, he felt a snowball landed on his beanie hat.

Bonus
[The text has Jamie asking a relative from the Philippines if they got a message from him. But it failed, pardon the foreign language usage.]

Nakuha mo ba ang mensahe mula sa akin? - Jamie (OOC Note: Translation: Did you got the message from me?)

Wildcard
Come on, throw a prompt at me or anything. You can find his workshop top-level here or you contact me at NonnaMari or at Discord (Mariposa21 #4257).

bonus

[floret]

[ ...well, this is confusing.
Google Translate, don't fail him now! ]

Oo, ito ay Jamie. Hindi ko mabasa ang Tagalog. Ako ay humihingi ng paumanhin!

Re: bonus

[phoenixchild]

[What!?! Another Jamie replied my message?!? he looked horrified. Since when did overseas contact became useless now? But he has to explain himself.]

Ako ay si Jamie Lim. Sorry for the inconvenience, I was trying to message a relative abroad. Wait, your name's Jamie too?!?

[floret]

Yes, I'm Jamie Doh! Are we really both Jamie? That's so unexpected.
I've been having trouble messaging my family recently too. I hope all my texts aren't being routed to various other Jamies.

[phoenixchild]

Funny, my full name is actually James Alexander Ortega Lim. I apologize if you can't read the foreign language in the message above, that's what happens if you're raised in a family of Chinese Filipinos. I bet we can just talk about this in English, since you admitted that you're not well-versed in Tagalog or Filipino.

My family doesn't care if me and my siblings don't talk in Hokkien in a daily basis or in Filipino among our social circles, since most of our friends come in various racial bloodlines. But we do speak in them fluently, just among ourselves or with other Tsinoys/Chinese/Filipinos. So don't worry.

[floret]

I see . . . My full name is Jamie Takahiko Doh!

lol yes, let's type in English. I just used an online translator earlier.
In my family we speak English and Japanese. Mostly just English outside the house.

i

[compendiem]

This is exactly why Minato doesn't like being outside. Winter and the cold is one thing, but birds that attack any moving object is something else entirely, so that he's not even safe inside the protection of his car. He's sitting there right now, in a traffic jam in the middle of the street caused by half a dozen turkeys, with frequent glances split between the clock on the dashboard and wherever all these turkeys are headed. Apparently, the latter is to attack this poor scrub on the sidewalk, who Minato watches impassively for a handful of seconds, waiting for the crowd of birds to pass so he can inch through the crowd and get to work, but there's also leaving this guy to get pecked half to death, so...

The honk of his car horn blares and cuts through the air, momentarily scattering the startled turkeys away from Jamie in a flurry of feathers and talons. From inside the car, Minato waves him over towards the passenger's side, unlocking the door in case Jamie wanted to take advantage of the temporary reprieve.

Oh God, FINALLY!!!

[phoenixchild]

Jamie was so relieved that a stranger was kind to let him to get into the car as quick as possible. Sure, he still needs some medical help, but he couldn't afford to make his dad worry about his current status right away. Parents are really that worrisome.

"Gee, thanks," he thanked Minato as he got inside, "I didn't thought that we're anticipating the attack of the killer turkeys! How long could they keep on coming?"

[compendiem]

Minato shrugs at the question, turning his attention back on the road as he manages to roll forward another five or so feet before the turkeys start crowding back in front of the car and he has to blast his horn again to get them to move.

"They've been around all month," he mumbles, which is usual mode of speaking regardless of concentrating on driving, seriously contemplating just running over the birds and turning them back into the mayor like that.

"People haven't had much luck capturing them," he explains, "Likely, they'll establish some feral turkey colony in the city at this rate."

[phoenixchild]

"No way," Jamie gasped, as the car drove away from the RT Building, "Are they that ravenous?"

Traffic is hell on the road, cars, buses, and motorcycles clogging up the streets. He didn't brought along his trusty motorcycle today, as he had taken the bus earlier that morning. As for those turkeys, he must've wondered if his buddy Derek is going to fine with the turkey madness. What if he got hospitalized from those attacks? He couldn't bear to see one of his closest friends died so soon, especially with him trying to propose to his girl. But right now, it's just him and his unlikely savior.

"By the way, after this mess, I won't look at turkeys the same way ever again," he muttered, before realizing he forgot to introduce himself, "Hey, what's your name, kid? My name's Jamie Lim, journalist for Recolle Times, I was already leaving for home from that building when, you know, those turkeys showed up and turned me into their punching bag."

[compendiem]

The first question gets Jamie another shrug from him; who knows what's going on inside the turkeys' minds? Minato would have thought they'd escape out into the woods instead of lingering in the city streets, but logically, the city is where the food is. Not people, particularly, but vegetation and fruit and nuts and all sorts of crumbs and tasty morsels people leave scattered around all the time. He doubts they'll be able to round up all the turkeys soon, but at the very very least, it seems like the eggs they've been hatching are nonviable, so overpopulation will be a future problem, not a current one.

Minato glances up at the rear view mirror, spotting turkeys first and the Recolle Times building after. "Name's Arisato," he says after a pause, distracted, and then sits back in his seat once it's clear that less and less turkeys are moving with each subsequent honk of his horn. They're learning that the noise doesn't come with any real danger, and it's starting to faze them less each time.

"What district do you live in? I'm headed to work at Expressive, but if it's on the way, I can drop you off." If it's not, too bad. Jamie's going to Expressive with him, or walking the rest of the way. "Or at a bus stop or wherever."

IV

[blondferret]

[With Jamie moving around the apartment, Derek instantly woke. It's Saturday, why the bloody hell is he up? Realizing his window is still open from leaving that way for Bronte and seeing that Bronte is sitting on one of his bookshelves, his head under a wing, Derek climbs out of bed. Instantly the cold air his his bare feet and he hisses in annoyance.]

Cold, cold, cold.

[He stands to close the window when he stops, horrified by what he sees. SNOW!]

Nooo...danm it. It's already started.

[To say the least, Derek doesn't like snow. After the initial feeling of dread, he closes the window and looks around for his roommate. Realizing that Jamie was nowhere in the apartment, he puts on some slippers and walks out onto the balcony. He looks down and sees Jamie below him, a few feet to his left. Smirking, Derek reaches down and gathers some snow that has landed on the balcony and quickly makes a snowball. Holding his ammunition over the side, he aims and lets the snowball drop.]

Snowball FIGHT!!!

[phoenixchild]

"Dude, what the hell?" Jamie looked surprised, turning around to find Derek mischievously making another snow ball right at the balcony.

Of course, you know what this means, pal: this calls for a snowball war!!

Jamie went ahead to make his own snowballs and threw some at Derek for all the laughs and giggles. Minus the cruel intentions, what else?

(OOC: I assume Derek avoided some of the snow balls, so go figure!)

Re: Snowball FIGHT!!!

[blondferret]

[Derek does a fake maniacal laugh when Jamie fails to hit him.]

It's over Jamie! I have the high ground!

[Derek pelts another snowball at Jamie, aiming right for his face.]

Re: Snowball FIGHT!!!

[phoenixchild]

"Hey, Derek, try not to throw so hard and hit on everyone's faces!" Jamie called back, "That nearly turned my nose as red as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

He took a while to think and compose his thoughts, before proposing an idea, "Hey, why don't you get down here, so we can have a fair fight?"

Although fair in general doesn't exactly make sense anyway when it comes to the Two Stooges of Recolle playing a game of snowballs.

Re: Snowball FIGHT!!!

[blondferret]

[Derek scoffs.]

Fair? Since when is war ever fair?

[Even with Derek saying this, he will admit, he only has so much snow on his balcony.]

ii

[thisloveisjustice]

Tatsuo, meanwhile, is picking up food for an office party. Due to his relative lack of skill in the kitchen, he's able to get away with chips and salsa. Though maybe he should bring a veggie tray and hummus as well... to help assuage any guilt.

That's where Jamie will find Tatsuo, in the deli section looking at the various flavors of hummus. Though he's opted for pita chips rather than a veggie tray.

"Roasted red pepper... roasted garlic... jalapeno... chocolate hummus?"

Re: ii

[phoenixchild]

Jamie was scanning around the deli section, looking for dips his family might need for veggies, chips, and bread in the party. There is nothing worse than not having enough food in a party hosted by Asian families, as many Filipinos know beforehand: always have some stuff on hand at all times. Surely, he'll get some laughs for being crazily prepared in stocking up in an event of natural diasaters, but that's how he was raised upon from his Chinese Filipino family.

While checking the hummus selection, he noticed a seemingly familiar face mumbling about the flavors and traumatized over chocolate hummus, he couldn't help but to chuckle in his breath, wondering who is that crazy to come up with such flavor profiles? And here he was, thinking his mom is that terrbile of a cook...

"Hey, pita bread goes well with hummus, but chocolate hummus? That's where I draw the line."

Re: ii

[thisloveisjustice]

Tatsuo shakes is shaking his head over the audacity of some people when he hears a voice he's definitely heard before. He looks over at Jamie and then points at the offending hummus flavor.

"On the one hand, I am morbidly curious what it tastes like. But at the same time, I don't really want to spend my money on it?"

Re: ii

[phoenixchild]

"Why don't you try it on a small piece of bread first?" Jamie asked Tastuo, pointing at the selection of Melba toast, "That way, you can decide for yourself if it'll make you to buy it or not."

Chocolate Hummus is probably one of the weirdest decisions food companies have come up with, but if Tatsuo's willing to risk bringing an oddball flavor of hummus to a party in ever, he might want to taste it for himself, Jamie's not going to be responsible for the ensuing heckles that follow, as far as he's concerned.

Picking up a taste sample for roasted red pepper hummus and munching on the flavor on a Melba toast, he then asked Tastuo, "So, what you are taking for the party at the CSI this Thanksgiving? I get to make some spiced butternut squash cubes with apples and cranberries this year."

Re: ii

[thisloveisjustice]

"Oh, hey, didn't see they had samples. Nice."

This makes it easier. Tatsuo picks up one of the little samples with the dark brown dip spread on top and pops it into his mouth.

"Definitely not the chocolate hummus. Wow. That is just... special. It does taste chocolate-y, but I think the fact I know it's hummus is messing with how my brain is perceiving the taste."

Instead, he reaches for a tub of the red pepper hummus and drops that in his basket with the pita chips.

1

[1019]

Lucas fancies himself not afraid of fowl. He grew up in farm country; he's been around creatures with beaks and claws that make a bunch of frantic noise before. Heck, he's come face-to-face with alligators before! (Not that he was ever allowed to stay there before Mom or Dad spotted him and urged him to get back.)

You know - still, it isn't exactly an enjoyable idea, being swarmed and scratched stabbed with the beaks of big ol' birds, but he's never been the fear-minded type.

Thus, it isn't sense of safety he's been getting cruising back to his and his roomie's place post- a repair drop-off, watching runaway birds flock and chase pedestrians in and out of buildings, down roads, onto benches and the edges of streetside decorations, pff, fewer and fewer days go by of dull sights in this city...!

It's more one of smugness. He isn't gonna fuss with the eggs anymore - not after the spiders; not gonna invite his luck getting another laugh at him. Now, anyway. He's just gonna accept a ride through a tour of nonsense. (Until he inevitably needs to step out on getting back to the house, at any rate.)

...Which... hits a slowdown, when a drove of them - someone's failed roundup attempt - start clogging the street, but, pff, they're gonna move soon enough! Soon enough; in the meantime, he watches where they're heading...

...Right to swarm a fella not too far on the side of the road from the pickup - a laugh goes a-shaking in his chest, and, pff, he can't resist...

Rolls the window down, halfway, and calls:

"Yeahhhh, I tried English on 'em! I don't think that's gonna work any better!"

He lies. He hasn't tried to wrangle the turkeys, let alone play bird-whisperer.

Re: 1

[phoenixchild]

"Be careful, those turkeys aren't the nicest ones you'll ever know!" Jamie screamed as he shooed off more crazy turkeys off him and the place of his work.

The stranger in the truck was staring blankly at him, hand on the wheel. He was expecting that some kind soul would help him in either: a.) evade the turkeys as fast and safely as possible, b.) kill those fat feathery fiends dead, or c.) trap them and sent them back to nearest cage or pen. He has to think fast before they become his death.

"You don't happen to have some ideas on how to capture these crazed birds," he asked the stranger.

[1019]

Lucas, meanwhile, remained content to be an observer.

Increasingly, in fact - dipping his head for a moment as his brow knit, it and a smile picking up and skewing uneven to take a laugh he worked down to hold inaudible. It was a guy freakin' talking while fighting with turkeys; no picnic, probably, sure - but the kinda thing one could get a kick out of as a sight while not within reach of the claws and beaks.

He brought his head back up, looking back out through the window, look on his face held, and called:

"IIIII don't exactly keep kennels in this thing, stranger! I work with computers, not animals! I mean, I guess you could try some o' the ties in the back!"

A bit of a show of a shrug and a nod down the side of the car, brow knit and both it and his smile uneven - taking some of the laugh held back out of his voice.

He put it forward deliberately as an absurd suggestion, rather than a serious one. There were, indeed, a few elastic cables hooked to the side of the back of the pickup - used for tying down scraps and supplies, when he went on his runs for building materials.

They were also, however, indeed not ideal hog-tying material.

Particularly when tangling with and wrangling one animal would still need to be done in the middle of a gobbling, pecking flock of others.

[phoenixchild]

"Are you kidding me?" Jamie was starting to get annoyed by the bystander's so-called 'help' of dumping the cables, not to mention losing his threshold of patience as the day winds down, "What am I suppose use these for, hooking up into the Internet?"

Just staring at these cables lying on the road nearly felt an insult, as if the trucker didn't seem to care about his situation or even want to help him out. What was the guy thinking he is, a Thanksgiving noob? And this led to this one loud SHOUTING rant.

"Sir, I'm a journalist trying to shoo away turkeys, not a farmer!!!"