aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 001 )

Test Drive Meme #1

Hello, and welcome to our very first test drive! We’re pleased that you’re expressing an interest in the game. Here, you can test the waters, gauge how your character may fare in the world of LifeAftr, and even gain some in-game incentives, if you so choose.

Remember that Reserves will open on July 17th and that Applications will open on July 24th, in preparation for the game’s official opening on August 3rd!

But first, two important notes!

1. The island of Mu exists apart from the real world and possesses a dream-like quality that characters are innately aware of from the moment they appear on its shores. No need to panic or fret. Dreams are odd things, after all - and anything can happen in them. Why would anyone question where their mind chooses to wander in its sleep?

2. Due to the nature of Mu, threads in our test drive can not only be accepted as thread samples in your application, but can be accepted as game canon as well. In fact, certain choices your character makes in Mu have the potential to bear in-game consequences.

Shipwrecked
The white sand of the beach ridges the island’s edge, even if the clear water soon becomes murky the further out you look across the horizon until the turquoise gleam of the tide disappears in a coil of surrounding fog. Indeed, your best prospects may very well be to strike out among the trees or the crags looming out over the foam-capped waves. There’s lumber to be found and made from the palm-like trees, potentially fruit or edible tubers of some kind if you forage about some. The further you travel, however, the more of your surroundings will reveal themselves in a steady unspooling of curiosities.

One corner of Mu’s current construct drops away into a sheer cliff, initially too dangerous to brave for all but the more daredevilish, but if one starts to scan the sharp rocks below, you might catch sight of what appears to be sodden planks of wood - a wreckage tossed up against the rocks. And a little further...a bobbing, shattered wreck of a lifeboat’s remains, potentially bearing supplies that might yet be salvageable.

Fashion what you can from the wood and stone around you or scavenge from the ruin of the land, if you like. But you can’t simply stand around and wait forever. It’s going to get dark sometime - and if a creature of unknown terror doesn’t catch you, the elements surely will.

Storytime

There’s a sense of camaraderie in this cove, you think. As the sun hangs low over the horizon, the world cast into orange hues, long shadows dispersed by roaring fires that dot across the beach.

That’s right, folks: it’s storytime.

There’s no one to preside over this meeting of the minds in Mu. Call it a vague recreation of things to come, if you like, some vaguely fatidic dreamlike state where you may find yourself drawn to the heat and company that awaits you by the fire. And from there, compelled to default to that old instinct that most of intelligent civilization has revered since they were advanced enough to paint geometric shapes on cave walls.

You tell a story.

Perhaps it’s a tragedy, a tale of woe and of personal loss. Perhaps it’s the sort of thing you’d break out after a few rounds of your alcoholic beverage of choice, clapping hands to your knees as you try to bite back your mirth long enough to spill the punchline. Perhaps it’s an adventure of some sort, some unbelievable rendition of your past exploits. The only common thread to be had, as those gathered around the fire share their tales, is the fundamental rule of a ritualistic sharing of stories such as this: its truth.

But how one chooses to define "truth" is, in its own way, another story entirely...

Dance, Sucker, Dance!
The beat of your heart in your chest is difficult to ignore. It judders with a pulsing, rhythmic quality. If you’re one of those that lacks a heart, the beat is still omnipresent and all-encompassing, until your entire body is unwittingly bobbing in time to a metronomic tune that seems ingrained into your very soul. It’s inescapable. You can’t seem to move unless it’s in time to the rhythm that’s now singing in every atom of your being.

But rest assured, you’re not alone in this musical curse. Everything, from the swaying trees to the waves against the beach, jumps in time to the music. And so do the monsters approaching you, that - wait a minute.

Monsters?

Oh, yes. Did we mention those?

It seems you’ve encountered the wrath of the Boogieman, who curses you to only dance to his infernal beat. If you wish to best him, you’ll have to either evade or destroy the blobs of greenish slime that serve as his minions, all in time to the hard beat of the tune in your head. Clear the radius of his curse or risk an open confrontation, if you dare. Don’t worry if you look foolish; chances are anyone else caught in the Boogieman’s thrall feels just the same.

Mu isn’t pulling any punches to start with. It is a flighty creation, after all, and seems to revel in displacing people into new and uncomfortable situations.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know that you're any good at telling them...

[ Weiss had a million and one things to say once she'd spotted Pyrrha. She'd been a ways away from the campfire, hesitating to approach. It had been the first time she'd believed that the ethereal dream-like feeling nagging at her since she'd arrived might've truly meant this was just a dream, because Pyrrha couldn't be there. Weiss hadn't watched it happened up close, but she had been on the ground when she'd heard Ruby's scream, the flash of light.. She'd rushed up there as soon as she could catch up, panicked and unsure what to do about her comatose leader and the metal pieces on the ruined ground, the dragon grimm frozen above them all.

Jaune's screams through the scroll to save her had echoed through her mind, the most heartbreaking thing she'd ever heard made more heartbreaking by the fact that they couldn't. Weiss wasn't one to go into a situation with her head in a panic though, calming herself down before approaching. (The panic could come back later mid-conversation, but she never let herself start that way.) That was when she'd approached from behind, decided there would be no way anyone else but Pyrrha could be on the front of this person, and spoke her line. Weiss moved to sit down next to her, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap before looking over at her, finally confirming it really was her friend. ]

But I'm sure you have plenty to share.

[ Nailed it. The cool expression on her face to match such a perfect line doesn't last long, however, and immediately softens into a sad smile. She really is happy to see her, even if the thousand and one questions are going to come in just a moment. ]

[ Pyrrha starts. Like Weiss, she's had years to practice at looking calm and composed at all times. It's one of the reasons she appears so invincible and untouchable. After a while though, Pyrrha forgot how to stop. Until she met her team. So her expression wavers before it crumples slightly. ]

Weiss. You're — you're here too?

I am!

[ There's a brief pause before she adds. ]

Out of a sense of self-preservation, I've decided that despite that you're here, this is not an afterlife. The last thing I remember was watching the window out of a cargo ship, I don't remember said cargo ship meeting an untimely demise.

[ Weiss didn't even want to consider it. After giving up her family, her home, losing her inheritance, and stowing away in a ship to go somewhere and hope she could find her sister? No. She wasn't going to die there, and the fact that she was speaking to Pyrrha wasn't going to change that.

Perhaps self-confidence had been an issue for her, but determination wasn't. At the very least, she'd like to think she would remember what killed her so she could haunt them for the rest of her post-mortem days if she died after all that. ]

How are you here? You were... [ Her expression falters. She knows her mood is changing basically every other line, but she's trying to keep it together here. There are other people around and while Weiss is a little past worrying about making scenes, that doesn't feel like it's a moment she wants to share with strangers- story time or not. ]

. . . Dead?

[ Pyrrha's voice is barely a whisper. She has never said the word before. Her hands are clasped tightly on her lap and she can't quite make eye contact. Still her voice doesn't tremble and Pyrrha is glad for the tiny modicum of strength she has left. ]

I don't know.

[ Weiss isn't the most physically affectionate person around on a normal day. But reuniting with a deceased friend is not a normal day and, Weiss is fairly certain, ranks somewhere along leaving home forever and seeing Winter. Pyrrha is going to be one of the select few people to actually receive a hug from Weiss. ]

Whatever this place did, it at least did something right.

[ It may be a slightly optimistic view. ]

[ Pyrrha freezes up before her shoulders slump slightly and she relaxes inch by inch. ]

It's good to see you, Weiss. Really.

[ Hugging is not Weiss's first choice of contact, but sometimes it's the only one that really expresses how you feel. Weiss isn't quite sure what to say, so it's the only thing she can really think of to go with. "I'm glad you're not dead" was a little on the nose. Nothing else quite felt like it was enough. Once she feels Pyrrha relax a little, she lets go. ]

You're the first person I've seen from Beacon since that night, and the last person I ever thought I would see again. I don't think "good" makes the cut.

[ Pyrrha nods, her ponytail swaying. Good feels too weak a word for the situation Pyrrha has found herself in. ]

No, I guess not. I don't know what else to call it. I don't even know how I got here.

That seems to be a common theme.

[ That boy she met on the beach earlier didn't know where or how they were here either. Weiss stared into the fire pensively. ]

That moon is really.. unique, isn't it?

[ she doesn't know how they got here, but she's pretty sure they're not in Kansas anymore. ]

[ Pyrrha glances at the moon. Unbroken, with no pieces drifting in the sky like a memory. If she needed a sign that she was no longer home, the moon proved to be a reliable beacon. ]

I can't tell if it's a good sign or not.

Assuming we're somehow on another planet entirely, does that mean there are no Grimm here?

[ Just because she hasn't seen one yet doesn't mean they're not there, but perhaps Pyrrha has a more solid answer. ]

No, I don't think that's quite right.

[ Pyrrha fought a few monsters when she got here after all with Ruby. ]

There seem to be monsters, but not like the Grimm.

[ The worst she's really run into so far was a shark boy and a very polite spider. The latter being self described as a monster and the former just having pointy teeth. Was is fairly certain they don't count. ]

It sounds like they're more run of the mill wild predators.

[ She nods, some of the tension dissipating from her shoulders. ]

They lack the killer instinct Grimm do.

I suppose that's a good thing.

[ She doesn't really sound too sure. Grimm she knows how to deal with. If they're just wild animals that are protecting their territory or young or food, she's going to have a little more hesitation taking them down. ]

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 001 )

i

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