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aftr_ooc2017-07-04 10:46 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in aftr_ooc2017-07-04 10:46 pm
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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!
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!
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.
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
Storytime
Romance......
[ said Marcille, eyeing the old man (was he old? It was so hard to estimate human ages) with no small amount of visible trepidation. ]
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Romance it is!
Once upon a time there was a young girl who lived in an herbal shop. It had been in the family for many generations, so many that it was difficult to count. The girl was happy to live there, tending to the plants and helping her mother with the customers that visited day in and day out. It was a secluded life for her- she never left the grounds of the shop, not even once- but she was happy. All of the visitors had great stories to tell, and she learned so much about the outside world from the tales she heard. She never had any reason to want for something more.
But then one day, a regular customer brought his son with him to the shop. You see, the boy was from a family of doctors, and he was at that age to begin his own training. That meant learning where to buy all of the ingredients for his medicines, which meant traveling with his father to that very herbal shop. And as soon as that girl saw that boy for the first time, she knew things were going to change. Because in that instant, she fell head-over-heels in love with him.
[Okay, he's exaggerating that part just a little bit, but Shiemi's reaction to seeing Yukio for the first time had been absolutely hilarious and made for a great story.
He pauses there for a moment, clearly not done with his story but still wanting to gauge Marcille's reaction to it.]
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That's a rough position to be in. I mean, you can't favor one customer over the others, or people will question your professionalism.
At least she didn't fall for an adventurer... but her parents should've seen it coming. Especially if she only ever saw customers anyway. Who else was she going to fall in love with?
...Oh, maybe that was the plan? Since their businesses overlap, maybe it was all a plot to pool their resources!
[ Parents were crafty things, man. ]
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Maybe! It's hard to know for sure. Maybe the shop owner and the doctor conspired to make them meet under favorable circumstances.
[They did not, Shiro actually hadn't expected the two of them to go all doe-eyed like they had. Though honestly, there were far worse girls Yukio could have crushed on, so he was okay with this.]
But in any case, the boy and the girl were fast friends, and every time the boy came in to the shop to buy ingredients he always took extra time to talk with the girl. It was a fine arrangement, given how frequently the doctor and his son had to stop in for ingredients, but it only worked for so long.
Many years later, when the girl and boy had grown into young adults, the boy came to the shop with some bad news. He had to go away for his work, and he didn't know how long he would be gone, or if he would even be able to come back at all. He didn't want to leave the girl, he loved her just as much as she loved him, but there were people who needed a doctor and he had to answer their call.
So on his last visit to the store, he asked the girl to marry him and come away with him. That way they could be together, no matter where they went. The girl was overjoyed at the proposal, and she was almost ready to accept, but just before she spoke the words a glimmer of light caught her eye. It was one of the many bottles of ingredients that were kept in the store, the store that would be hers one day, when her mother became too old to work. If she accepted that proposal, then she would be with the man she loved, but she would never be able to go back to her home again.
Instead of accepting, the girl went out to the gardens and picked some mint leaves, which she wrapped carefully in a bundle and gave to the boy. 'I cannot go with you,' she said, 'but take these, and think of me any time you are lonely.'
The boy was sad, but he accepted the bundle, and he left.
[He's still not quite done with the story, since it doesn't have the happy ending yet, but he pauses again to see her reaction. And also to think of an actual happy ending to this, because now he's getting into the territory of 'things that haven't actually happened'.]
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[ Marcille made a face. Not that she particularly claimed to be an expert on human romances, but they were pretty big on that love at first sight thing, as she recalled. Probably they were going to rebound and the boy was going to come back (happy ending), or he was going to die out on some quest or other and the girl would be left holding the emotional bill (less happy ending). ]
Hey, did you skip something? Like the significance of the mint? Wouldn't rosemary have been better, since it represents rememberance?
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[There's a reason he chose mint in this story, after all.]
Months pass, and months turn into years. The girl eventually inherits the shop from her mother, and she continues to serve her regular visitors. But in all that time, not once did she see that boy she had fallen in love with.
Then one summer day, the girl was out in her gardens, picking various herbs and seeds to put up for sale in her shop. As she stopped by the mint plants, she picked a leaf and inhaled the scent, letting her thoughts drift to the memories of that boy. She missed him dearly, and she wished that she could see him again, just one more time.
"I'm here," a familiar voice called, and the girl could've sworn that she had imagined that voice. But when she opened her eyes, she saw the boy- now an accomplished doctor- standing there in her garden. And in his hands was the bundle of mint she had given him all those years ago.
[And there's the ending there, a much happier one than 'they never saw each other again.' It's a little plain, kinda predictable, but Shiro isn't exactly that creative of a person. He tried his best though.]
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At least he hadn't ended up dead somehow from not using the gift. ]
Hold it, pops! That's not the end of it, is there? I mean, that's a whole lot of time skipped between mint-gifting and mint-reception!
'I'm here'? What kind of line is that? And didn't he remember to write all that time? Maybe she should've broken a pot of mint over his head and jogged his memory!
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[It is absolutely full of plot holes and not that great. He's used to telling stories to literal children who don't notice them.]
And you try thinking of something great to say after a reunion like that. People get dumbstruck all the time.
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[ Marcille put her hand to her face, rubbing at her temple. ]
Arrrgh, fine. I've got a story, too. Once upon a time, there was an idiot ranger who decided he was hungry in the middle of a magical dungeon. So he had a bright idea: waltz into some magical paintings and eat the food there.
It didn't work and he almost died, even thought I clearly warned him it was a bad idea. The end!
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[His tone is light and amused as he says that, though.]
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[ She grabbed a long stick and poked at the edge of the bonfire. ]
And we ended up wasting a bunch of time we could have spent getting to the next level down. Honestly!
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[ Color her skeptical. ]
It's not exactly uncommon knowledge. If Senshi hadn't been around, we could have gotten wiped out.
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