TEST DRIVE MEME ( 007 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #7

Hello, and welcome to LifeAftr! 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 January 15th, and Applications on January 24th!

Two important notes:

1. LifeAftr's test drives take place on the island of Mu, which 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, largely in the form of test drive reward items.

Ice of You to Drop By
The winter has well and truly settled in, both on LifeAftr and here in Mu; when you wake, you may discover that it isn't on dry land at all, but on a thick crust of ice. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any land in sight, in any direction - just ice, stretching on and on for as far as the eye can see.

Assuming the chill doesn't get to you first, you'll find that there are much more pressing matters than frostbite. One of those things will start cutting to the chase rather quickly in the form of a wickedly pointed fin, glinting beneath the weak winter sun, shearing through the mantle of ice like a hot knife through butter. Ice sharks sound like something out of a sci-fi B-movie and probably are something out of a sci-fi B-movie, but rest assured: they are still quite dangerous. Fragments of undersea ice animated to suit a particularly sadistic shape and size, ice sharks almost look like delicately worked sculptures of glass or diamond, right up until the point where one of them gets their jaws around you. Their preternatural strength and tenacity allows them to "swim" through ice as easily as water. In fact, that happens to be one of their hunting tactics, as they tend to circle a target and break at the ice around them until they're surrounded by icy water, with no means of escape.

Much like real sharks, they can smell blood, and will set upon it eagerly. Unlike real sharks, they are also innately hostile. Anyone who looks like they might be an easy target will be quickly zeroed in upon by several ravenous, but nonetheless quite pretty, of these glittering creatures.

With Our Wassailing Bowl
The rest of Mu might be more forgiving in terms of setting, but that does not mean you're safe. Waking on dry land is generally considered preferable to waking on nothing more than a layer of ice, even if said dry land is nothing more than a jagged spurt of dark, coastal cliff. It's obvious from the start that nothing truly lives here. The island itself is simply some fragment of rock, eroded away from its mainland until it is all that remains.

The island itself isn't special, no. What is special is what is at its center. A massive clay pot of piping-hot wassail steams temptingly at the island's heart, nestled between the crags of rock. Just looking at it, you can know that drinking that heated, blissful drink of cider and cinnamon will surely chase away the unforgiving winter chill, and warm you from your bones to your toes.

Really, the only problem here is that everyone else wants it too.

The second you lay eyes on that treasure, you'll be seized with an instinctive, inescapable need to have it. No one else can be allowed to partake; it is yours by right. You saw it first, after all, didn't you? You'll have to race with your peers to seize it before anyone else does, and you might even have to start fighting dirty to claim your prize. Sure, you could fight that initial instinct, but where's the fun in that?

Dig a Little Deeper
It's not as though actual, real dry land is out of the question for Mu this go around. It's just that there aren't very many desirable options, evidently, when it comes to the manner of islands that resemble those in the proper archipelago. This island in question might be a bit cold, brisk as the winter air is, but it is otherwise quite ordinary. In fact, one would not be remiss in thinking it bears more than a passing resemblance to the island of Chol.

Unfortunately, it's also chosen to emulate a rather unpleasant, if rare, aspect of Chol's landscape: quicksand. No getting out of this one, we're afraid - Mu has dropped you right smack in the middle of a patch of it.

The myth that one can "drown" in quicksand is largely without much scientific bearing. Indeed, the most prominent danger is that one will start to sink and quickly become mired in the stuff, but eventually they'll cease to properly sink at all. No; the real peril lies in the fact that, once stuck, it is nearly impossible to get out of it. Most victims of quicksand risk death by dehydration or starvation, though we wouldn't fault you for fearing death by, er, sand. Who doesn't hate sand? It's coarse, it's rough, it's irritating, and it gets everywhere.
There doesn't seem to be much in the way of ropes or branches one might grab onto for purchase, once stuck. You'll have to ask passersby for a helping hand, and hope they're feeling charitable...or just drag them in with you, if you're that sort of person.

---

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Shion: No. 6

[savedbyasong]

A dream? Shion looked out at the ice, as far as he could see in every direction. No land, no marking features. Just ice.

It was cold. Shion hugged his coat around him and began to think. This wasn't a normal dream, sensation was not this sharp in a normal dream, he should not feel cold like this. Something more than a dream then? It did not surprise him, they did not know how long the process of restoring their worlds would take, that something like this would happen was not outside of the realms of possibility. This was not the void, not the one Shion knew anyways. But the feeling of being somewhere not real and yet sort of real all at the same time was almost familiar.

He began to move, slowly and carefully. One foot, testing the ice, moving his weight. Second foot. Moving would warm him up.

He did not get very far because soon something caught his eye. Ice more pointed than the rest, crystal clear. Moving towards him. Another. They were moving fast.

Shion had no weapon, his eyes widened as he took in the incoming ice. He spotted a third some distance away but moving as quick as the others. Fear flooded him. He skittered backwards no longer cautious of the ice. Ice cracking was the least of his worries right now.

Creatures, coming towards him. Danger. He ran. Ice fins approaching, circling. His eyes darted round, looking for the best route before he got trapped. Forcing himself to keep thinking. To not panic. To find a way out.

Nothing about this dream had surprised him and the fact that it was turning into a nightmare was the least surprising of all. All of Shion's dreams were nightmares.

ARE YOU READY I'M READY

[attheclocktower]

This place again. Xion recognized it immediately - that one island they went while asleep sometimes. It was different, every time, but what wasn't different was the people that you found there. Ones that might be coming to join them in LifeAftr soon. Xion had been here herself briefly, before her first arrival.

Admittedly? She's not the most comfortable, dream or not, being dumped out on the ice. The slipping and sliding... she'd never really gotten used to this? Both in the Tower and otherwise, like when there'd been those ice cube Heartless back at Beast's Castle. It doesn't feel solid, it doesn't feel safe. But like Shion, she can't say the unpleasant start to this dream is a surprise.

There was... something else though. An underlying sense of urgency. A need to get somewhere that wasn't here. Why? Well, when she glanced around long enough, spotted a figure in the distance, running... that gave her some idea. She ran - skittered really - across the ice, trying her best to keep her balance. Trying her best not to crack it.

And then she saw him, got close enough to see the white of his hair and the scars. A silhouette she knew almost as well as she knew her name. And now ice cracking and slipping steps became the least of her worries.

"Shion!" Oh Light was it him? Was it really him?

... even if it wasn't, it didn't matter. Even if it wasn't her brother, it was a Shion, and she knew in her heart she couldn't leave him.

I AM SO READY

[savedbyasong]

Panic was starting to set in. The ice fins were circling, cutting up the ice and ways out were getting fewer. Even the knowledge that it was a dream did not help. Dreams could be dangerous, Xion had been injured in a dream once, bitten by a creature...

"Shion"

Shion's eyes flickered towards the voice. He knew that voice. He knew that figure. It was as if his flicker of memory had brought her into the dream.

"Xion!" He changed direction running towards her. The fins were closing in, moving to encircle Xion as well. "Run! We need to run!"

BABIES...

[attheclocktower]

"Not without you!"

Hearing him call her name back had been like a jolt to the heart, giving her feet wings (metaphorically speaking). She ran until she was close enough to skid to a slippery halt and grab his hand, before turning and running the other way, towards one of the few routes the sharks hadn't yet moved to cut up.

At least as far as she could tell. It was a bit hard to see through the tears in her eyes. Light it was him, it was him. The tightness with which she gripped his hand was a poor substitute for how much she wanted to hug him, but it would have to do, until they got out of this situation.

[savedbyasong]

Of course she wouldn't leave him. Even in his dream Xion was stronger and braver than he could ever be. He wouldn't have left her either, wouldn't even have been able to consider it for a heart beat.

Her hand grabbing his was enough to stave off the rising panic. A solid reminder to keep going and not just because she was pulling him in a new direction. He held her hand as tightly as she was holding his. Dream or weird dream space or whatever this was- Xion was here. Escaping the ice fins became more important than ever. Xion was not allowed to be hurt, not even in his dreams.

A shark came round to block the route they were running, this time it was Shion who changed the direction, not letting go of Xion. "This way!"

[attheclocktower]

More than being hurt though, neither one of them was allowed to die. They’d promised each other and, dream world or not, Xion wasn’t about to let that promise be broken yet.

When he changed direction, she let him take the lead, using the time to swipe at her face with her free hand. Like hugs, tears could wait for later. For now she needed to see clearly, lest something else take them by surprise. Once she was able to see better, she summoned her Keyblade in that same free hand, ready to use it to help fend off any enemies. Speaking of which...

“Which one’s closest?” Closest, or most likely to get in the way. With worked.

[savedbyasong]

Xion had her keyblade. Their chances of survival rose tremendously. Shion looked around, his eyes flickering trying to judge distance. The finn to the left, or the one that had blocked their path.

He only had a second to decide, panic was staved off only by Xion's hand in his. He was not alone, they would get out of this. They had promised in the cells, they would not die any more.

Not even in dreams. "That one!" To the left, it was closer and it was closing in on them fast.

The ice was getting less stable, beginning to shift under their feet. Shion scanned their surroundings, trying to guage where the ice was more solid. The problem was it was all ice there was no safe place to be found. No where to run to.

[attheclocktower]

"Got it!"

Good thing she'd learned Strike Raid, at least. She flung her Keyblade in the direction he indicated, towards the left shark. It dug little chips in the ice as it spun, before smashing into the icy fin of the shark. It's hard to tell if it actually is ice, which is to say if it shatters or not, but the fin does immediately disappear.

It's only a slight reprieve, but the other circling sharks do slow their pace a bit, electing to be a bit more cautious, since these two suddenly didn't seem as much easy prey as they had a moment ago.

With a deep breath, Xion called her Keyblade back, it reappearing in her hand in another flash of light. She hated how this tired her out more in this world, but they'd get through it. "I can try Stun too, if they get close enough."

[savedbyasong]

Shion nodded as Xion flung her keyblade at the fin. It worked, it shattered. The other sharks had slowed. Not enough that the danger was over but enough that an escape route became slightly more apparent.

"There!" Shion gestured with his free hand, the ice wobbled dangerously but where he was gesturing seemed more solid. Had not been cut up by the ice fins. He concentrated on running. Running and keeping hold of Xion, they were the only things that mattered. He trusted that she could stun the sharks if they got close, he had no weapon so he had to reply on Xion if the sharks got too close.

That was alright, because they worked better together. If she she was fighting he could think, could figure a way out of this mess. Focus, breathing, don't let go of Xion.

His breath was coming heavier though he forced himself to keep running.

[attheclocktower]

Xion took the time to aim at another shark with a Strike Raid. Her hit didn't land this time, but it did send the shark veering away from its intended course. It was pretty clear that they were wary of her Keyblade, now. The shark she'd hit had not resurfaced, unable to cut through the ice without its fin.

But all this was just a temporary solution, unless she managed to hit all of them.

"There has to be land somewhere!" she called. This was Mu, right? They had to find the edge of this part of the dreamscape, or else some bit of land Mu was basing itself off of. It couldn't just... base itself off of ice indefinitely, could it?

[savedbyasong]

"Not necessarily." Shion replied, sliding on the ice as his foot caught a patch that was more slippy than the rest. His eyes darted around the ice, "We don't know where here is, it might be ice forever. It doesn't feel real and so it doesn't have to follow any of the rules that we know..."

Dreams made very little sense, they didn't have to make sense. But this was more than a dream. More than a nightmare. More than a normal nightmare anyways. If this had been a normal nightmare Xion would not have survived, she would have been killed before they reached each other. Her hand would not be in his.

You had very little control in dreams but he was thinking... he could think...

He had thought of Xion. The memory of her arm being injured in a dream and Xion had appeared. "Xion." He hadn't stopped running, hadn't let go of her hand. The two important things. "Think of land. Solid land. Not ice."

It was a mad thought, places like this shouldn't exist. It was impossible.

The impossible didn't scare Shion anymore. He ran. He held Xion's hand. He thought of land.

I don't know if Mu can actually work like this but w/e, we do what we want

[attheclocktower]

Oh. Oh no. Oh she hasn't actually tested this part of Mu's dreamlike aspects and she wasn't sure if now was the time to do so. Except... well, what choice did they have? There was no visible land for miles and they couldn't keep running forever.

Besides, she had her brother with her again. Anything could happen.

She closed her eyes and thought of solid ground as hard as she possibly could. Of grass or dirt or even bare stone, anything would do-

The sudden lip of the "island" tripped her up and sent her sprawling, and probably would do the same for Shion too, unless he let go. But that may have ultimately been for the better, because while Mu did apparently see fit to give them an island... it was a circle of rock barely five feet wide. Hardly big enough for the two of them.

But it was solid land.

I didn't know either, that's why I left it to you to decide if it worked :P

[savedbyasong]

Shion didn't let go, he went sprawling too but the shock of the fall was nothing compared to the fact that his crazy theory had actually worked.

Alright so they were now on a tiny bit of land so tiny it barely fit them both on. But it wasn't ice. There were no ice fins circling. It was safe. Safe enough and that was all that mattered.

He knelt up, moving closer looking Xion over. It is practically second nature by now if he was apart from her for any time to check her for injury.

A second later his hands came up to wrap around her, to hold her. They had said goodbye... he had accepted that he might never see her again and now she was here. In his dream, even if this wasn't real... she felt real, she was solid, she was here, she had saved him... Tears filled his eyes and he squeezed them tight, focusing on his breathing, on Xion's breathing. On the moment.

[shatteredlenses]

It's bitingly cold. Deep down Ignis realizes, in a darkly amused way, that the biting cold should be welcome after the burning that had filled him as the price of putting on the Ring. Instead, the cold just settles into that already laced deep in his bones, filling the void the burning left behind, making it harder to breathe let alone think.

Fortunately for him, the terrible shrieking of ice sliding across ice jerks him out of his own mind and into the present. It's a bad sound made even worse when he realizes it's accompanied by the sound of someone running. Automatically, his head whips in the direction of the footsteps almost as if he's forgotten he won't be able to see anything. Maybe he has. Despite having many months on the island to get used to his blindness, at the time he's just returned from at home, he's only been blind for about four days.

He curses softly under his breath, twin daggers appearing in his hands in a burst of blue crystal. As Ignis forces himself to shift away from using his useless eyes as his primary sense to using his hearing, the daggers light up with electricity.

Will his Spellbinding work the same here as it had at home? He has no time to doubt. Not with someone's life on the line. Body tensing, he focuses on the nearest source of sound that isn't footsteps and then lets the electricity's power draw him to it.

"Keep running!" The words are all but torn from his mouth as Ignis dashes passed the source of the footsteps and feels his daggers come into contact with ice, shattering the fin of one shark into tiny glimmering pieces.

[savedbyasong]

A voice, Shion had not known there to be anyone on the ice with him, but he was not surprised. It was dream, or at least a dream space. He had appeared from no where, why shouldn't others?

The figure moved fast, incredibly fast and Shion could only obey the command. Keep running. One foot in front of the other, he hears more than sees the shattering fin. Though he doesn't stop he does slow and look behind him, for the man who had saved him.

"Come on!" He called, the man had shattered one of the fins but there were more and they were coming closer. Panic was rising, the ice was getting less steady. Shion didn't leave people behind. Especially people who threw themselves into danger to save him.

[shatteredlenses]

Flamebind would be so much better for this, but the heat from the flames would also make the ice more unsafe than it already is. Ignis fights back the urge to flinch each time hear hears it creak and groan through the screeching of the creatures' movements. It's safer to stick to Stormbind for now, using its power to draw him from one target to another. The fates have blessed him in this at least. The skill doesn't seem to care whether he's focusing on something visually or audibly. It still takes him to it.

It's just a shame it doesn't work the way a real warp would. He could use it to catch up with the person he'd just saved then. But no, he needs a target. He can't just whip his blade in a general direction and go to it.

Ah well. Wishing does no good, he thinks as he drives his blades into another target, pleased to hear a fin shatter once more. At least his strength hasn't suffered too much even if he is exhausted in so many other ways. Still, he's not going to push his luck as he feels the ice literally start to shift under his feet. As soon as he hears the boy call out, Ignis turns his focus to him.

"Keep talking so I can follow your voice!" It probably sounds like a strange request, but right now he doesn't have the time to explain.

[savedbyasong]

Shion blinked, it was a strange request if only that most of the time he had to be told to shut up in situations such as this. He didn't question the man though, assuming he had his reasons. He was clearly a fighter, he knew what he was doing.

"I'm here, over here. I'm running towards an area where there doesn't seem to be many of these strange ice fins. Do you know what they are? They look like pure ice but they are clearly creatures of some kind, and yet they shattered when you attacked them. They move really fast though, hunt in packs. I don't think this ice is going to hold for very much longer..."

His voice is sounding more panicked now. Breathing, forcing himself to remain calm, not babbling when he could be doing something more productive, they were all tied up together in the coping mechanics that Reno had taught him and so when he gave in to the urge to talk the rest slipped a bit. But he kept running, shooting looks behind him to make sure the man was actually following.

[shatteredlenses]

"Calm yourself; you're doing fine. Keep heading that way. There is solid ground farther inland!" Even as he attempts to calm the boy--the panic slipping into his voice reminding Ignis more than a little of Prompto's tendency to let his fear get the better of him despite his best efforts--he lashes out with his daggers, shattering the fin of the shark nearest to him before he finally starts heading in the boy's direction. As he does, he flips his daggers in hand, dismissing the Stormbinding and Frostbinding them instead. The daggers are large, almost more of a short sword than a dagger, and slightly lowering his center of balance as he runs allows the blades' frozen tips to drag along the ice's surface. It's certainly not really how Frostbinding is suppose to work, but hopefully the chill will help hold the ice together a little longer. Just long enough for him to make it to the boy.

"Keep talking!"

[savedbyasong]

Solid ground. That was something to aim for. Better than running forever over an ice plane with no end. Much better. He kept glancing back, to make sure the man was following. His powers were fascinating but now was not the time for questioning, now was the time for running.

Except the mans words reminded him he was meant to be talking, Shion took another deep breath. "Yes talking... sorry... Your magic is really interesting you moved really fast before. Really useful against these fins... This place is a dream though, but it can't be, not really. Or you wouldn't have saved me..."

Talking reminded him of Reno, almost painfully so. It had been how they had first became close after all. The collar switch, Shion panicking, Reno forcing him to talk to keep focusing...

The memory made him sad, it would always be painful thinking of Reno. His dad if not by blood, someone he would never see again. But it also calmed him, even though there were ice fins surrounding him and he could not see the land that this man had spoken of yet his mind evoking Reno's name gave him the strength to continue.

"Keep going, that land must be somewhere right? Ice won't be able to follow us on land right? Let's hope so anyways..."

[shatteredlenses]

"It is both dream and reality," Ignis' answer doesn't really help explain anything, but fortunately, he realizes this despite the focus he has on keeping his footing as he draws near the boy. "This is a rest stop on the way to the main islands were we reside. Most all who arrive at some point or another came here first, though not all who we see here complete the journey."

That sounds mildly more threatening than Ignis intends, but there are more important things to focus on. He can clarify later.

"There is usually an island here even if it is always changing form. All we must to is continue inland. Eventually we will find it," he pauses then, attempting to get an idea of how far apart they are by the sound of their footsteps. After a moment, he frowns. There is just too much going on and he hasn't had enough practice to make a good guess.

"How close am I to you?"

[savedbyasong]

It might not explain anything, but it did confirm Shion's suspicions. Part way between dream and reality... How that was possible was something Shion didn't know, couldn't even begin to try and figure out. That wasn't as terrifying as it once would be.

The rest of what the man was saying though... that was worrying. Islands? People came here first?

Shion was going home, his world had six cities that were inhabitable. There were no islands where people resided...

Before he could think about it too hard, before he could start to panic about the implications of what the man had just told him he was asked a question. It was enough to distract him.

"Quite close, about ten metres." Could the man not see? It would explain why he needed Shion to talk to follow him. But how had he fought? From sound alone? That was amazing.

[shatteredlenses]

"Excellent. Call out the distance every couple of feet, please," Ignis is forced to pause for a moment as he hears the sound of a shark coming up on his left side. Without missing a beat, he whirls on the beast, blades shattering out the fin as they had before.

As he reorients himself to begin running again, the young man will probably notice that Ignis' path is now not right toward him, but veering to the left as if he's not quite accurately judged how far over he moved to deal with the shark.

He just might be right about that blindness thing. Perhaps calling out a course correction would be helpful?

[savedbyasong]

"Okay, still about ten meters..." He watched as the man ran off to take care of the ice fin. He continued running though he kept track of where the other man was. As he ran back towards him he seemed to be going further left than where Shion was, Shion scanned the ice, incase there was a fin that the man had seen, or heard that Shion had not.

That did not seem to be the case. "A little more over here to the right. You're about twenty meters now..."

He had slowed a little bit, just to make sure that the man got back on course. He didn't stop scanning the ice for more fins though.

[shatteredlenses]

Ignis curses internally as he corrects his path, glad to have the boy's voice to focus on once more since 'a little more to the right' doesn't help him correct very well. His pace slows as he makes his corrections, but then picks up again when he can hear the sound of sharks coming up behind him. As much as he wants to immediately deal with the issue, it may be best to focus on joining up with his companion first instead of taking out every shark that comes near.

Provided said shark isn't cutting off his escape route that is.

"How is that? Better?"

[savedbyasong]

More sharks, Shion's eyes flickered over and back to the man. "Almost, about five meters now." He doesn't stop running though. "Better. Keep running, I think they hunt in packs."

Which means if one is catching up another probably is as well. "If you think land is close we can try and run for it, it might be better than trying to fight."

The man was good but Shion doubted he could fight infinite ice sharks. No one could. And Shion wasn't much help, not without a weapon anyways.