aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 007 )

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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 007 )

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.

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The sarcasm didn't seem to bother Shion much, but his eyes darted around his surroundings trying to find a way around the problem. He had nothing to brace himself on, there was nothing nearby.

He had no rope and even if he had there were no trees, nothing to attach it to. It was as if this environment had been specifically made so that people stuck in the sand had no way to escape. Shion wasn't too surprised, it was another familiar feeling.

Part of him wanted to try anyways. "The ground is more solid here, I can brace my feet in it... if I took my coat off and used it as a short rope it would give me a bit of leverage..."

After all the worse that would happen would be that Shion would be stuck too, that was the less awful option between that and doing nothing to save this man.

"Even if you could hold my weight your coat couldn't, and trust me, kid, there's no way you could hold me."

He wasn't as bulky as some Andarions, but he's well over 300 pounds. Nobody just dragged that around even if it wasn't stuck in cloying quicksand. Jullien did, however, have a possible way to get himself out with only a little help from Shion. There was a major problem with his plan though. It involved giving the kid a dagger, and even people who weren't as paranoid as Jullien knew that giving a potential enemy a weapon wasn't the best idea in the world. Jullien was paranoid enough that he'd rather cut off his own arm. The only reason he was even considering it was that Shion was a kid and Jules didn't sense any hostility toward him. Generally he trusted his powers enough to tell him that much. Still...

Shion finally nodded, his face grim but accepting of the other mans words. It was an awful thing. Though Shion knew the man would not get sucked under completely the reality was worse- at least drowning was a relatively quick death.

He looked around again. Nothing but sand in every direction. No hills or trees to make him believe there might be a place nearby where help could be sought.

Shion blinked sadly at the man and then sat down carefully, making sure the ground was solid. "I'm sorry." His voice was quiet, a string of anger that this had happened. "I won't leave you though..."

Sometimes when awful things happened the only thing you could offer was to stay. No one should die alone.

Jules was so completely stunned by this kid's selfless kindness that his mouth almost fell open. At the last moment he kept it from happening, which was good given his fangs would probably have scared Shion. Finally he just shook his head.

"We all die some day, kid, but this isn't my day. And I'm sure not going to die because of something as pathetic as quicksand. It's not going to be the one to put my name on it's kill list."

That would be beyond humiliating for one, and for two, he can't retaliate against quicksand. He started working at his waist and eventually managed to get the buckle of his weapons belt undone despite the sand glued to it. A quick toss put it within Shion's reach. It was followed up by a knife.

"Hopefully the leather is strong enough on that. Jam the knife through the belt buckle. Make sure the blade is angled toward me and the hilt toward you. Get it down as deep as you can get it. Just make sure I can still reach the end."

They all died someday. The resignation there, the finality was enough to make Shion want to scream. Shion was no stranger to death, far from it but he still held the belief than other people shouldn't die. Nothing so far had stopped him from feeling anger at other peoples pain.

Also this death would be real, final. Maybe. It was a weird dream he might wake up. He might not. But it didn't really matter, Shion knew that even knowing you would return after dying did not make it any less painful. Did not make the final moments less horrifying, less lonely...

The mans continuing words knocked the thoughts out of Shion's mind. Stopped the worry and the anger in their tracks. It seemed the man had an idea. Something Shion hadn't thought of. He didn't question him he just gathered the belt and did exactly what the man told him to do.

A task, something to concentrate on. Something to make this less awful. Shion took a deliberate breath to calm himself and pushed the knife through the belt buckle, making sure it was tight and that the blade was pointing at the man.

"Can you reach it?" He checked when he was done.

When you were surprised to wake up alive each morning, it was hard to view death as anything horrifying. It has been a fact of Jullien's life since he'd been five. He'd learned the world was cruel and death took anyone early in life. That didn't mean Jules would just wait for his death. Everyone wanted him dead, and he was far too ornery to let please them.

"Yeah. Should be good."

He grabbed the end of the belt and gave it a tug to test the strength. It seemed to be holding. At least for the moment.

"Alright, let's see if this works. Keep your hand on the hilt if you can."

He wanted that sucker as secure as possible.

Shion held on tight, holding the hilt as he was told. He had no idea what the plan was. There was still nothing to brace on, the belt might give leverage but the man had been adamant that Shion would not be strong enough to pull him out.

Still he didn't argue, just held the hilt as he was told to and focused, watching the man to see what he would do. "Alright. Ready."

Ready for something anyways.

"Let's see if this works..."

It was muttered enough that it wasn't totally clear whether the sentence was meant to be heard or not. Jules tried to pull himself forward using the belt and knife anchor. It didn't get him far and became obvious right away that either the belt would break or his anchor would come free long before he got out. Apparently his only hope was going to be a little mental power along with his physical power.

He focused his trisani powers on the quicksand directly in front of him and slowly pushed it aside. It allowed him to move a few inches forward. At this rate he was going to be in a lot of pain by the time he got out. If he got out before passing out...

Shion held the dagger tightly, focusing on not letting go. His jaw was set as he tried to focus on stopping the belt from slipping off the dagger. There was not much he could do if the belt snapped though.

He blinked as the quicksand started moving and allowed the man to move a little, but did not seem too surprised. He was used to people having strange abilities.

"Keep going." He urged. The man might have only moved a few inches but it was a few inches closer to the shore than he had been before.

"Nah. Think I'll stop right here. Much more comfortable than where I was a minute ago."

The words slipped out without Jullien's control. He couldn't help it. While Shion may be young enough for him to count as a child, and therefore Jullien would try to restrain his biting sarcasm and ass-holishness, he was still old enough to potentially turn on Jullien. He'd seen it before. Besides, whenever he was in a tough spot his attitude took over without consulting his brain. It was an automatic response.

Even so, he forced a bit more sand away and pulled himself another inch forward. At this rate he was going to be bleeding long before he reached the edge.

Once the sarcasm would have upset Shion, he wouldn't have understood it, taken it as a criticism. Now it just reminded him of Reno, so much that it hurt but in a good way. Shion smiled, despite the situation.

But he focused again quite quickly, he was interested in the mans power. Exactly how he was moving the sand. Was it some kind of speed that let him go faster than the sand? Or an ability to move through objects? Now was not the time for such questions though, Shion kept his mouth shut and focused on gripping the dagger.

Jullien shifted another small amount of sand and moved forward another inch or two before he decided he was done with that strategy. It was taking far too long, and patience wasn't something he was usually good at. Chances were doing one bit amount of telepathy would cost him the same as doing multiple smaller works. At least he assumed. It wasn't something he had a lot of experience in. It might be a terribly, terribly dumb idea, but he was pretty much the king of dumb ideas. Might as well just go for it. He would just have to be able to hold on long enough to keep Shion from killing him, if he planned that.

He took a breath and braced himself for the pain that was sure to come before shoving at the sand with his mind. The sand moved and opened up a path right to dry ground. It also sent a spliting agony through Jules' head that took him a moment to push his way through. The sand was already glooping back into place by the time he started trying to pull himself in.

Shion kept holding the dagger as the man inched closer. When all of a sudden all the sand moved at once Shion blinked in surprise. But he did not let go of the dagger.

At least with one hand, the other hand he reached forward to grip the belt, pulling it towards him trying to lend his strength to the other mans, he could see the sand returning and guessed that they only had so much time before the man was submerged once more.

He watched the distance, ready to stretch out his hand further when the man got close enough, to help him get to safety. They were so close, Shion wasn't about to let the man get stuck again now.

With his headache raging badly enough that Jullien could hardly see, he struggled his way toward dry land. He would hopefully know it by feel... and get there before the sand got him stuck again. Trying to do anything else would not be a good idea. It could easily leave him unable to get out once he moved the sand.

The thought pissed him off, which drove him forward even faster. There was no way he would let quicksand be the death of him. Not after all the hits he'd survived. He pulled hard on the belt with one hand as he reached out with the other.

Closer... and closer. Shion leaned in further, stepping forward a little stretching out his hand and the man pulled on the belt. His hand reached out to grasp the other mans and he pulled with all his strength, stepping backwards onto solid ground. He gripped the mans hand as hard as he could, whatever he did he could not let go. Dream or not Shion had seen far too many people die.

So he pulled and hoped it was enough.

The little bit of help was enough, even though part of Jullien's mind was screaming about being so close to someone else (and helpless). He dragged himself the last few feet out of the muck. Even though he was exhausted, he didn't have time to simply lie there. That was far too dangerous. The moment he was on solid ground he was pushing himself to his knees. He could take a breath once he was balanced and ready for an attack.

"Thanks."

Until Shion does something to set Jullien off, he'll continue to be polite. If it weren't for the kid, he'd still be trapped.

Shion staggered backwards not letting go of the mans hand until he was sure he was on solid ground no longer stuck in the sand that had returned to its proper place. For a moment he just stood still and forced himself to focus on his breathing. They were fine. The man was alive, he had escaped.

He watched as the man pushed himself to his knees giving him a moment before he moved closer. He didn't touch the man but he did stare at him intently, looking for injuries. It was practically instinctive by now. Though quicksand shouldn't cause actual injuries Shion had gotten used to expecting everything to be even worse than what it seemed.

"You're welcome. I'm not sure I was that much help anyways, you did all the work." His powers were fascinating. "Are you alright?"

Edited 2018-01-27 12:32 (UTC)

"Hard to pull yourself out of quicksand without something to pull on."

Without Shion Jullien would have had to resort to teleporting himself out. Chances were that wouldn't have gone well. His head was absolutely splitting as it was. Not that he let himself show that. Showing pain was a weakness, and weakness meant possible death. He has hidden a lot worse than just a headache.

"Peachy. My skin is just going to glow after this."

And it was going to take him ages to get rid of all the sand and probably ages more before he could get his blasters working again.

That was true, it was hard to get out of such situations alone. He smiled softly at the man. "Well then I'm glad that this weird dream brought me to you." He met the mans eyes for a moment before glancing over him one last time, just to double check that he had not missed any obvious injuries. Not that he had anything with him to do first aid with but he could improvise.

"I'm Shion." He held a hand out, to help pull the man to his feet. "I'm afraid I have no idea what is going on."

Sorry, Shion. Jullien wasn't going to accept that hand. He got up by himself. It was easier that way. Safer. Forcing exhausted muscles to move was hard enough. Fighting off an attack would be worse.

"Dagger. And I don't have a clue either."

Definitely not a pleasant feeling.

When it became clear that the hand was going to be ignored he just stepped back, hands by his side awkwardly as the man got to his feet. He kept smiling though, there were many reasons people didn't like being touched, Shion wouldn't take offense.

Dagger? Was that his name? Or did he just want his dagger? Or both. Shion could go with both. He offered the dagger back to the man, hilt first. It was probably notable that despite the fact Shion did not look anything like a fighter he handled the dagger with the ease of someone who knew how to.

"Well it's nice to meet you, despite the circumstances." Which had been his standard greeting for two and a half years now. "This place seems to be a dream but it is also seems more... solid than a normal dream. I am also pretty sure you are not a combination of my imagination and brain chemicals."

Jullien noticed that ease, and it set his paranoia off again. The best assassins were often the ones who who didn't look dangerous. That was why Jullien himself had survived so long. Underestimate your opponent and you will likely end up dead. Of course an assassin going for the "I'm a harmless kid" method wouldn't reveal his ease with a knife that willingly. Unless he was new at the job. All the more reason to stay alert.

He slid the dagger back into its sheath and buckled the belt around his hips. He wasn't going to lose his blasters even if they wouldn't be functional for a while.

"No sane person would dream me up. Not unless they're on drugs."

No sane person... Was that what had happened? Was Shion insane now? It couldn't be. He had fought hard to stay sane. It could not be that. No it had to be some strange effect of the machine.

"I don't think I'm insane.... I don't think you are insane either, at least I don't feel like I am a person you just dreamed up." And frankly, impossible crazy things might not scare Shion anymore but the idea of him existing solely as a figment of an insane persons imagination is a thought path he is not taking another step down. It is enough to make his head hurt.

Breathing. He is real... Sort of, he can guarantee that this is his soul anyways. That was enough. Breathing. Focus.

"I guess we could walk until we find answers, and try and avoid the sand. Or stay here, but we might not find answers and we could be here forever. Or until we wake up or wake out or whatever. However it works. Last time I was in a weird void place there was a pull, a tugging in the direction we were meant to go but I can't feel anything like that."

He's babbling. He knows he is babbling. He snaps his mouth shut. Breathing. Babbling was not a way to prove he wasn't insane.

"Oh, I'm totally insane and accept that. I didn't dream you or this place up though. Not enough things here trying to kill me."

And he had just pulled himself out of quicksand that could have killed him. That probably said a lot about Jullien's life experiences.

Shion's emotions suddenly slammed into Jullien. The kid was going to tip off into the deep end really soon if he kept going. Instead of trying to kill him, this kid could use his help. Go figure. He rested his hand on Shion's shoulder to try and steady him.

"Breathe, chizzi. No point in overthinking it. Won't do you any good."

Breathe. Breathing was good. Touch was good, a hand on his shoulder did more to calm Shion than a thousand words could. Shion took another breath and forced himself to focus on the other mans face. No overthinking. He was a bit embarased actually. Still after everything he still let himself get overwhelmed. Still had to rely on others.

Strangers. People who Shion had tried to save, he still needed saving himself in the end. He took another breath. "Sorry... no overthinking. Got it."

He still wasn't calm. But he tried to focus. Stared at the other man. "Okay... what do we do?"

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 007 )

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warning for mild existational crisis- just to be safe

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probably about a wrap. I figure these dreams fade out?