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.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[thisisourfuture]

[Damn it. Damn it! Hinata shoves his axe back into the straps and with one last swear drops his pack onto the ice and dives into the water.

The cold slaps his senses and he can feel it trying to slow him down. It would have been stupid to leap onto the floe and he searches the water.

If he finds her, for the second time since they met he'll encircle an arm around her and swim hard for the surface. If not he'll surface and dive back down, knowing as dream-like as this can be. He can bet dying is completely possible.]

[thatsmymagic]

[Akko has to bite down hard to keep herself from opening her mouth and gasping. The cold is more shocking than painful, but it still siezes up her muscles and sends jagged spasms through her spine. Still clutching her wand (she's not letting it fall to the bottom of the ocean), she thrashes for purchase on something, anything.]

[Thank goodness Hinata is a something.]

[She's grateful, she really is, that's why it seems like she's trying to drag you down into the depths with her as she fists her hands into your clothes and pulls herself into you, Hinata. She's doing her best to swim upwards with him against the paralyzing cold, but she's small. Small and running out of breath rapidly. The frigid water presses against her lungs like an iron vice.]

[As soon as they crest the surface, she's taking desperate gasps of air, spitting out water as it splashes up into her open mouth. Her hair is already starting to freeze in clumps. Perhaps now would be a good time to head to shore.]

[thisisourfuture]

[He has a warming potion in his pack. He had taken his, but the spare...well, no helping that. He thrusts her up onto the ice and climbs up beside her. He grits his teeth and forces shaking fingers to open the pack and pull out the slightly glowing orange bottle.]

Camp is to the west. Drink this. It will warm you back up.

[Temporarily. It's something until he can get her to camp and treat her for chills.]

If you're alright with it...it's faster if I carry you and run the whole way.

[thatsmymagic]

Th-th-thank y-you...

[Akko claws at the ice, hauling her body weight up. The sting of cold metal against her palm is the only thing she can actually feel through the numbing ice water but she's not dropping her wand again. When Hinata hands the potion to her, she waits for him to take out one for himself. When he doesn't, her shoulders slump.]

[She knows it'll help but. She can't. It's her fault they're in this situation in the first place.]

[She takes a small sip, to stop her hands from shaking so hard, and thrusts the potion back at Hinata. The little jolt of warmth feels incredible, but it feels just as stolen. Besides, if he's going to be carrying her anywhere, he'll the need the stiffening cold driven from his joints, right?]

I-it's f-f-fine.