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The Mods of LifeAftr ([personal profile] lifeaftr_mods) wrote in [community profile] aftr_ooc2018-02-15 08:56 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 008 )

Test Drive Meme #8
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 open on February 16th, and Applications on February 23rd!

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.

Bring on the Night
It's dark.

It's overwhelmingly, impossibly dark, the sky both starless and moonless, and as soon as you awake, the chill of a perpetual night begins to set in. The dream has been kind enough to provide you with a torch, thrust into the sand of the beach upon which you've awakened, and that may be for the best, too, for you are not alone here. A deep, terrible growl will start to roll out from the surrounding shadows. It's soon joined by a rumbling chorus. Whatever it is lingering beyond the fringes of your vision, it's clear that it's not the only one. The torchlight may catch the odd prowling shape: the impression of a rough, kelp-like coat, parted jaws, and smoldering eyes.
Grimlings are black-furred, quadrupedal beasts with ropy, greasy coats that gives them an almost seaweed-like appearance. The creatures resembles dogs superficially, but the proportions are nightmarishly wrong, as though certain parts of it were swollen and others atrophied beyond all use. No two Grimlings have the same general look, but all tend to travel in gurgling, snarling packs. They tend to surround their targets and swiftly overwhelm them.

However, they have one simple weakness: pack mentality. If one of their number grows too injured or overcome, Grimlings will quickly set upon their weakest member and tear it hungrily to pieces. And as they are creatures of the night, the guttering torchlight will be quite effective in keeping them at bay, as long as you don't grow too tired of swiping at the pack of the curs to keep them back.

Because once they've scented prey, they're loathe to let it go to waste.

An Attention Horse
The soft hush of waves against the sands are a soothing regularity in this pitch-dark dream, though Mu sees fit to allow you an impromptu torch, even if it is rudimentary at best: little more than a chunk of driftwood with one end lit up in guttering orange-red.

And unfortunately, even that light will offer little protection against the soft, musical cry of something standing in the shallows.
Those familiar with the stories of water-horses or kelpies may find this creature familiar in some respects, though their function is far more similar to that of a siren. With a tall, powerful stature, Uskal resemble ordinary horses but for their size and the webbed, water-slick quality of their glossy coats.

Those who grow too close may be caught in the strange aura of the Uskal's ululating cry, which invites one to come close enough to touch its silky, beautiful coat. Provided you cannot resist the lure of the Uskal's song, physical contact with its coat will reveal it to be quite adhesive. Those who do not manage to cut, burn, or tear themselves free are dragged into deep waters and drowned for the Uskal's next meal.

Let There Be Light
But eventually, the proverbial sun does rise, just as it did for the islands of LifeAftr themselves. The "sun," in this instance, appears to be quite regular, though the snow raining from the bright blue sky is far from it, especially given that the temperature seems to have climbed a little too much for that sort of nippy weather.. Those grayish white flakes cascading from above? That's not snow at all - it's ash.

And borne on the winds of that ash are creatures small and helpless and wrinkled, little tufts of tawny-orange that squeak and croak rather pitiably as they come streaking to earth in wispy little trails of flame.
Instead of one great firebird to light up the sky, Mu has granted you several dozen little phoenix chicks, all freshly hatched and all in all, rather helpless. You could certainly take advantage of that, if you wanted to, but honestly, the benefits of ensuring that none of them die on your watch are far greater, as long as you don't mind the odd first-degree burn, or the chicks' somewhat alarming habit of spontaneously bursting into flames. Not only do they freely provide light and warmth against the bitter winter cold, but you'll find they don't need much of anything in the way of sustenance.

Congratulations on your successful adoption!

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Kamina | Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

[personal profile] demonofjeeha 2018-02-16 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
-1-

Kamina held the torch aloft in one hand and waved a sword around with the other while he addressed the pack of Grimlings. Yes, he was talking to them. They seemed confused. In theory, Kamina was already dinner. But he was acting strangely, and they found themselves holding off on making theory into reality for just long enough to see what he did next.

"The raging furnace of heroism and manliness that could be neither contained by the Earth nor defeated by Beastmen! When they talk about that great legendary man, they're talking about ME! Kamina! My story grows with every day, and it sure as hell isn't going to be brought to an end by a bunch of ugly mutts like you! Come on! Gimme your best shot!"

So they did.

-2-

Kamina flailed wildly as the Uskal calmly plodded towards the sea, shouting. "What the hell!? This isn't a fair fight at all! If you're gonna fight me, do it properly!"

He planted his foot on the side of the horse to get enough leverage to pull his hand off and managed it, but that left him with a predictable new problem. Now his FOOT was stuck and he had to awkwardly hop along with his other foot to stop from just getting dragged. "Little help!?"

-3-

Kamina peered at one of the phoenix chicks curiously and, it must be said, slightly disappointedly.

"All that work for this? I was hoping for something more cool and manly. Not a baby bi-"

Then the phoenix burst into flame, coming JUST short of setting his hair on fire. He lay the ground where he had fallen over onto his butt, staring at the blaze, and slowly his face spread into a smile.

"...Alright. Maybe you're pretty cool after all."
caughtademon: (casual: creepy shadows)

Hades-sensei | Hokenshitsu no Shinigami

[personal profile] caughtademon 2018-02-16 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
burd
[There's a little baby bird on the ground, and in front of it, a rather unsettling man. He'd be tall if he weren't both crouching and slouching, but right now he looks like a misshapen lump, down near the ground to look at the phoenix, his lab coat pooling around him. He has an unnaturally washed out, dried out sort of look to him, frizzled white hair falling limply across his face, eyes sunken and staring, skin yellowed and cracked like an empty riverbed.

He's watching the little creature with a fixed, hungry sort of intensity.

The bird might be a baby but it's not an idiot, and it doesn't like the attention. But it's just freezing and hoping the weird man will go away. So they're both stuck there, watching each other.
]

the swamp is full of free dogs
[The horse is calling you, and you want to go to it, you want to touch it. Isn't it beautiful? You step closer.

Then, a hand on your shoulder and a man's voice behind you, soft but firm.
]

I don't think that's a good idea.
tomatowizard: (Fuck today)

Samata Mahto | OC

[personal profile] tomatowizard 2018-02-16 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
-1-

In this case, YOU were the one surrounded by snarling grimlings. Just as you were starting to despair, a voice called down from overhead. "Up here!"

A hand reached down from up above. The hand was connected to a girl who was sitting on what was unmistakably a flying carpet. "Grab on! I'll try and pull you up!"

Samata wasn't SUPER strong, so your ascent might not be terribly dignified and involve a lot of dangling and swearing, but it was better than getting torn apart by wild dogs, right?

-2-

Samata chased after an Uskal that was plodding down the beach, and there was something odd about her silhouette. It was hard to tell in the dark, but eventually became clear that her left arm was missing entirely, and that the Uskal had a metal arm hanging from its flank.

"Do you have any idea how long it took me to make that!? I will not let you just walk off with it, you hear me!?"

The evil horse didn't respond, of course. It just kept singing its song while walking towards the ocean. Samata made an aggravated sound, then grabbed her scarf and stuffed the ends of it in her ears. Before any would be rescuer could ask her WHY she did that, she shouted out a spell incantation and then kind of awkwardly slapped her remaining hand against her chest. The sound of the clap was magnified a hundred fold. A shockwave of sound exploded outwards, sending sand flying away from her, but also more importantly scaring the HELL out of the Uskal, which shied away, stunned and confused.

The thunderclap might also have left everyone ELSE in the area a but stunned and confused, but it did give her the window she needed to catch up and start trying to pull her prosthetic arm off before it was lost forever in the briny deeps.

-3-

With the phoenix chicks reborn and the darkness retreating, everyone was feeling relieved. Samata herself had a jug of something alcoholic (probably one of those self filling jugs of wassail.) that she had already drunk a healthy amount of. "We just literally saved the world from eternal darkness! After that, I feel like we can do anything!"

She held the jug up in a toast. Tomorrow she would be complaining about a hangover, but the fact that there would BE a tomorrow was probably worth a little celebrating, right?
loveme_chain: (serious)

Minako Aino | Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

[personal profile] loveme_chain 2018-02-16 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Hello darkness, my old friend~

[Waking up in the dark was always unnerving. The fact that the sky held no moon or stars just made things that much worse. But Minako had learned a long time ago that it wasn't the dark that should inspire fear. The mere absence of light wasn't terrifying in and of itself. Rather, it was the things that liked to go bump in that darkness that generally posed the bigger threat.

Her first coherent thought was that she was outside. And that the other girls weren't here. Whether or not that was a good thing she had yet to decide.

It took her all of two seconds to realize that she wasn't alone. Suddenly that torch she'd spotted seemed like a good thing to have. That thought in mind, she got up, brushed herself off, and practically dove for the thing despite the animalistic noises surrounding her.
]

I'm not afraid of you!

[Sure, because taunting them was a brilliant idea. Even still, she felt the need to tell them. If nothing else, the shouting might startle them enough to let her get away. It could happen, right?]

A little bit of light

[Blue eyes were about as wide as saucers as she leaned in as close as she possibly could while remaining upright. Fortunately her balance was quite good and she'd managed to avoid falling over up until this point.]

You're so cute, look at you! Rei-chan would lose her mind~

[And she was pretty sure that the others would be right there with her, cooing over the adorable little chicks.

The aforementioned chick chose that moment to burst into flames, and it was all Mina could do to scrabble out of the way in time.
]

Was it something I said, chickie?
souris_keteer: (Mikkie)

darkness

[personal profile] souris_keteer 2018-02-17 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
[As she shouts and charges, another noise comes from the darkness...]

Well, gee, you don't have to be afraid of me!

[...Mickey doesn't mean to be hiding/spooking anyone, he's just trying to make his way through. Please don't dive at him. please dive at him.]
souris_keteer: (Mikkie)

3

[personal profile] souris_keteer 2018-02-17 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
As Kamina recovers from the bird burns, a different sort of animal can't help but poke their head over. "Are you all right?"

[personal profile] demonofjeeha 2018-02-17 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Something like that won't hurt me. My soul burns much hotter!" He said, off handedly. Then he turned around to see who was talking and saw...a beastman. There was no denying it. It wasn't a very big or threatening one, but considering every single beastman he had met until now had tried to kill him.

Kamina didn't attack Mickey on sight, but he was obviously on guard. "So don't get any ideas!"
souris_keteer: (Mikijs)

[personal profile] souris_keteer 2018-02-17 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
Considering Mickey has never looked threatening to anyone... ever.... he doesn't even realize that his looks are what's setting Kamina off. Maybe he's just not in a good mood! No harm there! Mickey smiles, glad that this person isn't hurt. Though a burning soul does sound painful.

"... Ideas about what?"

[personal profile] demonofjeeha 2018-02-17 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
"About, like, sneaking up on me or attacking! I've beaten tougher looking beastmen than you! Do you even know who I am!?"

He whipped out his sword and pointed it dramatically at Mickey, without waiting for an answer. "I'm the man that no cavern could contain and no gunmen could crush! Men wish they could be as tough as me! Women throw themselves at my feet! I'm the invincible Kamina!"

The massive scar that went across his face and chest suggested he wasn't ACTUALLY invincible.
souris_keteer: (Mikkie)

[personal profile] souris_keteer 2018-02-17 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
"Huh? I wasn't-" But Kamina's getting up and making a big fiery speech, much to Mickey's confusion. He backs up a little, not wanting to get into a fight, especially when there's no reason to fight. He holds up his hands defensively.

"Um... listen, Kamina? I think there's been a misunderstanding here! I only came by cause I thought you might be in trouble! I don't wanna attack you at all!"

[personal profile] demonofjeeha 2018-02-17 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
Imagine the sound of a record scratch.

"Huh?"
souris_keteer: (Mikki)

[personal profile] souris_keteer 2018-02-17 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Mickey keeps his hands where they are, just in case. No need to provoke the dude further.

"I mean it! I thought you might need some help, that's all. This place can be pretty dangerous, and it'd be a real shame if you got hurt."
thermalwind: (here for the raid)

Hey again

[personal profile] thermalwind 2018-02-17 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
No. They just do that.

[The voice comes from a young man standing a little ways away. He pulls his hood back and takes a few steps forward.] They’re probably the children of the Phoenix last month. ...not quite sure how that would work.

It was reborn and flew off. [Who the hell knows how flaming birds breed. Not his problem. He drifts closer and peers around.]

Remember how you got here?

[personal profile] demonofjeeha 2018-02-17 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, I'm fine. Still don't trust you as far as I can throw you, though."

He lowered the sword, at least.
souris_keteer: (Mikkel)

[personal profile] souris_keteer 2018-02-17 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
"That can always change!" Mickey's optimism is as lively as it is annoying. He offers a hand to shake. "Why don't we try again? My name's Mickey Mouse."

[personal profile] demonofjeeha 2018-02-17 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
"You just can't take a hint, can you?"

He remained still for a moment, arms folded, thinking it over. Eventually, he said "I can respect that. I don't know when to quit either." and accepted the handshake. "I told you who I was already. Never thought I'd shake hands with a beastman, but maybe you can prove to me you're not all bad."
souris_keteer: (Mikkie)

[personal profile] souris_keteer 2018-02-17 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
Once the handshake was over, he pulled back. "Well, would it help if I told you I have no idea what a beastman is? I mean, in my world, I'm just called a mouse. We don't have any humans, though." A helpless shrug.
lightlessfuture: (blooming deep inside of me) (♪ blommar djupt i mig)

2

[personal profile] lightlessfuture 2018-02-17 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
Weird, what's with that missing arm? Oh well, the Knight's seen weirder and missing limbs aren't uncommon on bugs. They wonder how she's going to stick it back on, though.

And then the creature makes an extremely loud noise and the Knight braces themselves as their cloak flutters from the force of the call. It must be all that bigness that lets this person make such a ferocious shout.

They run to catch up with the wandering Uskal, plunging into the water to pursue it. They leap up onto the dangling arm to try and cut it free without getting stuck themselves, which is proving to be somewhat difficult.

And also they look kind of similar to a shadowmonster, so there might be some misunderstandings about to happen here.
tomatowizard: (Rise up my brothers and sisters!)

[personal profile] tomatowizard 2018-02-17 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh no another shadow monster was attacking! Samata smacked at new assailant with her...honestly rather noodly arms. If she was going to survive being attacked, she was going to need some kind of weapon. Maybe a staff, that was easy to use. She filed this idea away for later consideration.

For now, she had to get her arm back. "Get! Off! My! Arm! You! Stupid! Monster!"
lightlessfuture: (free from the past) (♪ fri från det förflutna)

[personal profile] lightlessfuture 2018-02-17 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
The Knight hunches under the rain of (admittedly light) blows, but even those are enough to knock them around since they're the size of a child. Still, they keep determinedly cutting away at the Uskal's side until the arm falls away - with them on it - and both bug and arm hit the water with a loud splash.

(The Uskal, meanwhile, has had enough and is bolting into the water to find easier prey. It's not going to deal with this shit today.)

[personal profile] demonofjeeha 2018-02-17 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
"I dunno...that sounds like EXACTLY the kind of thing a beastman would say!"

He thought about that for a moment before admitting that "Actually no, they aren't that sneaky. They tend to just say shit like 'You have taken your last breath, foolish human!' before we stomp on them so...hmm."

Thinking is hard, but maybe Mickey really ISN'T a sinister force bent on the total domination of humanity.
tomatowizard: art by <user name=rukafais site=plurk.com> (Default)

[personal profile] tomatowizard 2018-02-17 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
"AHA!" Samata dove and grabbed her arm out of the water before it got too badly wet. Salt water could cause corrosion that would take FOREVER to fix without access to a proper workshop. As the arm was the closest thing she had to a weapon right now, Samata lifted it over her head to strike and...

...Hesitated. The little creature suddenly didn't seem quite so threatening anymore.
lightlessfuture: (free from the past) (♪ fri från det förflutna)

[personal profile] lightlessfuture 2018-02-17 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
The Knight, for their part, gets up and shakes themselves off, wringing out their cloak a bit to get most of the water out. They do a cursory check of the environment to make sure nothing else has decided to sneak up, and then sheathe their sword.

They stare at Samata for a moment, who is at this point still holding the metal arm, and then proceed to struggle out of the water and walk right past. They're no stranger to people who react badly to their presence, so this is fine. Their job is done here. If they stick around, they'll probably just scare this person more.
Edited 2018-02-17 04:59 (UTC)
tomatowizard: (I might be out of spells right now)

[personal profile] tomatowizard 2018-02-17 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
It...It had helped. It had helped her while she was attacking it. Samata stood up quickly as the Knight wandered away. "W-wait!"
lightlessfuture: (and i returned) (♪ och jag kom tillbaks)

[personal profile] lightlessfuture 2018-02-17 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
They shake a bit more water out of their cloak and turn around at Samata's shout. They're too cautious to walk right up to her again, but they do take a few small steps forward to close a bit of the distance between them (they cover a lot of distance quickly for someone so small).

They stare up at her, expectantly. Here they are; they're waiting, as asked.

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