TEST DRIVE MEME ( 009 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #9

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 March 17th, and Applications on March 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.

City Slicker
The walls of this place are uniform, gray-tinted, built from sandstone and clay. The architecture is deliberate and monochrome to an unkind extent; homogeneity, here, is the order of the day. All told, while a bit colorless, the place is not unpleasant, particularly with that periwinkle blue midday sky blanketed with soft tufts of cloud overhead.

Except for the shouts of armed guards pursuing you. You've broken the law, you see. Maybe your hair is too colorful, or your apparel contained pockets. Maybe you carried a weapon without a permit. Whichever one of those ridiculous, lengthy list of laws you've broken, it's put you in the guards' bad sights. Their technology hasn't progressed beyond that of spears and shields, but at least like this, you're being allowed something of a fighting chance.

We say "fighting," but really, your best bet is probably to try and avoid them. Mu has recreated the ironclad system present on the island of Ai'tuoh, though it's eased some of the unfair advantages stacked against you: the militia are no longer cunningly concealed among the populace, and they do not fight with needles slid into arms before you can understand what, precisely, has just gone wrong. This way, at least you have a chance to run before they seize and sedate you.

Which we recommend, by the way. The running.

Sky Islands, or Skylands
While waking on islands is all very well and good - practically par for the course in LifeAftr, in fact - one might need a moment to adjust to the strangeness of this one. This one, it turns out, is floating. Suspended in midair, this island is one of several dozens peppered throughout the sky. They drift to and fro, close to one another and then away again, but that's far from the most curious thing about them. No; their most peculiar quality is the fact that these islands shift, warping in shape as though caught in a state of perpetual flux. They ripple seamlessly from one visual to the next,: cycling through the varieties of an ice-swept tundra, a lush rainforest, a half-crumbled ruin, and infinite others in the span of mere hours.

And, if you concentrate just enough, you might find that these islands are pliable to even your will. You may be able to mold them like clay through focus of will alone, causing them to gradually shape into something familiar, even desirable: a home you miss, a place you wish you could see. But no matter how you try, you can only fabricate that which is non-sentient - plants, buildings, rocks, trees.

Just take care not to take things too far. You might find that the landscape does not take too kindly to being overly micromanaged. Too much projection of your conscious or subconscious desires will cause the entire thing to start to darken, crumble, and wither away...taking you with it.

And it's a very, very long fall back to earth.

[This prompt is a miniature version of our February event! Feel free to experiment with whatever details you uncover on the info post if you like!]

Kick Back, Relax
It's not all survivalist shenanigans and horrifying, mind-bending events. There are, in fact, plenty of moments of relaxation, of relief, and even fun to be had. Mu is not a wholly unkind being; it can allow you a much-needed respite in the form of something it suspects everyone might enjoy: a good old-fashioned party. A volleyball net has been strung between two palm trees. A length of driftwood table has been laden with any kind of food you could imagine might be found on an island: drinks served in coconut shells, carmelized shrimp, smoked oysters, skewers of fish. The aquamarine tide laps up at the soft white sand, and those who test the temperature of the shallows will discover that they are pleasantly warm.

And at the center of it all, a cheerful bonfire that kicks up hot flares of sparks into the warm, rich blue of the sky. What a peaceful sight! What a jovial celebration!

Better enjoy it while it's here.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

Comments

[deathfindsaway]

As soon as Taako takes his hand, everything feels natural, easy, right. Of course, something strange is happening, he ended up here somehow, and Taako is here too doing something ridiculous. At this point, that’s becoming more normal than anything else in his life. It’s a comfort, in a way. He might not know what’s going on, but Taako will, and even if he won’t give him answers the job will get done.

He’d still like to know what that job is, though. Just for his own comfort.

“Salt golem? I hope that wasn’t a dig at our first meeting. And if so, I recall letting you off on my good graces, not because you somehow got away.” He quirks an eyebrow, giving him a rather incredulous look. “Most souls aren’t so lucky.”

It has nothing to do with luck, and Kravitz knows it, but he doesn’t feel like being dragged right now. That doesn’t mean he’s going to stop, though, because Taako isn’t the only one of this pair who talks too much. “And don’t think I’m letting you off with that ‘at the time’ comment. But not now. I think I’ve excused enough deaths for you, I would rather not add one more on top.”

[ohshitsweetflips]

Taako can almost feel the, what, trust? Faith? being placed in him as Kravitz just fucking accepts this bizarre situation, seemingly just because he's here, what the fuck. That's very flattering but also a very questionable judgment call to have made. Maybe acceptance is just how he responds to being hauled into secluded byways. Which, fair enough and noted.

He laughs, a high pitched, nervy flutter. "Oh for sure," he agrees, in the chirpy voice of someone who definitely hasn't died again at all and is super prepared to explain a hundred years of backstory some day. Don't think he doesn't hear the implication that Kravitz would go to bat for him again, either. Which, normally 'doesn't want him to die' would be a pretty low bar to set in a relationship, but whatever, he's into it. "Make it a whole batch or it's not worth the paperwork, hear you loud and clear, handsome."

Listen, Taako's great at not getting arrested lately, probably some of the best he's ever been. Why else would he be dressed like this? It's not him they need to be worried about, here. In the pure and noble interest of keeping Kravitz out of jail, Taako inspects him with unusual focus, head tilted in consideration. "Yeah, I see the problem here," he concludes, regretful, eyes downcast. "Your ass...is illegal," it's okay, give him a minute. "Okay, not actually, but your pockets literally are, and maybe your eyes too? Dunno about skeletons, that wasn't on the sign, but this place hates anything cool so probably. Fucked up, right?"

[deathfindsaway]

Maybe acceptance is just Kravitz’ reaction every time Taako hauls him somewhere. Don’t make him ever say that out loud, though, even if he kind of knows it’s truth. Shhhh.

He just lets his shoulders fall in a sigh, followed by only a mild complaint as Taako jokes, but at least he finally gets to the bottom of it. “Pockets? I suppose my eyes aren’t exactly a mortal color, but pockets? They’re not even deep.”

This is stupid. If this was an instance where these people may be trying to escape death, or somehow thought he was some sort of demon, he’s sure he could do his work stealthy enough that it wouldn’t matter. Not that he… exactly remembers why he’s here. How did he get here, exactly? Oh, forget it. Probably chasing Taako. It just worked out like that.

“You wouldn’t happen to know why they’re like this, would you? I suppose I could try and inhabit something instead of this form, but I wouldn’t want to break another law I’ve never heard of and makes no sense.” For a man that’s so huffy about his own laws, you’d imagine he’d be more respectful of others’. But they need to make sense for that to happen, and he fundamentally disagrees with something so asinine. “You also wouldn’t happen to know a way out of here?”

[ohshitsweetflips]

Huffy-Krav is more than appreciated, especially when the huffiness isn't directly related to anything he's done, and is in fact due to something he's pretty mad about, himself. Taako probably shouldn't find passive-aggressive judgy-ness that appealing, but man have these fucks more than earned it as far as Taako is concerned.

"Nah, I have no clue why they're like that, I'm not some kinda island anthropologist. I mean, I did steal their law book or whatever, but it's a pretty dry read." Taako doesn't sound sorry at all. But he relents and gives a serious answer to at least one question, tapping his lip pensively. He hadn't really thought about it that much, honestly, these things happen. "I think it's a religious thing? Suppressing other gods, killing people in some kind of sacred water, you know how it is."

...Doesn't he? It's Taako's turn to look incredulous. "Kinda figured that's what you were here about, to be honest. Anything this weird, 's gotta be a cult. Mad science, cults, what else do you even leave the ghost-house for?"

[deathfindsaway]

He gives Taako a look when he mentions having nicked their book, but the rest of it is too compelling to make him care very much. This certainly seems like some kind of fishy situation- if this really is a type of worship, especially involving human sacrifice, there absolutely could be a reason to his summoning here. But he can’t quite remember why. It also makes no sense as to why Taako would need to be giving him this information, considering he should have been briefed. What is happening, here?

“I’ll… be honest, I’m not sure why I’m here.” Not a great admission, but if anyone had confidence in his competence, it probably wasn’t Taako. Not after the lab. That certainly was embarrassing. “But if it is what you say, it certainly doesn’t sound like something I can continue to let slide. Any manner of human sacrifice tends to lead to the breaking of reality, which isn’t good for any god, chaotics included.”

Kravitz looks away, back towards the streets. “We’re going to have to move more stealthily. I could move us if I had a better idea of the layout of this place. Do you know where I might find their leaders? Someone that could be causing all this?”