aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 009 )

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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hook, line, and fucking sinker. He visibly relaxes and Lup has to struggle not to crow in triumph, even if it's maybe not that much of a feat to fool somebody who has no idea she exists. Her grin grows wider anyway. Boy is some kinda flustered but for a different reason now, wow, she'd forgotten how uncool he was, actually? Because the best thing about this is the fact that she was technically present for all their dates! Or the worst thing, one of the two. This is gonna be a riot.

"Oh you know it's about to be mine, babe. And I'm not just talking about the party." She winks and slinks closer, unabashedly runs her fingers over his nice and muscular arm and-- "Eurgh!" That's not the hot smooth chocolatey goodness she was expecting, here. But immediately she remembers her ploy and plasters an apologetic smile on her face again. "Whoops, sorry, forgot about the whole uh, fridging thing for a sec there." Kiiind of a boner kill, to be honest? Like, her boyfriend is a skeleton sometimes but that's different, you don't expect those to be warm. Maybe you just get used to it, she guesses and pats his biceps affectionately. "Anyway, you ready to learn party crashing from the best, or...?"

He wants to chuckle at the antics-- Taako gives him crap for his temperature enough that it doesn't tip him off- but mostly he just looks apologetic. "Sorry, I-- if I knew you were going to be here I would've tried to warm up." Out of instinct, he reaches over to the one she's not touching and rubs at it a bit, as if that's going to help matters any. He made an effort. Is making one, rather. Regardless, he tries to pull it back into a smile- he knows Taako doesn't really mean anything by it. He'd be pressed to admit it, but it's charming, in the way that Taako is just... charming.

Maybe he's just hopeless. Ah well.

"That depends. Is your level of crashing just making yourself the center of attention, something I'm surprised you haven't accomplished already, or is this going to involve some literal crashing?" Kravitz has no problem being the center of attention, but perhaps not at an event that they may or may not be invited to. Schrodinger's party invite that causes guaranteed anxiety. Cool. Cool. "I don't suppose this is at least the event of someone you know, or if I should ask you to just tell me that so I can pretend in some universe we're supposed to be here."

Hang on, what is he-- He's actually rubbing his arm to warm up, like a goddamn dork. So that's happening. Shit, it's actually kinda precious? How he's just, eager to apologize and tries to fix it, just ready to roll with whatever bullshit even though he's clearly uncomfortable with the party crashing.

He's fucking hopeless for Taako, is the realization that hits like a particularly offensive lightning bolt. She didn't come out here to like this guy! He sure as shit wouldn't like her if he was really here, and she's not about to trust him with her brother regardless. Also she didn't just almost like the Grim Reaper, pshh, that didn't happen and nobody can prove anything.

She schools her expression from slightly taken aback to insufferably charming and twirls a lock of his hair between her fingers. "Oh you're gonna love this. What if I told you I'm super tight with the god whose place this is? We're like, totally cool. So the first thing you do at a party, before making yourself the center of attention? Steal all the most expensive food. Like this!" And she's just gonna, wrap her lips around her shrimp skewer and suck the topmost crunchy boy off. Of the stick.

Oh absolute lord. Kravitz watches her all too closely, trying to parse this in the least without looking like an absolute disaster. “Is this— Istus?” He finally manages to choke out, ripping his eyes from where they were absolutely staring at her mouth. “Unless you’ve picked up another god in your menagerie of service. At which point I don’t know where you’re keeping them all.”

He tries to figure something out, just keeps talking instead. “And is it really stealing if you’re ‘cool’ with them? Is this a celestial event? If you have an invite it’s not— crashing, really, I— are we supposed to be here or not?”

Unfortunately, he’s going to just keep babbling unless he’s stopped. “How did we both end up here, anyway? My Lady usually informs me if I need to be present for some form of event.”

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 009 )

a poor dumb boy

hes doing his Best

i know this and i love him

good someone should