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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Comments

ah ❤

[splendored]

( it's rare that anything can lull him into remote proximity of "calm", but the cacophony of waves and chatter and wind are the perfect cocktail. a dreamy, languid voice almost blends into it all, and would without much notice if not for the fact that this person is so beloved, so dear and integral to earlier stages of his very own self, that he can't help but shoot his eyes wide open to it all.

in a place like this, such a vision seems more ethereal than usual— a halo of sunlight surrounding a mesh of cyan and teal, looking as if he were a gift from the ocean and sky itself. a chance meeting. it's Amazing to see a familiar face, but this familiar face is right in his element, isn't he? it shouldn't be so surprising, particularly if it's a dream. Kanata appeared in plenty of his. )

Oh, is that so? I cannot help but be drawn to the center of any stage. ♪ A nature that cannot be reconciled, fufufu. It might be "rude", but it also might be "Amazing", you know? There are endless perspectives and countless worlds that exist within each of us. ( it was just rude, Wataru. ) Such audacious acts can be forgiven and forgotten along with laughter and love, yes? Even a beautiful soul like yours, flitting and floating about... can forgive someone like me. ☆

( with a jerk of his hand he's practically flinging his coconuts aside, blinking through the wetness that's pouring down to him and excitedly doing a perfect kick-up. normally he'd land with a gesture that invites applause or some showy signal that he's finished his feat, but he's too busy right now grabbing Kanata by the shoulders. )

My dear friend, Kanata ...have you come to rouse mischief with me?

❤!!!!!!!!!!

[seafriends]

[ Ordinarily, he might clap his hands together for the appropriate applause that Wataru is always deserving of, but Kanata cants his head to the side instead and searches those purple hues with his own green, feeling the weight of those hands on his shoulders. There's no 'if' about it when he speaks, this is one of his most true and trusted friends, dream or not; the thought alone is enough to make a fond smile ease his features despite the troubles on his mind. ]

Ehehe.. I can "always" forgive you, but that does not mean I will let you "continue" to be rude. The beach is a gift from our "mother ocean".. so we must be kind and share it with everyone. [ Case in point, Kanata will duck his shoulders out from Wataru's hands to join them with his own, pulling gently to guide them out of the court and closer to the shore. ]

Well, I am not a naughty boy like Wataru.. so I do not "rouse mischief", but.. [ The lilt in his voice is playful, but Kanata keeps his eyes on the sandy ground between their feet, smile falling slightly as he releases Wataru's hands. This feels like old, old times and that tugs on his heart as much as it calms it. Too unfair.

It takes him an uncharacteristic moment of pensiveness- he can't be miserable in front of an old friend, even if this is only a dream brought on by whatever sedatives the Ai'tuoh militia injected him with- before Kanata shakes his hair out suddenly, sending droplets flying in every direction and hoping to get rid of his thoughts with them. ]

..I will not stop Wataru if he "is hoping" to put on a performance, since that is what he "loves most"~..? ♪

[ translation: I will in fact rouse mischief with you because that's what oddballs do best?? ]