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.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You make impossible things happen. Gross, gross, gross!

[She buzzes her wings, trying to scrub her eyes clean of the horrors she's witnessed. It's too weird. She can't even really fly with wings, but he can hover without them??? Fucked up. Too fucked up.

She looks up at him.]

Don't do it again. Can't blend in if you're being a freak.

I-- I mean, I don't think we were fitting in before. And I'm not a freak.

[Maybe now is a bad time to mention he's not alive? Perhaps he'll just leave that one. For not now. For the future in which his biggest threat becomes her and not the actual threat of the armed guards.]

But fine, like I said, I'm willing to work with you.

[He won't. Or he'll try not to.]

Hovering is what a freak does!

[She will not budge on this stance. But he's compromising, so she relents, a little.]

Need to get away from the city, but if there's forest or water, the plants or fish or harvesters there are dangerous... Hiding in the city is best. Roofs. Abandoned buildings. Hidden places.

I'm not sure that would be wise. They have the advantage of territory- we don't know where these hidden places are, or where we might escape to, while they have routes and maps. If our only options are a place where we're unsure and they're not, or where we're both unsure, our odds are better if we give them any less ground.

[At least he's tactical. And explains his reasoning.]

Bad idea. Bad idea. Went into the forest once. Did not have fun. Not a fun place, the forest. Plants and harvesters to eat you. But if you want to get eaten, let's get eaten.

[She's pretty much given up on being logical with the wingless raven, because as far as she can tell he doesn't have a logical bone in his brain. Which is where the bones probably are in birds. She hasn't killed many birds, herself. They tend to get away.]

[What the hell is she even talking about? His face shows it, as he squints his eyes, raising a brow.]

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Do plants in your world eat people?

[He's pretty sure most plants don't do that. And what the hell is a harvester?]

No, but they kill you. Ugly things. Unless they're carnivores. Then they eat you. Or forcefully become your friend.

[Forcefully on Myia's part, to be clear. Carmine wanted nothing to do with her from the start, and is now only along for the ride very begrudgingly.]

... O-kay then. Well. To assauge your fears, I don't believe this forest is like that forest. Or that most forests are. While carniverous plants do exist, they aren't big enough to devour you whole or do any real damage.

[Gosh, he already feels like it's fruitless to convince her of anything, but he wants to try to get out of here alive, so.]

Oh, no, the carnivore is very small. He's a small boy. Like a baby, but not as gross as a plant baby. But he's got. I don't know. Ten mouths or something. Very gross. Chomp chomp.

[She gestures with her hands a chomping motion.]

[He just kind of. Stares at her.]

I. Wh. What?

[Are these sentences? Did he wake up and immediately experience a stroke? What the hell is happening to him right now?

When he speaks again, its obviously strained and kind of terse.]

Okay. Well. I don't think. That's here. So. We should. Be fine.

Even if he was, I know I could beat him up.

[Carmine is a complete weenie, looks aside.]

Okay, if you're so confident. Lead the way to the forest that won't kill us. Maybe this town has an agreement with the plants around not to kill each other like Maahi. Maybe we'll die! The world is our oyster.

[He feels like he could pull all of his skin off and just throw a skeleton temper tantrum, but he really doesn't want to be beaten with whatever's in reach again, so he concentrates on keeping his skin On His Face. Kravitz tilts his head upward, looking towards the horizon.]

There appears to be some cover that direction. If it makes you feel better, we'll stick up here until we can reach the edge, and then move forward. I can at least promise we won't die.

[Death doesn't die. He'll figure it out, even if she's going to be difficult.]

[Myia follows his indicating gesture with her eyes, and she really doesn't trust his promise, but she trusts her own survival skills. Which are mostly an ability to slip away from bad situations real quick and a lot of luck.]

Okay. Hiding and sneaking. I can hidesneak.

[So she leads the way that he pointed out, scurrying across the rooftop toward the edge.]

[He just doesn't even comment. He needs to focus on getting out of here, and the less objections from her the better. So he moves too, making quiet steps and keeping his center of gravity low.

Once he reaches the edge, he leans towards her, keeping his voice at a whisper.]

Are you going to freak out if I fly again? It's going to be awfully hard to make it across rooftops otherwise. Unless you'd be willing to let me teleport us.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 009 )

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