aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 010 )

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*test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 010 )

Test Drive Meme #10

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 April 17th, and Applications on April 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.

Friends on the Other Side
When you open your eyes, it is to a shadow-tinted cityscape. The buildings are clay-built and colorless, plunging seemingly infinitely onward into the sky before disappearing into a dense pool of foglike sky. The silence weighs heavily like a mantle across every inch of this place, and no matter how you squint at them, every structure seems strangely blurred, as though being viewed through distorted telescope lens, or in the reflection of a pool of water.

All told, it's probably obvious from the start that all is not well here.

From the moment you arrive in this strange nether-place, your eyelids have begun to grow heavy. Something about this city and its perpetual, misted darkness leaves you inexplicably drowsy, ready to curl up and fall asleep on the spot.

That wouldn't be a problem, perhaps, if you were alone. Mu does not boast a great deal of flora and fauna, but what it does have is a creature capable of inflicting much in the way of misfortune - clockroach. They occupy this city in swarms of wraith-like wisps, both intangible and curiously amorphous. But when they draw close, they instill a sense of terror like no other, usually igniting one's fight-or-flight response as a result. Sure, they might not be capable of actually hurting you, but why should that matter, when they have a skill for inducing a sense of utter dread in their targets?

Ever try to get some sleep with fresh adrenaline pumping in your veins?

Pretty Fly for a...Fire Guy
With indigo-blue skies, lush fields of green, and miles of rippling grass hills for as far as the eye can see, Mu has cast you into the perfect and picturesque evening. As the imaginary sun lips the very edge of the horizon and the last glow of orange fades to the purple of dusk, the fields come to life with a smattering of bright, wavering lights.

LifeAftr has its fair share of fireflies native to its many regions, but this particular kind is special. They're the size of quarters, very pretty to look at...and incredibly volatile besides. It's hard to interpret what these wondrous little glow-bugs might view as a threat or not, but at least it's remarkably easy to discern as much based on the sight of them alone: they're handily color-coded depending on their moods.

While they glow a contented amber by default, those that fireflies warm to will find themselves bathed in a green-blue glow as those bulbous, organic lanterns tint with a soft, cool turquoise. A few of them might even settle across your arms and in your hair, if they take that much of a shine to you.

Of course, those the fireflies don't warm to will be able to note as such when they light up a blazing crimson, mere seconds before the insects spit a stream of glowing orange, molten-colored acid. It stings and burns in equal measure, just as likely to scald you as it is to set the surrounding fields aflame.

Flower You Doing That?
Adventurers were both wary and relieved to discover that the next island on the horizon, known as Ziziphus, appeared to be a rather vegetation-rich paradise. They were considerably less relieved to learn that this island contained predators just like all the rest of them, despite the rich green backdrop of its meadows and the promise of lush woodland at its heart.

So it is that you, too, will learn that sometimes tufts of ferns are not tufts of ferns at all...but dangerous creatures called spindlanks.

What might initially appear to be a leafy hillock will very quickly prove to be something far more...mobile, if you get close enough. That clump of grass and red ferns will abruptly hoist itself up on six vine-like tendrils, crawling for its prey like a very large, mossy spider. While it's fully capable of swiping at its foes with its massive, leafy arms, the spindlank's favored method of dispatching its prey is simply to scuttle forth until it's positioned directly above you and drop down. If its weight does not crush you and choking on the clods of earth doesn't smother you, don't worry; the spindlank intends to eat you alive with a set of fleshy jaws set deep in its center.

For despite their leafy appearance, spindlanks are very much carnivorous. Their size can vary from anywhere between six and ten feet tall when their appendages unfurl entirely. They burn as easily as any plant matter would, but the size of them can make them quite difficult to topple alone.

And they are almost always hungry.

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Other Side

[This was not terribly different from what Gladio was used to. Darkness and shadows and a looming sense of dread. The city was strange though, not the burning ruins of Insomnia he'd have expected.

What was most unsettling, though, was the silence. He spun on his heel, sword drawn and straining for any sign of daemons. They had to be there, they were always there.]

Come on!!

Fire guy
[This is when he knows there's something off, something wrong, because he'd swear he just saw the sun. For a moment he stands breathless in the middle of the plush field, squinting at the horizon, hoping against hope. Then he huffs out a breath, pushes his hair back from his face and allows himself a moment to laugh at his own foolishness.]

Sunlight. yeah... right [Muttered under his breath as he turns to survey his surroundings. The bugs set him on edge and they respond in kind, flickering brighter in warning but not quite attacking him... yet.]

[Ignis is exhausted after his meeting with Noctis. Physically and emotionally. Quite honestly, he would still be at his King's side if it wasn't for the best that they part for a little while to process everything they've discussed. The blasted cockroaches' influence still makes him fear Noctis will vanish like smoke when they leave this place, but they've had a much needed talk. Nothing can take that away from them.

Exhausted as he is, when he hears that familiar taunt, he can't help but smile.]

Gladiolus Amicitia. You certainly took your sweet time getting here, didn't you? Do you know how long we've been waiting? What good are those vaulted survival skills if you can't find us with them?

[Astrals, he's missed you, you big lug. Please put the sword away. Thanks.]

Iggy?! [He whirls to scowl at the other man briefly, guard still up, senses on high alert for something. Anything. It must be there. The scolding sounds so strange, too light, too much like they'd been in the old days. Before the unending night. It makes him even more wary instead of offering any sort of comfort.]

Where are the others? [How did they get separated? Or was this another of Ardyn's tricks?] Where's Noct?

I haven't run into Prompto yet, so if we are lucky he's missed this round and is safely back on the island filling his camera with pictures of his chocobo chick.

[Ignis takes a few more steps forward, cautious and slow, arms folded loosely over his chest in a familiar gesture. He's hardly going to hold Gladio's wariness against him. It's his duty to be so. Still, that duty may make it very hard to convince the Shield all this craziness is real.

Or at least as real as anything can be in this cursed dreamscape.]

Last I saw Noct, I believe he was contemplating the merits of an aggressive cockroach eradication program, though he may have given into the urge to nap at this point.

[Despite the joking tone, Ignis frowns. It's a foolish waste, but he wishes he could actually see Gladio so he can get an idea of where his friend has been pulled from. Just guessing from his friend's words and tone is going to take a long time and just asking may not go over well.]

I know this must sound insane, but believe me, not even Ardyn could come up with a plan as insane as the last few months have been for us.

[His expression softens along with his voice.]

Will you tell me the last thing you remember? Has Altissia happened? Has Noct gone into the Crystal?

[There's a familiar heavy thud of Gladio lowering his sword, not dismissing it just yet but resting the blade against his shoulder. The more Ignis speaks the more aborted attempts at speech come from Gladio. Prompto's chocobo chick? Noct... and cockroaches? Thank the six Prompto isn't dealing with-

Has Altissia... happened?]

Has Noct gone into the Cryst-

Ignis you've lost your damned mind! [The outburst is followed by the crunch of debris under Gladio's feet as he shifts into a defensive position. This has to be Ardyn, his riddles, trying to bide his time while Noct has to face the Citadel alone.]

Tch... or you're not Ignis at all.

[Though not likely to help his case at all, Ignis can't help but snort softly at that. Has he lost his mind? After nine months of this place, he may very well have. Under no other circumstances would he have let Noctis see him so upset. Astrals, he spent several months working with Ardyn! He even...

Right. Ignis may has lost his mind at some point, but he's still got it together enough to know that's something Gladio never needs to know.

He sighs when he hears that shift of gravel, his knowledge of Gladio's fighting style enough to tell him almost exactly what the Shield has done.]

You know, you could just ask me something only I would know.

[But, if he really wants a fight...

A familiar pair of daggers appear in Ignis' hands, electricity sparking to life around them only a few seconds later.

Well, it's been a long time since Ignis has been able to go full out against someone and there is none other as well matched to him as Gladio is.]

[The last thing Gladio wants is a fight with Ignis of all people but it's all so surreal. One moment staring up at the Citadel, following Noctis again after so many years apart, then suddenly this city that's not quite Insomnia. Of course it must be Ardyn's illusions. It was the only thing that made sense.]

Yeah like what?

[He's been on edge for a decade and done nothing but push his friends away, too angry at their failures to bear their company, feeling their prince's absence too keenly with them around. What could he truly ask? There's nothing in recent memory that he could think of and Gladio has spent most of these years trying not to think about their past.]

Agh forget it. Enough games, you bastard! [And with that Gladio is charging at Ignis, sword cutting through the air in a wide arc towards his friend.]

[Were this home and if he could see, Ignis would find the flat of that great blade as it cut through the air and launch himself off it just because he could. However, while nine months of fighting for his life in the darkness has allowed him to reclaim many of his skills, he still has a long way to go before he's back to that level of fighting skill. Instead, he backflips and then spins his momentum to the side to outdistance Gladio's charge and greater weapon reach. Normally, now would be the time he tries to dash in and get under the larger man's defenses, but he doesn't for the very same reason he chose to Stormbind his weapons instead of using one of the stronger and more damaging elemental binds.

He doesn't want to hurt Gladio. He just needs to make sure he doesn't get hurt until the big guy calms down.]

Come now, Gladio. You know very well I'm no bastard. I may not have had the best relationship with my parents, but there is no need to be so crude about it.

[Ignis, is this really the time? Well, if Gladio is looking for 'in character' actions from Ignis to prove who he is, those terrible jokes certainly fit the bill.]

[There's a flash of something between amusement and exasperation in his face that Ignis can't see but might be able to pick up on in the huff of his breath before he shakes his head. A shift and he spins, turning nearly a full circle to follow Ignis' movement and use the momentum of the turn to heave the sword at his target. He doesn't expect it to connect, Ignis is too fast for that. Ardyn is too fast for that. But the momentum carries him closer and he dismisses his sword the same moment it would've connected, charging forward another few steps with his shield now instead, aiming to slam it into the other man where he would naturally have evaded. As long as Gladio has predicted the distance correctly that is.

If he can at least get a hit or two in on Ardyn it should be enough to get him to drop the guise. Or at least he's hoping to.]

Gladiolus Amicitia | Final Fantasy XV

Other Side

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I'm so sorry

Shh... There is no 'I'm sorry.' There are only silly boys making BAD decisions. :-D

Bad decisions are what Gladdy's best at

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Fire guy

Prompto how are you so cute

[Insert chocobo pic here]

best chocobo

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