aftr_ooc | 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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And then a fucking goddess steps out of the woods.

No, really. This entire scene has just become a frenzied drunk’s less than believable tale on a Thursday night tarvern crawl, and he’s the frenzied drunk. No he swears, she was that gorgeous. Ethereal, practically holy- and he’s not the holiest of men. And this- this Sune of the woods walks towards him with flowers in her hair and more grace than he’s ever seen from a living creature and it’s like

It’s like a weight has lifted. Wholly and completely, without him ever knowing why it was there or even realising, consciously, that it’s gone. Self-consciously, he raises a hand to his hair- and almost immediately puts his arm back down because the temperature here is definitely no temperate Neverwinter and he’s already got sweatstains on his shirt and boy, he’s just- he’s never been amazing with people-

“Oh, hey. Uh, hello. Hi.” And hell, he really isn’t the best at people but he is in the presence of a fucking lady so he’ll damn well stand for her, batting the firefly off his nose only for it to loop a lazy circle round his head, and land on his ear.

Good great excellent so this is-this is going well, then.

Edited 2018-04-19 18:18 (UTC)

God the way he's looking at her, like, like the sun just came up? She'll never get tired of that. Never get tired of seeing the love on his face so openly, so completely. It's just all there, he couldn't hide an emotion if he wanted to and it's one of just, so many things she adores about him.

He's stumbling over his words like they've never met before, like the total dork that he is and her ears are burning like she's a fucking teenager having her first crush. It's way too much and she's brimming with the urge to just wrap him up in her arms and hold onto him and never ever, ever let go again. But she holds back, she's gonna really savor this moment, dreamy in more ways than one.

So instead her gaze follows the firefly lighting up a whimsical halo around his head. "Looks like you got a lil somethin' there," she chuckles and reaches out to gently brush the bug off his ear, her fingers lingering in his hair.

"U-uh, yeah." He's stammering and stumbling and maybe he should be more embarrassed about that than he is, but really. Really, show him a man who could have her approach him, have her reach out and caress his hair without his mind bouncing away in the process. She's gorgeous and smiling at him like she likes what she sees just as much as he does and gods.

If the next time he wakes up, lost and without a single word to point him in the right direction...

Let him remember her.

"Yeah, guess I do." Does he ask? Where she came from, if-- if she wants to join him? Her name? Out of his depth, Barry opens his mouth a few times- only to give up formulating words with a flustered chuckle, averting his eyes.

They come back quickly.

Weird, how something so endearing can start to feel, off, in a matter of moments, the sense of something not right creeping into the dream like, like clouds passing in front of the sun. It's just, she's watched him find his voice through a century of challenges, watched his confidence grow with his skills and his power, as they grew closer. And this is almost like, it's like way back when he could barely look at her without going beet red.

It's probably nothing, right? He's just being cute, happy to see her. Not like she could even start to put into words how full of love and relief she is right now, either.

"Something wrong, babe?" she asks anyway, because she can't fucking help herself, even though saying it out loud makes it-- makes the clouds draw closer. The slightest of frowns creases her brow as she pulls her hand back from his hair just enough to cup his cheek, to hold his gaze.

He wishes he was half as forward as she is. Wishes he could reach out and smooth away the creases of concern from her brow with all the intimacy of a lover- the same intimacy she's conveying in every motion, every word, every touch.

He's- he's not that forward. If anything, Barry has to wonder (albeit reluctantly) if she's mistaken him for someone else; someone who-who could match up with her, to her, her everything. It's with immense regret that he steps back, sweaty palms wiping against his jeans in an unconsciously nervous gesture.

"Sorry- just confused." He looks at her- really looks at her, concerned and nervous. More than a little worried that the next thing he says could be entirely the wrong thing.

"Have we, y'know... met, before?"

He steps back, and grief overwhelms her in an instant. Her hand stays raised where it is, outstretched for someone who's no longer there. He's not-- what she thought was affection in his big beautiful eyes was just, confusion. There's nothing there that recognizes her, no century of shared joys and losses, a million sleepless nights working together, a hundred worlds explored together? It's all gone. Shy glances and silly jokes, comfort through rough months and holding onto one another on a stage - erased. She's a stranger to him, she could-- disappear, and he wouldn't even know it.

It's the feeling of being swallowed whole by the loss, that breaks her.

"Barry, it's me," she pleads, grasping his hand as if it's the only thing keeping her here. "I'm-- I'm Lup, I'm your-- Please try to remember!" Like her desperation had ever been enough, before.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 010 )

the Worst part is I already need more icons

you say that like you didn't see it coming

shhh let me dream, wow

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