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aftr_ooc2018-04-13 08:39 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in aftr_ooc2018-04-13 08:39 pm
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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:
Remember that Reserves will open on April 17th, and Applications on April 24th!
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.
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.
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.
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.
wander; shadow of the colossus
[ It's disorienting, exhausting. He's not sure if this is death, or perhaps some form of banishment to a realm meant for the sinners like himself. His memory is vague, the images all clouded and distorted - he remembers reaching out for her, trying his best to fight back and reach for her as a greater force dragged him away, down, down into the inky depths. When he landed the impact took his breath away, but even that was confusing in itself.
His steps are awkward and clumsy, a hand held out in front of him and trying to find something to grab ahold of, to regain his balance and gather some semblance of his surroundings. Where is he? Why did it have to happen this way? If he completed his assigned task, is she alive? Well? All alone?
He trips, collapsing down onto the ground, and it's a struggle to get back up on his feet. There's something (several somethings?) approaching, and he swings an arm at them, a pitiful attempt to keep whatever it is at bay. Did he drop his weapons? Where's the sword, his bow?
It's dark enough that he can't see the greyish tint to his skin, nor can he feel the new additions at either side of his head. He can barely see much of anything. The most he can do his feel his way around, swat at the strange things swarming around him, and try not to trip over his own feet again.
... that last part doesn't always go so well, though. ]
hello c:
[The Drifter's blade ignites with a hum of cerulean, their shape cresting into a blur of violet. The light scatters the shades, whatever they might be, but they do not disperse utterly.]
[The victim looks as though he almost might pass for one of them, though perhaps it is the cyan glow of their hard light blade that lends his skin that unhealthy, grayish pallor. Or perhaps, like the case with the elves, this is simply what is considered normal, for him.]
[First things first.]
[The Drifter advances with one hand extended, to ensure that he is real and therefore solid.]
aaahh hello!
Then, there's a light. A different light, one that he could almost swear looks familiar to him. The shape of it is like a weapon, perhaps. Maybe that's why his gaze is drawn to it, wondering why someone else has it, or why it's not quite the same as he remembers it.
What all has happened, since he was pulled into the darkness?
The critters are close again, leaping towards him, but this time when he swats his hand at them it finally brushes something solid. The impact catches him off guard for a moment, and his first instinct is to recoil and reach for the weapon at his side - but his hand finds nothing, remembering finally that it was all taken from him. He panics, uncertain what to do now and worried that he's now defenseless in front of an attacker--
... but it's not an attacker. It's an offer of help.
When the realization does kick in (the hand is held out to him in assistance, not reaching for anything to strike him with,) Wander finally reaches out and grasps the offered hand tight, hauling himself up to his feet. He can't quite make out who this stranger is, the darkness and the foggy mist too thick to see clearly through weary eyes, but it's help he needs when all else is so lost to him. ]
c:!!!!!!!!!
[Solid, therefore real. Therefore alive. Decidedly non-hostile, as it has grasped their hand in return, the way Ren clutches at them when she hums under her breath or is otherwise content. The clasping of another’s hand is seldom enacted in a hostile context.]
[The issue then becomes how best to proceed. The things at their heels, shadowing them with an eerie persistence, do not disperse readily. Perhaps they can be outran.]
[The Drifter begins to move, slowly at first, tugging at the other poor soul’s hand as they go. This way, this way.]
o(^▽^)o
But he'll be more concerned about expressing gratitude after they've made their way out of this mess. Right now, he can only concentrate on trying to keep up, one foot in front of the other (trying to keep from stumbling as best he can,) and keep his grip on the stranger's hand tight.
He's fairly certain he'd be at a complete loss if he were to let go. The stranger could keep running, find a way out of this place, only to discover his companion no longer behind him - would they turn back?
Whether unlikely or not, Wander doesn't want to find out. He holds on as best he can manage, using his free arm to keep swatting and batting the creatures swarming around them, and hopefully they will find a way out soon. ]
no subject
[So instead they glance back at the stranger they’ve elected to aid. The sprite bobbing a foot or so away from them, just a few inches above their shoulder, utters a muted chime as it projects a pale pink HUD that inputs a line of block-like text:]
injured?
no subject
The noise startles him, a different sound that breaks through the muted and muffled silence, but once he sees the message appear he knows it's not dangerous.
... though it does take him a moment or two longer than most others to read the message. It's not a skill he's particularly good at. In... injur-- oh. Injured.
Wander shakes his head, though his expression isn't entirely one of certainty. He's lost and confused, he had been shot with an arrow and stabbed with a sword, but neither of those wounds seem to have been brought here with him. Aside from a vague and lingering soreness, there's nothing to be of much concern there. ]
no subject
[The Drifter points. The stranger may simply be disoriented, but he carries himself as though he is injured.]
limping?
no subject
Wander doesn't want the stranger worrying too much about him, however. It's more than enough that they've decided to help at all, but they could just be putting themselves in more danger. Whatever these bizarre creatures are, just because they haven't made a move to attack and devour them yet, that doesn't mean it's beyond their capabilities.
Again he shakes his head, though his insistance that all is well is immediately nullified by that next stumble and the way his expression twists in pain. He's fine, really. He swears.
It's not serious, at any rate. They should keep going, and Wander gives the stranger's hand a gentle tug - this way? ]
no subject
[Why should a limp stop this one?]
[He at least seems to have something of a vague notion as to where he wants to go. Very well. They comply easily, blade alight with a steady hum. The light doesn't scatter the shades that continue to swirl at them, but the bolt of adrenaline that each one inspires at least ensures that the Drifter will not slump over and allow the sleep to smother them alive.]
[There must be a way out.]
[Perhaps...it is the same as it was the last time, in the Water.]
look for a thread
red