TEST DRIVE MEME ( 010 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

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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Comments

[want_to_belong]

We don't? I mean, I know things got kind of rough on the train, but we should have...

[He paused as a disturbing thought came to him. He'd been here a while, and he'd told Ignis and Noct about himself. He hadn't talked to Gladio about it yet. How could he say it and make it clear what he meant without actually saying it?]

It's not... It's not cause of where I was 'born', is it...? I was still working on getting back to you guys when I ended up here, so I'm not sure what happened after that. All I know is a few things Noct mentioned.

[piercetheheart]

Wha-? No. [He's a little startled, surprised that Prompto would even begin to think such a thing... but then with how young the man in front of him is, is it really that unexpected?]

No, Prompto. 's just... hard, without Noct. Too many reminders, I guess. And too many differing opinions on what we should be doing. It- [Gods if their little tussle on the train still bothered him how would he handle knowing what came later?] Got pretty messy for awhile. We fought. A lot. Eventually we just... drifted.

[want_to_belong]

Oh.

[He went quiet. With Noct gone, if he and Gladio and Iggy split up, he didn't really have anyone else. What was he doing?

Hanging around Cindy, apparently. Could be worse than that, but it sounded pretty lonely overall. He carried on walking silently for a bit, sullen expression on his face as he thought about it. At least it hadn't been because of where he was from.

As always, he had to cling to some sort of hope. When he finally spoke it was like he was shakily trying to glue things back together.]

Well, we don't have to worry about all that while we're here. Noct's been here. Most the time. And Iggy's getting better at handling stuff blind... He even got to see for a little bit! And there's a lot of stuff that needs to get done, so we can concentrate on that.

[piercetheheart]

[Prompto being quiet doesn't really sit right with him. Even after all this time he's so used to the blond constantly bouncing and making noise, incapable of holding still. It feels wrong,seeing him so down and Gladio grits his teeth, cursing himself for a moment for causing it. He knew Prompto wouldn't take it well but-

He couldn't lie to him. He deserved to know just as much as Ignis. For better or worse it was what had happened.]

Yeah. Lots to do. [Wasn't that the problem before?] We'll work it out. Don't worry, Prom.

[want_to_belong]

Yeah.

[Strained but hopeful, he smiled up at Gladio hopefully. Put all the problems they had to deal with on the backburner, they had some hardcore camping to do.

He gave one soft sniff, rubbed his nose a little with the back of his hand, and carried on.]

And now you can't steal the girls I like anymore.

[piercetheheart]

[That single, pathetic sniffle is a little bit heartbreaking and Gladio reaches up, scrubbing a hand roughly through Prompto's hair, halfway between a noogie and a ruffle.]

Hey, the hell's that supposed to mean? [He can go over whatever girls he wants, thanks... though really, technically Elle's waiting for him back in Lestallum.]

[want_to_belong]

[That was a reeeally bad place for Gladio's hand to be with what he was about to say.]

'Cause you're old enough to be their dad.

[Yup, just going to try and maneuver away. Nevermind that some of the girls Prompto liked were older women.]

[piercetheheart]

[Oh hell no you don't Prompto. Now you are trapped and he's just going to pin you to his chest by your neck and give you a noogie 10 years overdue.]

WHAT WAS THAT!?? [And if they're really young enough to be Gladdy's kid then why's Prom flirting with a ten year old?]

[want_to_belong]

[OH ASTRALS he should have waited until he was further away.]

Dude!

[He grabbed at Gladio's arm and tried to pry it off, as if that would be any use, flailing his legs.

If he started young they could be 16!]

'snot my fault! [He choked out.]

[piercetheheart]

[Prompto you know damn well he hadn't knocked anyone up last you saw him so 10 would be the oldest okay.

Gladio can't help laughing as Prompto flails, a full, rich laugh, the kind of thing he hasn't done in more years than he can count and somehow the grip arm he has around Prompto's neck drops down to his shoulders, his hand falling from his hair to his back, yanking him in for a tight hug.]

Missed you... ya idiot.

[want_to_belong]

[Just as he got his footing again and managed to take a big gasp of air he was suddenly smelling a lot of Cologne du Gladio. He barely had time to register what was happening in-between.

The brief silence was a pretty good indicator that he was actually thinking for once. After all, it might not have been ten years for him, but it had almost been ten months since he'd even seen Gladio. For a long time he'd been the one piece constantly missing. But he was a big manly man who didn't cry no tears. Especially not in front of Gladio.

With a balled up fist he weakly smacked Gladio's chest, his hand coming to a rest there for a minute.]

I missed you, too.

[piercetheheart]

[If it helps lend weight to what he's said about where he came from his clothes smell strongly of ash and smoke, a hint of sulfur clinging to him as well.

He wants to apologize for a moment but he knows it's no use. This is not the Prompto he fought with so much, not the same man he pushed away.]

We'll figure this shit out. We gotta.

[want_to_belong]

[In a way it's like a weight off his shoulders. All this time he'd been desperately trying to keep things together. It had been a major struggle, trying to locate food, trying to build shelters, trying to hunt by himself without a gun, dangers constantly plopped on their heads... He didn't complain much about it because Noct was alive and Iggy was depending on him. But for all that time Ignis had been severely wounded and was doing his best to recover from that, and Noctis wasn't always around, leaving him to try and take care of things based on his survival skills. He never felt like he had someone he could exactly lean on.

With Gladio here it was like he could finally take a breather and take a back seat. If he actually showed up on the islands...

He took a deep breath - Gladio, you need a bath almost as badly as he needed a good bath - and finally lightly pushed away with a firm nod.]

Yeah, we will. If we can get this far with all the shit that's been thrown at us, it'll be a piece of cake with everyone here.

[piercetheheart]

Yeah, Sorry I... haven't been here for ya. [Not like he had any idea what was going on, what he'd been missing out on. It sounded like things had been a mess and he'd do everything he could to make things better for them now that he was here.

Everything possible.

Like showers, showers were definitely a necessity.]

[want_to_belong]

[To his credit, Prompto looked like he was definitely bathing. Just, in rivers and oceans and such. He definitely had a more earthy smell to him from spending so much time outside.]

S'not your fault.

[He gave Gladio's arm a light smack.]

Woulda expected Noct to be the late one, though.

[Surely this wasn't the end of drama. They'd dealt with a lot, butted heads, and just had a lot of issues. But for now this would do.]

So, let's go get Iggy, and hopefully you're still here tomorrow, right?