TEST DRIVE MEME ( 011 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #11

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 May 17th, and Applications on May 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.

Damn It, Todd
The island breeze is cool and pleasant, temperature-wise. The sun is beaming cheerfully overhead, and the waves lapping up against the beach are a crystalline aquamarine. The place may as well be a postcard, with how picturesque it is: from the thick copses of palm trees to the soft white sand, it's a truly gorgeous, becoming setting.

It makes up for the chaos of its inhabitants. Mu has adopted what promises to be a highly frustrating backdrop for its dreamers, this fine evening. The island looks normal enough, seems normal enough, but for whatever reason, the physics and general behavior seems oddly...glitched.

We don't just mean in the general sense, either. At random intervals, you may find yourself being launched several feet in the air by an invisible abuse of physics, or clipping through trees at breakneck speeds. Maybe you're walking around several feet above the ground, or your hands are much larger than the rest of you. Regardless, the possibilities are virtually endless and promise to be, for the most part, quite harmless for those afflicted - just very annoying. Whether you're swimming in the air, repeating the same lines of dialogue over and over again, or stuck halfway through the ground, it's not clear how one is meant to undo these glitches once they set in.

You could always try helping each other! Though that may simply make things worse; who can say if these glitches might bleed into one another and complicate things even further?

(Oh, and they do. They absolutely do.)

This is Dragonna Suck
When you wake in a lovely, tranquil woodland, it perhaps seems too good to be true. The trees are dense with canopies flowering overhead, and the grass has formed a thick, plush carpet on the forest floor. There's the sound of birds chattering happily in the branches, and the rustle of forest creatures in the undergrowth. That's around the time that a loud, angry roar splits the silence, and something very large and very green barrels into the clearing you occupy with large, barklike claws. This, dear adventurers, is a rootwyrm. While undeniably draconian in appearance, the effect is offset by the fact that the rootwyrm's skin is more akin to the texture of bark than it is scales. One can generally discern the age of these creatures by counting the number of rather stubby legs that support its ample middle - the youngest will only have two, while the oldest will have as many as twelve.

Rootwyrms move slowly, thanks to the turtle-like shell that sits astride their back in lieu of wings, but they make up for this by hitting quite hard in a fight. Instead of breathing fire, rootwyrms spit a caustic, stinging acid if they can't get close enough to their prey, though they'll be more than happy to try and dispatch you the old-fashioned way: with an extremely large set of reptilian jaws.

Did we mention they don't like trespassers? And that you're standing square in the middle of their territory?

You're Pollen My Leg!
The open spread of the grasslands allows for a clear view of the cloud-scudded sky. This particular setting is that of a meadow, vast and seemingly infinite, hosting a sweeping expanse of rolling hills. The wind's rippling over the fields of rich green and buff-colored grass lends itself to the impression that the hills are in constant motion, as if you're standing in the middle of a verdant ocean.

Naturally, such is not the case. As you roam the landscape, you'll probably notice the dollops of color sprinkled here and there: flowers growing in bright clumps amidst the tufts of grass. They're not ordinary flowers. Why would they be? They're in full bloom, meaning that thick spores of pollen have begun to waft freely into the air. Careful not to draw too close, because this pollen, when inhaled, ingested, or otherwise interacted with in any nonspecific capacity, will have a variety of...side effects, depending on which particular plant's spores you've just unwittingly imbibed.

There are five variants you may encounter in your dream-travels, each of which will have a different result, depending on the color.

[ ♆ ] Blue flowers will induce short-term amnesia and general confusion. Forgetting your sense of identity, difficulty discerning the difference between right and left, and an intense sensation of vertigo are all common side effects.

[ ♆ ] Red flowers will make you intensely and inconsolably angry at just about everything. You know that guy who chewed gum behind your ear that one time? Fuck that guy! That person over there, with the yellow shirt? Fuck their shirt! Yellow is a stupid color, and you're stupid for wearing it!

[ ♆ ] Green flowers will induce a loss of one important sense - sight, smell, taste, touch, or hearing - though loss of powers is also known to have occurred.

[ ♆ ] Purple flowers will induce silence. We hope you aren't very talkative by nature, or that you can communicate exclusively via rude hand gestures, because now you can't speak at all.

[ ♆ ] Orange flowers will fill you an indescribable terror regarding just about everything. The slightest motion, the most innocent hello, the most harmless small animal - all will tap directly into every primal fight-or-flight response to danger you have.

These status effects can and will stack, by the by. Maybe start up a little game of pollen bingo, and see how many fanfiction tropes you can rack up in one day.

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Comments

[demonpuppy]

Chip is walking through the ruins--or at least trying to, with how they skip-stutter back and forth in their movements. It's frustrating to say the least, but they don't know how to make it STOP and it's not any worse than when their dreams make them move through molasses.

Though now they think about it, nothing like that normally happens here on Mu...

Whatever.

Their attention is caught by Yellowfang's flicking tail, and they stop to stare before hurrying over (then skipping two seconds back, then forward again) and reaching to try and pull the poor cat off the wall. "How'd you get up there, buddy?"

[taxusbacatta]

An unfamiliar voice pulled one of Yellowfang's ratty ears toward it and she looked down to spy a young Twolegs. She froze and started to pull her lips into an ugly wet hiss. Had this skinny creature chased away the cat that had called to her? There was no fear scent in the air and the longer Yellowfang stared down at Chip, the more and more she began to suspect that this Twolegs had spoken to her!

In cat language of all things!

StarClan must be mad.

With a suspicious, "Mmmmmmmmmmm," Yellowfang decided to wait and see if this terrible visage might speak again and what message it might have for her.

[demonpuppy]

The hiss startles Chip back, flinching and wincing before reaching forward again, though this time just to hold out their hand. The hum is...weird, but it doesn't SOUND like a growl? "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you, I just wanna help."

[taxusbacatta]

Sure enough!

The Twoleg kit opened its mouth and out came sensible cat words! Yellowfang's pupils became a pair of dark moons as she stared down at Chip.

"Help? Don't pull my whiskers, you blasted fever dream!" Yellowfang spat in a deep creaky voice. "Speak your piece and leave me! Some of us have dying to get around to."

She lashed her ratty tail as her mind raced.

[demonpuppy]

--wait, what?!

"Y-you talk?!" Chip jitters in place for a moment, caught in a loop of a second or so of taking a step back. "I'm not a--I mean, I guess this place is a dream, but I'm not--why do you think you're dying?"

[taxusbacatta]

Yellowfang was starting to lose her patience with this vision. StarClan could be vague and cryptic but this was something else entirely.

"Because I'm holed up in a dirt cave with the forest burning down around my ears. Are you here to tell me something important or not?"

Why was this imaginary Twolegs so surprised she could speak? She didn't like wondering that so she decided to ignore their question completely.

[demonpuppy]

"I don't...I don't know?" There are so many questions Chip has right now, but--they should at least try to help, right? "Is there something I'm supposed to say? But, uh, you're safe here for now...uh, kinda?"

They are the worst at this...

[taxusbacatta]

Yellowfang opened her mouth to demand more of Chip, but she suddenly started to rotate on the axis of her front left paw so it was hard for her to keep a good visual on them.

"Of course you don't know! Of course StarClan has nothing to say to me! This is no vision, this is a punishment!"

She continued to rotate and heaved a raspy sigh.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

[demonpuppy]

"Starclan? I don't--"

The rotating is what really cuts Chip off, and on impulse they reach out to try and grab hold of her so she stops...drifting? What is even happening, they don't know anymore.