aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 012 )

Test Drive Meme #12

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 June 17th, and Applications on June 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.

There Goes the Neighborhood
Today, you're not merely waking up on an island. Oh, no. You're waking up in the world's most perfect suburb, complete with perfectly-trimmed lawns, white picket fences, and a uniformity that borders on the absurd. Not a fleck of paint is out of place, and not a blade of grass is out of line.

Mu has attempted to imitate the sort of fabricated happiness that adventurers dealt with in the month of May, but without the full power to shape fantasies to the whims of each individuals, has opted instead to attempt for a blanket, painfully generic alternative.

It's a cheap attempt to mimic something that was already a falsehood to begin with, rote and uncommitted. Thus, much of this world is patchworked with palpable holes, both visible and otherwise: neighbors are featureless specters performing daily routines with robotic precision, entire swathes of the neighborhood are perfect replicas of the same painfully generic family, and, of course, there's you.

You obviously don't belong here. The framework of the narrative is so structured that it's not hard to realize things are amiss. The more you think about it, the more it seems like this entire fantasy is deeply, deeply amiss.

But then again, maybe not. Maybe you buy into it, completely and utterly. Maybe you're so eager to escape whatever life you lived prior to this one that you're all too eager to live in this Stepford-esque facsimile. The degree to which your character adheres to this structured world, and how much they remember from their true life, is up to you.

Do it for the Vine
This next scenario is far from pleasant, though it is much more real. The thick, tropical woodland might be difficult to traverse at first, but don't worry - it's about to get much harder.

Do you like earthquakes? How about massive, twisting vines that swarm out from the undergrowth to attempt to snake up around your ankles and shins and root you in place, perhaps smother you in the dirt? Isn't it fortunate that you're being left to contend with both at once? Mu is compensating for the events of May, it seems; commemorating a god whose demise tore an island apart by mimicking with precision efficiency how that must have felt for everyone to bear dramatic witness.

The good news is that while the vines might be both eerily cunning and vast in number, they still are just plants, and plants can be easily pruned or burned. The subterranean rumbles of the ground as it cracks and ruptures underfoot might be less easy to contend with.

To that, our only suggest is simply to run. Good luck!

Taken for Granite
This particular brand of landscape is striped with cliffs and crags, a lifeless mountain range crooked along the horizon with rock the color of fired clay. And not far off from where you've stirred awake is...a rather eccentric rock formation.

By "eccentric", of course, we mean "moving". And by "moving" we mean "it is extricating itself from the ground like some unholy tectonic zombie and it's coming right at you RUN".

Formed entirely from an amalgamation of earth, rocks, ore, and valuable gems, the earth golem is surprisingly territorial for a glorified lump of mud. Approximately fifteen feet tall and half as wide, this lumbering creature has only one concern: the eradication of anything that steps into its territory. It is sensitive to vibrations in the ground, and is thus very difficult to hide from for those moving on foot. However, it is nearly blind and very stupid, preferring to wallop anything within reach using its massive, boulder-sized fists rather than employ any sort of strategy.

Still, unless you're looking to travel to the other side of the area via the Golem Express, avoiding this creature's warpath may be a wise choice. Especially given its talent at re-assembling itself upon destruction.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It must be a cold day in hell if Decidueye spotted this asshole and thought he was a good choice to offer help. Thankfully, the bird doesn't have to get too close for Guzma to spot - it is a fairly large pokemon, and a pokemon that he recognizes right away...given it's a local species from his home region. He's startled when he first sees it - no one else he knows has pokemon here and--

...Wait. Didn't the kahuna's grandson have a Decidueye? Guzma blinks, scowling as he chews his lip in thought. It's right around the time newcomers start to appear, and these dream-like scapes start to occur like crazy. He curses under his breath and begins the trek through the wild, overgrown forest. That malasada muncher was always a bit clueless...and in a place like this, being clueless can get you killed. He puts two fingers into his mouth and whistles loudly to get the pokemon's attention - he sees you there, Fly Guy, lead on.

Following the ghostly owl's shadow at a run, vaulting over felled trees and rotting logs, Guzma slaps ferns and branches out of his face until he reaches the small clearing where Ray is held aloft by the tree's vines and branches. That is definitely not the kahuna's grandson, and Guzma doesn't even recognize the kid in the slightest. Some random, no-name trainer? Why the hell would anyone just grab Joe Shmoe here out from Alola? Whatever...this place never made any sense regardless. Snorting as the kid wriggles about like a Wurple on a hook, Guzma begins to laugh as he strides forward.]

Keep moving like that, kiddie Caterpie, and y'all will attract something ready to take a tasty chunk outta ya.

[Decidueye recognizes Guzma, for sure - and he almost flies past because honestly screw dealing with that. But after a moment's thought, he decides that beggars can't be choosers and makes himself known. It takes a little effort to make sure he's not going too fast for the Team Skull leader to keep up, but they reach the clearing in the end and that's what matters.]

[Meanwhile, the vines trapping the child have worked their way up most of his lower half, leading to a bit of urgency behind the squirming. Ray takes one look at the head of white hair that pokes through the underbrush and groans, scrubbing his face with his hands. Decidueye gives an almost apologetic hoot, landing on the branch holding Ray's legs.]

Oh man, not you! Just my luck...

[Oh yikes, those vines are doing quite a number on the kid, aren't they? Guzma tugs out Golisopod's pokeball from an inner pocket of his hoodie and clicks it open. The huge pokemon emerges in a beam of red light and twitches his antennae as he peers from his trainer to the other pokemon and then finally the trapped child wriggling in the vines. Um...is this a battle? Is he supposed to fight? Golisopod turns to his trainer for instruction, blinking quietly.]

Cut 'im down, Goli, and watch the ank-- [Wait. Guzma raises a brow as he looks the kid up and down. Does he....know this little pipsqueak? Clearly the boy knows him, but that's not shocking. He's infamous in Alola - everyone and their grandmother's Rockruff knows his name. Must've been someone he's crushed in the past, when he was still running Team Skull.] Boy, if y'all don't want my help, me n' Goli can be on our merry li'l way and leave ya to them there vines.

But, uh...given the speed they be creeping up on ya, don't exactly think y'got time to be choosey.

N-now wait a second, I got you out of ultra space, the least you can do is get me out of a tree!

[Cue hilariously desperate squirming.]

[Well. That certainly gives Guzma pause. His eyes widen slightly for a moment, and he looks stunned for a second before his face dissolves back into a scowl, but his face is darker and there's very clear anger broiling beneath the surface. Wordlessly, he nods his head to his pokemon who, with one swipe of its claws, manages to sever the thick vines that were slowly beginning to encase the young lad. Thankfully, the distance from the ground isn't that high where a fall will be that harmful, but it won't be pleasant.

Guzma, watching all this, takes a bold step forward, looming down at this child and narrowing his eyes darkly. How in the world does this no name trainer know about all that? No one else was there other than Luna, that other girl, and the Aether President.]

Who the heck are you, kid? [He glances at his Golisopod again, who ambles over and holds out his arm - those claws are being pointed dangerously close to you, Ray.] And be quick, kiddo, otherwise I can't promise the next cut will miss anything, uh...important.

Oomph!

[The wind is knocked out of Ray's lungs as he hits the ground, but being young and resilient, he bounces back fairly quickly. He looks up at Guzma with a puzzled expression.]

You...don't remember me? That's rude. I thought we had a thing going, back and forth, you know? It's Ray. The dumb punk who keeps getting in your way? I busted into your mansion and we battled over a stolen Yungoose, remember?

[You know, kid, there's a saying that goes: quit while you're ahead. Probably in your best interests to take that to heart right about now. Guzma bristles more and more as this boy goes on, talking about things that happened back in Alola as if he were there, and not the young girl he's come to know as a good friend. His knuckles pop as his fists ball at his sides, lips curling over his teeth slowly like an angry dog - threatening. Loose that tongue some more, buddy, and you might not have one to speak with...]

I remember a girl what broke into Po Town, beat me 'n my whole Team down, and marched outta my mansion happy as a Clamperl... Her name is Luna, and she's been here on this sticking island with her since we both got here. So you might wanna work on your story, homeboy, or I'm laving y'all back to them plants.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 012 )

Do it for the Vine

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