TEST DRIVE MEME ( 012 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

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

Comments

Alexstrasza | World of Warcraft

[lifeblossom]

Do it for the Vine.

A muted roar rises over the rumbling beneath the trees. Something immense and furious makes its fury known to all within miles of its quandary. Those far away will make out the beating of wings and crackling wood. Those closer will see the shame that has become of an otherwise noble creature. A ruby dragon, strong and immense, struggles to free itself from an abundant snare of vines. They wrap tightly around her feet and restrict her movement. A swift breath of fire and they would be burnt to dust, but a second look reveals the dragon is in deeper trouble.

In an effort to chew the vines away from her front feet, the dragon inadvertently sentenced her muzzle to a similar fate. The flora constricts her snout closed and denies her any chance of freeing herself. The dragon beats her wings to achieve enough lift to break herself from this perennial trap, but she cannot accomplish her goal. Debilitated, all the dragon can do is huff and puff hot smoke through her nostrils and release a shriek dampened by her clamped lips.

Were she free, her fire breath, carrying capacity and flight would make a fine addition to anyone's arsenal. Rescuing this dragon might be the key to rescuing others as well.

Jowan | Dragon Age

[worstmage]

cw: he's a spider. he's a spider man with spider parts. sorry. tell me if you have a phobia
There Goes the Neighbourhood
There have been previous times that Jowan has gone into...some sort of hibernation where he dreamed of losing himself again to Tranquility, but this...is a strange thing to wake up to. The roads are...that strange level of paving like Bavan, the houses small like a village but identical, reaching down the length of the road.

He comes awake sitting, as best he can, on the steps in front of one of the houses' front doors. As best he can, because he's still, in fact, an arachne. He's crouched up the entire slope of the stairs, in fact, front limbs braced at the bottom and human body slouching back towards his spider abdomen.

"Well, hi there, John," says a man next door (his neighbour? what is going on?), shutting down his lawnmower and smiling. Actually, he's just smiling. His lips aren't even moving. He's somehow just talking through his teeth. "Lookin' forward to seeing you at the barbecue!"

"What?" says Jowan. "The...who are you?" If being a spider wasn't already enough, his British accent marks him as an additional outlier in this aggressively Middle America neighbourhood. Being a spider is probably enough, though. It generally is for people.

"Haha, you joker!" says the Neighbour. His mouth still doesn't move. He doesn't blink. He starts mowing his lawn again. Jowan stares at him as he manages to keep making smiling, friendly eye contact, even as he starts mowing facing away from him. This is......

Maybe he's still asleep? He honestly can't decide whether this is better or worse than Ryslig.

Either way, without looking away from the Neighbour, he edges his way down the steps and starts to back away, slowly down the street. He doesn't want to make any very sudden movements, just in case that kicks something off.


Do it for the Vine
Conversely, here, all Jowan could do was run. It's really his one skill, right now, as an arachne--that and feeling the direction the vines were coming from every time he touched the ground. Eventually, though, after running endlessly, he'd started to run out of steam, and the earthquakes made things confusing and now...

He's not super strong, and he's definitely not a fighter without his magic, so as things are, he absolutely gets wrapped up in a growing quantity of vines, binding him to the ground with his legs out flat. Thankfully, they're having a confusing time working out how to smother him, what with the positioning of his face in relation to his lower half. Jowan struggles, and wallows in personal misery for a while, but eventually decides that potentially getting stabbed for being a monster would at least prevent his slow suffocation, especially as the vines are starting to work out the angle they need him at.

"Hello?!" he yells, and twists his head sideways out of the way of some vines trying to gag him. "Help?!"

Ray (Sun/Male protag) | Pokemon Sun/Moon (Games)

[sunsound]

Do it for the vine.

[Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you may hear a strange cry echoing through the trees. The huge bird-like creature that approaches you moments later looks rather leafy itself, if a little distressed. It ruffles its wings urgently and pecks at your clothes. Once it feels it has your attention, it flies to the nearest branch and repeats its mournful cry.]

[You get the distinct feeling it wants you to follow.]

[The lush woodland is beautiful, for all its difficulties. Ray would appreciate it much more if it didn't have him by the ankles, dangling upside down from a vine-wreathed tree. He's already sent out Decidueye for help, but there's no telling where the nearest town is. For now, all he can do is occasionally struggle to curl himself upward enough to stop the blood from rushing to his head.]

There goes the neighborhood.

[Ray has never seen a town like this in Alola.]

[It's hollow and empty, despite all the people trimming their hedges in eerily perfect unison. Even he can feel the deep sadness of falsity beneath the veneer of peace and calm. His pokemon can clearly sense it too. Decidueye circles above, casting a great winged shadow over the impossibly green lawns. Raichu sits restlessly on her tail, floating alongside Ray as they walk down the length of the street.]

[Normally, he'd carry his pokemon in their pokeballs, but this place makes him extremely uneasy.]

[At the first sign of someone who isn't a carbon copy of the same next door neighbor, Ray breaks into a run towards them.]

Hey! Hey! What's going on here?

Wildcard

[Hit me with whatever, or reach out to me through this journal or plurk (azazelbunny) for a prompt!]

[sunsound]

The roar is unlike any pokemon he's ever heard, but that's not what gets Ray's attention first. Wherever he is, whatever this bizarre forested land has to offer, the sound of someone - something - in distress tugs at a deep instinct to help. And so he sends out his companions, Decidueye and (Alolan) Raichu, to search for the source of the sound.

It's not hard for them to locate the dragon. Alexstrasza may be confused when a 5'3'' tall leafy owl lands on her snout to examine the vines before darting off into the canopy at an alarming speed, but just a few minutes after it disappears from sight, a small boy emerges from the brush with Raichu floating by his side.

"Wh-whoa..." He'd compare her to a Charizard, but she eclipses even the largest ones he's seen. "D-Don't worry! We'll get you loose, just stay still!"

With all three of them tearing, pecking, and gnawing at the vines around her muzzle, they've got to make some progress, right?

[lifeblossom]

Decidueye's appearance is surprising but no cause for alarm. Even trapped a red dragon poses a considerable threat. Her barbed tail is still free to thrash though it is calm in the presence of new arrivals. Alexstrasza follows the human's guidance and stills her panicked muscles. The vines pinning her snout shut gradually fall away beneath her saviors' slicing until her constraints weaken enough that she can break them herself.

The dragon parts her scaly maw to first test the vines that still control her. Sensing their fragility, she tosses her great head into the air, chucking strings of vines in different directions. Newly unfettered, Alexstrasza takes a moment to lick her chops and stretch her jaw. A long, low rumbling and vibrations beneath them reminds her of their perilous predicament and the lives that have just risked theirs to help her.

Expression softening, Alexstrasza carefully lowers her head to greet Ray and his companions with grateful eyes. When she speaks, it is with a robust and regal voice one would never expect from a normal dragon. "Thank you for your help, mortals. Were it not for your kindness, I might have perished here. Watch your feet; this jungle may trap you too!"

Papyrus | Undertale

[fontofkindness]

A.
[ Papyrus is PRETTY SURE he knows what human villages look like now! And he is PRETTY SURE that humans aren't copies of each other with no real features, doing the same tasks over and over!

....But it's Papyrus, so he's going around talking to the eerily generic carbon copy families anyway. ]

Wowie! You sure are dedicated to mowing that grass! It sure is green! And short! And orderly!!

[ ....He's going to keep attempting small talk until he encounters someone else, isn't he. ]

B.

[ Well this sure isn't anywhere he's been before, but he knows where he stands with something that clearly wants to fight. The great Papyrus, run from a CHANCE TO GET TO KNOW A NEW FRIEND THROUGH COMBAT? Absolutely not, oh boy!! ]

Do you like...gardening? [ He dodges a clumsy wallop from the golem, but since he's basically stomping around it's not hard for it to swivel around to face him again. ] Or...flowers?? [ Papyrus why are you talking to it. ]

You're making it really hard to be friends with you...You haven't said a single word!!

But I think I know why that is!!

.....You must be shy!! Anyone would, meeting someone so great!! But don't worry!! I'm a great person AND a great friend!!

[ Someone stop him jfc ]

C. WILDCARD

[ do whatever you like im up for anything ]

Do it for the Vine

[yallstupid]

[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.

[sunsound]

[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...

[sunsound]

Ray has to duck out of the way of the vines as they explode outward, but he's sincerely glad to see the noble creature freed. He beams up at her as she speaks, impressed by everything from her strength to her voice. He's not used to non-humanoid creatures being able to articulate actual sentences. Decidueye and Raichu exchange looks of "whoa, pokemon-shaped creature with a human voice".

(Don't be offended that they'll be mistaking you for an undiscovered pokemon for the rest of forever, Alexstraza. If anything, they think more highly of you for it.)

"Oh wow, you can talk, too! That's so gr-...!" The rumbling of the earth beneath them cuts him off and he shakes his head. Gushing about how cool she is will have to wait. "It'll have a harder time doing that if we keep moving. You're not hurt or anything, right?"

[lifeblossom]

Alexstrasza takes quick stock of her condition. She is woefully still bound to the earth by the vines but with her maw liberated, she can turn the circumstances in her favor. Nodding, the dragon raises her head to a more comfortable position and replies.

"No, thanks to you. I am, however, still trapped." She jerks a front foot to demonstrate. It hardly budges. The ground trembles yet again and not by her actions. "Worry not; I will "take care" of this. Then we will be on our way." Her horned nose flicks in the direction behind Ray. "Please stand back. I do not want my fire to burn you."

morrigan ( dragon age ) ota ; will match format

[altarwolf]

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

[To Mu's credit, Morrigan wakes up in a bed and doesn't instantly realize something is wrong. She's sharp, experienced with illusion, and most of all paranoid as fuck, and for a moment, she thinks this is a very normal day.

Then she exits the room, realizes she should be at an inn, and scowls. She then marches outside of this eerily perfect house, looks out at all the perfectly manicured and freaky mirrored buildings, and grabs her staff from her back and pounds it into the asphalt of the street below her. As she does, a ripple of blue energy bursts from it and flows out in a radius around her.

Nothing happens. She sets her jaw, and then shouts at the sky.]

Demon, you do not fool me! Show yourself now and I may hear your offer!

[She, like, won't, she'll totally kill whatever demon, but if she just shouts "hey I'm gonna kill you so come out here" that definitely won't work.

But nothing appears before her.]

THE GRANITE

[There's a black cat currently making the golem look like a complete fool. Cats are incredibly light on their little feet, you see, and every time this one jumps onto an arm or knee, the golem just strikes at it, missing and harming itself.

The cat is making quick work of the creature, as it's already lost an arm from the elbow down to the feline's wiles.

CW: nudity

[braceforimpact]

The problem with illusions is that, frankly, it requires some level of imagination to be fooled--or at least a shared frame of reference. Kaworu Nagisa is possessed of neither, and so is frankly just confused.

He's never seen houses like this--individual units spaced out along a road, with grass and pavement alternating in an inefficient kind of grid.

On a simple level, he understands what's going on--this isn't where he was earlier, but it is where he is now. But he didn't grasp what about it was wrong. The gigantic spider-human combination doesn't actually tell him what is wrong, but it's definitely not right.

What Jowan, moving backwards, bumps into is and isn't technically Kaworu. It's Kaworu's AT Field, a solid barrier in geometric pattern--and when Jowan turns around he'll see the last hexagonal ripples of it between him and the butt-naked Japanese teenager standing in the middle of the street.

Normal!

DO IT FOR THE VINE

[holdmyhand]

[ a....a Decidueye? Luna's eyes lock onto the hooded bird, wind knocked out of her for a second-- this is already pretty disorienting. Is she hallucinating? Probably hallucinating. Yep. Yip yop yup, obvi--

Decidueye flies back into the forest and Luna is immediately ducking and rushing around leaves and branches and thick brush to follow it. W-wild Decidueye is not a normal thing. They're not just-- they are, but--

Suddenly, Ray is hanging above. a small swing and sway in the grasp of the tree, and Luna waves to him, just to make sure he's okay!! Gray eyes dart between a worried pokemon and what appears to be his trainer. ]

Heeeeyy! [ she tilts her head around until she's as upside-down as she can be without falling down herself. ] Are you doin' okay?

[ something about this guy...strikes her as strange. But he's no one that she recognizes from the island. Maybe she's just dehydrated. ]

b.

[holdmyhand]

[ ........who?????

A skeleton-- a skeleton. With really cool outfit-- what the heck? Amazing...and he's just--

The golem swings at him, and the dodge is so effortless that Luna can't help but watch and be transfixed by this conversation. But he's just chatting, and seems like he's having a nice. Shy? Probably not, but...even with the impending danger (sorry, Guzma!) she calls out to him. ]

Ask him if he likes nice blankets!!

[ rock-paper-scissor joke. She grins happily from afar. Not wise to get <>i>too too close, but...gosh. How can you not be this close to such a a cool skeleton? ]

[fontofkindness]

[ For all Papyrus' eccentricities and faults (only some of which he'll admit to, and definitely not in public), his combat skill isn't lacking. The golem's slow, unwieldy movements are easy to read and just as easy to get away from.

He hmms loudly and thoughtfully, registering the words but not the joke. ]

I hadn't considered that...!! Well? Do you like nice blankets?

[ The golem goes in for another punch, which he easily avoids. ] No?? Wowie, you're not much of a talker! It's almost like you don't want to be friends at all?!

[ He crosses his arms, and then - oh wait wasn't there someone else here. He breaks his attention from the golem to look around until he spots Luna. ]

Human!! Do you know him? Is he always like this?? [ Names later, there's something more pressing right now. ]

[holdmyhand]

[ "Human." She shakes her head quickly-- part of being a pokemon trainer is recognizing the strength of others-- the strength of your faith in a team, and in others who face you...and Papyrus is not lacking. Even in playful conversation, the skeleton evades and practically runs circles around the giant golem, who is is so desperately trying to befriend. ]

I've never seen him, before...maybe he's new? [ the golem is swinging, but Papyrus' laid-back and intriguing nature occupy Luna's attention. ] You must be new here too, then! Are you really a skeleton?!

[ maybe he also enjoys jokes!!! like the one the washed up on shore with her many, many months ago. ]

[fontofkindness]

[ He seems about to say something else but-- ] Of course I'm a skeleton!! What other kind of monster could I possibly be?? [ Wait, wait, no hang on he's learned something from being around humans a bit more. He has to give.............the speech. ]

...Human! I realise that perhaps...skeletons may be scary to you!! I have become aware that humans also have skeletons, but inside?? And seeing skeletons walking around...is not something humans are used to!!

But!! There is nothing to worry about!! Because!!

I am an extremely great and extremely friendly skeleton!!

[ He nods sagely, scarf fluttering dramatically in the wind. The golem winds up for another swing in the background.......... ]

[holdmyhand]

[ the scarf!! It billows!! What a strong billow game!!! And what a wonderful and good skeleton-friend!! ]

Well, mister Extremely-Great-And-Friendly-Skeleton... I'm Luna! And, uh, I'm not sure what their name is... [ looking toward the Golem thoughtfully.. ] ...but maybe we can help name them?! Yeah!

[ NAME THE PROBABLY-FATIGUED GOLEM!!! A NEW GAME FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES!!! ]

[fontofkindness]

Your name is Luna??

Wowie!! That's a great name!! Just as great as my name! Which is Papyrus!! [ "extremely great and friendly skeleton" is a good descriptor but not a good name, and what would you even shorten it to?? It'd just be a mouthful every time! No, it's good to have sensible, short names.

The golem's punch looks awfully close to hitting Papyrus, but with a quick turn he holds out a gloved hand. The blue glow of magic surges up the golem's arm, and it jerks violently to the side as the entire appendage drops to the ground.

You're blue now!! At least temporarily. ]

Hmmmm....But what kind of name would be good for our new friend?? Rocky?? Mossy?? Boulder...y?? [ He muses loudly as he holds the golem there (it's already struggling to get up again). Papyrus is bad at names. ]

thor odinson ( mcu ) ota ; will match format

[asparkle]

NEIGHBORHOOD

[This is Theo Olson. Theo is a very normal man. He wakes up early every morning to walk his little Yorkie, Mjolnir. He doesn't work -- what's work? Work has no place in a peaceful, idealistic life. Mjolnir's poop scoops itself. It's basically the perfect life in a perfect suburb in a perfect neighborhood.

And what a perfect day it is. The sun is shining, not a cloud in sight. Theo is admiring the mild day as he walks Mjolnir, when thunder crackles in the distance and clouds start to form over his head.

Well, darn. There goes the perfect weather. Golly.

Only the clouds seem to be localized over Theo himself. Rain starts to pour, and within seconds he is drenched, though Mjolnir remains completely dry. Theo blinks through the water in his face and holds out a hand to feel the rain, which suddenly stops.]

...That was quick. Oh, hello, Mr. Lundquist! Strange weather we're having!

[He gives a pleasant, wet wave to a completely faceless man who is mowing the same section of his lawn in a circle, while the remaining Lundquists stand perfectly still on the driveway, almost in formation as they face the street silently.]

VINE

[Jungle is not a terrain Thor is intimately familiar with. Every few minutes, the earth starts to crumble and shake, not leaving him much room to grow accustomed to his surroundings. From his blindside, a fact of his vision he is still not used to, a vine snakes up and grabs him by the arm.

Alarmed, Thor gives an unwarriorlike yelp, and pulls away from the vine, but it only grips tighter. It starts to strain and snap, until he is left with a very nice vine bracelet. He doesn't much appreciate it, peeling it off and tossing it to the floor.]

Odd.

GRANITE

Well, well. What have we here?

[Thor has felled beasts like this mountain giant before, but it's certainly always a welcome event when he has the ability to fight without holding back. He looks up, and up, and up, sizing the creature up. It's large enough that he's not sure if he's killed larger -- at that scale, comparable size gets much more murky.

Then, the earth giant seems to be distracted by something else.]

Uh-- Giant? I'm right here! I am Thor, son of Odin, god of thunder and king of Asgard! I will strike you down where you--

[It raises a fist as Thor threatens, but it doesn't bring it down on Thor. It brings it down on someone else, who Thor only just realized was here. In a crackle of thunder and lightning, Thor stops grandstanding and leaps over above them, straining to catch the giant's fist before it can connect, electricity coursing through his body. Smaller rocks crumble and fall from the earthen fist.]

You may want to run!

[worstmage]

Wh--

This is definitely a dream, no doubt about it, now. Jowan catches the movement in his rear eyes, but it seems less actively threatening than the Neighbour until he bumps into it sooner than he expects to and whirls around at spider speed. Just, you know. Normal. Naked teens in the middle of the street with Arcane Shields of some unknown sort around them.

"Are you...ok?" That seems a fair question to ask! Maybe it's just...a mage who's lost his clothing for some reason? He hasn't seen a mage outside of his dreams for quite some time but if this is a dream, then. Fair game.

A mage would probably attack a giant spider person, though, so honestly, who knows.

neighborhood

[tuskenlancer]

I don't think it's a demon.

[ Meet your new neighbor. CT's sitting on the porch of the house next door, watching the neighborhood. She's wearing bulky brown armor probably completely unlike anything Morrigan's ever seen, though her helmet is nowhere to be seen. She looks up at Morrigan curiously, pushing her hair back from the side of her face. ]

Why? Do you...have demons where you're from?



( ooc note - CT is from a CRAU from a murdergame jamjar where she met and eventually started dating Varric Tethras. Post-game, she ended up going back to Kirkwall with him for a couple of months before coming to LifeAftr, so she kind of knows Thedas and, if you're interested, can be familiar with Morrigan on a scale from "he maybe mentioned you once" to "actually met her." Or she can never have heard of her at all. Hopefully this isn't too weird, she'd be super excited to meet anyone from back "home" though! )

[sunsound]

"Alright!"

Ray fumbles at his belt for a moment, producing two pokeballs to recall Decidueye and Raichu into. With his companions secured, he darts into the woods a decent distance away, hunkering down behind a tree where he can watch without being in the warpath, as it were. There's a part of him that wonders if fire in a forest, even artfully controlled, is a good idea. But they don't have time to gnaw through every vine and chances are high that they'll regrow faster than they can cut them. So fire it is, for better or worse.

He gives the dragon a thumbs up to indicate he's ready when she is.

[sunsound]

[Is there a word for someone who seems familiar, but only in concept? A face you're sure you've never seen, a voice you're positive you've never heard, but a person you might know none the less?]

[Decidueye lands heavy on the branch from which Ray is suspended, bouncing the branch and swinging the small boy back and forth as a consequence. For all the world, he looks like a distressed piñata. But that distress lessens when he sees the help his companion has found. Ray folds his arms across his chest in an attempt to look more collected than he is and beams down at the girl.]

I mean I'm stuck, but the view's pretty nice! Think you could help me down?

[yallstupid]

[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.