TEST DRIVE MEME ( 013 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #13

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 July 17th, and Applications on July 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.

Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat
When you wake, it's to the bucking of tumultuous ocean waves and the heavy sluice of rain. The boat you've found yourself on was probably seaworthy at some point, but it's been wind-battered and weatherbeaten to the point where it's begun, quite steadily, to sink into the choppy waves. Looks like you're all in the same, sinking vessel. To make matters worse, it seems that the storm itself has a nasty sense of humor. It seems almost intuitive in its attempts to toss you from your footing on the deck and into the frothing waters below. Gusts of powerful wind try to tear you from the mast if you climb it, and the boat rocks perilously to try and tip you into the churning waves. Oh, and did we mention the lightning? Because there's lightning, and it seems to have a personal interest in incinerating your pitifully wooden little boat on the spot.

That doesn't mean you're completely helpless. There is an island in sight, one that resembles the waking land of Ensō, albeit somewhat far off, its silhouette fuzzy and indistinct from the curtains of rain. But if you can make it...

Well, anywhere's got to be better than here, right?

Gibbon No Quarter
It's been a year since the first adventurers were initially drawn to Mu's shores, and then, later, to Ensō's. And so, in celebration, the dream-island has cribbed only the best bits of the previous year for prospective explorers to sample on their way in.

Take now, for instance. You'll find yourself in a cage of all things, with the pound of drums and excited hoots of hungry simians to greet you upon waking. This particular breed of monkeys was once unique to Ensō, before travelers were forced to more or less thoroughly exterminate them. Devilishly smart and naturally inventive, gun monkeys are so named for their trademark weaponry - coconut guns, naturally - and their generally cunning capacity to craft tools out of very rudimentary resources. And oh, right - they're also very carnivorous. They've set up a smoking bonfire in the center of the jungle clearing that makes up their temporary home, and if you don't figure out a way to come out of your cage (have you been doing just fine, perhaps?), then you're going to be next on the menu.

Think fast, or work with whoever's nearby, and you might have a chance. Or you could always call for help. That always works out, right?

To Be Continued
Stories, stories, stories. Anyone who's hung around the block for any length of time can tell you, dear newcomers, that those little things are of the utmost importance in this neck of the woods. There's no mistaking the purpose behind this inviting scene - log seats set up around a roaring campfire, and even a packet or two of marshmallows if you're feeling hungry.

It almost might be enough to distract you from the fact that there's no fuel for said fire. And what's more, the darkness surrounding the woodland backdrop is so impenetrable that you may as well be an isolated blot of warmth in an otherwise unforgiving void. And within that void, if you listen close, you might hear something - a snarling, an indistinct rumble of massive jaws parting, hungrily, in search of something alive. If that flame burns out...well, something out there isn't fond of fire, and that's the only thing keeping it from claiming everyone seated here for its own enjoyment. But the good news is that there's a very easy way to keep this fire blazing well through the danger. Can you tell where this is going?

It's stories, of course. Regale us with tales of your past exploits, or with fairytales or nursery rhymes you remember from your childhood. Relay your tales of triumph and of grief, of laughter and of agony, of anything you can possibly imagine. As long as a story of some sort is being told, the fire will burn merrily onward, and the blanket of all-consuming darkness will be kept at bay.

Just try not to embellish too much. If your story is too vague, if it is more lies than it is something genuine, the fire might start to gutter dangerously low as a consequence. And that beast, whatever it is - oh, it's hungry.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

Comments

[pidgeypidge]

That certainly was a hand shooting up to latch onto the side of her raft. Well then. Not really big on the idea of being tossed into the water or possibly murdered, she took a couple of steps back and tensed up. The sudden flash of lightning startled her into letting out a very dignified squeal-y sound and she immediately regretted it.

But then she realized that she recognized her would-be assailant when he spoke up. Sort of. "Getting stupid?"

She shrugged at that and allowed herself to relax again when he finally seemed to notice her. "Hi Keith," she greeted, tilting her head curiously at him. He looked really... tired. But she waited as he rolled and then leaned over to peer at the weapon on his back. Interesting.

"Nice spear." So maybe teasing him wasn't the best idea given their current circumstances, but easier to ignore the rising panic at being on a boat in the middle of a storm if she had something else to focus on. And right now, that something else happened to be Keith. But even still, she's moving closer to see how she could help. "Did you make this?"

[thermalwind]

"No. Traded for it. It should be with Lance." The spear is trapped to his back by a series of leather straps. He pulls on it and it snags on a sand dollar mid-way up the weapon. "The Jormun make them." He taps the sickle made in a similar manner strapped to his right side. A knife is sheathed on the left.

He looks up around them at the mast and sails that aren't rigged for helping them to shore. "Once I get the spear free I'll go up and rig the sails." They need to move fast. He'll have to keep an eye out for Shiro and Lance. They might still be on the island.

[pidgeypidge]

"Oh." Somehow, that was slightly less impressive. But she supposed it was still smart of him to acquire a weapon either way. Regardless, she's mostly focused on the weapon strapped to his back. "Jormun. Got it." Pidge had absolutely no idea who or what a Jormun was, but apparently they made weapons. So, good to know? The presence of the two other weapons wasn't even surprising, because she knew Keith.

When he spoke up again, Pidge tore her eyes away from the assortment of weapons to have a look around. As soon as she realized she had no idea what he was talking about, though, she was right back to trying to get the spear free. Carefully, she's tugging at each of the straps systematically, while keeping an eye for some kind of buckle or something. "Or you could tell me how to do it." She could probably manage if she had some idea of what to do. Maybe.

[thermalwind]

"Straps open to the right." He says, ignoring her suggestion she goes up and handles the sails. Hell no. These winds would toss her around like a leaf. The spear comes free and he hands it to her. "Use it to row towards the island. Okay?" He passes it into her hands without letting her answer.

This is a storm at sea and he isn't an idiot. He is up and scaling the mast with his knife between his teeth in little time at all. He sees what the problem is once he's halfway up. The knife is swept in a fast slash, freeing the sails from the tangle of rope. He swings back down to the deck via the ropes as the wind hammers at him. But at least they're moving towards land now.

[pidgeypidge]

That was helpful. Yes, good. "Got it." It was easy going after that, and soon enough he was handing over the spear. And completely ignoring her suggestion to handle the sails. Any other time she might have tried to argue, but she'd really only brought it up because she wanted to make herself useful. He was more than welcome to handle it if he wanted to. "Okay. I think I can do that," she told him with a nod.

And then he was gone before she could even turn around, so she wouldn't have been able to get another word in even if she'd wanted to. Shrugging it off, she does turn and busies herself with doing what he'd suggested. If nothing else, she's good at following directions when she's in the mood to cooperate. It was rough going at first, but she did manage to get them pointed in the right direction.

She glanced up at his return. "So... is it safe to ask what's going on?" This wasn't exactly a normal thing for any of them.

[thermalwind]

"Did you have a dream about a rabbit with antlers?" He asks as he draws a sickle and moves to the other side sweeping it through the water to assist in rowing. "It would have told you what was going on." He adds as he settles on his side of the raft. He keeps an eye out for trouble. "Shiro and Lance are here too. But..."

But they're from different points in time. If anyone would accept that, it's Pidge. "We're from different points in time. Shiro's from before he vanished from the cockpit of the Black Lion."

[pidgeypidge]

"Huh..." Come to think of it, she had dreamt of a rabbit with antlers. But as she didn't ordinarily remember her dreams, she'd been willing to forget about it. "I thought it was odd. But yea, there was a rabbit with antlers. I uh... just figured it was a fever dream or something," she admitted. It was actually a little comforting to hear that she wasn't the only one. "But...?"

He didn't make her wait long for the rest of that statement, but she was still blinking a little. "Very wibbly-wobbly," she muttered. "What point are you from?"

[thermalwind]

"Just after we won at Naxzela." Keith catches sight of something moving through the water like an arrow. Narrow fin on top. He gets the flash of a face. He signals for her to keep rowing as he unsheathes his Marmora blade. It catches the light from the lightning flash.

He tenses on the boat. It moves to circle the raft. His eyes narrow, he flicks the blade like a cat flexing their claws. "That was Storyteller. What point are you from?" Come on. Swim a little closer.

[pidgeypidge]

Since she couldn't remember what he was talking about, she was going to assume that he was from a different point as well. Swell.

But before she can say anything more about it, he was gesturing at her and whipping out a blade. That was... probably not a good sign, but she was just going to casually focus on rowing and let Keith deal with whatever it was for now. "Storyteller, huh," she muttered, trying the name out. It made sense, she supposed.

"Uh... just after you and Hunk came back with the scaultrite for the wormhole generator," she admitted with a shrug. How far ahead did that make him? Should she ask? Maybe when they were on solid ground.