TEST DRIVE MEME ( 014 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #14

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 August 17th, and Applications on August 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.

One Magic Night
The waves are aglow. That might not be the first thing you notice when you wake, but it will probably draw your attention at some point: the way the sea foam glistens with an effervescent light as it rinses the beach in a crystalline, deep blue shimmer. Further out, lurid explosions of color ripple soundlessly beneath the waves - an underwater fireworks show. The atmosphere is peaceful, a blissed-out calm to suit the lazy lap of the surf-spray against the sand. Maybe turning around will shed a little more light on the situation. What this is, in fact, is the echo of a celebration that was held on Ensō back in June. Torches and campfires crackle with a merry, companionable blaze, and there is food and drink in abundance - including some of the alcoholic persuasion, for those of you who are over the age of twenty-one.

There is, naturally, all sorts to do in a celebration like this. Friendly sparring matches have sprung up along the shoreline; beach cushions and blankets decorate the party site; coconut shells laden with bioluminscent body paint can be dipped into at will, if you fancy shining like a glowstick throughout the artificial night.

Just because you've got no idea how you got here doesn't mean you can't enjoy a good party while it lasts, right?

Growing Pains
The island you've ended up on today is very, very beautiful, particularly if you're a botanist: it's covered in flowers of all sorts. They grow in rich clumps, seemingly at odds with any sense of convention. Here, you can find common dandelions flowering alongside tropical strelitzias, snowdrops spangled beside water lilies. No matter the impossibility of it, despite the discrepancies of seasons and temperatures in which these specimens should be blooming, you'll find that nearly every species can be found represented, flowering in tandem. It's gorgeous. Breathtaking, even.

There's only one problem.

That problem being that the flowers are growing out of you as well. As might be obvious, this is not exactly a pleasant sensation. There is, in fact, a full list of rather painful symptoms that has been very well-documented of late. All you have to worry about in particular, however, is what has caused these flowers to take root in you in the first place:

Lies.

Is there something you need to get off your chest? Some confession that's aching to be made? Some guilt or regret that you've repressed, that's been dragging you down for years?

Then you'd better get to it. Those flowers aren't leaving unless you spill. And if you'd rather not, well...they're more than happy to fertilize the earth with what's left of you.

Hoo Ha Ha
Stop us if you've heard this one: you and some stranger wake up on a boat. There are no landmasses in sight, and nothing as far as the eye can see but lapping waves and a peaceful, periwinkle, cloudless sky. It's good weather for sailing. Perfect, in fact. There's even a tight breeze that might helpfully guide you along.

The punchline, of course, is the fact that you're surrounded by sharks. Sorry, did we say sharks? We meant tigersharks, of the most literal sort possible. Part fish and part feline, these dual-headed beasts are summarily more naturally carnivorous and more aggressive than your bog standard tigers or sharks. They're wickedly fast in the water, and just as lethal on land.

And they're currently trying to climb aboard; armed with four sharp-clawed legs, they're more than capable of doing exactly that unless you can fend them off.

---

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

Comments

[propugnator]

( colours sparkle along the ocean's waves, bright and shimmering. it's beautiful underneath the moonlight, but it feels uncomfortably familiar. almost like a dream. shiro is positive that he's already lived through this night before, sharing drinks and stories with a trusted teammate until they settled into a comfortable silence.

how long ago had that been?

he's not sure.

shiro's fingers twitch with the urge to touch the place where his prosthetic arm used to be as he looks out towards the ocean. there's nothing but air there, the limb missing without anything to replace it. he can be found standing on the beach for an extended amount of time. )

The ocean here is like nothing else.

( then he can be found sitting by a jormun, helping paint party-goers with bioluminscent body paints. )

Hold still. It'll smear.

[thermalwind]

[The waves crash against the shore and mask the sound of his approach. What little hints of it exist. He closes the distance between them and stops at Shiro's side. He's just a little shorter, his face marred by a burn on the right side.

It feels like a while ago he stood beside Shiro and yet, he'd just had him safe. He sighs.]

Back here again. I guess I was sent back like Lance.

[Keith turns his head to look at him one eyebrow raised.]

...both of us. Welcome back, Shiro. [He touches his shoulder lightly like that first day seemingly long ago back on Earth after Shiro had returned.]

I feel like I should apologize

[warlorded]

[He watches this scene for a long moment, the blue bands in his armor glowing faintly in the dim light, armor Shiro will certainly find familiar. Eventually he approaches slowly, trying to discern what it is about this boy that feels so strangely familiar.]

Is there significance to these markings?

[Golden eyes flick from Shiro to the festival at large.]

Are we celebrating a victory of some sort, perhaps?

[Is that what had happened? He couldn't remember exactly. Surely he'd recall if the Paladins had come to such a remote planet that he did not even recognize the stars overhead without the assistance of the navigator in his helmet which was hooked uselessly over two fingers.]

slams in five million years late

[thegoofball]

[Hold still? You mean wriggle around, right?]

It's not bad.

[Lance wiggles his toes in the sand, watching the patterns form around his arms.]

Still not sure it compares to the ones back home - no offense.

[He just...misses Cuba. So much.]

[lordofsilvertear]

[The apparent dragonet all but blends into the beach's sand, curled up as it is upon itself as brown eyes blink awake. Slowly, he raises his head, folding his wings to him as he stands on all fours, shaking off the sand as he gazes upon the festivities.]

How long it has been since I hath witnessed the festivities of man.

[Or any being, humanoid or otherwise. Yet that deep, masculine voice does not quite match up with the tiny frame that then takes to flight but a few feet off the ground. He is, if nothing else, curious. Likely to fly near, but not near enough to be touched, lest he startle the ones he observes.

Yet when a campfire begins to die out, he could be seen picking up a few twigs from nearby and placing them on the embers. Puffing blue flame to help it reignite.]

[thermalwind]

[He blinks. He'd heard the voice and come to see who it was. He had not expected to come face to face with a small dragon. Both of his eyebrows raise up, disappearing under his unruly mess of hair.]

...uh, yeah. But these people aren't...man?

[He glances at the dying campfire and looks around. Logs are stacked nearby. They have all the markings of driftwood. He picks one up and adds it to the fire, holding it steady until it catches.]

So, how much do you know about where you are?

[rosehecate]

[My life, my love, and my lady is the sea]

[Anthy had never seen the sea before.

She knows that this must be a dream - no ocean shines like this, not naturally, and yet she's here in front of it regardless. Her shoes are off, hanging from her fingers in one hand as the surf rushes up past her ankles, up her calves, and then receds, and the coolenss is the most lovely thing she has felt in a long, long time.

And then she turns around.

It's like catching a deer in the headlights - the wide eyes, the stillness, it's an immediate reaction to the trappings and delights of a party set out behind her - and other people, all of the other people, a whole crowd of them...no, no no no, not even after all this time can she ever willingly enter such a large gathering and feel even remotely comfortable. But where can she go? The ocean is to her back, and Chuchu is...

...Wait, where is Chuchu? Her tiny purple monkey, where has he gone? Anthy looks, turns, using the luminous waves to try and catch a glimpse of him before finally spotting his tiny form emerging from the party, dragging a plate of foodstuffs behind him through the sand. At some point he came in contact with one of the coconut bowls of paint, because he glows brightly. This, of all things, makes her chest unclench a bit and a smile curls at the corners of her lips as she approaches him, kneeling down in the sand and oblivious, for a moment, to the people nearby.]

Chuchu, did you ask before you took any of that? [He stops, looks to Anthy, and chitters sheepishly, arms behind his back and kicking at the sand. No, he definitely did not ask anyone's permission before party crashing. Anthy hums, picks him up in her hands.] That's not very nice. You'll have to apologize, you know...

[And she'll have to bring him towards the people again to find people to apologize to - the hosts, or perhaps someone who got ther snack snatched from their plate, or whoever was around when he made a mess of himself in the glowing paint. Anyone here have trouble with a teeny monkey?]

[Lay me down on a bed of roses - cw: emeto, flower horror]

[It doesn't seem so bad for...quite some time, when Anthy finds herself in this different place. Despite the role of roses in her past, she could never hate flowers themselves. Quiet, beautiful, companiable flowers.

She begins to feel warm, almost faint, as she walks further among them, trying to figure out how so many can bloom with such different temperments, but she still goes on. The tightness in her chest, the fluttering of something on the inside as she breathes, is what gets her to stop, brow furrowed, and try to take stock of her body. Her knees ache, the joints in her hands have gone stiff, and there's an awful, itching sensation spreading like wildfire from them. She sits, thinking that it should pass, surely, and idly rubs at one of her knuckles, the one that itches the worst.

It's when a cough surges up and makes her double over, something smooth and wet and eerily familiar coming up from her throat, that she notices what's emerged with frightening rapid speed - rosebuds. Tiny, white rosebuds have broken through the skin on her hand where she had rubbed at it, and the itching had spread up her arm, radiated down her legs. More were coming, and from the bloodstained petals that came up and now lay on the ground before her, they were growing at an alarming rate.

This is a new pain, one that in the past, she might have welcomed, just to feel something different. But this time? This time, Anthy screams, and you are likely to hear it. What do you do?]

Roses

[thermalwind]

[Keith had been staring at his own arms and finding his right is once again his. He has two years and more worth of memories to handle now. He tables it when hears the scream. He sprints in the direction of the sound. He rips past bushes and over grass until he comes upon her.

He slows to a stop and breathes in. Stage two. That...he moves slowly, making sure she sees him coming. Clad in his sleek white and red he could look intimidating. He kneels down before her, his violet eyes taking stock of her injuries.]

I know it’s scary. But the reason this stuff grows is emotional dishonesty. When i has it I had to confess some really personal stuff.

[He reaches into his belt pounce and produces a bandage roll.] I’m awful with people but I can listen to whatever you say. Give me your hand and I’ll tend that.

Dogmeat | Fallout 4

[thegoodestboy]

[The water washes in slow and lazy, stopping just a few inches away from a set of paws in the sand. A German Shepherd stands, relaxed and only a little bit damp from waking up so close to the water, ears pricked forward as he watches the colors swirl in the water. He's seen glowing water, but never this bright and never blue. It's...peaceful, to watch. That's something he isn't accustomed to. There are strange sights, smells, and sounds to be investigated, but for now you can find Dogmeat planting his butt in the sand and following the swirling colors in the surf with his nose.]

[Eventually, the smell of food and strange people is too much to resist. Dogmeat trots right into the thick of things, sniffing at people and plates like he has belonged here all along. An unattended plate of grilled fish is overturned and suspiciously clean (shiny, even) by the time he trots away from it.]

[It's more colorful and less tense than Diamond City. The atmosphere is one of joy and celebration rather than constant vigilance and fear. The guilt he feels for being transported so far from Preston Garvey in his time of need wanes quickly as he finds a coconut shell full of some kind of soup (whatever it is, it's delicious). After all, it's not like he came here intentionally. This was just the next chapter in his story. There would be another person who needed him. Garvey and the settlers would just have to hold their own for a bit.]

[Licking unfamilair spices from his lips and nose, this dog seems to be having the time of his life.]

[demonpuppy]

[Chip comes across Dogmeat in the middle of his, ah...inspection of some of the fish, a cup of spicy drink in their hands and glowing paint all over their face. They blink in surprise for a moment to see...an entirely normal dog. No magic, no weird bits attached, no hybridization with anything else.]

[Just a dog.]

[A very good dog.]

Ohmigosh--hey, hey boy, c'mere! [Chip immediately rushes forward to put a hand out to Dogmeat in that half-careful way that kids so often do, their face broken out into a giddy and utterly delighted grin.] 'Re you friendly? It's okay, buddy!

Grima | Fire Emblem (Awakening/Heroes/Echos)

[felblooded]

One Magic Night

[Waking up in a strange place, his memories fuzzy and distant... it would be familiar if not for how enraging it is.

The lovely sight in front of him is ignored, his first instinct instead to close his eyes and try and 'feel' if he's under contract from a summoner. Finding nothing he snickers to himself, flexing his power and-

-snarls in frustration. He can feel his draconic power deep inside, but other than the general human magic his Avatar already had and a little extra toughness, he's shockingly weak in comparison to what he should be. If this was a dream, surely he should be in his natural form?

The only dreams he ever had were of death.

With a curse he finally stands, looking out at the festivities. The fish creatures get his curiosity but... seeing them celebrating with humans makes his lip curl. The rising urge to kill them has to be pushed down... he's not in the position to do so, and getting his host killed would be counterproductive.

So instead he wanders about, listening in to conversations. Eventually, he finds some of the paint, dipping his fingers in and rubbing it between index and thumb]

Making yourselves bright glowing targets for any attack. I shouldn't be surprised, considering...

Growing Pains

[He had heard of the illness during his short time in this dream-not-dream... but why would he have to worry? Weak humans giving into their lies was a poetic justice he approved of, but he was a Dragon. He was what he was, with no deep lies or hidden doubts.

So when the coughing starts, he is furious. How dare this dreamrealm lump him with these... others? As soon as he starts getting sick he pulls away from the people also trapped here completely, like an animal with a broken leg. He hides away in the woods (not hiding, he snarls at himself- just a precaution. He needs to be away from the stink of them to think), trying spell after spell. Ritual after ritual... but nothing helps.

It only takes a few days before he can't move, and one might find the 'young man' sitting against a tree, panting like a dog, teeth gnashing at any approaching sound... red eyes wide and dilated. If not for the flowers he would look... rabid.]

One Magic Night

[zangenasai]

[ Because the flower prompt would just be them both complaining about the damn flowers growing out of them. So instead, here's a tiny-ass girl with a gun. She's grabbed some of the food, and seems to shrug. ]

At least there's food. Not having to hunt or prepare it yourself is nice.

beauregard | critical role s2 | i'll match your format!

[lesbeau]

i. one magic night

[See, most people at these parties might be taking it easy. Parties are times to relax. Times to chill and eat and drink. And well, to her credit, Beau has accomplished one of those things- she is absolutely, incredibly getting that drink. It takes less than five minutes from her arrival to figure out the alcohol is free and under an hour before she is fucked up and on that shoreline, some sort of wooden staff with a blue ribbon on top clearly brandished. She's also yelling at whoever comes near.]

Okay, who's next?? Come on, there's sparring, right, who wants to try it? I'll even arm wrestle, gimme something, this is supposed to be a party!

[She won't hit... super hard. Not hard enough to kill probably. But she looks a little too enthusiastic about this for the unsteadiness of her feet.]

ii. growing pains (cw: body horror)

[Out of all the dreams she's had, this one has to be the worst- and most realistic. She's sitting cross-legged, an open wound on her arm where a half-torn apart flower is still hanging from her bicep, the green tendrils spread over and under her skin on her veins. It's making it hard to reach the one on the back of her shoulderblade that she seems to be struggling to get to under her coat. There's more, too- buds she can only feel on her legs, those vine-green tendrils snaking up over her left hip, and she mostly just looks pissed.

Beau holds her messed left arm with her right, pushing on the elbow to reach further, but her fingertips only graze the top of the flower's stamen. After some grunts as she tries, she relents, dropping her hands with a groan and meeting the eyes of whoever's nearby.]

Hey! You! Lend a girl a hand, will ya? You can keep the flower if you can get it.

[She doesn't seem as bothered as she should be, but she's pretty good at holding it together.]

i :>

[kenku]

(Yeah, you wanna go??? Well, here's your next opponent: it's a wee bird in a cloak, and she's got a knife.

Kiri brandishes it threatening, puffing herself up as round and as fluffy as she can go. She's not sure why Beau wants to fight. Beau, like the rest of her group, have always specifically tried to keep Kiri out of fights– oh, except for training purposes! Maybe this is a lesson! Either way, she faces Beau... up (because she's much much taller) and shouts:)

Go fuck yourself!

Rei Ayanami | Rebuild of Evangelion

[youngmother]

[This isn't the ocean of her time. That much is immediately obvious--even aside from the stark difference of color she's nearly overwhelmed by the smell of life. The smell of rot, of waste, of living bodies is inescapable, just like it had in the facility that Kaji took her and the other Children (and children) to. There she had felt something like a kinship, but here...]

You aren't like me at all.

[Still clad in her plugsuit, she can't quite feel the clear water as it rushes past her ankles, the glowing bits and pieces clinging to her as it recedes. Very carefully she kneels, reaching out to let her fingers skim the water as it ebbs and flows, seemingly fascinated by such a simple process. She has noticed the presence of others by now, of course--it's just that she hasn't bothered to really look just yet.]

[forwearemany]

(They recognize this: the party from their first month of arrival.

A time long past. A dream.

They wander the edges, until they spot someone unfamiliar.

They stop and watch her, chattering.)

Weiss Schnee | RWBY

[dustprincess]

One Magic Night
[Someone clearly isn't enjoying the celebration. Weiss doesn't understand why the glowing body paint was a thing, and couldn't find anyone who would spar with her. It was all getting increasingly frustrating. So she stands at the beach, arms crossed, staring at the water.]

Is it supposed to be glowing like this?

Growing Pains
[Weiss was panicking. Internally at least. On the outside she just looks very irritated as she pulls flowers off of her arms and hisses in pain. Cutting them had the same effect, her rapier laying on the ground beside her with destroyed blossoms scattered around it.]

What is going on!

[And why does she keep coughing up petals?]

one magic night

[campnope]

Nope, it's radioactive. [There's an obnoxious ten year old scowling at her, hands shoved into the pocket of his hoodie.] Better get away before you turn into a horrible mutant.

Zarkon | Voltron: LD

[warlorded]

One Magic Night
[While some would be marveling at the water's glow he turns a blind eye to it. Not because he doesn't think it beautiful but because there are much more important things to do. He stands on the beach, glowing waves washing over the tips of his armored boots, staining the white metal with a faint blue sheen, golden gaze cast skyward.

But he's not just appraising the night sky, he seems to be looking for something, the line of his jaw setting harder, eyes narrowing the longer he stares. Why doesn't he recognize these stars? Why can't he feel Black in his mind?

Where is his wife?

Finally after a long moment he reaches up and wrenches his helmet off, tossing it aside with a snarl.]

Quiznak!!

Growing Pains - CW: body horror, of course
[The only indication that there's anything wrong with the exceedingly large purple skinned man is the spray of hollyhock bursting up along the back of his neck from within his paladin armor. He seems, unconcerned with the flowers that must be filling the space inside his armor, forcing it's way between the scaled plates on his body.

It is not his own flowers that seem to be paining him but instead the patch of vibrant pink petunias he is kneeling within. He reaches out to pluck one bud, raising it to his face and breathing deeply only to draw back as though offended, musing softly to himself.]

What flowers are these that look so like the juniberry yet smell so stale by comparison?

One magic knight

[thermalwind]

[The swear draws his head up from where he's carving driftwood tree trucks into logs. He's been alternating between his Bayard and his Marmora blade. His eyes sweep over the beach as he straightens up, both blades held point down.

He sees him as he turns. He'd seen Zarkon as a Paladin in the storytime memory reflection what feels like a lifetime go. Light flares from his black bayard as it reverts back to a simple U in his hand. He clips it to his belt as he calls out.]

Hey! If you're looking for answers I have some of them. Come over here and we'll have a talk.

October "Toby" Daye | October Daye Series

[errantdetective]

One Magic Night

[Toby sits on the beach, looking out at the water.

It's pretty boring compared to her normal speed, but at this point, she can only appreciate boring. She doesn't get enough downtime to pass it up when it comes along, even when it's coming at what seems to amount to some kind of magic beach rave.

She can probably be convinced to join the party before long, but for the moment, she relaxes, letting herself enjoy the quiet.]

Hoo Ha Ha (cw: blood)

[Toby's fought off a lot of weird stuff in her day, but this is certainly new. Still, she has her knives, she has her reflexes, and when a tigershark tries to force its way on board, she's more than prepared to fight it off.

But not without a cost. She's bleeding pretty heavily from where a shark got a bite out of her shoulder and a tiger paw clawed her side. She grits her teeth, putting a hand over her side.]

Don't worry about me. I'm fine. What in Maeve's name was that?

hoo ha ha

[mollymocked]

Are you though?

[MOLLY DOUBTS IT VERY SERIOUSLY, but he also just kicked one of the monsters in the face before he could draw his own blades, so he's only half paying attention right now.] Never mind. I think they're very confused cats.

[He finally manages to get one of his scimitars free and rakes it across the back of his neck, the blade beginning to glow with an ethereal radiant energy. The next one that tries to claw it's way into the tipping boat, Molly throws his momentum into the tilt and stabs the creature right through the face. He has to pull back quickly lest he lose the sword or go spilling over the side as the boat rights itself again.]

Bloody hell, these things are mean.

Max | Camp Camp

[campnope]

[Max is pretty sure David would love this, and the fact that he's thinking about that in a somewhat nostalgic way and not about how lame this stupid party is annoys him enough that he grabs a rock and throws it in to the sparkling water.

It's not much more satisfying than throwing it into normal water, but it's still pretty satisfying.

Whatever. David would enjoy it because it's lame. But that doesn't mean Max has to be completely bored. He finds some bioluminescent paint and starts painting FUCK THE POLICE on a big rock. He has to pass the time somehow. At least this is mildly entertaining.]

[technicallytechnically]

[Meanwhile, this little blue tiefling is mastering the art of drawing a giant dick in the sand without it getting washed away by the tide. Although she grew up on the coast, it's not as if she was able to get outside much, so she's not as practiced at it as she probably should be.

Avoiding the tide, that is. She's very practiced at drawing dicks.

She notices the glowing paint on the side of a rock and starts cheering for some reason.]

WOO! FUCK THE POLICE! WHATEVER IT IS!

jester ( critical role ) ota

[technicallytechnically]

ONE MAGIC NIGHT

[Jester loves a good party. She's been languishing without a good party ever since they left Hupperdook for multiple reasons, so the reminder of the late nights in the gnomish city is very welcome.

She can be found dancing to no music at all in various parts of the beach, loudly complaining about the lack of pastries available, or you may catch her sneakily trying to draw something with bioluminescent paint on someone... or on you. She's pretty sneaky, but considering she's pretty much covered herself with pretty, well drawn designs with the glowing paint, she sticks out in the darkness. Whoops.]

HOO HA HA

It's okay! It's okay! I'm gonna TOLL THE DEAD!

[With that ominous announcement from the cute tiefling girl in a pretty dress, Jester reaches out an arm and a deep, booming bell rings, seemingly without a source.

The tigershark that's managed to squirm onto the boat with the two people inside of it to cause chaos and mayhem starts to writhe when it hears the sound, and its flesh begins to peel off of it slightly.

However, that only lasts a moment. The peeled flesh isn't severe, and it looks only slightly worse for wear as it looks back up. Mostly, it just looks angrier.]

...Okay, I thought that would be more impressive!

one magic night

[mollymocked]

[Never let the disaster tieflings hang out in a place full of glowstick paint. It's a recipe for disaster. Molly's horns are tipped in the stuff and he's presently outlining the peacock tattoo with a bit of paint dipped on a fingernail just for funsies while he observes Jester successfully doodling on a random passer-by who is not paying attention. As she returns, he snickers in delight.]

Someone's gonna have a laugh about that later. Maybe not him, but someone.

Dogo | The Lion Guard

[jackal_style]

[One Magic Night]

[The food and drink alone make this officially the best party ever for Dogo, even though normally he wouldn't be invited. As eager as he is to gorge himself on the display of tasty-looking treats, he does stop to take in the ocean lapping back and forth across the beach.]

Wow, this is so much bigger than the watering hole!

[And... he can't help himself. He chases the water as it recedes, splashing around loudly and yipping.

It's so cool.]

[vagabone]

[Another dog! (Well, canine. Of some sort.) And this one... talks? Neat. Hopefully he's friendlier than that darn talking cat.]

Hey, perrito! Over here!

[And the skeleton sitting on the sand, bare feet in the surf, follows that up with a sharp whistle.]

ann takamaki | persona 5

[ladytakamaki]

GROWING PAINS. (cw for emeto/body horror)

[ ann doesn't know how she got here, but she already knows she doesn't like this, with how the daisies are blooming out of her skin. she wakes up in a cold sweat, fever rising as she starts to cough up bloodied daisy petals into her palms. it's not fun. it's painful, and it's a pain unlike anything else ann's experienced.

she wishes she were in the metaverse so she could bring out carmen and heal the pain away. but that's not going to work here...right?

the flowers are growing over her neck and her collarbone, making it more difficult to breathe. ann's breaths are heavy as she climbs onto her feet and starts to walk back onto land from the shoreline. when she comes across someone, she flags them down, waving her hand in the air. it's hard to speak, but she has to try.

she's not going to die here. to whatever this is. ]

E-Excuse me! Hey, I need help!

:)

[raygunner]

[ Yellow carnations bloom from the palms of his hands. It itches, and Akechi wants nothing more than to burn them away. But would that really do a damn thing, in the end?

Hell if he knows.

The last time he'd been here, he hadn't suffered this much.

A voice calls out, and Akechi feels the flowers open inside him, and he grits his teeth against the urge to tear himself open, scoop out the fucking flowers and light them on fire, bury them where he'll never have to see them again.

Akechi coughs, wet and painful. ]

Should you really be asking me for help?

Tyrnen | OC

[path_to_the_world]

Hoo Ha Ha

[It was hard to remember what had happened before he woke up on the small boat. It was a fuzzy haze of events that he had to slowly peice together while feeling the sensation of the boat rocking. Despite slowly being able to put them into order more clearly with each repetition, he could find no logical connection to where he was now. He couldn't help but mutter to himself.]

I know there was the potential for backlash, but that doesn't explain this at all....

[He wished Aiden where here, he always had something good to say, or at least something comforting. But, perhaps the other person stuck here with him had an idea.]

Do you know how we got here at all?

Yuyuko | Touhou Project

[resurrection_butterfly]

One Magic Night

Aah! How exciting!

[She clapped her hands together excitedly looking over the lights and festivities.]

I'm not sure why I'm here, but I'm glad to stay.

[Yuyuko couldn't help but smile and be swept away into the activities. She was more than glad to help herself to a sampling of all the foods, and the liquor. Festivals were for having a good time after all.]

Isn't this all very fun?

Penny Polendina | RWBY - Victory Road CRAU

[in4apounding]

》One Magic Night《
This is nice, isn't it.

[The water is definitely very pretty, and while these two newcomers definitely appreciated it, they were also definitely keeping their distance. Penny probably just didn't want to get possibly color-staining salt-water on the nice sundress she was wearing.]

[Or maybe it's that her companion is some kind of armor-plated dinosaur that probably wouldn't do well in water.]

[Either way, the pair are contentedly sitting in the sand as Penny uses a few pilfered cups of luminescent dye to trace swirling, vaguely floral patterns over her friend's armor as music from the distant celebration drifts across the beach.]

Hm- okay. What do you think?

[Penny holds up a pair of the dye cups, presenting them to her Aggron.]

The pink or the blue? Or both.

[The Aggron lets out a low rumbling sound and thumps its massive tail into the sand once.]

[Penny nods thoughtfully, setting one of the cups down and dipping a fingertip into the other.]

That's what I thought. Now hold still, I don't want to smear this.

》Hoo Ha Ha《
Ooooh no no no no nope nope nope-

[The boat itself -being in the middle of such vast, endless water- was bad enough.]

[The attacking monstrosities were almost a welcome distraction.]

[Penny is shrunk as close to the center of the entirely too-small boat as possible, face stretched tight with fear as she swings an oar at the clambering tigersharks.]

Go away! This-

[She rams the blunt end of the oar into the creatures dual faces repeatedly, trying to force it back.]

I- thought- cats- hated- water-! AND YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO EAT FISH, HOW DID YOU EVEN HAPPEN?!

one magic night

[dustprincess]

[This wasn't Weiss' night. Glowing water glowing paint, everything glowing. It was hard to get away from.

It's made worse by a giant armor plated thing standing there getting painted on by-]

Penny?

[Is... Is this real? Is Weiss seeing this?]

The Director | Red vs. Blue

[determinist]

One Magic Night

Leonard's first thought upon awakening and finding himself surrounded by a party was what a piss-poor afterlife this was for someone who had died under the circumstances he had died under. Not that he didn't begrudge the others here for celebrating, but that simply wasn't where his thoughts were bent. His mind was concentrating on the dark thoughts that had plagued him before his final day. At first he stayed near the shore, but his trousers were getting wet and sandy at the hems, and the glowing algae stuck to the fabric. This was aggravating. He didn't want to pass through this party, but circumstances seemed to be dictating it.

So he wandered up from the shore, past the revelry, past the crackling of campfires and flickering of tiki torches, all the way to where the sand ended and the trees and brush began. Here there were two Adirondack chairs angled toward each other with a standing cooler full of dark-colored bottles between them.

He frowned. He didn't want to sit in that style of chair, but his knee joints were complaining that he'd been on his feet for so long. He hung back for a moment, but looked around—everywhere else were people gathered, and he wanted to be alone. He walked over to the cooler and plucked a bottle out. Sitting down on one of the chairs, he popped the top on the bottle and pulled a drink from it. It was rum, spicy and sweet.

Spiced rum had been Allison's favorite.

Leonard looks at the bottle for a moment, then abruptly throws it into the woods.

Growing Pains

Leonard had fallen asleep in the cleft of a tree near the beach. He awoke in terrible pain. He hadn't noticed the flowers around him when he'd fallen asleep here, but the fact that they seemed to be coming out of his own body now as well wasn't escaping him.

He groaned, sitting up, and started plucking the flower buds off his skin. This did nothing but exacerbate the pain, but he stubbornly persisted.

To his dismay, the snapped stems soon began to bud again very quickly. At this point he makes a loud exclamation of dismay and starts to rush to the shore. He's unsure what he thinks getting in the water will do to help, but at least it'll be something different.

magic | i'm sorry i am compelled to do this for shiggles

[burninglight]

--?!

[Ardyn ducked out of the way of the flying bottle, turning on the Director with a glare from gold eyes.]

What do you think you're doing?!

Bright | D&D OC

[wyrmling]

One Magic Night

[ Parties were new to Bright - at least on this level. She was more used to her friends getting really drunk while she watched in the rafters, but this seemed less alcohol-filled and more actual fun.

The form of her little human girl is easy to take, and she dances off to find some of that shiny paint. It doesn't take her long to be almost covered in it, laughing at her reflection in the water. ]

This is so much fun! Have you tried it?

[ She asks the nearest person, holding up a coconut shell with the paint in it to them. ]

Growing Pains

[ Pain, on the other hand, is something she's more used to. It shouldn't be the case with someone so young, but she's been in a lot of fights by now, and dragons grew up very quickly. Faerûn wasn't always the kindest place, this she knows all too well.

This was not fighting, though. This was things growing in her scales, coughing and a sickness that her cure spells didn't want to work on.

She's rolled up into a cat-sized ball of silver scales on a rock, wings tight against her body and snowdrops sprouting near her horns. It itches as well as hurts, but even her claws can't get into the interlocked scales to dig the flowers out. ]

Bahamut, take it away! It hurts!

Agent South Dakota | Red vs Blue | OTA

[whosthemonsternow]

One Magic Night:

South makes her way outside instantly, trying to find answers to where she was or what was going on. She runs, hurrying, a little more frantic than she intends to be. It's evening, not quite dark, and she runs through and past some sort of celebration. She doesn't pay it mind, or pauses to think about what she's doing. Just running, getting away from people, getting away from all the noise but the threat of others, too.

Instinct tells her to run, hide, find somewhere safe and figure the place out. Figure out her situation.

She ends up on a beach, boots sinking in the damp sand. It's glowing, but she doesn't pay that much mind at first. She's more concerned with finding somewhere to duck behind, a large rock formation looking like a nice solution. She crouches down behind it, breathing hard and trying to find her bearings. Her armor has no information for her, where she is, enemies coming up on her, it's practically useless. Other than being a metal shell to hide safely in.

Alright. She knows she was shot, by Wash, and she can't see through her right eye. When she touches it, she can feel scars around it. Shouldn't she be dead? Maybe she is. Maybe she's dead and in hell- heaven? Doubtful, but as she looks around her hiding spot, it doesn't look how she'd imagine hell would look... She could have survived, maybe some damage to her brain caused her to forget what's happened. Where she is. Stranger things have happened, but she has no idea what this could be. Better to be ready, wait and figure the situation out.

So she stays crouched safely behind her rock, eyeing the ocean with suspicion and looking around for any threat or clue what was happening to her.

Growing Pains:

There's flowers everywhere. Which is weird enough, she's ended up on some weird island with a flower problem. But even weirder is the flowers that seem to come out of her- what the fuck even? They start as little buds that burn and ache as they force their way out of her skin, popping up and blossoming across her flesh. She's not sure what's caused them, but trying to pull them only makes them worse. She's even tried to trim them, the ones she can reach. It doesn't help, they keep popping up and growing, getting more frequent.

She sits on a bench, in a shirt and jeans, trying to trim them off her arms and frowning as they keep returning, a grimace on her face from the ache they cause.

Hoo Ha Ha:

Waking up on a strange boat is bad enough, having unknown company only makes it worse. She's tense, armor on and displeased expression hidden by her helmet. She keeps her pistol in hand, moving to the highest point of the boat to try and see if she can find any sight of land. Or another boat. Anything that could help.

Then she hears a noise. An unsettling noise that makes her tense shoulders tighter, narrowing her eyes as she peers over the edge to see- tigers? Sharks? Fucking tiger sharks? Literally?! She stares at it before she fires a round, killing it and knocking it's body into the water. Done-

Except it's not done, there's more and she's letting out a displeased growl. Fuck. Weird ass fucking creatures that are clawing their way up her boat? What. The. Fucking. Fuck?!!

"Get your dick out of your hand and do something." She yells out after a moment, since she knows she's not alone on this thing. Regardless of whatever they're doing, already helping or not, she's yelling.

She has more guns, but good luck getting her to part with any of them, she's not about to let some asswad touch her weapons or limited ammo.

[knifemom]

[ suddenly being dropped into a situation where she has to fight off hostile beasts is honestly nothing new. that doesn't mean krolia is terribly thrilled about it; she can't read any of the situation, here. it feels weird, not entirely real, and she wants nothing more than to get off this boat and do some recon.

things are never that easy. of course.

she glances over her shoulder for a half-second to make sure she's got her companion's attention before-- ]

Cover my back!

[thermalwind]

Got it!

[He draws his mother's Marmora blade from the sheath on his back and holds it out to her while activating the Bayard in his left hand. He slashes at the first head that's in reach as he moves in to cover her back.]

Take it! Rifles and pistols are limited here.

[It changes into a sword with a thought. He'll keep it steady until she takes it from his hand.]