TEST DRIVE MEME ( 015 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #15

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 September 17th, and Applications on September 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.

Drawn to You
The forest is dark, silent but for the snap-buzz of cricket song. Nearby, the soft babble of running water threads its way between the rough-barked trunks, though the origin of said water is difficult, at first, to pinpoint.

Granted, you probably aren't paying much attention to the forest, or the water, or the darkness. You're probably more concerned about the creatures flitting to and fro in sparse groups, most of them quite small. They tend to vary in appearance - some look to be totally benign, while others considerably less so - but all belong to the same species.

Scribblets are wily beasts, dream-haunters by nature, and they seem to revel in the idle torment they inflict upon those who cross their paths. You, dear travelers, are no exception. And while they are quite easily crushed into dust once caught, they are exceedingly slippery, agile creatures that are most difficult to pin down. If you're not careful enough, the scribblets will fasten a peculiar tether to you. It looks very much like it is made of the same materials they, resembling a sketchy line of crayon, drawn into the third dimension. Their intent, tonight, is to tie you to something that will make your life difficult - binding you to a tree trunk or to a branch far above the ground, tying your hands together...or even tying you to someone else. These bonds will only grow progressively denser and heavier the more you struggle against them.

Fortunately, the solution here is very simple. Like any drawing, it can be washed away if you find water. You'd simply better hope that you're able to collaborate with whoever you must in order to access said water, whether it's working alongside whoever you might be tied to, or convincing someone to lend you a hand.

You'd better hope the scribblets don't go after them either, by the way.

Quarantine Breached
Whatever this place once was, nature has long since claimed it for its own. A darkened, secluded laboratory now nearly swallowed by thick snarls of overgrowth is probably not your ideal vacation spot, particularly since there's a dearth of any decent lighting sources here. Drenched in shadow as this place was, it might have been helpful if you had thought to bring a light.

Fortunately, that problem is soon to be solved! Twin smoldering points of light abruptly ignite several yards away from you, paired with the pitched mechanical hum of engaging circuits. Another pair of lights immediately spritzes to life just beside it, and another pair, and another...and another...and...

Well, there seems to be a lot of them, doesn't there? "Attention," chimes a pitched, automated voice, doubtless issuing from one of the many automatons that have begun to stir awake, one by one. "Potential host sighted. Quarantine breached."

You must understand, traveler: the island of Umui was nothing like this. The guardian units there were conscious nurse-bots, charged with caring for the sick and dying populace of a hospice island. Most did so with as much care as they were capable. But in the initial days of Umui's exploration, a great deal of explorers' anxieties revolved around these fallen automatons, and what possible purpose they may have served.

We invite you to imagine a scenario in which this went horribly wrong.

Consider these automatons to be shadowy, overzealous mirrors of their long-dead, real-world equivalents. They have learned to become hyper-devoted to their task of keeping their patients safe; so devoted, it seems, that nothing will stop them from fulfilling those obligations. They intend to catch and sedate you so that you can be...returned...to a place of safety.

Unfortunately, this place of safety probably entails an inescapable four-walled room or a hospital bed, and it's doubtful, to say in the least, that enough of their programming remains for them to remember to care for and feed you once you've been returned to whatever passes for a quarantine zone. In a decrepit, dilapidated building like this, it's probably not pleasant.

Our advice is to simply not get caught. If this means doing some inevitable destruction to all this complex hardware in the process, well...at least there's no chance you'll be billed for damages.

The New Farm Simulator Looks Great!
It is possible that you vaguely recall being asked to take watch this evening. By whom? Oh, please, that doesn't matter! With the pleasant hum of crickets in the air, and a backdrop of paddocks and grain fields around you, there are plenty of worse ways to spend your evening than this. All you have to do is keep an eye on passive livestock. The farmer's life is a simple one, where your biggest problem is trying not to fall asleep before your shift is over.

In theory, anyway. While the scenery of the quiet countryside may be ideal, the state of the farm's buildings and and fences is far from it. For the curious creatures such as popo, there really isn't much to keep them in one place for long, wide stretches of fenceline ruined by fallen sections. Meaning that these massive, shaggy creatures can simply step over the crushed regions and start plowing their way contentedly in the direction of the fields of grain - fields that were certainly not intended to end up in some silly beast's stomach.

For others, sweet grains aren't as appealing as that sweet, sweet taste of freedom. A word of advice: once the popo are over those hills, you won't be seeing them again. And they might not be terribly fast on their own, but in a herd, they can get to be as dangerous as a stampede.

Hope you weren't expecting an easy night, because in LifeAftr, there's no CJB cheats menu to save you.

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Comments

[lightlessfuture]

[ This dream is dark and cold and filled with strange, mechanical voices. An abandoned and broken place.

They wander aimlessly, uncertain. They're not sure when they decided to put their charm on, to take advantage of added height to avoid the grasping automatons or knock them away, but - regardless, they're taller now.

The sound of something that's not mechanical clunking attracts them simply for the novelty, and then they pause. Hovering just at the edge of sight, barely lit by the soft glow that this person emits.

They recognise him, of course. It would be hard to forget him, though not for the reasons he would want.

They simply stand and watch, because it's quieter here, away from all the noise and light that the automatons emit. And they're curious about what he's doing. About him. They've never seen him in more than brief glimpses, shards of memory long in the past. Despite themselves, they are interested, at least for the moment.

And if the Pale King, who had only intended for one vessel to reach maturity, were to mistake them for someone else in the poor lighting of this place, well

that would be unfortunate. ]

[godandvoid]

[There is not much to obtain from simply watching the Pale King. He did not speak to himself as he worked, storing the information he learns from taking the machine apart in his mind. The context of what the machines are lost on him, their history does not matter.

He wanted to see how they worked. That is all and once he is done the Pale King merely wipes the grease on his hands off on the floor and stands.

The silence means it is so very easy to hear any changes to his surroundings. He had not been so foolish to examine this machine without having a way to know if someone approached. There is none of that monotone chanting, so...

When he looks up the Pale King merely stares at the Vessel standing before him. Like the Vessels he created, the Pale King does not have a face to express anything, so if he is feeling shocked at the Knight's presence is impossible to tell.

But their appearance does arrest him for a moment. There is only one Vessel that was allowed to grow, after all, and they are still bound in the Black Egg Temple.

He approaches slowly, watching and observing as he always has. For a moment he does indeed think he is standing before his Hollow Knight, but once he is close enough...

Despite the darkness he can see their horns are different. This is not the Hollow Knight. But the Pale King's curiosity does not leave him and he continues watching them. It is clearly because he is wondering how exactly the Knight was able to grow.

That is all.]

[lightlessfuture]

[ They tower over him, and it's a strange feeling. They've only ever seen him from below; a motionless figure on a throne, a figure outlined in the grey light of a door about to be closed as they clung to a metal platform.

They'd honestly never really imagined what they would do, if they were to meet him. They have many questions, most of them angry ones, but it was impossible to convey without a voice.

They just watch him approach, head tilting slightly, not taking their eyes off him. The strange charm pinned to their cloak shines in the light he emits.

There is a certain hostility in their stare. Calm and still for the moment, but poised to spring if given the right catalyst to do so. Like the darkness he moulded into shape so long ago.

Whatever their feelings, they certainly don't seem happy about his presence. Wary at best. ]

[godandvoid]

[It is not so strange for the Vessel to be taller then him. The Pale King's stature was certainly...small so it is very easy to achieve a height taller then the Wyrm. It is strange to see another Vessel grown to such a height, however.

The charm hints as to how they managed such a thing without his help.

The Pale King observes it for a moment and wonders where they managed to find such a thing before finally turning his attention onto the Knight, staring up at them with his empty eye sockets. Endlessly observing them, taking apart any changes in their physical appearance before finally finding his voice.]

This dream...why are you here?

[The Knight was not his Hollow Knight. Why are they not in the Abyss?]

[lightlessfuture]

[ They wonder why he asks a question that he knows they cannot answer. He made them without a voice, after all. They cannot give him whatever information he searches for; it is a long story, and they know he would not be interested in it.

They simply stare at him once more and then shake their head a few times, as if to say what do you expect from me.

(The wings that were once his flutter irritably under the cloak in response to his query, lighting up the darkness briefly. Another discarded thing, left behind, that a discarded child made use of.)
]

[godandvoid]

[Perhaps but there were ways to put words down without a voice. If they never learned how, however, then that was expected.

The wings arrest the Pale King's attention even in the midst of such a situation. Always learning, grabbing a hold of whatever is laid out before him to take apart and devour until he understood it completely.

The possibility of this being his Hollow Knight, then the growth without his aid, then the wings. But none of it has to do with the Knight as a living person. Still, they are making use of what they find. Those wings may have once been the Pale King's but they had been discarded.

It does not matter anymore.

He turns away to look around the laboratory, recognizing this place for what it was. He himself had one but the equipment here has seen better days. Better years, if he was to be more accurate. The growth of nature suggests as such. An obvious connection to what the machines wish to capture everyone for.

The Knight has offered all they have to be analyzed by him, or so the Pale King feels. If they have anything they wish to bring up they will have to indicate as such.

They are not the Hollow Knight and a failure had nothing to offer the Pale King.]