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.

---

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

Comments

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Good thing for armor. Waterproof armor. He still reacts as if she'd just dumped a bucket of ice water on a non-helmeted head, sputtering like an idiot and shaking it off. But the water, even if awkwardly delivered, does the trick. The 'rope' begins to dissolve, and thankfully before Church can get out more than a couple of frustrated words, snaps, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground.]

............ow.

[tuskenlancer]

You're welcome.

[ She doesn't sound particularly put out, though. CT shakes the water from her helmet as best she can, then puts it under her arm to climb back down off the tree roots and offer Church a hand up. ]

Are you okay?

[motherfucking_ghost]

Yeah, armor breaks falls pretty good like that. [He's not too manly not to take the hand offered.] My pride's a little bruised, but nothing it can't bounce back from. Thanks. For the timely rescue.

[tuskenlancer]

No problem.

[ With her helmet off, though, and without the immediate distraction of hanging upside down from a tree by his ankle, it should be apparent now just how closely she's looking at him. Not like a person curious about the loud stranger, one whose armor just happens to look a lot like her own. But not quite like someone who recognizes him from back home, either, and is just happy to meet someone familiar.

More like she's waiting for something. Like she's burning with a hope she can't quite make herself articulate, for fear that it'll be immediately dashed.

He still hasn't said her name. ]

I...

[ I missed you. ]

How've you been, Church?

[motherfucking_ghost]

[The scrutinizing stare is...really awkward, and is it just him, is this really awkward? This is awkward.]

Uhhhhhhh, not good? Yeah, gonna go with not fucking good. Do I know you?

[tuskenlancer]

[ She turns her face away, almost quickly enough to hide the way her expression just crumples.

God damn it. ]

I guess not.

[ It takes her a second, but she manages to regain control over herself. This is fine. At least he's not Ardyn. At least he won't hate her for no reason.

Right? Probably.

She looks back at him, and this time she manages a small smile. ]

Let me guess. You just showed up here, you have no idea what happened.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[.......Something just happened here, and he's not sure what. Something...bad. He thinks something bad. She knew him. Did he forget?]

Uh...yeah. Yeah, that's...pretty much the gist of it. Hey, uh, I didn't...catch your name?

[tuskenlancer]

[ My friends call me Connie.

The smile doesn't vanish, but it does freeze for a fraction of a second, brittle and fake. ]

I'm CT.

[ She sighs, glancing around. ]

We should probably get moving before those things tie you up again.

[motherfucking_ghost]

--aw, shit, you're right. Man, fuck this place. I'd much rather be in the Gulch than get...tied up by little...kid scribbles or whatever! Lead the way, CT.

[tuskenlancer]

Okay.

[ She nods in acknowledgement, smiling a little at his familiar blathering, before turning to lead the way out of the forest and back to the beach. To what's hopefully safer ground. At least there's plenty of water there.

Inside, her mind is racing. She'd wanted so badly for Church to show up here. She'd talked about it with Wash. What would you do? I guess it depends on which Church it was. Well, now he's here, and he's the right Church only he's not at all, and she has no idea where to start.

Does he even know about the Project yet? Has Wash told him anything? Has he even met Wash?

She glances back over her shoulder at him, no longer staring like a creeper, at least, but still with an underlying current of curiosity. ]

Do you remember where you were before you showed up here?

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Eventually, eventually something's going to click and he's going to connect CT and Connecticut, and that's going to be an interesting time, but for the moment, she's just a helpful stranger with a weird helmet. Kind of adorable, too. Nice hair.]

Yeah, I was in a facility, doing some pretty thrilling heroics. [all of them in the meta's head all of them there all of them calling his name it's not his name but they're all his they're all him] Stopping crazy bad guys, you know, just another day in the office.

[tuskenlancer]

[ To be fair, it's not as obvious a connection as, say, York would be. But she's still debating whether she should tell him herself. She should, right? Or would he freak out? The Director's here, too. She can't just let him walk into that blind. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

She laughs a little, stepping carefully through the same stream she'd gotten the water from earlier and slapping a few scribblets into the water as she does. ]

Sounds exciting.

[ Sounds horrible.

Does he remember dying? ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Real exciting. Even if it is par for the course. Yeeeeep, I'm pretty hot shit when it comes to menaces that actually make sense. --oh shit it dissolves these little fucks, too? Hold on!

[It won't last long, but he crouches down in the stream, splashing up at himself, drenching his armor. If he throws his head back, it'll be like those sexy swimsuit commercials, only with less hair. (He does not throw his head back, because he wants the water to stay on.)]

Haha, try and touch me now, assholes!

[tuskenlancer]

[ It's such a Church thing to do that she can't help laughing, resisting the urge to just run up and throw her arms around him in joy. She'd forgotten just how much she'd missed him. ]

It hurts them, at least.

[ She stands on the bank, watching as he soaks his armor in the stream. As much as you can soak power armor, anyway. ]

I think we should be pretty safe, as long as we keep moving.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Aw yeah, make the cute girl laugh. Score one for Church. He climbs out of the stream with a stretch and a shrug. Hey, it feels good to not be hanging upside fucking down.]

Maybe, since it's already wet, you should fill your helmet back up, just in case. Plus, drinking water. Probably. If you wanna risk that being unfiltered.

[tuskenlancer]

[ Church if you try to hit on her she's gonna have a crisis.

She shakes her head, dismissing his concerns about drinking water even as she stoops to fill her helmet back up again. It can't hurt, just in case the scribblets try anything again. ]

We're not that far from civilization.

...Well. Sort of civilization.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Define 'sort of civilization'. Or literally...anything about here.

[tuskenlancer]

...Derelict cottages on the beach and a free community-run restaurant?

[ That's a good place to start, right? She glances at him, and then sighs. ]

Look, there's some...stuff you should know.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Yeah, I should fucking think so. Look, I'm not supposed to...be here. It sounds very quaint, and I use that word as a way to sound polite, but this isn't my idea of a vacation.

[tuskenlancer]

It's not a vacation. And none of us are supposed to be here.

Wherever you think you are, whatever you think happened...[ If he'd paused to wonder about that at all. ] It didn't. We were all just brought here, and there's no...going back, to your base, or your team, or any of it. Not that anyone can control.

We're all stuck here. I'm sorry.

[motherfucking_ghost]

...So we're dead and this is the afterlife that nobody predicted.

[tuskenlancer]

No.

[ Okay, she should have seen that coming. ]

I mean...

[ They are, but... ]

This isn't the afterlife. We're not...we're not dead. [ Anymore. ] That's not what this is about.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Are you sure, because I'm pretty sure--I think I'd know if I-- [He really doesn't want to say 'pretty sure I'm straight up dead yo'.] I mean it sounds like a stupid purgatory afterlife sort of thing.

[tuskenlancer]

[ She watches closely, waiting for him to say more. Maybe he does remember.

But he doesn't say anything outright, and she's not about to say it for him. Yes, it happened. Yes, you died. You were erased.

Instead, she shakes her head. ]

I know, but it's not. It's just some - [ A short laugh, some of the bitterness seeping through. ] Some - impossible island, that we all got kidnapped to, because apparently we're not allowed to just live our own lives, ever.

...If you were dead, you're not anymore. Not here.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I was also a ghost in a robot body before I ended up here, so, like, do you think that means...?

[He hasn't thought to take his armor off. He hasn't needed to. He's been a robot for a long time.] I mean technically speaking.