aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 015 )

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I can tell.

(She is trying to find a way out, but it's a bit difficult. She doesn't want to resort to pushing anybody, but one of the animals is slobbering enthusiastically at her hair, and Yasha has become discomforted; she elbows one as gently as she can. It is a very stocky creature.)

You can't do anything? What about Frumpkin? (Perhaps Frumpkin could become one, and help to lead them away. Or something bigger, and chase them away. Yasha really doesn't mind too much if they escape now, she has changed her mind completely.)

Do you have some time?

[ None of the animals seem particularly aggressive. But Caleb senses Yasha is reaching some sort of limit. He doesn't really blame her for it. Being surrounded by anything, animals, people, whatever, is never really enjoyable. He flexes his fingers, trying to think of a more instantaneous course of action. ]

They aren't frightened of you, I see. I can try—

[ Pushing his way through livestock is an almost immediate failure. Frumpkin is hissing on his shoulders, discomfited by the attempt as Caleb is squeezed back out of his attempt to shove one creature away by the flanks. ]

No. No, but maybe...

[ Caleb sends four globules of light zipping over the herd and then beyond. Maybe they're attracted to light. It might draw them off. ]

(Oh, right. It takes time to do whatever Caleb wants to do but– isn't this a dream? Shouldn't different logic apply here? Dream Caleb does not seem to think so.)

I have not tried to be frightening, yet. (She's confident she could scare them off if she wanted, but she doesn't want to risk a stampede while surrounded either... maybe it's for the best that Caleb will not use Frumpkin. She cranes her neck to try and see what he is doing, and one of the animals takes the opportunity to give her forehead a big, wet lick. She is very uncomfortable right now.

Caleb has cast some sort of light spell; as the globes rise to hover over the herd, Yasha feels their attention gradually shift. She hunkers down a little, intent on making herself small and uninteresting and eventually the herd gets tired of her. They start to trundle off, until Yasha is left, crouched over, hugging her knees idly. Eventually, she lifts her head. Her hair is sticking up at the back from where one of the popo had been licking it. She stands and brushes herself off, embarrassed.)

... Thank you.

[ Maybe things should work differently in a dream. Maybe if Caleb had the imagination to take advantage, but his perception of magic is rigid. He knows the steps he needs to take, and the shortcuts that won't warp his spells out of balance.

The surreal edge of this moment doesn't quite settle in for him. He has to hold to something familiar to offset what's happening. Frumpkin trots ahead of him, unconcerned, to rub against Yasha's ankle. It's a more effusive greeting than Caleb manages when he makes it to her side. ]

It was nothing.

[ The usual dismissal of what he's done. ]

You aren't hurt?

[ She looks fine. After a few beats of silence, Caleb tugs off his scarf and holds it out to her. In case she wants to wipe off the slobber. His gaze darts nervously away from her, watching the herd in the distance. ]

It was help, (she says, because she knows him, and it was certainly not nothing. She's trying to pat the errant fur off of her leathers; the offer of Caleb's scarf is helpful, if only to wipe her face on.

... Though, privately, the scarf does not really smell any better than the animals did.)

I'm fine, (she confirms, and passes it back,) they aren't aggressive. At least, I don't think they are.

(Caleb is watching them go; Yasha does too for a moment, and realises that she should care about that, and should go off to get them back. She sighs, her shoulders slumping.) Would you help me gather them back here? I was trying to make a fence, but I found myself surrounded. You know.

[ He'd like to contradict her further, deflect gratitude rather than let her thanks stand. But the wandering herd presents a more immediate issue, and Caleb's happy to turn his attention to it. ]

I don't think they're as interested in me as they are in you.

[ A little teasing, as Caleb considers the problem at hand. Herding any kind of animal is challenging. And these animals are a lot stronger than him. He's hardly going to intimidate them. ]

I—I think perhaps this will work.

[ Caleb lifts his hand and brings the balls of light zipping back, hoping to catch their attention a second time. ]

Be ready to...stall them, I guess.

[ However anyone stalls a herd of popo. ]

Ha ha, (Yasha says shortly, and watches Caleb redirect his lights. She could do something like that too, if she wanted. If it would help. She takes the board she'd been working on and drives it into the ground, touches it, and lights it with her cantrip: it immediately starts to glow purple, a bright beacon against the golden fields.)

Maybe this will work.

I think it—

[ Whatever hopeful thing he'd meant to say is cut off as a handful of popo break off from the herd and come crashing back towards them. Frumpkin yowls as Caleb takes a hasty step backwards. ]

Ah, it's working!

[ And the approach of that first group of popo has attracted the rest. Caleb grabs Yasha's elbow, but even that first tug doesn't keep them from being swept back into the herd again. So much for Caleb's efforts. ]

If it keeps up like this, we will be stuck with them until morning.

[ But at least none of them are wandering off? Caleb idly wonders if he can cast suggestion magic on them. All the magical laws he knows seem rigid, even in the confines of a dream. ]

(She looks pleased with her handiwork, but stands there idly clapping her hands to get the dust off for too long. By the time Caleb has reached for her elbow, it's too late. They're pressed back in amongst the popo as they crowd to investigate all of the magical lights.

Yasha sighs, and hunches her shoulder when one of the animals licks her cheek good-naturedly.)

... Maybe we can climb them.

(It's something Beau would do, probably. Yasha sizes up the nearest popo, then puts her hands firmly onto its back and hoists herself up in one movement, throwing one leg over to steady herself. It doesn't... seem to mind? It's more interested in the lights than her. Yasha places both her hands flat on its back, fingers spread wide to keep her balance.)

See? Easy. (She's panting a bit. It wasn't easy. These things are taller than they look!)

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 015 )

!

:}

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject