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

They don't look big enough to eat us.

(She's watching the scribbles that are left behind on the bank, angrily watching them. They are making a low buzzing sound. It's a little disconcerting, but it's so obvious they can't do anything so long as they're standing in the river, so Yasha just stares right back.

Then, she glances at Beau, and frowns.)

Oh, you have... right there, some of it's still on you.

(She gestures vaguely to her own collarbone then suddenly ducks, cups her palms in the water and splashes Beau vigorously.)

[She's just got her arms crossed looking at these things on the bank, casually sticking out her tongue and making faces their direction for her own amusement. She isn't super listening until Yasha mentions there might be one, so she starts to turn towards her to try and recover.]

Oh shit, where--

[And then Beau just gets fucking doused, standing there with her arms up totally still. There's a couple seconds where she's just still, the water dripping off her face, arms, and chest into the water.]

... Did you get it?

[Dumbass.]

(Yasha, her expression completely dead pan, ducks a little to cup her hands underneath the water again.)

No.

(And she splashes Beau again, head to toe. this could go on for a while maybe)

[This time, she sputters, putting her hands out by the second splash.]

Okay, okay, you-- I think you did!

[She's not as dumb as she seems, and ducks down to splash a big handful towards Yasha, too.]

Maybe we gotta check you too, huh? They could blend in to all that black and white you've got!

[Splash splash splash]

(Only a little bit dumb, then. Yasha chuckles, hunching her shoulder against the returning splash. This is stupid, but it's nice to cool down after sprinting like mad through the forest too. Besides, splashing Beau is fun.)

I don't know... I think they like to be on small people who jump a lot more than big people who are very still.

(SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH)

They got you first! You're the one who got me stuck!

[Just to really go for it, she jumps, splashing further with the waves she can generate from her feet hitting the surface.]

How do I know this wasn't your plan to get me trapped in a river, huh?!

Oh no, you've discovered my plan, (Yasha says, and she's half-laughing through it now because the whole thing is very stupid and funny,) to get you into a river! Now what?

(Beau's jumping idea is very good though, Yasha's going to do that too. One by one the scribbles are giving up on them, glaring at the pair of them as they retreat in waves.)

We did it, (she says triumphantly as the last one clears out.) Not bad.

[She's gonna formulate some sort of response about some plan to get her wet, but she looks up and sees Yasha dripping, her clothes clinging to her waist and chest, and decides she cannot go down that road for fear of just dropping dead. Beau blinks a few times, reaching up to smooth back the pieces of her hair that have fallen out of the undercut and get them out of her eyes.]

Uh-- yeah. Yeah, we sure figured that one out. Maybe we can... take some water, or whatever? If we run into 'em again.

[Or they could just stay here in the river that's also okay. Beau doesn't mind getting wet when it's wet like this.]

(It really is impossible to miss that Beau is looking at her because she goes very silent for a moment, and that is enough for Yasha to know. Perhaps unfairly, she pulls her wet hair over her shoulder with both hands and wrings it out, which definitely shows off her arms, because sometimes she is a menace. The tiny voice in the back of her head that can sound suspiciously like Mollymauk when it wants to, cackles.)

That's a good idea.

(She really does have nothing on her though. Just the Judge, nothing at her belt or on her back.)

Do you have anything to keep extra water in?

[This is an attack? This is an assault. Here she is, being a respectable gay, being treated like this. What the fuck.]

Uhh... hang on.

[Beau pats at her body, some of the stuff strapped to her. But none of it's water.]

What if we just... don't wring out our clothes. And then we do it if they show up.

[Great.]

(Sometimes life isn't fair, Beau.)

I mean, we will probably get... very dry, while we're walking? I don't know about you, but I walk very fast.

(She has bigger strides too, so this idea is out.) Maybe we could just– (she gestures at her mouth????) you know, have a mouthful of water and... hold it, and... spit on them or something.

[Beau looks at her, and then just starts laughing.]

Holy shit. Alright. Alright, this has gone too far. How about we just walk down the river, huh? or stay on the banks. Then it won't matter. We'll figure it out from there?

(Yasha just stands there awkwardly, holding her arms by her sides to keep her from putting her face into her hands. Just as Beau's laughter is starting to become kind of funny to her though, it stops. Yasha's ears feel hot.)

Okay.

I think– it would be nice to walk down the river. I mean, It's quite hot today.

Yeah, you're quite hot today.

[Wink. It's even accompanied by a little click of her tongue.]

C'mon, let's go.

[No recovery time on that one, it seems, as she just starts tromping down through the water.]

That's not quite what I said.

(Beau's off in an instant though, so it's doubtful whether she caught that or not, though it wouldn't dissuade her even if she did. No matter.

Yasha rolls her eyes, and smiles, and follows suit.)

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 015 )

DON'T PUSH IT

BUT.... BUT KISSU

YOU'RE ON KISSU PROBATION

NOOOO HOW COULD U

EASILY

BETRAYAL

maybe so

gosh

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