TEST DRIVE MEME ( 017 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #17

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 November 17th, and Applications on November 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.

Is Anyone There?
What initially promises to be a relaxing island getaway is anything but. The tropical backdrop is all there - swaying palms, crystalline shores, white sand beaches, the whole hog. It's as idyllic as Ensō ever gets in the real world, the waters sparkling just that much more with a polish of dream-shine.

The real problem here is that you're not alone.

While they might be little more than a misted, formless shape at first, they'll rapidly take a more solid form as time goes on: a specter of a single person of great emotional significance. Whoever you might be seeing, they're here to rouse some aspect of your life that was not fully resolved. Someone you did not mourn, someone you did not grieve, someone you loved, someone you cut ties with unkindly, someone who represents a chapter in your life that you have thus far sought to repress. Tailing you relentlessly, refusing to be ignored or brushed aside or forgotten, this specter is hungry for your attention to the exclusion of all else. They will bring every painful association to light and rub those wounds raw, to a terrifyingly parasitic extent. They crave your attention, your love, your devotion, your fear. They are tethered to you, and cannot tolerate the thought that you might pay attention to anyone or anything else.

However they might have been in life, however fondly or not you may remember them, this shadow of them is merely that: a shadow. Desperate for your attention, and likely to grow jealous if you dare direct it anywhere else. They can't live without you. Why should you get to live without them?

In fact...why should you get to live at all? If you don't give them the attention they crave, they might start to demand it a shade more vigorously. They're only going to grow more solid as time wears on - and while no one but you can see them, they have the power to affect you very physically if they so choose.

Choose Your Own Adventure
What you have before you, dear traveler, is a very linear path forward. Deep, tropical woodland, jungle-like in texture and evening-dark, and a well-trodden path that stretches onward in a seemingly infinite, winding road. There is no way to go but backwards or forwards. Or, for the particularly brave...well, you could try moving off the beaten path, but we wouldn't recommend it. As it happens, the surrounding vegetation in this area is mostly comprised of a very irritating sort of foe.

As it happens, most traditional mimics take the form of wooden chests to befuddle and then snack upon any intrepid explorers foolish enough to open a container without checking for teeth first. Such is not always the case, however! Mimicries are what we will tentatively dub...distant cousins of your more conventional mimic. In the waking world, most of them prefer to assume the form of bushes, waiting for an unsuspecting traveler to tread upon the roots that will then snap around their ankles and reel them in, leaves parting to reveal a row of very nasty, very pointed jaws. Tonight, on Mu, their aptitude at blending into the vegetation to prey on the absent-minded explorer is out in full force.

While mimicries are very skilled at impersonating their surroundings, there are plenty of holes in their disguise for those keen of eye. An alert enough traveler may glimpse a pair of yellow, reptilian eyes blinking out from the vegetation before they fade just as fast. Mimicries are highly hostile, prone to attacking once they feel you've drawn close enough for them to take a good chomp, and don't tend to let go of their prey until either it is dead or they are. Armed with spiny teeth and a terrier-like refusal of relinquish their grip under any circumstances, mimicries can vary from genuine danger to outright irritant.

The good news is that, despite their number, mimicries are terribly vulnerable to fire. Happy hunting!

Caught in the Rainbow Current
On the more peaceful side of things, you're also liable to wake on a much quieter island destination - and this time, neither ghosts from your past nor RPG-styled foes will be there to spoil your stay!

Instead, you can take heart in the drifting, multicolored lights that shimmer off the seafoam and flotsam. A bale of kaleidoshells are passing through this region, and they're certainly taking their time in doing so. Resembling a cross between turtles and dugongs, kaleidoshells are so named for their distinctive radiance. Their scales and rainbow-colored shells can get as large as six feet across. The shifting colors on their backs are both bright and reflective. A vast enough number of kaleidoshells can allow for the illusion of an underwater aurora borealis, which is precisely what is occurring now. Kaleidoshells are placid and peaceable creatures by nature in addition to being unfailingly pretty to look at. As they are largely sea-dwelling, their presence in the archipelago is usually seasonal. However, despite the autumn season, Mu has elected to make an exception. Kaleidoshells are particularly slow and unwieldy on land, and thus not much of a threat, but you're probably better off not trying to poach their eggs. They do, however, make a very fine sight around the waters of Mu, especially in this artificial evening. Luminescent, their rainbow patterns glow underwater with the dim pulse of drifting mood lights.

So relax, take in the sights...or wade in to swim alongside them, if you like. They won't mind the company, and there's something singularly enchanting about getting to swim in the tide of a rainbow.

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Comments

[ideismo]

[Don't worry, Alexei is used to weird; the circumstances he's coming in off of have him a little dazed still, but generally speaking he's actually pretty even - he's not the most engaging of people, at least not immediately, but he's calm. The sort of person that will just speak bluntly and frankly to you without being aggressive or unreasonable. Stable, just a little socially strange.]

Do you not have monsters of any kind, then...? Ours tend to range more toward the aggressive, rather than the simple and beautiful sort. There are exceptions, of course, but they're rare.

[semistableman]

[That works for him. He doesn't calm; there's a tension in his body that doesn't seem like is so easy for him to get rid of, but there's a bit of a slump to his shoulders, like he's decided there's no fight yet.]

Not in the way you're thinking, no. Just a bunch of animals of varying degrees of aggressiveness.

[ideismo]

Don't worry, we have animals, too.

[Cats and dogs and stuff, mostly. We used to have bears and rats, too. Squirrels.

...Granted, the dogs are a little different. But he does know what they are? Just don't ever ask him what he thinks horses look like and it'll probably be fine.]

Might I ask where you came from? I would assume the Guild Union by sight, but even they haven't eradicated the monsters from their lands.

[...it's a far politer way to say "you're dressed like a fucking weirdo" than it could have been, coming out of the guy who appears to be about to get weirdly medieval on your ass.]

[semistableman]

Romania, but I get the feeling that's not gonna mean much to you.

[He did end up on an island with giant pretty sparkling turtles. The fact that he's having a conversation with a guy who looks like he got lost on the way to Renfaire doesn't even faze him.

He doesn't seem like he's in any hurry to pull the sweater off of him, anyway, rolling his shoulders a little bit in a way that indicates he's still on-edge, but eventually he stoops down and picks up a seashell from the sand. It's not nearly as pretty as the creatures, but it's something to do, flipping it over in his right hand, weighing it carefully.]

Bets on how we got here?

[ideismo]

...I suppose that depends on where we're assuming "here" is. It almost doesn't feel real.

[...All right, it definitely doesn't feel real, but there's no way to say that without sounding like a crazy person. There's also no way to say "eyyyy maybe we're dead" but you know what, maybe we're dead.]

[semistableman]

[Bucky looks around carefully.

Because, yeah, he gets where the implication is leading.]

No, it doesn't. It's definitely missing Saint Peter, though. Not sure if that's a bad thing or not.

[ideismo]

I assume that's some sort of Romanian god...

[...are you guys on first-name basis with your gods??]

Unless we're both horrendously wrong and the afterlife is run by the turtles, I think it's reasonable to say that we're reasonably safe for the time being. Wherever we may be.

[semistableman]

[That makes him snort, but it's a good natured sort of laugh, because what kind of statement is that.]

Christianity, actually. And he's not a god, he's a Saint. S'posed to be the one who holds the keys to heaven, who judges people at the gates to see who is worthy to enter.

[He considers the statement for a very long moment before saying, like he's discussing the weather:]

An afterlife run by turtles doesn't sound so bad.

[ideismo]

[Wh...at is any of that, he doesn't...]

...You'll have to tell me about it sometime. Your gods and your saints and what have you.

[He doesn't sound like he's just humoring the notion, either, though; he does seem genuinely curious. He's also aware that discussions of gods and such are likely going to take more time than we may have on this beach before something shows up and decides to try to eat us.]

At the very least the turtles seem docile. Probably not any sort of volatile underworld, then, as far as their domain goes.

[Sure. He's here for the afterlife as run by turtles, actually. Better than anywhere he was conceivably going.]

[semistableman]

Sure. Years of Sunday school can be worth something after all.

[Which is likely going to just cause more questions, but you know what, he's fine with that because what he really wants to do is talk about turtles right now.]

Probably not. It's kind of a peaceful beach, isn't it? Not the kinda place I've been. Our benevolent turtle overlords are too kind.

[ideismo]

It's been a while since I've been able to just appreciate the ocean; usually if I'm anywhere near it, it's because I'm going somewhere...

[...Honestly, it's been a while since he could just talk to someone like this, as well. When was the last time he actually had a casual conversation? Most of his communication with others nowadays is colored by who he is, the station he holds; it's nice to just be on an even playing field with someone for once.]

They do seem docile, though. It's calming; I can't say I'd mind staying with them for a while.

[semistableman]

[By the looks of things, it's been a long time since Bucky's been able to talk to anyone himself. Not this freely, about nothing in particular.]

...Yeah. They're really pretty. Don't seem like they'd get too aggressive if you decided to pet on.

[ideismo]

[...Heh.]

I don't suppose you're going to try.

[semistableman]

I just might Probably'll use my left arm to test out the theory.

[So he just. Casually lifts up his metal arm. It's not normally something he'd discuss so openly, but hey, they might both be dead. No reason not to make terrible jokes.

Completely deadpan, naturally.]

[ideismo]

[It's likely rude to stare at that, isn't it.]

Well, it seems you're better...equipped than I am for it.

[He is. Not the sort to make puns, though there's kind of an obvious one staring him in the fucking face and judging from the half-second's hesitation, he absolutely saw it.]

[semistableman]

[He snorts a little, which is the closest he's going to get to a laugh. His hand flexes, looking surprisingly mobile for a metal arm.

Bucky's also a man of his word, because he starts to casually approach the nearest shining turtle. At least he's not going near the eggs-- it's not something that interests him, and even as he gets closer, they don't seem to mind.

Eventually he gets close enough to a particularly large one to place his hand on it gently, looking at the shell with interest.]

See? No biting!

[ideismo]

[It draws something resembling an expression out of him, anyway, settling somewhere between mildly amused and deeply fascinated; he'll watch, at any rate, folding his arms as he does so. They really are docile; it's nice to watch, if nothing else, and nicer still that this...person isn't getting absolutely maimed.]

Yes, I see.

[The words are gentle, though likewise amused; it isn't long before something seems to occur to him.]

Here you are, risking your limbs before we've even introduced ourselves - that really is an oversight, and you have my apologies for it.

[It's accompanied by the briefest of bows from the waist; it's formal, though, deep enough to not be mocking.]

Commandant Alexei Dinoia, of the Imperial Knights. And you are...?

[semistableman]

Wouldn't've done it if I thought they weren't docile.

[It's said cheerfully enough, like he's not bothered in the least.

He doesn't bow himself, but he does nod in greeting. This is where he'd normally extend a hand, but since the guy didn't do it himself, instead he stuffs his right hand into his coat pocket.]

James Buchanan Barnes. Usually people just call me Bucky.

[ideismo]

I'll be sure to remember that.

[...He looks like he's never called anyone by a nickname in his fucking life.]

[semistableman]

It'll make talking easier.

Least you won't have to shout "hey you!" to get my attention.