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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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

Comments

[flower_of_innocence]

[Lance might not be able to see the way Lusamine's lip curls into a snarl, but Lillie can, and it only makes her struggle harder to free herself. Her mother was very, very rarely physical with her. She wouldn't dare get her hands dirty like that. But if she was prepared to kill a pokemon and let a man die just to get her way, Lillie can't put it past her anymore. Even as her fingers dig deeper into Lillie's arm, Lusamine's voice goes soft and sweet.

"Who are you going to listen to, darling? Your mother or an ugly stranger like him?"

Her eyes flicker from Lance to her mother's careful mask, knowing it's a lie. Knowing that there will be a reckoning for her resistance.]

Please...mother, please let go!

[She barely knows this man but...Lillie looks over at Lance desperately, unsure what else she can do besides plead.]

[thegoofball]

[He doesn't often want to fight ghosts - would much rather run from them, thank you very much - but he wants to fight this specter that's hassling her.

She's just a little girl. She shouldn't be afraid of her mother, and Lance is disgusted that she is. Whatever history is there, whatever's gone wrong to make her mother haunt her like this, Lance doesn't know. It doesn't matter if he does or not.

All that matters is that she's scared and Lance needs to help her.]

Hey- [He crouches down, trying to catch Lillie's eyes. It's time for him to change his tactics.

She doesn't need to deal with his anger. She needs his help.] Hey. Look at me. Don't look at your mother. Your mother? She's not real. If you just ignore her, she can't hurt you.

[flower_of_innocence]

[The words are...a relief, as the specter relinquishes its grip with a hiss of rage, but equally painful as she realizes her mother might not be there. It's been a long time. She thought she could do it - could stand up to her now. But Guzma's not here. And she's not saying Lance is lying but how could that iron grip have been anything but real? It's confusing and it hurts to think that either option might be true.

She forces herself not to turn and look at Lusamine when she starts offering what she knows Lillie wants to hear. Promises of family, of peace. To come back and all will be forgiven. She can take Lillie home, Gladion will be there, it will be like it used to be.

It's a lie - real Lusamine or not, it's a whole string of lies. She knows that by now. She rubs the red marks on her arm where her mother's fingers had dug in to hold her still.]

It's...not real? But, how is that possible...?

[thegoofball]

The islands...

[And how does he explain this? He wasn't here for the shades. All he knows about them he knows secondhand.

So he knows what they want but he doesn't know how they work. He doesn't have any experience with this. He's useles]

Things happen on them that aren't real, that are just trying to get to you. It's the magic of this place going out of control.

[He lets out a breath.]

Your mother might seem real, might feel real, but she's not. She can't do anything to hurt you. You just have to trust me on this, but your mother can't make you go anywhere you don't want to.

[He holds his hand out to her, palm up.]

If you want, you can take my hand. As long as you're holding onto me, you won't be taken anywhere that could hurt you.

[flower_of_innocence]

[There are so many things going through Lillie's head that she can't bring herself to move for a moment. If her mother is here, there are things she needs to say. Accusations, realities she must confront, apologies she wants to demand. But if her mother is an illusion, then there's no use saying those things, right? There's no use wasting her breath on a ghost - that's what Guzma would say in this situation. It's not that she doesn't trust this stranger (perhaps she shouldn't, she barely knows him), but her mother's voice is so soft and sweet as she repeats and re-emphasizes promises Lillie knows in her heart will be broken.

It's the voice of her mother, not the wicked woman she'd become.

Slowly, Lillie places a shaking hand in Lance's and swallows hard. Behind her, promises turn to outrage and threats. It's not like Lusamine to break her illusion so quickly. Perhaps that is a point in Lance's favor, as the child closes her eyes and takes a steadying breath.]

Is it...this illusion...is it a sickness? Like the flowers?

[thegoofball]

[Her hand is shaking, and that has Lance's frown deepening. He doesn't...

What kind of monster could treat their child so terribly that she's being haunted by them? That she's shaking like a leaf? It disgusts Lance. It shouldn't be like this. Family shouldn't make someone feel like this.]

I don't know. I don't think it's like the flowers.

[He squeezes her hand, before straightening up from his crouch.]

The illusions aren't going to kill you if you ignore them. You'll be okay, alright? I promise you.

[It's not something he knows for certain, and maybe he shouldn't make promises he can't keep, but...

He doesn't want her to be afraid. She's just a child. She needs all the hope she can get.]

[flower_of_innocence]

[She's putting a lot of trust in Lance's words. Lusamine - the illusion of Lusamine? - points this out, chin angled high as she looks down at Lillie disapprovingly. The child's eyes flit from her mother to Lance before fixing on the ground. She can feel the guilt of disobedience bubbling up in her chest, but there are two things she can't ignore: If Lance is telling the truth, she has to move past this. This...whatever it is, is either cruel or planning something sinister and she can't, perhaps won't, let it take her from Nebby and Guzma.

If Lance is lying...well, doesn't she still need to ignore her? Lillie made this promise a while ago - that she was done waiting for her mother to come around. That she was done with empty praise and charming lies. But what she wouldn't give for the sudden soft sadness in Lusamine's eyes to be real. What she wouldn't give for the comforting hand on her shoulder to really be there, for the words "Come home to me." to be an honest offer.

A long moment passes where Lillie's gaze stays at the hand on her shoulder. The illusion looks pleased, almost triumphant, until the girl turns her head away and tries to focus on Lance instead. Its furious hiss earns a flinch, but Lillie fights every urge to run to her mother's side and apologize.

She has nothing to apologize for. She will repeat that in her head until the words mean something.]

I never got your name. [Her voice comes out a bit loud for anyone unable to hear the accusations and admonishments of the specter behind her.] Back in the temple...when you couldn't speak.