aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 017 )

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.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He's glad to be the bearer of good news, instead of bad.

He looks at her with a soft look, giving her the time to compose herself. It's... a lot, he's sure.] No problem, Allura.

[He takes a step back, looking around.]

So, do you want the rundown of this place?

[> You get the feeling she appreciates it.]

I would like that a great deal.

[Aside from, well, dream world is weird.]

[Excellent. Lance claps his hands together, ready to give the best explanation this game has ever SEEN.]

Sooo, we're on these islands, right? Being watched over by this god called the Storyteller - never met 'em one on one but they seem okay? - and there's all these different islands that come and go that are watched over by other gods. Most of the time. Sometimes there is no gods.

But anyways, the main island is Enso and there's a bunch of little tiny islands around where we all live. It's way, way different from living on the Castle or from what Earth was like. The tech level is super low, but most people seem to care about working together so it's not too bad.

[He hesitates for a moment, before plowing along.]

The islands are dangerous, though. Umui, there was a plague a lot of us caught, and there were more that were just as bad but I didn't see them. On top of that there's just like...monsters around that you don't want to mess with. [He takes a breath, finally slowing down.] But... It's good. It's not so bad, here.

[Debatable. It's debatable whether it's the best explanation ever, considering his previous description of chickens. Though she listens as intently as ever, frowning at the tech level being even lower than Earth's. That will take some getting used to, though she's confident it won't be too much of an issue.

What is, however....]

A plague? [She asks him, concern obvious in both her gaze and her tone. That always portended ill. The fact there were other islands that were apparently just as bad if not worse... She worries for them.] Lance, you can tell me. While I believe you that not everything is as bad as the islands you've described, I will need to be prepared.

[Though the way he rushed through the more alarming parts of what he had to say... That's what worries her the most. ~~And then Keith tells her he died. Again. Lance, what is she going to do with you?~~]

[Of course plague is what sticks out to her. Lance winces at the question - which surely isn't suspicious at all! - and grimaces.]

Yeah, it was a plague because of...emotions. The island was for quarantine, but none of us knew that before we started exploring it. That's why all the caretakers were robots.

[Aaaaand then the robots started developing symptoms. Imagine that.]

Mostly of the danger is pretty obvious, but... You'll just need to be prepared. That's all.

[It's fiiiiiine.]

[To be fair, it's the only example he gave. So he only has himself to blame for what she focuses on.

She notes the wince, and the grimace. Though a plague due to emotions? What did they expect them all to be, non-cogs? She tenses slightly at the thought. No, robots would be a better example.

...Oh. There were robotic caretakers. Well that answers some things, she supposes.] And yet we both know even those who are made solely of metal alloy can also have thoughts and feelings as well.

[Not just the lions. There are many examples in the sea of stars. She clasps her hands in front of her, deciding not to comment on his reaction for the moment; but Allura will remember that.]

[In his defense, it's the hazard he has the most experience with. Of course he'll accidentally spill the beans on it.]

Yeah, it...didn't end well for them. The entire island was basically a graveyard.

[It was unsettling. An island with no life except for odd patches of flowers scattered everywhere - the gravestones of countless people and robots.]

But it's long gone.

[Allura reaches out to place a hand on his arm.]

I'm sorry, Lance.

[What happened there has obviously taken its toll on her friend, and while she knows this is likely all she can do... Allura wishes she could do more than simply be there for him.]

[He offers her a wobbly smile - there's not much he can do to prove that he's fine.

He doesn't like lying to Allura.]

It's okay. We made it out, and as long as we're together it'll be okay.

[He's confident in that much, at least.]

[The fact he doesn't say that he's fine is enough to say that he isn't, but then, is she not guilty of the same thing?

Sometimes omission was better than lying to family. Lance, especially.]

You're right. [She offers a faint, polite smile. She knows.] Hopefully I will wake up alongside you and the others here.

[Birds of a feather.

Or, perhaps in this case, lions of a pride?]

It'd be pretty nice. [Except for the whole...this place being super deadly thing.] We're stronger together, after all.

[Lions of a pride seems very accurate indeed. ~~What even is that phrase SHE DOESN'T KNOW.~~]

We are. [Lance. You say this like space isn't super deadly. This is Tuesday.] I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

[It's a bad joke! It's not a phrase that exists at all!]

Yeah...that's kind of the downside. [It's Friday, technically.] But if you do wake up with us, you should remember this conversation at least! So you won't need to get the explanation all over again.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 017 )

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and then my Persona nerd showed for .2 seconds

you say that like your persona nerd's ever left

It left for almost six years!

but it didn't leave forever

it says hello every few months for a couple minutes, yes.

"a couple minutes"

rude

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