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

[Oh no, he was in trouble now.]

I j-, I was... I didn't...

[Barely able to get any words out, he stared over his camera with a beat red face and a brain that had almost come to a dead stop. It took far too long for him to actually piece anything coherent together.]

S-Sorry, I'll delete it! We're supposed to always take the shot!

[Finally able to pull his eyes away, he stared down at his camera screen and began rapidly scrolling through the photos.]

[Minako walks out of the water and goes to retrieve her shirt, side-eyeing him as she pulls it on and fluffs out her hair. If he's owning up to it then he's (probably) an actual photographer and not a pervert. The perverts always deny that they took it in the first place.

Whether or not he's deleted it yet, she holds out her hand to him expectantly.]

Can I see your pictures? I won't smash your camera or anything, promise.

[As he rapidly tried to scroll through the photos in order to fix his error, he caught a glimpse of her moving up out of the corner of his eye.]

Ah... I thought you were a mermaid...

[Part of why he'd been so entranced. The other part was just that she was a girl in general. Initially, his heart jumped at the chance to share his pics, but the second she mentioned 'smashing' he drew it towards his chest protectively. He hadn't even considered it until she brought it up, and he had no idea if she was being truthful or not.]

Please don't. I can't get another one.

[The thought of losing it absolutely terrified him, and he hoped she really wouldn't try and do anything to it to get revenge.]

Edited 2018-11-19 01:56 (UTC)

A mermaid, huh? [Her lips quirk up at the corners.] That was what I was going for, so you're at least right in that regard.

[She's still holding out her hand, but she's making no move to grab it from him, just waiting patiently for his permission.]

I promise I won't. I'm not a camera-smashing kind of girl. Just the curious kind. [A tilt of her head.] If it makes you feel better, I can give you something of mine to hold onto until I give you your camera back.

[There were few things that would actually cause him to shrink away from a girl. Hurting his friends was one. Fear of hurting his camera, apparently, was another. For once he had to actually weigh how much he was going to trust someone he just met. Misjudging could result in serious mental trauma.

At the same time he didn't want to offend. He wasn't the type. Some amount of self-preservation kicked in, and he answered hesitantly.]

Th... That's okay. I can show them to you.

[He wasn't really afraid of her seeing his photos, but he could hold the camera. His eye wandered around and landed on some rocks jutting up out of the sand.]

We could sit down over there.

[Satisfied with his answer, she claps her hands and nods. Minako can tell she spooked him a bit, and that wasn't her intention at all-- the least she can do is give him a minute to collect himself alone.]

Sure! Meet you there, I need to find Koromaru.

[Who or what a Koromaru is, she doesn't say, but off she runs.]

[His eyes snapped back up worriedly as she started running away, and he jogged after her.]

Your friend is missing?

[That was more important. Someone could be in danger.]

[Shr glances at him in surprise.]

Oh, no, I'm sure he's around here somewhere. He probably just got bored waiting for me and went to explore on his own a bit.

[She cups her hands to her mouth.]

Korochaaaaaan! Koromaru!

[The bushes near them rustle, and then a red eyed, silver Shiba Inu pops his head out, barking cheerfully. There's a few kaleidoshells hanging out on his head and back. Minako laughs and kneels down to give his nose a kiss..]

You made friends!

[Fear really took over, knowing what a danger these places could be, but that subsided and was instantly replaced with warm fuzzies the moment a dog popped out of the bushes. Puppers were right up his alley, and she might just notice another 'click'. What could he say? His first photographic subjects had been animals. Many, many cute animals.]

O-M-G, it's a puppers.

[If nothing else he calmed down quite a bit in comparison to meeting a girl, going up towards it and kneeling with a cautiously outstretched hand.]

Is he okay to pet?

Mmhm. He loves them.

[The puppy sniffs at Prompto's hand before giving his face a great big lick, tail wagging at the speed of light.]

And now he's made another friend. So I guess I should introduce myself properly to you. [She holds out her hand to Prompto.] Minako Arisato.

[Tension lifted, he laughed and fell backwards onto his butt, readily burying his hands in the fur.]

Hey there, big guy. It's nice to meet you, too.

[As often as he'd taken pics, he'd never gotten a dog off his own save for the one he had very briefly. He turned his head to avoid getting his eyeballs licked, but clearly didn't care all that much that he was getting slobber on him. Wiping some of it off with the back of his hand, he glanced back at her.]

Huh...? Oh, yeah, I'm Prompto.

[He reached out a hand and paused. Not because she did anything, but because he was about to touch a girl. Deep breath, and he tried to be as natural about it as he could even after the hesitation. A little stiff, but it is a kind of hand shaking motion.]

Uh, Prompto Argentum. I've lived here around here probably over a year now. Well. Not here. But on the islands.

[She shakes his hand firmly, open curiosity flickering over her face.]

Where are these islands, exactly? And has anything weird been going on recently? I'm here to help if there is.

[Because that's how it goes with Retrospec...they get sent off somewhere, they fix a problem, and then they get brought back to Recollé. Even if her phone is failing her and she can't access the app, she knows how things go.]

Not here, exactly. This is like a dream world that people go to before showing up there. Sometimes they pop up on the islands, sometimes they don't. And, yeah... [He couldn't help but let out an amused snort.] Weird things have been happening since I got here.

...Sometimes dangerous. A lot of times. But we won't let anything happen to you, and we have food and stuff.

A dream world...

[She sighs deeply, mumbling "I'm so tired of dreams" under her breath before straightening her shoulders.]

I'm not afraid of danger. I've had my fair share. Koromaru, too! We'll help protect people.

[Koromaru yips in agreement, hunching into a tiny bow and then jumping from side to side, as if he were raring for a fight.]

[Pretty girls didn't belong in dangerous situations. That's what he thought, anyway. Whatever she'd seen, it couldn't be along the lines of a fustercluck.]

Y-Yeah... I mean, we can always use more help. But it'll be best to stick with groups. Learn what's happening out there so you don't end up in a bad situation alone. There's been a lot of really bad stuff.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 017 )

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