aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 018 )

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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 018 )

Test Drive Meme #18

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 December 17th! Due to the holiday season, Applications will be opening on December 26th, with an app period shifted to end on January 2nd instead of the usual timeframe!

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.

Upsy Wars: Revenge of the Lift
Over the past sixteen months, adventurers have adjusted to the sight of a wide variety of odd and fantastical creatures, some friendlier than others. Of the more ferocious, it's wise to consider giving them a wide berth - from the indomitable fustercluck to living black holes to the deadly contagious quartzalcoatls. However, only one predator has gained the dubious title of "that weird flying mouth thing."

Invasive to LifeAftr, Upsy the elevator is not satisfied with haunting the memories of those who encountered it during its arrival in July. Now it's here to haunt your dreams, too! While capable of speech and some style of sentience on its home world, it seems LifeAftr has yet to agree with a machine that is equal parts flesh and metal. Driven to silence by whatever forces this world has exposed it to, Upsy is driven by one, basic instinct, and one alone.

To give you a lift, whether you want it or not.

Upsy’s attacks are abrupt and immediate. Swooping down from the sky, it will collect as many living things in its mouth as can fit, before closing its doors and soaring away. Want to leave? Don't worry; Upsy has no intentions of keeping you, or digesting you. Release from that fleshy mouth prison is as immediate as the initial attack. We hope you enjoy flying, because Upsy can spit even the heaviest of creatures a good hundred feet away from itself, at any altitude. Do look out below.

The Emoji Movie
Communication on the islands currently consists of Stones of Far Speech, a relatively adaptable system that is open to requests and suggestions for improvement. One such request has been met with a small bout of confusion, however; as adaptable as the Storyteller attempts to be, you kids with your mobile phones and your texting and emojis get a little beyond them, sometimes.

Beyond Mu as well, it seems.

When you asked for emojis, this is what you wanted, right? Exclusive to Mu, Emojees come in a variety of shapes and sizes; from knee-high yellow orbs with rows of sharp teeth that simply cannot stop laughing, to horse-sized poop emojees that - well. One can guess. Numbering in the hundreds and intending to convey their meaning by any means possible, it's a good idea to avoid prolonged contact with these happy little abominations.

The taller, more objective emojees will simply try to absorb those attached to them in an effort to become even larger, but the smaller infect their prey with the emotions they portray, influencing them into the perfect emotional state for consumption.

In hindsight, this is probably not what the children actually wanted...

Close enough.

Let It Go Snow
LifeAftr may be primarily tropical, but that doesn't mean some of its creatures don't appreciate a good white Christmas - and a white rest of the year, at that.

Gelfs are one such species. While they may be visually reminiscent of Santa's Little Helpers, these small creatures aren't about to start handing out presents. Having snuck onto Mu's metaphysical shores at the beginning of the month, these little critters have immediately set about doing what they do best - spreading ice and snow across the island, in increasingly hazardous quantities.

As the influence of the gelfs settles across Mu, it's quite possible that the abrupt cold snap will lead to severe consequences for any adventurous guests, unless you enjoy the prospect of an avalanche waiting to happen Now may be the best time to hunt these gelfs down, before such disaster can occur.

For those uninterested in massacring a local creature population (again), you may as well enjoy this winter wonderland while it lasts. Ice skating, snowball fights - and for those in the know, the time-honored competition to create the best dabbing ice sculpture. If you're lucky, you might even find a container of piping hot wassail - spiced apple cider - laying around.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

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[A breath, to steady himself, to settle his thoughts. It's an effort, but he needs to keep a hold of himself, for Allura's sake, and for his own. He may not always be the most level-headed, but he will try. He closes his fingers around his daughter's, holding securely. Older than he remembers her or not, it's still Allura, and there's reassurance in that. Whatever she has lived through, whatever has happened, she is here and alive. Grown, a remarkable young woman, a paladin of Voltron.

But something in his heart shatters at war. What has he left his daughter to? There's a flicker of a smile at his old friend's name. At least Coran is there with her, millennia in the future.]

A war. [He echoes softly.] Then there are darker days ahead than the ones I am currently living. I'm sorry to know they fall to you.

[And also for the record, he likes nothing about the sound of a Trial of the trusting or otherwise.] What does that mean?

[Allura nods, allowing her father to soak in what all that entails. War. There's no getting around that fact just as much as she is good friends with the other paladins who have found their way here before she herself did.]

There are, yet much like this place... it is not all hardships. Watching the others begin to work as a team before I joined them was... interesting. [She can't keep the amusement out of her tone at the end, nor when she adds:] They had failed so spectacularly at working together as a team until they teamed up in a food fight against Coran and I.

[That being said, welcome to the club! She hates getting actually shocked when betrayed, too.]

And... it is a maze, not unlike the one on the training deck of the Castle of Lions. Except there are puzzles that require two or more to pass and one only gets shocked if they don't solve them correctly or betray one another.

[...Please, please don't ask how many times she's been zapped.]

A food fight...

[He repeats, and it's surprising enough (and it's good to hear that note of amusement in his daughter's voice) that he can't quite hold back the beginnings of a smile.]

I've never heard of that training method before, but... I can see how it might be effective. [He teases. And he's also picturing pitching that idea to Zarkon. It'd be worth it just for the look of horror that would most likely cross his friend's face.

Amusement is quick to fade as Allura continues.]

...they're shocking you?

[He won't ask how many times, but he will absolutely be indignant on his daughter's behalf.] What is the purpose of such a thing?

They thought of it first. It was retaliation for Coran handcuffing them together at the dinner table.

[She chuckles quietly under her breath. All she wanted was to eat, but. There you have... it...

...

Oh no. She notices that look in Alfor's eyes.] Father...? [What are you thinking. Why does she have a creeping sense of dread building behind an innate curiosity?

Oh thank Ancients he doesn't ask.]

It was an example, and is entirely dependent on whether everyone cooperates with one another. Which I assume is the goal: trying to encourage trust. ...If only to punch whoever came up with such an asinine method at the end.

Somehow, that's stranger.

[But that it's Coran somehow makes it make sense, and Alfor finds himself shaking his head. But shh no it's fine, he's not thinking anything.

Or at least, his thoughts are now on, oh good yes. Punching whoever decided they could shock his daughter. Here is a plan he can get behind.]

I'd say there's likely a more diplomatic approach, but punching sounds like the right decision in this case.

It's Coran. Is it really the oddest thing he's done?

[Is it really that strange? And hey, it worked, just in a different way than their friend had anticipated. Most likely. She makes a face after recalling what he said after when they finally formed Voltron for the first time when their lives weren't at stake.

Yes, that would be an interesting story to tell later. Hm...

And look at this face, Alfor. This is the face of someone who doesn't quite buy it because she knows how they do. Buuut she'll let it slide, because the topic certainly has changed.]

Well, I would at least inquire as to why first. However, I doubt those I am being tested with are nearly as diplomatic. [One of which she knows full well isn't, the silly angry "squirrel" as her fellow paladins put it. (What's a squirrel? She just doesn't know.)]

...far from it.

[Alfor acknowledges with a wry twist of a grin. Coran is unique, and Alfor is well aware of what his dear friend is like.]

They may have it right in this case.

[Alfor's urge to be peaceful and diplomatic as it turns out flies straight out the window where someone hurting or harassing his daughter is concerned. Go figure.]

Allura... [He begins after a moment, trying to frame the question he wants to ask.]

[Allura shrugs helplessly. Oh, she has plenty of amusing Coran stories from the future that she could share with her father. However, perhaps once he awakens on the other islands... and when they are not out in the snow. Her point made, however, she'll concede to his as well.]

They very well might. However, that still doesn't stop me from being at least a little curious.

[Except... she can kind of see why. How can others trust her, when she still isn't entirely certain she can trust herself? She almost let herself and Keith be fooled by that one creature not long after she awoke. She can't-

But then Alfor's voice calls her back from her thoughts and her eyebrow raises.]

Yes, Father?

[The snow is beginning to pick up in intensity soon, a fact that has not been lost on Alfor. But he's not ready to seek refuge. Not yet.

Instead he takes a moment to study Allura through the fall of snow, before finally speaking up to ask.]

This may not be the time -- nor the place -- to ask these questions, but... What has happened that has left millennia between us?

[Allura's eyes widen an indiscernible amount as a quiet gasp at the intake of cold air. For an instant, she is back on the bridge of a ship that no longer exists. The memory is so vivid, she could almost smell the smoke from outside as her father -- older and wiser than the man standing before her now -- used his alchemy on her to induce sleep so she wouldn't struggle on the way to the cryopod.

Her heart aches as the last words he spoke to her in the flesh echo in her mind, and she finds herself repeating in her head what she said to his AI. How she wishes it didn't have to be this way.

She looks away, takes a breath and barely manages to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. He's right about one thing. This isn't the time nor the place to ask what is inevitably as painful to her as the truth Keith has been keeping from Shiro. What they all have been keeping from the initial successor of Zarkon's legacy as the black paladin.]

You are right. It isn't. [Yet she can't lie to him. He'll find out sooner or later, during a storytime if he awakes with them on the islands. And if he does not, then he likely won't recall this dream. When she looks to meet his gaze again, her walls are up again. It's not just his little girl staring back at him, but a princess and paladin.] There is a clearing not far from here that is more sheltered from the wind in the direction I came from.

[One where they'll be able to pick out sounds more clearly, and be able to maintain a fire easier. She can see the frost forming on the tips of his hair, and can only imagine there is some forming on hers as well.]

Very well. Out of the wind and snow is likely the better idea.

[But that leaves his question hanging in the meantime, and his imagination rushes to fill it. Whatever war his daughter is facing so far in the future, was it its genesis that sparked off whatever sent her so far beyond his reach?

But what sort of battle could rage for so long, sustained? It's almost daunting to even consider.

So he doesn't. Instead he reaches out a hand to brush some of the accumulating snow from her hair, gentle as can be even with his gloved hand.]

Lead on then. I'll follow.

[The sad thing about it is, most of the pieces to the puzzle are likely already in his hands. He'd just have to try and put it all together. Allura smiles faintly and nods before turning to lead him back into the trees. It's not very far of a walk, and she already had a small amount of wood piled together on the edge of the clearing. Still, it's kind of weird that a tropical island has snow. Something must be causing it and it has her curious.

Another time. If there's any before she wakes back up on the other islands with her fellow paladins.] From your armor, I assume you at least recall stopping the entities' assault on Daibazaal?

[He may have them, but Alfor can't possibly conceive of Zarkon betraying him, betraying any of them. The Galra emperor is his friend, the leader of Voltron. For all that things are a bit tense with Honerva insisting on the research into the rift continuing desoite the incident with the creatures, they're still... his dear and trusted friends.

He glances down at himself, his armor, before looking back up to Allura and nodding.] Yes, that was some time ago, the first time we took to the Lions and formed Voltron. We've done much since then.

[A frown.] Did something else come from the rift?

[Hooray for a club she joined phoebs ago, with Zarkon's successor to the throne. She closes her eyes for a brief moment, forcing the memories down deep as they make it to the clearing. There are embers still in the fire she'd left when she heard a familiar voice on the wind...

She gestures for him to sit down before she does so as well, poking them with a stick left by the ring of stones. Oh, something else came from the rift alright.]

... In a sense. [She feeds the fire real fast with some dry leaves and it sparks back to life. She's had some practice the last phoeb.]

I do not know all the details, but, Zarkon betrayed us. Something had happened to Honerva while she was pregnant with their son, and he convinced you all that the only way to save Daibazaal was to expand the rift and then close it.

They both came back changed. When I faced her after I awoke, Honerva didn't even recognize me beyond "the lost princess of Altea" and called herself Haggar... and Zarkon conquered much of the known universe.

[But she is getting ahead of herself. It's... difficult to speak of, but she looks up to meet his gaze.]

Altea... was the only planet they destroyed utterly because we refused to submit to Galra rule. You sent me and the Lions away so that the universe might have a chance. The last I remember, Earth nearly became the second planet to suffer such a fate. We saved them just in time.

[They can be their own support group for "mistakes were made with feelings for the Galran ruling family" because that is certainly a thing.

Alfor settles by what's left of the fire, looking from the glowing embers back up to Allura as she begins speaking once more. There's a widening of his eyes straight from the start. Zarkon betrayed them?

If it were anyone but his daughter telling him this he might try to disbelieve it. But it's his Allura, and there's no mistaking the gravity in her words.]

...Altea was destroyed.

[He echoes the words, not so much in disbelief as in trying to even wrap his mind around the concept. His throat feels tight. Too tight.] Zarkon did this?

[They really can be. Allura bites the inside of her lip, before scooting closer to him. The fire has roared back to life; it won't need more tending to for a while. Instead she offers a hand. Whether he takes it or pulls her in close is up to him.]

...Yes. [To both parts.] It is gone. Yet our people and culture are not entirely.

[Oh, if only she knew. If only she knew what Honerva is doing to their people, continuing and twisting what her son had envisioned beyond what he'd done to those of the "second" colony. She leans in closer as she stares at the fire with half-lidded eyes. The words of the phantom within the maze still ring in her ears.]

Lotor, [Ancients, it's been an entire decaphoeb and she still can't hide the pained sadness in her voice at the mention of his name.] Zarkon and Honerva's son, worked to preserve it and save the descendants of those who were on trade expeditions before he followed in their footsteps.

[There's not a chance in the cosmos that Alfor doesn't take that hand, doesn't slide closer and tug Allura in close to him as well. The chill is part of it, but the tone of his daughter's voice...

It pains him, an ache that settles deep in his chest.]

I see. Then you've known this betrayal too.

[No doubting that by the sound of her voice. He wants to make it better, soothe it away like he could the nightmares she'd had as a little girl, the small child he remembers. But that's outside his power.]

My Allura... I'm so sorry, that such a heavy weight fell to you.

[Allura leans into him, then. Both because of the chill and because they both need this. For her, it is something she has had to grow accustomed to for phoebs, but for Alfor...

It pains her to have to tell him any of this.]

I loved him. [In other words: yes.] I still do.

[She gently squeezes his hand in hers. It's painful to admit, and perhaps.. that is why it hurt so much to hear what he'd done to their own people. And yet, she smiles faintly.]

It did not fall to I alone. Others help me to carry it. Shiro, Lance, Keith and his mother Krolia, Hunk, Pidge and her family, and Romelle. We have allies and together we've worked tirelessly to free the universe. Well over a third had reclaimed their freedom from the Galra Empire before our alliance with Emperor Lotor.

I miss Altea, our people, and Mother... but I am glad to have met my team. Just as much as I am glad you are here, Father. [She's missed him so much.]

[Her leaning in will have her wrapped up in an embrace. Because he can do that, even if there's nothing else he can do. He's quiet when she speaks at first. To be betrayed by someone you trust, someone you love. He can imagine little else more painful.

But at least it seems she has others who are there for her. He smiles back.]

It sounds like you've found a strong team to stand with. And I'm glad for it.

[And these people he doesn't know, or may have wandered into in this strange dream already, he's grateful to them for being there.]

I am glad I am here too. With you. [And he doesn't want to leave, not knowing these things, not knowing that he's very much already left her when he died in her time. Thousands of devaphoebs ago.]

[It is more than enough for her. It's something she never thought she would have again and quietly savors this despite the tears stinging in her eyes; both of sorrow and joy. She wraps her arms around him once more like she would when she was younger and had just awoken from a nightmare.]

I have. However we have had our moments. [Just like any team does.] They once escaped a swap moon on the back of what earthlings call a "cow" -- I'll introduce you to Kaltenecker later.

[A very quiet laugh escapes her. Yes. The cow is here.]

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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 018 )

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