TEST DRIVE MEME ( 018 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

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.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[plzunstick]

[Miles doesn't need to be told twice, using his single remaining webshooter to swing up and around the other side of Upsy, dodging an unaimed swing of one of the robot's arms as he goes.

Once Peter has the left arm pinned Miles shoots for the right, wrapping it in webbing and attaching the other end firmly to a sturdy looking tree. It takes his full weight, dropping to the ground to pull the web tight, but Upsy's right arm is jerked up and back, immobile.]

How about...you look like you could use a hand? [Too nice.] You're gettin' kinda handsy? [This is embarrassing.]

[brunetterecluse]

[For both of them, kid, for both of them. Peter looks pained as he finishes tamping down the left leg, anchoring it to a bolder much like the first.]

We'll, uh, get some remedial lessons in later. [And up he goes, the leg serving as a makeshift bridge towards the elevator compartment.] You keep the big guy still while I figure out what's powering it, alright?

[plzunstick]

Oh yeah, sure. No problem. [Not like this thing weighed a few tons and probably wanted to kill them even more now. Miles scrabbles up the back of it, adding some more webbing to it's joints and hoping optimistically that it would hold. He could see the shaking effort of it trying to pull free, and a glance over at the tree he'd anchored it to showed the wood starting to splinter, groaning under the pressure.]

Uh, Peter, I don't know if this is gonna hold much longer....

[brunetterecluse]

Five minutes, that's all I need. [He shouts back, distracted by the effort of plying back metal panels. Some revealed flesh, some revealed circuitry, but so far none at all gave him what he was looking for.] It'll be fine, just keep webbing it up!

[Suffice to say, the tree's buckling only gets more pronounced as century old roots unearth themselves under the strain.]

[plzunstick]

Five minutes? [Miles breathes it out in disbelief. The cracking of the tree's roots ripping up from the ground makes his head turn; if Peter noticed, he wasn't paying any attention to it.]

Oh, crud...

[Miles takes a backwards leap off Upsy, eyes wide watching the robot start to pull it's arm loose with a scattering of leaves and branches snapping. Miles can't stop the internal oh no, oh no, oh no and he shoots a few more webs haphazardly, the filaments clinging to much weaker trees and only somewhat slowing the big guy's movement.]