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The Mods of LifeAftr ([personal profile] lifeaftr_mods) wrote in [community profile] aftr_ooc2019-01-13 08:43 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 019 )

Test Drive Meme #19
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 January 17th, and Applications on January 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.

Let's Be Heroes
Back in December on the recent island of Maati, the Trial of the Brave was intended to challenge those who approached life with hesitation; the timid, the uncertain, and those who trend too easily toward inaction. Mu, of course, has a habit of neglecting the finer details. And thus...here you are, whether you need the intended lesson or not.

Armed with nothing more than a torch, a short sword, and the clothes on your back, you're sure to enjoy the scenic view of labyrinthine stone walls, low-hanging ceilings, sharp corners hiding all sorts of secrets, and a thick, foreboding darkness. Your light, and the torches of others making their way through the dark, are the only breaks in the seemingly uniform dark.

Those and the lights of the eyes of the other things down here with you, of course.
Hidden throughout the maze are scattered innumerable creatures, all of them happy to take advantage of those wandering about on their own. Nighthooks are fiendish, shadowy monsters that appear in the shape of a long-fingered hand. While they cannot physically hurt anything, they specialize in slinking out of the darkness to snuff out any light source they can find...like your torch, for example. Also abundand are the grimlings, hulking, dog-like creatures composed of a seaweed-like blackness and glowing coals for eyes. Should you come across one, several more are bound to be nearby, as they travel in packs. And they are always hungry.

For those lucky enough not to stumble across these creatures? Enjoy your stumble through the dark. There's an exit around here somewhere, if you look hard enough. Probably.

The Waiting Game
The second trial Mu has appropriated is the Trial of the Patient. This test was named for those who exhibit the very antithesis of patience, initially intended to draw in the brash, the reckless, those easily incited into action, and so on. Instead of a dark and lengthy maze, Mu has instead concocted a brightly lit room to test your patience, and lack thereof.

So you should have no trouble at all seeing the entirety of the expansive, gaping void that stretches between you and the only way out.

Stranded on a singular ledge, the space in which you wake is white and seemingly infinite. No ceilings or walls are visible, and peering over the edge of the small platform reveals no flooring below to catch you. The only distinct characteristics to this room are the door opposite you, positioned some couple hundred feet away. There's nothing for you to grab or cling to in order to make your way over there faster. In fact, nothing else seems to help, either. Flight, teleportation, gadgets, you name it - each attempt will inevitably fail, and give you just enough time to contemplate all the ways you went wrong as you go plummeting down (or is it up?) into that endless void. What a shame.
Luckily for you, this dream is happy to give you a second chance! And a third, and a fourth...and however many it takes, really. Those who fall will, just as the initial adrenaline shock starts to run out, abruptly find themselves standing right back on the platform where they started. Once again, they'll find themselves staring at that infuriating, impossible-to-reach door. Seems like you may be stuck where you are, for the time being.

We say "for the time being," because the other distinct attribute of this loosely defined room is a second platform, drifting steadily from the doorway to your position. Once it reaches you, you'll be able to climb aboard, and be safely ferried across the room to the exit you so greatly desire. Once it reaches you. Once it...well, it seems to be taking some time. A few minutes. An hour. Something in that ballpark, maybe. Got a good book on you? No? Guess you'll have to find some other way to wile away the time.

You, and whoever else you happen to be stuck with.

Water Rising
The island of Ensō is a relatively flat island, aside from a lone, steep mountain to the north. Mu is less so. It tends to mold itself to whatever shape best suits it, and in this case? It has chosen Ensō. And so that is where you find yourself - positioned at the base of its mountain, no less, only several feet up the beginnings of its slope. Unfortunately, there's not much time to take in the new scenery. Stretched out along the island's coast is a beach of glittering white sand. Further inland, the green sprawl of a jungle blots the horizon. But there's also plenty of ocean. And therein lies the problem.

Creeping through the treelines and rapidly pooling about the mountain's base, said ocean levels are rising quickly. Very quickly. Those who wish to stay and enjoy the view of an island underwater are welcome to it. For everyone else, the only other option is the obvious one: to climb.

To climb very, very quickly.
As luck would have it, the rising waters aren't the only danger present. Those too slow to escape its wrath will surely drown, but the higher up you go, the thinner the air becomes, and the more searing the heat. To the west, a crop of dangerous creatures known as lungblossoms claim the wooded thickets that offer reprieve from the intense and unrelenting rays of dream-sun. A confrontation with these living plants may expose you to hallucinogenic spores fit to fill your senses with horrific, nightmarish visions, so tread lightly...but not slowly.

At the mountain's very peak, an empty temple awaits those who can make it to the end of this terrible and impromptu gauntlet. It will provide shade and a space for the exhausted survivors to congregate. Tend to yourself and others, if you like- or head back out to locate those who haven't had such luck in reaching this haven.

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
hyperlit: (if i could fly id be a bird)

[personal profile] hyperlit 2019-01-17 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
sometimes

[It does reassure them, actually. Eska is two for two on speaking fluent drifter, and even better, the Drifter hasn't yet realized how many of those accommodations are maneuvers being executed, to an extent. They're not thinking about the conversation - more about what they're going to do if the water level rises even further.]

[The Drifter is sweeping the area with an edged tension piled into their shoulders, picking out potential exits.]


not this badly
wanderingdoctorfaust: A mugshot of Faust, showing his 'head' and his suit. (faust_mug)

[personal profile] wanderingdoctorfaust 2019-01-17 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
They do make a very good point, but the good doctor is not entirely convinced. The last time he had a dream like these, there were...many, many more 'living' creatures than just him and, in this case, a giant anthropomorphic bipedal tortoise.

"As reassuring as it is, I'm afraid I am still sceptical. We must search for other survivors post-haste, or I fear we truly will be the only people standing at the top of the mountain."

Faust makes to move, but once more his exhausted form betrays him, staggering despite himself. It takes a firm grip on his weapon to keep himself upright.
Damn it. Damn it all. Why did it have to be an entire mountain climb?
ninjatortle: (and even though I'm not sure how)

[personal profile] ninjatortle 2019-01-17 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[Give it time. Eska sits, still and relaxed. Adjusting to a space takes a while. Adapting to uncertainty doesn't happen in an instant.]

Well... the good news is: I love swimming! If being an adventurer doesn't pan out as a job, I think I could have a pretty successful career as a flotation device.
jagarico: (talent unnoticed and it's terrible)

[personal profile] jagarico 2019-01-17 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Yusuke doesn't like being interrupted when he's in the middle of his Artistic Vision. He is ready to tell her to give him a moment when he sees what she does. But that just irritates him more. What is it with everything here and not letting him be an artist in peace?]

You stay back! [He takes the short sword out and he holds it easily, ready to strike down anything that's ready to try to take his flame or attack them both. Which is good because another creature, this one more dangerous, is ready to attack.] Can you take care of the hand? I'll take care of the larger foe.

[He doesn't wait for an answer before he's dodging the hand and running to attack the large creature. It's better to attack first after all!]
ninjatortle: (everything is going perfectly)

[personal profile] ninjatortle 2019-01-17 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[They blurt, brightly. "Kojin" is probably a good thing to be, right?]

But actually, I'm Eska.

[Poor girl is dripping wet and exhausted! And here's Eska without a single towel to offer. For lack of anything better to let her dry off with, they unwind the red scarf from their turtley neck, holding it out to her with a bit of an apologetic shrug.]

I know I might look a little... unusual? Kojin-y? But don't worry. I'm not a monster, I'm a friend!
ninjatortle: (and be daring)

[personal profile] ninjatortle 2019-01-17 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
And if you try to go scrabbling around slippery wet rocks when you can hardly stand, then I'm very quickly going to be the only person standing at the top of the mountain, singular.

[Pointed out gently but firmly, as they nod toward the temple.]

I'm a monk. I'm used to the whole physical endurance training dealie. I've also got these!

[They hold up one of their hands, fingers splayed out to display both the long, powerful claws and the webs that stretch between them. Perfect tools, surely, for both climbing and swimming.]

If you want, I don't mind searching while you rest up. You don't have to put yourself in danger!
hyperlit: (i am going into battle and i want)

[personal profile] hyperlit 2019-01-17 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[The Drifter processes this with a slow blink of their dark eyes. They're not entirely sure what to do with that. It sounds like something of a joke, or a means of lightening the mood, or...]

[Those are the only options that immediately occur to them.]


you
a drifter?
ninjatortle: (and be daring)

[personal profile] ninjatortle 2019-01-17 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah! All tortles are. That's why we carry our homes on our backs.

[Announced brightly and eagerly.]

But we maybe don't end up in cities all that often? The looks you get when you walk into a town for the first time are definitely something. You'd think a half-ton naked reptile was somehow a weird thing to see, y'know?
stormblooded: (righteous)

[personal profile] stormblooded 2019-01-18 12:20 am (UTC)(link)
[It's not quite emotion or sensation, honestly. Just a gut feeling that there's something Wrong with this place. The coeurl on Lotor's shoulders seems to feel the same way, if the bristling fur says anything. Y'shtola would be able to tell them a lot more, but she isn't here, unfortunately.

At the last bit, she nods.]
Oh, I'm sure there is. I just hope it's not an explanation with teeth.

[But something occurs to her all of a sudden. Lyse puts a hand to her chin, thinking.]

Actually... Now that I think of it, this all sounds a little like that Gelmorran ruin they found, doesn't it? From the little I've heard of it, anyway. It's this maze of dark, shifting chambers deep under the forest. All it needs are the hordes of -

[As if on cue, a low growl emerges from the darkness, and with it, a pair of glowing red eyes. Lyse gasps, but drops immediately into a combat stance, her fists raised.]

Voidsent! There you are!
stormblooded: (righteous)

[personal profile] stormblooded 2019-01-18 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
[So now the monsters come into the open! Part of Lyse is pleased, to be honest - she prefers a straight fight.

Her reaction is swift, too, pivoting into her opening stance. At a glance, Yusuke seems to know how to handle a sword, so she nods. It's as good a plan as any. For her own part, she ditched her weapon quite a while ago; it's not like she needs it.

Like a flash, she strikes at the shadowy hands, blow after stinging blow. She doesn't miss, but even so, her fist only hits thin air - or, a couple of times, the wall, where she leaves cracks in the stonework. When it's clear that's not working, she tries to hit them with her burning torch, but their only reaction is to extinguish it.

Frustrated, she disengages, dropping the useless torch on the floor, and leaps backward to Yusuke's position.]


It's not working! They've got nothing to hit. [Hopefully he's faring a little better.]
hyperlit: (◈ ᴀ ᴘᴏɪsᴏɴᴇᴅ ᴍᴀᴅᴅᴇɴᴇᴅ ʜᴏᴍᴇʟᴀɴᴅ)

[personal profile] hyperlit 2019-01-18 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
[Their species, then - "tortle." They assume, that when they confirm they are a drifter, that they mean in the colloquial that the Drifter themself is referring to, which entails a distinct occupation.]

[The dissonance really settles in the more they chatter about it. Where they come from, bipedal reptilians are far more common and accepted than, say, a blue-skinned wanderer.]


not strange
the lizards lived in the south
promfight: (...What?)

[personal profile] promfight 2019-01-18 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
Well, shit, obviously you didn't! Pretty sure humans aren't allowed in the monster world. And, I mean...you only get into Hell if you damn your immortal soul, or make a deal with a demon.

Or are just a massive douchebag.

[Damien shrugs. It's really not difficult to get into Hell - or out of it, really, since he hops from there to the monster world where his friends are all the time. Hell is lame as, well...hell, and the less time he spends there, the better. He'll be ruling it one day and ugh. Cross shit creek when he gets there, thanks.]

Oh, uh...right. We're supposed to make it out. Right. [He's been more or less just retracing his steps and trying to find shit to kill. Grimacing, he looks the kid up and down and wrinkles his nose.] Fuck me, I don't have to guide you out to get an A in gym, do I?
ninjatortle: (and even though I'm not sure how)

[personal profile] ninjatortle 2019-01-18 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
[Not strange. How rare is a phrase like that when they're talking to someone for the first time? There's a procedure, usually. Apologies, reassurances, and usually explanations. Ha ha, no, it's okay, lots of people assume that. Honest mistake, I know you meant well! People don't meet folks who look like me very often, of course it's a bit unexpected for you. And so many people are so nice about it, once they're over the surprise. Curious, welcoming, really friendly, eager to make accommodations for the shell too big to fit into an armchair, the frame too solid to squeeze through a doorway, the body too armored and heavy for a cheap inn bed.

But "not strange," right off the bat?]


That's very kind of you. Sometimes... it's nice to not be a novelty, you know?
ladytakamaki: (CiPoIi3)

[personal profile] ladytakamaki 2019-01-18 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ dammit. shiho, of all people, doesn't deserve to be caught up in this mess. she can't hold onto her because she needs her hands to climb, but if she feels shiho slipping away, she'll figure something out.

ann climbs. it's hard. but she has to do something. she forces herself to move.
]

Shiho...you shouldn't be here!
ladytakamaki: (4 - dmaUYSk)

[personal profile] ladytakamaki 2019-01-18 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
Nope. Preeeetty much the opposite of that!

[ she sees a pair of eyes looming over them before their torches fizzle out. ann lets out a gasp, admittedly frightened, and holds on tightly to her sword.

but the thing doesn't attack.
]

...Huh?
ladytakamaki: (the way we're movin)

[personal profile] ladytakamaki 2019-01-18 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
[ IT'S FINE, she wasn't expecting yusuke to be the best at it anyway. but she wouldn't have it any other way. she's missed her friend a lot.

she pulls away after a moment. the fire is a little dim, but there's an unmistakable tear that rolls down her cheek.
]

Y-Yeah, for now. Sorry, Yusuke. I...I missed you so much.
jagarico: (but remember to hold on)

[personal profile] jagarico 2019-01-18 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
Humans are animals as well, though, so I suppose I should be more open-minded. [You are really missing the point here, Yusuke!

Though he can admit he may have been wrong.]
hyperlit: (potion seller i tell you)

[personal profile] hyperlit 2019-01-18 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
[How do they say this? How do they put this into words in such a way that makes sense? That it is almost preferable when they encounter someone who looks a little...someone who stands out, because they themself have stood out for most of their life. They fail to recognize the sensation as one of solidarity. Of belonging in the unbelonging.]

[They're poor at words. They always have been. Even before their vocal cords were ravaged by sickness, and left them mute.]


most are human
look human

those that do not stand out
phantomtrick: (✦ big thinks)

[personal profile] phantomtrick 2019-01-18 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
That's one mean looking hand...

[ Akira's jaw drops in surprise and he points at it. He shakes his head and stares at it more. ]

It did nothing.
ninjatortle: (and be daring)

[personal profile] ninjatortle 2019-01-18 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, seems like that's how it is in most places.

[The cities, the tiny villages, the monastery. Same basic configuration of limbs, same base details. Make it a little shorter, a little pointier, tint it green or red or gray... so many diverse and dazzlingly different races, but so many seemed to share that commonality. Jormun, kenku, tortles, gnolls... their journeys had been studded with encounters with folk who didn't fit that mold, but so often, they carried that sense of otherness. Deprived of community, stuck being the only example of their kind. Or, in some cases... worse. They recall Arakosh, trapped in a jar, atrophying away as a mere thing to be solid. Synn, hating the form she'd been given, seeing herself as doomed, cursed, monstrous. Eska...

...They aren't going to let that grief creep in.

Be sunlight, be warmth, prove you're not a monster. There's kindness in the hearts of the people who see them as alien; they just have to push through that phase where they don't understand each other yet.]


Suppose it isn't surprising that it would be the same on Soggy Island. Well, guess they'll have to get used to having a tortle about! I might not be built for blending in, but I'm definitely built for getting along!
demonpuppy: AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN and also i would like a really expensive looking gemstone (HAPPINESS; FREE; FOR EVERYONE)

[personal profile] demonpuppy 2019-01-18 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
...wow...

[That is the coolest thing they ever heard get said.]

[Chip doesn't know Muffet quite as well, but the idea of a bug person having more than four limbs isn't an alien one--all the brief appearance of the mystery hand gets is a surprised glance before she's called their attention again. They nod firmly, ready to start climbing as soon as Hornet gives the word.]

Y-yeah!
ninjatortle: (and even though I'm not sure how)

[personal profile] ninjatortle 2019-01-18 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, no, it's okay! You see something new for the first time, it's only natural to compare it to something familiar. It's not like it's every day I share a dream with a human.

...Though, um, I dunno about you, but my dreams are usually a lot less... blank-canvas-y.
jagarico: (Default)

[personal profile] jagarico 2019-01-18 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
Mine are usually memories...I think I greatly prefer this type of dream. A blank canvas makes me truly feel at home.
stormblooded: (smile)

[personal profile] stormblooded 2019-01-18 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Far from apprehensive, Lyse smiles tiredly as she accepts Eska's scarf.] Thank you so much.

[She flips her ponytail forward and starts wringing it out with the makeshift towel. At that last remark, she glances up in surprise, then laughs.]

Oh! No, sorry! I didn't mean for it to sound like that.

[The Blue Kojin are stalwart friends and allies, after all! Without their help, the Doman uprising (and the Ala Mhigan one, by extension) might have gone very differently. By this point she finds there's not much drier her hair is going to get, so she hands the dampened scarf back.]

Eska, you said? Is that your name? [It could also be species, in this context.] Mine's Lyse.
hyperlit: (my strongest potions you'd better go)

[personal profile] hyperlit 2019-01-18 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
[It seems nothing can shake their upbeat nature. The Drifter blinks. That sort of boundless optimism is not necessarily alien to them, but it is difficult to process when so much of it is poured at them at once, like stepping into a wall of sunshine.]

[It doesn't burn, but it leaves them uncertain as to where they are meant to go.]


most are kind

[Unconsciously, they tug at the mantle of cloth that swathes the lower part of their face. None have picked them out as something worthy of ridicule or scorn due to the tint of their skin, which is more than they ever would have dared to hope prior to ending here.]

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