aftr_ooc | 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.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The high of the Pattern's embrace, lifting her away and pulling her into its vision, its reality of endless happiness, came to a crashing halt some time ago, and now Kate is in a nightmare. Did the Pattern lie to her? Was Stephen right? Should she have gone out with him to help stop its spread? Or did she simply fall, a piece of the Pattern herself now since it twined herself into her blood and muscles and bones? Did it set her off to do its work too?

The thoughts haunting Kate are set aside when the water begins to rise.

She's pretty strong, but nobody just becomes a skilled mountain climber on demand. Kate does as well as she can and is doing okay, but the water is faster. Part of her wants to give up and see if she can't just reemerge into the Pattern, but the rest of her is afraid that it's looking for her and needs to find her alive.

So she fights, claws her way up, pushes herself as hard as she can, telling herself she has liquid light in her veins now and is so much stronger than she used to be—

And then a woman holds out her hand to her.

Kate takes it, and uses that and a burst of renewed strength to climb up to temporary rest beside the stranger. She leans forward, breathing heavily, shaking her head. ]

We have to keep going. We can't die here.

[ They have to keep fighting. ]

( A wave of relief crashes over Irene as the woman makes it, as the first words from her mouth aren't questions about how she did that, and as she immediately mentions continuing. Sensible. A woman after Irene's own heart. )

Absolutely not.

( The agreement is sharp and immediate as Irene picks her skirts up and jumps, managing to clear the modest gap between one shelf of rock and the next. She doesn't plan on letting this be the end of her, there's still a half-read book in her accommodations in London. She still has an apprentice counting on her, friends and work to do. (Admittedly the work, at this point in time, is not what she'd consider a driving force. She still rather dreads the next assignment the Library will drop in her lap after the whole ordeal in Venice.)

Instinct tells her to keep moving, but practicality demands patience, as does the voice in her head reminding her that she has only just saved this woman, and who knows — she may prove useful. While her new ally catches up, Irene eyeballs their path. A sheer face of rock they'd need to scale.

Very well. She can make this easier. Hurrying forward, Irene presses herself to the rock face, Irene whispers in the Language: )

Rock which I am touching, expand yourself in the direction of my feet as I step backwards and become a set of stairs for us to climb.

( And so she steps back, just enough to make a rather narrow set of stairs unfurl before her. )

[ Skirts. She's in skirts. What kind of world must she be from if she's in that during all of this.

It must be the same reason her words sound weird sometimes, accented somehow. The... changing terrain, though. That's something, but not enough of a something that Kate will stop and ask about it. Not now, when her soul aches for the Pattern and all its mystery and bliss. Not now, when the waters are still rising.

Kate follows her up the steps, careful to stay away from the edge, up and up as the air thins. Her lungs burn - like after the air strike - but she keeps going. Keeps climbing, even as she slows down a little. They can't die here, not either of them, and Kate will stop to help her up or support her if that's what it takes for them to reach the summit. ]

( A very, very complicated one.

Irene runs on adrenaline and a certain acclimatisation to the concept of disaster, pushing through the thinning air and the spiking heat with gritted teeth and constant glances back at her new partner, all striking features and beautiful ringlets of hair. They're going to make it. The distance between themselves and the water is increasing, and they're surely getting closer to the summit now that the air is so thin.

Irene can't help but notice that, even in this place which is no alternate of Earth, the same narrative tropes apply. Get to the peak, the tip of the mountain. A key location. It's comforting in a way.

But her musings are a distraction, and enough of one that she very nearly runs into a lungblossom as they head for the thicket, the plant moving ever so slowly around the edge of the wilderness. She takes a deep breath and manages to halt before she does collide, staring at the thing with more than a dash of curiosity. )

Do you recognise these?

( Ugh, what she wouldn't give for some pre-running for your life information on this mountain. )

[ Luckily, Kate is far enough behind Irene that she doesn't slam into her when Irene stops to stare at the large, colorful plant in front of her. ]

I dom't. [ She needs to be efficient when speaking right now. The effort to do even that demands a lot from her. ] But it's—

[ big and brightly colored, which just screams "danger" ... or maybe just distraction. They need to keep going. ]

We'll look later. [ It's so hot. Kate almost wants to dive into the water for a swim, but no. Danger. Danger is everywhere here. ] Can't just stop now.

( So, they're both in the dark. She can make an educated guess or two as to where this woman's thoughts have wandered in the classification of this flora, but they have to keep moving. Irene has to stop allowing herself to be so easily distracted. )

— Yes. ( Correct. But how do they get through this thicket of trees and incomprehensible paths? The Language can do a lot of things, but it doesn't provide directions.

Unfortunately. )

We need to make sure that we don't lose ourselves among these trees. ( She speaks while stepping into the woods, breathing a sigh of relief as the shade immediately provides a chill. At least there's that. )

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 019 )

water rising

my girl :D

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