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

Never better!

[Eska chirps brightly, as if being stuck ass over teakettle in a lightless Hell Labyrinth of Fuck Shit is totally normal and commonplace. Who hasn't had this happen to them, right?

Yeah, okay, nobody's buying that. Their smile gets a little sheepish as they wobble those giant paddle-feet uselessly.]

...Okay, um, maybe I have been better. This, just between you and me? This sort of sucks. I think I have moss up my nose.

I hate to impose on a stranger, but would you mind giving me a little nudge? I think if I can just get a little momentum, I'll be right on my feet!

[Boy it sure takes a whole lot of something to be this determinedly upbeat in a shitty dungeon, on their back. Lup can't quite decide if that's dumb or charming, but she chuckles and smiles, more warmly this time.]

Right, I can probably manage that. Hold on, homie. [She carefully puts her torch on the ground out of immediate turtle impact radius, then steps back up to their side, pretend-spits into her hands and rubs them together.]

You're talking to the bottlecap flipping champion of 37 cycles straight! I got this. Can you like, get your whole situation uhh... retracted? Should give you more room for momentum.

Of course! I can make myself extremely aerodynamic when I need to.

[Nothing says aerodynamic like "mostly a rock-solid oval that weighs half a ton," you see.

They wave goodbye playfully, then withdraw every last bit of Squishy Meat into the cover of their shell. Legs? Just straight-up gone. Nothing but big splappy feet and a curled-in tail. Their entire face? Buried in a magnificent heap of neck flaps. There's little more but the tip of a pointed snout peeking out from their all-natural turtleneck. It's like a manatee ran into a glass window. Truly, monks are the paragons of grace and finesse.

They're a little muffled when they pipe up, mostly due to their beak being engulfed by an ocean of sheer smoosh:]

Alright, miss, show me what those sick pythons can do! Put some muscle into it! My body is ready.

[Well this is definitely a sight Lup didn't know was missing from her life? Did not expect for that to actually work somehow! There goes, just, an unreal amount of their neck and arms and legs and Lup vaguely feels like there should be some sort of comical backwards whooop sound accompanying this. Nature is fucking amazing.

And the turtle is hilarious actually. Lup finds herself suddenly super invested in this and cheers.]

Hell yeah! We're gonna flip gravity just like, the biggest bird! [Aaand she brings down her full weight on the side of the turtle, both hands splayed on their shell and-- it does almost fuck all. Her full weight is unfortunately not a whole lot, okay, she's a wizard elf, she can't exactly Magnus this shit. But she keeps at it, pushing down and letting off rhythmically until the turtle has got a nice rocking motion going, really puts some welly into it.]

3.... 2..... 1.... BLASTOFF! [And she hurriedly steps back from this giant scaly seesaw of her own creation. It's up to you now buddy!!]

[Hey, this rocking is kind of fun! Who knew being a tortle meant you could be your own theme park ride?]

But only if gravity is okay with getting a bird! I don't wanna hurt gravity's feeliIIIIIINGS-

[They kick out their limbs at the apex of a swing, trying to add enough juice to hit that very literal tipping point, and luck is on their side this time. Their voice yanks into a surprised squeak as they, with all the grace of a parade float in a wind tunnel, they roll over. It sort of sounds like someone threw a credenza down a stairwell - a lot of clunks and scrapes and a brief nails-on-chalkboard screech as their claws gouge furrows into the stone.

But all the ruckus and tomfoolery pay off: behold, Lup, for you are rewarded with a tortle laying flat on their tummy, all of those thick webby limbs splayed out like pancakes. They've done it, they're free, gravity has been handed a sweet soft baby bird.]

Oh, thank goodness. The blood was starting to rush to my head and stuff! I thought I was just gonna have to spend the rest of my life like that!

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 019 )

oh shit turtles are busting down your door as we speak

:O!!!

TURTLE!!! HEAVEN!!!! NOW!!!!!!

HALLELUJAH

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