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 )

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[Normally, he could pull himself up ledges like this with ease. Normally, he barely had to think about it. Recently? Now? He finds himself getting more exhausted than usual, and the pain in his arm is already increasing. He's gotta keep this up, though, or they'll both flood out.]

How-- how'd I even get here?

[And why are you dressed in that kind of armor?]

I was just drivin'.

We're still working on the answer to that one.

[No time to bat around theories. The abridged version will have to do in short order.]

You're here now. Yes, it's real. No, we don't know who did it or why. It's complicated. Usually we've got worse to worry about than flooding, but flooding is bad enough for now.

...there's more of you.

[Probably should've expected that, but this is all new to him. Very new. He'd been dragged all over the place back where he was from - into the Planet's *core* itself, but this is much different.

Is he even still on the Planet anymore?]

Great. So now what?

More people, yeah.

[His tone implies that this should be obvious.]

Now we keep moving and hope that the mountain's clear of anything that might wanna kill us. [Apropos of nothing, seemingly, he adds:] Can you swim?

[So he's stuck with one of these types. Ah, whatever. As long as they're both alive, his guy can be as crusty as he wants.

Cloud wipes some dirt off his pants, shaking out the water still in one of his boots.]

Even if there is, it's fine. [He's used to dealing with monsters more, after all.

Swimming with an arm that's not that great, though?]

Yeah. I can.

You know how to shoot a gun?

[He asks everyone this, now. Even the kids. Especially the kids, in fact, because more often than not, the answer there is "yes." The answer there in some cases is even "I know how to set a bomb," which, while not ideal, is definitely useful.]

[He winces a little, a deep, buried memory abruptly surfacing at the man's question. Something he hasn't thought about for a long time, and never tried to.

He's still got his sword with him, but...]

Yeah. But it's been a few years.

[Just a few.]

You might need to.

[He points. Just above them, there's a vaguely spiked tentacle winding its way around a spike of jutting rock. It's a sure sign of a lungblossom, though it doesn't seem to have sensed them. Not yet.]

[He's not holding out on hope for that.]

[Well. Shit. He doesn't have a gun on him. And all of his materia was left back at the church, wasn't it?

...fantastic.]

I've still got somethin'.

[Not as long-ranged as a gun or materia, but it's something.]

Swords aren't long range.

[Not unless you throw them, and even then, they're really only long range once. Wash has his share of knives on hand, but he's better at mid-range than he is at C.Q.C. He always has been. C.T. and Carolina would kill him for not brushing up on the latter, but - ]

[They're not here anymore.]

Not with that attitude.

[Still, he's going to be real careful about this. He might be swept away in some weird world with some armored stranger, but the guy's been helpful so far. Getting him killed would just add another to his conscience.]

Do you know what this thing's capable of?

Why don't you tell me?

[Please. Inform him. He always likes to know more about other people's gear - both in case he needs to make use of it himself, or in case it gets turned against him. He's a contingency planner like that.]

I meant the monster.

[Because if it comes to it, he can just show what he's capable of. He might not be good at protecting anyone, but he can damn well try.]

It shoots spores at you that make you hallucinate.

[Built-in filtration system is gonna make that not as big a problem for Wash here, but this guy here isn't gonna be so lucky.]

Tentacles can hurt like a bitch too, if they get you.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 019 )

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