TEST DRIVE MEME ( 019 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

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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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[exdeus]

Maybe.

[Not that he plans to be fighting anything. Instead, he looks pointedly at the torch.]

Whatever they are, it seems like they might be attracted to the light.

[counterblows]

Well, I can't see in the dark, so I'm not putting it out, [says Wash, more than a little edgily.] At least this way we know which direction they'd be coming from.

[He's not actually certain what's on this guy's head, but now's about the time to find out in regards to what its capabilities are.]

You have any kind of night vision on that thing?

[exdeus]

[On what thing? Still, he understands the spirit of the question.]

No.

[And that, apparently, is that. Horatio turns on his heel and moves to continue down the corridor, the same direction he was going before Wash interrupted his train of thought.]

It looks like we'll have to do it the hard way.

[counterblows]

[Wash sighs, blowing out a gust of angry breath. It's irritation toward the situation at large rather than any one person init, but that doesn't mean he's not going to make that readily apparent.]

I hope you know how to fight.

[A low snarl peels out from the dark, distinctly canid - and also distinctly very close by.]

[Wash tenses, and swaps the torch to his right hand so he can draw his sword with his left.]

Three o' clock.

[exdeus]

[Horatio does not fight. It doesn't matter that he doesn't have anything resembling a weapon on him--the sword he left behind as soon as he became conscious of where he was, and he doesn't regret it--it doesn't matter that he has no defenses to speak of, that he wouldn't be able to do any damage even if critically necessary.

Horatio patently refuses to fight.

There's a lot of reasons why. The beliefs he holds, or his rejection of the purpose he was made for, the purpose he'd had, in some way, for far longer than he'd ever been devout. All those reasons are part of it.

But mostly he's just tired. Tired of struggling, tired of losing, tired of destroying.

He turns toward the sound at the same time Wash does, but he doesn't move to defend himself, nor does he he move to hide. Instead, he steps between Wash and the creature, whatever it is, and brandishes the torch like a shield.

Or maybe it's him that's the shield.]

[counterblows]

[You've got to be fucking kidding him.]

[No sword. No weapon. No seeming...strategy, aside from just placing himself in the line of fire and hoping that works? The torch might spook the damn thing off, but that's a stopgap measure at best, and Wash's look of absolute incredulity is utterly wasted on the back of Horatio's head.]

[The lean, canine shape of a grimling gradually outlines itself with a flash of pale teeth and the glistening of coal-bright eyes. It snarls, apparently unwilling to simply charge the torchlight.]

[It gives Wash time to react, at least.]

Are you serious?

[exdeus]

Do you really think a blade will do anything against something like that?

[He's used to beings made of metal, if not obviously then beneath the surface, like he assumes of Wash; what good is a sword going to do? But fire, on the other hand...

Fire can do damage. If it can ignite a fuel port, fray a wire--or fool it accordingly--maybe the thing can be disabled, at least until Horatio can fix whatever's wrong with it.]

At least this way we might be able to direct it.

[But the real reason is a reflection of a thought from a while ago: if anyone's going to be sacrificed, it's him.]

[counterblows]

It's not like this place let me keep my guns, [Wash snaps, trying and failing to keep a fucking lid on it. Except that they are facing down a creature that very much seems like it wants to eat them alive right here and now and he's not about that, personally, and he'd really like to just kill the damn thing and move on.]

Direct it where? [he hisses.] What is your goddamn plan here? Is it get killed? Is that your plan?

[His pitch is escalating with his volume, climbing to an aggravated falsetto.]

[exdeus]

Quiet.

[It's not meant rudely. Horatio follows it up by looking down the opposite end of the corridor, judging the distance while they still have light--maybe it could work. For the time being.]

If it's attracted to the light, what if I threw the torch? Then you put out yours, and we can go the opposite direction while it's distracted.

[counterblows]

You have any particular plan on how we're going to navigate in the dark?

[He can see the thing's teeth glinting in the half-light. It's probably sizing them up. Probably working out which of them looks more edible - and Wash, notably fleshy that he is, is probably first on the menu. This kind of pathological calm would be far more consoling if he wasn't saddled with someone who, what? Is self-sacrificial to a fucking fault?]

[That's familiar, and he's not keen on going back down that road.]

[But it's not like they've got a lot of other options.]

[exdeus]

[Dryly:] It's linear. We can manage that much for now.

[Key phrase: for now. But the torch doesn't have to go out forever. There's always... well, when they're far enough away from whatever this is.

Until then, they'll have to deal with it.]

[counterblows]

[A moment.]

[The grimling snarls, plainly about ready to make its move. Wash sighs, loudly.]

For the record: I hate this plan.

[Without so much as an on my mark, he winds back and douses the light, slamming the torch into the nearest wall with a low clunk of wood meeting stone, showering sparks onto the walls of the labyrinth. It flares briefly in protest, a bright skittering of ember-bright motes.]

[He chokes it out quickly.]

[exdeus]

[As soon as the light goes out, Horatio throws his own torch at grimling without giving it a chance to react. And then, without waiting to see whether or not it connects, he turns the other way down the corridor.

He doesn't check to see if Wash is following. Either he's coming along or he isn't; there's only so much he can do to prevent ill-advised fights from breaking out.

He can only hope the grimling went after the light and not the noise.]

[counterblows]

[He's following, at least. He wants to get away from the thing that could very easily kill him. Abandoning the light feels wrong, but he still has the sword in his hand, and its grip is smooth and unfamiliar but solid and the only consistent thing he has, so he runs with his free hand splayed out in front of him.]

[He catches the opposite wall before running face-first into it. His breaths are sharp and athletic, but the grimling doesn't sound like it's followed.]

[It doesn't the light. He remembers.]

[His voice is low and whispered, when he speaks.]

...think it's gone.

[exdeus]

Good.

[It's delivered as calmly as anything else he says, but the follow up probably won't offer any comfort to Wash.]

I can't believe that worked.

[counterblows]

Those things don't like light.

[Trying to go by sound isn't honestly all that ideal, considering how dark everything is, but that's the only choice he has. Wash doesn't bother straining to pick out silhouettes. He just waits for his eyes to adjust, gradually.]

At least, not the ones I've met.

[exdeus]

[Wash will quickly be more useful than Horatio himself, as his eyes don't really adapt. They just stay the way they're designed, which is: not suited for dim light.

But hey. They have a spare torch if they need it.]

Then we should figure out a way to re-light yours before it comes back.

[But that's easier said than done, when all you have is endless, monotonous corridors to wander. And something about the place makes time flow strangely, so that it's impossible to tell how long they have or haven't spent simply following the walls.]

[counterblows]

You carry any flint with you?

[Wash doesn't. But then, he doesn't have anything except for his sword and now a...pretty useless, burnt-out end of a stick that used to a torch. Great.]

At least we don't have to worry about anything trying to put out our light. We'd have to have light in order for that to happen.

[exdeus]

No.

[Why would he carry flint when he has a plasma torch.

Had. Had a plasma torch.]

The tunnel only goes two ways: toward whatever that was, or away from it. Based on that information, I'd say we're going the right way.

[Truth be told, Horatio is somewhat grateful for the lack of light, because when all he has to go on is Wash's voice, he doesn't have to be reminded that Wash doesn't look or move like any robot he's ever seen. And all the implications of that that he doesn't care to think about.]

[counterblows]

Sure, until we run into something worse.

[He hates this! He hated the plan and now he hates that there was no solution to this plan other than - the bad thing is gone now. Wonderful. It's gone now, and they're still screwed.]

At least one of us is still armed.

[exdeus]

[With a blade. If Horatio had eyes to roll, he'd roll them. Does Wash expect everything they encounter to have such a flimsy shell as he does?

Unlikely.]

If we're picked over for scrap, at least I won't have to keep listening to your complaining.

[counterblows]

For scrap.

[He pulls the word out with something that set out to be derision before it resolves into...puzzlement.]

I'm not the wise guy who decides that fighting is - what, beneath you? You don't have to like it, but that doesn't mean someone else can't handle it. Some of us are plenty capable.