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

3

[smallra]

[Lotor is similarly irritated, as a fellow bored young person, but he is trying his best not to appear bored. No, he is going to appear like an eminently patient and mature adult, even if that is not what he is! As he has no power to cast illusions, sadly, he has no choice but to look like someone's purple D&D character.]

Radio? Someone who could make a place like this could create a less primitive device.

[Not that he's saying he's wishing for entertainment. Or anything like that.

Instead of lying down, Lotor is peering down interestedly into the void. Even if the void hasn't changed in all this time and is not nearly as interesting as it was at first.]

[blindfoster]

I don't care how primitive it is, as long as its something besides... [He waves his hands around.] ...this, it'd be better.

[But Quentin sits up since this kid is apparently holding it together better than him. He probably should try to act like the dignified fae noble/squire/crown prince in hiding that he's supposed to be.

But ugh he's so bored.]

But I'm not so sure about that anyway. A lot of people who are good at magic like this have no idea how a lot of technology works. That's why April... Countess O'Leary does so much business.

[smallra]

That depends on what the radio transmits.

[What if it was something mind-numbing, like encoded mission reports or statistical data? Or propaganda bulletins? Lotor is not that enthusiastic about the idea of a radio overall, because his people don't generally produce a lot of entertainment-driven media. He knows there are things that are not better than nothing.]

It could be worse.

[What Quentin says makes absolutely no sense to Lotor, who looks instantly skeptical. He knows about these things. He's very well educated, as a crown prince should be.]

Magic and science are connected. This looks like technology. It might be a holographic projection.

[That's what he's been thinking. It can't really be infinite, so it has to be tricking their eyes somehow.]

I've never heard of them.

[What's a Countess O'Leary?]

[blindfoster]

Good point.

[He'll never understand Toby's taste in music, after all.

The next moment he's looking at the little purple kid in plain confusion.] Magic and science are like oil and water half the time. Do you know how hard it is to get wifi in the Summerlands?

[Super hard. Which is tragic, honestly. There's so much to do on the internet.] Humans sort of have the tech market cornered, which makes sense since they can't use magic. They've had to rely on science instead.

[Though now he's wondering, standing and peeking over the side.] It could be an illusion too. But... the only way to test that would be to jump, and I'm not feeling that confident about not falling to my death.

[smallra]

[Lotor hasn't ever experienced the horror that is music that is not to his taste, so he doesn't even know how bad such things can get.]

Magic works with science.

[His father's witch uses her magic in the service of the Empire, after all. It doesn't detract from the Empire's technology in any way.

This person uses a lot of words he doesn't understand. It's frustrating, because he's used to being well-informed on subjects that come his way, and he prides himself on learning as much as he can about everything he can. What are the Summerlands, what is wifi, and also—]

What are humans? Galra have the most advanced technology in the universe, but we aren't weak to magic, and we can use it.

[They're not weak in general. They're strong. Not that they're magical themselves, but they can make use of others' magic or other unusual powers. Lotor joins his strange companion in looking over the edge some more.]

Even if it is an illusion, it could be a long fall. It's not worth the risk.

[He can't see any reason to take a risk like that, even if waiting to be carried across is extremely tedious.]

[blindfoster]

...what?

[Okay. This is where Quentin is starting to realize that something is going on here. He'd assumed this kid was some race of Fae that he'd never encountered before. Because that sure happens.

But "what are humans?" and "most advanced technology in the universe."

Hold on just a second now, because Quentin is staring.]

You don't know what humans are? Do you know who the Fae are? ...wait. Are you an alien?? [There is super no such thing as aliens, except in science fiction movies. Right?

And he realizes what a hypocritical thought that is in the next moment.] Er I mean... you're not from Earth?