TEST DRIVE MEME ( 020 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #20

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.

Due to the shortness of the month, both Reserves AND Applications will open on February 17th!

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.

Hell's Fury Burns the Heart
Back in December, the island of Maati treated travelers to unique Trials, tailored to their own unique sins and vices. Of the seven possible trials for adventurers to undergo, the Trial of the Forgiving, the trial laser-focused to exploit those most predisposed to be wrathful and violent, was among the simplest. Unlike the other trials, there were very few puzzles and mazes. The Trial of the Forgiving was largely, in essence, a trial of temptation.

This Trial takes the shape of a stone-walled spiral, with trial-goers starting at the outermost point and working their way steadily to the exit at the center. The torches lining the hall as it stretches infinitely onward paints the walls with a warm amber tint, giving the entire place a much more welcoming ambiance than will eventually become evident.

Your task is simple: make it to the end in one piece. All you have to do is withstand the constant harassment from the very, very familiar faces that will stalk you throughout the entirety of this gauntlet. Each specter that appears will be one with which you hold a significant grievance - be it a personal antagonist, a long-standing nemesis, a foe you once faced, or even yourself, if your self-hatred runs that deep. All the while, they'll be doing their utmost to incite you to strike at them. Taunting you, acting out, threatening you or the ones you love; while they cannot physically harm you, they don't necessarily need to, in order to strike a nerve.

They want you to attack them. They want you to lash out. In part because all damage you attempt to deal to them will be rebounded back onto you - and whoever might be accompanying you - instead. A poorly-timed attack or well-placed insult might very well be enough to one-shot you, or your companions, into oblivion.

It's a good thing you have, potentially, innumerable chances. Every time you're struck down, you'll simply reappear at the very start of the Trial...and have to start making your way to the end all over again.

The Weakest Link
Once again, Mu has reformatted one of Maati's Trials for its own purposes. This one is based off of the Trial of the Trusting, which focused on building bonds and connections between its victi - er, between its trial-goers. For those prone to paranoia, distrust, or simply being emotionally closed off, this would be the challenge laid out to them: a sequence of puzzles and traps requiring teamwork and faith in one another, at least in the situational sense.

Fortunately - or, perhaps, unfortunately - things here are going to be a little simpler, though you'll still be waking in a tunnel lined with dark green stone, intermittently lit by the odd, irregularly spaced torch. This Trial will make its intentions quite clear from the beginning, for, you see, you're going to be waking up with a friend.

One that happens to be chained, that is. To you. A length of about two feet of chain links the cuffs that bind you, one wrist to another, with whatever other unlucky soul has woken up here beside you. No matter what you do to said chain, it remains stubbornly indestructible. Though you could always try breaking your wrists, or severing your hands instead, or...actually, you know what? Why don't you just try to get through the Trial with your new friend, instead? It's probably going to be at least marginally less painful!

The path that is open to the pair of you is fairly linear. Its difficulty largely stems from the back that you'll be traversing it as a permanently linked pair. Obstacles present will always be surmountable as a team - switches and levers that might involve two people to reach, doors that require dual switches or buttons to be held down, puzzles that require passing of information between the both of you to expedite progress, and so on. There's also the matter of the Rarriers - ogre-like creatures of large stature and a territorial nature. Those under the keen gaze of a Rarrier will find them impossible to attack; their front hide is as tough as steel, and attacks tend to simply glance off. Their backs and sides are of a much more vulnerable nature, however. If only you could reach...or get someone else to do it for you.

Assuming you're not both sick of each other by the time you reach the exit, you'll be rewarded with the breaking of the cuffs that connect you, symbolizing that a friendship forged is stronger than any iron! Though, by the end...maybe "friendship" isn't the word we'd use.

Well Met
This place is hot, dry, and arid - but at least it's brightly lit! The peach-colored swell of dunes seems to be limitless, in nearly every direction, with the stretch of sand fading seemingly infinitely into the dark, purple line of the horizon. The sun overhead is relentless and sweltering; if you're the sort of person who needs to self-regulate, temperature wise, you might be in for a bit of a problem the longer you're stuck out here. Could be a rough time.

Fortunately for you, there's water. Very nearby, in fact. It's the only deviation from the sea of sand: a dark, circular blot that looks very, very much like a water well. As the only landmark in the vicinity, it seems at the very least worth checking out, right? The closer you get, the less it seems like it might be a mirage, or some other elaborate ruse. It looks like a perfectly normal, unassuming well. Which is why, of course, it isn't one at all.

Well mimics are native to the island of Monsun, and they're...well, they're exactly what they sound like. They favor dry, desert-like environments, and hunt by luring travelers and animals alike to the temptingly fresh waters they hold. Mu has been helpful enough to recreate one in vivid detail, just for you.

These creatures are largely tube-shaped animals, buried deep in the sandy earth. They suction fresh water from deep within the earth and hold it in the lowermost parts of themselves. The simple construct that travelers see - the circular, stone shape with the rope and bucket for hauling water - is, in fact, their mouth, carefully adapted to camouflage itself into something that seems perfectly serviceable. Once travelers attempt to grab hold of the rope or bucket, or even the rim of the well itself, they'll discover that the surfaces have all been slicked with a sticky substance that may very well take off a layer of your skin if you attempt to tear away without taking great care.

Once the well mimic has entrapped its prey, the "well" sprouts teeth around its stone rim, lining its rocky gullet all the way to the bottom, as well as a fat red tongue. Rope-like tentacles whip out to seize whatever poor soul has found themselves ensnared. If you don't manage to get free in time, you'll learn just how it feels to be digested over a period of twenty-four hours while your body is broken down into a squishy, delicious mulch for the mimic's consumption.

The best way to kill these creatures is by tricking it into swallowing something lethal - fire, poison, sharp weapons, whatever you have on hand. Well mimics are quite blind and hunt purely by touch, and will seize whatever touches them without any knowledge of what it is. And once it has one victim in hand, it's quite incapable of grabbing hold of another.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Axel/Lea | Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

[pyroluminesce]

[well met]

Okay, so this isn't really what I was expecting.

[Here is one young man who could not be LESS dressed for the desert, in a long hooded black coat that quite literally came straight from Hot Topic. He frowned in perhaps a bit less confusion than the situation might have warranted, looking around at the desert and muttering to himself.]

...No way I took a wrong turn and ended up in Agrabah, right? Can't be, that's in the other direction. [He sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck.] At least I think it is. Not like I have every single world memorized.

[Life's hard, ain't it? But it was what it was, so not much to do but walk in the direction of the only real landmark available. Look, a completely normal and unassuming well.]

[antepone]

[ Oh, yikes. That's definitely not proper desert attire, but... you know, she hasn't seen him around, so she isn't surprised. He's almost definitely new, and at least this is on Mu. If he happens to show up on the island, she'll have to introduce him to Clothing Mountain. ]

Hi. Did you just arrive here?

[pyroluminesce]

Uh...yeah, but I think I'm a little off target.

[okay what the hell is going on here]

...Don't suppose you'd know which way to Radiant Garden, would you?

[forgotten_tide]

Axel?

[He isn't the only one who is not dressed for the desert at all, though she's sadly grown accustomed to this sort of thing on her missions. She tilts her head to the side. Eyes wide, before a teasing smile crosses her lips.]

And here I thought you did. [She taps the right side of her head, a friendly jest.] But no, this... isn't anything like a part of Agrabah I've been to.

[pyroluminesce]

[hahahaha oh geez why this]

Huh? [He blinked a couple times, looking her over in something not quite recognition yet not quite unfamiliarity. Kairi-...no, Namine? No, obviously not, but...]

You're... [Why couldn't he place it? He knew this person's name, he was sure of that, but why wasn't it connecting?]

[forgotten_tide]

...Axel?

[The teasing quality blows away like the sand on the winds. She looks into his eyes, searching for the answers, but all she sees is confusion. Then she notices his marks are gone and she gasps, taking a step back.

He doesn't remember. Naminé had warned her this would happen, and yet she still asks:] You forgot my name?

[pyroluminesce]

I--

[Think, damn it. There were people he had to find again; Roxas, Isa, and...and...there was someone else, wasn't there? Why couldn't he place it, and why was there a sudden pounding ache in his head as he tried?]

I...know you, don't I?

[forgotten_tide]

[She waits, slowly everything settling deep in her chest like a lead ball that wasn't there before. She knew it would happen, that it was the right thing to do, but-

She never expected to see them again. When he asks, it hurts. Yet she smiles.]

We are best friends. You, Roxas and I.

[pyroluminesce]

[It felt like he was slamming his head on a brick wall. There was something on the other side; a name, a memory, anything that would fill in the blank space he was only just aware of and stop the sudden insistent headache.]

We...used to get ice cream together. In Twilight Town, right?

[forgotten_tide]

[She nods.] The icing on the cake. Roxas started inviting me to join him atop the clock tower with him while you were gone to Castle Oblivion.

[It's then she takes pity on him.]

It's okay. It must be hard remembering even that much. She warned me there would be nothing left of me to remember.

...Starts with an "X." [And the way she pronounces "X" sounds like "shi"]

[want_to_belong]

[Not Monsun... This place had to be Mu. He had no particular memory of how he got there.

Which usually meant surviving or looking for other people. Wary of any potential predators that might be looking around, Prompto made his way through the desert with his gun in hand.

It took a little while for him to spot anyone else, but when he did he was immediately reminded of when he first saw Kravitz. Trenchcoats were in these days, weren't they? Not that the fellow Hot Topic reject with the "Check Meowt" tank top had the right to comment.
Not recognizing the shock of red hair, he figured this had to be a newcomer.]

Hey!

[He trotted towards him with a hand up in greeting. And gun still ready in his other hand.]

You okay over there?

[pyroluminesce]

Uh...yeah, pretty sure I'm alright.

[Oddly enough, he looked to Prompto's hair before his shirt. Not Roxas, but...strangely familiar.]

Weird question, bear with me a sec--where am I?

[want_to_belong]

[He wasn't a clone damnit.

He couldn't help but laugh.]

Nah, man, that's a pretty good question.

[He didn't know why he bothered looking around. He knew where they were, even if it never looked quite the same.]

This is kind of like a dream.

...Uh, please don't interpret that as a pickup line. Like, the place is literally a sort of dream area, not "I'm your dream date" or something.

[pyroluminesce]

...Y'know, not the weirdest thing I've ever heard.

[But there was no way he'd gotten dumped in all that weird dream-hopping Sora and Riku had been doing, right? Then this was probably something else. Probably.]

So where's the way out of here? Do I have to pinch myself to wake up, or what?

[want_to_belong]

It's kinda a survival thing. You just have to last here until you're not here anymore. And you might wake up on some islands. ...Dunno what happens if you don't wake up there.

[They couldn't really ask people what happened to them when they didn't end up on Enso.

He did give another suspicious look around, though.]

Usually something is trying to kill people by now. [Should he complain? It at least explained why he was being so wary of their surroundings. He didn't trust it, but it wasn't like he could make the hidden danger come out, so he rested his gun on his shoulder.] So, hit me with whatever the weirdest thing you've heard was.

[pyroluminesce]

Well, for starters these two guys I know went...I guess you can call it dream hopping? Somethin' about sleeping worlds, and the power of waking, and...honestly I wasn't paying a lot of attention. Point is, this doesn't seem all that crazy.

[want_to_belong]

Dream hopping? Is that like, invading other people's dreams?

[Sounded like it, anyway.]

[missingache]

[It really is hot. Roxas can't say he's missed the heat at all, especially since he too is not dressed for it. There's a heavy sigh as he looks around, spotting another similar dressed figure.]

........ Axel?

[Is that really his friend?]

[pyroluminesce]

[And that got him to whip around so fast he almost broke his damn neck.]

Roxas? Is that-...?

[missingache]

[Definitely Axel. Including the overreactions. It brings a smile to Roxas face as he nods. The heat he can ignore now that he has a friend here.]

Yeah, it's me.

[pyroluminesce]

[kid you want an overreaction you're about to get one]

[because scrawny mcgee here is picking you up in a hug, dammit.]

[missingache]

[Hmmm... well, this is unexpected and Roxas is going to just go ragdoll for a moment while figuring out what he's supposed to do...

Oh yeah. Okay, Axel will get a hug back.]

[pyroluminesce]

Don't go running off on me again, y'dumb kid. What am I gonna do without you around?

[he's gonna get a gotdamn child leash for you s2g]

[tokenflavortownie]

[Those are definitely not the right sort of clothes to be wearing. Good thing about them, though; his black cloak and red hair stand out impossibly well against the sand dunes.

It's a good thing she's on her way towards the same Unassuming Well.]

Hello there! [She calls, waving one arm with a metal broom held in it.] I'm hoping you're not some kind of illusion!

[vagabone]

[There's someone else out here with Axel, and he sure is skinny. So skinny there isn't any actual skin involved.

...But he does have eyeballs and hair. Is a hairy skeleton spookier than a bald one?? Too bad if he is, because he's also heading to the well, for lack of any better options. Lost again, great.]