aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 020 )

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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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

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This was not Beau's trial, even though it easily could have been. She's a girl to hold grudges and think with her fists instead of her head, and out of everyone they could have been faced with, this place had to pick the worst. This feels like a dream-- and she'd be happy to dream of Jester after being stuck here for months on end-- but seeing Lorenzo's fucking face just makes her want to break every bone in his body.

The sound of her boots hitting the floor rings out as she moves into position in front of Jester, staff up.

"Hey you dick! I'll kick your ass as many times as it takes!" They killed him before, and sure that was with a whole team, but... she only learns from her mistakes so hard. Maybe backup is coming. She just needs to get this started.

Beau needs to tell Jester under better circumstances that she'd be "happy" to "dream about" her. In the meantime, though, Jester whirls around and... part of her is glad to see Beau. She doesn't want to be alone. She doesn't want to face this part of herself without her friends.

But she also doesn't want any of them to know this about her.

"Beau! Run away!" is all she can think of to say. She can't even supply a good reason why Beau should. In many respects, Beau can hold her own completely fine.

It's just that... Jester never wants to see her friends face this. Over her shoulder, Lorenzo's practically frozen, merciless grin taunts Beau silently.

Look, she's a known queer, it's not super hard to put together. But that's not important under the circumstances of being here and Jester being that close to Lorenzo and her fist being here ready to meet his fucking face.

"I can handle this!" She most certainly can't, but that's not going to stop anything. He looms down and she sees red, leaping up with her staff and slamming it into the side of Lorenzo's head.

Except right in tandem, she feels the crack of the wooden staff against her temple, and she crumples seemingly in midair, slamming to the ground not far away in a heap. Beau groans, obviously not totally downed by the hit, but absolutely dazed.

"What... what the fuck..." She tries to raise her head, shaking it a bit. "What the fuck did you do..."

"Beau!!" Jester shrieks and nearly trips over herself sprinting to Beau's side. She falls to her knees, her hands hovering over Beau in an uncertain way, an uncertain way that Jester often isn't. She doesn't know what Lorenzo just did, tries to check Beau's pupils to make sure she isn't concussed without being way obvious about it, nervously glancing back Lorenzo's way to make sure he doesn't approach further.

He's standing stock still, imposing, towering above the two girls in an almost inhuman way. Almost like he's floating, but Jester can't see the ground very clearly to be sure.

At the very least, he makes no move to approach. He's completely open to attack, but that's obviously a trap.

"I just showed you that you are not as in control here as you believe you are," Lorenzo gloats. He tilts his head almost curiously as Jester places her hands on Beau's temples, a faint glow emanating from them as she whispers the verbal components for a small Cure Wounds inaudibly. "Now if I recall correctly, you don't have many of those left, little blue devilblood."

Jester only spares a glance at Lorenzo to stick her tongue out at him, like that'll really teach him, then returns her attention to Beau. She whispers, for only her friend to hear, "Beau, I don't think we can fight him with just ourselves. My magic isn't working too good right now and he's really, really super strong. He could beat me and Fjord and Yasha like it was nothing."

It's odd. Maybe it's just that she doesn't want Beau to know how scared she is right now, but Jester feels so much stronger when she's at her side. Seeing Beau get hurt was almost reassuring in a way; this, this she knows how to do. Jokes aside, her healing feels like her most valuable asset at times. Seeing Beau fall, helping her back up... It brings Jester back into rhythm. She can work with this. She can freeze up later all she wants. Right now, she needs to make sure Beau is safe.

"We have to run," Jester says, throat closing up for a moment midsentence, almost swallowing the words she doesn't want to say. She wants Lorenzo to pay for what he did. She wants him to burn.

He paid. He burned. To a crisp. This should all be over.

It's not. So we prioritize.

"If he's really alive again, we can come back and beat him with everybody." Jester presses her forehead against Beau's shoulder, trying to disguise the uncertainty on her face and keeping her voice as reassuring as she can, given the slight hoarseness to her tone, throat raw. Quieter, she adds, trying and failing to make it seem like an afterthought, "It would really suck if we lost anyone else."

Beau isn't the type to stay down. The hit sends her to the floor, but as Jester hits her the only thing stopping her from leaping off the ground and back on him with her bare hands is that Jester is in the way. She keeps her eyes fixated on Lorenzo as she works, not missing the opportunity to yell back.

"Oh you're one to talk with your-- blood shit you fuckin' ogre!" Ugh, she needs to be better at saying things that'll hurt, but what's going to hurt him that isn't her fists? "Go fuck yourself one last time before I take your dick off!!"

Her attention shifts though, to the way Jester is starting to seem so small curling into her, and puts an arm over her shoulders as she listens and replies with an equally stressed whisper. "Jess, I'm not gonna let this guy hurt you. He's a big fuckin' ass and he's not gonna touch you and I'm not gonna die. Okay?"

She grits her teeth, the worst part of this now ahead- a problem she can't solve by hitting it. "Do you know the way out?"

Jester presses her lips tightly together, nodding shakily. She grips at Beau's side, squeezing for a moment and then pulls herself back up, trying to take Beau with her.

Lorenzo doesn't seem bothered at all. In fact, he's cracking his knuckles methodically; not in a menacing way, but in a bored way. It makes Jester's blood boil, and she grits her teeth for a second, but doesn't get further. She has to protect Beau from this asshole.

"I don't know. The only way to go is past him," she says, trying not to glance back at him. "If there's an exit, it'd be that way."

It's a clenching of her entire body not to surge right at him, but Jester at her side makes Beau still. As much as she wants to destroy this guy for everything he's ever done, and as much as he'd fucking deserve it, she can't leave Jester afraid after she just told her not to do exactly what she wants to do. Beau doesn't listen to anyone as a point of fact- but something in her can't leave her side. So she'll stay. She'll stay.

"C'mon then. Let's find the door, then we lock it and burn this place to the ground, huh?" They're the powerful ones here, she tries to think to herself-- they've got him outnumbered, they can take him no matter what. Fuck this guy in particular. "He's not worth us beating him down. And then I'd have to like, touch him, right? Really gross."

Beau isn't in the practice of smiling, but she does pull Jester with her, a little raise of an eyebrow to get her in on the joke. If anyone can bring sunshine to a space like this, it's her- and Beau needs that right now if they're going to make it out of here.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 020 )

saunters in weeks late for pain, i

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