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aftr_ooc2019-03-16 08:47 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in aftr_ooc2019-03-16 08:47 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 021 )
Test Drive Meme #21
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.
In conjunction with our monthly Test Drive Meme, Reserves are now open! Applications will open on March 24th!
Two important notes:
In conjunction with our monthly Test Drive Meme, Reserves are now open! Applications will open on March 24th!
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.
Come to Ink Of It
Mu is a strange land, and one that seems to take a conscious interest in the activities conducted upon the waking world. This month, its fixation takes an almost childish delight in emulating the ink-spattered wars and hazing that have occured on Ensō's shores - which is to say, Mu would absolutely enjoy a charming little game of Splatoon.
When you wake, it's in a labyrinth of soft, stonelike material that manages to be the rough consistency of foam. If you take the time to inspect it, you'll discover that it's as good at cushioning blows as it is serving as adequate cover...and it appears to have been shaped into plenty of buildings and barricades, threaded throughout the cavernous room in which you've found yourself. In fact, the whole place looks very much like a battlefield of some kind.
Do keep in mind, however, that battle cries may be a double-edged sword in this scenario. Unless you wanted green teeth.
I AM THE SHADOW, THE TRUE
...SHELF
What's more trouble than the true manifestation of all your darkest fears, desires, and secrets? The manifestation of all of the above that's just - not very well-made. In order for a shadow, a true self, to appear, one really should know themself somewhat consciously. Of course, this also applies true to the world in which they're standing; an effort Mu is willing to make, but not quite hitting the mark.And by "not quite hitting the mark," we mean egregiously.
Unlike ordinary Shadows, a "Shadow" cannot be accepted and dissipate as one would hope. Respite from these garish versions of who you really are will come only upon waking. So until then, enjoy attempting to explain just what, precisely, is dogging your every step, and probably refusing to shut up all the while. Though granted, if they share any of your powers - grossly magnified or otherwise - you might be grappling with them in far more ways than one.
A Bug's Eye View
The lush, verdant shores and the peaceful population of newly-arrived island of Cahypdo have been noticeably present on the minds of the islanders lately. Mu has shifted to reflect those thoughts, but as with many things Mu reflects, things have become a little...skewed. For, you see, the native inhabitants of Cahypdo are the Roaka, and as tree-people, they tower over much of the current inhabitants. They range from six to twelve feet in height, generally, but it seems that their heights have left a....very marked impression.
Trees are dizzying heights to be scaled the same way a mountain might. Blades of grass and colourful flowers you might once have trodden on without a second thought are like a forest unto themselves. And the fields of crops you might have known from the waking world, like sweetcorn, peas, and tomatoes? Even a single ear of corn or a solitary tomato is now a much, much larger obstacle.
Just pray you don't run into any of the native creatures here, as even ordinary beasts can become potential dangers when they're all the size of giants relative to you, and can stamp you to jelly without so much as a second glance. Snaplings might regard you as a tasty little snack, tigerlilies might think you make for a fun little toy, and worst of all, the native Cahypdo entities known as hydrac, warped hybrids of sharks and dragons, might very well decide that you'd be a fine addition to their hoards.
There's a lot to look out for, when you're this small and the world is this big.
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
Mark Temple | Red vs. Blue
[Temple is not happy to have woken up on an unfamiliar battlefield, with a weapon in his hands. He has had far too much of waging wars he doesn’t believe in, to achieve the purposes of manipulators he’s only vaguely aware of. Way, way too much.
And he’s no good with a gun, anyway.
So, he throws the gun to the ground, in a gesture of both disgust and protest, not even bothering to find out what its ammunition is before he does it.]
The True... Shelf
[Later, on the battlefield, he encounters another version of himself.]
[Which is confusing, to say the least. Neither of them are wearing armour so he can’t dismiss it as simply another sim trooper wearing his colour. It is him.]
[Mark Temple.]
[The other him introduces himself with an evil laugh.]
You’re weak, Temple. Throwing away that gun?
How foolish of you.
You could kill everyone here with it and yet, you just throw it away.
[The original Temple frowns. That makes no sense at all. Sure, he wants to take down the people pulling the strings right now but it’s not something he’d be able to accomplish with a gun and he’s not quite mad enough at them to want them dead yet. That honour is reserved for the Freelancers.]
Maybe you could but I can’t.
And I don’t want to.
The people who put me here: maybe. But all the other folks in here are likely just innocent victims of their machinations. You know how it worked in Desert Gulch, don’t you?
Sure, Freelancers came along sometimes but most of the time, it was just us sim troopers, fighting each other over nothing.
So, this time, I’m not going to go along with it.
[His counterpart then says gleefully:]
But killing is so much fun for you!
Only in very, very, very specific instances. And this is not one of them.
So, please, stop pretending to be me and show what you really are. I’ve had enough of not-quite-right counterparts for a lifetime.
ink of the consequences
[Penny really understands the sentiment? Like a lot more than she would have until recently. But really, that is NOT safe firearm practice.]
You're lucky it didn't fire when you did that.
[She's still got her rifle, slung over a shoulder, pointing at exactly no one.]
no subject
[He knows that it was an unsafe way to do it - he spent time in the military, after all - and yet, he hadn’t been thinking about that when he did it and honestly, didn’t care that much now.]
Yeah, I know.
I just... I don’t want to go through this kind of thing again.
[Temple doesn’t elaborate any further on what kind of thing he means. He assumes that there is only one thing he could’ve meant, even though “this kind of thing” could actually mean several kinds of things in this context.]
no subject
....you too?
no subject
Do you mean that you’ve been through this kind of stuff too?
You don’t look like a sim trooper, though.
[There aren’t that many sim troopers that wear green, after all. Blue vs. Red, that’s how it works. Not Green vs. Some Other Colour.]
no subject
[Is this because she's a robot.]
[Because A, how did you know, and B, that is racist sir.]
I mean- waking up someplace weird and being asked to kill people? That kind of stuff?
no subject
Sim troopers are soldiers who, because they don’t have the qualifications to fight in the real army, were forced instead to fight a fake war against each other, on teams called Blue Team and Red Team.
[Though he doesn’t entirely consider saying that someone doesn’t seem like a sim trooper to be a compliment, with that context, it might actually seem a bit complimentary.]
[Despite his reason for it only being that she wears green and no blue or red anywhere.]
So, it’s basically this minus the “waking up someplace weird” part and plus a lot of other bullshit
no subject
[Technically not a real soldier yet either, but that would have just been a matter of graduation. And surviving. And not getting kidnapped across the multiverse.]
[...And now she's wondering if she might kind of be a sim trooper.]
...what would the point of a fake war be instead of just. Not letting them be soldiers.
no subject
[He doesn’t know that they come from different places and so, he thinks she’s an utter idiot.]
The point of the fake war was to use sim troopers to train the Freelancers with and for testing their equipment. And the UNSC wasn’t about to turn down any bodies it was offered.
We needed to win the war, no matter the cost.
Humanity was on the line, after all.
[It’s not really what he believes now buuut... he thinks the logic should be obvious.]
It was terrible and inhumane but... I was willing to put it up with it once, before I really knew what the cost of it would be.
no subject
That's a really dumb way to train people.
no subject
Well, maybe it is but that didn’t stop the Director from doing it that way sooo... I suppose it being dumb doesn’t matter much.
And it seems like it might be what they are doing here so, despite how dumb it might be, it seems to be an idea people are eager to repeat.
I don’t know why but... that’s what it seems like to me.
no subject
[She hugs herself a little bit, looking down.]
It didn't really work, at first. But it got bad. Really fucking bad.
no subject
[Temple can’t think of any other reason they’d be given guns and put in this place after all. And being forced to fight people who he doesn’t want to fight is something that, quite honestly, he expects.]
no subject
[Dot dot dot.]
I know it's unlikely, but I really don't want to do that kind of thing again.
...and if someone were to show up and actually tell us to start killing people, we'd know who we actually had to stop.
no subject
Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.
But it does make some sense.
[Now he feels like an idiot, rushing to conclusions and dropping his gun so fast.]
I still suck at actually using a gun, though, so... if there is something else to fight or someone we need to stop, I don’t think I’ll be that helpful.
[He sighs.]
I’ll give it my best shot, though.
The True... Shelf
Maine isn't close enough to catch every word of what's said. Part of that is because he's dealing with his own ... thing following him around. An advanced hologram, Maine guesses, though he can't figure out what its source is. It doesn't seem to do much other than stand around staring at him without reacting to a damn thing, like it's some kind of life-size windup toy. But it's still annoying to have the fucking thing clomping around after him.
The giant Freelancer rounds a corner in time to catch the tail end of the conversation. A conversation that's apparently taking place between two seemingly identical men. Are they twins or something?
His gold-domed helmet catches the light as Maine tilts his head slightly in curiosity (his doppelgänger remains utterly motionless at his side), wondering what he's walked in on. ]
no subject
A Freelancer. Kill him!
[As Maine isn’t in the real Temple’s line of sight yet, he has no idea what his counterpart is talking about. He would know if he just looked around since both he and his counterpart remember all his research on the Freelancers but... he hasn’t looked around yet. Sooo...]
You’re just trying to get me to pick up that gun again, aren’t you?
No, no, no, Temple. I’m not.
Turn around.
[Temple sighs and does so, hoping his ridiculously homicidal other self is not going to decide to kill him and replace him as the Real Temple or do anything else along those lines.]
Holy shit!
[That is indeed a Freelancer.]
Convinced that you should listen to me now, Temple?
Sorry, not sorry, but that’s still a no.
no subject
The fuck is with these guys?
The Freelancer gestures to the scene in front of him. Keeps one hand raised in a sort of half-shrug — an incredulous pose that silently asks, "What the fuck?" ]
no subject
Is Freelancer behind this, Maine?
[He has no idea how Freelancer possibly could be but... if both he and Maine are here, he supposes that is the most likely explanation.]
[And from the bloodthirsty peanut gallery:]
No, you fool, kill him!
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