aftr_ooc | 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:

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.

In case you didn't get the picture, the paint gun in your hands should give you an inkling. Colors may be up to personal preference, but the rules are simple - solo, in a team, or as a double agent, your goal is to paint the town red, or blue, or purple, until victory is tasted in the form of aesthetic domination.

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

-looks at smudged writing on hand-

...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.

"Shadows" are an off-brand simulation of what one might expect during a typical shadow event, though their attempts at acting like the character they should be are closer to emulating the opposite. Whether based upon a looser definition of canon, a fanon-style iteration of what your character might have been in worse hands, or simply going in a direction that veers into the territory of edgy Harry Potter OCs, your "Shadow" is here, and ready to be a nuisance.

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.

The Roaka certainly tower over you now, even more than before - but so does everything else. Wherever you find yourself in the verdant, fertile valley that houses much of Cahypdo's plantlife - whether it's rich jungles or well-tended farmland - you'll be met with the same undeniable height difference.

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.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's a really unsafe way to get rid of that, sir.

[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.]

[Temple sighs.]

[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.]

[Penny gingerly picks up the rifle, examining it in vain for a safety mechanism. These were some really irresponsible weapon designers.]

....you too?

[Confused:]

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.]

...what's a sim trooper.

[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?

[Temple sighs.]

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

Then. No, I'm definitely not a sim trooper.

[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.

[Temple lets out a deep sigh.]

[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.

[Oh. Oh boy. That sure sounds familiar.]

That's a really dumb way to train people.

[Temple sighs.]

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.

...Has. Anyone actually. Told us all to fight, yet? Because they did that pretty quickly when- the last time something like this happened to me.

[She hugs herself a little bit, looking down.]

It didn't really work, at first. But it got bad. Really fucking bad.

Well, no but isn’t it implied?

[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.]

...The guns. Could be to defend ourselves? Against something else entirely.

[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.

[Temple laughs sheepishly, and picks his gun back up.]

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.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 021 )

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