aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 021 )

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*test drive meme

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.

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Had some big adventures of your own too? [[He's looking all eager and hopeful and curious now.]]

I suppose you could put it that way.

[Asriel frowns. He shouldn't have brought it up. Those memories are anything but happy for him... seeing as he was the villain in that little "adventure."

He quickly plasters on a very fake, hopefully disarming smile and scratches the back of his head.]

Um, I'm sorry, but I don't really want to talk about it.

...That bad?

[[There is a definite sympathetic note in his voice, despite the slight curiosity. That someone had amazing things happen to them that turned out to be amazingly bad...

There is the faded outline of a messy looking scar on the back of the hand that Bakura has up by his chin, a reminder of his own... less than pleasant encounter with the fantastic.]]

...Yeah.

[He notices the scar. He doesn't want to comment, but it looks really bad.] Your hand... does that hurt?

Eh?

[[He blinks, looking down at his hand before looking utterly sheepish and rubbing the back of his neck]] Aaa-- not any more, no! One of my Traveling friends healed it for me! It used to ache and get super stiff before, especially when I was carving figurines, but now I forget the scar's even there!

[[He laughs before pausing, blinking down at his hand again]] ... Strange, there was that Mark there before... [[A small, thoughtful frown as he peers at it, squinting as if trying to see where the Mark had gone]]

[Asriel looks relieved, even as there's a part of him, a tiny part of him, that screams "Make him hurt again. Give him a new scar." He tries to ignore it.]

That's good. You carve figurines? What sort of things do you make?

A bunch of things! Back home I made a lot of dioramas and figures for Monster World, and when we were at that magic school, I made a chess set that moved on its own which was really cool! Haven't been able to make anything else animated, since we left... probably for the best, really....

[[considering how Monster World had turned out and all...]]

[Asriel is... enjoying this conversation a lot more than he would have expected to. Bakura's life sounds so interesting that he's almost able to be his old self again around him. He smiles.] That's amazing, Bakura.

Did you say you made figurines of monsters? That's incredible. [He laughs, a small laugh.] Maybe you could make one of me sometime.

Sure! I like making figures for all of my friends, just in case they want to play.

[[He smiles so warmly. And with the Ring's spirit gone, he could make new figures with no worries about any of his new friends falling into a mysterious coma. It was one of the nice things about not having the Ring any longer, as much as he missed it.]]

["All of my friends"? Well, there's no way Bakura considers him a friend yet...

Not that anyone would want to be friends with you, his brain thinks. Shut up brain.]

Play what? [Then he realizes.] Oh! You mean "Monster World" is a game...?

[[They've been talking all friendly like for at least 10 minutes, that's totally enough time to consider someone well on their way to becoming his friend~]]

Un! [[Bakura nods happily.]] It a TRPG- Tabletop Role Playing Game! My favorite one! It has a really cool board that you can customize with buildings that open up and tiles that flip over and you can even make your own expansion boards and everything!

[Asriel looks a little excited about this, which is something considering how hard it is for him to get excited about things lately.] That's really, really cool. We had games in the Underground, but it was all, uh, Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders, that kind of thing. Boring old human games.

Although Chara showed me this game called, um, Bastilles and Bonfires? That was fun. Even though monsters were the bad guys...

Just the basic games, huh? There's so many really cool ones out there, even just for board games!

[[He pauses for a thoughtful moment]] It does seem like most of the bad guy NPCs are monsters... but there are a bunch of them were the monsters can be good guy NPCs as well! I ran one scenario once where everyone thought the Monster King had gone evil and was trying to take over the world, but it was actually the Human King who had sent the heroes on their journey who had been making everything happen because he wanted the monster kingdom for his own!

[[There is a huge, impish grin]] Nobody expected that one until it was almost too late~ But Yuugi-kun got it! Since he was playing his Beast Tamer character again, the monsters he had made friends with told him how the Monster King used to be a peaceful guy, and Yuugi-kun being Yuugi-kun, he used his magic to try and make friends, which broke the spell that was making the Monster King act like he was evil and they all found out the truth!

Aaa, it was so much fun, seeing Jounouchi-kun's face when he heard that! He was so mad, he raced everybody back to the starting point to challenge the king to a fight! [[A small laugh]] To bad the King had already run away~ Had to have a hook for the next campaign, after all!

[He smiles at that. He likes this story.]

That sounds fun. I could almost believe it's a history lesson about my dad... I mean, our Kingdom. [Some of the details are eerily similar to his own story, in fact.]

Your friend Yuugi... he sounds like a really kind person. He reminds me a lot of somebody I know.

[[There is a very fond, slightly wistful smile as Bakura nods]] He really is. No matter how many times people tried to kill him, he was always willing to try and reach out to them and be friends. Really, a lot of that game was based on all the things that had happened, between the Ring Spirit and Malik-kun and everything about the Nameless Pharaoh, so really, I'd expected that he would figure it out! Especially how everything went the first time they all came over to play...

[[There's a slight embarrassed note there as he rubs the back of his neck. That his friends had seen through the Ring Spirit's attempts to pretend to be him and reached out to free him from the Spirit's control...

He smiles with wistful fondness before shaking off the memories and focusing on his new friend in front of him.]]

What happened in your Kingdom? Did your king get possessed too?

[Asriel beams.] Yeah, that sounds just like my friend Frisk.

[He shakes his head.] Oh, no, no, he wasn't possessed. But a long time ago, humans thought all monsters were evil and dangerous. So humans sealed them underground with a magic spell, with a barrier that could only be broken with the power of seven human souls. Our King declared war on humanity, and collected six of the seven souls from humans who fell into the Underground.

Until Frisk, a human, came along. Even though monsters were trying to kill them... even though they had every reason to fight... they saw the inherent goodness in everyone, even the King. They saved him. They saved everyone.

[A fond expression crosses Asriel's face.] Even me.

[[Bakura listens attentively, nodding]]

Heeeh... that really is similar! And really great they were able to do it!

With us... there were the seven Millenium Items, that were the key to where the Darkness had been sealed away when the Nameless Pharaoh sacrificed his name and place in the afterlife. Only a lot of people really wanted to get to that power, to do things like bring the dead back to life, or get revenge and become a god or things like that, and because Yuugi-kun had the Nameless Pharaoh's soul with him, they all tried to kill him to get that final key.

[[A pause]] Except for Kaiba-kun. Never did find out why he was trying to kill Yuugi-kun... it was before I'd transferred in, so I only saw him after Yuugi-kun had made friends with him. As much as Kaiba-kun made friends, anyway...

[Huh, the similarities are really something, Asriel thinks.]

Seven Millenium Items, seven human souls... and they both give you godlike powers. Wow.

The Surface - I mean, the place you live - it sounds so interesting. I never would have guessed that - Chara acted like the place humans lived was really boring.

Aaa-- I think for most people, it kinda is! If you're not all tangled up in Duel Monsters and the Items, things are pretty normal!

Though Duel Monsters is pretty big now, thanks to Kaiba-kun. He made this really amazing holographic technology so that when people played, you could actually see the Duel Monsters projected there as if they were real! So when he rented all of Domino City to make it Battle City, everybody got to see the duels as if they were real!

Oh, I see. I guess Chara must not have been involved in that kind of thing.

[He still seems confused by something.] Duel Monsters... so you're saying, in this game, humans made fake monsters to battle each other? That's... um. Kind of messed up.

[[A small awkward moment as he scratches at his cheek]] It's not actually fake monsters-- or at least the first set of cards weren't-- but it's kind of complicated.

See, back when everything was going on when the Items were first made, there were these creatures called Kaa that were born of people's souls. Only sometimes they got really out of control and they had to be taken out of those people so they'd stop driving them to destroy things, and they got sealed into tablets. So when Pegasus-san found the tablets 2000 years later, he made the card game based off of those, recreating how the Pharaoh and his priests would do battle to protect the kingdom.

[[Another awkward pause]]

...that probably doesn't seem much better, does it?

[Asriel is... so lost. So very lost. The Surface was exciting, but it also sounded... very weird.]

I don't remember reading about any of this.

[He still hasn't figured out the whole "other worlds" thing.]

[[Don't worry Asriel. Most places aren't quite as weird as where Bakura's from. ~~Or written by a creator who's in the hospital on a morphine drip.]]~~

It's not anything that would be in any history book or anything! Most people don't know about it and I don't think anyone other than the people who've encountered the Items or the tablets even believe is real!

[[Bakura at this point is so used to other worlds that he... forgets that not everyone else is.]]

[He nods.] That makes sense. I guess humans would have strange magical artifacts - you used to be mages, after all.

Eh? [[Bakura blinks a few times. His Monster World character was a White Mage, but he was pretty sure that wasn't what Asriel was talking about....]]

Humans in your world were mages? [[There's a very strong curiosity that borders eager fascination behind that question.]]

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Amusingly, I know nothing about UT past just general cultural osmosis....

i know nothing about yu-gi-oh so i just thought you were making something undertale-y up lol

Nice :D

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