TEST DRIVE MEME ( 022 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #22

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 April 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.

To Dungeons Deep And Caverns Old
Caves are usually natural structures, though the one you find yourself within shows signs of manual influence. Brackets set into stones hold odd, glowing plants that illuminate the darkness with almost neon tones. Slightly sunken ceilings appear less threatening with the addition of great, wood beams to brace them upright, and traversing the more heavily inclined passages becomes far easier with the addition of roughly carved stairwells, worn smooth by the passage of many feet that have passed this way before you.

If it weren't for the way the ground tremors and rumbles underfoot, it would be a strange but otherwise pleasant scene. As it stands, that clamorous shaking only worsens the longer you stand here, rumbles like thunder vibrating through the stone in dense waves. An earthquake? A volcanic eruption?

...a cave-in? Regardless of the cause, that final option is becoming more likely to occur in your general vicinity, the longer these tremors continue. It's time to go - and quickly, before that option is lost to you entirely. To the left, or right? Up, or down? If you look up, if you really squint, a few shimmering rays of sunlight glimmer far, far above your head from a natural skylight, if you think you can survive whatever's happening on the surface. Or you can keep forging your way downward, deeper, and hope that there's a stable little alcove set somewhere in the stone where you can wait this whole thing out. There really are innumerable options in this labyrinthian underground - and what awaits you around the next corner could be your salvation or your downfall.

Your very long downfall. So watch your step.

What's My Age Again?
Last month, adventurers found themselves dealing with the aftermath of a volcanic eruption... and the odd, transformative effects the volcanic ash seemed to have upon them. Ever curious of what occurs in the waking world, Mu has once again sought to emulate this oddity, reshaping its visitors to fit the images of their past - or even their potential future. Waking up in your preteen body is the nightmare of many, but hardly the greatest oddity one might come across in a dream. Fifteen years younger, thirty years older - either way, you seem to be a tad displaced from who you are in the now. Those aware of this may find it something of a challenge, with vocal chords cracking for the first time in years, or creaking bones that don't move quite as fast as they used to. For others, however, nothing appears to be amiss at all; mentally or physically. Your memories may have leapt up to follow suit with these radical changes...or maybe you're an adult mind trying to cope with a toddler's body.

Perhaps this dream is precisely the chance you've been looking for. It's time to relive your childhood, or experience your golden years in peace. The calm, resort-like beachfront you find yourself upon will hinder neither. You could always go looking for answers - where you are, why this is happening to you - but there's no guarantee you'll be successful in locating any.

Maybe you'll get lucky, though, and find someone who believes you.

Worth A Thousand Words
The Chamber of Glyphs is a unique feature to LifeAftr, resting on the border between the waking world and Mu itself. An immense room of seemingly infinite length and height, every space, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, is occupied by images scratched into stone with chalk and charcoal.

The drawings themselves also appear to be- unique. Beams of light from a chalked-in sun mingle with illustrations raindrops to create a shimmering rainbow. Roughly drawn animals leap away from those who approach, startled out of stillness, and ancient battles play out in never-ending loops upon the floor. Everywhere one looks, drawings seem to shift upon the walls, disappearing and reappearing elsewhere, or mingling with images that had not been there prior. A basin of endless chalk sits next to a firepit in the center of the room, ripe for the inspired artist to take to whatever blank canvas is available in the architecture - and there is always space available. If you're bored of watching the charcoal rabbits leap away to hide in green, chalky grass, perhaps there's a drawing of your own that's ready to come to life, a permanent fixture to the walls about you.

Or not. Take care with just what you decide to draw, as some images may not be content staying glued to flat surfaces. Outliners are perhaps exactly what one would expect them to be, and exactly what they sound like: something that's both out of bounds and out of line. Rogue outlines of chalk, charcoal, and paint, they break away from the surface upon which they were initially spawned to shamble after the living with often awkward shambling. Very few have been given the gift of depth, a fact that leaves most paper thin and prone to crumpling into scribbled heaps.

Though not the greatest of threats, it's best not to let them touch you. Those without depth or dimension may be quite eager to steal yours - and once you find yourself drawn into the two-dimensional spaces across the walls and floor, returning to normal will prove near impossible.

---

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Somnus Lucis Caelum | Final Fantasy XV | Episode Ardyn spoilers beware

[sleeperking]

dungeons deep and caverns old
[ This isn't quite the welcome he expected.

Really, he didn't expect this kind of welcome at all. Needless to say, Somnus is distinctly and decidedly not happy. He has things to do, after all--but before he can find a way back home, he needs to find a way out of here. How frustrating. Still... pragmatist he is, he's not about to make a fool out of himself and not play his cards right.

In other ways... he's quick to offer a smile and a helping hand to those he comes across. ]

Are you faring well? It's not exactly an ideal situation, is it?

what's my age again?
[ For those on the island who have met him... a teenage Somnus looks shockingly a certain prince. Unluckily--or luckily--he's retained all of his memories, but he's had to pleasure of catching his reflection in the water. Needless to say, he's not particularly pleased. ]

I don't suppose there's an explanation for this... predicament.

caverns

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn had been a distance away when a voice caught his ear in much the way a blaring airhorn might have sounded to most; intrusive, deafening, and instantly inducing a blind rage.]

[It took only a moment to locate where he'd heard it from, and hallucination or not--it didn't matter. A small rock landed by Somnus' feet where it had been thrown, and an instant later did a warping streak of magenta follow it for a punch aimed directly at the younger brother's jawline.]

i make no promises (age)

[warpstriking]

Aside from where we are? [He... recognizes this place. Somewhat. Like a dream he's seen once before, and technically, he has. Still, it doesn't stop himself from blinking once at how raspier his voice has gone from a seeming lack of use and again at the appearance of the other in front of him.]

How the hell should I know?

[merimna]

[Chidi is pacing back and forth when Somnus speaks to him.] Nope! I am not faring well. At all.

How... how are you faring well? Because I'm a hundred percent positive we're all going to die.

Caverns

[shatteredlenses]

Blast it, Mu! Can you make this anymore difficult?

[Ignis slides his hand across one wall, trying to get some kind of mental map of the cavern, and even as he does, there is more rumbling sending rocks scattering to the floor around him. He braces himself until it ends and turns blind eyes up at the ceiling.]

That was not an invitation!

[An annoyed sigh slips from his mouth and then Ignis sets himself back to his task, pausing when he hears another voice call out. He pauses, not because there is someone else there--of course there is--but because somewhere deep in the back of his mind, mixed in with feelings of desperation and pain, a memory floats just close enough to the surface to make him think that voice sounds familiar.]

Who's there?

Nero | Devil May Cry 5 | spoilers likely

[devilarmory]

[a; caverns]

[Oddly enough, the environment itself didn't seem to bother Nero in the slightest. He stood casually as he looked around the caverns, a silver and red sword strapped to his back and his right arm a robotic prosthetic from the elbow down. Probably not the average person, all told.]

Okay...sure. [He shrugged, looking no worse than mildly inconvenienced by an unfamiliar cave in fuck-all only knew where. Might as well head upwards, since that was probably something resembling progress. Wandering in the direction of a tall ledge, he continued talking to himself dismissively.]

No demons, no Qliphoth roots, nothing? C'mon, I'm starting to think I took a vacation and nobody told me.

[b; embarrassing emo phase]

[Nero's change was immediately noticeable and incredibly baffling; it would be hard not to realize something was off, considering his hair was back in his face.]

[Oh, and the glowing demonic right arm. That was a bit of a tipoff.]

[But that wasn't right, to say the least. This arm had been--]

The hell...?

[He reached over his shoulder with the more human arm to make sure his sword was still there; it seemed like everything was more or less in place except for the obvious missing Devil Breakers. Shit, Nico was going to kill him.]

[And while that was not the most pressing issue at the moment, it was definitely a large one.]

[c; wildcard]

[i have no idea what i'm doing.]

b for baby

[devilswordme]

[ Nero, honey, you think your look is bad, Dante isn't wearing a shirt.. He seems to have no problem with this, though. Instead he's laughing, like you do when you see your baby nephew in his old threads. ]

Aw, look at you, kid! [ He's laughing. Asshole. ] You know, I kinda miss this look on you. Made you look real bitchy. Not that things have changed much.

[ He shrugs, casting a glance at Dat Arm. ]

Oh, hey, did you grow that back finally?

the fuckup ( the umbrella academy ) spoilers club here too ( cw: drug use / addiction)

[fourgasm]

i. as above, so below.

[The thing about hitting rock bottom is Klaus has been at rock bottom innumerable times. Somehow, he seems to keep dragging himself back up, head never above ground, but fingers digging in deep, pulling himself up just long enough to breathe.

This? Is ever so slightly more literal than he's used to. But Klaus is nothing if not adaptable. Strange shit happens every day, such is the life of a Hargreeves apparently. Especially in the last week or so.

But hey, even metaphorical experience is experience, as he would claim to always say if anyone asked. Sure, so he's never actually been subterranean in this sort of sense, but how hard could pulling yourself out of an indeterminable amount of stone and earth possibly be?

His head's killing him, one of the first signs of withdrawal, and the feel of cotton in his mouth sure helps narrow things down. He'd really rather be having a hangover right now, honestly. That usually means something fun happened. As it stands, his most recent memories are not as uplifting as all that.

Well, he's alive and that's more than he can probably say for probably literally everyone else on the planet, so things are looking up from where he's standing. His brief brush with death didn't exactly bring him any excitement about any type of afterlife.

The thing is, he thinks he is sober, or at least whatever he's on isn't doing its job at 100%, but he's also alone in a way he most often isn't. It's not alarming yet. He's lucid...-ish, sure, but confused enough to take most things at face value. Time for deep thought later.

Though, he's Klaus. So maybe never.

Right now, he's focused on trying to climb maybe the least stable pile of rocks in the cave, but in his defense, they lead to maybe the most promising hints of daylight shining through the cracks above. They just also happen to be incredibly, incredibly steep.

So yeah, he's not doing well. His extremely impractical leather pants have already split at the knees a few times as he's slipped on loose rubble. At least ripped clothing is semi-fashionable these days? It matches the missing sleeves of his military jacket, anyway.]

Augh, shit... So unfair. Teleporting would be really useful right now!

[He announces this as if someone who would be able to do something about that is there to hear him. Maybe someone is. You can never be too sure.]

Where the fuck is Five anyway?

ii. the bad seed.

[From a distance, the eleven-year-old boy looks smartly dressed, sporting a slate gray uniform with red trim similar to what one might find in a private boarding school, argyle sweater vest and schoolboy shorts and all. Not unlike the uniform Five is usually seen in, if you're familiar. On second inspection, without their mom here to handle uniform upkeep, Klaus has already gotten pretty disheveled. Frayed edges, the odd stain, hair some strange amalgamation of unkempt and perfectly parted.

And, well, there's not much little Klaus can do to uphold some type of prim and polite image when he currently happens to be egregiously and categorically ignoring every fire safety PSA from the late 80s. He's never gone camping, but he looks determined to figure out the flint he's managed to get a hold of, trying to spark a fire against a pocketknife in some dry brush.

Not for any real reason. He just thought it might be fun.]

iii. let the right one in.

[Wildcard option! Throw me something based on another prompt or something entirely different! If you want to plot beforehand, I'm at erlking or javid#6941 on Discord. I am in the game channel if you want to at me there too.]

2

[whosamacallit]

[ Temperance Brennan is twelve and nerdy and only dimly aware that she should be repressing some really awful trauma. She should be world famous, a woman who made all her dreams come true, but... she's a kid, and she's fine like this.

And she's fascinated by this other kid's survival skills. He totally has some, why would he not, what is not having faith in people. ]

Don't mind me, I'm watching because I wanna learn. [ A pause for thoughts on safety, though. ] I can clear the area.

[ And she goes and does just that, either unaware or not caring that she might be annoying him. ]

ii. time for goblins

[deadlylittlething]

[And here Five thought he might have to make his own fun on this nice tranquil beach. But the telltale spark of his pyromaniac brother draws his attention and he appears in a flash, already looking over Klaus' shoulder.]

You know starting a wildfire can get you life in prison, right?

[Not that he sounds particularly concerned for his brother's criminal record. More like faintly amused, slipping his hands into his pockets and watching his efforts expectantly.]

Jonathan Sims | The Magnus Archives (Spoilers for Season 4)

[the_archivist]

Dungeons Deep and Caverns Old

The Archivist is dreaming. He has been dreaming for a long time, but this is a new one. There is a subtly different taste to it and he isn't sure what that means yet.

What he does know is that he is surrounded by Earth, rock around him, enough light to see that there is no way out in his immediate vicinity, only stairs and passages worn smooth. He does not know the way out.

The earth rumbles beneath him and he sucks in a breath, deepest dread filling him as flakes of dust begin to fall. He looks up towards the roof of the cavern which seems to sway and shift and he is just waiting for it to start closing in on him, crushing and swallowing and sacrificing him to Too-Close-I-Cannot-Breathe. The Buried would love that, wouldn't it?

Another tremor and he starts to run, nearly skidding on the worn-smooth rock as he begins to climb, parts of himself returning to him although there are pieces missing and he knows with a sudden clarity that they will not return to him.

Jon reaches the top of the stairs and encounters- a dead end, rough rock blocking his way. He bites back a scream and turns around, heading quickly back down, frustration writ large on his face.]

There was light. There has to be a way up. Is this- Basira? Daisy? ...Tim?



Worth a Thousand Words
[The walls stretch out forever and when Jon stares upwards, it towers endlessly above, walls recursively extending up and up, like fractals into infinity. He does not like this place. It isn't his domain. This feels too much like...]

The Vast. But... it doesn't normally choose buildings.

[There's no sky, not really, but the room is bigger than anything should be. Jon keeps walking, fingers running along stone and he looks at the images. They are less horrifying than he'd expected honestly. He avoids the images of spiders.

Eventually he comes to the firepit. it seems as good a place as any to take stock and see what he can. Impulsively, he picks up a stick of charcoal and finds a blank spot on the wall and draws unthinkingly.

An eye, wide and a little menacing is what comes out. He lets out a sigh.]

I don't know what I expected really.


Wildcard
[Meet Jon somewhere else! He's not actually a monster (yet).]

1000 words, 1000 emootiooons

[whosamacallit]

Put that down.

[ Her voice is a mixture of surprised, anxious, and offended. This place doesn't belong to either of them, and he's desecrating it.

Brennan walks over to him. She, for one, had expectations. ]

I expected anyone who sees this place realizes it has cultural significance. Not to me, and clearly not to you. [ Otherwise, he would've known what to expect. ] But to someone.

[ She wants to know who. She wants to study all of this. ]

Dungeons Deep and Caverns Old

[bloodbathing]

[ This isn't a place that Maine knows. It's a fact that should put him on edge, but for some reason, it doesn't. He braces himself with a hand against a stone wall as the earth moves under his feet. Waits until it stops before he starts climbing the winding paths, heading up.

Maine doesn't know where he is, but he knows damn well that he doesn't want to be under anything. Not while the ground is shaking like it is.

A voice echoes from around a curve in the path. It's unfamiliar, calling equally unknown names. Maine starts towards it. Rounds the bend in his all his fully-armored glory, gold helmet reflecting what light there is as he looks for the person who spoke. ]

ben hargreeves | umbrella academy

[evergonnahaunt]

dungeons deep and caverns old
[Of all the Hargeeves siblings, Ben is maybe the only one who has never been locked into a room as a punishment. He never needed to be punished, not really, so when the cavern starts collapsing, he just kind of stands there at first because it's not like it's going to affect him. He's dead, what are some falling rocks going to do?

No, it's probably better just to look for Klaus. Or any of his siblings, really, but he's not entirely sure if time traveling when you're dead would make you undead or just double dead. If he's still dead, Klaus is the only one who can see him and maybe make him visible to their other siblings.

So while the light is that way, Ben heads in the exact opposite direction to try and find his siblings. Nobody ever said any of the Hargreeves siblings were, like. Smart? With the exception of Five, that is.]

what's my age again?
[There's a very young, like thirteen years old young, kid wandering around. He keeps repeating names questioningly, like he's looking for someone:]

Luther? Diego? [He doesn't sound scared, exactly, but he is incredibly skittish around people.] Allison? Klaus?

[The longer it looks like he's not going to be able to find any of his siblings, the more desperate Ben gets. Mostly he's been sticking to four names, but he starts using two more:]

... Five? Vanya?

[The last he almost whispers, like he's not entirely sure if he should say it at all. The other five being here would make sense. They're supposed to be superheroes. They're supposed to be together. Vanya isn't. Vanya's not allowed to come with them, because she's not special like them. Ben doesn't think that's very fair, but that's how Father says it is, so that's how it is.]

scusi. let me love you. ( dungeons deep etc. )

[fourgasm]

[Yeah, okay, Klaus happens to be one of the siblings who doesn't do so well in tight spaces. So sue him! Though Ben, for his part, happens to be the one most intimately familiar with Klaus' usual reaction to that certain feeling of being trapped. And Klaus, meanwhile, is probably the only Hargreeves who would be unsurprised to see Ben around.

How convenient.

His arms are crossed tightly over his chest as he nervously, hesitantly, slowly steps through the cavern, through stalagmite and rubble, frankly looking like he expects a ghost to pop out at any turn. Which he sort of does actually. It's a thing.

When Ben appears, though? Klaus initially freezes up, but recognizing his brother, long dead as he may be, he relaxes considerably.

It's like how the Ghostbusters kept Slimer around. Ben is basically Klaus' Slimer. Only not completely insufferable. Most of the time.

Klaus sighs.]

Christ, you know I don't like it when people sneak up on me.

[He tries to peek over Ben's shoulder.]

Did you find an exit? Don't get me wrong, you know I love a good... live burial, but uh, I'm actually kind of hungry? I never did get to finish that burrito.

[Translation: God please help me get out of here.]

genji shimada | overwatch

[assoverelbow]

dungeons deep and caverns old
[This isn't exactly the kind of place Genji would expect to wake up one day. It's a far cry from the streets of Hanamura or the peaks of Nepal. It seems to be quite the opposite of the monastery, in fact, and isn't that strange?

Genji stands out like a beacon in the caverns - glowing a brilliant green, as he scrambles up a haphazard pile of rocks to get a vantage point. At the very least, he doesn't seem to be alone. From his perch he can spot other people in the caverns, and he raises his arm in greeting.]

Yo.

[His voice is slightly tinny, and if you can get a good look at him he seems to be made of plates of armor and cords.]

Where is this place?

what's my age again?
[Well, this is - this is bizarre. Genji can feel his blood pumping, feel the warmth of the sun on his skin, and there's a breeze in his hair.

There's also an unfortunate breeze elsewhere, but he's managed to find some cloth to wrap around himself so he's decent.]

This is crazy.

[There's awe in his voice he can't get rid of. He looks down at his hands, flexing his fingers, before he looks up with a grin. His hair - dyed bright green - flops in his face, free from how he used to style it.]

This is crazy!

[He's spent so long in that metal body, just a fragment of a man. But now, it seems, he's somehow back to being...himself?]

How did this happen?!

dungeons deep!

[syntheticmemories]

[In the glow of the bizarre neon plants, the outline of a man in a trench coat and worn fedora can be seen leaning against a wall. He casts black and yellow eyes up towards the cyborg and, surprisingly, seems completely nonplussed by him. Nick Valentine has seen so much bullshit in the Commonwealth, seen such incredible marvels of technology sent up by the Institute, that you know what? A glowing green cyborg might as well be here in this collapsing cave, asking where he is.]

Good question. [A lit cigarette bobs between his lips as he talks, although as he steps forward into the light it's clear he's made entirely of some sort of metal or plastic. Can robots smoke?] I was wondering the same thing myself.

[He sounds like a caricature of an old-timey detective from Boston. Probably because he is.]

Mercy | Overwatch | Mind the CW

[caduceusoncall]

i. Youth Lost [cw: parental death]

[Sitting alone just above the tide's reach is a young girl. She can't be older than 8, maybe 10, despite the dark rings under her bloodshot eyes - her features are too small and delicate for a teenager. Her hair is frazzled, as if she's been pulling at it or knotting her fingers in it. The little girl stares out over the ocean and thinks of a thousand things. How beautiful it would be, if they were here to see it. How their honeymoon pictures on the living room wall featured beaches like these. How baffling it is that, in a world where idyllic scenes like this could exist, war and death could be there, too.

The girl scrunches her knees up to her chest and rests her forhead on her folded arms. This is a grieving Angela Ziegler, and she hasn't got the heart to question where she is or why.]

Crying won't help. [She whispers to herself, shoulders shaking with the effort of staying quiet. It may sound harsh, but it's her way of hanging on to what's left.] Not at all.

ii. Light The Way

This way!

[The voice rings clear over the rumbling of shifting stone, cast down the staircase as a lifeline to stragglers. And if you hesitate in following the voice - it leads to a yellow glowing outline of a woman up ahead - you will find yourself bathed in golden light as a firm hand grasps your shoulder and guides you along.

If the bright yellow wings and staff don't make you think of an angel, the metal halo probably does. You won't have time to admire your new guardian, however. She's urging you along and fanning her wings out as far as they'll go to light the way.]

There is no time to lose, we must move quickly.

iii. Wildcard

[Surprise me!]

i;

[assoverelbow]

[Genji is doing what Genji does best - getting into places he really shouldn't be. It's a part of his training, he would say, if his family and retainers were there to see him, but...

They don't seem to be anywhere. He seems to be all alone. Well, not quite alone. There's a girl here, by the ocean, curled up in a little ball like she wants the world to go away.

Genji's never been very good at following orders, so despite everything shouting at him to leave her alone, he approaches her.]

Crying is just your body letting everything go!

[Words he heard often, when training was too difficult and he pushed himself too far.]

It's okay!

Temperance Brennan | Bones

[whosamacallit]

To Dungeons Deep And Caverns Old

[ A heavy sigh and a very extra eyeroll are her first reaction. Buried alive. Again. At least this time it's in some massive cave system where she (probably) doesn't need to worry about running out of oxygen. The tremors are a little much, but this is dreamlike anyway, so it makes sense. What's one traumatic experience turned up to 11, right? Dreams are weird. She hates them.

There's nothing for it but to head for the light, so iff Brennan goes at a walk. The seismic waves, or the shockwaves from collapses in the caves, cause her to stumble now and then. One time, the sound of ricks cracking overhead makes her dive to save her limbs - sorry if she dives into you.

Or, if you prefer, she finds you at a dead end and looks up, at the light coming from above. ]

I can see what's up there if you give me a boost.


Worth A Thousand Words

[ If she draws a skeleton, will it come to life? Scientific curiosity almost gets the best of her. Brennan stands there, hands dusty with discarded charcoal. This place doesn't belong to her. She won't change what's here, even as it changes on its own.

A dolphin catches her eye, playful and energetic at her feet. She crouches down to get a closer look. ]

Not very realistic. Like cave paintings. More sophisticated than that. [ She talks like she's teaching. To a class, to an intern - or maybe like she's recording case notes.

Who's there? She looks up and talks to you. ]

What can you tell me about this place?

[ Brennan you can't just assume people know things. But in a dream, anything's possible. ]


Wildcard

[ Will match format too. She's from end of season 3 if you're canon familiar. Throw whatever at me or pm to drum something up. ]

[veracus]

[Vera flinches when the strange woman approaches her. She just stares at her, her arms tightly clutching her sketchbook, wondering if this is a "bad person" or not, wondering if she should say something to her.

She's too scared to, however. She's too scared to even take a step backwards. Even in a dream, which this clearly is, she doesn't like being approached by strangers.]

Chidi Anagonye | The Good Place

[merimna]

Dungeons Deep

[Well, OK. He's dreaming about being in a cave. The cave is going to collapse. He's going to die. This is all... great. Just great! There's nothing concerning about this dream at all and it's definitely not some kind of self-inflicted torture. He can handle this.

No, he can't. If there is one thing Chidi is not good at, it's picking something. If there's another thing Chidi is not good at, it's directions - he once got lost on an escalator. This is a very, very bad combination.

So, if you find Chidi in the cave, you may find him crouched down, his palms on his head, and... groaning. As if groaning would stop the cave-in. It'd probably make it worse, actually. Should he not groan?

He groans louder. This is the worst.]

What's My Age Again?

[Oh god this is Chidi's worst nightmare, and as a man who suffers from debilitating anxiety, he has a lot of "worst nightmares." But this is... baaaaaad.

He's dreaming of himself as a 9-year old boy, or at least, he thinks it's a dream??? Because he's definitely not in Senegal. He seems to have all his memories of adulthood, but he's at a complete loss as to what on Earth (or... not-Earth) to do.

You may come across a young boy with thick glasses and a short afro, in a school uniform, wandering around talking to himself.]

Should I pretend to be a child? No, that's lying. Should I ask for help? No, that'd be inconveniencing people. They're dream people, so does that even matter? Of course it matters! Don't be ridiculous. How we treat others in our dreams is a reflection of our true selves...

Worth A Thousand Words

[Chidi is incredulous at what he's saying. Even in all his time spent in The Bad Place pretending to be The Good Place, he's never seen anything like these living drawings. Of course, he's too anxious to draw any of his own (is it ethical to bring life to non-living things...? That's a lot of responsibility) but he admires a drawn rabbit, smiling at it.]

Well, aren't you cute? Yes, you are!

[Unfortunately, Chidi fails to notice the Outliner, a humanoid figure with a drawn-on smile, shambling towards him from behind...]

[a_shadow]

[ Tex doesn't know what she's doing here in the caves. But she does know the sound of one panicked civilian who, she will discover, is crouched in the periphery of the cave. She is inclined to make her way out—but first, she'll go to the effort of rescuing the guy who groans and moans in response to the falling rocks and trembling ground.

She makes her way toward the sound. The LED lights on her armor will light the cave enough to show her the way, as well as making it possible for Chidi to spot her. ]

Come on. You don't want to be known as the guy who ducked and covered and died because of it, do you?

Vera Misham | Ace Attorney

[veracus]

What's My Age Again?

[Vera is having a very strange dream. Of all things, she seems to be back to her 12-year old self. But it's only a dream, she thinks. There's nothing to really be afraid of, is there? Nobody can harm her in a dream.

She takes her sketchbook, shaped like a bear, and goes out to the beach to draw the ocean. She seems almost happy, peaceful, being alone drawing things. She never really got the chance to draw from real life, but it's a lot like copying a painting - you just have to get all the little details just so.]

Worth A Thousand Words

[Vera is not afraid of the drawings. She's had dreams like this before, many times, and it doesn't even cross her mind that any of the drawings could harm her. She actually seems happy, frolicking among the drawn wildlife, sketching a drawn rainbow in her sketchbook.

Until she finds the basin of chalk. And then, of course, she absolutely has to draw things for herself. She takes the chalk and draws and draws and draws, all over the walls, taking several square feet of wall up with her art. She's an extremely skilled artist, but her drawings take on a playful sketchiness, and seem to be largely of cute things - hibernating bears, squirrels, rabbits, and a lot of flowers. When they come to life, she smiles to herself.]

worth a thousand words

[holysapling]

[Ohhh.

Farina's made her way into the Chamber, head cocked back as she takes in the nigh-infinite width and height of it; she doesn't seem to be looking for anyone or anything, though her ears twitch a little at the sound of her own footsteps echoing through, at the skittering of small creatures that she can only just hear at the edge of her senses. This place is different to anywhere she's been before, and she lets her hands trace softly along the drawings as she goes, tracking their implied movement and smiling vaguely to herself.

The sprays of flowers catch her attention well before the girl that drew them, and the rabbits not long after; she isn't wary of the living creatures as she approaches - she should probably be wary, these aren't things she's at all familiar with, but she's always the sort to be curious before afraid. She crouches down near one of the rabbits, head tilting from side to side and the veil in her hair rustling gently as she takes everything in - the fur, the whiskers, the ears and eyes - and after a moment she seems to come to the general conclusion that it probably looks like a friend.

She doesn't quite know where this thing came from, but you did good, Vera, goodness.]

two | drakengard 3

[sandsister]

A

[The possibility of a cave in doesn't scare her-she's built of tougher stuff than that and the Land of Sands has ebbed away any weakness that might've remained. She can dig, dig, dig her way out-

Once she finds Cent.

And it really doesn't matter, honestly, because he's so cool, so strong, so tough-he's probably canvasing the area like the hero she knows he is, making sure no one's going to be caught in the crumbling cavern before he escapes with her.

He's just so amazing-incredible! Wonderful! She can barely stop the lovestruck sigh that escapes her, but the sound of it is probably buried by the rocks falling to either side, one hitting her square on the shoulder. Not that it phases her any. She dusts off her bare shoulder, like it's an annoyance. Which it is. This dream sucks. Why can't she think about taking a vacation with her sisters? Or hanging out in the Cathedral City? Or having a nice dinner with Cent?

However the presence of another person does pull her out of her thoughts and she eagerly, almost happily, waves them down.]

Heeeeey! Look over here! You need a hand? I can help you get out. Just stick close to me, okay? Oh, and look out for all the rocks. They'll leave a bad bruise.

B

[For however many times the kids have persuaded her to watch them draw, she's never taken the opportunity to doodle with them. Her strength is getting harder to control-the chalk is easily crushed in her grip, no matter how gently she wraps her fingers around it. It takes too much concentration and she simply played it off like she wasn't artistic enough to compete with their drawings.

But sometimes she would try-would hold the chalk in between her fingers, take deep breathes and wish she didn't have this ability and-

Inevitably, she could never keep her fingers steady long enough to scratch out a few lines.

But she tries in the dream, finding it easier to make waves, arcs, curves along the chamber walls with all the glee of someone in the midst of making an incredible piece of art.

And just as she's writing her letter to Cent on the walls, mumbling a few words aloud about how incredible and smart and amazing he is-

Something pulls itself outta the wall and she immediately reaches for the large broadsword that rivals her own height to her side.]

Oh hey! Come on, you don't wanna fight, right? You're just a cute little drawing. Go back into the wall-scat! Go on!

[She doesn't like wanna attack this weird thing unless she really has to?? It's not like One said to kill it. Just go away ya dingus drawing.]

a

[evergonnahaunt]

[Being addressed by an unfamiliar voice is startling. Nobody's actually talked to Ben except for Klaus in so long that he doesn't actually remember how new people work.]

Are. You can see me? [Wildly, Ben looks around. Klaus is still missing.] Why can you see me? Are you a medium too?

arthur morgan | red dead redemption 2

[yeenaw]

i. dungeons deep

[God damn, but does he hate caves. Only took him about two days of miserable living out in the tunnel system below Beaver Hollow to decide that. And the last memory he has of one, too - at John's heels, pulling himself up ladders with gunshots blowing chunks of rock from the walls behind him - don't turn him any fonder.]

[Never mind he's got no idea where the hell he is. Or how the hell he got here.]

[Arthur thinks maybe his lantern was one of the things he'd handed over to John, can't quite remember, but if it was then he's seriously regretting that decision. He's never met a cliff he'd tried climbing in the dark that didn't end in him falling on his ass. Either way, Arthur has never been a man of indecision - or a decent sense caution, anyway - and so he mounts the first set of ledges he can get his hands and boots into, his spurs clicking against stone as he pulls himself up and through. Up seems to be the directive, here.]

[If he has to shove at rocks and beams to move them out of his way, toppling them into the tunnels below, that's just how it's got to be. If he's somehow found himself some other den of degenerates, he'd be right pleased to bring the whole place down on the collective lot of them and himself.]

Goddamn Murfree country... [he grunts, hides a cough under his breath, and heaves a rock off the side of his ledge.] I'll shoot all of you slimy bastards.

ii. a thousand words

[Arthur never did much work with chalk. Or anything other than graphite on rough paper, except the time or two he tried out some fancy fountain pen he stole off of a guy and decided he hated how clumsy ink made him feel. The more he tries chalk out, the further away he gets from figuring out whether he likes it or not.]

[It's messy, like ink, and the lines don't seem to hold together too well, but there's something novel about the way it shows up on the gray stone. He draws a barn mouse eating a blackberry with some difficulty, then moves onto a raccoon washing its paws and discovers how much easier it is to use chalk when you're drawing big. So Arthur stays big, within reason - a rabbit, a dog, a pig. A coyote dragging a chicken across the ground, towards a pair of bushes.]

[He's getting bored and about to try his curiosity with the charcoal when something leaps past him, and Arthur jerks back, throwing his chalk at it with a loud curse. The chalk passes harmelssly through the decidedly two-dimensional rabbit he'd drawn, and it pricks its ears at him in shock before turning its white, sketchy tail and bounding away.]

[Arthur blinks and turns in a circle, scratching at his beard in wonderment.]

What the hell... ?

[Jesus, when did everything start moving?]

i;

[assoverelbow]

[The sound of spurs is - somewhat nostalgic, to Genji. He almost thinks it's like back in the day, and the cowboy he's going to run across is none other than Jesse McCree. But the man climbing up doesn't quite match, and he's a little disappointed.

He doesn't know what he'd do if it was McCree. It's been years, and who knows the kind of trouble he's been getting into. Probably more than Genji, but not everyone has someone like Zenyatta to help them out.

He watches the man climb, standing at the top of the ledge. He stands out in the dark - there's bright green circles and lines all over his body, and his visor glows that same unnatural green - and he crouches down to offer Arthur his hand.]

There aren't many people here to shoot, unless you count me.

Marvus Xoloto | Homestuck

[hypertextualjuggler]

The Cave
“Yo, whaddup?” says a figure calmly as he makes his languid way around a corner a little bit down the tunnel from you. He’s tall but not unnaturally so: the unnatural label is more suitably applied to his horns, sharp fangs, and the grey skin on his chest and his hand he has raised in a friendly(?) wave. Although maybe his skin colour is paint? His face is certainly painted, white and grey, the lines crisp across his eyes and nose. Does his calm smile look welcoming? Threatening? It really depends on how comfortable you are with alien creatures at this point.

His mouth is open again to say something else equally chill when the tremors return, shaking loose some crumbling stone chips from the ceiling of the tunnel between you. “Shiiizz,” he says instead, with a little more feeling to it. “I think maybe we should start movin’ down away from this noise.” He gestures with one of his horns back the way he came from. “Save the talkin’ for on the way. That aight with you, fam?” He doesn’t seem particularly urgent about it.


D’baby
There’s something about the size of a dark purple Subway sandwich on the sand a fair distance away from you. It’s right at the edge of where the surf washes over the beach…and eventually you realise: it’s moving. On six black legs emerging from its sides. Actually, it has, like, a little grey head, with hair and little horns on it, and shiny little purple buggy eyes. It’s some sort of immense grub with a bug baby head. It’s…probably awful? Or maybe you think it’s cute? Or gross?

No matter what you start out thinking, the moment it’s close enough to see you, you suddenly feel this huge presence about it. If you have some manner of mental guards or protection, it’s just a baby. It’s still just the same grub baby thing. Nothing has really changed except you guess something weird almost just happened. If you don’t… This is the most wonderful baby you have ever seen. You love it. You love this weird larva. You’ve only just met it but if anything happened to it you would kill everyone on this beach and then yourself.

The grub continues to approach you, skittering along the beach, staring at you with intense, unblinking eyes.

D'BABY

[onegreeneye]

Most importantly, in Ginko's opinion, this thing is bizarre. Definitely a larva of some kind, but the head is weirdly humanoid? It's just... just a bug baby.

It's weird as hell, but also definitely kind of cute - and the balance of each doesn't really matter too much, because either way Ginko is officially fascinated. He crouches down to get a better look as it skitters forward, taking only a cursory glance over it to make sure there are no obvious horrible stingers or anything. "...What are you, huh?"

Hajime Aikawa | Kamen Rider Blade | Zi-O Spoilers in second prompt | Will match format

[chalicejoker]

[Caverns]
Hajime doesn't know how he got here, doesn't know where here is--he's so tired after the Battle Fight spun out into its perpetual stalemate--and frankly, he doesn't care. Not when he's got to get the hell out of here.

He might be tired, but he's not too tired to transform into his armored Rider form so he can try to get out and to the top. He can climb, he can jump, he can blast any sort of falling rubble with the strange stringless bow he's carrying--this isn't worrying him.

And if what's on the surface is bad? He's transformed. He's ready.

[Age]
Actually changing with age isn't anything Hajime thought he'd ever really worry about. Oh, he'd thought he might have to worry about faking those changes, but actually experiencing them for himself? Not really. Immortality does that to a guy.

And in fact, he doesn't really register that anything too strange has happened to him in a temporal sense. Over fifteen years have passed since the Battle Fight, and, thanks to a little bit of...he's not even sure what the deal was with the watches and the way he, Kenzaki, and Amane had been targeted...whatever that was, he's finally got some peace out of everything. He's just an ordinary human now. His power's been sealed away.

So, as just an ordinary human, it's really not surprising that he manages to slip, fall, and cut his hand on a shell or something while walking down the beach. And if he's staring at the red of the cut for just a little too long, well. Maybe he's just uneasy at the sight of blood.

[Words]
Hajime doesn't know what the hell is even up with those scribble things shambling off the wall. Outrunning them seems...well, pathetically easy, and so he'll just hang back and watch for a bit.

[Age]

[triggerhappytraitor]

If someone had told Tachibana years ago that he'd be happy to see Hajime Aikawa, he would have sorted in disbelief and said it was utterly ridiculous.

And yet, when he catches sight of the familiar figure on the beach, he can't help but feel... well. He still wouldn't admit that he was happy to see the surly Undead, but it was definitely a warm, positive feeling. He wasn't like he had missed the idiot, or hauling his short-tempted ass out of a seemingly never-ending string of bad situations that could have been easily avoided. Of course not. He'd just. Gotten used to Hajime being around, and that he no longer was had been strange. That was totally it.

That was why he totally was not running over. Just. Walking with a lot more purpose than he had been before. And he certainly wasn't smiling, no no, that would just be weird. But he wasn't scowling either. Heck, he looked almost relaxed as he headed over, about to call out his fellow Rider's name when what Hajime was looking at hits him.

Not the watery thin white-green that Undead all bled-- but red.

The name dyes on his lips and he slows to a stop, simply staring in shock.

How....?