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.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[sandsister]

[As much as these wild attacks pique her curiosity, she's surprised by how clinical the descriptions are. When she describes her own sisters, the intimate details pour out of her mouth without much thought, even if she gets a scolding for it. The last thought on her mind is powers, but maybe that's because they all share a general set of skills. Clearly that isn't true for this batch of siblings.]

Whhhat? Two would teach me to do that, right? That has to be something Cent and I can do too.

[Consider: Boomerang Sword.]

So what's your power then?

[evergonnahaunt]

Probably? It's just specialized telekinesis.

[Ben's never been sure if that's because Reginald thought that would be the most useful thing that Diego could do when he was younger or if Diego's powers really were that specialized. It seemed weirdly specific in comparison to the rest of their powers.

When Two asks about his powers, Ben seems visibly reluctant to say anything about it. It's not even that he doesn't know how to explain it, it's that where the rest of his siblings can do good with their powers, his have always been for one thing: destruction.]

. . . I summon monsters from another plane of existence because I'm a conduit between worlds.

[Any of his other siblings aside from Vanya would probably demonstrate their abilities. Ben doesn't - he's most effective in enclosed spaces and he doesn't really have control over what he summons or how many.]

[sandsister]

How amazing! You're just like Cent. Maybe you're related to him, huh? I'll have to ask. Let me guess which one it is-maybe a golem? But oh, you said monsters-

[If he was expecting her to react poorly, that doesn't happen. The blue in her eyes seems to get a little brighter and a smile extends across her whole face as she thinks about her companions. The ones her family can summon. They do come from somewhere else. Probably another world. She doesn't think much about it. Heck, maybe they just appear outta the sand in her home.

Come to think of it-

Well, she doesn't need to know how it works. It just does! Because of Cent! And herself, but it's mostly him.]

So what's your song sound like? Do you need to sing or do they come on their own? What do they look like?

[evergonnahaunt]

[Her enthusiasm is a little bit bewildering. Nobody likes Ben's powers, and most interviewers just glossed over Ben entirely when they asked about powers. It was gross, which meant nobody wanted to talk about it.]

Like Cthulhu, I guess? [He belatedly realizes that's a specific reference Two might not understand.] There's long tentacles but I don't know what the rest looks like because -

[You know, he probably should have explained what he meant by "conduit" beforehand. That was literal. He is literally summoning monsters through a portal in his body.]

- they don't fit through. But I can summon them whenever I want, I don't have to do anything special.

[sandsister]

Hey, you'll find out one day. You're still pretty young, you know? You'll get bigger and stronger and and before you know it, poof-Cthulu!

[Although she realizes somewhat halfway through that pep talk that he's dead and the growing he does is likely to be spiritual at best. But he's like a dragon or a faerie or something now-it's fine. The point is, he isn't completely gone from this world.]

Maybe not bigger, but you'll get strong enough to pull the whole thing through. Oh, then your tentacles can meet Egregori.

[Wouldn't that be fun?? She's never really summoned them without the express purpose of fighting shit-they might enjoy having a playmate.]

You must be a pretty tough kid to summon them without a song. Your Auntie is so impressed.

[evergonnahaunt]

[That's an interesting thought. If he's a ghost and Klaus does the thing to make him solid then would the same limitations apply to his ghostly form as his living form? How is he summoning things as a ghost anyway? Are they living, or is he summoning dead monsters now?

Maybe he'd ask Five, once they found Five or Five found him. Ben wasn't sure about the rest if his siblings, but he felt confident that Five at least would either already be here or smartly figure out where "here" was and find him.]

People aren't usually impressed by me. [It's not upset, just factual.] Actually, people usually think it's gross that tentacles come out of my stomach.