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The Mods of LifeAftr ([personal profile] lifeaftr_mods) wrote in [community profile] aftr_ooc2019-04-16 08:57 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 022 )

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.

LOGSOOCSTORIESMAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
sleeperking: (12 - BSMiTv2)

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

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
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.
scourgingstars: (when my time comes)

caverns

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2019-04-17 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
[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.]
sleeperking: (11 - GRuK65Y)

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ Somnus thanks the gods for his fast reflexes, because the moment the rock connects, he warps out of the way. He whips around to face--

An even more unpleasant surprise. Somnus stiffens, and his blade appears in his hand. If he wants to pick a fight, who is he to deny him? ]


That hostility doesn't become you, you know.
devilarmory: (move fast baby don't be slow)

Nero | Devil May Cry 5 | spoilers likely

[personal profile] devilarmory 2019-04-17 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
[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.]
Edited 2019-04-17 04:48 (UTC)
scourgingstars: (forget the wrong that I've done)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2019-04-17 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, and isn't that just the proverbial pot and kettle.

[He snarled viciously in return, Rakshasa Blade materializing in his hand at a thought.]

I need no lectures from you on hostility.
sleeperking: (10 - xorPovP)

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
I did what was needed.

[ His voice is a chill in the air, hard and cold as ice. ]

What we don't need right now is to fight where we could all very much die. Are you really foolish enough to pick a fight underground? Truly?
scourgingstars: (and i can't help myself)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2019-04-17 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
You did what you were told because it got you what you wanted, and damn whoever got in your way.

[They had always been opposites; black and white. How fitting, then, that Ardyn's own voice burned with rage barely masking a more genuine hurt beneath it.]

How very selfless of you, to use others as a shield when it serves your purpose. May the gods forbid one of them dare cough near you, else you'll have to burn the entire cavern alive and yourself with it.
warpstriking: (02)

i make no promises (age)

[personal profile] warpstriking 2019-04-17 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
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?
sleeperking: (11 - GRuK65Y)

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
And you never did know when to stop spouting nonsense.

[ Somnus scowls--and he hears the hurt. Really, he does. He just chooses to ignore it. ]

Don't tell me you're so blinded by your own rage that you'd cause a disaster. Then again, you always created more problems than solved them. I can hardly be surprised.
sleeperking: (pic#13019653)

gasp

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ Well then.

This is... ]


... I assume you've been-- affected, too.

[ This is fucking weird. ]
scourgingstars: (when your whole world is black)

whoops here comes the episode ardyn spoilers

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2019-04-17 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
Don't play as though I remain ignorant in all this. I know everything.

[He didn't, and Ardyn knew that. But as far as he was concerned...he knew enough.]

I was ever the Draconian's precious sacrifice; you, he, and even Aera all chose to lie to me instead of refusing such a concept.

Tell me. Did you truly hate me so much that you leapt at the chance to be rid of me from even history itself? Or did it take even the slightest token attempt at convincing for you to choose to murder me?
sleeperking: (11 - GRuK65Y)

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
I did what was best for Lucis!

[ His voice rings out, echoing off the shaking walls. ]

You would have allowed the Scourge to run rampant. Instead of acting as a leader should have, you chose to kill yourself too. Tell me--was it worth it? I see the toll it has taken on you. And you would have called yourself king.

It seems I was right, to confine you on Angelgard. If I hadn't, I can't imagine the state the world would be in.
scourgingstars: (what am i leaving)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2019-04-17 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
You did what was best for yourself!

[Ardyn's own voice turned into a gravel-laden snarl--he so rarely raised it even now that the impact alone felt as if it could bring down the cavern itself.]

I did as the gods asked of me! I never wanted that power, I never wanted the throne, but I had both pushed upon me and I accepted it for the people you were murdering!

[His hand tightened on the hilt of the sword, white-knuckled, but steady.]

You could have done anything differently, I would have given you the damn crown if we could only have reached some peaceful resolution. But you chose to take it because Bahamut said I was naught but trash. You locked me away with nothing but my own suffering for company for two thousand years.

...I was your brother, Somnus. Now answer my question.
sleeperking: (11 - GRuK65Y)

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ He feels it, down to his bones.

Still, he doesn't falter. ]


You were my brother, Adagium. You have no right to command me to do anything.
scourgingstars: (when my time comes)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2019-04-17 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
Like hell I don't. Do I sound like a mindless daemon to you? Are you such a selfish child that you refuse to think otherwise of your mistakes even in the face of reason?

[What was wrong with him? Ardyn should have cut him down by now, and yet...he didn't. His own blade remained entirely still, every inch of him tense but not about to start a fight. Why? Why didn't he just kill him?]

[What had all this time on these useless islands done to him?]


...Do you truly care nothing for anyone but yourself?
warpstriking: (47)

[personal profile] warpstriking 2019-04-17 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
[Like looking in a funhouse mirror? ...Weird works, too.]

Yeah. Usually I'm about the physical age you are, now. [Of course, that could also be more related (ha) to the fact he's been asleep in a certain Crystal for who knows how long. Ah well.]

Hello, great grandfather. ...Forgive me if I don't want to say "great" about [quick calculation] 110 or so more times.

[He doesn't even have to ask who the other is. The resemblance is striking and a certain someone slipped and called him the Founder's name, once.]
sleeperking: (9 - nnQ2n2J)

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
You seem to have forgotten the world doesn't revolve around you.

[ His eyes narrow, but he's not about to mindlessly charge forth. He has no idea of the abilities Ardyn might have--and the walls and floor still shake around and beneath them. ]

My heart is hardly as black as the scourge that runs through your veins. There are things far more important than a single being.
scourgingstars: (and i can't help myself)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2019-04-17 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not the one that cast out my own brother, Somnus. You were the monster long before I was, and you're nowhere near enough of an idiot to fail in understanding that.

It didn't revolve around you either, and yet I certainly recall someone making a complete ass of himself in the throne room as if he were literally the gods' gift to mankind. Was family not more important to you? Was anything more important than the throne and whatever recognition you sought?

Why don't you care at all about what you did to me?!
Edited 2019-04-17 05:48 (UTC)
sleeperking: (3 - wPGu5jS)

you know what ffxv is over, we make the rules here

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ Funny--he thinks he's asleep right about now. ]

... It's encouraging to know that the family resemblance runs so strong, millennia later. [ He offers a slightly off-kilter smile, because whoof, this is..... a lot. ] ... Are you the one the Draconian spoke so highly of, then?
sleeperking: (9 - nnQ2n2J)

[personal profile] sleeperking 2019-04-17 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ He doesn't speak, for a while after that. Somnus stays still, though he turns his head just slightly; he doesn't look at Ardyn. ]

You seem to be under the impression that I had more of a choice than either of you.
scourgingstars: (forget the wrong that I've done)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2019-04-17 06:09 am (UTC)(link)
...

[Part of him knew that was true. Knew exactly what happened when one tried to argue with Bahamut, and how hopeless such an endeavor was. But at the same time...no. He'd been here long enough to know there were those willing to fight against fate no matter how hopeless the endeavor seemed. Even someone Ardyn himself had tormented had turned around and declared his intent to fight an unfair destiny and the god who laid it out before them.]

[He didn't let go of the sword. But it was lowered, slowly.]


I know too well what the Draconian does with those daring to possess dissenting opinions. But you could have tried instead of accepting such a thing as inevitable and wiping me from existence. You could have told me and I would have sacrificed everything for the kingdom willingly. Had you felt true regret even for an instant in your lifetime, you could have found me again.

You're a coward and a murderer that the world remembers as a savior, and you won't even look at the result of your own actions.
fourgasm: (and now i must ask)

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

[personal profile] fourgasm 2019-04-17 08:25 am (UTC)(link)
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 [plurk.com profile] erlking or javid#6941 on Discord. I am in the game channel if you want to at me there too.]
the_archivist: (This isn't good)

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

[personal profile] the_archivist 2019-04-17 09:21 am (UTC)(link)
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).]
Edited 2019-04-17 09:36 (UTC)
evergonnahaunt: (and all the things)

ben hargreeves | umbrella academy

[personal profile] evergonnahaunt 2019-04-17 11:31 am (UTC)(link)
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.]
Edited (thank u for not posting that subject, comment) 2019-04-17 11:32 (UTC)
devilswordme: (dante 27)

b for baby

[personal profile] devilswordme 2019-04-17 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ 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?

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