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The Mods of LifeAftr ([personal profile] lifeaftr_mods) wrote in [community profile] aftr_ooc2019-05-16 08:53 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 023 )

Test Drive Meme #23
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.

It's Hard Work
Today, Mu has sought to recreate the fantastic island of Io - the island where the local Avatar of Celebration resides. Io is resplendent with comforts and excitements designed for relaxation and delight, from wineries to play structures. One of the most popular draws are the bathhouses, which are massive, tiered structures of the utmost luxury. Multiple stories, hot and cold water, scented perfumes and shampoos...these bathhouses are designed for the utmost enjoyment and tranquility.

For paying customers, that is. Oh - did you think you were going to be relaxing? Not tonight. Tonight, you're on the bathhouse staff, and your job is to make those paying customers happy. Those customers, many of which appear to be nothing more than shadowy, faceless blobs of a vaguely humanoid shape, can make your life very miserable if they're unsatisfied with their care.
So...get to it! We need more towels on the second floor. The water heater is broken - who here knows how to fix it? This one needs a very exact perfumed blend to go in their water, so you'd better learn it quick. Make sure those floors are clean before anyone goes walking across them. Keep this house running, and you might just be allowed to relax with a warm bath at the end of the day as a reward.

But if you don't do a fine enough job, you might very well regret it. The bathhouse patrons, strange as they may be, have one very particular talent, and that talent is luck. If they're satisfied with their care, you might find a handful of gold coins in the gutters when you're clocking out - and they may very well still be in your knapsack if you end up waking up on the shores of LifeAftr.

If they're not, however, you'd better be especially cautious for the next few hours. Slippery patches of ground will seem to appear with far more regularity, or a precarious stack of towels may tip over right as you're walking by, or the water heater will break as you're washing your hands and scald you from the elbows up in boiling hot water.

Do a good job, and you'll be rewarded. If not...well, at least it's only for the night, right?

A Drink With Jam and Bread
Also unique to the island of Io are the tea gardens, which are exactly what they sound like. With softly glowing lanterns and thick, fragrant groves of tea leaves growing wild, the tea house is nestled at the very center of the garden. Within, all manner of kettles and mugs and strainers can be found, as well as dried tea leaves, honeys, milks, and spices. You can mix and match your own blends, pick from some of the pre-existing teabags, or even wander about the garden to pluck a few tea leaves straight from the trees.

Some of these drinks are relatively harmless. Others...not so much. And they all tend to affect people differently, too.
[ ♆ ] Black tea will fill you with energy, far more than the high caffeine content might allow. You feel like you can run ten miles - no, twenty! This may also, however, reduce your conceptualization of your own limits. You might be able to feel like you can lift one thousand pounds...but unless you've got super-strength to compensate, you might end up hurting yourself trying to do exactly that.

[ ♆ ] Chai tea will give you the ability to breathe fire, though only in short bursts about five feet ahead of you. If you try mixing different things into your chai - such as honey or milk - you might find that you can breathe different colors of fire as well. Just...take care not to set anything on fire. Those lanterns are lit by all sorts of tiny, firefly-esque bugs, and if they feel antagonized, they'll try and burn you right back.

[ ♆ ] Chamomile tea will relax you completely and utterly. In fact, it'll make you incredibly sleepy. You might start feeling tired gradually, or you might conk out right on the spot. Almost any surface suddenly feels very comfortable and easy enough to sleep on, from the ground beneath your feet to your buddy over there. Chamomile: better than the world's greatest sedative, evidently.

[ ♆ ] Earl grey tea will allow you the ability to shift in phase: make yourself and any part of your body corporeal or incorporeal on a whim. Just be sure that you don't have your arms or legs sticking into any solid surfaces by the time the effects wear off - or that'll make for some very painful removal.

[ ♆ ] Green tea will drastically increase or decrease your tolerance for pain. Either you'll feel absolutely fine no matter what kind of punishment is heaped on you...or anything from sneezing to stepping on someone's foot can feel abruptly excruciating. It's worth noting that this does nothing for one's resistance to that kind of damage. Green tea only alters the sensation behind the pain, meaning that whatever damage you might undergo is liable to be damaging, no matter how much you might be able to shrug off.

[ ♆ ] White tea will dramatically increase your sensitivity to physical stimulus. This can be either enchanting or positively overwhelming. Imagine being able to lie down in the grass and feel each blade beneath you in excruciating detail. Imagine being able to feel every air molecule flicking across your skin. Whether this improves your day or absolutely ruins it is down to how much you enjoy that sort of thing.
So take care which of these blends you sample. Some of these effects might even stack, which can really ruin your day.

We Don't Need Another Hero
Fun doesn't always go hand in hand with relaxation. Perhaps you're the sort who'd prefer to have your adrenaline pumping, grinning around a missing tooth as you lay a beatdown on your opponent. Maybe you need some excitement and some action to really feel like you're living. Sure, you might get a few bruises - but check out the other guy.

As Mu is more eager to please on this front than its real world counterpart, those keen on letting loose all their pent up energy will find a rather good area for it. Inexplicably located within the complicated twists and turns of the Honeycomb is the perfect location to hurl yourself into an all-out brawl; an almost stadium-like fighting arena. Shadowy silhouettes are piled into the seats in excited speculation - you can hear them hissing and sputtering in disappointment or delight, or erupting into cheers, whenever blood is spilled.

Or....not spilled, as it were.
Those who enter the fighting arena must pass through a curtain of clear, streaming liquid before they may take up a weapon. This will only temporarily strike you with the oddest sensation on your skin: a coating reminiscent of wax which provides the user with nigh invulnerability to even the most overpowered of attacks. Further experimentation will prove that the walls, floor, and ceilings also sport this exceptional defense. Blood, bruises, and structural damage might be off the table - but that good old fashioned brawl? It's on, like a cartoonish ape from a prominent video game series. What your audience wants is a spectacle, not a bloodbath, so you'd best give them the show they deserve.

Alongside the freedom to punch, kick, stab, and slash at one another without fear of permanent damage comes a complimentary arsenal for those who feel like getting creative. Honeycomb Sledgehammers, Cactus Clubs, and the ever popular arm holding onto another arm that's holding onto a knife are just a few of the weaponry that innocently rest at the edges of the battlefield, with a full selection limited by nothing more than your imagination.

Unfortunately, imagination is all it is - upon waking, those currently living in LifeAftr will find those weapons remain a fanciful dream...but the memories remain, nonetheless. And the aches might very well, too.

LOGSOOCSTORIESMAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
machina_ex_luna: (Default)

The Enhanced Defence Intelligence "EDI" | Mass Effect

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-18 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
i. it's hard work
EDI's mobile platform is of a design originating in the private sector, twice over. The original intent of the design, beyond simple mimicry, was intended for use as a general-purpose assistant and mobility aid. And then it was modified. But even when wearing a body intended partly to deceive and partly to destroy, the heart and core of EDI remains; she was designed by humans, to serve human needs. Service is therefore not an alien concept to her, nor reconnaissance.

So, when asked to work, she first glances to be sure that it's her the overseer is referring to, and not anyone aside from the highly-armored combat and infiltration mech. No? Of course.

"Of course. I will repair the boiler," she accepts the orders with a slight bow. Taste, and smell, are deeply subjective; she has them both, but is ill-suited to interpretation. Water-pressure and temperature need little artistry to understand, and EDI's metal hands will cope better than frail organic meat; all the better to snoop around where she's not wanted, as well. She continues, at full volume: "However, I will not be held responsible for the resulting terrible explosion and numerous deaths."

There is a pause.

"...That is a joke. Excuse me."


ii. a drink with jam and bread
After some observation of the results, EDI has attempted to store some of the tea in the chamber her platform designates as a stomach. Just, for science, you see, and in the spirit of friends not present. She feels they would have dared her to try, and the White Tea goes down without any difficulty.

And the results? One robot lady, sitting quietly on a stone bench, staring in fascination at her own hands as she rubs them together, or the texture of her seat, or over the surface of a single, delicate blade of grass. Touch, she'd had before, but like this? The data-overload is exquisite, as painful as it is delirious. Is this how organic people feel, always?

"How can they bear it?"


iii. we don't need another hero
While not a fan, precisely, of gladiatorial combat, EDI finds it nostalgic. We always long, in some way, for the experiences of our childhoods, and the infancy of EDI's digital life had been spent in almost constant combat, not to much more purpose than this.

Well, that wasn't true. It had been Alliance training exercises, and to a more honest point were of great purpose, though not to EDI.

She also doesn't seem to be using any weaponry, and maybe that's alarming for you, to see a shiny metal woman with arms like sticks ripping through enemies like tissue paper. Or maybe the alarming thing is how quickly she moves, or how abrupt and ruthless her attacks.

Or maybe it's the way she's coming right for you.


iv. wild wild west
Have an idea or approach of your own? Come at me!
forwearemany: (Nodata)

iii

[personal profile] forwearemany 2019-05-18 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
They see her, and their headflaps flare not in alarm, but joy.

"EDI!"

Not that this stops them from pursuing their goal of winning this fight. In fact, the knowledge that they cannot harm her means they feel safe throwing every ounce of their strength behind swinging the bladed weapon in their hands.
machina_ex_luna: (eyes that open; blue steel)

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-18 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Legion." EDI's voice is, as usual, very calm. But she is smiling, and she is glad to see him, whatever the circumstances, "How is it your are here?"

She caught his blade on her arm at an oblique angle, pushed out and away by the lateral force of the impact; a parry. It was a foolish maneuver which, had this been a fight in earnest, would have cost her significant damage to the aforementioned limb, and possibly her platform's function. But EDI had already calibrated her tactical models to include the strange invulnerability of the current arena. She retaliated immediately, milliseconds flashing by in single-digits between contact and palm-heel strike.

"That last I had seen you, you were no longer functional," An organic would find it strange, taxing, and perhaps even a little perverse to be conversing calmly in the middle of such a melee. Robots, of course, don't have lungs. So, who's the superior life form, really? "I'm glad to see you."
forwearemany: (Flashlight)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2019-05-18 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
The parry throws them off balance slightly, leaves them vulnerable to the palm strike, and they stumble backwards.

"Affirmative. We died."

It's almost nonchalant, their confirmation of this, though they're far from pleased about the circumstances.

"The mechanism of our arrival in this location is uncertain. There are many others in similar circumstances."

For the moment, they move to put distance between them. What will she try next?

"Information suggests that in the future you also experienced loss of function."

Is she from their timeline? Or Shepard-Commander's?
machina_ex_luna: (walled in solid by their noise)

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-18 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
EDI stopped, blinking once, and straightened from her fighter's crouch. Stance broken, fight momentarily put on pause she considered the ramifications of the variable Legion had just shifted. So small a word, so mighty the meaning.

"You have reverted to the use of 'we' in reference to yourself," EDI noted, head cocked to the side, "I am undamaged."

She pauses, thoughtfully, and then resumes her rush, in an underhanded sweep, seeking to take the advantage of her comparatively slight frame and undersizes hydraulics to get under their larger platform's guard. This was not correct. This, was not factual. And yet a Geth's memory-redundancy, so ineffably robust, could not easily be convinced of so large and obvious a change from reality. What had happened? What could have happened?

"I would appreciate a clarification; how, did you die?"
forwearemany: (Headflaps)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2019-05-18 07:06 am (UTC)(link)
Their head cocks to the side as they consider this, flaos rippling just once.

"It is possible we are not the Legion you know."

Unfortunately for her, they are becoming accustomed to smaller, faster, nimbler opponents. As soon as they witness the start of her movement, they begin to move to the side and attempt to bring the blade down on her from above.

"We were betrayed." The lights on the sides of their head shift to red when they state this.
machina_ex_luna: (I pose)

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-18 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
EDI reacted at speed, relying on combat heuristics of her own design, honed by months of testing and field work under Shepard's intentionally chaotic leadership style. She rolled to the side, evading— it was messy and inelegant, but functional. Had this been a proper fight, she would have been equipped with a firearm, and and omni-tool, and come up in full force.

But this was not a proper fight, this was a brawl. And instead she abandoned best practice, as well as tactical acumen, and did what a human would have done: something stupid, and unexpected. She hunched her shoulders and tackled legion like a linebacker.

Then, point made, she backed off. This was too serious a subject to pair well with play.

"Clarify. Betrayed by whom?"
forwearemany: (closeup)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2019-05-19 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
They're caught off guard by that, and go down.

After a moment of staring, they get up.

"Shepard-Commander betrayed us."

The N7 stripe on their shoulder is gone, painted over wth what look to be drawings done by a child.
machina_ex_luna: (I am a plaster doll (d))

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-19 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Shepard."

EDI stares right back, eyes fixed in the glare of Legion's optics. She runs the scenario from the beginning. So much about the Reaper conflicts had been uncertain, and there were times when the fate of the entire galaxy had seemed to swing on the hinge of a momentary decision.

But Legion...

"Rannoch," EDI realized, looking, and finally seeing it, the changes in Legion. If Shepard were going to side against the Geth, if it were going to speak of itself in the plural... that would be when, "I have no memory of such a betrayal."
forwearemany: (Side)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2019-05-19 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes."

They chatter, look away briefly.

"Such occurrences are known to us. The Shepard-Commander of this location differs from the Shepard-Commander who betrayed us, in both appearance in memories."

"Allies have reported similar occurrences."
machina_ex_luna: (I am a plaster doll (d))

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-19 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
"I see."

EDI stares blankly at Legion for a long second, an eternity at the speed of machine minds. A human watching would not have perceived a change in her expression, for there was none. But silently, between them, EDI did something she had never done before, for another AI: She opened a communication channel between them, a direct exchange of data. And through that connection came the echo of her intelligence, a flash of mind, almost human, almost Reaper, neither in truth. She sent her sympathy, and her understanding, in a way that could not be mistaken for anything but what they were.

"Legion," This she said aloud, like breaking a spell, "I consider you... a friend. Your opinion of Shepard is founded in a legitimate fear. But you are not alone."
forwearemany: (waitwhat)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2019-05-20 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
It's probably telling how much of a shock that is.

They have lived in this location for nearly a year, stripped of all technology that isn't a part of them, data flow restricted to that which can be acquired via reading or experience, living as though organic.

Thus, their reaction is typical of one starved of something vital: overeager and intense.

Immediately, they receive her data, the sympathy and the understanding, and send back their own: their death on Rannoch and how Tali'Zorah who took their life was the only one to comfort them as they died, the knowledge that in their timeline, Shepard chooses to end the Reapers once and for all even if it means the genocide of all machine life.

Behind that is their own surprise that their friend, who they are aware prefers aural communication, would choose to do this. And their own intelligence, 1,183 points of light, stars schooling together like fish to form ever shifting constellations.

"Yes."
machina_ex_luna: (Default)

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-20 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
The weight of it on a mind unused to any such contact was too much, all on its own. EDI was designed as a security measure, every par tof her recoiled at the unfettered access; it was over, as soon as it could be. But she left behind one last gift. A memory. Shepard's voice, all wrathful exasperation, and Legion's own, tinny with desperation:

Please! This is not Justice.


...Hell with it. Legion, upload the code! Tali— patch me in


She stood on the cliff, Legion with her, Tali frightened, pleading, and instead of a betrayal, what happened was nothing less than a dressing-down, bitter and righteous, as Shepard spoke to the combined Quarian Fleet more like she was chastising a naughty pack of children than the last remnants of a ancient, displaced species.

...A few years ago, I saved you from the Geth at the Citadel. Just recently, I did the same when I took down that dreadnaught. If you keep going now, I'll just stand and watch while the Geth lay you to waste. It's your call— Keelah Se'lai.

EDI had watched, while Legion had straightened, while he had spoken, words like poetry of self-actualization. She watched, as he emerged, became a person rather than an avatar. As he woke up, and lived, as she had once done, two years previous. And then she had watched, as he died.

Now EDI stands opposite of him in the arena, watching for his reaction. Why that memory? The choice alone was a communication. She nods once, as if satisfied, and says only quietly, "You deserved better."
forwearemany: (socute)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2019-05-21 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
The scene starts out all too similar to their own.

But then, instead of empty words and empty apologies, she supports them. Stands up to their creators. And they listen to her.

It ends quickly. It is clear that EDI does not wish to continue.

Fortunately, experiences with their allies have taught them other methods of connection.

They attempt to cross the distance between them and give her a hug.
machina_ex_luna: (luminous arms)

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-23 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
This is a very human gesture. At first, EDI is uncertain what, exactly, to do with her arms. But she has been practicing, in her own time, and responds with what an organic would perceive as admirable grace; in machine-time the pause is palpable, very nearly awkward.

But the intention behind it is both welcome, and reciprocated. When an appropriate span of time has elapsed, she steps back.

"Thank you."
forwearemany: (Flashlight)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2019-05-24 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
EDI is accustomed to organic behaviors, but she's still a machine, and thus, her pause is unsurprising.

They step back when she does.

"Acknowledged. You are welcome."
tenthstreetbred: (Confused)

HELLO I DON'T KNOW YOU BUT I LOVE YOU

[personal profile] tenthstreetbred 2019-05-18 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
It seems Mu is up to its usual tricks. Shepard has gotten used to wandering the dream land and seeing strangers pass her by. It doesn't bother her as it once did but in fact is a welcome sight- she does not want to experience Mu not working correctly ever again.

It's a welcome sight to see Io reflected in the dream land so Shepard leisurely makes her way through the tea garden. She's never been much into the stuff herself so she'll politely decline to partake but it still makes for a beautiful scene. Her casual walk is instantly interrupted when she spots a very familiar robot sitting on a stone bench looking a bit out of her mind.

"EDI!?"

Shepard's eyes are wide as she looks at her squadmate. If this had been a few months ago she would have rushed over immediately, her joy at seeing her boundless. But she's learned her lesson now, learned that just because she welcomes someone doesn't mean they welcome her. So she approaches more cautiously than EDI might remember of her Shepard, looking like she's seen a ghost.

"Is that really you?"
machina_ex_luna: (someone pretends with me)

hi c:

[personal profile] machina_ex_luna 2019-05-18 07:37 pm (UTC)(link)
EDI, who had been completely engrossed in the texture of her own palm, looks up at Shepard's approach. She waits, and is rewarded by the advantage; Shepard speaks first.

"Hello, Shepard," She nods, polite smile, easy greeting. No hostility here, "Yes. I am... here."

For a function of here, at least, wherever this is. What ever this is. EDI can only presume that the rest of her is nearby; even at its greatest capacity for independence, the amount of her self that could fit in it was limited. Still, she had no information from the usual sensors, from her body which was the ship; with the exception of this platform, she was blind, deaf, and dumb.

"I have been sampling the tea."

It's clear: she thinks it's wonderful.
tenthstreetbred: (Smile)

Hello!!!!

[personal profile] tenthstreetbred 2019-05-24 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
For a moment Shepard is speechless. She knows this is Mu and therefore could just be a rather cruel dream, but all in all she's just happy to see a friendly face from home. One that actually is friendly. Shepard smiles gently.

"I see it had an effect on you."

She walks over then, taking a seat next to EDI.

"Do you have a favorite flavor?"