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aftr_ooc2019-05-16 08:53 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in 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:
In conjunction with our monthly Test Drive Meme, Reserves are now open! Applications will open on April 24th!
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.
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.So take care which of these blends you sample. Some of these effects might even stack, which can really ruin your day.
[ ♆ ] 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.
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.
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.
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
but of course you did
At this point, Fjord's slouched back against the wall to chin-deep in the hot water and rubbing at his sore arms, on the way to something like peace through practiced ignorance of everyone else around him. He only looks over because Molly gets in so close to him he can't help but want to clock a potential threat to his personal bubble. Once he looks, he can't stop staring. Gone might be the typical accoutrements, but the holes, the scars, and the ink remain the same.
Mollymauk Tealeaf, alive again if only for a dream.
Fjord wasn't there when Molly was killed, nor when he was buried. Those red rocks in his horns may well be from the soil of the Glory Run - it's what he thinks they might be symbolic of, anyway. His guilt has never left him, after all, so it makes sense his mind would adorn the man in such as a reminder of how Fjord failed him. Then the tiefling looks at him with those blood red eyes and, in saying his name, effectively throws a snare around the half-orc's heart. His breath hitches, more from the pain of it than anything. In a way the internal constriction is nearly as bad as the bone-crushing coils of his patron. This is the part where he'd wakes up, now that the ache of it has hit the ceiling.
Outwardly, Molly can witness Fjord gaping at him open-mouthed like a dumb-struck fool. ]
M-Molly...
[ Just saying it springs tears to his eyes and spilling over his cheeks, weak as his voice is. They don't have long to fall before Fjord's immediately just dipping his head underwater, disappearing from view for a second or so; it's such a sudden reaction one might almost worried he was yanked under by something else.
But a second passes and Fjord's sitting back up, having used the moment to get his feet under him so he could properly push himself back upright and onto the seating ledge. He expects to wake up from the water, but he doesn't. He expects Molly to no longer be there when, after a gasp of air, he brushes his hair out of his face ( the sides have almost fully grown in now, having not been tended to for months ). But he is.
Fjord's face and hair drips with water he doesn't try to wipe away as he stares at Molly. He looks stricken, brow furrowed and lips thin. He doesn't know what to do or say to the specter for a moment, but then figures Molly must be here for a reason. ]
Hey... What're you doin' here?
[ Fjord inquires, his tone as befuddled and gentle as someone being woken up from a heavy sleep. ]
u know me
Shock. Tears. Grief. He hates it; he doesn't want to be the cause of their sorrow. (It hurts to see them this way, but how could he say that when they hurt so much more?)
When Fjord comes up from under the water, Molly has moved closer. Not so annoyingly - so Mollymauk - close as he would if this was just another Nein bath time moment, but fairly intimate. Nobody else needed to see this. It wasn't their reunion. ]
Hey.
[ Great, he's the best at this. What is he supposed to say? Hi, I'm still dead, just trapped here? Thanks for taking my blade, that was a good call? Did you guys ever stop being pirates or should I call you Captain now? ]
Just having a soak after a busy day. It's a nice dream, isn't it?
[ He doesn't want Fjord to be trapped here with the rest of them. It was a dangerous, shitty place that liked to torture them... but it was nice to see another familiar face, at the same time.
Sighing, Molly moves to slide in next to the half-orc and runs his hand through his own, slightly longer hair. Better just treat it as a dream and let Fjord process it that way. If he somehow didn't end up here later, then maybe it was a just a good night's sleep for him.
Talking to ghosts.]
You look scruffy. Yasha didn't shave you?
no subject
Now that he realizes he's not waking up any time soon, Fjord's immediate priority is getting a grip on himself. His heart's throbbing at a heavy, aching tempo, but the pain of the initial shock is fading with every consciously measured breath he's now taking. Perhaps Molly will feel grateful - a slip of his composure was beyond the former sailor's control, but he's not about to start bawling or shouting, not about to fling himself onto his lost friend or anything else that could be seen as a perfectly natural reaction. That isn't the type of person Fjord is, not the sort of man he's survived to be; his feelings clot in his chest on instinct now and he resigns himself to work on soothing down the seams. ]
I... suppose.
[ The half-orc looks almost as lost as he feels, expression soft and vulnerable. Molly's been dead longer now than Fjord's ever known him and he's forgotten how to act around his old friend. Fuck, he's surprised this 'figment' of the tiefling seems to sport even a remote resemblance to Molly's accent and voice; he'd been sure he'd forgotten that too.
The question sparks a bittersweet tug at one corner of his lips. ]
She hasn't offered. Did Caleb twice now, though, and the last time he looked lucky she didn't hit an artery. So I'm not certain I mind.
[ There's a slosh as his hand rises from the water to self-consciously begin coaxing the sides back behind his ears. ]
Does it look bad?
no subject
This was a lot calmer. Fjord's reaction was calmer, too - even if the way he breathed was a sign that he wasn't as composed as he seemed. Molly can't blame him. If the hair growth is any hint, it's been a long, long time since he last saw Fjord.
Maybe longer than they've known each other. What a strange ghost he must be. ]
No, it looks good. Fluffy.
[ It's not a lie. It was kind of new to see, but not a bad look in general. The fact that Caleb keeps using Yasha as a barber is kind of adorable, though, but he knows it isn't for everyone. ]
It's been a while, hasn't it? I've heard a bit about your adventures. [ He chuckles slightly, leaning back against the pool wall. ] Captain Tusktooth, huh?
[ It aches, knowing he's missed so much. Molly hit the ground running away from the fact that he was dead when he arrived on the islands, and just kept going. Meeting like this told him clearly how much time has passed, though.
That's something you're not supposed to know when you're dead. ]
no subject
Nothin' like bein' put on the spot to inspire ingenuity... or reveal a lack thereof.
[ Indeed, those who had met Captain Tusktooth had been mystified to learn that he did not, in fact, sport any visible tusks. He still doesn't - possibly because of what he does next, which is lower the hand from his hair in order to trace his lower lip and then absent-mindedly pick at one of his tusks with the black nail of the index finger. The tusks are longer, Molly might notice, but not yet long enough to escape his mouth; unsurprisingly, they also have a few chips near the top.
At first he's surprised that Molly knows about 'Captain Tusktooth', but then his mind reminds him that this is his dream. Of course Dream Molly knows what he knows. ]
I can't tell you how fuckin' glad I am to have that name behind me for the foreseeable future. The whole thing was one giant shit-show.
[ And all he had to show for it is a spell someone ( probably Nott ) had gleefully pointed out the clerics could essentially do just for loving gods that didn't ask them to unleash an apocalypse in return.
Fjord turns his head slightly back, peeking one yellow eye out at Molly. ]
But... No offense, I wish you'd been there. In some ways I suppose you were. I brought that sword you were so damn proud of gettin' with me. You'd never even seen the ocean before, had ya?
no subject
Well, it certainly is ironic, if anything. It would also make people uncomfortable to question it, which I can respect.
[ He can appreciate the weird but quick thinking, honestly. Still, seeing Fjord pick at his tusks makes him wonder just what they would look like if they actually grew out (and how interesting wasn't it that tusks continued to grow, unlike teeth?)
Dream Molly knows a lot of things. He doesn't actually know that much about Uk'otoa (Uk'otoa), though, just that they were pirates and that they had some weird fucking adventures.
Leaning back a bit, Molly smirks as Fjord peeks at him, and then chuckles slightly under his breath as the sword is mentioned. If Fjord came to the islands, would that mean there were three Summer's Dance, all of the sudden? ]
That's sweet, Captain. I hope it's served you well. [ There's no sarcasm there, surprisingly. ] ...and no. I never had. Sounds like you guys saw a hell of a lot of it, though.
[ He never saw the ocean until he got here, but he's not gonna mention that. It was easier to focus on the M9 shenanigans. ]
no subject
Being called sweet sends another flush of embarrassment through him, albeit a different flavor than the last. He considers himself an idiot for saying it... but then again, this is just a dream. There are no consequences. The lack of mockery in Molly's tone helps as well. Fjord gives a little sigh, shifting his arm to comb his hand through his hair once more on the way to rubbing at his neck. ]
Indeed. More than enough for everyone involved, I'd imagine.
[ There's a bit of a grumble to his tone, eyes dropping to the water that envelops them. He takes another second or so before he looks back up at the tiefling. ]
How... How've you been gettin' on?
[ The moment it's out of his mouth, Fjord feels stupid. What's he expecting his dream to tell him? That death is serving Molly well? That he doesn't blame Fjord for it?
No. Knowing his mind, that's not what it's likely to offer him. ]
no subject
There's definitely a bit of bittersweetness in the thought of missing his chance to see the ocean together with the Mighty Nein, but he's grateful to have experienced it here. The only plus side of Fjord possibly being stuck in this hellscape with them was that someone knew how to drive a boat, so maybe they could finally either steal the precious 'never use this or we might lose it' boat here or make their own.
He wants his friends out of here before they're faced with more trials that fuck you up, thank you.
The question about how he's been getting on is a bit surprising, because how does he bullshit out of that without arousing suspicion... or fuck Fjord up even more when he finds out it's just a lie? ]
It's... not all it was promised when I first heard of the Moonweaver, but it works. Could have been more peeping, but you guys don't make enough moonlight trysts for me to watch.
[ Close enough? Maybe. Stupid enough? Definitely. ]
no subject
Bittersweet is right. After all the hard work he's done in this dream, Fjord can't help hoping this downtime with a long lost friend lasts half as long. Sure, it's a little awkward since he's naked, but there's water and steam to help cover that and besides, Molly's probably seen all of him at one point or another during their time of being roommates. Gods know he's seen Molly.
Anyway, he's pleasantly surprised when his dream Molly doesn't immediately start dunking on him with should've-could've-would've things, but offers him a somewhat honest response. Fjord's blush darkens at 'moonlight trysts' even if his neutral pokerface stays intact. ]
Fuck, that's not all the afterlife is, is it? Watchin' the livin'?
no subject
He had to invest in a curtain for the M9 shack because Beau saw his dick one to many times and Molly started to fear for his bits. (The idea that he should wear smalls to bed wasn't even entertained.)
Leaning his head back to wet his hair in the warm water, the shift makes Molly's tail stick out of the hot water like a little sea creature. He gives a sigh, and it's hard to tell if it is content or strained. ]
No. That's just Moonweaver stuff. I think it depends on where you go.
[ There's something hard in his chest, tightening like a vice around his lungs. This is a really, really shit lie, isn't it? He doesn't know anything about afterlives. He doesn't even know anything about death, really, even if he's died twice. Molly just remembers pain and the snow falling. His last breath creating a little cloud in the cold air.
Then he woke up on the islands. ]
Tell me more about your adventures, Captain.
[ Make it a nice dream. A good dream. A happy dream. ]
no subject
And ridiculously, despite thinking you're a ghost and a dream, still feels the need to tailor the truth. Fjord 'hmm's, allowing his head to loll into the crook of the elbow settled on the side of the tub and the hand attached to the aforementioned arm to musingly scratch at an itch behind his upturned, pointed ear. His eyes follow the path of that lilac shark fin of a tail. ]
Which one would you like to hear? The time Caleb almost killed us all? The time Nott definitely did kill our cleric? The sea witch of the Diver's Grave? How we got into Xhorhas? Oh, and there was the one occasion we fought a dragon, I suppose...
no subject
Molly's tail makes a little swish in the water, creating a small ripple. It's a lazy sort of movement, something the half-orc must have seen during many nights of dumb discussions at shit-o-clock.
The red eyes peer at Fjord, slowly widening as he keeps describing their shenanigans. He wants to call bullshit at once, but what does he know? The Mighty Nein were really good at getting in trouble.
Something setting Caleb off? He'd been expecting that eventually. Nott killing one of them? Yeah, that was possible as well - and it sounded like the other cleric and not Jester, because Fjord wouldn't have said it like that. Molly knew about the sea adventures, so hearing about sea witches wasn't that surprising... and the knows that someday, Yasha will be drawn back to Xhorhas.
He's just glad she has friends by her side.
A dragon, though? ]
If you're not playing me, I wanna hear about the dragon. How did w-you fuck up that badly?