TEST DRIVE MEME ( 023 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

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.

---

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[barnaculled]

[ It's probably the most Fjord's said in a while, but the strange shit he's seen so far has also made him excited to share thoughts and opinions with his friend. Beau's someone he can count on to be both level-headed ( for the most part ) and an unrepentant jock with him, so he's keen to hear what she has to offer him, even if he does think she's a figment of his dreaming subconscious.

And well, he's certainly not expecting what she has to offer! Both brows arch - surprised, skeptical, intrigued - enough the silvery scar above the one wrinkles from a 't' to a 'T'. ]

No shit?

And you uh... Have you seen this 'god' yourself?

[lesbeau]

[It's a little bit funny to watch his reaction, a grin she can't prevent over her face. She knew that would get him, because it certainly got her.]

I know, right? It's fuckin' weird. No, there's like--

[She makes a sweeping sort of gesture out towards the horizon.]

There's like a shitton of islands out here, and most of 'em just has a god sitting on it doing some dumb shit. I had a dog yell at me to fix a fence and then pay me in fruit it grew outta the ground in like 2 seconds. Nothing about anything makes sense.

[And frankly, Beau is really good at rolling with stuff like this when it doesn't make sense? So here she is doing it, just shrugging at her own explanation.]

Dunno. Guess this place didn't have any big god fight. Or we're dead, but that doesn't seem like, right.

[barnaculled]

[ Stupidly, Fjord turns his head about to where she directs with her gesture, finding himself rewarded with just another look at the arena and the stands instead of islands or bee gods. Back to Beau. The half-orc displays his own ability to roll with shit, folding his arms across his chest and 'mmhm'ing along with the serious expression of someone being given a totally legit run-down and not some story about fruit dogs.

He only rears his head and shoulders back slightly when Beau offers up the possibility of being dead. ]

Well I certainly hope the fuck not! I mean I know we were in kinda dire straits for a while there, but Caleb put up that dome of his and you two were sittin' watch before I PTFO'd. That thing's supposed to be indestructible.

[ He gives a sniff, turning his head back to the weapon's rack to consider what looks like a giant, plucked chicken. ]

Nah. This is a dream.

[lesbeau]

[She snorts, frankly having no idea what he's talking about but still finding a way to agree with it.]

Yeah, probably. Lots of weird shit happens with those around here too.

[And once again, just Doesn't Fucking Elaborate. It doesn't matter if this is a dream, right? He's not here, what does he have to understand about the place?]

Soooo if it's all fake... you wanna go a round?

[This time, Beau's thumb jab to the arena should be obvious.]

If it's just for fun and bragging rights, y'know.

[barnaculled]

[ The lack of correction or extra detail certainly goes a long way to making Fjord feel more comfortable where he is. The 'offer' that comes is very Beau in his mind, even if the aforementioned mind balks at the idea. Outwardly, he tilts his head. ]

Hell... If this is a dream, I might actually stand a chance.

[ Fjord gives a crooked little smile, eyes casting over the armory on offer. ]

Weapons or hand to hand?

[lesbeau]

[It's probably the most normal thing around here, Beau ignoring any and all weird shit and instead opting for something fun. Really, she's just accepted there's very little she can do at this point, and when in Rome, do... well, whatever.]

I guess we could go with weapons, if you're really hankering for something. But you gotta pick the dumbest looking one.

[She's only here for dumb shit in this dream. Hence why she's looking at the linked arms with a knife. It's so stupid. She loves it.]

What they really want is a show out there.