The Mods of LifeAftr (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
aftr_ooc2019-06-16 07:50 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in aftr_ooc2019-06-16 07:50 pm
Entry tags:
A NEW WORLD COMING ( 024 )
A New World Coming
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 June 24th!
Two important notes:
In the meantime, feel free to refer to our usual rules regarding the TDM. All prompts are miniature versions of events that have transpired in the past. You may visit any of the links provided if you're interested in additional information.
In conjunction with our monthly Test Drive Meme, Reserves are now open! Applications will open on June 24th!
1. LifeAftr's test drives take place on the island of Mu, which is always watching. Do not panic. Do not panic. Do not panic. Do not panic. Do not panic. Do not panic. Do not panic. Do not
2. Due to the nature of Mu, threads in our test drive can not only be accepted as thread samples in your application, but are the game. You cannot choose who you are in this world. You cannot change fate. You cannot change fate. You cannot change fate.
And It's Just Around The Bend
The whole world is ending.
Beneath you, the first rays of a new sun slink across the ice-coated ground, sending whirls of steam curling up into the air. Everything will eventually be reborn to the way it was, much like the sun itself. At the very edges of the island, shadowy creatures that appear to have crept out of the darkest recesses of your mind mill about on the ocean shores, eager to avoid the burning eyes of the sun.
Of course, that's all happening a very, very long way down. Miles below you, in fact. The ground below is still cast in perpetual dark, while the sky itself is sunlit and dazzling.
As fingers of new light creep out across the horizon and ignite the air with a soft, daylit warmth, you find yourself sky high on one of many floating islands that shift and change within your presence. The landscape of these islands is extremely malleable, and not just in a general sense. Each island you make contact with will begin to "mold" itself to you, attempting to reformat its landscape to appear as a place that you desire to see again. Somewhere important. Somewhere comforting. A memory. While it cannot recreate people or exact circumstances, it can imitate landscapes and buildings, or make the nearest attempt to do so.
In short, you'd better run. Run, while there is still ground beneath your feet.
The world is ending around you - and if you're not fast enough, you'll end alongside it, namely by plunging a long, long way down earth. If the fall doesn't kill you, the hungry, burning eyes of the dark shadows lumped below very well may.
There's A New Voice Calling
The Trial of Orpheus is a very particular practice performed by one group of LifeAftr's inhabitants, residing on the draconian civilization settled on the island of Ai'tuoh. Enacted only upon those who break one of Ai'tuoh's many laws, it requires those convicted to pass into the Standing Water - a slumbering city of lost souls.
A city you've just arrived in.
The first thing you’ll likely feel is the crushing, biting, bone-deep chill, paired with the sensation of falling down some great, fathomless abyss. No jolt or sudden impact awaits you, however. Instead, your fall will slow, even out, as though your personal gravity is reorienting itself, and you’ll find yourself blinking awake in...Ai'tuoh.
Or rather, in a very strange version of it - what can only be described as a dark, colorless mirror of the city of Ai'tuoh. The buildings loom darkly overhead, their edges strangely irresolving, as though being peered at through ripples of water.
Your only hope is the connections you make with others. Be it emotional or physical, positive or negative, this journey requires you to remain part of a pair, talking, hand-holding, even carrying each other through the city as you seek out the means to escape. The pervading sense of exhaustion that grips your bones almost seems core to the city itself, and the longer you remain, the more that lethargy will sink into you. There will be nothing more tempting than simply lying down and closing your eyes...but you have to keep moving. Do you understand? You have to keep moving, because if you don't, there really won't be any saving you.
The most definitive way out is a bright strand of color that winds through the abyss, vibrant red and almost threadlike, gradually ascending upward into a glimmer of light. Find someone to connect to, hold onto that guiding thread tightly, and whatever you do, do not let go.
Or you risk sinking into that endless slumber, possibly for good.
You Can Hear It If You Try
Of course, if you'd prefer to relax within your dreams, the white-picketed community of Ziziphus may be precisely what you're looking for. An idyllic town located on a fairly remote island of LifeAftr, Ziziphus comes with all your modern amenities - electricity, cars, showers. Here, you can spend your evenings watching the television, tucking in your kids or playing drinking games with your roommates. And in the morning, it's time to meet the day, whether work, study, or housework awaits you. Why, it's the perfect picture of textbook suburbia, from the neat squares of well-manicured lawns to the incontrovertibly cheerful sound of the newspaper thwacking against the doorstep each morning.
Sorry - you've never had this job before? You don't have kids, or even want them? Of course you have, silly - you've been here for the last five years. You've gone to the same school since you became old enough to study. In fact...you've been living here your whole life.
Is that wrong? Of course it isn't. There's nothing wrong here. There's nothing wrong here. There's nothing wrong here.
Right?
If you think too hard about this eerily cheerful life, about how you technically shouldn't even know what "electricity" is, or about any of the inconsistencies that run counter to the life you thought you had...well, don't think too hard about it. Don't think about the creeping scent of rot that swarms up into your nostrils should those awful thoughts ever cross your mind. Don't start asking questions, posing innocent queries to the perfect smiles perpetually stamped across the faces of your friends and neighbors and children who carry out their daily routines with all the soulless efficiency of wind-up toys. Don't start thinking about how, if you dwell too much on the uncanny nature of this neighborhood, it starts to feel like you can't...quite...breathe...
Oh, god. You have to get out of here. You - you have to not think about it. You have to not think about it, so don't. So don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.
Everything, and everyone, is precisely as they should be.
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
no subject
You can't fuck- well, no, you can fuck a demon, if they make the effort to have all the right bits. [He makes a face, because honestly, he doesn't want to think about literally any other demon having sex. Disgusting.] But we don't reproduce.
[That sure was a "we" right there.]
no subject
Well, I have heard you can just do demonic deals to get some tieflings in your family later on, but most of the time people just assume there was fucking?
[ He doesn't know, honestly. He's just repeating what people have told him. ]
Then again, it might just be different worlds again. [ There's a lazy shrug. ] I'm from Exandria. We have dragons?
no subject
Sounds like a load of rubbish. Dragons, honestly, what will they think of next.
[He sounds very petulant for someone as old as he is, but it isn't an outright rebuttal. He just needs time to think.]
I'm from, well- [Now there's a question. Crowley makes a face again, or his petulant expression just shifts into one that's more confused. His face just kind of never stops doing things.] I live on Earth?
then I was sick for 2000 years
[ It's cute, that petulant vibe. 'Cute' was a lot less fire and brimstone that he was imagining a moment ago. Not about to let his guard down, though. Fiends were wily things - he should know. ]
Welcome to the exciting dream of torture island, the very best place to have existential discussions while the world is falling apart around you.
oh no honey
[Although he hadn't technically been responsible for naming them, God had decided to leave that up to the humans. Crowley had given them names anyway, in a language he no longer remembers.
That probably isn't super important.]
Torture, great, sounds real familiar. [He's pretty sure he's already endured the worst pain a being can endure, while Falling. What's the worst this place could do?] Any idea how we get down?
good now!
[ He has no idea if this guy is for real or just fucked up (who knew in this place?), but stars were special to him. The moon was. Molly glances up a bit, but all he can see is the light and not the soft glow of his Goddess.
Underneath his feet, the ground cracks. ]
Ah. Well, I'm not sure if 'down' is any safer than here. Just... just try to stay alive until we wake up.
well that's good at least
[Unlike a particular angel who'll go on and on about anything the second he's given a chance, there are cards that Crowley likes to play closer to his chest.
Also, the island they're standing on is falling apart, and that seems the more pressing concern. He glances at Molly, then back at the ground, and sort of rolls his shoulders in a lazy shrug. His wings might help, but he isn't sure if he wants to carry a stranger.
None of this makes much sense, honestly, but then what part of his life does?]
There's got to be something to do, I'm not standing around waiting to fall. Is there a trick to waking up?
[Crowley doesn't super enjoy deferring to someone else, but if they've got the experience he's not going to be stupid and waste that knowledge.]
no subject
[ He waves his hand almost dismissively, as if he's not serious and just being 'polite'. He understands that people have shit they don't want to discuss, and there's no Zone of Truth to force anything. Lucky bastard, honestly.
Molly dances off another crack, ending up right next to Crowley. ]
I'm fairly sure you can't force it. You just wake up in your bed or in the water on the islands. The latter is a bitch, so hope you don't end up trapped here.
[ A piece breaks off just in front of them and Molly hisses, stepping back even more. ]
...I sure don't like this shit, either.
no subject
[Things Crowley would like to do: have a big dramatic tantrum about how stupid this all is, because it'd make him feel better about how powerless he is right now. But that's not productive, and anyway, he mostly saves his dramatics for Aziraphale.
Instead, he satisfies himself with a dramatic sigh and offers a hand out to Molly, in the same moment as he unfurls his wings.]
Come on, maybe there's a good view higher up. Anything's better than staying here at this rate.
[He could leave Molly to his fate, but that's not quite who Crowley is.]
no subject
Fun parties aside. ]
Tell me about it, it already ruined far too many important things to me.
[ Makeup and incense. No, really.
...then there are wings, and Molly shuts up with a click of fangs. He doesn't look scared, though, just surprised. Eyeing the dark feathers, he reaches out to take Crowley's hand. ]
I have a friend you just have to meet if you end up here.
[ That's his only comment, and the tiefling steadies his grip. Please fly with him, that sounds amazing. ]
no subject
Crowley gets a grip on Molly's hand just as the rest of the ground falls out beneath them; his wings stretch out, perfectly capable of taking the weight of two people. It's all magic, anyway, his flight isn't propelled by things like aerodynamics. It is a little awkward, though, he doesn't want to just dangle Molly beside him, so after a brief second, and a warning of:]
This is stupid, lemme— [He simply lifts the tiefling higher and gets an arm around his waist to hold him closer. Demons are considerably stronger than humans, and it's not as if Molly is especially bulky, so it's not really any issue. It's like holding a bag of grapes. Still a bit awkward! But that's about ninety percent because Crowley isn't used to touching people.]
This friend of yours, they're not a demon, are they?
[That would be... bad.]
no subject
[ It's a very weird and somewhat clumsy repositioning, but Molly's not known to shut his mouth in awkward situations. Especially not in awkward situations. It's a good thing he's not too heavy and used to acrobatics, but it's still a bit uncomfortable to be hanging like he is. ]
Oh, no. I don't make a habit of consorting with fiends. Rather try to avoid it, really.
[ He says, nonchalantly, like he isn't quite possibly in the arms of one. ]
no subject
This time, there's no actual physical adjustment, Crowley just uses magic to rearrange Molly in his arms. It probably feels a bit odd, but that's what he gets.
A princess carry is clearly the solution to their problems.]
You're doing a bollocks job of it right now, if you can even call this consorting.
no subject
Oh my goodness, I'm saved!
[ Molly's eyes gleam, clearly enjoying the weirdness in the middle of what should maybe be a serious thing?
...nah, fuck serious. ]
Well, first time for everything. I'm very fond of new experiences, and this is rather the opposite of what I'd expected. Almost enjoyable it if wasn't for the bullshit below!
no subject
Don't get too used to it, I'm not a ferry service. [He's just not quite enough of a dick to leave someone to die.] Any idea what I should be looking for up here?
[Speaking of looking, now that he's closer, Molly might be able to see what those sunglasses are hiding, but Crowley isn't especially bothered. The whole demon thing is out in the open, the eyes are just part of that.]
no subject
[ Even so, Molly turns his head a bit to look out over the area with a frown. Where could they go? ]
I don't see anything that looks stable, so maybe down?
[ The eyes do not seem to bother him at all. Between his own fully red ones that glow slightly and the fact that Crowley's kind of look like Fjord when 'normal'-sized, it's just another thing. ]
no subject
[Although "ferry service" would probably suck considerably less than operating as a demon would, since there's no violence or cruelty involved. It'd just be a blow to Crowley's ego and dignity, so maybe not better, actually.]
Down it is, can't be worse than up here.
[It's a long way to go, though, and Crowley would prefer to take the trip slowly, just to help keep his nerves steady.
He should probably try some manners.]
You got a name?
no subject
[ His arm around Crowley's shoulder tightens a bit as they start to descend, because it makes his stomach flip-flop a bit to just go down into the unknown while in the arms of someone he just met and that might be a demon.
There's a lot he likes about new experiences, but he's not stupid. ]
no subject
[Now that he's on steady air, as it were, rather than crumbling ground, he's circling back around to that bit where apparently one of Molly's ancestors did the dirty with a demon. Not that he considers himself related to other demons, mind, and apparently there's this whole other world thing happening. He just thinks it's kinda funny.]
I'm Crowley.
no subject
[ He grins at that, amused despite the fact that he's now 99% sure the guy's a fiend. A funny one, but still. Wiley fuckers, those demons. ]
Crowley. I like it. Very fitting.
[ Molly's thinking of the black feathers at the moment, and not the crawling. ]
no subject
[It's obvious that Molly is a mortal, even if he's got some kinda demonic lineage. Crowley can smell it on him.]
Thanks, picked it myself, actually. The first one I got saddled with was rubbish.
[The second one, technically, but he doesn't remember his angelic name, so there's little point in bringing it up.]
no subject
[ He grins, amused as he tries to look for a good place for them to land. ]
Yeah, I wasn't overly fond of my first name, either. Didn't pick my second one myself, but it's very dear to me.
[ Who names their kid Lucien? It must have been a taken name. ]
no subject
[Words like good and evil, and traitor, those are all very important labels to demons. Crowley doesn't like to give much stock to them, especially not anymore.]
Molly's not bad, could be-- [Crowley stops mid sentence as he catches sight of something in the darkness below, and he brings their descent to a sharp stop. It's hard to make out, but there are eyes and teeth and none of them seem pleasant.] Not sure how well you can see in the dark, but there's something down there that isn't looking friendly.
no subject
[ Obviously not, he can hear that in Crowley's voice. Still, their little chat is rudely interrupted by whatever-the-fuck this is, and Molly sighs. ]
I see it. I wish I didn't, but I do.
[ Molly can't reach his swords like this, as nice as being carried is - but he can try to assess what the fuck they are looking at. It can't reach them this high, right? ]
no subject
[Crowley very much doesn't, something that's obvious in his voice. He isn't much of a fighter, really, and while he could probably stop time around them for a few minutes, that still wouldn't solve any long term problems.]
(no subject)