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aftr_ooc2019-08-16 08:59 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in aftr_ooc2019-08-16 08:59 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 026 )
Test Drive Meme #26
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 August 24th!
Two important notes:
In conjunction with our monthly Test Drive Meme, Reserves are now open! Applications will open on August 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.
Under the Sea
Whilst each island of the archipelago offers a variety of landscapes to explore, nothing contains as much mystery as the ocean itself. In a world that is composed predominantly of water, there is plenty that remains out of reach of any adventure. Rather regrettably, no one truly has a story long enough to uncover it all.
At the least, there's always an opportunity to enjoy what you can. Below the waves, far down on smooth sandbars and coral reefs lit up under the warming light of the sun, silence meets the ears of those who awaken. Buoyancy appears to have no effect on you whatsoever; standing comes as easily as it would on the shoreline, and breathing is surprisingly easy, as if any water that enters your mouth and nostrils simply disperses into air by the time it hits your throat. Those who attempt to swim will find the motions come as easily as if you were floating on air. And the view, of course, is nothing short of splendid.
If you happen to have picked up a few aquatic attributes - gills, scales, fins, or even a mermaid-like fishtail in exchange for legs - that wouldn't be so out of place, would it? It's really quite extraordinary. The transformation is entirely seamless in addition to painless, and can vary quite wildly. Whether it's a shift in complexion, some new tentacle appendages, or webbed feet, you'll find that your body has...shifted to accommodate your new surroundings. Even inorganic or machine-like entities will find that their machinery is now more suited for underwater exploration. The extent of this transformation will vary, as will individual appearance - the only limit is your imagination.
Though attempting to speak will do nothing more than produce a series of useless bubbles, venturing forth with a companion may prove very wise. Encountering a sea creature or five is simply par for the course. Most encounters are likely to be of the more peaceful persuasion, such as schools of tropical fish and kaleidoshells...but some are less pleasant.
And hungry. Be careful where you choose to linger, adventurer. Certain predators such as tigersharks are happy to make a meal of anyone who strays into their waters, and certain caves are surely home to some very large Hydrac. Free in motion as you may be, this is their home, not yours - and they will take full advantage of the ease with which they navigate their turf.
Whiskers on Kittens
The mysteries of the sea are only reflected in the vast landscapes of the archipelago proper, where thick forests hide many creatures from searching eyes for months, or even years. To those with a greater understanding of large ecosystems, the idea of creatures unknown probably isn't at all surprising - after all, there are still so many unanswered questions in regards to the creatures you do know about.
Take the fustercluck, for example. What is a fustercluck? How did it come to be? Can it truly be classified as an animal? Is it sentient, or mindless? Can it make friends? Can it breed?
Can it breed with species completely outside of its own kingdom?
Can a fustercluck produce an unholy amalgamation of cat hair and all-consuming slime?
The answer, unfortunately, is the Myancat.
Less fortunately, they've had a litter of eight.
When hungry, these rotund mounds of cat faces and mewling limbs are exceptionally fierce, exhibiting all the qualities of their larger parental unit. Nothing appears to hurt them, be it sword, flame, or magic, and much unlike your standard fusterclucks, they seem to have no issues in roaming the island of Mu in search of what they want.
Luckily, what they want isn't flesh, though they'll take their unsatisfying fill of it if need be. What they truly want comes from you, deep inside, waiting to be spilled from your lips.
What they crave, above all else, is humor.
Knock knock jokes? Delightful. Puns? Keep 'em coming. A meme or two will certainly appease even the hungriest of Myans, and with every bite of humor bestowed upon them, these bulging felines will slowly shrink down, until they take on the form of a very normal, very happy cat. So put on your clown shoes and step on as many rakes as you can find, because these kitties are starving, and only you can satisfy them.
And for those wondering if these delightful creatures can be tamed...
A roll of 15 or higher will gain you a companion that will last until the dream's end.
I'd Like To Get Off This Wild Ride
On the blissful, bright island of Io, adventurers were given the opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves with a multitude of attractions designed to evoke calm, delight, and even fun. Toward the end of that island's tenure, a sprawling circus covered a significant portion of the landscape.
Mu has chosen to recreate that particular phenomenon today. Beneath the star-studded sky, sprawled out across the beaches of this dream-island, lies a deliriously colorful carnival. Massive tents of all sizes and patterns rear up into the night, illuminated with beads of brightly glowing strings of lights. All manner of amusements can be found here - from rides to games to fabulously sugary food, you're bound to find something of interest.
Be wary, however. Some of these particular attractions are more than what they appear to be. It's not all bad, of course, but it can be a dangerous roulette to play, when you end up somewhere strange and new.
Or perhaps you end up entering the Tunnel of Love, cheap and flimsy as it appears to be. You're going to have to steer yourself through on your own in one of those battered wooden rowboats, along with whoever's unlucky enough to be your partner for this ride. You'll soon find that it's less a tunnel of love and more a tunnel of learning to depend on each other or die; the waters in this ride are infested with carnivorous eels that love to leap out and try and take a bite out of the boat's passengers. Either smuggle your own weapons onto the ride or learn how to give these foes a hearty whack with an oar - either way, you're better off watching the back of whoever's stuck on this boat with you.
If heights are more your thing, you could always strap yourself into the Ferris Wheel. Given the fact that it looks like any other ferris wheel, you wouldn't be blamed for thinking that it's an ordinary ride like any other. But once you're in one of those passenger cars and the ride starts up properly, something very, very strange will become apparent: the ride only goes up. Despite being decidedly circular, you'll find that you only ever see yourself moving higher, and never once descending to the ground. The air up here is getting rather thin, too, isn't it? You should probably find a way down, because either this ride spirals infinitely into the heavens or it breaks down and sends everyone plummeting to their deaths - and you probably don't want to find out which one it is.
Thrillseekers and daredevils might want to try their luck with the massive Roller Coaster that curls and spirals in some truly awe-inspiring twists and contortions, threaded through much of the carnival itself. It skates high into the air, features gut-wrenching drops and loop-the-loops, and operates at a truly breakneck speed. It is also, unlike pretty much any other of its kind, plagued with pests. If you've ever seen rats chewing on cables and nibbling holes in walls, these are a little bit like that - only these ones are a good deal larger, and happen to be capable of gnawing through the steel beams and supports that are keeping this wild ride together. Rodents of Unusual Size apparently exist in this reality, so you'd better either find a way to get off the coaster or clear these darn R.O.U.S.'s off your tracks, because if left unchecked, they'll put a stop to the ride for you...prematurely.
All that being said, there's nothing preventing you from just outright avoiding all those lures. You could settle for playing a probably rigged game of darts, or trying to win a giant stuffed animal in a claw machine, or plain making yourself sick on fair food. That's probably safer than risking any of those deadly contraptions, right?
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
donna noble | doctor who
[ Donna looks away for two seconds and this happens. Whatever this is. Because hell if she knows what, exactly, it is.
She's seen a lot of strange things, both terrible and wonderful. She's fallen on a lot of hard times. A weird fleshy cat mound is on a level all its own.
(A thing like that, she hopes it doesn't hurt it just to exist.) ]
Ooh. Hello. [ ????? do they language? Can it be reasoned with? All these questions and more on Doctor Who. ] Good... kitties?
[ Someone help get on the humor level here, because she has no way of knowing that's the answer and this is an extremely weird time right now. ]
2. tunnel of love.
[ She goes on the tunnel of love. Which she tries not to think about all that much. It's a dream, isn't it? Dream tunnel of love, maybe a dream man will turn up or something. Doesn't hurt to try.
Doesn't work, really, but there are worse things out there than going through a flimsy carnival ride with a stranger and having a laugh about it. Out in the universe and time and space and all that, she's made friends with less. And with more, in terms of life-threatening terror.
So, you know, the first evidence of carnivorous eels leaping out of the water to try to eat passengers is only half a surprise. Something harmless turning out to be dangerous and deadly? Wow, go figure.
Her brain really isn't all that creative, is it? ]
You have got to be joking.
[ Perks of sharing this ride with Donna Noble, super-temp: she'll have you know she's a sweet treat, a fucking delight to be around. She is fully ready to poke fun at a crappy carnival ride setup with any stranger who doesn't seem to be a genuine jerk.
She also has a knack for absolutely grand-slamming eels with wooden oars that says she's had to deal with nonsense like this quite a lot. She will defend the hell out of her boat pal. And if her boat pal is a woman or a kid, she'll do it with little to no shouting directly at them. She will become their first line of oar-based defense. ]
Can't even go to a flippin' carnival without something trying to kill me!
[ Her wrath is righteous and therein lies her power, obviously. ]
1
Crowley shoves his hands into his pockets, keeps a safe distance.]
I wouldn't, if I were you, most of the things here tend to think humans are on the menu.
im putting in a cheat code to clip through most of the facetwin stuff 2019
Thing is, she knows the Doctor. Better than she knows anyone else, by this point.
That's not him by a long shot. Same face, same toothpicky legs, the voice. Different style. Different energy. As in, less of it in general. Mysterious mound of mushy cats out in the wilderness? Oh, he'd be all over it. He'd think it's brilliant. He'd poke at it until it said something really sad or until they had to run for their lives, because he doesn't know the meaning of a safe distance. All this recognition with nowhere to go.
If this is a dream, it could clearly use some fine-tuning. If it's not a dream, then this is exactly her luck, isn't it. Who asked you, palette-swapped leggy man!!! Wow! ]
What, like that makes it special? Show me a planet where most things don't think that.
[ The myan cat has paused. It's probably wondering if this is going to turn into a bit right before its... many, many eyes. ]
that's very fair and valid of you
Well, I mean, sure. That doesn't mean you have to go about getting eaten by it. Must be a horrible way to go, all those mouths.
[He's yet to actually meet a fustercluck, so he doesn't know...... the specifics on how it works, but there's nothing about the situation there that seems positive at all. Which really is modus operandi for this place. It's the worst holiday he's ever had, honestly.]
no subject
He does raise a good point. Not with the string of actual gibberish. Nor, in her personal opinion (all of her opinions are very personal), with his first two human sentences. Once he's geared himself up to human words and all that.
But he's got her on the last bit. Eldritch cat monster is probably up there in terms of worst ways to go out. ]
There you have it. If I was trying to get eaten, I'd be throwing myself at something with one big mouth instead. It's not like I came out here to play a game of wildlife roulette!
[ She was just sort of. Here. And then so was it. This is a stupid dream.
The cat-ball rolls forward. Donna takes measured steps back to maintain the distance.
Normal cats are moderately reasonable. Click of the tongue, pat on the leg, outstretched hand, plenty of them will be friendly enough. Or they'll go on minding their own business, offended by the very nerve of someone encroaching on it. Not much of a pet person, her, but she respects that.
There's a whole different air to this shambling mess. Not! That she cares! Or feels sorry for this horrific escaped experiment! Except that she does, and that it did pause for a moment back there. Like it was waiting for something. ]
Have you actually seen one of these things eat somebody?
no subject
Oh, I dunno, Jonah never had good things to say about that whole business.
[Has Crowley actually met Jonah, of and the whale fame, or is he just being a bit of a bastard? Can two things be true at once? Tune in next tag to find out.]
Not yet, but if you'd like to be the first sacrifice to the weird cat-god, be my guest.
catte
Yech. I have no idea. Dios mío, that's too much cat even for the kid.
[Pray Ren doesn't see it!!!]
i want it known i would die for him personally
As she's starting to edge back away from the myan cat a bit, she offers a casual: ]
I reckon anything's overkill once it gets more heads than a bloody Cerberus.
[ And then she does the looking, and then she goes through the routine practice of startled, wordless shouting. Of the many, often disturbing, things that she's seen in her travels, walking talking skeletons is weirdly not on the list.
On the bright side, the cat monster supreme seems to think that's pretty funny, so it shrinks down a little bit. Also on the bright side is that there's enough dreamlike-quality polish on this ordeal to keep Donna from trying to throw a punch. She does immediately get cross, though. ]
Oi, bone-bag! If someone's gonna look up and see a talking skeleton after they just met one of these things, you might wanna give 'em a warning!
[ She does jab a thumb towards the cats for posterity. They are the "these things" in question. ]
donna is still my favorite
[Judging by the way he says that dreaded f-word, you'd think flesh was the most disgusting thing in the universe. Which it is, pretty much. He can't stand to look at the catpile again.]
What do you expect me to do, walk around yelling I'm a skeleton? Come on, I don't need to try harder to be a pest!
DID SOMEONE CALL FOR A DOCTOR??? (1.)
Donna Noble, meet a 9'3" lanky humanoid in full doctors attire with a paper bag on his head. He has just materialised right next to you, apropos of nothing, and is taking a solid few seconds to gawk at the Myancat.
...and now he's turned to face you instead. Hello!
"Hi! I'm a doctor!"
He reaches out one of his far-too-long arms to point at the horrifying feline visage, giving it a small nod to acknowledge that it does, in fact, exist...and to give context to what he'll say next:
"Basically? RUN!!!"
And with that, he takes off scampering in the opposite direction of this terrifying creature, praying this random individual has the sense to flee from giant blobs of pulsating, vaguely-cat-like...stuff...
...they are running, right? The good doctor dares to glance back over his shoulder to check. Please be running...!
no subject
Hats off to this guy for being the tallest humanoid Donna's ever actually encountered. Like it wasn't bad enough realizing how lanky the Doctor is every other day or so. Now there's this.
His glance back will confirm that Donna is, in fact, also running. There's something to be said for someone showing up who seems to know what they're doing (or anything about where they are and what's going on in general), who then opt to open on 'run' with little to no hesitation. It's one of those things where she figures, yeah, better listen to that if that's how it is.
"Can't go to one new place without having to run for my life!"
The universe? Supremely dumb sometimes.
no subject
Outside of the brief pauses for air between each sentence, the good doctor seems relatively unfazed by the entire situation, almost as if he's merely enjoying a spot of afternoon jogging with his new acquaintance.
And to be fair, that is essentially what is currently happening - minus the rapid stomping of the monstrous feline blob in hot pursuit of fresh prey. If this thing is faster than the two of them...problems might begin arising.
"I don't wish to alarm you ma'am, but I'm as clueless as you are about this creature! I do not think we can run forever, but I am also incredibly unconvinced of our odds if we try to fight it! Any good ideas on your end?"
He's pretty sure dying here doesn't mean death in the waking world - but not sure enough to inform his ally of this theory, lest they then think to welcome the sweet embrace of furry oblivion in an ill-fated attempt to return home...