aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 027 )

Test Drive Meme #27

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 September 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.

Eye of the Storm
Unlike the calmer waters of other dreams, this particular one is in a frenzy of activity. The sea thrashes and roars and crawls hungrily up the shores of the unassuming island upon which you've found yourself; it assumes the shapes of tridents, swords and, most notably, the snapping heads of serpents.

The sea isn't acting rough for no reason, it turns out. Right now, it's seething in conflict with torrents of fire that seem to have, however improbably, assumed the shape of a three-headed dragon. Whether the serpent is simply coated in fire or it is fire isn't clear. You don't really need to know the specifics. All you need to know is that, at present, there are two dragons furiously crashing against one another in a dichotomy of fire and water. They issue rushing plumes of steam whenever they connect, scourging deep furrows into the earth.

Adventurers will find themselves thrust into a veritable maelstrom of conflict upon waking. Unlike the case in the waking world, everything is simply too indistinct to grasp or engage with in all but the most oblique manner. All you can do is hold on and try not to get lost - or separated - in these new, wild conditions, and seek shelter as these two behemoths ruthlessly duke it out.

The clash of the elements isn't the only thing you have to worry about, either. Little tails of fire and water will occasionally unspool from the giant wyrms and decide they want a taste of something with a little more body. Though their shapes are indistinct due to their elemental makeup, it will still be evident that these are smaller dragons with a taste for destruction. You can dispel them easily enough, and largely through application of common sense - flame-dragons can be reduced to steam by water or blasts of cold air, and water-dragons can be vaporized by heat and fire - but there happens to be a lot of them, and not very many of you.

There is shelter, however, as a respite from all this. Ruined buildings dot the landscape, impervious to both the water and fire and surrounded by a sense of eerie calm. Though they're long abandoned, as long as you hide in such ruins, nothing can touch you there. Not even the smaller, scuttling dragons can breach those walls, held back by whatever unique arcane constraint lives in the smooth, cool stone.

All you have to do is reach one.

Echoes of the Past
Don't be alarmed if you find yourself waking on the floor of a ruined house in a ruined city on a deserted island. Don't be alarmed, either, if it looks like the edges and corners of most of these buildings, built of simple stone and clay and mortar, look as though they have sustained an awful lot of fire damage in the past. That doesn't have to mean anything, you see.

The houses and buildings here are of an unknown purpose, but the signs of civilization are writ large in stone and on the landscape. And yet, no matter how much you might search, there doesn't seem to be anyone else around.. Abandoned and broken, exposed to the elements without proper care, it's clear that the inhabitants of these places are long, long gone.

Wandering between the buildings will certainly help avoid the heat of the day, and as the day winds on, some thought might be put into gathering the necessities to make it through the night - water from barely recognizable wells, or vegetables scavenged from overgrown gardens that have long since abandoned any semblance of order or restriction.

Still, even devoid of their original owners, the contents of those broken structures might well be interesting in their displays of lives left behind. The blocky, square buildings show a sense of efficiency over articulation, with ornate mosaics carved into the walls as a sense of decor. You might even find piles of strange, smooth stones with speckled patterns decorating their exterior, hard as rock and curiously similar in size. Their function can only be guessed at, but they're quite heavy.

...at least, until they shudder and start to crack beneath the pressure of something moving around...inside of them?

Give it five minutes to an hour, and those stones will prove to not really be stones at all, but eggs. To be specific...?

They contain these little guys. Tiny, baby dragons, newly hatched and eager to imprint upon the first venturing hand to give them the time of day. They can vary in size from barely nine inches in length to just over two feet, and their coloration can be just as diverse. However, it will become clear within mere minutes of meeting your new, scaly charge that they're just the same as any other baby animal: they're needy, demanding, curious, and hungry.

It's advised you go looking around for something to feed them. These dragons are omnivorous creatures, and will eat anything from berries to meat, but either way, they're going to be looking to you to care for them.

A warm congratulations to an unsuspecting parent may very well be in order.

The Sound of Sirens
The idyllic setting of a tropical island might seem perfect for a vacation getaway...or it would be, if this place weren't populated. You aren't here for very long before you hear it - a loud, shrieking siren, shrilling out over the trees. And then another. And another. And another...

Followed by the sound of gunshots.

It turns out you're not in a happy little island getaway at all, but in the middle of a turf war. Stay in one place too long, and you'll realize that you can start to make out blurred, shadowy silhouettes crouched in the underbrush and huddled behind boulders, issuing indistinct shouts as they charge one another with spears and harpoons, or shoot explosive bursts of scattered buckshot with rudimentary firearms.

At first, these shapes merely pass through you. You are but a spectral spectator, lingering on proceedings far removed from you. But as the conflict escalates, you'll find that you're not as immune to this as you might have first thought. The shapes start to sharpen, and before you know it, you'll start to feel those weapons piercing you for real - and they will hurt just the same, too.

But getting caught in the crossfire isn't the worst thing that could happen to you - oh, no. See, if you're not careful, you might find yourself wanting to join them. It might start as a small ember in the pit of your gut - this feeling of displaced upset, that one side of this shadowy war has truly and personally wronged you. Or it might be out of self-preservation, because someone shot you or stabbed you and it hurt, and before you know it, one of the dark, featureless shapes is handing you a weapon for you to pay them back in kind.

There are ways to break out of this, of course. A good shock is all it takes to jolt you back to your senses, though it won't render you immune to the effects of this battle. You'll still have to figure out how to get out of this mess without getting shot or blasted or bled out onto the floor.

Or maybe you can embrace the chaos instead, and decide to wreak a little havoc on the other side. Who are they? Doesn't matter! They're not one of you, so you can make them suffer to the fullest extent, right? Besides, who knows how they might take it if you try to disengage entirely?

One thing is for certain - you won't be getting away from this conflict and out of the battlefield without a fight.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Aziraphale, on the other hand, is definitely not used to having any sort of dreams, in account of not actually sleeping often. But he's certainly feeling hazy and confused. ]

What-- I'm not going to name a dragon. [ Oh, okay, yes, that whole sentence does not feel too real. Hm. ]

I'm sure its progenitor will return at any moment. I'd much rather focus on where exactly we are.

[Why is their location so important? This could have been a fun dream, but here Aziraphale was being a stick in the mud.]

Hn. Not sure. But you should probably name the dragon so that it can help us figure it out.

What on Earth are you on about?

[ He stares at Crowley in complete confusion. It doesn't help that the little thing continues to cry up at him for God knows what reason. ]

Unless you can tell me where exactly we--Oh! [ The tiny thing clings to his pant leg with its tiny sharp claws, and while he doesn't have the heart to shake it off, this is not a great development. ]

Oh, no, no no, don't do that.

Lighten up, angel, let this be a fun dream.

[Crowley takes a few steps closer, crouching to the thing as it threatens to ruin the angel's trousers. He puts on a rather soft voice to address the dragon.]

What's wrong little one, are you scared? Hungry? Take after your father, do you?

[He glares at Aziraphale with that last line. A glare one can feel right through his shades.]

Father? [ The angel sounds somewhat distressed at this point, wondering about the state of Crowley’s mind, or whether or not there might have been something more in the possible drinks they may or may not have partaken last night.

Which is to say, he knows nothing, remembers nothing of note, and he is slightly panicking.

The dragon, in the meantime, thrills at Crowley. And then takes to cry loudly at the demon instead.]

My dear boy, I do believe we should rather focus on our situation and not— do you remember how exactly we got here?

You can't just abandon it, angel. It's as frightened as you are.

[Crowley thinks himself a rather good caretaker, and his confidence in quelling the poor thing's crying is quite high. He beckons it closer so that he can scoop it into his arms.]

I don't. At first I thought perhaps I forgot to sober up but we both know dragons aren't real.

[He glances up a bit at Aziraphale while fussing with the dragon.]

You've never dreamed before, have you? Wait, this doesn't make sense. I'm explaining dreams to my projection of you inside of my dream... this is the plot of an over-hyped movie.

[ As the baby dragon finds itself being held and opens its mouth expectantly like a baby bird, Aziraphale stares in confused, stunned silence. It takes that moment for him to take note of something strange in the air, though he doesn't know what. No, not in the air itself-- but something there, around them, enveloping them and everything else.

He could not even begin to suss out what it actually is.

With a few confused and flustered sounds that sound like false starts for words, Aziraphale stops again, and takes moment to gather himself. ]

My dear boy, I'm rather sure you're not dreaming. [ But the--the dragon, it-- ] I do believe there's something very fishy going on. And that we should focus on finding out exactly what.

[ And another idea hits him-- was it...was it the boy? Can't be, that makes no sense, he wouldn't--

Focus, Aziraphale. You're no use to anyone if you start panicking. ]

[Crowley cradles the dragon almost affectionately, taking note of it's begging and peering around them to see what's available. What the hell do dragons eat, anyway?

Aziraphale snaps his attention back to their current state, which let'sface it, he's not entirely convinced of yet. If this was truly not a dream, then Crowley wouldn't know where to start. He squints his eyes at the angel, a hand scratching absent-mindedly under the dragon's chin.]

Alright, fine. Say this isn't a dream-which is still up for debate, where do you suspect we are? Is this our penance for choosing the 'wrong' side? Where do you suggest we go from here... and what would you be hungry for if you've just hatched from an egg?

[ Aziraphale looks around as the demon speaks, somewhat frustrated that that he refuses to take this situation seriously, though he turns to give him a Look when Crowley once again brings attention to the small screaming creature. While the look is mostly frustration, there’s a big handful of worry there too.]

I’m sure it’s progenitor will be here shortly, and considering the nature of—what it is, we may not want to be here when it does. [ ...right? Dragons? Is that how dragons work?

He looks around again.]

I can’t seem to be able to pinpoint where we are. There’s something— perhaps we should look for others. Someone should have the answer.

[ Not that the derelict buildings give him much hope for there being anyone at all.]

[He's noted the Look, and shoots one right back, still trying to quell the screaming of the small beast in his arms.]

And what if it's not? You're going to leave it here unattended and starving?

[He follows the angel's gaze, over the land before them and the ruins he'd been lost in before. He hadn't seen a soul in there, and no one else came running when the two of them were calling out.]

Brilliant... except there's nothing back there, [He nods to the buildings.] maybe up ahead?

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 027 )

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