TEST DRIVE MEME ( 028 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #28

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.

Reserves and Applications are always open, and are processed every Sunday, EST.

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.

Hard to Swallow
It's a little dark when you wake, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that you might be in a cave of some kind. After all, the ceiling is high and curved, and it's more than a little damp underfoot, and there doesn't seem to be any natural lighting. Touch the walls, and you'll find them slick with some kind of substance. Water, maybe?

You'll find that you've been provided with a complimentary light that will never go out, which is quite a useful thing. Hold it up, and you'll get a good look at the premises, and learn firsthand that, unfortunately for you, you're not inside a cave at all. You're inside something else - but fortunately, this specimen is long-dead. It can just be a bit startling to look up and realize that the smooth architecture of this cavern has a lot to do with the massive, curved rib bones...and that the moisture greasing the walls is probably a lot less sanitary than simple water.

But, hey! At least you're not being digested in here! The massive dragon you're inside has long since departed this world, after all. You just have to figure out how to get out of it. Cutting, phasing, or otherwise blasting through the thick, meaty texture of the walls will prove to be...just about impossible, really. Looks like the only way out is to look for the, ah, natural exit. We recommend moving uphill - you're probably going to want to exit via the mouth than the alternative route. It's not the most ideal sort of work environment for most. The "ground" is slippery and squelchy, and on occasion you'll find that the ceiling drips from injuries of a vague etiology, which means that you might find yourself showered with drizzles of dragon blood if you're not careful. And we do suggest that you be careful: dragon blood can burn through most materials like acid, including skin.

If that wasn't bad enough, it seems that this beast's health wasn't all that great to begin with. This thing, as it turns out, has a flurry of pests plumbing its, uh, plumbing, if you get our drift. Flesh-eating monstrosities the size of small dogs have been skittering throughout its digestive system, and now that their host creature is dead, they're starving for some real food. They can be easy enough to dispatch of, if you know how to fight, but they can be fast, and they don't tend to retreat once they have a target on lock.

But if you're able to brave all these horrors, eventually you'll be rewarded by a thinning passageway as you scale the creature's esophagus, and finally the jagged fangs of its mouth...its closed mouth.

Ever tried prying open a giant dragon's mouth from the inside? It might take a bit of work, but we're confident you can do it. Or that you can enlist a little help in the effort.

There's Something in the Water
There's something peaceful about being in a boat at night. The open expanse of the starry sky, the gentle rocking of the waves, the smell of the salt and the spray...it can be very peaceful. Calming, even. There's nothing, on first glance, to really worry about, either: the boat is sturdy, large enough to house plenty of people, and the skies are clear. No storms on the way. It's a bit quiet, but of course it would be. You're in the middle of the ocean, after all.

That's when it'll probably occur to you that, as it is nighttime, it should probably be a bit darker than it is. And the waters around your boat, well...they seem to be glowing. Or, more specifically, what's in them.

Jellybrights are jellyfish-like creatures that lump together in massive swarms of well over a hundred, and exhibit a natural bioluminescent glow that actually manages to be quite pretty. It's just that most jellyfish don't tend to start climbing onto land - or, in your case, climbing aboard without an invitation. Relax! They're not here to hurt you, technically. They just need a dry place to lay their eggs, delicate little things that resemble glistening drops of dew, and this just happens to be the nearest dry spot in miles. It keeps their young safe from predators until they can hatch and scuttle into the ocean waters. These creatures are, however, very protective of their unhatched spawn, and as they rapidly climb onto the boat and start laying their eggs, you might find that it's going to get awfully hard to walk anywhere without risking stepping on any.

And if you do? Well, that's when they decide that they're here to hurt you. Their gentle, bluish glow will immediately switch over to a glaring red, and they'll promptly sting you in retaliation. It hurts quite a bit, though the site of the attack soon starts to go numb afterward.

The good news, if it can be called that, is that the level of punishment is directly proportional to how badly you misstep. If you only tread in the wrong spot once or twice, you'll have some fresh welts to rub at and maybe some newfound paranoia regarding jellyfish, but will remain otherwise unscathed. If you stomp all over those eggs without any regard for their well-being...well, that's when you might want to try swimming, because your boat's going to get awfully unsafe for you in the near future.

Walking With Water
The ocean floor can be a scary place to be. It's dark, uncharted, and full of things with an awful lot of teeth that would be happy to take a bite out of you. So it might be something of a relief to not be truly underwater, even while you're stuck down here.

How is that possible, you might ask? Well....

The waves to either side of you are high - impossibly high, reaching almost infinitely skyward. The water streams down freely in a seething, jellied mass to either side of you, but it's as though it's all being held back by some massive, invisible force. The ground beneath your feet is silty and faintly spongey, clearly quite damp from having been, until recently, submerged, but it's stable enough to walk upon, though jagged bits of rock poke up and out here and there.

What this allows you is a beautiful panorama of the deep-sea ocean life as it all flows idly past. The odd fish might even occasionally breach the tremendous walls of water and lie flopping, gasping on the ground. You yourself can easily stick your arm into the water with no consequences, or even swim through it...though we don't necessarily recommend that. That's a lot of water pressure over your head, after all. This can be quite a breathtaking journey. There's nothing quite like being neck and neck with a school of silvery fish, or walking beside the hulking silhouette of a whale, separated only by whatever force keeps these waves from crashing down over your head. And, if you're fortunate, it will simply be a peaceful, if inexplicable, sightseeing trip. You might find yourself accosted by roving, playful dolphins or sea otters, some of which might be delighted enough by the company to leave you a seashell or a leaf of kelp as a gift.

If you're especially lucky, you might find that, along your way, a very special type of coral has been left bare to the dry air. Its vibrant coloration will almost certainly catch your eye. While it can make for a useful light in a pinch, it's more useful if it's...consumed. It might run counter to common sense, but you can trust us on this one: consumption of this coral will render the user capable of swimming through deep waters for up to twelve hours at a time. They'll find themselves quite able to swim very fast, find themselves immune to water pressure, and will breathe as easily as if they had sprouted gills.

That also means that anything down here that's carnivorous won't have any reason to hold back on this strange, potentially edible intruder that's come swanning in through its waters. So watch out for sharks - and for tigersharks. And yes, we mean that literally.

All in all, it's much safer stay on the dry land down here.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[blackwaterchild]

[For a moment she thinks it sounds similar to when she was trapped in the reliquary. Unaware of the passage of time, stuck between 'life' and 'death' in an endlessly agonizing dream.] Like somewhere in-between...? [She says it more to herself, considering.

He doesn't look like he even came from the same time as her, let alone the same area. She hadn't heard of any Chinese men being buried up on the mountain, and any men buried up there were done so in unmarked, small boxes; there's no way he was one of them.

But then he's suddenly running ahead of her and Miu makes a noise of protest before she can think to question it further.] Hey! Don't just run up to it!

[It could be dangerous?? Did this guy have any self-preservation skills? She swears she's never going to say anything about yuri's hero syndrome again after this. Still, she jogs a little to catch up, irritated with having to exercise at all--partly because she didn't want to sweat and partly because her stamina was hilariously terrible.]

What even is it? It's not going anywhere, so why did we have to run?!

[afterthemoment]

Maiden, please. It was only a short jog.

[His new body might not be as agile or strong as his old one had been but he can handle a little bit of running. It wasn't even that far! Even if Wei Wuxian is a little out of breath and growing increasingly aware of this weird gnawing feeling inside the pit of his stomach. It feels faintly familiar but he just can't place it right now.

So he squats down next to the brightly colored object, indicating that his young companion do the same.]

This is...

[Drumroll, please.]

...coral! Isn't it beautiful up close?

[Wei Wuxian is beaming like this is the greatest scientific discovery ever made.]

[blackwaterchild]

You made me run for coral? [That's it, she decides. She hates him. She glares at the coral like somehow it's personally offended her, glares at him, and then just starts walking on ahead, feeting falling a little heavier against the sand. But she's definitely not stomping shut up.]

I'm abandoning you. I hope you get eaten by a whale. This is what I get for trying to have a conscience for once, I never should've tried to act nice. I hate people. [Exactly what part of her cold way of handling him was supposed to be nice is debatable though. She continues to grumble, but it's cut off with a yelp of surprise when another fish goes flying out of the water wall, nearly hitting her before it flops about on the ground pathetically.

With gritted teeth she straight up kicks the fish like it's a soccer ball back into the water and spreads her hands out, closing her eyes and taking a breath.]

[afterthemoment]

[If there's one thing Wei Wuxian has learned, it's that a thick face can mask a soft heart very easily. But it's very obvious that he's upset the maiden when he'd only hoped to make her smile by showing her something pretty. Just how can he calm her or soothe her in this irate state? It's been over thirteen years since Wei Wuxian's been in position to do so.

He quickly pockets the coral on impulse and trots after her.]

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you.

[To his credit, Wei Wuxian sounds genuinely contrite.]

Let's keep going, okay? We'll find a way of this. Please don't worry too much. I've been in worse situations than this.

[His first trip to the Burial Mounds after he'd been stabbed, thrown off a cliff, and unable to do anything except crawl through rocks and shout at malevolent entities to leave him alone, for example.]

It'll be all right. We just need to stay calm and be patient.

[blackwaterchild]

Who's upset? Who's worried? [She huffs a little at the implication that he of all people had caused her some kind of upset. Please!! That would require caring about anyone other than herself (and Yuri).] You're talking a lot of nonsense.

[But she doesn't pick up her steps to try and lose him, settling back into an easier gait, her arms crossed over her chest like a shield from the world.

For a long while she says nothing, her gaze sharp, and she pauses only when the shadow of some large whale-like creature passes by. She stops and the harshness drops briefly from her expression, the anger she'd been clinging to leaving her as she gaze out in quiet awe. It goes a long way in making her look less harsh and less unapproachable, and more like the young girl she was. Dolphins swim by too, a little easier to make out the features off in the water as the whale passes and sunlight can filter through a little again.]

Oh...

[afterthemoment]

[Talking nonsense is what Wei Wuxian does best! It's a proud tradition of his, young lady! He can't help but smile at her reaction to the giant whale and dolphins swimming by. She really is a fairly young maiden, he observes. About half his age even though Wei Wuxian's current body doesn't look a day over twenty-five, if that.]

The ocean's full of all sorts of wonders, isn't it? It's quite extraordinary.

[His tone's a lot more contemplative than it'd been before, though it still remains pretty light. He takes a moment to take another look at his cuts, just letting the girl enjoy the sights in the ocean. They really don't look too bad but she was right about the risk of infection. As soon they get back on dry land, Wei Wuxian's going to need to seek out medicinal herbs in addition to properly cleaning and bandaging. Not that he knows the first thing about herbalism but maybe he'll be able to find someone that does.

Suddenly, his stomach starts to growl. And there's that weird gnawing feeling again! What on earth is that?]

[blackwaterchild]

It looks like you could be swallowed up by it. [Her voice lowers to something more thoughtful to match her expression and she makes a small 'hmm' noise.] I wonder if drowning really hurts...

[What a morbid thing to ask, but her expression is distant, calling up distinct memories of being in the yomi water, the box closing her in. Suddenly the high walls of the water feel suffocating and she frowns, irritated at herself for being effected by it. The walls receive a glare--how dare they!!--before his growling stomach gets her attention.

Miu turns to him, resting her hands on her hips.]

Geez, when's the last time you ate?

[afterthemoment]

About thirteen years or so, I think. It's been a long time.

[Ghosts don't exactly need to eat. As for his last supper, did Wei Wuxian ever have one? So much of that time is a blur or just simple gone. His first body had been strong from years of practicing inedia; he hadn't really needed to eat a whole lot back then. As for why he's even speaking of this, not even he knows. There's something about the girl's presence that's simply comforting and familiar to him, somehow.]

As for this person...

[He points to his own body.]

I have no idea. I guess it must have been a while for him, too.

[Wei Wuxian just shrugs a little, moving back to the previous topic. He hung out with dead people for years. There's no such thing as a conversation topic that's too morbid for him.]

I don't know for sure but I think it hurts. I drowned a little once and it hurt. People who drown all the way don't seem to like talking about it much.

[blackwaterchild]

[For a long moment, Miu doesn't say a thing. At first she thinks he's messing with her again, but as he keeps casually speaking she realizes that something's very off. 'This person' while pointing to himself, as if 'he' and the body were entirely different?

Her eyes narrow and she walks closer to him, fingers itching to reach out and touch him, to confirm for herself. People lie, after all. Everyone lies and she can't expect him to entirely tell her the truth, but she tries. For once, for the sake of the little voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Yuri, she'll try asking first.]

You're a spirit? [Of some sort, maybe. Her brow furrows, but this is way beyond possession cases she's seen before, mumbling to herself] Possession? No, it's definitely something more than that...

[A normal person might've called him crazy or laughed it off or something, but she takes it seriously.]

cw: mention of self-harm

[afterthemoment]

I think I used to be.

[Still is? This isn't his body; his had been cut to pieces well over a decade ago. A soul transfer of some sort had occurred. Without seeing the workspace for himself, Wei Wuxian can't be completely certain what ritual had been used but he's knowledgeable enough to make an educated guess. He's gazing down thoughtfully at the wounds on his wrists.]

These look like sacrificial cuts - self-inflicted ones. The ritual must have called for blood. If it had been done to him by someone else, his throat would've been more efficient. He must have summoned me....

[But for what reason and by whom? When Wei Wuxian had first opened his eyes, he'd been in this place. Had any of it happened at all or is he still dead and dreaming? Wei Wuxian presses a hand to his forehead, rubbing it. Thinking about all of this is starting to make his head hurt.]

I'm sorry, Maiden. I don't mean to trouble you.

[His tone's surprisingly serious and apologetic. Here she is in a worrisome situation and here he is rambling about sacrifices and summonings.]

[blackwaterchild]

Who's troubled? [She looks annoyed by his apology more than anything, waving a hand in irritated dismissal as she moves around him to examine him from all sides.] I know a thing or two about sacrificial rituals. [Though last time, it was her being the sacrifice.

She doesn't think about that.]

If you were summoned, it must have been for some reason. So what's a reason someone would summon you for if you were supposed to be dead, instead of letting you rest? [She gives him an unimpressed look, because honestly? He looks like a noodle. She doesn't feel the slightest bit intimidated by him.

Though something clicks a moment later and she looks a bit surprised.] 'He'... The person whose body this is gave it up just to bring you back? That's the weirdest way to commit suicide I've ever heard of. [Said in the tone of someone who knows a thing or two about suicides in the first place.]