aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 029 )

Test Drive Meme #29

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 weekend.

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.

Hee Ho!
It's cold, wherever you are - in a world blanketed thickly with snow. Dense clusters of evergreens, their branches heavy with ice crystals, paired with skeletal deciduous trees, pepper the region. Overhead, scattered flakes of snow drift from the slate-gray sky. The forest is thickly wooded, but that's not terribly sufficient in the way of insulation from the cold. You should probably find somewhere warm, unless this is agreeable weather to you.

It's chilly enough for the proverbial Jack Frost to be nipping at your nose. Or maybe...not so proverbial. These woods are packed with all sorts of little creatures. Wait for long enough, and you might see one of them coming your way.

Jack Frosts are snow demons that only appear in the wintertime, and revel in creating mischief. With bodies made of ice and snow and an alarmingly high constitution, Jack Frosts are generally not hostile, but they do enjoy causing all sorts of mischief. They're known to spit ice and freeze unsuspecting travelers, and use their deceptively cute appearance to lure their prey in. And these woods...well, these woods happen to be full of them.

The good news is that this fate only awaits you if you provoke them. It's even possible to befriend them. One of the best and easiest ways to do this is with gifts and offerings, such as clothing items. A pair of boots or a vest or a hat that will fit these cute little creatures will buy you a friend for a while! You can tell when you've managed to make friends with one, too. They're sure to leave you a little token of their appreciation...and it is extremely cuddly.

If you piss them off, on the other hand, they tend to react...poorly. They'll gust ice and snow your way in copious amounts, and even try to freeze you solid in blocks of ice or impale you on falling icicles. By and large, it's recommended that you play nice. Or, at the very least, have a reliable method of dealing with them if you choose not to. They probably melt very easily, after all.

Unearthly Delights
In the waking world, the harvest island of Nuidan has seen fit to shower adventurers with celebrations in full swing, and the island of Mu has seen fit to reflect such a joyous celebration. However, dreams are tricky things, and nothing carries over quite as it should.

Like the harvest festival in reality, Mu has provided tables laden full of food and drink alike. Unlike its more realistic counterpart, however, the food is just a little strange - in color, in texture, taste, or smell - and the drinks, no matter how much you pour to fill your cup, are seemingly bottomless. Maybe those vegetables are a few shades off, or maybe this sweet pudding tastes a little on the savory side. It's not outright revolting, in most cases, but it's definitely noticeably odd. Andhey smell strange, too; a little too sweet, a little too heady.

For those who are brave enough to sample these dreamed-up delicacies, however, they'll find the world proves to be exceptionally malleable. Partaking of the food and drink that comes from Mu's tables will make your emotions, whatever they may be, leak out into the dreaming world.

If you're feeling mellow and happy, for example, the world around you will change to suit; filling up with your favorite colours, your favorite smells, and anything else that you find cheerful and relaxing. It will manifest as shifting lights, textures, and sounds around you. Suddenly, the food and drink you're eating tastes, looks and feels just like your favorite things, even if they're not quite as you remember them.

If you're not feeling so positive, however...well, we'll leave that up to your imagination as to how the dream could shift. While nothing at this table will ever outright harm you, that doesn't mean your mind can't get creative about the things it might conjure in the meantime. Maybe the food and drink will turn to dust and ashes in your mouth. Maybe it'll start to look a little off, like the meat's gone bad, or the milk's started to sour. Maybe you'll be struck with a sensation of bitter melancholy.

All in all, it's better to try and enjoy yourself...for everyone's sakes.

Let's Have a Blast
In less pleasant news, the waking world has also been stricken with an influx of devilish creatures known only as creepers, and...yes, they're exactly what you thinking. With features frozen in a gaping grimace, a greenish complexion, and a hated proclivity to sneak up silently behind people and explode with only a sinister hiss as warning, creepers are the bane of any builder. And it's certainly not fun to have one blow up in your face, either - you try climbing out of the crater these things always leave behind while dealing with third degree burns.

Whereas the waking world only has the one type to deal with, you adventurers in Mu won't be nearly so lucky. For starters, Mu has dropped you in a thick, steaming jungle, and the dense vegetation can make it awful hard to pick out what's around you. It'd be bad enough trying to pick out ordinary creepers in this mess, thanks to their mottled green texture, but you're not dealing with just ordinary creepers in this dream-world. No, you're dealing with different species of them.

In addition to your run-of-the-mill, "aw, man" style of creeper, you'll be able to encounter all sorts in what would ordinarily be a tropical paradise. Some of them are harmless, like the cookie creeper that does little besides shower you with soft, chewy confectionaries when it explodes, or the friendly creeper, which does little besides stick around and keep you company.

Most, however, aren't. Spider creepers tend to coat you with sticky webs and can even poison you if you get too close to them when they pop, and magma creepers carry with them the unfortunate possibility of starting a full-on forest fire if they explode in a place with thick enough vegetation. And, really, if it's on the list, if you can think of it, a variant of it probably exists. Mu doesn't discriminate; it's happy to let your imagination fill in the blanks of whatever variants of these explosive complications you can dream up!

The good news is that they can all be killed the same way. All creepers are vulnerable at a distance - they can be sniped or shot from a distance without exploding and spewing all of their mess everywhere. You can also deal with them up close, as long as you're fast on your feet and don't let them implode all over you. And, if you happen to have a cat nearby, you're in luck! They'll steer clear from you no matter what.

Just watch your back. These things are completely silent when they're creeping up on you. Oftentimes, you won't know that there's one right behind you until you hear it: the dreaded, telltale hsssssss...

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

One little demon reaches out for the bar and stops in mid-motion as something comes out of the brush. A large wolf with blue fur shakes the snow off of itself and a man follows it out. "I know, it isn't the right season. Has to be Mu again." He's tall with a scar on the right side of his face. His features are subtly in-human enough to broadcast his heritage to whoever knows what to look for.

He grumbles something and stops, looking up, pushing his own woolen white cap slightly back out of his face. The horde of little Jack Frosts regard the newcomer and shuffle closer to Toby, reaching for the bar.

He blinks, with one hand resting on the massive wolf that's almost as large as he is. "Steady." He tells his furry friend and one frost knocks his hat off. His ears are half hidden by his hair, hiding the shape of his ears. The jack frosts claim his hat and the snickers bar, toddling off but leaving the gift of cuddly dolls behind. The man, Keith, says. "That's...better than I was expecting. Still might want to move before something else comes along."

Toby's distracted trying to figure out his heritage. She can tell he's not entirely human, but when she tastes the air to feel out the balance of his blood, she gets something entirely unfamiliar.

Of course, most humans don't pal around with giant blue wolves. That probably should have been her first clue.

"Hm?" She blinks, then nods. "Right. If you know somewhere with an inside, let's go there."

“There’s the cave I woke up in. It’s a few ticks south.” He shakes his head and pats his wolf friend so back. “But Mu’s got the logic of a dream. So, we’ll see.” He turns and heads back the way he came. It is Mu and he has never trusted it.

Whatever its intentions are he has a feeling one day they spell more trouble than they already do. “I’m Keith, this is Kosmo. I can answer some of your questions but not all of them. We only know a little about this realm and where I actually am.” He nods and reaches for the white and black U on his belt. He draws it like a weapon and keeps his arm loose for now.

“Keep an ear out. This place likes to mirror the creatures on Ensō.” He stares straight ahead at the small path between the brush and the trees around them.

What the fuck is Ensō? She doesn’t ask just yet, choosing to follow him and see what she finds out. “Where are you actually? Where am I actually?”

"Mu, it's a living dream realm between realities and it tries to mirror where I'm asleep right now as close as it can. But it never gets it right. If you show up here," He gestures about them. "In our dreams...chances are you might show up in Ensō proper at some point." He looks over his shoulder at her, close up his pupils are more oval-shaped and his teeth a bit too sharp.

"That's where I am. It's the main island of a realm that seems like it broke itself somehow. I've been there two years and some weeks and still haven't scratched much of the surface of their problems." He shakes his head and keeps walking, pausing to listen for a moment. He can hear something following them but what he can't pick out. Great.

"Whatever happened, people keep steadily being pulled here from all times and realms." His words are slightly clipped, and his shoulders come up. He doesn't like that. Not at all. He sighs, but the tension is still there. "You might not even remember I told you this if you wake up here on the main island."

"So it's a cross-dimensional shared dream? That's... cool." And creepy. "Does everyone who show up on the island come here first?"

“Not always but most of the time, they do.” He says as a low hissing sound registers and he goes very still, hand held up for her to stop too. A low barely audible growl builds in the wolf’s chest as Keith slips the U behind his back, concealing it in the space made by the three of them.

The U glows a deep purple and reshapes into a sword. The transparent blue blade casts a small measure of light as he transfers the sword with a hilt edged in black accents like the U to his right hand. “Okay.” He says, keeping his voice low. This close his hair does little to hide his own dully pointed ears. “We need to take it a little slower and quieter. We’re close enough to an exploding creature that I can hear it even if I can’t see it yet.”

He creeps forward a few steps as he adds, “If it goes south, grab onto Kosmo’s fur and he’ll teleport you far enough you can get away and get whatever help is out here.”

“Gosh, my hero.”

She rolls her eyes, shoving her hands into her pockets. He doesn’t know who she is or what her reputation is, but it’s still annoying. He can’t be older than Quentin, and he’s trying to protect her.

“Sorry, I’m way more of a cat person. You can take the magic teleporting dog express if you want, but I’ll pass.”

The twenty four year old half alien pilot throws her an exasperated look. “I was giving an option. I don’t know you and no one should be forced to fight if they don’t want to.” He reaches down, patting his side and finds the familiar shape of one of his knifes. “Since you’re staying, I only have knives on me in this dream and this,” he shifts the Bayard sword slightly.

He pulls the knife out and the glass-like blade catches the faint light from his sword. He angles his blade away from it and flips the weapon, offering it to her hilt first. “This thing in the real world can cut through rock. Light enough to throw if that’s in your skill set. Should still work the same way.”

She sighs and reminds herself he probably means well. "You worded it like an order. LIke you were assuming I was helpless. And now you're assuming I'm unarmed. How about this."

She puts a hand on her hip and gestures with the other hand.

"Hey, stranger I just met who doesn't seem like they're currently panicking, what are your fighting skills? Are you armed? Do you need help?"

She switches to the other hip and answers her own question.

"Wow, how nice of you to ask and not just start trying to protect me! As a matter of fact, I am armed, and pretty good at not dying, but hey we may as well travel together! The more the merrier!"

She drops her arms and gives him a flat look. "See where I'm going with this?"

His expression goes neutral but the way his hand tights on the blade of the knife is clue enough to his mood. He withdraws the blade, flipping it and sliding it right back into its sheath. He takes a breath and clamps down on his temper. She isn't wrong, he assumed two things because it's easier to flip into leader mode and correct himself after. "Sorry. But look," He gestures to the world around them.

"It's always been safer to assume that Mu took weapons away because it usually does. And I know what's out there and what it usually can do." As if on cue the forest ahead of them explodes far enough away they're just hit by the blowback of hot air. He hisses a curse, and the wolf weathers it without a shift of his feet. The trees creak and break with enough noise to wake the dead and bits of debris rain down. Beautiful, every damn exploding monstrosity is probably zeroing in. "The rest I'll give you I should have taken that moment and I didn't. We cool enough to work together and not die now? I have no idea what happens when we die on Mu and I don't want to figure it out."

"Well, you know what they say about assuming."

She puts a hand against a tree to brace herself and grimaces under her scarf. At least it's hot air. She still doesn't like the cold.

"But yes, we're good. What do you know about these explodey things?"

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 029 )

Hee ho

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