TEST DRIVE MEME ( 030 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #30

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.

Polar Opposites
Adventurers in the waking world have had to contend with the temperamental island of Monsun, which has recently undergone some rather drastic changes. These changes have now become all the more evident in Mu. You see, upon waking here, you're likely to end up on one of two sides.

The east side is a frozen wasteland, rife with glaciers and beasts that you could expect to see in an ice age - woolly mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers, and dozens of others besides. While they're not innately hostile creatures, you should probably keep your distance...unless your idea of a good time is getting into a brisk fight with one or more of these beasts. Nothing like a good brawl to warm up the blood, after all!

What's more is that your body may also begin to reflect physical properties inherent to the region. This can be as simple as a thin layer of semi-permanent frost that settles over you, and as complex as sprouting icicle horns and spines all over your body. These changes can be slow to emerge or extremely painful, or relatively painless and immediate. If you get the odd ice-based power to shoot icicles out of your hands or slick the ground beneath you with frost on top of it, well...that's just a bonus, isn't it? On the other hand, you could wake up on the western side of this recreation of Monsun. Things here are just as dangerous, but in a rather different sense. This place is a blasted, scorched wasteland of volcanic corruption. The parts of the land still traversable are little more than seared patches of coal and rock. All around you, rivers of magma seethe in haphazard, highly volatile tributaries. At irregular points, parts of the land detach seemingly at random and drift into the air, as though decoupled from the island's gravity. Heavy chunks of charred rock hover in midair, though it's not clear how it is they remain suspended. The land is periodically rocked with earthquakes that spurt fountains of lava into the air in burning arcs and further fracture what little solid ground you have, causing more of it to break away from the ground and bob listlessly in the empty air.

You can also expect to be pursued by the odd monstrous entity on top of these environmental hazards - so tread carefully!

There are benefits to this, however. Just like with the east side, sticking around on the heat-blasted part of this world may cause your body to reflect physical properties inherent to the region. Whether it's a fiery shimmer bathing your silhouette, your skin becoming blackened and veined with magma, or any other variation besides, is up to you. These changes can be slow to emerge or extremely painful, or relatively painless and immediate. And, of course, if you pick up a fire-based power or two in the interim, that's just a bonus. Maybe you can shoot fire from your hands now, or make whips of lava out of thin air. Pretty badass, right? Totally makes this potentially traumatic transformation worth it, right?

Well, we thought so.

Can't Let It Go
It is in the thick of winter, and while the tropical islands on LifeAftr are only intermittently reflecting this, the dreamworld of Mu is the exception here. You'll have to be careful when braving these thick, high-piled snowdrifts, however. You might see the occasional lump of snow that looks like someone nearby has made a couple of snowmen. That's nice, right? A good sign of civilization?

Not so. These are, in fact, creatures known as snowgoons, and they are very much hostile. So not only is it very cold, but you're being hunted by terrifying snowmen on top of it. They are intrinsically hostile, incredibly lethal, and what's more? They are relentless. It'd be bad enough if these things only wanted to rip you limb from limb, but they don't. What they really want to do is turn you into one of them. They primarily accomplish this by stalking you and hounding you more or less nonstop until you essentially collapse from exhaustion or no longer have any means to fighting them off, and then packing snow around you. Assuming you don't freeze to death, you can still get free as long as they don't get to your head. Once they've covered your face, there's no coming back.

The best way to deal with these creatures is to keep them at a distance as much as possible; snowgoons are only really effective at close range. They can be picked off fairly easily from a distance, though we recommend figuring out some kind of way of generating heat to keep them at bay. These things, true to their appearance, despise fire and heat.

Hope you brought a flamethrower!

Mistletoe? More Like Mistlefoe
Ah, mistletoe. A long-standing wintertime tradition, often used to facilitate all sorts of romantical shenanigans throughout history. This isn't necessarily requisite, or forced, fortunately. In this wintery wonderland, most mistletoe is in its uncut, untendered state - little more than a parasitic fuzz clinging to the branches of the trees overhead.

You have a roughly equal chance of running into two different types of mistletoe. There is, of course, the conventional mistletoe, wherein you will more or less immediately experience the urge to express affection to whoever else is nearest. This can translate to romantic, familial, or platonic affection - cuddling, kissing, hand-holding, hugging, or just plain being nice to them, as per your comfort level. This may be a mutual affection...or it might not.

There is also the other type of mistletoe. Instead of a one true soulmate, this type will select your one true foemate. Upon crossing paths with this type of mistletoe, you will be seized with the immediate and overwhelming desire to fight whoever else is nearest. This sensation might be mutual, or it might be wholly one-sided. This can translate to an unthinkable, murderous bloodlust that obscures all other reason, or it might relate to a polite request for a formal duel. This parasitic plant has selected your government-assigned nemesis; are you really going to run from that?

Unfortunately for you, these two types of mistletoe are virtually indistinguishable from one another. It's entirely possible for one person to be affected by the former and another person to be affected by the latter simultaneously.

Good luck.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Polar Opposites

[kindashy]

[Well this is...a change. Honestly, Fluttershy would have just thought she'd been called to the Dragonlands or something, and merely forgot about the, um...trek up, but the scenery is far more, erm...desolate and t-t-terrifying than she remembered. Not only that, but there are far less dragons - which wouldn't be a bad thing, she's terrified of adult dragons - but more...um. Well. She's not sure what they are, they don't seem to want to chat despite her efforts. What Fluttershy has found out is that they're none too happy about her presence in their territory, and she's not about to stick around to see what they do to trespassers.

She's running as far and as fast as her hooves can take her, practically sobbing with each hurried gallop, not at all noticing that her steps are forming a soft bit of frost in her wake, and that the bottom on her hooves have grown slightly white-blue...like ice. She hears laughter, a child's, and sees bursts of flame. Oh, thank goodness! Maybe there are dragons here...and she can actually talk to them, find Dragon Lord Ember, and a safe spot to gather herself. This is terrible...her friends aren't even here to back her up, and she feels so...so exposed and scared and--]

Oh, d-dear...pardon me. Excuse me? I don't mean to intrude, but--...o-oh.

[Well, that's certainly not a dragon. Once again, Fluttershy's not sure what this creature is, but all the one's she's met have been....hahah...ah. Hm. Skidding to a halt, she whinnies softly, immediately ducking her head to look as small and nonthreatening as she can, wings folded tight to her sides. What she doesn't notice is the small, but slowly growing horn on her head. An icicle, by the looks of it. Honestly, the stress headache is probably mingling together with the throbbing migraine from the protrusion, to be perfectly honest.]

[achievementhunter]

[You feel like you're out of your element.

Not them, you. She makes an awful lot of noise on her approach, capturing their attention before she even speaks to them. They don't pay much attention until she does. Were she an enemy, an attack would have announced the beginning of a much welcome battle- it's almost disappointing to see her cowering away, clearly terrified... of them? Of their burning surroundings, a neverending landscape of fire and brimstone? Of herself?

Everything, possibly. They don't pity her- pity is reserved for what you hate, for things lower than low, things like Sans, Mettaton; beyond salvation- but it is truly a close call.]

On the contrary, I was simply killing time.

[No more Fuck Off balls, alas. They have the feeling she'd lose her voice if they kept this up. They sigh, hair sparking. Eyes swirling like molten lava.]

May I help you?

[kindashy]

[Oh, thank goodness this creature is actually willing to talk! Fluttershy already feels a great weight lifted from her back, though she's still not...quite sure what sort of creature this even is. It's not a dragon, that's certain, but none of her deep knowledge of critters and creatures of all kinds even pings the radar of what this person could be. The closest she can think of is perhaps some sort of golem, but still...not quite all there.

Well, that doesn't mean she can't be polite! It's just an opportunity to meet a new creature and make friends! Haha...that'd be easier said than done, if she weren't in such a precarious position, and her anxiety levels weren't already through the roof. Oh, if only one of her friends were here to break the ice...she's never been good at this sort of thing by herself.]

Oh, I'm so very sorry if I interrupted you, but...um. I-I think I may be lost you see and-- [She swallows a bit, looking over her shoulder just in case, to make sure she wasn't followed by any of the lumbering giants out for her flank.] W-Well...it's a bit much for one pony by herself, and...I was hoping, m-maybe--that is. Um...if you knew the area, you could point me in the direction of, perhaps...someplace to stay? I-I think I was on my way to the Dragonlands, but I can't recall...