aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 030 )

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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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She's always looking over her shoulder anyway, but she does have to wonder if he completely understands the situation. Well, that would be his problem, unless he started to make problems. Then Carolina would step in. "I'd say name the time and place, but I've a feeling you prefer to surprise me."

"We're practically related. Shouldn't we want to get to know each other first."

He definitely doesn't understand and that's fine by him. He's not one hundred percent convinced that this isn't some kind of glitching out.

"Some people take being attacked so personally."

In a twisted way he sees his intention as a good thing for her. He totally has her best interest in mind. It being fun for him is completely coincidental.

Remnants. Fragments. Ghosts. He's not Epsilon, not by a long shot, and Carolina had had a bit of an issue with him in the beginning. That does still sting, losing him, and he had been someone that she trusted, and loved.

"Why do I think your idea of getting to know each other and mine would be vastly different." She'd seen enough, knew the history of what she hadn't been around for. It's not that she blames the AI, given what had happened to them, but it doesn't make her want to put her guard down either.

"Very likely." He smirks, amused. He would be disappointed if she ever truly let her guard down with him. He is what he was created to be after all. So is she.

Omega changes direction again. "I'm not going to tear out your eyeballs or anything... If that helps."

She would argue that, is trying to deny that, to make amends for everything that she did, that happened with Freelancer. She doesn't expect the scales to even out before she dies, even if she dies of old age. "Right. That's wonderful. Just leaves the rest of my body."

"Top marks, Agent Carolina. Well played." Omega chuckles and gives her a slow clap. "I see why he wanted to give you to Sigma."

He might let her argue that. Nature vs nurture and all that shit. But fruit of a poisoned tree... "I had thought or anything would cover that. I can list more options if you'd like."

He starts holding fingers up, one at a time. "Disembowelment, severed body parts, various light tortures... shall I go on?"

Sigma... Carolina has no idea how things would have turned out had she taken that AI. If anything, likely a lot worse, given how she had all but been played by some of them anyway. Tex had never actually been a threat to her, but she had been too blinded to see that.

"No. You're more or less saying exactly what I thought you would." That dryness to her voice. While she might remain wary, she isn't frightened. "Although if you're interested, I can certainly punch you to see if you're human."

As much as he dislikes his brother, he and Sigma shared a need for someone who could keep them focused. Maine was far from up to the task.

"How considerate. Not the face though, I'd like to see it unmarred first." Not that he's moving into her reach at the moment.

And yes, he'd gone for the obvious. If she knows the Reds and Blues, then she knows him working through
DuFresne's limitations. A little hyperbole is always fun. She doesn't know him from before then. Real pain isn't what happens to yourself. Real pain is what happens to those you care about.

Carolina had been a hound with a scent for too long, trained only on regaining that number one spot, as if that would have made her father's relationship with her better. Of course all that rage and hatred had drained when she had found him, and instead of killing him like she had planned, she had left the gun there instead. Church, as it were, isn't exactly a last name of those who survive, save Carolina.

"Break a finger? Pop a knee cap? Knife to the thigh is a pleasant experience." Although she doesn't actually have any intentions of doing any of that, at least not unless he actually does make a move against her.

"Tempting as all that sounds, I think I'll pass." The Sahara has nothing on how dry his voice is.

He has no clue to the Director's fate, he'd been well enough when he was bargaining with the Meta.

"But, I don't think you're going to do it. Not yet." He's calling you out Carolina. Her stance isn't right for a start. She's ready enough if he attacks and then she'll make good. But she's not going to launch one herself. No, they're at an uneasy neutrality where each waits for the next move.

Or the right opportunity.

"How many people have you treated to such pleasantness, or even killed? More than you'd like to admit, I'm sure." He shrugs. "Maybe even more than me."

Much as it pains him to suggest, let alone admit.

"Killing isn't everything." Nor is maiming. She honestly has no idea how many people have been injured or killed by her actions. There had been a time when she simply hadn't cared. Get in her way, and if you didn't get out of it, you were taking on the risk yourself.

Of course that has changed. She has changed. Doesn't make things magically better, but it's a start. She has tried to get people to stand down, to give them a second chance like she had had. It doesn't always work though. She's seen that first hand with Sharkface. "This place may be different, but that doesn't mean I'll let you cause mayhem."

"You don't actually know, do you... or are you just hiding?" He knows how many on his end, but that's basically his job. You can't calculate things like combat efficiency without accurate measurements. "I'm guessing the number is a lot."

He stops pacing and raises an eyebrow at her comment about him causing mayhem. As if anything short of killing him could really do that.

"Does it help you sleep, playing the protector? Ease the guilt perhaps?" He can't help but laugh when the thought hits him. "Is that why you adopted those idiots? Some kind of penance for the sins of the past... a chance to be the hero."

Like Tex wanting to protect dear delusional Church.

She didn't know, as she hadn't cared. So long as the mission got done, that was all that had mattered. Any who got in her way deserved what they got, whether a broken bone or death.

"You don't understand." She doesn't sleep at night. She's under no illusions about her road ends - hell. But she can seek to make some amends. And they? They had adopted her more than she had adopted them, had her back even after she treated them like shit, like soldiers to be used. "Maybe here, one day, you will."

Oh Carolina, he wasn't asking to understand. He was asking to needle those mental wounds a little. Exploring the scars on her psyche.

If there was one thing dear old dad was gifted with, it was the ability to inflict his trauma on others. And they had no choice but to soak it up.

"What do you mean?"

"What? You want me to tell you? And ruin the surprise?" Now she might be rubbing it in a little, but he had been going out of his way to get under her skin. She might have more patience than before, but only so much.

"Now I am intrigued." There's just a hint of something approaching genuine at the edge of his grin. He can't help but explore the limits of how far he can push her. If he can get away with or exploit something he will. "I usually prefer to be the one doing the surprising. So I hope its good."

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 030 )

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