TEST DRIVE MEME ( 004 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #4

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.

Remember that Reserves will open on October 17th and that Applications will open on October 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.

Gone Apeshit
The peaceful island upon which you've found yourself is pleasant enough, isn't it? Clear turquoise waters, white sand, verdant copses of trees...it might be a little on the humid side, sure, but what's not to love?

The answer will come in the form of some decidedly simian ululations and howls that will inevitably start echoing through the trees, paired with the occasional loud, firework-like bang of some weapon being fired. The beach itself is safe, or as safe as beaches can possibly be, but setting foot into the jungle proper will prompt immediate, firepower-based retaliation from the group of monkeys that have elected to live there.
That's right: monkeys. Monkeys wielding rudimentary technology, no less, the most prominent example of such being the cannon-like, primitive firearms that shoot coconuts at interlopers. While their precision is not excellent, a direct or indirect hit can cause incredibly serious injury. Sure, you could opt to stay on the sidelines...but without any resources on hand, your only remaining solution is to either risk starvation or exposure, or to confront the gun-toting monkeys directly.

A pity Jumpman isn't here, huh?

Motherclucker
Congratulations! After who knows however long you might have spent exploring this strange new land - be it hours or eons or days or mere minutes - you've finally stumbled across some resources that may be viable! You've encountered a flock of bludroc, their nests brimming with speckled eggs that would surely taste delicious sucked raw or fried on a stone.

Unfortunately, this is a rather vast flock of the creatures, and they do not part with their offspring easily. While they lend themselves easily to domestication, these bludroc are quite wild, and quite unwilling to be beset upon by complete strangers. So if you encroach upon their territory, beware...for you may find yourself set upon by an abundance of pecking, flapping, screeching, colorful creatures.

Tick Tock
Mu's world is a curious one, no doubt. Its creatures often bear a strange resemblance to those in the world of LifeAftr proper, but some fauna can be found on no other landscape, in no other context, besides the dreamlike dips and peaks that only Mu can emulate.

One of those creatures is the clockroach.

Today, they seem strangely intent on flocking around those who have crossed into the lands of Mu for the first time; the uninitiated of LifeAftr. Their shapes are indistinct, to start with, but the click-whisper of rustling, mothlike wings almost sounds like your name, being uttered over and over...and over...and over...

They have a curious look to start with, make no mistake. But the longer you look, the more those forms start to solidify into a shadow to mirror your own, devoid of color or feature, but unmistakably resembling your general shape. While their edges are softly blurred and out of focus, their forms rapidly begin to solidify the more you interact with them. Speaking to them, touching them, even acknowledging them by looking their way, failing to ignore them utterly, will gradually start to bring them into greater clarity and focus. They do not speak. They merely follow - a shadow of your very own, unattached and allowed sentience.
Once they're solid enough to touch, you'll begin to hear a sound. A low, repetitive tick-tick of a timepiece, moving ever closer to some unseen deadline with terrifying regularity. It starts quietly, at first, but begins to grow louder, louder, until it drowns out all else.

The apparition may soothe and speak all it likes, but the artificial dread worming in your heart refuses to be shucked away. Everything else is a shadow hostile, a creature mistrusted. The fog is a tripwire that will surely trap you; that person approaching from over that hill? Doubtless here to kill you, and see that your invisible clock winds to an end.

But that dark storm boiling in the shadow behind you? Surely that has nothing to do with it...

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

EYYYYYYYYY

[bloodyashes]

[Even armed grumps! There are plenty of those around, anyway. Practically a dime a dozen in the adventuring business.

It's telling that when Asch looks up, he looks up - the area he expects her face to be is several feet above her head, and the confused look of someone who has never encountered a Lalafell in his wildest dreams is obvious.

He's adaptable, but not that adaptable, that fast. But, okay, sure, he's dealt with two-year-olds who looked fourteen, what's an apparent adult the size of a toddler, right?]

They're not that large, for aggressive birds.

[alittleditty]

[In the end she settles down near the fire too, a respectful distance away, but close enough that holding her hands out to warm them doesn't seem silly.]

I suppose. Still not the kind of thing you'd find me doing. I've needed to trade for supplies, mostly.

[Her skills do lend themselves to that pretty well, to be fair.]

[bloodyashes]

[...Well, she can't need to eat much, at least. Not at her size.

He turns the sticks the birds are roasting on. Better a little overcooked than undercooked.]

What do you trade?

[Just making casual conversation, yep, he can totally manage this. Preferably without making too much eye contact.]

[alittleditty]

Weaving. Tailoring.

[She adds the second bit, having learned by now that many of the worlds here don't lump all of the stages of textile production under one word the way Eorzea does.]

I can do a bit of goldsmithing as well, not to mention I'm a coincounter by trade. But there's not much demand for those here.

[bloodyashes]

Patchwork, too, I'm assuming.

[As an explanation for the comment, he sticks a hand inside his tabard - only to wiggle a thumb through one of the multi-inch rents in it. Someone's gear has seen better days.]

I could manage, but you probably have a steadier stitch.

[alittleditty]

Oh!

[... Goodness, how on earth did his gear get so badly off?]

Yes, that should be simple enough. I may not be able to get the thread to match the material, limited supplies and all. But it'd still be serviceable enough.

[bloodyashes]

[How indeed... Don't ask, Tataru, you really don't want to know.

Really.

Though, once she sees the full extent of the damage, she'll probably be able to figure it out. Six holes, all of them going straight through all three layers of clothing, and with the stiffness of old bloodstains even if the color of the stains is mostly disguised by the dark fabric... Yeah.

Asch nods, pulling the hand out from under his tabard.]

I've got a bit of thread, though probably not enough for all the layers.

[He pulls a small folding knife from the small travel pack at his belt, and one of the birds from the fire, slicing deeply into the breast to check the meat inside. The smell of it wafts anew through the air.]

Seems done enough. Help yourself.

[Though that knife is a bit big for her...]