aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 001 )

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*test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 001 )

Test Drive Meme #1

Hello, and welcome to our very first test drive! 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 July 17th and that Applications will open on July 24th, in preparation for the game’s official opening on August 3rd!

But first, two important notes!

1. The island of Mu 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.

Shipwrecked
The white sand of the beach ridges the island’s edge, even if the clear water soon becomes murky the further out you look across the horizon until the turquoise gleam of the tide disappears in a coil of surrounding fog. Indeed, your best prospects may very well be to strike out among the trees or the crags looming out over the foam-capped waves. There’s lumber to be found and made from the palm-like trees, potentially fruit or edible tubers of some kind if you forage about some. The further you travel, however, the more of your surroundings will reveal themselves in a steady unspooling of curiosities.

One corner of Mu’s current construct drops away into a sheer cliff, initially too dangerous to brave for all but the more daredevilish, but if one starts to scan the sharp rocks below, you might catch sight of what appears to be sodden planks of wood - a wreckage tossed up against the rocks. And a little further...a bobbing, shattered wreck of a lifeboat’s remains, potentially bearing supplies that might yet be salvageable.

Fashion what you can from the wood and stone around you or scavenge from the ruin of the land, if you like. But you can’t simply stand around and wait forever. It’s going to get dark sometime - and if a creature of unknown terror doesn’t catch you, the elements surely will.

Storytime

There’s a sense of camaraderie in this cove, you think. As the sun hangs low over the horizon, the world cast into orange hues, long shadows dispersed by roaring fires that dot across the beach.

That’s right, folks: it’s storytime.

There’s no one to preside over this meeting of the minds in Mu. Call it a vague recreation of things to come, if you like, some vaguely fatidic dreamlike state where you may find yourself drawn to the heat and company that awaits you by the fire. And from there, compelled to default to that old instinct that most of intelligent civilization has revered since they were advanced enough to paint geometric shapes on cave walls.

You tell a story.

Perhaps it’s a tragedy, a tale of woe and of personal loss. Perhaps it’s the sort of thing you’d break out after a few rounds of your alcoholic beverage of choice, clapping hands to your knees as you try to bite back your mirth long enough to spill the punchline. Perhaps it’s an adventure of some sort, some unbelievable rendition of your past exploits. The only common thread to be had, as those gathered around the fire share their tales, is the fundamental rule of a ritualistic sharing of stories such as this: its truth.

But how one chooses to define "truth" is, in its own way, another story entirely...

Dance, Sucker, Dance!
The beat of your heart in your chest is difficult to ignore. It judders with a pulsing, rhythmic quality. If you’re one of those that lacks a heart, the beat is still omnipresent and all-encompassing, until your entire body is unwittingly bobbing in time to a metronomic tune that seems ingrained into your very soul. It’s inescapable. You can’t seem to move unless it’s in time to the rhythm that’s now singing in every atom of your being.

But rest assured, you’re not alone in this musical curse. Everything, from the swaying trees to the waves against the beach, jumps in time to the music. And so do the monsters approaching you, that - wait a minute.

Monsters?

Oh, yes. Did we mention those?

It seems you’ve encountered the wrath of the Boogieman, who curses you to only dance to his infernal beat. If you wish to best him, you’ll have to either evade or destroy the blobs of greenish slime that serve as his minions, all in time to the hard beat of the tune in your head. Clear the radius of his curse or risk an open confrontation, if you dare. Don’t worry if you look foolish; chances are anyone else caught in the Boogieman’s thrall feels just the same.

Mu isn’t pulling any punches to start with. It is a flighty creation, after all, and seems to revel in displacing people into new and uncomfortable situations.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i. shipwrecked

[Sanji's initial survey of the island is a search for one thing and one thing only: food. The island's plentiful vegetation is a good sign for the sea cook, and it's the only reason he isn't panicking right now. As long as there is edible flora, Sanji can take action. He may not know where he is, who these people here with him are, or how to get back to his crew, but he knows how to cook a supper that'll keep everyone on this island alive until they can scope out the situation. That's as good a place as any to start.

Without further ado, he dumps his blazer on the sand, rolls back his shirt sleeves, and stretches his legs. He kicks the ground once, twice. Then he runs thirty meters up the side of the nearest palm tree. His voice rings out in surprised glee.]

Ah, no way! Are these double coconuts?!

ii. storytime

And, no shit, I swear to you, the moment Luffy sees the first zombie crawl out of its grave, he walks up to it and shoves it back into the dirt! Like that was the natural thing to do, putting the living corpse back where it belonged!

[The animated blond cannot stop laughing as he recounts his captain's misadventures one after the other. Sharing stories is a mainstay of pirate life, and he's settled into the routine obnoxiously well. Seated atop a throne of firewood, he accentuates every joke with well timed pauses and illustrates every action sequence with sweeping gestures. If Sanji has a care in the world, he's not showing it.

Any observer may note, however, that he is not featured in a single one of his own epic pirate adventures.]

[ Food was important, as was water and shelter. They were lucky that such necessities were in abundance, or so it appeared anyway.

Of course almost all of the vegetation was unfamiliar to Toyohisa, his clan probably only traveled by ship to reach the mainland from Kyuushuu, but nothing more. Sanji's reaction was hard to ignore, and he was worth inquiring over it. ]

You know what these are?

[In answer, Sanji drops a heavy object larger than Toyohisa's head. The unique coconut almost looks like a double bean pod, but gravity turns it into a dangerous cannon ball as it falls to the earth. Whoops. Don't lose any toes, dude.

After the coconut hits dirt, Sanji peaks around a palm to catch a glimpse of his (hopefully not dead) audience.]

Only one of the rarest coconuts out there! You don't want to know what some places pay to serve these.

[Golly, here's hoping all of these stories are child friendly.

An animated storyteller draws a crowd; in a place like this, boredom was sure to strike quick and true- with nothing else to do, stories were thick and fast to fly, the weakest tellers petering out as the night wears on.

Sanji is a good storyteller. And it shows, it does. But it makes his flaws obvious. He's made no indication that he recognized them when they first approached- thus, Chara's been a quiet spectator for the last half an hour.]

And yourself? Where were you, at this moment?

[Kids aren't very good at holding their tongues.]

[Sanji is rarely ever child friendly. Chances are Chara's already heard the guy wax poetic about several women's chest measurements. ("Nami-swaaaan~") He doesn't even seem to notice any kids are paying attention until Chara speaks up. His eyes dart to the inquisitive child, betraying how easily he was caught off guard for only a moment before Sanji settles back into his grin.]

Right behind him, of course! All of us were! That's our job as his crew, to follow our captain to the ends of the Earth. [He shifts on his pile of wood, reaching into his pocket to pull out a cigarette.] For as long as we can, anyway.

[It wouldn't be Sanji if he wasn't waxing about some woman or another. They can only be glad their mother isn't here; there is only so much fawning they can take about such a wonderful monster before their knife hand itches.]

Surely you also did something amazing, given the circumstances. Does your captain often steal the spotlight?

[Or are you finally admitting that you're just not that interesting?]

[That's about when Sanji reaches over to ruffle Chara's hair. He's not gentle about it. He's laughing too hard to be gentle.]

What? Are you interested in me? You wanna hear about all my heroic deeds so you can write my name over and over in your love diary tonight? Ask me again in ten years, brat. Maybe then you'll be more my type!

[What the heck

THIS IS LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY WANTED

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING????]

[He can keep ruffling the air, if he likes. The hand connecting with the top of their head pulls a full-body flinch just prior to them ducking out of reach, their own hands reaching up to fix any askew strands from his extremely rude breach of their personal space.

If that wasn't pointed enough, their nose wrinkles, disgust apparent.]

My standards are higher, thank you.

[Personal space? There is no such thing. Don't make up words, tiny person.

Still, Sanji chuckles even as his fingers scrunch around vacant air. Operation Deflection is a complete success.]

Hey, hey. I'll have you know that I am Grade A tender, juicy Man Meat. Standards don't get any higher!

[They have another cool, made up word for you. Knifeknifeknifesword.

He's fouling up their mood more completely than Chara ever expected. A change of scenery, an utter lack of recognition- and suddenly he's acting almost chummy. Disgusting.]

Do grade A tender, juicy man meats often wish for small children to grow up in order to be an object of interest, or is it just you?

[Yeah they went there. 8| ]

[Toriel turns around and faces the direction in which she hears a familiar voice shout. The flora around her sways with her movement, brushing against her old, messy frock. She inhales, holds her breath and hopes that whoever is on the other side of the greenery will remember her. After releasing her breath, the monster takes a step forward, and another, until her pace quickens into a brisk jog. As she nears Sanji's position, the vegetation between them shudders, until eventually Toriel, chest heaving with her exertion, appears.

Because Sanji is in a tree, however, Toriel cannot see him. She peers around the area, searching for the source of the voice, to find nothing and no one there. Disappointed, Toriel's shoulders slump as she lets out a long, tired sigh through her nose.]

I must have imagined it.

Hey, hey! Watch out!

[Toriel's imagination isn't going to give her a break, it seems. The voice is shouting again, this time with more urgency. As a whistling, rocketing sound permeates the air above the palm tree, Sanji attempts one last warning.]

From above!

[Yeah, that sure is a giant coconut careening to the ground. Look out below.]

[Sanji's alarm is only so effective. Toriel looks up and briefly spots someone in a palm tree, but her sight is consumed by a dark, round object. She gasps and flinches just before the object meets her face. It bounces off with a loud bonk and lands at her feet, uncracked. Her great white palms reach up to cover her throbbing face as she takes a wobbly step back. It hurts more than she expected; she can't suppress the tears wetting her fur.]

[ !!!

He knows that voice! From his nefarious CRAU days back in ye olde Sol Raveh castle. Which, if you're not cool with tagging a character who had CR with another Sanji, is understandable and there's no pressure to tag back on that biz.

Now, that's definitely a jacket on the ground, so he must be up one of these trees... hopefully not below any random island quicksand. Steven takes a two or three step lead and jumps up; rather than run into some of the classic pitfalls like only getting six inches of air, he rises up to a rough treetop level fairly easily. It, uh. Takes a little wobbling to keep from going up higher or starting to go down at the regular speed. He gets a handle on it. ]

Whoa, cool! Double coconuts, double luck!

[Clearly anyone here who remembers him being somewhere he's never been is just a crazy person. Sanji has plenty of experience with crazy people. Some of his best friends are crazy people. It's all good.

Speaking of crazy people, there is now a little boy floating near his left leg. Sanji watches, one curly brow raised in bewilderment, as the kid steadies himself. One of the infamous double coconuts rests in his arms, but the tree is home to several more still. With a snort, Sanji heel kicks a palm branch out of his way - and straight at his new companion.]

Double luck? Or double skill?

[That is one smug smirk.]

[ Yep, there he is. The kickmeister himself, almost Lars-esque manners intact. It's kinda nice after being home for so long. Steven takes the hit from the palm branch, since it's easier to roll with some leftover momentum than it is to try to dodge, and it's only a palm branch and all. He goes back a ways. Nothing a little air swimming can't... hopefully fix. ]

Why not both? Or does having both mean you just get one of each? There's probably a whole math process.

[A voice calls up thoughtfully:]

Do they look ripe enough to pick?

[If Sanji looks down from the tree, he'll see what appears to be a cross between a young woman and a spider. The fact that she's got six arms and purple skin is a bit odd, but she seems friendly, and more interested in the prospect of finding something edible than in him.]

[Sanji looks down from his perch, heart aflutter at the sound of a lady's voice. He is immediately torn.

Yes. Yes, that is indeed a woman. She looks quite beautiful too! But she is also a spider. A woman-sized spider. So many arms and eyes... Suddenly Sanji is grateful for the distance between them. Spiders don't climb palm trees, do they? He can fawn over her without fear as long as he maintains this wonderful height.]

Ah, but what man in his right mind would pick a nut over such an exotic maiden?! Not even a rare delicacy like a double coconut can compare to your triple charms!

[In his frantic attempt to flirt as usual, he completely forgets to answer her question. Oops.]

[Muffet gives a delighted little laugh, one hand held primly in front of her mouth. He's a bit melodramatic, but she can appreciate a good compliment.]

Ah, what a charming response. But surely one cannot live off charm alone, yes? Properly nourishing food is very important- I admit, I don't often cook with coconut, but it's always been quite pleasant when I did.

You cook?

[Love of Cooking >>>>> Bug Hate

It shouldn't have been possible for Sanji to look any more starstruck, and yet he still manages it, leaping excitedly atop the tall palm.]

Of course! I knew it the moment I laid these unworthy eyes upon you! You're a lady of many great talents! Not all of these big boys are ready for eating, but I've found one that's aged perfectly so far, and I'm looking for more.

Well, mostly I bake- I make my living selling pastries- but I've found it's always wise to broaden one's skillset, so I've tried to learn about other kinds of cooking here and there, instead of only sticking to my specialty.

[Muffet looks genuinely excited about the coconuts, although she is at least trying to be calm and dignified about it- she has a proper reputation to maintain, after all.]

I do know a lovely recipe for coconut cookies, although I'm open to other ideas, if you have any.

A patissier! There's nothing more fitting than a sweetie making sweets! We'll have to swap recipes!

[While Muffet attempts to retain her dignity, Sanji giddily proves he has none of his own. She makes coconut cookies. He wants to eat her coconut cookies. He wants to eat them so badly! Cookies sprinkled with the deepest of affections~~~!]

You must let me watch you at work! Afterward, I'll find a way to make muffins too!

[Well, she's got a lot of affection for baking, anyway. But he does seem like a nice person, and she genuinely likes the idea of learning more about whatever interesting recipes he might know.]

And yet, you're the one offering sweet words~

I do always love seeing new techniques, one can learn so much from working with a colleague.

Although, speaking of unexpected new things- I don't suppose you've any idea how either of us got here? I certainly wasn't expecting to be on an island today, and I still haven't been able to figure out how I arrived so suddenly.

[Sanji has always been an expert at seeing affection where there is none. Poor Muffet is likely to never escape his delusions again. All because of some coconut cookies.

With a loud warning whistle, Sanji pushes one of the especially large double coconuts toppling to the beach. The impact sends sand flying, but Sanji is at least aware enough to ensure it flies away from Muffet.]

I may be used to strange islands, but I usually get there by ship. [He chuckles lightly.] This is just as new to me as it is to everyone else, I'd guess. I've sure as hell never heard of a devil's fruit like it, and the last time I was hit by gas, I remembered enough to realize why I'd passed out.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 001 )

sanji | one piece

Hello there, stranger! (Shipwrecked)

what up, butt!

ii!

sorry for the wait!

It's no problem! Take your time! o/

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shipwrecked

how dare you choose that username

huehuehue

i

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I.

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