TEST DRIVE MEME ( 001 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

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 )

Comments

[ishotyouuu]

[It's as though the wind has been knocked out of his mind. Her demand to know who he is is practically a formality-- the act of pointing a gun at him does the job perfectly in driving home the fact that he is not to be trusted. Wade stares at her in shock, even as he raises his arms in the universal gesture of harmlessness. Those beautiful eyes, the ones that had haunted his dreams for so long, look back at him from behind the barrel of the gun with trepidation and fear.

They aren't the eyes of someone who recognizes him.]

Clem... [His voice is small, breathless.] It's me, Wade. Don't you remember me?

[takeusback]

[ The raising of his arms makes Clementine pause, and she does lower the gun. Both hands are still holding it tightly, but it's pointing at the ground instead of Wade now. She's tense though, and doesn't come any closer. He sounds quiet, he sounds... sad, and even though she's still nervous Clementine can't help but feel sorry for him. ]

I don't know anyone called that. [ She shakes her head slowly. She was going to ask if he could take off his mask, then maybe she might recognise him, but she really doesn't know anyone called Wade... Maybe he thinks she's somebody else. But would there really be someone here who looks like her and has her name? ]

[ishotyouuu]

[Oh.

Oh, no.

No.

She doesn't remember him. Those eyes look at him with confusion and distrust, the eyes of a stranger. He remembered this happening before once, in Haven, and how he'd felt when she'd looked at him this way back then, with no memory of what they had gone through together. And he remembers the time when she finally regained her memories of him, and everything was right and good with the world once more. Even the desolation of Haven didn't seem as bad, when she had her arms around him. When she laughed at his antics. When she called him "Dad".

Wade's heart staggers inside his chest; there is a sharp and bitter taste in his mouth. This can't be happening. Any second now that spark of recognition would come into her eyes, and she would come running into his arms, and his whole body would ache with joy that his little girl was his again; that she'd been given back to him.]

C-come on, Clem. Don't you remember the Ferris wheel? And the little turtle thing I saved for you when you got back after you were gone for so long and how we went scavenging together and... and...

[He breaks off. Something large and painful and unpleasant suddenly rises up in his throat. It feels as though he can't get enough air.

Please, Clem. Tell me you remember. Tell me you still remember how much I love you.]

[takeusback]

[ Clementine stays very still, growing more confused, before slowly shaking her head. ]

I'm really sorry. [ And she means that. She is sorry. She doesn't know him, and doesn't understand any of this, but she can see how sincere and how upset he is. Watching him break off, she can imagine suddenly what it would be like if Lee was here, here and alive, but if he didn't remember her, didn't remember everything they'd done together. Her chest squeezes painfully.

She wants to tell him she remembers, but she can't. She doesn't. ]

Maybe if you took off your mask? [ She doesn't really think that would help. The emotion in his tone as he said her name might have reminded her of Lee, but otherwise she doesn't recognise his voice at all. She doesn't recognise or understand any of the things he's said she should remember. This man is a stranger. ]

[1/2]

[ishotyouuu]

[This, unfortunately, is the worst thing she could ask of him. If she hadn't recognized him from his trademark spandex outfit-- which he'd never not worn in all the years they'd been together-- then she definitely wouldn't recognize him without the mask.

That was it, then-- all of his fears brought to light in that one moment; all of his hopes summarily dashed before his eyes. His beautiful little girl was here, just as he dreamed so many nights since their separation, healthy and whole and standing before him as if those years in Haven had never happened.

And that was the problem, wasn't it? As if those years in Haven had never happened. As if she'd never met him, never bonded with him; never got a chance to love him like he loved her. He carried those memories deep within him for years, no matter how much they'd hurt him, but they would have no meaning to her. Sometimes the powers that be had a really sick sense of humor.]

[2/2]

[ishotyouuu]

[Somehow he manages a sheepish smile, even as he feels his heart squeeze painfully in his chest, even as he fights the urge to press a hand to it, as if that would somehow ease the hurt.]

Heh... nah, forget about it. Must've been some other Clem. Sorry, sometimes my memories kinda get jumbled up and I don't know what I'm talkin' about. Heh. Probably sound like a crazy person right now, yeah?

[It's amazing how his voice can sound so steady. Not that it matters, because the lie he's just told is so terrible that even someone as half as smart as she is wouldn't be taken in by it.]

[takeusback]

[ Clementine watches for a moment, feeling a little less unsure, even as the masked stranger tells her a lie even Duck wouldn't have believed. She finds herself doubting herself more than she doubts he believes what he's been saying all this time though. ]

You don't sound... crazy.

[ Well, maybe a little. But she just got off a raft she can't remember getting onto and is now on a strange island where she's already met a weird spider creature. So he doesn't sound that crazy. He sounds like a lying liar who lies right now, actually, but rather than tell him as such, Clementine approaches him, so they're not standing so far apart. Then she offers a tentative smile, and holds out a small gunless hand for him to shake. ]

Just because I don't remember, doesn't mean we can't be friends now, okay?

[ishotyouuu]

[He almost flinches away from her as she steps closer. Not because he's afraid of her-- she would never be able to hurt him even if she wanted to-- but because he's afraid of what he might do if she approaches him. The urge to draw her into a tight hug is almost overwhelming, but he knows that if he gives in, he might scare her away; lose her for good.

He doesn't look into her eyes. If he does, he'll break. She's being so nice to him, despite his rambling and his lies; so willing to give a total stranger a second chance. It makes his eyes burn, makes him inexplicably long for a time of desolate environments and meager rations, if only because he'd glutted himself on love and companionship.

With a quirk of his lips, he reaches across and clasps her hand in his. His hand is shaking but otherwise gentle; the urge to hold her close is still so present.]

Pleased to meet you, Clem.

[Pleased to meet you again.]