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

[hyperlit]

corruption.

[That is what the Immortal Cell is. Judgment. Not a god, but a creation that would devour the world whole and desecrate it utterly. Perhaps the only thing powerful enough to displace them here.]

should find it.

[fortunefavored]

[you're getting a frown for that, buddy] Yeah. Like, that sounds great in theory, but in practice, unless you know for sure that's what we're up against here, I'd say cool your jets for a bit. Like a day or so. Whoever's keeping this cage will probably show up soon, and then you'll know where to go from there, and whether this corruption is just part of your world, or if it's leaked over here too.

[hyperlit]

["Cooling their jets" is not a thing the Drifter does, Newt. If there is an action that can conceivably be taken, they will take it. They're not about to simply stand around and do nothing.

The Drifter frowns.]

then what do we do?

[fortunefavored]

[Newt huffs out a sigh, glancing around] Find shelter. See if there's any semblance of edible food and drinkable water close by. Figure out rations, if need be. Not slip and die on sharp pointy rocks because we don't know what the dying rules are in this world yet.

[hyperlit]

[Hm.

That's the sort of thing they'd expect from a nascent civilization, still bent on establishing a foothold. Perhaps that is to be anticipated. The note on dying rules is...unique, shall they say, considering they weren't aware the black points of the jackal had taken anyone else under her wing.]

chart a map.

[fortunefavored]

[The Drifter is going to get a pause and a blink at that, before Newt grins] Yeah! I mean, depending on how big this place is, it might take a while, but absolutely definitely!

[hyperlit]

[A map is, in their experience, the best way to start. The best way to begin any search for important objects, items, modules of use. The sprite at their shoulder chimes, the secondary HUD springing to life.]

[The Drifter's eyes narrow slightly. The map of the area, that which should have at least rough geographic locations, is disconcertingly blank.]

:|

[Well. It would seem they're doomed to that solemn fate.]

start anew.

[ohnehalfte]

[Newt's just gonna...watch that HUD thing go and show a blank map. Because listen, there is only so long he can focus on the most important stuff at hand and ignore something as neat as not one but TWO HUDs]

...dude. That is cool as hell.

[hyperlit]

[That gets a slightly puzzled look. He must not be a drifter himself, no, but surely he must have encountered one in the past. Nearly every one of them has a sprite of some sort at their shoulder.]

[More importantly, their eyes are narrowing slightly at the blank expanse of map.]

blank.
it should not be blank.

[ohnehalfte]

What, the map?

[He huffs a bit, but comes closer to peer at it from the other side]

Like I said, alternate world. Whoever dragged us here probably decided to pull a dick move and erase it.

[hyperlit]

:\

[Yes, consider them very ruffled. It will take a great deal of time to chart this all over again - time they might not very well have.]

rude.

[ohnehalfte]

[...rude. Something about that single-word answer--the sheer absurdity of the fact that their map got erased is the rude part. Not the 'being taken from your world,' not the 'thrown onto some island in the middle of who-knows where without any electricity or communication whatsoever'--no, it's the map. And something about that strikes Newt as utterly hilarious--and he can't help but laugh, high and cracking. It wheezes out of him, feeling almost rusty in it, scrubbing a hand at his eye as something that's been curled tight just under his ribs loosens just a bit]

Y-yeah. [he can't help but giggle, helplessly] Definitely rude.

[hyperlit]

[They can't precisely claim to understand why it is he starts to laugh - and it takes them a moment longer to pinpoint the sound as such, and not as an imminent coughing fit. It does not seem to be the least bit mean-spirited, not that it would particularly bother them if it were.]

[The fact that he's endured their presence for this long is a miracle in and of itself. The Drifter's eyes pinch slightly into dark crescents, and they lift one gloved hand with its almost clawlike fingers. Extend the thumb and the forefinger into a vague U-shape that they hold just in front of their mantle.]

[They're smiling. See?]

[ohnehalfte]

[Newt watches as they hold up their fingers in a strange, u-shaped way, frowning just slightly as he tries to puzzle that expression out--before it clicks, and Newt smiles widely back. That's!!! So clever!!!]

Well, since our current overlords are definitely super rude dudes, we should start mapping out this place while we wait for them to swoop down and introduce themselves. You up for that?

[hyperlit]

[The Drifter nods. He's smiling at them, and they're smiling beneath their mantle - which kind of makes them friends. It's a very new and foreign concept, thrilling in its on right. Even if they anticipate its inevitable end down the line, that does not mean they cannot enjoy it now.]

[Let's map this place, buddy!!!]