TEST DRIVE MEME ( 005 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #5

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 November 17th and that Applications will open on November 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.

All That Glitters
The caves deep beneath the island's surface are not dimly lit; in fact, they practically sparkle with a strange, unearthly greenish light. Blame it on the crystalline growths that protrude plentifully from every nook and cranny, stalactites and stalagmites alike.

Their glow might be soothing to some, and viscerally terrifying to others, but one thing remains absolutely certain: based on the creaking, groaning noises of shifting rock and the high-pitched tinkle of breaking shards of crystal...

You aren't alone down here. The deeper in you venture, the more the thicker clusters of the things begin to move. And eventually, it will become plain to you that it isn't the crystal at all that's moving, but rather the thing inside of it - something vaguely humanoid shaped, bipedal, with arms and legs and the dull, pale glimmers in the region of what might almost pass for a face.

Formed entirely from crystal.

Upon spotting a living creature, each of them will begin to lurch closer and closer, arms outstretched. Every one is slow and cumbersome and even fragile enough to be smashed, if you dare venture close enough. But once they've trapped you, there is no escaping whatever fate they have in store for you.

And rest assured, it is not a pleasant one.

[The above prompt is a version of our Crystal Clear event from October! Feel free to give the event write-up a read for more information.]

It's High Tide
When you initially wake on the beaches of this strange island with its bleeding, dreamlike edges, you might notice that something seems deeply amiss...something like the fact that you're lying in a whole mess of seawater. Assuming you're not thoroughly soaked already, you'd better figure out a way to get to high ground, because the water level is rising very rapidly. Pretty soon, there might not be anywhere safe to go besides the trees, and even those might not be safe the longer this goes on.

Fortunately for you, if you can find them quickly enough, the island of Mu has helpfully provided some assistance for those who don't feel like doggy-paddling for the duration of the dream. Better hurry and hang onto them before you drown! Unless you'd rather doggy-paddle the whole way out, that is. In which case, we're sure the water feels great.

A Crappy Endeavor
In your travels on this strange new land, you might start to notice something following you. Something...oddly shaped, like a lot of dirt and clay that's consolidated into one great awkward moving lump of a creature. What lies beneath is far more like the common beetle...just much, much larger. And unfortunately for everyone involved, they have a very specific appetite:

Your poop.

Mu has produced a very close approximation of the creatures known as f'rshaymes, animals that go beyond merely being useful for disposing of all that nasty waste. Doiing so comes with significant benefits, as the combined process of mud and excrement as it goes through a F'rshayme's digestive system leaves behind pure clay for the...brave.

Often found in small herds of six to eight individuals, f'rshaymes are extremely docile and would be very easy to turn into a herd of your very own. How nice!

---

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Zacharie | OFF

[creditless]

All That Glitters.

[ ADMINISTRATOR: set command ;{ᴇʀᴀᴤɪɴɢ ᴅᴀᴛᴀ ᴈʀᴏᴍ "ʙᴀᴋᴇʀᴤᴛʀᴇᴇᴛ.ʀᴘᴅ"
;{4ᴛʜ ᴡᴀʟʟ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴤᴇᴛ ᴛᴏ 15% ᴋᴇʏ ᴤᴇᴛ; <ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ394702{ᴜɴᴘᴜʀɪᴈʏ} ᴏɴʟʏ>
...
...
... ᴅᴀᴛᴀ ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ ]

[ Wow, physicality is marvelous. He takes the time to enjoy all five senses while he has them. The crystal cavern looked inviting. Perhaps, maybe not the best term... it looked like the yellow brick road. Zacharie didn't need to follow it, though. He was mighty damp from his swim upwards through something not plastic. All things considered, though, he's not going deeper into the cavern. Why? Because he has the marvelous choice not to! A puppetmaster would be pushing him in, he can sit comfortably outside and go through his knapsack, stitched with his name.

A sewing kit.
A machete.
Three apples.
A bolt of cloth.

The sewing kit and bolt of cloth must have been serendipitous, nothing more. He rolled well on his entry. Zacharie might be a breathing, living human man now, but he still thinks in mechanics that no longer exist. Look at all this color! This high defintion. Those crystals are definitely tempting, right? You could shave them down for tools if you ventured in. His machete looked like it could endure.

Nope. Freedom of choice. No matter how much he knew he should go in the cavern, he's sitting down and peeling an apple with the machete. ]

[unpurify]

[Wow, you're not dead.

Well, actually the Batter shouldn't be surprised to see a familiar...mask, he guesses. Zacharie always had a tendency to show up at expected and least expected times. This was probably one of those 'least expected' times.

And this place revived the dead, regardless if they wanted to be alive or not. So that's that.

The Batter is heavily soaked as well due to the water and the fact that he couldn't swim. Getting away from all that sure was something and finding himself back in this cave wasn't exactly somewhere he wanted to be. But this time rather then a quick painless death via a knife to his skull, he's now +1 merchant peeling an apple with a machete.

Whether or not that's a good thing, on the other hand, is an entirely different thing, isn't it?]

You're alive.

[...hi.]

[creditless]

[ I was never dead, Batter. Just waiting for the next game.

He glances up at the Batter, a cheery looking face painted on his mask. He peeled the apple finally and tossed it to the Batter, having memorized his dextrous skill for catching anything he was programmed to thrown. He intends to share his goods with new and old friends alike. ]

No currency. Hm, hm... guess that's on me.

[ How does he know that? Because if there was currency, there'd be society. ♫ Here in this Crystal Kingdom ♫, there was nothing of value. A crystal mine of this size would have people coming in and out of it...

... if there were anything of value inside. ]

I was always alive.

[unpurify]

[Just as Zacharie predicts or just knows, the Batter catches it easily. He doesn't eat it though. Perhaps it was a product of rarely if ever showing emotions on his own face, but he knew a cheery looking face painted on a mask doesn't mean there was anything cheery about the person. Enoch was always smiling, after all.

But that's none of his business. Not right now.]

None.

[It might have just been idle commentary as Zacharie tended to do sometimes, but it may be for the better to just say it to confirm it. And moving on.]

The switch was flipped off. Everyone is gone.

[The Batter knows this place brought back the dead. Seeing it apply to someone from his world that wasn't himself, however, was really making it sink in.]

[creditless]

[ And his voice counts for nothing? Tut tut, Batter, he's always been friendly and generous to you. Perhaps right now, more than ever. He's offering a bribe. ]

That's a shame, but you can always fix one up. People need, after all. As long as people need, there'll never be an end to currency!

[ So cheerful... he feels his flesh with a genuine curiosity and fascination. So this is what the other person on the screen felt like. Even the little hairs on his arm feel gentle. No wonder they felt like they had so much power and so little restraint. No wonder Batter is the way he is! He borrowed not even a fraction of it. ]

I'm afraid your good amigo knows the script from the beginning to end, so I never truly die. The game is unplayed for a while, but it is played again.

Inevitably.

[ He slices up his apple and shoves the pieces through the hole in his mask. ]

But enough of that! Autonomy, my friend! I can feel my bones and my heart beating. No strings on my back! The world in every shade and color-- thank goodness the mask filters some of it out! [ He opens his arms for a hug. ] I bet you haven't even been hugged yet. Come here.

[ Zacharie finally knows his shape! Shorter than the Batter but strong, more hair, darker skin. This is so much nicer than lifting five pixels worth of arms around someone's shoulder. He lifts him in a friendly hug despite their size difference, them promptly lets him go. ]

And just with that, I can't wait to see what the things I mimed actually felt like!

[unpurify]

[Now the Batter remembers how much Zacharie liked to talk. Not nearly as frequently or as verbose as the Judge is (was) but he was a chatty person. Also he's touchy. Why.

The Batter doesn't return the hug, but he doesn't push Zacharie away either. It helps that the other man doesn't hold on for too long. He's tempted to take a step back just incase he tries again once the merchant lets go but doesn't. There's your free hug Zacharie. Don't do it again.

He's also not going to address that 'inevitably' comment. There's to many things to say to such a loaded statement.]

It feels no different. There's just more color.

[It's blinding, yes. And there's the urge to drain the colors away again. It's not stopping.]

[creditless]

You have no idea how it feels for someone who mostly only stands in fixed positions and teleports.

[ He squats and does a full body stretch, various joints crackling along the way. He feels alive! He is alive! For the first time in the universe, he is alive and breathing. The only thing he's missing is-- he slips his hand up behind his mask. Yup. This place probably couldn't change that. ]

You have no strings, do you, dear Batter?

[ He sounds a bit pitying, even if his mood on that is thank god. ]

There's no prompt for you to say something back to me. You just say what you feel! That's an amazing step for you, I'm proud. I bet you can't even name who your God was anymore.

[ A compliment and a dig, because when your game has been played millions of times and it all ended one of two ways too late, your blacklist is thousands of miles long. ]

I look forward to meeting the true you.

[unpurify]

[He doesn't. The Batter was always moving. The only time he wasn't was when the Puppeteer wasn't controlling him, so he slept, or when he was dead and then permanently dead.

"The switch is now on OFF." Only not.

But Zacharie raises a good point. The Batter looks down at his hands. He can still see the snapped threads wrapped around his limbs. In a sense, yes he no longer had the strings of the Puppeteer in him but they were still - physically, mentally and metaphorically - there.

Can he put a name to the being that once controlled him?]

██

[...apparently not, if the fact the Batter can't answer. It's not like the Puppeteer ever went by one name, but running through them all was an exercise in futility. Again.]

That is conversations. Answering what others say.

[Says the person who is terrible at even small talk. But it's not a glance into anything new or exciting about the Batter. This was his true self in its purest form.

Nothing more, nothing less.]

[creditless]

[ Zacharie already wants another hug, despite the fact that it's the Batter. Because who knew hugs were so important? Wow. He's going to learn about a lot of important things. ]

I know you have an identity, the Puppeteer didn't speak your words most of the time... but with the strings fully cut, now you have to maintain it on your own. Outside of a script! That means you will change and so will I.

[ He shoves another apple piece between his mask. So juicy! Real food, instead of the rotmeat that he sold at his booth. Zacharie never entreated himself to corpse sugar, either, so this was really nice... ]

That is the most exciting of all. Watching your earnest self, in incubation inside of the script, grow.

[unpurify]

[No. Hug him again and he'll toss you into the ocean. We'll see if a not!cat can swim.

Once again, Zacharie had a point. The Batter's words had been his alone, that much was true, as was the end goal. The Puppeteer had allowed him to get up again and again after each death and drove him forward. Keep going.

But now the Batter had to get back up on his own after dying. And with no point to his existence...]

It doesn't matter to me.

[If Zacharie wanted to, fine. But for the Batter it's safer inside of a coma.]

1/2

[creditless]

It doesn't have to matter to you.

[ Sinisterly: ]

It's just going to happen to you, as all living things.

[creditless]

Let's take a walk on the beach!

[ He takes the Batter's forearm, and tugs him along as if nothing matters. Really, he's testing his limits as an NPC, seeing if he is able to guide someone against their will. If he loses, all the better! ]

I've heard lots of things about beaches. They're nothing like plastic at all. There's sand and shoreline and it's nice and quiet, perfect to have a discussion about home or what you've been doing since you got here. You have the smell of this island on you, so presumably, you've been here a while.

[ blatantly: You smell like you bathe yourself with the limited resources here. You stink a bit. ]

There's even the remnants of living things that wash up, sometimes. I want to see it again. I left too soon.

[unpurify]

[Yeah, no he's pulling away. Sorry Zacharie. Also not addressing his first comment. The Batter knows the merchant had a tendency to sound sinister or cryptic when it suited him. It was the same as last time.

"Bis Vincit, Qui Se Vincit In Vitoria." He hasn't forgotten.]

Is it still flooded?

[Because he's not touching it with a ten-foot pole if it is. Can't swim, remember?]

[creditless]

Not anymore, I think...

[ He'll press onward regardless, assuming the Batter will follow at his own pace. If he doesn't... he'll just turn tail and walk back towards him and insist a walk is more interesting than the crystals. ]

I just want to see it, you know? Hard to appreciate when soggy. I still can't believe I can see the world without a pixel in sight. [ Where everything is segmented into pretty little squares to make up something big. It's just-- there. All of it. As far as your eyes could see. It gave him a headache and filled him with joy. ]

You haven't made friends, probably... but have you met people who interest you? Good or bad.

[passingsmile]

[Well Zacharie certainly looks to be enjoying himself, and more importantly doesn't seem too threatening... Machete and mask aside of course. But let it never be said that Setsuna judges by appearance.

She approaches slowly with a warm smile, eyes flitting between the expression on the mask and the eye holes.]

Are you enjoying your food? I want to say you are, but... [The mask makes it hard to be 100% certain. And to think she's used to traveling with a masked man.]

[creditless]

[ He's been slicing apple pieces thin enough to shove through his mask holes, so don't worry, he's enjoying them just fine. ]

This is the first real meal I've ever had. I can't explain why, though... think of me as a spirit that was given life here, and this is all very new to me.

[ There's no need to talk game-talk around other people. It's rude. ]

[passingsmile]

Is that so? Then I am glad you are here so you can experience this, even if you can't explain. [If he's enjoying life then the hows and the whys are fine being left to the side for now.

Provided he has no objections, Setsuna gathers her cloak and sits down nearby on the cold cave floor.]

If it helps, this is all very new to me as well. If I had any advice or information I would be happy to share. [It probably doesn't help. But the willingness to help might mean a little something at the very least.]

[creditless]

Thank you for your courtesy! I would have to draw up a map, tell an extraordinary long tale, have you pity me and my friends, and then ultimately be confused by some of the terms I use. It would be a disaster, amiga! So a spirit tasting and seeing and smelling and feeling things for the first time is the best thing to say.

[ She can sit next to him! He promises, he's not a master of Purification. He doesn't bat to death anything that moves. ]

It's okay! Very simply: we will learn together. There's nothing wrong with being new at anything, no matter what it is. Including a kidnapping.

[passingsmile]

[Okay she has to laugh a little there.] I feel you might have already lost me! But the bottom line is you're getting to do all these things for the first time. So I'm very happy for you, sir.

[Thank goodness, she would rather not be bat to death. She's saving the dying for when she's home thank you. Getting comfortable, Setsuna removes the large circular weapon from her hair ornament and sets it down. It's not fun having that weighing you down constantly okay.]

Learning together certainly makes this all seem a little easier to handle. Though if us being here is truly a result of a kidnapping... Then I believe our friends might arrive shortly. [Kidnappings happen, she's been there before. She gives a knowing nod and a smile at that.]

[creditless]

[ She is very beautiful. In all honesty, she's the most beautiful woman Zacharie has ever seen, but he'd only ever met two. Still, her garments, her weapon, all of her-- is keenly beautiful because she's the first he's seen in high definition.

He's not going to do anything about it beyond mentioning it, mind you. He's just noticing it like you would a four leaf clover, he's not exactly equipped for flirting. And although this is mostly a caricature, he's not handsome. ]

Given my existence was very minimal before I came here, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I don't mean it in a skeeving way or any kind of come hither way, though, how rude-- it's just so new to me that I feel like i have to say it.

How do I explain... oh! We are three dimensional now? I used to be less.

[passingsmile]

[Zacharie is plenty handsome! In an "all life is beautiful and precious" kind of way. And honestly any person with a heart on their shirt must have plenty of inner beauty. Or at least that's what she thinks from looking at him. What a kind and loving person you are Zacharie.

That said, Setsuna is not at all used to this kind of talk and visibly seems a little surprised as she fumbles with her words.]

Is... Is that right? That's very flattering, thank you... I-I'm sure you will come across many other beautiful people that you can admire? [It's not as certain sounding as she wanted- But oh, lets move on!] Ah, what do you mean by three dimensional?

[creditless]

We're in the third dimension. As in, we're physical and can perceive the world in three dimensions.

You've probably always felt that way! I uh, haven't.

[ He laughs gently at her response, but not mockingly. He takes up a stick and scratches a very small stick figure into the sand, then smooths it out. ]

See this? I used to be about that flat.

ignore that subscription i cant click good oh god

[passingsmile]

I see...? [The curious tilt of her head makes it fairly clear she's not exactly following.] I'm afraid that you're right, I've always felt the way I do now. I can't even begin to imagine what it might be like otherwise.

[But she wants to understand! So she leans forward, eagerly looking over the stick figure drawn on the ground before its rubbed away.]

I'm sure there are many positive things behind being so flat. [Ever the positive one.] ... Though looking at you and your drawing, I can't see it being very comfortable.

no worries! it happens to all of us

[creditless]

Mmm... it was a little bit, but it was fine, mostly. I was very used to it.

It's nice to have some level of detail, though! [ He grabs his arm, pleased that-- well, he's strong! Or has simply has muscles, he hasn't actually used them yet. ] I like it. This is a nice place-- nicer than home, anyway. But I feel out of my element. I feel like I should be...

...

Selling something.

[passingsmile]

Selling something...?

[So he's a merchant... From another dimension? Sounds rough buddy. But ever the optimist and wanting to help where she can, Setsuna's eyes light up as an idea crosses her mind.]

Here, just a second.

[First she takes the weapon she laid out before, her chakrams, and sets them out in front of Zacherie. Next come her bows. A potion, blue liquid in a bottle she arrived from home with. A small hammer, one of the items she woke up with here. There. Welcome to your shop Zacherie.]

Ahem... Hello! [This is a silly idea, and she seems a little embarrassed now that she's going through with it. But here we are.] You've got quite the selection here. How's business?