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

[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.

[unpurify]

[He'll follow, since things seem dead-set on ending up at the beach. Hopefully it still isn't flooded.

The Batter doesn't quite have the same...view point that Zacharie does. As far as he was concerned this was a shift in location, from nothing to something rather then from a video game to reality. The eye-searing colors and the different shapes and sizes of those who inhabit this place were completely new and something he could half-agree on.

It gave him a headache.]

Everyone here is unique.

[Which can translate to good and bad, if Zacharie wants it to. And given that the unique people in their world could be counted on two hands, that's probably saying something.]

[creditless]

[ Did Batter even know what a video game was? That was his simple reality. To be reborn and pass again through the same place, was that just the world. That meant he had a lot to teach him, young Թɑժɑաɑղ-- oh no, there goes the filter. Thank goodness this is only the test drive, and he's allowed to slip up with the fourth wall. At least, inside his thoughts. ]

I bet that must be overwhelming. Everyone has a history from a world so different from yours or mine. It's enough to drive someone insane. I, on the other hand, welcome it entirely! I just love a good story.

I wonder if they're all [ HE SUDDENLY COUGHS ] from different places? Then we'd have a lot to learn, amigo. Real people... who might've played our game. Who might've been your god.

[ Okay, lesson two is don't press the filter from this point forward. ]

[unpurify]

[He's used a controller before for a puzzle in Zone 3, but that was the extent of it. The idea of a game wasn't so far-fetched but it was hard to put two and two together regarding his world and a video game.

Again, there's a lot of things to be said to that and the Batter wasn't going to touch it with a ten-foot pole. Don't think about it.]

They would have said something.

[They would have. The Batter's appearance - at least according to everyone he's spoken to thus far - was striking and out of everyone, if the Puppeteer was physically here, they would have recognized him and reattached the strings.

What point would there be in interacting with him otherwise?]

[creditless]

[ Zacharie thinks of Sucre bleeding and almost says the cruelest thing he can: Would they really? Knowing how they were deceived in the end, forced to kill a "mother" and child.

But he doesn't, because he doesn't care that much. He just knows it could hit Batter in the chest so hard he might emote, but it would definitely get them off on the wrong start. Revenge is best served sweet. If he can pull the extra string still in his hands and make the Batter feel, against his kicking and screaming will, that's the best payback he could deliver for everything. ]

Ah, yeah. I suppose.

You said everyone was unique. Who is the unique-est?

[unpurify]

[They both could be cruel to each other. It's something he doesn't bother with - or at least intentionally bother with - but words could hurt more then a baseball bat or a blade. It just took longer.

But there's no point. The Batter isn't a mind reader and Zacharie is Zacharie. What happens will happen, one way or another.]

I don't know.

[Everyone is unique but he hasn't been paying attention any farther then that. Zacharie certainly was one of those but the Batter knew him so (most) of his strangeness wasn't a surprise.]

[creditless]

You're lying. You are perceptive by nature. Strings might guide you, but not your words. The way you speak to people and understand them is immutable.

[ That was going to be the first step in Plan: B.A.T.T.E.R. (build a thoughtful, thinking, endogenous... reaper. He wasn't good at abbreviations, okay? Reaper worked just fine. ]

So tell me, who have you been taking interest in? Not as though you take interest in them as in you care about them, but who makes you turn your head and feel curious? There must be someone.

[unpurify]

[Zacharie isn't wrong with reaper anyways, considering...

The Batter doesn't answer for a good while. A full, honest answer would be everyone he's met so far but that was due to the fact that none of them were Elsen. All unique in their own ways.

But there is someone in particular he can bring up. He's sure Zacharie will appreciate the irony of who exactly it is.]

A child. I don't know their name. But they are strong.

[Strong in their power and convictions. Strong enough to put him out of his misery, to give him a second option rather then dying from parasitic crystals or by his own hand.]

[creditless]

A child?

[ Zacharie sounds incredulous but he doesn't look it underneath the mask. Given their everything with Hugo and all. ]

If It's by how you define strength, I am absolutely terrified! Or do you mean strong in a metaphorical sense?

[ Either way, he made a friend he presumably hasn't killed? Maybe he has killed. Maybe resets were still in play. Either way, he would love to encourage that friendship. Or... enemies, if all reasonable possibilities are to be considered. ]

What do you feel should be done about the child?

[unpurify]

Both.

[So very strong. Then again he doesn't know much about said child, not even their name, so what they're like when they inevitably hit a wall is probably another story.

And this time it was the other way around: they killed him. Perhaps that was just karma at work. But at Zacharie's next question he just shrugs.]

I don't know.

[This child didn't spell any sort of end. Nothing would happen if the Batter killed them. They would revive like any other in this place, just like him or Zacharie would. So...

He's got nothing.]

[creditless]

Ah! Confliction of the heart. Promising indeed. You have no idea how lucky you are to land here, my dear Batteur! 'I don't know' means something other than black and white. You're conflicted. You don't have a certain reason or someone to choose for you.

Choice is marvelous. I think you should get used to it, comfortably.

[ Is this just antagonizing the Batter instead of reassuring him? Possibly. Because the only reasonable feeling for the Batter to start out with is one all living beings start out with-- Fear. ]

[unpurify]

[It's not helpful at any rate. And he has been making choices Zacharie. If someone asks him to do something, he does it if it's needed. There you go.

Seemingly ignoring Zacharie, the Batter keeps walking until they get to the beach. Good, it's not flooded anymore! Just very very wet. He's going to have to dry out his shoes again. That is, if this just doesn't turn out to be a dream again. For something that never dreamed until he arrived here, the Batter was finding the lines were starting to blur a little for him.

Concerning but not worth thinking about for too long.]

This is it.

[Have fun buddy.]

1/2

[creditless]

It's nice.

[ ...

...

...

...

... ]

For a video ga--

[creditless]

Kidding! Absolutely kidding. I don't think I'm built for a world more real than this. I feel like if I tried, all of my-- atoms, is it now? -- would float apart with nothing to keep them sticking together. This is the real world.

This is where the person that made us lives. Somewhere like this.

It's nice.

...

Batter, you must think it is a little beautiful.

[unpurify]

[He's going to ask for a wiffle bat and smack you with it every time you break the 4th wall Zacharie.]

I don't care.

[And did you really expect anything else from him? Because he'd be kidding himself if it was otherwise. It doesn't matter if somewhere looks nice. If it comes down to it, the Batter would purify it all the same.]

[creditless]

[ Hey, he's ALLOWED to break the fourth wall when it comes to non-character things because he's able to acknowledge he's a video game character. This is IC. He's allowed to have this...!

He rolls his eyes beneath his mask. ]

Then I have no other option but to... force you to care about something?

[ he still has his actual backpack with him. He reaches inside and withdraws... one luck ticket

And he waggles it. ]

[unpurify]

[He's just going to fix the merchant with a very deadpan look and not say anything.

You're going to try and bribe the guy who A) doesn't feel much 99.9% of the time, B) has Luck Tickets already and C) has his own healing skills. Really Zacharie. Really?

Try again.]

[creditless]

[ Alright, Dillhole. If a ticket doesn't rustle your skirt, how about this--

He pulls a sealed pack of Abaddon's meat, extra juicy, and waves it at him like a woman would wave a hanky. There. That do it for ya? ]

[unpurify]

[...kind of, but--]

What do you want.

[No money and he gave his honest opinion. So what else was there, besides the things he already owned?]

[creditless]

You just learned 'want'! That's pretty nice. You don't need this meat, but you want it pretty badly.

[ Thumbs up! ]

Where do you live?

[unpurify]

It's useful.

[As all the stuff Zacharie sold was. Hence why he bought it.]

On the fifth Islet. There's a warp.

1/2

[creditless]

Useful, of course.

[ Posture was so much easier to read like this. ]

Let's head there, then!

they warped.

[creditless]

Ah.

...

Humble beginnings. Which one's yours?

[unpurify]

The fifth one.

[Although there's not a whole lot inside, to probably nobody's surprise. Most of the things the Batter had could fit into his backpack after all and he frequently kept it that way.

So aside from that and room for two people to sleep in, there's jack shit. Five starts, clearly.]