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

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.]

[creditless]

[ Zacharie went to check it out immediately. Are there two cots inside, y/n? ]

[unpurify]

[Nope. Guess who hasn't asked for those yet? This guy.

Hey, he sleeps on the floor when the Puppeteer isn't controlling him. It's comfy.]

[creditless]

[ ...

S i g h... ]

Well, we can fix this up.

[ He tosses the meat at the Batter. ]

Here's rent.

[unpurify]

[Hey, not all of us own a theme park Zacharie.

The Batter catches it easily and then stares at the merchant.]

You wish to stay here?

[It makes sense that he'd want a place to stay - if this turned out to be real, anyway - but (unsurprisingly) not a whole lot of people wanted to hang around the Batter. Too off-putting.]

[creditless]

Home should be a comfortable place where you share your space with people who understand you, and trust me-- no one understands us.

[ He can't tale off his mask though, what a shame... as if the Batter had enough curiosity now to ask. ]

[unpurify]

[Nope, not currently. The Batter can't honestly say he's never felt a little curiosity on the subject but it doesn't really matter.]

Fine.

[This'll surely work out for everyone involved.]

[creditless]

Hmmm...

Time to get lumber! See if we can't scrounge up abandoned fabric. You can fell a tree with no axe, can't you?

[unpurify]

No.

[He was based on a number of things, but Superman was not one of them. The Batter was strong but his physical strengths had limits when they were not propped up by the Puppeteer.]

You can ask the Storyteller for things.

[creditless]

[ Batter, the idea of you just lying on the ground is kind of funny and kind of 'jesus christ'. ]

Ah, let me guess, with a name like that, the ambivalent deity who makes sure we don't altogether die as a game of raising an island society?

Those videogames rather disturbed me. A lot of emphasis on repopulation. What if we're in here for the long haul?

[unpurify]

[It's comfortable to sleep on the floor okay???]

It gives us things in exchange for stories. You can ask for things from them.

[He's gotten two pieces of Silver Flesh that way.]

[creditless]

You, telling stories.

[ He laughs. The Batter is no narrator. ]

Then I suppose I better make due and visit him and tell marvelous stories! And make sure we weren't reprogrammed into a simulator of unsavory sorts.

[unpurify]

[Yeah, yeah, he's already had two people and the Storyteller themself comment to that affect.]

There is an infection here.

[Which...is not a good thing. Or not a good thing because the Batter is here too.]

[creditless]

Oh? What kind of infection? A terrible impurity, or a true disease?

[ Both, most likely, to the Batter. ]

I should know about it, shouldn't I?

[unpurify]

[Zacharie's right. It's both to the Batter. And so his first question isn't going to get an answer.]

That cave. The crystals inside spread an infection.

[It kill him and a number of other people by the sounds of it.]

[creditless]

Well, it's a good thing I didn't go in, then! A lot of life's problems can be solved by not lifting a finger.

[ Great advice. ]

But you can't defeat crystals, can you? Hmmm, what would you say is the solution to this problem!

[unpurify]

Destroy the cave.

[And if that fails...

There's only one solution, one that Zacharie knows the Batter will take. If everything became sick then it was time to let it pass.]

[creditless]

...

Or we could go to a new island.

[ Sounding thoroughly unimpressed. ]

[unpurify]

And if it spreads?

[Someone's clearly not an optimist.]

[creditless]

... well, I suppose you wouldn't know how oceans work.

[creditless]

Besides! If the storyteller is so invested in our survival, they won't do a party wipe.

[unpurify]

[They're the one that chucked everyone down there. Although they probably didn't know what would happen.]

We'll see.

[If not...well, he's still here.]

[creditless]

You sound so determined for a cause to keep doing what you do that you almost want the infection to grow.

[unpurify]

There is no point in my existence otherwise.

[You know, besides his Puppeteer having a laugh.]