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!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Atomic Robo | Atomic Robo

[mammal_robot]

-All That Glitters-

"Why are they glowing?"

Atomic Robo, the world famous, globe trotting, mad scientist, artificially intelligent creation of Nikola Tesla, has yet to notice the various crystal monsters skulking about in the dark corners of the cave. He was more focused on the inanimate crystals for the moment.

"The energy has to come from somewhere if it's like this all the time. Maybe it's refracted from the surface somehow? Or maybe a chemical reaction powered by geothermal energy...I gotta get a sample of this stuff. Anyone bring a rock hammer?"

-High Tide-

The well dressed robot can't swim. It's not that he doesn't know how, so much as that he weighs a quarter ton. He just sink right down to the bottom. Fortunately, he also doesn't have to breath, so this is more of an annoyance than anything.

You can actually see him, safe from your swimmy duck thing, underneath you walking across the submerged island surface. Communication will be difficult, unless you both can figure out a way to get him to the surface somehow.

-A Crappy Endeavour-

Robo was watching the giant beetles with interest. If they were small, he'd be staying far away, but somehow giant bugs were less frightening. Especially when they weren't trying to eat him.

"They're...reversing natural digestion somehow! This is pure clay! Semi-relatedly: I'm really glad I don't have a sense of smell right now."

A Crappy Endeavour

[shineinside]

"Speaking as someone with a sense of smell, it's somehow even worse than you'd think." Yuka was standing as far from the ripe miracle of nature as conversational etiquette would allow, attempting not to breathe.

"If it's reversing digestion, though, wouldn't it be making food instead of clay?"

Re: A Crappy Endeavour

[mammal_robot]

"Duly noted. I'll make a point to wash these clothes when I'm done here." Just because you couldn't smell things was no excuse to go stinking up the camp. "Maybe not exactly reversing, but it's definitely taking waste compounds and turning it into something simpler. I can't think of many things like it in nature."

He poked at the clay and muttered "Maybe it works like spiders turning food into silk. What would the point be, though?"

[shineinside]

"Hmm..." Biology wasn't exactly her strong suit, but it was still an interesting question. "What if it's just that? Spider silk, I mean. Spiders weave webs, so maybe they can use the clay to make something else."

[mammal_robot]

"Could be could be. If that were the case, they'd probably have a nest somewhere. It'd be a sensible way to protect their eggs."

[shineinside]

"Are you a scientist? I can't imagine most people would see something like this and start wondering about the biology behind it right away."

[mammal_robot]

"An adventurer and something of a celebrity, but yes I've always been a scientist first."

He'd promised Tesla that, when he was still alive.

High Tide

[actionmycology]

Okay, so waking up on a beach you didn't fall asleep in? Not a great feeling. And the realization that the tide is only rising? Even worse.

Fortunately for Elizabeth Foley, Action Scientist, she manages to get a hold of one of those inflatable phallic duck rafts and has been safely floating ever since.

Once the initial excitement is over, it's.... kind of boring, actually. There's not a lot to look at, and as the water gets deeper and deeper the scenery gets more and more sparse. Not much to do but look in the depths below, and watch as fish begin to swim across what was formerly dry land. It's kind of a bizarre sight, honestly, and...

Hold on. Is that Robo down there?

"Holy shit. ROBO! UP HERE!"

And now she's just gonna... splash her feet in the water around her, trying to draw the attention of the submerged robot 20 feet below her.

[mammal_robot]

Robo looked up when he heard someone thrashing around and hey look it was mushroom girl up there!

She appeared to be trying to attract his attention, but he couldn't hear what she was saying through 20 feet of water. He waved back to signal that she had his attention now, but followed it up with a shrug because now what?

[actionmycology]

Right. Of course he can't hear her - but at least he's aware of her existence now. They can sort of try and coordinate something this way, she hopes.

God damn it. She really should have designed some sort of emergency floatation device when she helped rebuild his body. When you think about how his life goes, it's really only a matter of time before he gets himself dropped in the mariana trench somehow.

"Okay, so uh." She thinks out loud, before gesturing northward, to a sturdy-looking tree she can see sticking out of the water. Mmmmmaybe it'll hold his weight? There's only one way to find out.

"THAT WAY. GO THAT WAY."

[mammal_robot]

"WHAT?"

Of course, she couldn't hear him either. She was pointing, though. Robo turned and trudged along the way she was pointing, reflecting that some kind of built in flotation device might be a worthwhile upgrade.

Eventually he saw a tree that wasn't entirely submerged and looked pretty sturdy. He tested his weight on it a bit, then started climbing. The tree groaned a bit under the weight, but he did eventually surface.

Head above water, Robo waited for Foley to paddle over.