aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 005 )

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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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Other than it being fatal, I'm not exactly sure, but I don't want to find out.

[Dying is terrible no good very bad. Let's not do it.]

We should probably try to find a route to the surface.

Sounds like a good idea.

[It's kind of sad, really. The crystal cave in the Tower was actually one of the nicer floors. Whatever this place is though, she's not sure she trusts them to not get lost. Speaking of which...

Ugh, most of her non-essentials had been left in her room when Ruana had discovered the hidden floor and everything had gone to hell.]

I don't have anything to mark our path, do you?

[He shakes his head.]

Short of gouging the crystal with a blade, no. We'll just have to follow the path uphill and hope.

[Because putting marks in the crystal sounds like a real bad idea.]

Could try making marks in the dirt, though if there's anything down here, it could mess them up, I guess. Better than nothing, though.

[If Reno were here he probably would have scolded her if she hadn't even tried. Though he'd probably know a better way to mark their trail. Seems like the kind of thing he'd know. Or hell, maybe even Shion...

She couldn't start thinking like that already; it hadn't even been a day yet. Especially with someone who already looked all too like one of those people. Blinking her eyes a few times against the sudden pressure there, she turned.]

Uphill. Right.

Not even much of that, unfortunately.

[Half the caverns are floored with stone or, well, the crystal spreading down from the walls. Neither is exactly good for marking.

And yes, he does notice that she's looking away again.]

Are you sure you're okay?

[And even if he's suspicious, he can afford to worry a little, right? ~~or perhaps that's just the last few days in the desert speaking.~~]

Fine. ... fine as I'm going to be at least.

[The last part slips out on its own, practically. It's so hard to not treat him like the Asch she knows.]

A bit tired, that's all.

[More than a bit, now that she's taken a moment to think about it. The dream environment hid the feeling, but she'd been going almost solid since Ruana had discovered the hidden floor, sent Riki after them. There'd been time unconscious but it hadn't ever really been rest.

And now, released of the illusion of its absence, the exhaustion hits her like a wave, the kind that bears down on you and pushes you under.]

[She looks a little more than tired, now that she mentions it. Almost swaying on her feet.]

Come on, let's get out of the crystal and then you can rest.

[Sitting guard won't do him any harm.]

[Too tired to even bother to try protesting or reassuring, she just nods, making a quiet, affirmative noise in the back of her throat.

Thankfully, "uphill" is an easy direction to find and head in, though she'll let him take point.]

[And he'll do so, though with the occasional pause to make sure that she's still following. It's easy enough to hear her footsteps in the caverns, but less easy to tell if they're flagging or if she's in need of support to lean on.

Eventually, though, the crystal starts to thin, the cave becoming more a normal cave, and eventually it is an entirely normal stone-and-dirt-and-damp cavern.]

This looks good enough for now. We can worry about actually getting to the surface later.

[Careful Asch, she might start actually thinking you're the one from the Tower if you start obviously caring like that.

That being said, when he settles on the camping spot, she nods again. It's not... the most comfortable of spots but better than the cells at least. Or the ruined worlds. Or honestly, a lot of the places she slept lately. She takes off her Organization coat, folding it over itself until it makes a comfortable pillow of sorts.

Then she's sitting down before she can really remember getting there. But she's not exactly... comfortable enough to sleep yet.]

... do you know what this place is? It doesn't... it doesn't feel real, but... it's not like one of my dreams either.

[Look he's been cooking in Monsun's desert for most of a week, there's... holdovers in his mood right now.]

It's... one of a string of islands. If I'm right, this one serves as something of a gateway, and it... always feels like that.

[Better than having had his memory mangled, even so.]

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 005 )

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