lumon | TEST DRIVE / JAN '25 / BETA.

Test drive.

Welcome to AFTER LIFE, a game based in the world of Severance! This test drive serves as a place to help you figure out what characters you'd like to bring into the game. Some details (housing, etc.) may require further out of character conversation; please refer to the OOC meet and greet!

These prompts are all relatively low-stakes as a reflection of the nature of the game: slice-of-life until character and player interaction bring out the more psychological horror/thriller aspects of the setting. If none tickle your fancy, feel free to provide wildcard prompts of your own.

The test drive is open to anyone. We encourage messing around here to figure out exactly how you'd like to port your character into Kier! Threads may also be considered game canon if you so wish.

Got any questions? Check the FAQ or ask in the comments.

outies: deals all the way down.

There's a sale on at Lindt's Groceries! Discounts on pretty much anything you could imagine! The store is a middle-sized, relatively bougie, locally-owned grocery, with aisles stocked full of food and general necessities, as well as a small counter for deli meats and fish, and another two across the shop stocked with hot food (rotisserie chicken, sandwiches, sides) and a very limited selection of sushi (some sashimi, some hand rolls). And right now, there's a 20% discount on anything in the shop (supposedly to celebrate someone's birthday, though whose, you have no idea).

Are you browsing the aisles? Are you working a shift? Are you checking out?

outies: rain, rain, go away.

It's a grey and cloudy day, and as the cherry on top of the gloomy day cake, it's started to rain. The closest place to get out of the downpour is We Love Books, the local bookstore. Like Lindt's, it's not huge — it's not so big as a Barnes & Noble — but it's big enough, and obviously well-maintained.

Maybe there's a book you've been meaning to pick up? Or maybe you're really just waiting out the rain. Or you could stop at Leaves of Grass, the cafe next door, and get a coffee, tea, or hot chocolate to help warm up the cold day. Or maybe the rain doesn't bother you at all, and you're totally willing to keep on trucking. Are you brave enough to ask someone for a spare umbrella?

outies: neighborly fun.

You've been invited to a night of board games and conversation by a neighbor — or maybe just a friend of a friend. Either way, you're in a stranger's (nice, midcentury) house with a bunch of people you've never met before. There's wine, there's charcuterie, there's seltzer — bits and bobs for consumption until the games begin in earnest. (You've heard that some people at the party might be Severed — are you?)

Why not say hi to the person standing next to you? Or remain a wallflower and see if a more enterprising guest will decide to bestow you with a conversation starter.

innies: another day in paradise.

The elevator doors open, and another normal day at work begins. You know the way to your office, and don't see anyone else on the way there. What's your routine to get settled when a day starts? Do you like your coworkers? Do you like the work you do? Have you been doing it for a million years, or is this your first day? Maybe you're a manager making sure everything is running smoothly?

innies: waiting for wellness.

For one reason or another, you've been given the opportunity to visit the Wellness Center for a session. Except someone seems to have made a scheduling mistake — as you sit in the waiting room, you hear footsteps coming from the hallway. You've never run into anyone from another department before; in fact, the idea of fraternization has been expressly discouraged. Maybe they're coming into the Wellness Center's waiting room, too, or maybe they're just passing by. Either way, this might be your only chance to see who else works on the Severed floor — or maybe it's just one of your usual coworkers.

Will you get up, or let them go by?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

outies: neighborly fun.

There's a roar of laughter from inside. Muted, from outside the glass. Charades, and someone brought out a hat — quite a good impression of some notorious clown on TV, if James is honest with himself.

It's colder outside. There's charceuterie and seltzer and there he stands, on the outside of it, in the backyard looking out at some stranger's lawn. (Who was it— Bethany and her husband? The one that drives that bloody ridiculous BMW?) Black slacks, a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled, loafers; James exhales a breath from a cigarette he shouldn't be smoking. Idly distracted, if only for a moment, at watching some ant crawl from the perfectly even cobblestones and onto the toe of his shoe.

When the back door opens, he barely starts. (He's always been a little hard to startle.) He exhales another short plume and chuckles, friendly and the veneer of being embarrassed, caught out with a laugh:

wildcard.
[ deeply debating bond working as a real estate agent obsessed with fishing and lawncare who does not have an innie, so feel free to wildcard anything! run ins at the florist's? neighbors? on the sidelines of the same, boring high school soccer match? i'm

virginiawoolf on plurk if you want to add or chat! ]

[ It's pure coincidence that has Matt slipping out the back door as the laughter crests. The two pure facts that have collided are: 1) He needs a breather at the midpoint of any party, no matter how swimmingly it's going; and 2) either he's gonna call his mother or his mother is going to call him. It's as good as a law of physics.

More startled to see James than the other way around, Matt jumps. Then, in a mixture of relief and (real) embarrassment: ]

James? [ He laughs, shoulders slumping, and tucks his phone back into his pocket. Lucky to run into him here; he's probably the closest thing Matt's got to a friend in this town. He hasn't told his mother--she has a lot of opinions of the danger of peer contagion, and smoking is one of the many habits she's afraid Matt will catch. But all the literature says camaraderie is supposed to help. Matt quirks a smile the other man's way. Watches smoke fade into the night air. ]

First I'd have to meet your wife, [ he notes dryly. A beat. ] You have a wife?

Mm. [ An agreeable noise. He gestures, using the hand cradling the cigarette, behind him with a half-turn: the glimpse of a blonde woman, tall, in a circle of four others. The back of her head doesn't give all that much to go on, save the cut of her bob, and the glint of little gold hoops in her ears.

James exhales a thin stream of grey. Hazy, and the opposite direction of Matt. ]

My blonde menace.

[ He does, at least, sound fond about that.

Less so, perhaps, about the party in full. He makes a face, free hand opening into a comme ci, comme ça type of expression. A domestic menace who's far more willing to be entertained by charades than he is. And it is much cooler out here, with company he can better tolerate. Matt is, he reflects, not a bad friend to have.

It's at a delay, but James does return the smile: small in the corners, but freely given, a light glance given to the phone Matt chooses to pocket away. ] You didn't want to stick around for all of that? We're a drink and a half away from a riveting game of Twister.

[ Matt cranes to follow James--the wave, the slight turn. There's an unfussy sort of grace behind the movement. Economy of gesture, you could call it. Matt's attention catches with interest on the sleek, golden head of the woman in question. He didn't talk to her, but he got the impression she was nice.

He gets that impression about most people, though. ]

The last time I played Twister was in college, [ he says. ] And I didn't exactly cover myself in glory. So as tempting as it is to race back in there and sow some discord in your marriage, I'm good out here.

[ For a moment, Matt's quiet, considering James' small smile out of the corner of his eye. When his phone starts buzzing, he ignores it. ]

TEST DRIVE / JAN '25 / BETA.

james bond | the bond franchise

neighborly

no subject

crawls back a week later w/o starbucks