TEST DRIVE: MAY

[empevents]

— TEST DRIVE: MAY —

Welcome to empatheias' test drive meme. This test drive is to help interested players test their characters in the game's environment. We've included a few prompts that incorporate specific elements of the game, though you'll find all of them have a lot of leeway for players to get as creative as necessary.

We have an Enable Me Meme! Players new and current, feel free to look and even use it!

Before diving in, here are a few things we'd like to remind everyone about the game in general:

• Date reminders. Reserves open Sunday, April 24th then close Sunday, May 4th, and Applications (Canon | OC) open Sunday, May 1st then close on Wednesday May 4th.
  
  
• OC Reminder! Just a quick reminder that original characters are currently allowed. Those interested can also use the test drive. OCs do not need to be reserved.
  
  
• Emotions are key! Empatheias' premise focuses on how anyone's emotions can affect their environment, be it big or small. While not every emotion will cause a reaction, significant ones definitely will. How much effect a character will have will ultimately be up to you, the player. Also, while we're giving a lot of leeway for the test drive, keep in mind that there will be some limits in the actual game.
  
  
• Everyone has an amulet. All characters have a unique amulet that is specialized for them. It will contain all of their emotion drops and it serves as the network device. Remember, communication is telepathic. Otherwise, it works basically the same.
  
  
• Assume the character is already in the game. Because "OMG WHERE AM I IS THIS REAL LIFE" threads aren't going to be very helpful in this test drive! Plus those are going to happen in-game, anyway. So to make things easier, just assume that they've been around at least a week or so. Still learning the ropes, but not a complete "first day" experience.
  
  
• First or third person allowed. Your threads can be in either first or third, but we'd advise being flexible about it. Remember, these threads can also be used in your application for samples! Reminder: We only require one sample and it can be done in either format. We have also made a change to our sample requirements, so look over the Applications page!

Now with that out of the way, here are some prompts you guys can work from!


PROMPTS

• Prompt A: How about giving the emotions a try?

• Prompt B: Refer to the Task Board and choose a task your character may be interested in taking up. For this prompt, you could have your character ask for help, already be in the middle of the job, or react to it in some way. Perhaps they were an unfortunate victim or want to create a job countering an existing one. You could even have a prompt making a job request. Creating jobs for the purpose of the test drive is absolutely doable.

• Prompt C: How about giving the amulets a go? Start a telepathic conversation and see how it works. Remember, the amulets are sending out the owner's thoughts so might want to be careful about how the stream of consciousness goes...

• Prompt D: There never seems to be a season when one or the other member of the island’s myriad of HELLA WEIRD animals seems to be leaping off the deep end because of one instinct or another. This time, small, blue bats with adorable heart shaped pink noses seem to be the the ones making a nuisance of themselves this time.

Attracted to any kind of intense emotional shift in a nearby person, the bats swoop in as if sensing the emotional effects. Unfortunately this means many people are experiencing something wonderful (or horrible) and wind up with a bat in their hair, face or clinging to some part of their body. If they’re super unlucky -- and it’s pretty common -- it’ll be more than one or two new batty friends they’re having to deal with.


• Prompt E: The newest fad in the upper echelons of Verens society is a new brand of garishly intense nail polish colors. Green, Blue, Red, Orange, Yellow, Purple and every other color in between seems to be lined up at stalls outside several shops all over the city. The most curious part about it is it advertised to increase good feelings and emotions, and ebb the edge of bad ones.

As a result the stalls are running fairly aggressive campaigns to get new potential customers. Many people find their hands pulled over for a quick dab of color on a nail. One coat, an explanation of the product, and two or three coats in the end.

Unfortunately this most recent batch seems to have malfunctioned, and instead of simply being polish for the nails, the color seems to affect the mood of the wearer only negatively. Red seems to cause intense anger, Yellow shades cause fear, while Orange somehow seems to cause a combination of both. Two women with green nail polish almost immediately found themselves crippled with jealousy over a third woman’s limited edition Thras Inspired Dragon Salamander purse, and you can probably guess how that went.


• Prompt F: One of the more popular animals on the island is going through it’s seasonal shearing, and this time there are way too many sheep to be taken care of by the current number of farmers and farm hands on staff, so most of the local farms are bringing in their herds to get a few extra helping hands on board. After being given a fresh pair of shears and sat down firmly on a wooden stool, the first of the neon glowing sheep steps up in front of you and only just barely acknowledges your presence with a complacent bleet.

The problem is the glowing fleece is a little hard to cut through, and whatever makes it glow is basically an emotional amplifier. Without gloves, the glowing oil that coats the fiber seeps into skin and almost immediately the mood (good or bad) of the person shearing the poor sheep is amplified tenfold.

Hopefully the ones who took up this request are even tempered and patient...


• Prompt G: Only a little more than a year ago, the ill fated Red String of Fate toy made its debut. At the time it seemed like a solid idea, but as it turned out… it didn’t exactly work as advertised. People found themselves tied together with entirely incompatible people instead of the proclaimed “emotionally compatible” and to top it off, personal, influential and private telepathic communication came out drenched in sap and overly lovey-dovey overtones. It was, without a doubt, one of the company’s least successful product launches ever.

And you would think that they would have learned. However, they seem to be trying again and have launched the new, improved Double Heart String -- better, smarter, and twice as long. Once attached to one parties wrist, the string will do its magic and find the perfect partner for the customer. ...Hopefully*.

** Yeah, it’s still not fixed. Instead of working properly at all, it’s still stuck somewhere around the level of “a fellow living creature of any sort”.

And the sappy mental connection? It seems fixed at first. But the adjustments aren’t very stable, and since they used anger to balance out the sap… any communication between the two attached at the wrist can vary wildly from the words’ original intention.


• Prompt H: Make your own! It could include seaweed and/or pincushions full of needles.

For your threads, put the Character Name and the Canon in the subject line to help readily identify them. You're also welcome to use more than one prompt for respondents to choose from. If you have any questions or want to brush up on the game information, refer to the Game Information entry. Otherwise, tag around and have fun!

Comments

[paidinblood]

[B]

[One minute he's minding his own business, the next some lady's trying to get him to wear her bright clothing; and you know, if it will help him blend in, he might as well try it.

Once the ten different colors are actually on him and he doesn't see many others being half as enthusiastic in their wardrobe choices, he... Shrugs, and decides to stick with it anyway, because nothing about what he wears is particularly subtle in the first place. He runs around in a damn cape.

So the absolute most unenthusiastic looking dude is currently parading around in more colors than he's seen in a damn while, because that's what we're doing today. It really makes for an interesting contrast.]

[E]

[What is it with people just grabbing him for things; apparently some lady saw his outfit and wanted his nails to match. The result is that he's even more rainbow colored than before, and he's also actively melting the ground he stands on.

Which is exactly the state he's in when he very calmly goes up to you and shows off his nails.]

Will you help me get this off?

[Things are in a dire state when he's asking for nail polish removal assistance.]

b

[captainobnoxious]

[It's the most hilarious sight Sigrun's seen today, and she's really enjoying laughing at him until she falls backwards off the low branch she'd been sitting on, catching herself with a startled yell.

... And then heaving herself back up on top of the branch. Ahem.]

You look like you're having the time of your life there.

[paidinblood]

[...Well that gets him to turn the hell around and be a little more alert than is strictly necessary for a moment, and then there's... This woman.

Okay.]

And you look a little off balance.

[Who's the real embarrassment here, huh? ...It's still you, Kamui.]

[captainobnoxious]

[... It's definitely still you, Kamui.]

Well, I'm not. I have the best balance in the whole wide world ever.

[You know what.

She's hoppin' down. Fear the giant as she peers down upon you... still. Still peers down upon you.]

You should look a little happier wearing clothes that bright! You got roped into that girl's color thing, right? The crazy person with the rainbow she wants to spread to the world or whatever. No one's going to buy from you looking like that.

Not that I'd buy it anyway. It's stupid.

[paidinblood]

As if anyone who would want to wear this is going to need much of an invitation.

[Your towering height over him doesn't phase him, Sigrun! He's used to looking up.]

[captainobnoxious]

[Most people are.]

Maybe, maybe not. Is that a child's size?

[paidinblood]

...Excuse me?

[It's a women's outfit, and you can kind of tell by the hips.

But he's not going to say that.]

[captainobnoxious]

Is that a child's size?

[Slower, like he's deaf as well as fucking blind.

... And she wouldn't know the difference between a man and a woman's outfit anyway. They're all the same in her military. You got off lucky, bub.]

[paidinblood]

It's not a child's size.

[Holy shit lady, he's not that short. There's a hint of smoke by his feet.]

E

[holysapling]

[There are a lot of things that can be done in response to this - generally helpful things, like finding some sort of remover or picking at the polish to see whether it'll chip or peel, or...trying to varnish it off with your feelings, who knows.

The point is that Farina does exactly none of these things; she'll approach the stranger with no displayed fear of the melting ground - if anything, there's a warm thrum of curiosity about her as she just...circles him, ears alert and head tilting to the side once in a while as she takes everything in. The colors, the request, everything.

She'll spend the longest staring at his hands, though, pink-gloved fingers on her right hang ghosting lightly over her left where her nails are beneath the fabric. They're pretty, why do you want that off-

...She's even less talkative than you are, Kamui, sorry.]

[paidinblood]

[...Kamui doesn't particularly help his situation, as the first thing he does is tilt his head and turn so he can look her over, but curiosity shortly gives way to the big load of emotions he'd really rather not be having right now, and he certainly doesn't have the patience for her staring at his hands.

He starts to scratch it off and moves out of whatever his emotions are doing to the ground as he speaks. (Moving doesn't really help when the effect follows him, but at least we're not making a Kamui sized hole right through the pavement.)]

It's affecting my emotions.

[Jesus buddy, you could show a little more in your face to sell the emotionally impacted point better.]

[holysapling]

[...Well, no shit, sir.

Again, there are a lot of things she could do to that, but her response today is apparently going to be to clinically stare like she's either interested in seeing where this goes For Science or...maybe like her brain checked out partway through and she's wondering what's for dinner. Who even knows with her.

That said, though, she will take one of his hands for the sake of examining what's on them - very little fanfare or warning, just abruptly seizing his hand and trying to see what colors he's got on there. What are we looking at exactly, buddy...]

[paidinblood]

[...Well, alrighty then, buddy, you go ahead and do that while he starts making another hole in the ground.

The nail polish is colorful! One hand has red, orange, green, blue, and purple, and the other has red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. Whoever did his nails didn't get shit in his cuticles either, it's actually kind of impressive.

Kamui doesn't look particularly impressed.]

...Do you talk?

[holysapling]

[That just gets her to look up at him again; she doesn't seem too inclined to answer, though, she just furrows her brow a bit before going back to what she was doing.

The lack of a response is probably a response in and of itself, isn't it.

That said (or, uh, not said, as the case may be), though - she'll take one of her gloves off and kind of pick at one of his nails for a moment; turns out there are claws beneath those gloves, though they're not properly unsheathed for now, more nails than anything. The paint chips pretty easily, and she'll just kind of mess with it for a second, the gesture more idle than anything as the polish flecks off, before she seems to be hit with a bolt of inspiration from on high.

And brings his hand up to her mouth.

Um.]

[paidinblood]

[...Yes, please continue to get this stuff off before he takes it out on someone.


Not like that.]

I just said it's affecting my emotions.

[Do you really want that in your mouth? ...That's kind of gross, but you know, he's really not going to complain about her removing the stuff, that's her problem--]

[holysapling]

[Well, at the very least it gets her to pause.

On the one hand, he did indeed say that, and she heard him say that, and she understands damn well what all the words meant because she's not an idiot; on the other hand, no one she knows puts things like this on their nails and in her experience shiny glossy things are power enhancers and for god's sake she lives in the woods and she's morbidly curious and she seriously wants to lick his hand.

So she's going to give him a Look, and then she's going to- oh, wow, that tastes disgusting, mistakes were made? Mistakes were made. That shit was a really shiny yellow and mistakes were made.]

[paidinblood]

[She actually did it.

And he's better off for it; his emotions feel a little less like an amorphous emotional blob. He wipes his hands off on his pants and stares at her for a good moment, deciding what exactly he wants to do with this girl that just stuck his fingers in her mouth.]

Are you alright?

[It occurs to him that he could always just contact her telepathically, that's a thing he's capable of doing, and maybe she'd be more willing to think than she is to talk. Hell, that's... What the crystals do, presumably?

But he doesn't care quite that much today.]

B

[decrees]

[There sure are a lot of people who have been convinced to wear bright colors today, but Logan isn't one of them. It took quite a bit of arguing to get the lady to back off, but Logan is a dignified king and dignified kings don't wear hot pink.

So while he's not wearing any hideous new outfits, he is getting stormclouds to form and small bolts of lightning to crackle. Occasionally they'll strike the ground and leave a small scorch mark. Needless to say, he's pissed. He's not used to people refusing to listen to him and claiming to be the King of Albion doesn't do any good here. Honestly.

...But the stormclouds dissipate a bit when he sees Kamui because... wow. Logan looks him up and down a few times before finally saying what clearly needs to be said.]

Her taste is dreadful.

[Ah yes, what a wonderful contribution.]

[paidinblood]

[...You know, at least he isn't ridiculing his taste in clothing.]

If nothing else, it's comfortable.

[But that's the most he can say about it.]

[decrees]

It took far more effort than it should have to get her to leave me alone. But at least the clothing is comfortable, I suppose.

[No really, he has no idea what to say to that.

...]

Are you actually alright wearing that?

[Because it sounds like you don't actually care...??]

[paidinblood]

...For now. It's not my style, but I can get something better later.

[It's not his type of pretentious--!]

[decrees]

[Well that's... new. Logan has no idea what to do with that, but apparently it's completely overwhelmed the anger since the stormclouds are gone.]

I see.

[NO HE REALLY DOESN'T.]

You've recently arrived here as well, then?

[paidinblood]

...I have.

[...]

It's impressive, isn't it? To drag so many people from so many different worlds.

[Impressive haha yeah that's a word for it, where is his brother.]

[decrees]

It's not something I ever would have thought possible. I wasn't aware there were other worlds to begin with.

[Maybe that's where the Crawler came from, since it totally doesn't fit with the rest of the known world.

...It's better not to think about the Crawler. It's not stopping the stormclouds from forming again, though.]

You seem fairly calm about it though.

[It's not a pointed statement, just an observation. He can't imagine being calm about being kidnapped to another world.]

[paidinblood]

It's nothing new to me.

[That's not entirely the truth; the part where he's here alone is definitely new, and thinking about it makes the ground start crumbling again.

But it's enough of the truth; new worlds are old news.]

What is your world like?