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

F

[decrees]

[Logan is the King of Albion, not someone well-versed in the shearing of sheep. But somehow he's been roped into this and no amount of protesting has done any good. Apparently being the King of Albion means absolutely nothing to these people. They probably think he's crazy. It doesn't really matter.

So here he is, staring at these sheep. They're actually kind of cute. They're actually really cute. He is a dignified king and he is going to pet these sheep.

He would have been perfectly fine doing this (and not being useful, because he has no idea how to shear sheep and also he is the King of Albion he is not here for this but it looks like he's not going to get away that easily. Literally. The vine that wraps around his ankle immediately catches his attention and once Logan's pulled free he notices the others.

There's one very happy-looking girl here, so presumably they belong to her, given that they're not sporting thorns or actually attempting to harm him.]

Are these yours?

[But he's still going to open with that and gesture to the vines when he addresses her.]

[holysapling]

[...Oh.

Well, the sudden speaking from the person who had previously been content to just sit nearby and absolutely not shear these sheep catches her attention (as much as she'd prefer not to acknowledge it, she just wants to sit here and pat them and not listen to anyone); she'll glance over after a moment despite herself, and she'll track the gesture with her eyes before staring at the vines with all the general sense of "well, how the hell did those get here" in the world.

But they remind her of things that can be found in the jungles on Gren, and after a moment of staring she just kind of...nods, and tips her head at him like she's trying to figure out what she thinks of the guy asking it, and she's still awkwardly one-hand patting that sheep because of course she is.]

[decrees]

[Well that... definitely was a reaction, wasn't it. He's not really sure what to do with catgirl over here (she actually does appear to be a catgirl. wow.) but apparently she wasn't aware that she was doing this.]

It's an interesting reaction. I haven't seen it before.

[He hasn't really been here long enough to see very many reactions, but here we are.]

You're that fond of sheep?

[They're cute, yes, but they're not getting any sort of emotional reaction from him.]

[holysapling]

[She just smiles again at that, and turns to go back to patting the sheep she'd been dealing with properly; she shrugs a little but she nods again while she does it. If they are all like this sheep, it's pretty safe to say that she likes sheep.

Admittedly, there's a lot of nuance here that isn't coming across - she's never seen a sheep before in her life, she's not sure if all sheep are nice or if she just got a particularly nice sheep or what, but that's not really important as far as she's concerned.]

[decrees]

[...Well, Logan's used to dealing with people who just don't talk sometimes, so this is less bizarre than the fact that she's a catgirl. Why not. He'll just try to deal with it.]

I'm assuming you got talked into helping here as well, correct?

[She's not shearing the sheep either, so this is (probably) right!]

[holysapling]

[So much patting, so much patting. It looks for a moment like she didn't even hear him, the reaction is so delayed in coming; after a moment, though, she looks over, nodding again and glancing over her shoulder in his general direction.

There's a questioning look in her eyes, though, and after a moment there's a tilt of her head that's more curious, inquiring than anything. You too, or...?]

[decrees]

[...He's beginning to wonder if maybe she can't talk. Huh. That would be unfortunate. He thinks he gets what she's curious about though.]

I was asked to help as well. I've never done anything of the sort before and I tried to tell them that.

[But here he is anyway, so obviously it didn't work. Logan sounds annoyed, but it's not getting an emotional reaction out of him, so there's that.]

[holysapling]

[She actually sort of laughs at that, so at the very least she can produce sound, albeit quietly; the eyeroll she offers at that is kind of a universal expression, a very definite "can you fuckin' believe" accompanied with a bit of a huff to complete it, before she takes one hand off the sheep and gestures vaguely at her dress.

Seriously, buddy, does she look like she's dressed for shearing sheep to you.]

[decrees]

[...Okay, that was actually really cute.]

I'm surprised they asked you as well. It would be a shame to ruin that dress.

[He's kind of smirking a bit though, because this is kind of funny.]

Ah, I didn't catch your name. I'm Logan, King of Albion.

[If she really can't talk then he's probably put her in a really awkward place, but curiosity wins out in the end.]

[holysapling]

[Well, any interest she actually had in answering the question (almost none) is replaced with blatant staring at his title; her father is chief of Tropica but he's not a king, and she doubts that whatever that Master Chard fellow is calling himself today counts because pirate kings ain't shit (and that guy just flits in and out besides, it's not like he's ever around on Gren for long periods of time anyway) - so her experience with kings is pretty nonexistent, and that'll actually get her to get up and wander over, circling him a bit while she tries to figure out what she thinks of this.

The air is warm, though, so it's not like she's intimidated or anything; it smells sort of like flowers, really. Pleasant, but very definitely something that wandered out of the jungle recently, obvious lack of actual jungle here notwithstanding.

So for a brief moment there's going to be a catgirl all up in his business, before she seems to figure herself out and sits down again. She doesn't answer the question right away, just because she usually doesn't have to - Durum and Apitos usually handle that, or-

...She's kind of quiet for a moment before she shakes her head a bit.]

...Name's Farina.

[Well, there we go.]

[decrees]

[Logan doesn't move from where he's sitting, but he does watch her curiously. He's gotten a few different reactions to his title here, but this is the first time anyone's actually studied him like this. It's a little odd, but it's not terrible either.

She sits down quickly enough though and he's a bit surprised to hear her speak. So she can, she just usually doesn't. That's interesting.]

It's nice to meet you, Farina.

[It's a unique name, he likes it.]

Did you arrive here recently as well?

[holysapling]

[Her name is nice and she totally can't take credit for it, seeing as that was her dad's doing, but you know what, she likes it too.

That said, though, she nods again at that, the gesture accompanied with something of a shrug; she really hasn't been here all that long, just long enough to have a vague idea of the place. The vines at her feet aren't spreading anymore, though, as casual as the gesture looks; if anything, it looks like the tips are withering a bit, edges turning black as though they're being held up to some sort of invisible flame.

Her expression isn't really dark; it's not doing a lot of anything. But yeah, she's a new arrival all right.]

[decrees]

[She probably misses home. He certainly does. Of course Logan has no idea what to say to that, so give him a moment to study the vines and think about what to say.]

...Perhaps you'll return home soon. I've heard that some people aren't here for very long.

[The statement is even and careful. If he's projecting really hard and she's actually happy to be here, he doesn't want to upset her. So. Let's see how that goes?]

[holysapling]

[Mnnnngh.

She doesn't say anything for a good long period of time, just...petting the sheep, but unfortunately the glowing wool's magnifying effects are just making those vines burn up faster.]

...Not much back home, either.

[Well, then.]

It's not bad. Just not...much.

[decrees]

...Oh.

[Alright, so it's not necessarily that she misses home, it's just that something happened. That sure as hell sounds familiar. Apparently it wasn't bad, but Logan has a hard time believing that. If it's anything like what he's expecting...

(He has a year. They say time doesn't pass back home while you're here. Even if that isn't true and he's here for a little while it should be fine. It has to be fine.)

Logan shakes his head as if to clear it, though it does nothing to stop the fact that it's suddenly getting dark around here.]

I'm very sorry to hear that.

[What does he say to that? He's not good at this.]

Have you been enjoying yourself here?

[...it was an attempt.]

[holysapling]

[Well, for what it's worth she seems to appreciate the topic change; she'll nod a bit, running her hands over the sheep a bit - never seen woolly things quite like this before, it kind of reminds her of Pico's hair - and she's actually smiling a bit as she does so.

Some life's coming back into those vines, it seems.

For a moment that looks like all she's going to offer, but...]

...You?