empatheias_ooc | TEST DRIVE: NOVEMBER

Entry tags:

!mod,
*test drive

TEST DRIVE: NOVEMBER

— TEST DRIVE: NOVEMBER —

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

Date reminders. Reserves open Tuesday, October 25 and Applications (Canon | OC) open Tuesday, November 1st.
OC Reminder! Just a quick reminder that original characters are 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: The Boreas Harvest Festival is fast approaching, and the farmers are trying hard to work through the bleak weather conditions to get their crops in before they go bad from all the apathy. All hands on deck—but there may be too many unwanted hands roaming around.

Scarecrows. The scarecrows that have been set up as a festive reminder of the time of year have unfortunately come under the influence of some errant strong emotions from the farm hands that work in the fields. Unfortunately that includes trying to ward off anyone who enters the fields with pitchforks and is one of them carrying a torch? Maybe if they can be convinced that you are trustworthy they will calm down.
Invading rabbits. There are ton of rabbits ravaging the carrot patches. They're easily frightened, but some are more tenacious than others. Beware of the white rabbit with red eyes.
Save the crops! Several batches are already starting to spoil! The only thing that can save them is dumping as much positive emotions into them. Joy of good food, hope for a bountiful meal, love of eating—whatever will work. Just be careful. Too much and those things might grow and explode…

• Prompt E: Aiada, the Arehtei of appreciation and jealousy, has sent a personal request for those who are interested. There is a small island just beneath Empatheias that she has been cultivating over the many centuries. She wishes to contribute to the Harvest Festival with some seeds and spores. However, the recent atmosphere has also reached down there, and now it's all a mess! Giant mushrooms replaced the trees and there's slime and mold everywhere. The cure? Aside from getting a lot of heavy duty cleaners and pushing it off, appreciation will go a long way to help.

Goop brigade. Grab that bucket and shovel and clear the goop out! Just be careful not to have too much get on you—jealousy might take over.
Appreciation balls. To help hasten the effort, Aiada has given several tubs filled with light, green orbs. Once channeled with enough appreciation, they can be used as mini-grenades to help explode and wash the area with more positive energy. Those caught in the blast won't be harmed. If anything, they'll just be very thankful.
Watch the ledges. Careful, it's a fairly small island and the goop and slime has made things slick. If you fall… That's not a good way to go, let's just say that.

• Prompt F: Various parties are interested in the emotion shards scattered all over Thera. But this time around, the focus is on the medical laboratory as the equipment and potential research there is also of interest. For three days those who volunteer are sent back to try and gather as much as possible—but of course this won't be easy.

Skeletal Scientists. The remains of the scientists who once worked in these rooms are still lurking, ready to protect their work. Fortunately they're relatively weak nerds, so not too difficult to dispatch. Just be careful.
Flying equipment. The various medical equipment has also taken life, scalpels and needles flying everywhere and stethoscopes ready to strangle.
Questionable liquid. Most of the easy shards have already been taken, leaving the more difficult to retrieve ones left. In particular they're found in strange, dark pink liquid. It's mostly harmless—except that upon contact intense waves of grief and suffering will course through. The longer the exposure, the worse it is. So hopefully a bucket full of it doesn't fall on you…

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include feathers and/or confetti.

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!

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[Maybe the scarecrows would have listened. That's a big if because when do farmers pay attention to sense when they're paranoid. A stream of rabbits race past like some massive beast is on their heels.

It's not that far off. Atsushi is chasing after them, the drum of his inhuman tiger feet a steady rhythm. He'd transformed his arms and feet, thinking that would be enough to drive off anything feeding on the crops. He skids to a stop halfway into the circle of scarecrows and blinks like someone coming out of a dream.

His brows come down as he sighs, scratching at his temples with one sharp claw.] Are they doing this again? I thought they'd...

[Another sigh. ] Sir? How long have you been working in the field today?

[Munakata allowed his attention to flit from the scarecrows to the newcomer, frowning at the bizarre sight of a human with cat-like appendages. He sets that odd fact aside in the face of one of the scarecrows shambling forward to take a swing at him.]

How long? [He repeats the words, wondering if there was significance there, while stepping just far enough out of the way for the scarecrow to stumble past him.] A little less than an hour.

Isn't that more than enough time to prove if you were going to damage the fields you'd have done it already? [A few of the scarecrows twist their heads to fix their featureless faces on him. It's really unsettling. Some break from the circle and walk away, as if that's enough for them.]

...if they had eyes it would make this less weird.

[Says the young man with tiger feet. Bricks. Glass houses.]

Even with these emotional manifestations...it should be enough. [One more leaves. He takes a step closer to Munakata just in case he needs to intervene.]

[The scarecrow that had attacked is the only one left, almost stubborn in its standoff with Munakata. Noting that the other scarecrows were slowly shuffling away, Munakata focused a little more on the newcomer.]

I take it you are out here more often. [He certainly seemed to know how the scarecrows behaved, regardless of the feline limbs.

Maybe if he just stares at the scarecrow long enough... After a beat of silence, the scarecrow tilts its pitchfork towards the ground and turns to reenter the fields.]

Just a few days! They needed help and the pay isn't so bad. [His shoulders slump as the tension bleeds out of him. He really didn't want to fight a scarecrow. They've been...kind of helpful so far??]

And scaring rabbits is easy. [All he has to do is walk by them sometimes. They scent predator and high tail it. Speaking of that, he releases the last of his transformation while watching the retreating scarecrow. His gaze swings back to the stranger.]

That's what I thought until the scarecrows presented themselves. [His eyes linger on the scarecrow until it's dragged itself out of the view. Once he is confident the scarecrow is gone, he looks back at his unlikely helper.]

My thanks for the timely intervention.

It's no trouble, that's sort of what I used to do. [He misses it. Everyone at the Armed Detective Agency and what they did for others.]

Oh, I'm Nakajima, Nakajima Atsushi. The work here really is easy...just sometimes the Scarecrows react to our feelings. I think.

[Like that time he got depressed about something and they sent him packing like some stray cat.] It's like they really don't want negative feelings in these fields. It makes sense...with how the island is right now.

Munakata Kyosuke. I'm a new arrival to this world. [Best to get that out of the way and allow those perceptions to fall into place. He was still figuring out world dynamics and social cues with things like "magic" and "gods" at play.]

I wasn't told much about the normal state of the island. Just that the crops were "at risk" this season. It seemed reason enough to help out. [Not to mention his strong need to distract himself from suddenly being uprooted so suddenly from his world.]

I've been talking with the farmers when I'm on break. I'm new here too and it seemed like a good place to start. [It helps that farmers as far as he knows are usually unflappable. The fact they're stirred up means something bad is happening.]

They said it was a 'negative wave' but I don't really know what that is yet. Something about the collective feelings of the island? I was going to look into the welcome center. [He'd gotten distracted by talk of Dazai and Kunikida having been around before. But now, he ignore it. People are scared.] I heard there's a database there.

[He nods as Nakajima offers what he knows of the situation; while it isn't much more than himself, it gives the scarecrows' behavior more context.]

If the collective population's feelings are tipped towards the dark and negative, I can see how it would affect their food sources. [He wasn't doing anyone any favors with his current mindset, was he? Exasperating.

Nakajima's mention of the welcome center catches Munakata's attention, and he gestures at ... well, those transformed limbs.] So you are finished with your work now?

[He winces. There hasn't been any fear from Munakata so he almost forgot about it.] Y-yeah for today.

[Atsushi releases the change on his arms and legs, returning them to normal.] ...I keep my ability quiet in the city. Things are already negative. ...an outsider that can turn into a tiger won't help things.

[Abilities aren't always a blessing. He's seen flashes of fear on native and outsider faces. That's normal but, he puts it out of his mind.] I need to retrieve my boots and we can check the database?

[He watches with vague interest as Nakajima reverses his transformation with seeming ease; the best comparison that comes to mind is Kimura's enhancement drugs, but he doesn't think her medicines would move through the blood system fast enough to revert so smoothly.]

Understandable. I have seen something similar in the past. [Perhaps the source of the transformation was different, but reactions were likely exceedingly similar in their negativity.]

The sooner we are out of here, the better. Though I doubt the rabbits will be deterred for long.

Then we'll have work for tomorrow. [Atsushi makes for the fence at the edge of the field and snags his coat from the edge. He opens the gate, leaving it open for Munakata to follow. Like any other time he pauses to look around. In the late afternoon the foot traffic is less and the lack of big city street traffic still throws him.

But today, he's thinking on what Munakata had just said. After he gets his boots on he finally broaches the subject.] ...you've seen something like my Ability? Someone from your world?

[The closest to his Ability would have to be Akutagawa if they were from his world. But it could be something specific to Munakata's world.]

[...He had a point. Even if scaring off rabbits wasn't what he thought he would ever be doing with his life, Munakata couldn't deny that the work--a consistent distraction--was something to look forward to right now.

He follows after Nakajima, shutting the gate behind them and waiting a short distance away while he works on his boots.]

Something physically transformative, yes. I would hazard to say it's not in the same realm as what you do, though. I assume your ability is natural?

I don't believe it's possible to 'make' an ability. [It isn't possible. Isn't that why divisions of the governments around the world- Atsushi pauses.] In my world.

[He taps his foot on the ground to make sure his boot laces are tight enough and adds.]

...how do they do it?

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TEST DRIVE: NOVEMBER

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