TEST DRIVE: AUGUST

[simpathis]

— TEST DRIVE: AUGUST —

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 Saturday, July 25th and Applications open Saturday, August 1st.
  
  
• 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.

• 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: If there's one thing about Verens, it's the different variety of food and drinks that are produced. It's not only because of boredom creativity, but how emotions can affect the taste, flavor, and texture of a meal. One particular business is asking for people to sample some new dishes in preparation of the upcoming festival. Just be careful what you pick—rather than affecting the taste, the food affects your mood! Sour foods will induce anger, bland favors will make you sad, spicy will make you excited, and sweet will make you happier than usual.

• Prompt E: This year's Light of Helisium festival will be a masquerade, and the costume shops are all bustling about making costumes. Several are advertising by having random people try on masks or even full costumes! But like everything else in this place, emotions can affect how you look—literally. For example, the happier you are, the more extravagant and colorful the costume becomes. Even the masks will give your emotions away by changing to a different color to reflect your feelings.

• Prompt F: During a child's birthday party, someone unmasked their favorite mascot, revealing the bald guy inside. Needless to say, dreams were shattered—along with windows, trees, the ground. Yes, this is what happens when a large group of young children are upset at the same time and there is now a wild tempest spiraling out of control. Are you caught in the flooding streets or do you try to combat the emotionally induced storm with your own?

• Prompt G: You are given one of the following: a sack full of water balloons, a rifle modified to shoot different colored water, or a hose. Have fun.

• Prompt H: Make your own! It could include a bear and/or flame torch.

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

Kyouko Kirigiri | Dangan Ronpa

[thegreatmistdetective]

Test drive

( PROMPT E )
[ Wasn't a mask supposed to hide how you felt?

Kirigiri looks down at the one in her hand, watching the soft muted colors shift. As expected, the hues are cool and calm, although unease swirls across the mask's face as well.

She's never denied that she experiences the full spectrum of human emotion, but she prefers to keep that fact to herself. Having those feelings on display is a potential liability, a chance for someone to dictate her pace and she's not quite certain that's cause for celebration.

On the other hand, it's not right to be unpleasant on a day of festivities, so she'll make an effort to participate. She starts by perusing a shop rack of gowns. ]

I suppose I should get something that will coordinate with this...


( PROMPT G )

[ She'd been trained to shoot as a child, but not with a rifle, and certainly not one loaded with glittery, violet colored water. Her preference is a hand gun, although she doubts this particular "weapon" has the same recoil as its more violent counterpart.

She shoots at the ground experimentally. As she studies the pattern of the water splattered on the ground, she appears open to attack, at least for the moment. ]

E I am so bad at this sobs

[curryparty]

[Hearing her speak, small teen with lots of curly red hair pops out cheerfully from behind some racks, a mask in hand. His is a rather dramatic affair, coiling rose designs "blooming" thanks to his cheer.]

Are you looking for an outfit too? There's a lot to choose from, aren't there?

Re: E I am so bad at this sobs

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ The color of her mask shift again, stop light red, in surprise, and she frowns at it as she tucks it behind her. ]

I am.

What are you considering?

[curryparty]

Good question! I'm still not sure yet.

[There are just too many options!]

All I know right now is that I would like something with a flower design, but other than that... I have no idea! I was hoping I would find something nice if I just kept looking.

[And he's pretty sure he will, because honestly, all the stuff in here looks great. Choosing is going to be the tough part.]

What about you, miss?

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ She's not used to people speaking to her out of the blue, but she listens to what he says with care. She takes a look at his mask, noting the pattern before giving him a measured response: ]

A floral design would certainly match your mask nicely. There are a lot of nice options. . . Perhaps it would be best to narrow down your options by one criteria first. Such as the color, length or neckline. . .

[ She surveys the options once more before answering his question. ]

A ballgown may be nice . . .

1/2

[curryparty]

The color has to be a deep red! [Wow, he looks really serious about this!]

2/2

[curryparty]

...But other than that, I think I'll just look and see what there is! Flowers are beautiful, even if they're fleeting - that should fit the theme of the party, don't you think?

[Although honestly what it boils down to is he just really likes flowers.]

I bet you'd look absolutely stunning in a ballgown, though. Do you have a color or style in mind yet?

hello my friend B) also e!

[optimistical]

[ Naegi's not one to usually attend masquerades. Heck, he never does anything fancy like that. He normally likes to stick with friends and watch a movie or play video games, stuff like that, so he has no idea where to start on this. Luckily, shopping with Kirigiri might make it easier to figure out what to do. He holds a mask of his own, trying it on in a mirror, and turning to her. ]

Are you planning on getting a dress, Kirigiri-san?

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ Just seeing Naegi is enough to make happy shades of pink bloom on her mask. There's no point in hiding that, especially when she's smiling openly at him.

It's easy to do: he brings joy to her. Even though she'd prefer to avoid social events, she's sure they'd be a lot better with him beside her. ]

I am. We didn't have many opportunties to dress up before. It could be entertaining.

[optimistical]

[ Naegi takes notice of the changing colours on Kirigiri's mask and the one on his face matches in the shade of pink. He's not entirely too sure what it means, as in what emotion is linked with that colour, but seeing Kirigiri smile, he can take a guess. (It's nice to get a smile openly from her, considering how reserved she was before). He returns the expression. ]

Yeah, I think it'd be a lot of fun. I haven't been to something like this before. [ Why would he? He moves a bit closer, to check out the rack of gowns that she's looking at. ] Did anything catch your eye yet?

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ He's so cute when he smiles, and knowing he's happy intensifies her feelings of joy. He's so close now. Affection is also creeping in, revealing itself on her mask, so she immediately conceals it in the clothing rack. She's not ready for him to see that, even if he's not quite sure what everything means.

The mask makes it much harder to seem unaffected, but she'll keep trying. At the very least, she sounds calm. ]

Not really. Maybe we should choose outfits that will coordinate with each other.

G

[disappointingact]

Don't waste ammo. You'll be vulnerable while reloading, the water pump is a kill zone.

[Are they sort of on a team together for some incredibly awkward reason? Mukuro's not sure, but she's not gonna take a potshot while Kirigiri is distracted. It's not like she's not confident she can take her in a more open shootout.

Shockingly, she's kind of way too Into this.]

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ Even if this is probably some kind of game, Ikusaba's point is valid. She certainly won't frown on advice from the ultimate high school soldier. ]

Understood.

[ she pauses, then adds: ]

Thanks for the tip. Perhaps we should combine our efforts.

[disappointingact]

...I don't mind if you don't. There probably won't be much real resistance, but it's been a long time since I've done any practical drills. I could use the chance to brush up on squad tactics.

[Can you believe some people fight with water guns to have fun? Let's ruin it for them.]

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ Recreation. What's that like? She's been a detective all her life, and any relaxing memories of life at Hope's Peak have been wiped from her mind. She's most at ease taking things seriously.

Which is bad news for anyone against them. ]

I'd prefer to have you as a comrade rather than opponent, so I'm in your care. Let's make this as mutually beneficial as possible.

E

[sobored]

Oho, are you in need of our help?

[Don't mind her, she's just being terrible while she looks for a mask of her own. All the ones she keeps finding keep doing weird emotional stuff, which is entirely her fault, and she knows that. But still, she's trying to find something that's more fashionable and less “my emotions are going to turn this into a prop from an upcoming horror movie.]

Re: E

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ That was a voice that she never hoped to hear again and a face she never wanted to see again. Lucky for her, anger and calm are represented by the same color, or else the rage she feels would be more evident. Her lips press together in a hard line, but she looks mostly unaffected.

Junko's interest in finding her own outfit puts her a little more at ease. There's no reason to be too suspicious yet. ]

I suppose I'm open to suggestion.

[sobored]

[She'll spare Kirigiri taking the cheapest and most ineffective route possible by making some comment about her hands. In the same respect, she's pretty sure she saw a skull mask over there. And sure she could think of a cruel comment, but that's not going to work either. No, the best thing to do here is...]

Let's see.

[After a moment's consideration, she's picked out a gown that's actually...fairly nice. Sorry, were you expecting some sort of terrible abomination? It's not too flashy, but it does mostly compliment the mask. Aside from the weird swirly stuff, she can't really do too much there.]

How about this one?

[Okay, so there has to be an ulterior motive here, right? Yup! There is! See, the most despair inducing thing here, the most despair inducing thing she could think of for someone like her? Is to have to rely on Junko for advice about anything.]

G!

[servanda]

[No risk of an opportunistic water blast from this direction, Kirigiri - the little white cat-creature perched on top of the wall doesn't even reach the size of the rifle she's holding, unless you're charitable about his extraordinarily fluffy tail. He doesn't mind taking advantage of the height to get a better view, though. In small, dainty steps, he moves to the edge and looks down at her, beady eyes twinkling.]

What are you doing with that gun? [His voice sounds young and innocently curious.]

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ On reflex, she shifts the gun in the direction of Kyubey's voice. This creature is small and cute (a plus) but some also extremely unsettling (those eyes are rather creepy). Even if a mighty water fight is brewing, she hasn't decided if she wants to shoot at him or not.

She keeps the "weapon" in position, as she responds, coolly: ]

What does it look like I'm doing?

G

[eyeswideopen]

You just left yourself wide open for anyone playing this game. [How he appeared and from where is a mystery. Nagito calmly studies her from a few feet away with both hands tucked into his pockets. He tips his head slightly to the side, his eyes dropping to the water.]

That's the first violet water I've seen so far. Most of it is blue or orange.

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ The muzzle of the gun immediately locks on his torso when she hears his warning, but it drops just as quickly when she sees that he's not armed ]

That's why I was looking at it. I was wondering if it were a combination of colors.

[eyeswideopen]

[He's entirely unfazed at the gun suddenly locked on him. Nagito waits and steps forward to stand beside her once it drops.]

It could be they're a mixture of each person's emotions. That definitely fits the pattern of most events here. Mmm, even their holidays are tied into it. There's a reason for that of course.

G

[mechafacetakewarning]

[Well Kirigiri, you're not the only one observing that puddle you just made. There's a young gentlemen looking over your shoulder at the water, holding his own rifle behind his back, more interested in what you're doing than being a dick.]

... So, did you never play with a water gun or something? [okay, maybe not entirely incapable of being a dick] The color's different, sure, but it doesn't really change how the game is played, does it?

[thegreatmistdetective]

[ all these people keep sneaking up on her... She reflexively aims at him, though she brings the weapon down when she sees where his gun is. ]

I know how a water fight is supposed to work. [ even if she's never participated in one (that she remembers, anyway) ] I'm not really interested in participating, though. Isn't that the same for you?