TEST DRIVE: NOVEMBER

[empevents]

— 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.

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. 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.

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. 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.

1. 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.
   
   
2. Flying equipment. The various medical equipment has also taken life, scalpels and needles flying everywhere and stethoscopes ready to strangle.
   
   
3. 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!

Comments

I

[fivenareff]

[He doesn't come to these things for entertainment. He might have, once, but he's fought too much and too often to get any kind of enjoyment out of it anymore. No, Polnareff comes to watch one fighter in particular, and not for the reason most people do.

Dio fights differently on his own than he did with the World. That isn't to say he's bad at it; not in the least. But there's a distinct lack of care in the way he moves with his opponent. When he'd fought Jotaro, he'd been cautious, eager not to fall into a trap and be easily killed. Here, though, Dio doesn't bother with that caution. He dances and weaves and sometimes people even manage to get a hit in (though even Polnareff can see that's more for entertainment's sake than anything else). But he isn't afraid, he isn't bothering to be cautious, and it's fascinating to watch.

That's the other thing: he knows what he's doing. He's not just fighting; he's boxing expertly, and idly Polnareff wonders when and where he'd learned. Cairo? England? It hardly matters and he'll never know, but still. A question to ponder over when he can't sleep.

The room empties fairly quickly after the match ends, people streaming out to collect their bets and head home. Soon it's only himself, Dio, and a few spare trainers and custodians.]

Are you doing it for money or sport?

[To anyone else in the room, it sounds like a friendly inquiry.]

[malignans]

[Dio pauses in retying his cravat when Polnareff asks his question, but it's not some indication that Polnareff has caught him unawares. Perhaps if he had approached earlier when there was a larger crowd, that might have been possible with the din of the crowd acting as a barrier for such minute sounds, but it's empty enough now that there's very few sounds that could go without Dio's notice. Instead, the pause acts as an indicator that he's acknowledged Polnareff rather than simply noticed him.]

[It's only for a second or two that his hands remain still before he resumes tying it.]

They walk away with their lives, don't they?

[Not that Dio's money is all that tight that he needs to do this. He has other, less savory means of obtaining money and he's already amassed enough that he needn't sacrifice any piece of the luxuries he's grown accustomed to. But even with as uncomfortable as the idea might be that anyone would perceive him as working for money instead of simply taking it as he has before, he's even less comfortable with Polnareff being aware of any semblance of nostalgia — positive or negative — attached to it.]

[fivenareff]

That's hardly an answer.

[Odd, how they can converse like this. It never ceases to amaze him that they can have these moments of . . . well. Civility makes it sound as though they've come to some kind of agreement, and they haven't. But while Polnareff fears Dio, he isn't particularly scared he'll lose his life right now, and that's certainly different.]

You've done this before. I'd ask if you had Ice box you, but somehow I can't imagine him ever thinking of raising his fists to you.

[malignans]

[You've done this before, Polnareff says and something about Dio's expression darkens even though his pace at tying his cravat does not. He finishes it smoothly, adjusting his collar before picking up his waistcoat.]

[Dio is immensely possessive of his past, and there's always been very little he's ever wanted to part with even among those he trusts. It's not because he believes if someone has a scrap of it that they will possess a veritable weapon. His life as a human, particularly that of when he was a boy, is so far in the past that he believes — no, he knows that it holds no influence or sway over him as it once did. But his time on the streets, searching and scraping like a gutter rat for money and warm meals because his father could provide him with neither as well as his time winning the admiration of Jonathan's peers while grinding Jonathan down into nothing is his.]

I find it hard to believe you came over here to talk to me about boxing, [he says irritably, pulling on and buttoning his waistcoat, after which he unrolls his sleeves and buttons them as well. He's protective enough of his past that he uses the word boxing as a substitution for my past.]

[fivenareff]

I'm quite enjoying the conversation, actually.

[It's a dangerous game he plays when he annoys Dio. Each dark expression feels like a victory, but there's only so far he can go.]

It's fascinating to learn some of your hobbies. Unless you have something better to discuss?

[malignans]

[It is a rather dangerous game to play, but not just for Polnareff's sake. The surrounding environment creaks under the pressure of Dio's tenuous grasp on his temper.]

And what would I possibly have to discuss with you? [he drawls, as though they truly have no reason to bother with one another, let alone any mutual interests.]

[Normally, Dio doesn't mind when Polnareff is around and he has no trouble with prolonged conversations with him. He doesn't enjoy the man's company, mind you, but he does enjoy getting under his skin and has it almost to an art form at this point. What makes this time different is that Polnareff managed to get under his first, and he finds it far less entertaining. With his temper beginning to flare, he lacks the patience to flip the conversation in his favor.]