empatheias_ooc | TEST DRIVE: NOVEMBER

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!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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[His reaction only makes her smile wider, and she bites it back to try and hide it. She can't help but find it amusing; something about how emphatic he is about having done as she "requested" (demanded, really, it sounds like), as well as his assertion that he doesn't abandon missions are both things Leia looks favorably on. Because as curious as she was about the safety of the Wookies, she was half-teasing in asking him that.]

I'm sure I could have managed. But, I'm glad they're safe, and for your help in ensuring their safety.

After meeting you I've no doubt you would have, but the point still stands.

[ He sighs a little, sounding just a touch defeated. For a former Sith apprentice he's surprisingly loyal. A trait that was one of the things that began to lead him away from that dark path to begin with. ]

It was... nice actually. Saving lives.

[ He colors a little, feeling vaguely embarrassed for admitting that. It was the truth though. A mission that he honestly felt... GOOD about. He very rarely saved people, most of his assignments when he was under Vader were simply assassinating his enemies. ]

Not something you were used to?

[it's the way he phrased his statement that caught her attention, and there's no judgment in her tone as she asks. She's more curious than anything. She knows full well there's plenty of people--in the rebellion and otherwise--that didn't or don't have much opportunity to directly save lives. For all she knows, his situation was the same.]

[ She really didn't know. The Leia he knoew... there was no way she wasn't aware, though he hadn't had a chance to speak with her since it all came out.

It'd be easy to lie, to come up with some tale. Maybe he was going soft but the thought didn't sit right with him. ]

...Can you keep a secret?

[ For just a moment he looks very young. He's barely seventeen though his maturity causes most to think him older. But for just that blink and you'll miss it moment he looks like the lost and confused teenager that he is. ]

[In some way, the question surprises her, her eyebrows raising as he asks her that. At the same time, though, she appreciates it. She may not be the Leia he knows, and that might be enough to give some people pause if they were in a similar situation, but it seems like Galen is willing to trust her, at least somewhat, and she can understand and appreciate how he must be feeling.]

I'd be very bad at my job if I couldn't.

[ He's still silent for a moment, and he bites his lip. But her answer seems to satisfy him and he speaks. ]

I... was his apprentice. Lord Vader that is. For very long time.

[ She should at least know that name. Of that he's certain. He's of little consequence, the number of people that know he even exists could probably be counted on one hand. His Master however? There wasn't a soul in the galaxy who didn't know that name.

The grass at his feet wilts more and he still can't help but wonder if he's making a mistake. Too late to go back now. ]

Doing 'nice' things was not exactly on my agenda.

[Her gaze hardens and Leia draws herself up straighter at his confession, a cold air creeping in around them. She would want to leave, to find some way to avoid him as much possible, since she knows getting rid of him, or any other imperials, would mean little here.

But, he said "was." He had explained how he was on her side in a mission against the empire. It's that past tense that has her still standing in front of him, and not fighting or running, though she does look much more wary, more closed off than before, and when she speaks again, it's less of a question and more of a demand.]

You were his apprentice. What happened?

[ He feels that chill in the air. And panic seizes his heart before he reminds himself that sort of reaction was warranted. To be expected. ]

My Master's final mission to me was disguise myself as a Jedi and go out and help stir up sentiments of rebellion, so that he could find those who would oppose the Empire and arrest them.

[ ...This all sounds so bad. ]

However... I found people. People who actually cared about me. Who saw me as more then a tool. They looked at me like I was actually a person who mattered. I had no idea people could feel that way...

[ He shakes his head. He hadn't intended on saying so much, but sometimes when the floodgates broke... ]

I didn't want to betray them.

[It does sound bad, there's no denying it. But he had changed, it seemed. She's not sure how much she can trust his words, but he's admitting he now knows he was wrong before. And not accepting him when she has no issue accepting Finn would make her a hypocrite, she knows full well. And it's not as if he's the first, or the last, imperial defector to the rebellion's side.

Leia is silent for a few moments after Galen's explanation, studying him closely and looking incredibly guarded as she does so. Finally, when she speaks up, there's no smile accompanying her words--it's difficult to bring back the pleasantry of earlier now that Darth Vader has been brought up--and her tone is more formal than before, but Leia sounds very much as if her mind has been made up, willing to give him a chance knowing what she does now.]

I can imagine full well how that monster must have treated anyone he interacted with regularly. I'm glad you've learned your own worth, and decided to fight with us against the Empire. People with your kind of loyalty are always welcome with us.

I'm glad too.

[ Oh he could tell her stories of his relationship with his Master. Stories about his training techniques that would make even the sturdiest of heart cringe in horror. But he's not going to. Not now, maybe not ever. To anyone. There were some stories that were just better left untold.

For now... he looks relieved, at least a little. It could have gone worse. Much worse, and he's grateful that she's still cordial at the very least. It's probably more then he deserves. ]

It really took root then? The rebellion?

[ From his perspective it had only just barely entered the beginning stages. The whispers just barely turning to rallying shouts. But this Leia was at least a little older then the one he knew. ]

[Some of that tension fades at his question, a small, satisfied smirk making its way across Leia's face as she considers her answer. She can't help it, she knows how the rebellion used to be, and how it grew into what it was now and what she knows happens in the future (even if that future is one she still wants to change). As the cause she's devoted her entire life to, there's no way to hide how proud she is of what they've all managed to achieve for the galaxy.]

The emperor is dead, as is your former master. It's not over by a long shot, but we're on our way to restoring the republic.

[Which should be more than enough of an answer to his question. Instead of icy winds, this time, the grass around them brightens to a more vibrant green, matching Leia's better mood.]

[ Her reply stuns him into silence for a moment, eyes widening a bit and his mouth forming an 'o' that might have almost been comical looking under different circumstances. He wonders if maybe he even misheard her. ]

They're truly dead? Both Vader and the evil old ghoul? How?

[ The news is almost too good to be true. Especially considering what he was doing mere moments before finding himself in this other world. ]

I tried but I couldn't. Not by myself at least, not against the both of them.

[She doesn't nod or anything at his question, instead giving him the sort of look that almost asks if he thinks she'd lie about that. Because while she might stretch the truth or jokingly make things up to tease someone, the deaths of Greatest Dad in the Galaxy and Palpatine are something too important and too serious to joke about.]

Unfortunately, I don't know all of the specifics on the "how," as I wasn't there when it happened. [But she would have liked to have been there, don't even worry about that.]

I was told what happened, but many of the details were left out in his explanation.

[ Certainly it's not something to joke about. But sometimes you hear something that sounds so shocking you can't help but wonder if you misheard. ]

Forgive me. I suppose the how isn't important. Just that it happened.

[ He shakes his head. Despite the news there's a hint of sadness to his voice, a damp cool mist hangs about him, a little bit of misery made tangible. ]

Thank you for tell me.

[As is the usual case with Verens, no matter how well someone might want to hide anything, like a hint of sadness, the environment here makes that near impossible. That mist is hard to not notice, and as it appears, Leia frowns, the colors returning more to their natural state around them. She might not know why just yet, but it's clear that something else is involved that's bothering him somehow.]

Is something wrong?

[ He scowls and waves his hand through the air, attempting to disperse the stupid meddling mist. This is definitely going to take some getting used to. ]

It's nothing.

[ Which is a lie. Obviously. And it seems as if this place is good at making it hard to do so. So he sighs, shoulders slumping a touch. ]

Vader. He needed to be killed, for many reasons. But he's still the person who raised me.

[ As shitty a job as he did. ]

Given who he was it might sound horrible to say so but I hope he found a little peace in the end.

[To say Leia finds it difficult to sympathize would be a complete understatement. It's not hard to see some sort of parallel, with Vader raising Galen, and Vader being her birth father, but Leia isn't the type to easily forgive. Or at least not when it comes to Vader and everything he'd done, and not when she had no real chance to process that information before being confronted with Anakin Skywalker here, alive, and with no knowledge of what he does in the future.]

You're allowed to have your own opinions, even if they're something like that. According to Luke, he turned to the light before his death.

[Buuuut she calls bs on that, since she didn't see it and never saw any indication of any light in him at all.]

Personally I don't believe he deserved any peace.

[ Luke? Wasn't that the name of the kinda dorky guy who helped him with the rabbits? ...Probably a coincidence. Totally. ]

I used to think that too. I still do a little.

[ His voice sounds strained, conflicted. He struggles so much now. Life was simpler when he blindly followed his Master. Not that he wished for that again. This was... better. Harder, but better. ]

I'm afraid though. Hating him will just send me tumbling back down a path I don't want to travel anymore.

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TEST DRIVE: NOVEMBER

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