empatheias_ooc | TEST DRIVE: FEBRUARY

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*test drive

TEST DRIVE: FEBRUARY

— TEST DRIVE: FEBRUARY—

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 Wednesday, January 25 and Applications (Canon | OC) open Wednesday, January 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: Over two years 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 decided to try again, and… well. It wasn’t exactly all that well thought out the second time around. But third time’s the charm, right? Wrong. Even if this time, it’s in the form of rings that will draw two people together in a “matched pair” rather than a string.

There’s not really anything wrong with believing in true love, but trying to formulate a product that can detect someone’s ideal mate is innately flawed. Which only means that no matter how many times the product is adjusted, it’s just not going to work. Those who wind up with the product shoved onto their fingers (by a sales rep or through actually purchasing the product) will find themselves, once again, pulled by an unseen force to the nearest person they are “compatible with”. Same height, same hair color, whatever. It’s not exactly discriminatory. …Unfortunately as poor a match as they may be, the two cannot be separated until they share a meaningful embrace. So settle in, you might be together for a while.

In certain pairs, normal conversation is often unintentionally made amorous, simply from inflection in voice, or perhaps a heightened affectionate emotion. Or, on the flip side, anger and aggression is increased ten fold, but it’s kind of 50-50 as to what effect will take place, all dependant on which hand they wear the ring. Left, romance, Right? Anger.

• Prompt E: The inexplicably cavernous sewers of Verens are no place for a sane individual, but here you are anyway—dropped there by some horrible emotional shift that made an entire section of street vanish and then reappear above your heads as if nothing had happened. You and the poor fool you’ve been dumped down here with need to find your way to the access tunnels and climb out, or perhaps go the other way and swim out through the Lake Niras outflow. Or just smash your way out, if you’re feeling destructive. But your own emotions will work against you, as you struggle against the terrible scent, the darkness, and the entirely-justified questioning of why your life has taken this horrible turn.

There’s something odd about the way the water and sewage is sloshing around your ankles, almost as if it’s rising. But wait, that can’t possibly be a pair of eyes you see under the oil slick surface… could it? You’ve heard rumors about all sorts of beasties down here but surely your mind is just playing tricks on you.

Remember that part about emotions turning against you? Maybe you’ve been trapped down here way too long with someone who’s just not living up to your expectations, or you’ve got something else on your minds—but the smell around you certainly seems to be growing thicker, the scent growing harder and harder to ignore. The water and grossness at your feet also seems to be growing thicker almost as though it’s curing like cement. The cause? Negative emotions. But are they yours or the person you’re stuck here with? Perhaps you should work through those post haste…

Escape! You’ve made it out, but not without a great amount of effort on both you and your partner’s parts. Did you manage to find a way out through the access tunnels? Or perhaps you really did travel through all that much to the Lake Niras outflow… whatever it is, You’re certainly stinky, and possibly tired and cranky too.

• Prompt F: Some bandits went and stole another airship, only this time the Enforcers are prepared with a few of their own. Join in for some intense air battles. Just don't make the ship explode—they'd like it back in one piece please. Unless you're actually on the bandit team, in which case you probably want to blow up the Enforcer ship.

What's an airship fight without some on deck action? Either the bandits are swinging over to the ship you're on, or maybe you're swinging over there. Whatever the case, it's a full on brawl. Just watch out—those bandits are well-armed with some interesting firearms and weapons. If hit, one of the following emotions will start to take over your senses: unquestionable rage, debilitating fear and panic, and sleepiness. Needless to say, these effects will hinder one's ability to fight.

Can you fly or are you okay with climbing up the full height of your airship? Then grab a few sleep and apathy grenades and throw them at the bandits. Just be careful not to accidentally hit your allies. Otherwise they will be the ones feeling sleepy and want to give up. Also watch out for flying nets and bullets. Those bandits will definitely try to bring you down.

While the enforcers are trying to maintain the integrity of the stolen ship, the bandits feel no such need to hold back and are freely unloading their weapons onto the Enforcer's ships, forcing them to defend themselves. Other than decapacitating the bandit behind the weapon, it's also possible to overload it with intense emotions. Explode it with rage or clog it with happy, loving flowers.

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include bubblegum and/or toadstools.

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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[[One note about Yuuri is she can see thoughts when she touches people - it's called 'mitori' - so if you do/don't want to deal with that, just lemme know]]

[PROMPT D]

... Like a wedding ring? -- Oh wait, I'm alr- [Well, that was a weak protest, and she didn't exactly resist having the ring shoved on her finger unceremoniously, but there she is, actually wearing one of these rings on her left ring finger like a wedding band. Find her soulmate, the sales rep had promised, but she doesn't understand how a ring could just do that. Then again, given her experiences...

Oh, it's already tugging her in a direction. It's sort of funny how quickly the urge to pull the ring off and give it back fades as she follows the little pull. It's sort of like following a trace, she supposes, but... who is her soulmate supposed to be? She'd already decided to fall with Ouse.

Until she gets to wherever this thing is taking her.

The scene is highly romantic: there's soft lighting and flowers and a little fountain in the background. Yuuri's hand tugs up as she approaches whoever has the 'matching' ring, and immediately a lump rises into her throat. Warm, nervous anticipation? Gods no, she's seen a possessed knife kill someone while they struggled desperately to stop it, she's getting flashbacks to that. Which means the flowers start to wilt in the background; one of the spigots for the fountain malfunctions and starts gurgling loudly. Yuuri digs her heels in a few feet back from the other person.] Did... you get one, too? [And wiggles her hand a little to make the light glimmer off the ring.]

[Prompt E]

[To be perfectly fair, that hole in the ground was probably partially Yuuri's own fault. She's starting to figure out that her typically downer mood actively works against her in this place, but it's not like she can fix it. The only respite she's getting is that she can't see things other people can't (read: ghosts) here. Are there even any of the dead here? It's sort of a blissful silence. At the same time, she'd still kept that Mitori ability...

Either way, getting dumped into a dark, dank tunnel full of water is not new for Yuuri. She spent a whole week or so traversing that on Mt. Hikami so. This isn't new. What is new is how bad it smells because it's sewage water and ew. Oh well, time to slop through some of that. She instinctively flexes her hands in front of her, because she wishes she had her Camera Obscura with her, but she, as she has been since she got here, left it at home.]

... Do we just follow the way it's flowing, you think? [She can't imagine going upstream in a sewer is going to lead anywhere interesting. Aside from, you know. The 'source'.]

[Prompt A/Wildcard]

[Yuuri's little crystal is pretty much perpetually black and the world around her tends to be a little drab and shaky - her emotions are not positive, but she herself is friendly enough. She doesn't tend to say no to requests. Other than that, hit me up!]

Edited 2017-01-23 15:53 (UTC)

[Should Yuuri look around, she might happen to see one young girl simply minding her own business. What was she doing? Well, hope Yuuri doesn't mind Mabel attempting to chew a bunch of bubblegum and blowing the biggest bubble she can muster up!

At first, it seemed to get bigger...and bigger....and even bigger! In fact, it was slowly starting to be as big as her head! What will Yuuri do now?]

Edited 2017-01-23 23:56 (UTC)

[Stare, for the most part. Actually, she realizes it's a little rude about halfway into the inflation of the bubble, but that's pushed to the wayside when it keeps inflating.] Um...

[Actually, she does see a problem partially through this. That problem being that this girl has a decent amount of hair, and that bubble being so big is probably going to get in it if it pops in any other way than that slow deflation that bigger bubbles tend to do.

Grabbing Mabel's attention may not be the best thing in the world to do right now... but hey, she does it (accidentally?) anyway.]

[Mabel didn't seem to notice Yuuri at first. Instead, she just kept on blowing the bubble as big as she could! Although, there was a limit to how much she could take.

Now that it was starting to get bigger than her head, that's when she started to panic! As she tried to look around, that's when she started to flail at little! What was a girl to do when she wanted to pop it and yet, she didn't want to get it all over her hair?!

So when she finally saw Yuuri, that's when she started to tug her a little. Come and help this poor girl out?]

[Okay, so the girl is at least noticing the problem... but what is with that motioning? ... Does she want Yuuri to help?

Well, she can't very well say no, so she steps over, but the curious look she gives says she's not sure how to help, either.] Um... can you bite a little hole in the bottom of it? To let the air out slower? [She. She hasn't chewed bubblegum in a long time, but that's her suggestion.]

[As she looked at the older girl, that's when she attempted to bite said little hole at the gum. Although, that did present another problem. Now that she was bringing said girl bubble closer to her, that's when her entire chin was stuck!

Cue even more flailing from the poor girl! If Yuuri could hear, she might be able to her the muffled cries of "Why must the good die young?!"]

[Gundam Tanaka had wanted no part of this either, and yet here he was, flustered as he was dragged along by the ring, despite his efforts to remove it. And soon, he's brought face to face with a stranger as the ring stops pulling him around. Quickly, he tries to downplay his struggle and looks away while tugging up his scarf slightly to hide the blush that he's forming out of embarrassment at the situation.]

Hmph... If you speak of rings, then it is pure foolishness to assume that ours are one and the same! [Or does the fact that he was quick to guess what she meant mean that he was thinking the same thing?] There is no way under this world's sun that a human like you would receive the same ring as someone of my class! After all, mine is a cursed ring forged in the fires of a distant lands. When its power activates, I will be entirely invisible to the naked eye!

[He boasts arrogantly, yet there's no reflection of any actual confidence around him as he says these things.]

[She flinches at his tone - boy, it's loud and boastful. A little part of her sort of wishes her Mitori worked the more powerful way, where she could see thoughts and memories at a look, but it isn't that strong, and she lets go of the thought as soon as it bubbles up.] Someone of your class? [She's run into non-humans up to this point of her wandering, but what in the world does that mean?]

... But it looks just like the ring at that kiosk back there. [She uses her free hand to motion back over her shoulder toward wherever it was she picked it up at. He might want to sue for copyright infringement ~~if he doesn't get busted for it first~~. She'll hold onto the invisible comment for now.] I think they're selling copies of it, then. [She sounds unconvinced though.]

[Casting his shyness aside for the moment, Tanaka addresses the stranger with a smug grin.]

Yes, of my class. Do you not sense the difference in our power? Appearances aside, I am far beyond a mere human.

[But he shifts to flustered frustration with the rest of what she had to say.]

Th-that is nothing more than hearsay created by your own delusion! My ring only happens to resemble those other rings. After all, there is no one alive who could successfully convince a dark lord to wear something like this!

[She winces again. Above and beyond a mere human? Well, she supposes she really isn't anything special, in the end. Her sixth sense had been a curse from the beginning, so her expression merely pinches a bit.]

A dark lord? Who can turn invisible with a ring? [Blink.] And is above mere humans? Are you practicing for a play? [Suddenly, he might have overdone it. Cuz that's a little too... well. Hamfisted.] Besides... I'm pretty sure this ring is um... pulling toward that one.

[He looks a bit flustered by her accusation.]

What?! You accuse me of taking part in such a foolish farce? That is a pure insult...!

[Does he ever not overdo it? But he does look down at his hand, and it's hard to deny that the ring is pretty much pulling towards hers, as she says.]

Hmph... There is some sort of witchcraft at play here. Once I create a counter spell, this should all be over. [He bluffs.]

But I'm not... [She didn't mean to accuse him of anything, really, she's just curious.

... And he keeps ~~digging a grave~~ saying sort of strange things.] Well, if you can get us out of this..? I'm not sure what's going on, but I don't... [want to figure out if this dude is her soul mate.]

[As she trails off, he gives a knowing chuckle.]

You do not wish to become mates. Kehehe... I feel the same sentiment. That is likely the only feeling that we share in common!

[Tanaka pauses as he tries to think of a plan.]

Very well. I will charge up my magical energy so that the spell can be put into effect!

[Well at least they have that whole 'no soulmates' in common. She isn't sure what she'd do if he actually said he wanted to go through with trying to figure Things out. She's bad at saying no, but man, that wouldn't be ideal. Besides, she already-...]

... If it works, why not, right? [There's a doubt there, but... the tugging of the ring is incessant and annoying and she still can't help but think of that knife she'd seen go after Fuyuhi's throat. She's pretty sure this one's not going to try to kill her, but it's not good, either way.

That said, she stands back, looking at him expectantly. Well, he talked himself into this corner, time to see what he can do.]

[He may actually have a romantic side, but that's something that he refuses to acknowledge even to his own self. Effective demons aren't supposed to have romance, after all.

So he continues to regard this situation with frustration and embarrassment as he seeks a way to get away from this unknown human as soon as possible.]

Hmph... Very well. It should take just a few minutes for my aura to reach full power! Then... then I can set "that plan" into effect!

[And hopefully figure out what "that plan" is by then.]

[And she's not exactly interested. Win/Win for them both. She actually kind of does wish the ring was possessed, she could make him follow her over to find her camera so she could exorcise the spirit. She continues to ponder maybe seeing if the Camera can figure out something she can't, while he 'powers up'.]

That plan?

[She doesn't want to doubt him but... she doubts he has any idea what he's talking about. Still, easier to give the benefit of the doubt than not, and she tugs the ring back toward herself, feeling the magnet-like pull as she does. No, no. It gets to stay right by her side.]

... I don't feel anything changing. [Maybe it's something she can't sense but like. Shouldn't something have pinged her sixth sense by now??] Are you sure you're charging it?

We can....

[That would be one possible way out of course. The other would be to follow where it was flowing from. Either way they could probably find a way out. He also wasn't much in the mood for leading right now. This wasn't exactly a life or death situation.

Also while there probably aren't any dead bodies down here, he could've sworn that he just saw a rat riding on a piece of floating poop. Best to get out of here quickly, bath and then burn their clothes.] ...We could also find out wherever the water's flowing from.

[Well, she definitely had considered that, and she glances up the tunnel toward wherever the greasy, disgusting water is flowing from. Somehow, she is beginning to hate this cold water more than the corrosive black yomi water she'd had to slog through.]

I guess it's a gamble, which way we go. We might hit an open manhole cover upstream, but who knows how far we are from either direction. [If only she had some kind of ability to magically know which way she needed to go... that didn't involve following lingering spiritual remains. About the only 'remains' down here are... from dinner the last night, probably.

If nothing else, the Kagemi may have given her a good intuition.] Let's just go downstream. There has to be an outlet somewhere, and I don't really want to find out where the 'source' of this is? [It's not the most convincing role of 'leadership', but Yuuri can have a spine when pressed.]

Either way we'll run into an exit eventually.

[The fact that the "water" is essentially toxic waste probably makes it worse than most of anything else a person can imagine. The smell of waste products, the feeling of wading through who knows what; rodents, parasites and diseases all pressed into a cold, dark and damp environment is the stuff of nightmares. The kinds of things that Franz Kafka would write on a happy day.

Though he may seem relatively composed, inside Harold was wanting to get out of this terrible environment as quickly as possible.]

I wouldn't worry about where it comes from, so much as where it might be going. [A sewage treatment plant? Or maybe it goes on for an eternity. Whatever the case they really couldn't go wrong either way.]

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TEST DRIVE: FEBRUARY

Yuuri Kozukata | Fatal Frame 5

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Sorry about the late!

Prompt D

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Prompt E

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