TEST DRIVE: MAY

[empevents]

— TEST DRIVE: MAY —

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 Monday, April 24th and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on May 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: Elios’ land was a great place to hold this year’s festival, but it’s always best to leave a place as you found it. This is especially important for the surface, as there’s a lot of work put into trying to heal the different domains that span the land down below Verens. Anyone who volunteers for cleaning duty is getting paid, and vouchers to several of the cafes up in Verens as a reward! For anyone not interested in cleaning but interested in a new closing ceremony of sorts, they can instead attend a fireside dance that will be held for the next few nights at the site of the festival once things are tidied up.

1. Cleanup Ordeals. Not too much mess was left around luckily as most people who helped organize the Festival understand the importance of cleaning up the mess you make, but it looks like the tent areas have a lot left to clean up and take down. Removing flowers and string lights, packing up fabric and blankets, and generally picking up trash here and there left by festival goers is the main job. It’s a big job, and the festival organizers encourage anyone with special skills or dunamis practice to use whatever they have at their disposal to speed things along.
   
2. Fireside Dance.It’s a small, simple gathering done once the sun has gone down and the sky is dark. The fire is stoked hot, surrounded by worn black stones painted with Elios’ symbol in red and orange tones of paint. The dance is a quick one, requiring two circles, an inner and outer one. Partners on the outer circle travel the inner circle and wind up dancing with each person in turn. Luckily it’s pretty quick to learn and everyone spirits run warm to match flushed cheeks. At the end, each participant is asked to throw a small twig into the fire and express a moment of love or hate, in the pursuit of balance.

• Prompt E: During the festival this month there was a curious prize at one of the game booths. Some of the Elios plushes from the bobbing for ducks booth seem to not have been plushies at all! After a few days of having one in your possession, The plush will engulf in non spreading flames and burn completely out, revealing one small egg, white or black. Depending on your mood the past few days, the egg will either hatch a leathery or feathery winged creature. Hopefully you’ve been in a good mood! Luckily, the creatures are only around long enough to perform their duty before winking out of existence again.

1. Bad Egg. Negative emotions have lead to a sour and dark winged creature who is up to mischief. They will not listen to their “owner” and instead are quite often out to make things difficult for them. 3 misfortunes or specific instances of bad luck will happen over three days to their possessor while they run amok. A claw shaped trinket is left behind as a reminder to try and enjoy life and not get caught up in bad moods.
   
2. Good Egg. Positive emotions will lead to a happy, bright and angelic feather winged creature. They’re mischievous as well, but often in gentler ways, and sometimes try to play cupid for their owner. These playful creatures will grant 3 small wishes over three days for their owner, such as desires for better weather, tastier food or small trinkets. No wishing for a million sylvs here! Once it poofs out of existence in a puff of glitter it leaves behind a small pearl as a reminder to value the things they have and experiences they get that make live worth living.

• Prompt F: A small ring of Circus performers from Thesthai have traveled up to Verens and set up a tent out near lake Niras. It’s a small Circus performance, a prelude to something that might be bigger in the future. All performances are done by the Circus members themselves, from acrobatics and magic tricks, to displays of fearless daredevilry with the help of Verens steam-punk inspired vehicles. Overall it seems to be garnering a lot of attention, causing a several day repeat showing of the activities. Performancy plays a central role in some setups, and they seem to be the most popular...

1. Animal Experience.Enjoy the animal menagerie, all sorts of creatures are here. They’re all well taken care of, and seem to enjoy the food and pettings they’re getting from the attendees. Happy animals make for happy animal loving customers afterall! There IS one catch.. mischevious circus performers will cast performancy on those who aren't paying enough attention to their surroundings, and circus goers in the menagerie area may find something new if they look in a mirror. Animal ears and tails and a host of other features! Don’t worry. It’s temporary and all in good fun.
   
2. Carnival Games. Carnival type games have been set up outside the main tent, including a lot of familiar games that may have been seen during the Zephyras Flower Festival. Ring Toss, water laser races, darts, and the good old fashioned strong arm competition are all part of the setup. The prizes here range from simple small toys to bigger 4 foot tall plushies. Careful though, some of these setups might actually be rigged. The house has to have an advantage, in the end. Where would they make their money?

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include geese and/or potatoes.

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

[herpath]

[She looks down at her lap, processing the events she remembers from home and separating them from her time here. Sometimes it was hard to do that with her being here for a year now; but she still could.]

That's close to where you were when I got here. This world takes people from different times and brings them here. We aren't ... taken from where we were, we just remember that moment. In this world's time I've been here a year, but you probably just saw me a few minutes ago back home. Zeno and Shu-Ten have been here longer; but there wasn't ever a time I don't remember seeing Zeno with us.

[She thinks about saying more but it's probably best that he digest what she's said so far. There's a lot in just those few sentences.]

[hakingitup]

[No matter how long he's been traveling, there's always something that will surprise him.]

...You know how that sounds, right?

[Nothing about that sounds like it actually can be true. If it was anyone else telling him besides Yona, he might say it outloud. But he trusts her.]

Who all is here?

[herpath]

[She nods, knowing exactly how it sounds from a year ago when he told her the same thing. She wonders how he'll take the fact that two of the original dragons are here too.]

Me, Zeno, Shin-Ah and Kija. There's also Zeno's wife Kaya and Abi and Shu-Ten. They're the original green and blue dragons. Abi's really nice but also grumpy. Shu-Ten reminds me of you, but he's teaching me how to fight better.

[hakingitup]

...Without mother here?

[It's only really funny when Yoon can yell at him for saying it, but hey, he still thinks it's good. When he hears that the original dragons are here, he just blinks at that.]

Surprised you let someone like me get so close.

[He's not even remotely jealous about that.]

And you're safe.

[herpath]

[She frowns heavily, even as her pendant betrays how happy she is to have him here and be with him again by glowing brightly through her shirt.

There's a small part of her that worries that he really thinks she doesn't like him. The larger part however, knows that they've been friends forever and that he ought to know that if she really thought his personality was that bad she wouldn't be so insistent that he stay by her side.]

Someone who left me here twice shouldn't be mean to others.

[She may still be a bit angry that he was here, disappeared, then came back and disappeared immediately afterwards. She still has his Christmas present and everything.]

[hakingitup]

[That changes a lot. At first he was simply teasing her. But leaving her twice? That doesn't seem much like him at all. After what they've gone through, it would be the last thing he'd want to do.

After a moment, he moves to wrap an arm around her to pull her in close to his body. Leaning in to her ear.]

...I'm sorry, Princess.

[He doesn't move. He doesn't want to make false promises. He's not sure how he got here. He's not sure if, or when he'll leave.

But he'll be damned if he lets her worry about him.]

[herpath]

[It's been months since she's been able to feel the warmth that is Hak (Not that she would tell him he was warm) or smell his familiar scent (they might want to wash his cloths when they get home) and without even realizing that she's done so her arms wrap around him, holding tight.

His words in her ear cause a blush to cross her face that she tries to hide with her hair. The bigger problem is the pink bleeding out into the grass beneath her feet. This world always seems more then ready to display the emotions she wants to hide so badly.]

You don't remember anything from when you were here before, do you?

[It's not as if anything really important happened, but Edea might be sad again that Hak still doesn't remember her. Then again, Yona hasn't exactly been keeping in touch with the people she met when she first arrived. Many of them have already gone home.]

[hakingitup]

[If it wasn't bright enough around the pair of them, Hak's own feet start flooding pink as well. The air around them feels soft and smells sweet. The feelings he never said being exposed right in front of his eyes. He only hopes Yona doesn't notice.

However, from what she's saying... he wonders if she doesn't already know. He slowly moves a foot up, changing positions just slightly so she can be as close as she needs.]

I didn't know I was.

[Here before, that is. That's the only way he knows how to answer her question.]

[herpath]

[Honestly, she thinks it's all her fault. Since being here she seems to be the one to cause all the environmental trouble. As long as he allows it she stays close to him, not wanting to look away and find that he's gone again.]

You didn't remember the last time either, but you were only here for a few days. Ah! But you're room is exactly the way it was when you left.

[Practically empty with the addition of a little red headed princess sleeping in the bed every night.]

I, Zeno and I were really hoping you'd come back.

[hakingitup]

[Nothing here is her fault. Hak doesn't want her to blame herself for anything. He gives her a small squeeze. It's to remind her that he is here. And will only move when she asks for it.

He hates hearing about how he's made the princess wait for him. How she hoped he would come back. She shouldn't have to feel like that.]

I'll always come back.

[And that's a promise he won't break.]

[herpath]

[She nods a little.]

I know. I wasn't worried.

[The truth was that she was lying. She was worried and her heart hurt when he wasn't here with her. Still, she knew it wasn't his fault. She wasn't going to take it out on him that the world they'd been pulled into was the way it was.

Reluctantly she breaks away from him. She'd been clinging to him for long enough and she didn't want him thinking that it was weird or that she had become weird. After all, if he figured out her feelings for him he might feel like he had to reciprocate them; or at least pretend to. It would ruin everything about their friendship and trap him to her side. Something she never wanted to do.]

Oh, and I learned how to cook while you were gone. I'm really good at it now so you'll have to eat it and say it's yummy.

[Not that he didn't eat everything before, but she really wanted him to actually say it tasted good instead of burnt.]

We all live in a house in the woods, except Abi and Shu-Ten, they won't live with us. And Zeno and Kaya are getting married soon - or, re-married.

[Kage, the fennick fox that sees to have now decided to hide under Yona's ever lengthening hair pokes his nose out and sniffs at Hak.]

There are a lot of people I want you to meet too, but we should make sure you get all your supplies and settled into the house first.

[hakingitup]

[Inside, he had hoped she wouldn't have removed herself from him. He had pushed his own feelings down long enough that a taste was dangerous. Now he was worried he would want more than that. He bit back the feeling, remembering his promise to no longer tease her like this.]

And I thought you'd prefer honesty, princess.

[He shows off a small smirk. He can't help himself. Teasing is just second nature.]

So things aren't all that different.

[Not that he minds. They're together. The princess is safe. That's all he cares about.

Although, he doesn't mind the fennick fox, he definitely looks surprised that he popped out of her hair. What...]

...Right.

[Sorry, he's staring.]

You needed a pet?

[herpath]

[Just wait till she crawls in his bed with him to make sure he's there when she wakes up. Good luck sleeping Hak.

The fox sniffs at his hand before licking it.]

He found me actually. Since we met he's never left my side.

[She reaches up and scratches the fox fondly.]