TEST DRIVE: October

[empevents]

— TEST DRIVE: OCTOBER —

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 Sunday, September 24 and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on October 1st. Apps will only be open for four days!
  
  
• 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!
  
  
• Transfer to in-game. If accepted, you can assume threads made on the Test Drive happen in-game if the scenario can reasonably fit. These threads do not count toward AC.

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: With the crystal having been mysteriously stolen, the weather has been nothing but uncooperative, lately. Actually, uncooperative is an understatement. Just yesterday, it was raining frogs! Now, well…

1. In the Sky with Diamonds. You might be walking in the streets or in the safe confines of a building when it begins to hail. It's not just any ordinary hail. Instead of ice falling from the sky, it's little beads and pieces of… you guessed it: diamonds! Some are actually fake, but there are some that are genuine. Only the experienced eye will be able to tell. The catch is, it only rains diamonds for ten seconds. And in this short span of time, people have gone berserk over the stone. Looks like some are eager to sell what they've collected, while some are fighting over what "should be theirs". Are you one of those people opportunistic enough to make money out of this, or are you doing something else of your own?
   
2. One in a Melon. The crazy weather has not only been affecting the people living in Empatheias, but also the flora and fauna. The fruit stands everywhere have been selling all kinds of hybrid fruit, ranging from melons the size of a building to blue grapes that taste like chocolate! The latter sounds oddly delicious, truth be told. The vendors are all for giving free samples to anybody who passes by, too. In fact, there's one fruit stand that seems to be selling really well. Investigate, and you'll be given a slice of pineapple! Take a bite, and it tastes like Hawaiian pizza. Is this heaven or hell?

• Prompt E: It's safer to stay indoors given the strange weather, but you can't help but go out in the streets and explore! You're in a new world, after all. There is so much to see! Of course, when it begins to rain cats and dogs (either literally or figuratively), you look for a place to hide. Somehow, you've managed to enter a building that's dark, only lit by a flame in the middle of the room. There are a lot of hooded men and women surrounding the flame.

1. Welcome! When they notice someone else enter, they all look at the door's direction. "Ah! It seems we have a new arrival. Welcome to the Ortheias. You are now in a world where your magic can change the emotions of people. What is your name?"
   
   It looks like you've entered the headquarters of some roleplaying cult. Try and leave, and they will explain to you that nobody can leave. Nobody even knows why they're here. And then someone will casually whisper to you these exact words: "As an OOC Note, we will all leave in an hour and half from now." Do you create a character, or do you play as yourself?
   
2. Getting Acclimated. With everyone in the room doing their own thing and "gathering relationships", as they so put it, you've been left to your own devices. Do you talk to other people who might be stuck here for an hour and half, or do you practice your "Emanis"? It seems that this fictional world they've created lets each person manipulate the other person's emotions by casting spells. A short display of fire can make someone angry, or making flowers appear out of nowhere might make the other person happy. Of course, these are all fake and the cult just narrates their usage of magic without actually displaying it.
   
3. An Event! Towards the end of the roleplaying session, the "roleplay moderator" announces an event! One of the guardians of Ortheias, the Durathei of fire and ice, Seesonne, has attacked the city of Snerev! A part of the city is now burning, while the other half is encased in ice! What would you do in this situation? People are panicking, so you must stop them from worrying too much!

• Prompt F: While Halloween does not exist in this world, Otherworlders have been present long enough for the natives to slightly change their calendar. For the month of Empta (October), they wish to make sure the Otherworlders are feeling at home by celebrating Halloween! They know nothing about it, but they are going to try and replicate the feeling!

1. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo. For the rest of Exi (September), farmers are asking Otherworlders to help them harvest pumpkins. Thanks to the strange weather recently, these pumpkins have grown to be the size of a car. They're rather big! What's more, they've also grown legs and can run! It appears they don't want to be caught, but anyone who gives chase will be able to get them to stop easily. Just chop off its legs! And to make it inanimate, one has to carve a face on it.
   
2. What's Your Favourite Scary Story? To prepare for what's to come next month, the natives are asking Otherworlders to go to the Welcome Centre every weekend for a meeting of sorts. One will be able to find refreshments and snacks there, and there are a lot of people listening to speakers who rotate every so often. It seems these speakers are talking about their favourite scary stories. Perhaps you're one of the listeners, or you're speaking and sharing yours! Things are beginning to be spooky, though, that's for sure.
   
3. It Leaves a Good Taste in Your Mouth. Children are selling cookies door-to-door, and the only type of cookies they're selling are maple leaf cookies. It's only 10 sylvs a box, and taking just one bite will send one to heaven! It's so delicious that it might make anyone who eats it react in a strange way (the video is just an example, not the exact reaction). Spectate at how people react to these maple leaf cookies, or be the one that gathers a lot of attention!

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include cat ears and/or nail polish.

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

[baymaxing]

[To be fair, Hiro is a teenage boy. Of course he is an emotional rollercoaster, let alone in dealing with Tadashi. Tadashi's loss and then finding his older brother here as if that never happened. There is a reason Baymax's initial diagnosis of him was simply 'puberty'.

Though. Tadashi. Tadashi anywhere near fire. Cue internal screeching. That. Actually may not be so internal, given how suddenly the flames seem to grow in reaction to the younger Hamada's panic, those brown eyes widening still when he sees and hears Tadashi.]

T-Tadashi?! No, let me -- just get away from there!

[Because he really can't handle this panic, this ill feeling from Tadashi being around. At least, being around right now, here, near fire at all. He. May be flailing and possibly over reacting, or seeming to given the other is oblivious to the expo fire, but. Welp. The last thing he needs right now is Baymax coming to help and making this worse by explaining to Tadashi or something.]

[carian]

[ Yeah... to Tadashi, Hiro's definitely overreacting! He can't help but give his younger brother a dubious look, narrowing his eyes and trying to figure out what's on Hiro's mind right now. ]

Dude, chill, it's just a fire. [ All he wanted was to make fun of his bro!! Not like this... :( Still, he steps away and he pulls Hiro along with him. ] Let's go find a bucket or something.

[ But his scepticism and doubt doesn't last long. His expression softens and he places a hand on Hiro's shoulder. ]

You okay?

[baymaxing]

[Just a fire. Hiro has to remind himself that the other has no idea. So of course he's not getting it. Still, he does manage to sort of start to calm down a little once Tadashi steps away from the flames. Letting Tadashi pull him along as part of him recalls how many times their 'inventions' and 'improvements' to things had backfired on them and landed them at the doctors or at the hospital. But fire, now.....that's different.

That's still something he freaks out over. Still isn't sure when or how or if he should even bring that up with Tadashi yet.]

Um, bucket. Yeah. Quickly.....

[Tadashi had to ask if he was okay. Of course he did. Probably not expecting Hiro to react so panicked. Hiro's lips purse, glancing to the side, not meeting Tadashi's gaze.]

I'm alright. I wasn't hurt or anything.

[carian]

[ What was that about, he wants to ask but Hiro seems so shaken that he opts not to say anything about it anymore. Instead, Tadashi taps Hiro's shoulder playfully and gets a move on to look for a bucket. Truthfully, given how small it is, they can just look for dirt and step on it, but Hiro doesn't even want Tadashi near a fire. Stepping on it might not be the best way to get rid of the fire.

(Though by the time they get back, somebody else has extinguished it...) ]

When I got here, [ he begins, adjusting the cap on his head so bill is facing forward. ] I created a fire, too. I didn't mean to. Guess we really are brothers, huh?

[baymaxing]

[Hiro seems to calm a little more as they find a bucket, as Tadashi taps at his shoulder in that familiar movement. He just gives a shrug once they return and find the fire already put out. If anything, he's just relieved if it didn't spread and cause trouble, didn't seem to hurt anyone.]

You did?

[But he thankfully seems to swallow down that initial panic, since Tadashi seems just fine now so obviously the fire..the one here, that was fine and dealt with, like his was. It's just not a combination Hiro is comfortable with. Before, he might think this more like a joke, but. Not so much after the expo.]

I'm still not sure if I'll ever get the hang of the whole....emotion thing here. But that Dunamis seems kind of cool, if we did learn how to control it?

[carian]

Dude, Honey can make electricity from her emotions. She's the one who charged Baymax at first, actually.

[ That gets a chuckle out of him, because he definitely sounds so excited of the fact. He's not very good at the whole emotion magic thing, but he's very proud of his friend's achievement! ]

I think you'll get the hang of it, though. [ His tone is a lot calmer now. Calm and soft, like a gentle breeze. ] Faster than me, too, I bet.

[baymaxing]

...I hadn't even thought on that. But yeah, Baymax running on low battery isn't the easiest to deal with so that's great!

[Tadashi why does he act drunk when needing to be charged? Please don't let Baymax get to that point here. Hiro can live just fine without dealing with that again. Though here, he probably at least doesn't have to try hide Baymax. Not like he tried to from Cass, anyway.]

I guess we'll find out. Maybe just....er, practice farther away from everyone.

[Just in case. He doesn't want to accidentally set anything else on fire. Or worse. But Tadashi's calm, that reassurance helps all the more in easing the tension from Hiro that he didn't even realize was lingering yet. The sit of his shoulders, his jaw.]

[carian]

[ Hiro knowing more about Baymax he should is more than confusing. The fact that the people believe that Baymax belongs to Hiro is more than concerning, too. Things just aren't adding up, and Tadashi has no idea why that is.

But, as usual, he puts his worries aside so he can be a good person. So he can be a good brother. That's what he has to do, and not dealing with his own issues seems like the right thing to do. ]

You don't want to attend the classes?

[baymaxing]

Classes? Tadashi, you saw what I just did, right? Isn't it kind of dangerous to be practicing this around anyone else?

[Sure. It's one thing to throw himself at risk, with his bot fights, or his hero thing with Baymax and the others, but that doesn't mean he wants to put everyone else in these classes at risk. Not that there likely isn't a risk in general given how emotional he is regardless of purposely trying to make himself feel to test what happens, to test his control over it here.

Wait. Tadashi had shown him Baymax but Hiro probably shouldn't know about him running low on battery. He's already starting to slip. But he's still avoiding it. As if, if he doesn't mention the fire, that he can just enjoy this. Having Tadashi back, here.

Hiro closes his eyes, lips pursed and scrunching his nose for a moment in his frustration.]