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

[astralera]

Yes, exactly that.

[ Era pockets both of her own stones for future use (the fakes are still pretty enough she's sure she could make a fancy new bridle for her Chocobo using them) and watches the boy do as she suggested. Hopefully he'll find he has more diamonds than imitations, but if that's the case Era is more than willing to share a few that she collected. ]

[baymaxing]

Not that I'm complaining but why would you bother helping like this?

[It's better for her, easier if he and others might not be aware of the difference? Or maybe it wouldn't matter, the way people just see something shiny, something potentially valuable and reach for it regardless. Either way, even the fake ones were pretty and probably worth a little something.]

[astralera]

I enjoy sharing knowledge with those who could benefit from it.

[ Plus she's seen (and ruined) enough shady deals in the Ul'dahn markets that it's almost second nature by this point to do what she can to prevent innocent people from being scammed. ]

...I also dislike the thought of fake diamonds being lauded as real ones, purposefully or not.

[baymaxing]

That's true. Others here might not know and think all of these were real.

[Or they knew and wouldn't care. Either way. But it's true that Hiro is also wanting to possible make something from this opportunity. There's something to be said on taking advantage of a situation, anyway. He pockets some more, figuring to check them all once he gets home, then he could figure how much this all was. Which were real and which were fake.]

[astralera]

Yes, and where I'm from something as simple as creating something using the wrong gem stone could be the difference between life and death.

[ Eorzean monsters don't mess around, man. The wrong boost from the wrong gem or materia can really screw you up. ]

Thankfully that doesn't seem to be the case in this world.

[baymaxing]

What, like the gem is going to explode in your face like some of my ideas back home.

[It isn't quite scoffing, more a curiosity. But it is true there is a reason Cass relented and gave Hiro and Tadashi the garage to use for their inventions and experiments of sorts. Figuring it safer if they had their own space for that stuff that wasn't their room upstairs.]

[astralera]

Different gem stones hold different magical properties. Some examples would be a thaumaturge needing goshenite to augment their offensive magics, and a gladiator something with heliodor to increase their vitality. Something as simple as wearing the wrong ring whilst adventuring could result in your death.

[ Of course the more powerful the equipment the less important the gem stones become. Her strongest equipment has no gems in it that she can spot and is augmented only with materia. ]

Gems are also used as catalysts for summoning Carbuncles. You cannot summon a defensive Carbuncle with an emerald, just as you cannot summon an offensive Carbuncle with a topaz.

[baymaxing]

I have no idea what a Carbuncle is or some of this stuff -- magic? But this almost sounds sort of like science?

[So it's maybe something he could better understand if he sat down and asked her more. Possibly. As much as he might scoff and be unsure on 'magic', there's....a lot that is weird with this place. And people were from all sorts of worlds, so. Names were different and so were the ways they did things. In some, maybe magic was possible.]

[astralera]

I suppose it can be considered science, of a sort.

[ and it really could, if Era looks at all the magical disciplines in particular with a scholar's eye. science with aether. though nothing like the Allagans of old were capable of.

to explain a Carbuncle is easy enough - she just pulls out her grimoire (from where is just another mystery) and begins writing inside of it; specific geometries that will form her particular Carbuncle from an emerald. the book emits a faint lilac glow that grows stronger until she stops writing a few seconds later, gesturing before her with one hand where a cat-like, creature comes forth in a somersault of aetherial sparkles. ]

This is my Carbuncle.

[ It brushes up against her calf in greeting before sitting on its haunches in front of the boy. ]

You may examine it, if you'd like.

[baymaxing]

This is -- huh. Actually kind of cute?

[So small. Even his cat is kind of bigger and fatter. Tadashi had gone with a 'huggable' design for Baymax, which explains his size and all, but this is cute. The Carbuncle almost does sort of remind him of a greenish cat? Sort of. It is interesting that she uses the book for it. Like those traditional 'spellcasters' with the witches, or wizards in those role playing games.

Hiro shifts, crouching down and offering a hand to the little creature with a small smile, showing the gap in his teeth.]

[astralera]

Carbuncles are very cute.

[ Even with her blatant bias it's pretty much a fact that Carbuncles are adorable. Not all of them have well defined personalities, but hers most certainly does. It's obedient like a dog, but curious like a cat.

Carbuncle tilts its head at him curiously then stretches its head out to bump into the proffered hand. It gives off a soft, warm glow that is quite literally warm due to the aetherial energy that makes up its form, and has a continuous stream of floating sparkles around it.

It waits expectantly for some incoming affection. Because it has been spoiled by its mistress over the years. ]

[baymaxing]

Makes me miss Mochi. Er, I mean, my cat.

[Not that Baymax isn't huggable, but he isn't so fluffy. So portable, so small and cute in the same way exactly. He lets Carbuncle approach and sniff him out a bit before instinctively going to pet the little guy the same as he would with his cat. Atop the head, between the much longer ears.]

mfw i accidentally top-leveled this oops

[astralera]

What is Mochi like?

[ she's cared for her fair share of cats. and dogs. and various other creatures. one of the first was a coeurl kitten that allowed her to ride it once it reached full size. she rather misses it, and the others she's raised.

Carbuncle may be very cat-like, but for all that it appears to be enjoying the petting immensely it does not purr, nor vocalize whatsoever. That's the one downside to having her summon with her but not Fat Cat. ]

Oops. It happens sometimes with 'reply' though, I know.

[baymaxing]

A big ball of fluff, basically. But he's ours and I dunno if any other cat would have put up with my shenanigans and inventions over the years. I'm still not sure if he appreciated the rocket boots as much as I did. Tadashi either, for that matter.

[But hey. Hiro found Tadashi's reaction to them hilarious, waking his older brother up at whatever ridiculous time it was that he too was probably supposed to well be in bed by then. Let alone Mochi's being so startled to suddenly be in the air like that.]