TEST DRIVE MEME: FEBRUARY

[simpathis]

— 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:

• IMPORTANT! ALL POTENTIAL APPLICANTS! Please read THIS Mod Announcement as it details a big change happening to the game.
  
  
• Date reminders. Reserves open Sunday, January 25th and Applications open Sunday, February 1st.
  
  
• 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!

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? If you choose any of the following, an even greater affect can occur: hate, love, anger, calm, grief, joy, despair, hope, distrust, trust, envy, appreciation, fear, courage. Feeling happier than usual? Maybe you have sun beams radiating from your very body and breathing out sparkles and rainbows. Feeling a little green with envy? Everything else might be feeling the same. Even better, everyone else around you will be feeling just like you, maybe even having the same effects.

• 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.

• 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: BONUS EVENT BASED PROMPT! The "Night of Selenium" is Empatheias' version of remembering the dead. Information regarding the event can be read here, but here is the quick run down. Emotions involving grief and hope are more profound during this day. You can either influence others or you yourself is being affected. In addition, you may see a ghostly image of a dearly departed—or a person you hated and glad is dead or gone. Will it be a soothing spirit or a malevolent grudge?

• Prompt E: Have you ever ridden on an airship? No? Well here's your chance! They're even offering sky diving opportunities. That's bound to create an influx of emotions, especially if you're there against your will.

• Prompt F: It's almost February, so obligatory Valentine's Day prompt. Empatheias does not celebrate it, but other characters might. So can you feel the love tonight? No really, can you? Because it's everywhere. Watch out for that floating heart—and hope that it's the cute version and not an actual beating heart. Or maybe you're super bitter about it. So bitter that you actually made all the food and chocolates you made taste horrible on purpose.

• Prompt G: Make your own! It can even involve potato peelers and/or owls.

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

Ludger Will Kresnik | Tales of Xillia

[mahouchrono]

B

[Why wouldn't Ludger be looking at the request board? Sure, picking up tasks to do back home was to help pay off his debt, but he really was just a do gooder at heart. Plus, it helped take his mind off of everything that had happened back home, and how he was suddenly brought here.

... So he'll focus on reading the requests. Some of these were a bit different than back home, but at least there were some tasks that were familiar. Mainly finding an item or having to hunt down monsters or animals.

Though, some of them looked like simple jobs, which was one request that Ludger was never really used to doing. There were part time jobs back home, but having them thrown out like this, available to a bunch of people...

People back home would be jealous at all of these opportunities.]

... Where should I even start?

[He said, mostly to himself, trying to figure out what exactly he wanted to do.]

C

[... It was pretty hard to believe, but it wasn't something new to him.]

Can this really transmit my thoughts?

[...was one question that came to mind, but he already knew the answer. Even if he didn't want the next thought to pop into the conversation, it just happened to slip out of his mind and into the amulet.]

I heard Muzét's thoughts with that... thing, so should I really be surprised if it does?

[Er... wait...]

Did that just go through?

[Yeah, probably... everything he's saying, even in the comfort of his own mind, probably are too. Ludger's thoughts just seem all over the place as he tries to figure this out. How are you even supposed to filter your thoughts?]

... Ignore that, please. [He just sighs. Having his thoughts get blasted through some amulet really is odd.] This is going to take some getting used to, isn't it?

B

[descendend]

[ Everything he does pisses her off. Which is to say, she still doesn't forgive him for not remembering her or not remembering his time here and certainly she doesn't forgive him for leaving without a trace a couple of months ago.

And there's another whole slew of things she can't forgive him for, but there's nothing she can do about those here and they aren't relevant enough to bring up.

So him, just stupidly innocently standing in front of the task board? Yeah. Reaaally ticks her off. The only good thing to come out of her being mad is how much hotter the air gets around her, melting ice and snow as she heads over to investigate. ]

Already looking for a reason to stay out of my way?

[mahouchrono]

[Not remembering that he was here before was definitely on Ludger's mind. How could it not be? He was apparently here before, but somehow, has no memories of it? With everything that was weird about his life, he didn't have any huge lapses of memory like that.

... At least, he thought.

But staying away from Milla? No, not really. It was the Milla he knew, and the Milla that he became friends with. The Milla Maxwell that was important to him, just like the other Milla was important to the others in his party.

So the fact that she thought that? Well, it hurt.]

I'm just trying to keep myself busy.

[descendend]

[ It's not like she'd been the nicest person to him since he arrived back, so she wouldn't blame him for getting out of her way. He's not as much of a masochist as Alvin seems to be after all -- ]

Well, there's plenty there. [ She skims it quickly, then reaches up to tap one. ] The wolves aren't much more difficult than the ones back in your world. I can't imagine catching rabbits is anything hard either.

[ She's purposefully pointing out ones that seem the most like what he'd take on back in his dimension. Might as well work where his skills rest. ]

[mahouchrono]

I was looking at those.

[So she was right. Good call, Milla.]

The fact that the reward is higher for the rabbits makes me suspicious, though.

B

[gottacatch]

[ So many choices. Red here is also looking at what there is, quizzing over the selection available. But one catches his eye which looks interesting, except...

He looks around, and - oh. Guy right there. ] Hey... excuse me?

[mahouchrono]

Hm?

[Ludger wasn't really sure why he was being called out to, looking at the other boy quizzically.

What's up dude.]

[gottacatch]

[ your dumb hair. ]

Do you know what a... [ he quickly reads the note again ] baby snow rabbit looks like?

C

[spyrited]

Muzét's thoughts?

[Jude doesn't know about that part of the story, be careful Ludger.

...But it's really nice to hear his 'voice' again.]

You'll get used to it, though. It actually doesn't seem that different from a GHS after a while.

[mahouchrono]

Jude? [Yeah that... wasn't a voice he was expecting to hear either.] Don't worry about it.

[HE'LL COVER HIS GROUND WELL, instead just trying to keep the conversation on learning how to use the amulet.]

I would be worried if the GHS could start reading my mind. [Which gets a small laugh out of him.] I get what you mean.

[But getting used to having his mind blurt out stuff in public? That's a little tricky.]

[spyrited]

Well, it's not exactly reading it... it's just broadcasting. You just have to get used to telling it exactly what to say.

[don't be like Jude, hitting on Milla accidentally...]

C

[elementalshot]

[Oh hey, there's a familiar voice! It surprises her for a moment... and then she quickly grows amused. Hearing him trying to figure out the amulet reminds her of Jude's failings with it too.

Although what he just "said"...]

You heard Muzét's thoughts? [So sorry if that's true, man...]

[mahouchrono]

Somewhat, yeah.

[He... won't go too much into it. Instead, hearing more familiar voices definitely perked him up from his original confusion since coming here.]

You guys are here too?

[elementalshot]

I see. [................] I'm sorry. [Yeah she doesn't really want to know but she'll offer her condolences all the same.

Anyway! It's good to hear his voice after so long although it appears he doesn't remember the last time he was here.]

Yes. Jude, Alvin, Elize, Rowen and Gai--.... Erston... are also here. And... Milla as well. [It should be obvious she doesn't mean herself...]

C

[catana]

[He already knew he could hear Muzét's thoughts-- that was not something that went by him at all. In fact, no one should ever have to suffer the inner musings of the slightly idiosyncratic spirit. Bless the souls that will have to suffer it.]

In a sense it is similar, however, people are able to convey thoughts they more or less wish to send. While some may accidentally be heard, it is not nearly as bad as what you had to go through.

[You still have his sympathy for suffering through that.]

[mahouchrono]

It wasn't so bad.

[It was definitely... interesting, to say the least, but he didn't suffer too much.

If anything, he's just happy to hear from so many of his friends again. He wasn't expecting that, or to even be coming here in the first place.]

It's good to hear from you, Erston.

[catana]

You as well, Ludger.

[You earn points with him for using 'Erston'. The others here seem rather opposed to his real name, even if he's starting to get ambitions in Verens. Regardless, sometimes it's nice to not be 'king'.]

Amulets aside, have you gotten yourself settled. As a token of your reappearance, I think now would be the time to invite you out for a drink and discuss what you have missed here.

[Figure out what's going on, what Ludger remembers, what he doesn't, get every ounce of information out of him while having a nice, hard drink. Sounds pretty legit, no?]

I think you took a wrong turn, boy.

[spirialink]

[Were you talking to yourself, Ludger? Sorry, Kor didn't notice since he was standing right next to you at the task board, so he figures you were talking to him.]

I know, right? There's so much to do I don't even know where to start half the time!

i'm in the right place thank u

[mahouchrono]

[At least he doesn't really care. Talking out loud is a good way to get a conversation rolling, after all.]

I know what my strengths are, so I can pick from those at least. [So wolves, pretty much.]

nope

[spirialink]

[A sentiment Kor can sympathize with, to be sure.]

I'm just glad there's plenty of jobs involving fighting something. I might go stir-crazy otherwise.

C (post Xillia 1 canon point for voice testing, sob) 1/2

[schismophrenic]

[Oh Ludger. Ludger no. That message was broadcast to everyone, including Muzét. She heard it loud and clear and she's not sure what to think about it.

Well actually, she's thinking quite a lot of things about it in a frantic manner and broadcasting without meaning to.]

A thing? He heard my thoughts with a thing? What does that mean?! When did he hear that? I feel so violated! Violated by a total stranger! Humans can be so coarse! Why I oughta-

2/2

[schismophrenic]

[And then the frantic thoughts promptly cut off. Her next bit of broadcast is much more serene, much more composed and quite intentional:]

You heard my thoughts with a thing before? Why, whatever does that mean?

OH BOY

[mahouchrono]

Er...

[Yeah, those thoughts are kind of familiar.]

With that spirit communication device.

[ Though, something does stick out to him.]

Stranger?

B so i don't think you have enough tales

[opportunitycosts]

[Let's just assume they've been through the whole "Whoa you're here!" and all that jazz.]

Hey, Ludger! Guess old habits die hard, huh?

[Have a friendly pat on the shoulder as Alvin walks next to him. He had also been seeing what big game might be up this time.]

B

[sharpintuition]

{Elize just happened to walk up to the task board while he was still there. She should have instantly noticed a familiar face, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention. Looking at what was up, she seemed to be too engrossed in the different tasks.}

Is it just me or do these tasks get weirder and weirder?

{And then finally looking away from the task board, she finally realized that voice was familiar. Glancing to who was next to her, she gave a surprised look.}

W-Wait a minute... L-Ludger?! Is that you?

{It's been a while since Elize had seen him. She knew he went home, but he was back now? When did he get back here? Did the others know?

One thing that may look different is the fact that Elize doesn't seem to look like how he remembered her. In fact, besides the coat that she got from Alvin, she seems to be wearing her old dress and boots while Teepo was floating beside her.}

{OOC: I'm also not actually that far into ToX2 yet And I started a while back woops, so I don't know much about it and prefer to keep from spoilers if possible.}