TEST DRIVE: MAY

[simpathis]

— 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 Friday, Aoruk April 24th and Applications open Friday, May 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! Reminder: We only require one sample and it can be done in either format.

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? Positive emotions are going to be particularly effective this time around, especially any type related to love.

• 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: CURRENT EVENT: The Flower Festival is in full swing! Pick one of the many activities available. Relax and watch the flowers, maybe share some cake or other delectable sweets with a partner. Maybe even set up your own kissing booth. Or perhaps you were nominated for the Flower King or Queen? Or won!?

• Prompt E: Every Zephyras season, a flock of small sparrows pass through the island for their migratory flight. Where they come from or where they go is anyone's guess. But this time, the scientists of Verens want to try some new technology to get some answers.

• Grab it! Grab that bird and help bring it to the scientists so they can study it and see if they can find clues as to where it's been.
  
• Protest! Protestors are already working hard to go against the scientists' endeavors. They've heard rumors that the birds would be subjected to extreme animal cruelty, possibly killed for experiments!
  
• Run away! Forget trying to catch them, the birds are attacking! Help!

You also might want to carry an umbrella. There are a lot of birds.

• Prompt F: The toy company that had made the singing whales are back with some new plushies. This time around they are in the shape of long, lizard-like creatures with a bow-tie around their neck, and pig-like creatures in a ballerina dress. The lizard plushies will project the most inner hateful thoughts of the person holding it. The pigs, however, will project the secretive romantic or even lustful thoughts of that person. Needless to say, it's a work in progress.

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include (literally) flaming pink birds and/or black garbed assassins.

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

Chen Stormstout | World of Warcraft

[drinkbrewfight]

D.

[When one is traveling a new land, one must try out new things. Beer, of course, is top of the list, but new food is always worth the experience as well!]

[Which leads to a Pandaran rubbing his hands together eagerly as he eyes the cake, avarice shining bright in his eyes. But the only way to get that cake is with a partner -- which is why you might find a long staff suddenly blocking your way.]

Ho there, friend! Help a hungry Pandaran try some cake?

G.

[It says a great deal about Chen that he managed to get in a fight with ninja-styled assassins in the middle of a love festival. It says much, much more about him that the fight only occurred because they had been one table over from him at a bar and had knocked over his beer.]

[So of course, the obvious solution had been to punch one in the face.]

[The fight has exploded out onto the street, with the massive bear-man moving with surprising speed and agility to fend off the long, straight swords of his opponents using his staff. Two on one isn't a fair fight, but he seems to be holding his own. Popcorn, or help him out?]

G

[unghosting]

[Kevin should be interfering. He should be. He's part of the local defense force, and part of his job today is to prevent precisely this sort of thing from escalating out of control. But without knowing who started this fight or why, he doesn't even know if this is a friendly but ill-placed spar, or an intent to murder somebody to death. Given the proximity to a pub that has remained open for the day, he may well be dealing with happy drunkards. Enthusiastic drunkards who happily beat the shit out of things. Kevin likes to beat things up, too; he can understand the appeal.

Plus, he has no idea what sort of loser dresses like a fiendish hunter of the night for a love festival, and the locals really need to learn to stop picking fights with otherworlders whose powers they don't know or understand. If you don't have sense enough to run the hell away from a bear who has shown inclination to cause you bodily harm, you sort of deserve it if the bear decides to eat your face.

So he's popcorning for the moment, literally, having little desire to court said risk of having his face bitten off. First priority was to shoo the civilians far enough away that none of the lollygaggers would get caught up in it, and this has been accomplished, so his most important duty here is done. If the fight doesn't resolve itself, though, he's going to have to get involved, and it'll be better if he does it before the real Enforcers show up. Being trained by Sergei and all, the real Enforcers are not any fun, and on a day like today it would really ruin the mood.

Kevin, on the other hand. If Kevin handles himself well here, he may well be able to turn it into a show...]

D

[frogsicles]

Okay, but only 'cuz they're making me share.

[Cirno has Thoughts About Cake. These thoughts are mostly that she deserves all the cake.]

Carlos Ramirez | The Dresden Files

[ithurtstobethisgood]

-C-

Test test. Is this thing on? Hello?

Any cute girls out there?

[You can practically hear the eyebrow waggle.]

-E-
[Ramirez was drawing a chalk circle on the ground.]

The thing about magic is that while I'm BEST at evocation, there's so many other things I can do with it. For example, if I attach veiling spells to a sparrow feather...

One minute...

[He trails off as he finishes the circle, sealing it with a minor effort of will, and muttered half-nonsense spell incantations over the feather as he tied it to a short leather cord.

Eventually he straightened up, tied the feather bracelet around his right wrist, and smudged the circle with his toes.]

And just like that, I'm invisible to birds! This should make catching a few sparrows pretty easy, yeah?

Lacie Baskerville - Pandora Hearts

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

D.

Waking up in a place like this, Lacie had been almost certain that she'd been dreaming, at first. Perhaps she had only dreamed that the ritual had happened, maybe she hadn't really died, and would wake up the next morning with weeks or months still ahead of her. (If so, at least it was a pleasant dream, instead of the usual nightmare.)

However, once several pinches had assured her that she was awake--awake and alive--her joy had set off a fireworks display in the air above her, and it's been following her at intervals ever since.

Others wandering the festivities in Verens may notice it just as they may notice the red-eyed woman in the frilly dress rolling in a flower bed, meandering the garden maze alone and puzzling over the dead ends she seems to keep encountering, or meandering through the cake-feeding event with a full plate and a hungry look. Who wants cake? (She does, but apparently she has to feed to get fed!)

Ohohohohohohohohohohohoho

[unghosting]

Kevin was less than thrilled with Lacie's arrival. Kevin being less than thrilled with something basically means that it is whatever Verens' version of Tuesday is, however, so for the most part business is continuing as usual, and today's business has him stalking Lacie around and about in an attempt to decide what he thinks about her. "No" is obvious, as is "terrifying" and "avoid at all costs". But she keeps doing perfectly innocent human things, like eating half her weight in sausages wrapped in croissants and not blowing people up for the fun of it, and the more Kevin sees of her, the more confused he gets.

Some of the Will's whimsies are most certainly inherited. That much is clear. So where's the senseless violence in her mother? The random dancing is there, the excited and eager faces, the way she carries herself. How is she so steady? Is it the influence of the Abyss? But Lacie's been there. She said as much. What is there here that Kevin can properly hate?

So it is that when she's done rolling in the flowers, Lacie will find her fellow Child of Misfortune standing off to the side, scowling down at her as though she's making life difficult by not being completely out of her mind. The pet squirrel is on his shoulder, chewing away at a nut. The squirrel does not care about Kevin's problems.

[tenyearslost]

Oz still isn't quite sure what to make of Lacie's presence. He's glad to have her, of course. How could he be anything but delighted that the woman who gave him life has a second chance at her own? His decisions were not her fault, and that's just one reason of many he hasn't told her what happened.

She still makes him a little nervous, truth be told. Every time they meet, he worries that he's going to disappoint her, or somehow earn her disdain. But she looks like she's having the time of her life in that flower bed, and it's a little hard to be intimidated by that. So there's only the slightest hesitation in his step when he approaches, crouching down and smiling.

"You look like you're having fun!"

[jumpstheshark]

[It's the fireworks randomly going off around the women with her joy that catch his attention to start with, or rather, that startle him into suddenly jumping back from where he was. It's only with some fancy and frankly completely lucky footwork, that keeps Rin from toppling right into Lacie and her plateful of cake.

As it is, he wheels his arms about in an attempt to regain his balance a bit better and while it works, he sure feels stupid for it, ever conscious of the public eye. His gaze darts around for a moment to see who and how many may have caught that embarrassing display (please please just don't let Haru have caught it somehow at least?) before looking to the woman.]

Sorry 'bout that. You okay?

beat | the world ends with you

[skaterbrain]

C
[Closing the stream of consciousness floodgates is not something Beat does well in the best of times. When everyone can hear his thoughts? It's even worse. He's both confused and determined, but his focus slips in and out as he thinks.]

So this is how it goes right? I just kinda focus on it an' it just...goes? ...is it goin' now?

Aw, crap, I bet it is. Oh man! I know it is! I bet it's goin' right now and everyone can hear me!! AUGH. Get a grip, yo! I gotta focus!! FOCUS!

...

Damn. I was gonna ask a question, but now I forgot what. Uh...maybe someone else can remember? If we bein' psychotelefats or whateva you guys call it, then maybe one a' you can tell me. I know I was lookin' for somethin', but...

Maybe it was my board? Or a job. ...Ugh. Jobs. Look if any of you know what I was thinkin' wit' yo' magic powers or whateva', help a guy out, aight? Thanks.

E
[He's used to seeing birds like these around Shibuya. They were vanishing bit by bit in recent years because all the good nature was being sucked up by construction companies, but Beat still knew what they were. Rhyme used to like them. She liked a lot of things. Beat never really cared about the birds because they were small and chirped kind of cutely and they rarely bothered him.

Unfortunately, that didn't hold to today.

Having caught a bird like he'd been asked to do, he now found himself fleeing through the streets as a flock of its brethren chased after him like a homing missile bent on his destruction. It really isn't his fault that he runs straight into your character. He couldn't see with his head down between his arms.]

Holy--!! WATCH OUT!!

E!

[disastergirl]

Wha--! [She heard the warning, but alas, it was too late. The collision made her lose her balance and fall down before she even knew what was happening, although it was harder to ignore the noise from the birds.

To put it succinctly, she was not a fan of the scientists' request to catch birds for them. But that could wait for a second.]

Ow... That wasn't enough warning!

Okita Souji ☆ Peace Maker Kurogane

[ahappylie]

D
[The unfortunate thing about being new in the midst of a festival dedicated to friendship and love was rather obvious to most, but for Okita his disappointment centered on one single booth. The sign above said booth should have been surrounded by heralds and angels trumpeting a celebration while streams of light burst forth around it, if only Okita knew what that particular metaphor. Instead, he stood alternatively staring up at "Cake Feeding" and looking into the all-you-could-have-eaten buffet line with a sorrowful expression on his face.

Normally he would have asked Hijikata to take him in, but with the vice commander missing from this world, Okita had to step outside his comfort zone. It was time to ask a passerby because cake was on the line and he wasn't about to miss out completely.]

Excuse me? Are you busy?


F
[Saizo was unamused by the new addition to Okita's entourage. Admittedly, as a grumpy piglet, it was rare that Saizo was ever amused by anything. Still, if Saizo could talk, he would say there was just something off-putting about how his master, a grown man in his twenties, was cooing over the inanimate stuffed pigs and freakish lizards.

Okita, on the other hand, saw nothing wrong with fawning over cute things, but was having trouble figuring out which he wanted (and could afford). He picked up the pig first and held it down for his pet to see, wiggling it back and forth in front of his face.]

Aren't they cute, Saizo?

[The pig rolled his eyes, grunted, and looked away, which was Okita's cue that he should ask the person standing next to them.]

They're cute, aren't they? He's just being sore about how they look.

D

[teafail]

[SORT OF.

MAKES A FACE.

No he's not busy, because when is Tetsu actually ever doing what he's supposed to do? But even if he was he'd make time for Souji, probably. Still, Tetsu isn't entirely sure how he feels about this cake-eating thing, or at least the "feeding people" part of it.]

Okita-san by the cake stand? Who would have guessed... [Such surprise, much shock.] What's wrong?

Cirno | Touhou Project

[frogsicles]

B.

[Someone has filed a request. All it says is "Come to the big rock on the outskirts of town if you want an ass kicking."

...She's not very hard to beat, though, so...it's unlikely anyone's ass will be kicked but Cirno's.]

E.

[Cirno is holding a block of ice in her hands. Look closely and you can see she's somehow managed to snatch a bird out of the sky and freeze it solid. Sometimes even fairies can be hardcore.]

Look! I got one! Look, look, look! You didn't need it alive, did you? They don't always come out alive...

B, everything is a placeholder

[glowbrighter]

[uM

She has a guess. But even if she didn't, she's curious. Call it a character flaw. And so carefully, tentatively, she approaches the big rock.]

E

[madeoutofnumbers]

Wha--Jesus Christ! Of course they need it alive! You realize the animal rights people are already shitting bricks, right? What was even the point of this?!?

[Why did he take a job alongside a magical five-year-old? Maybe she reminds him of Caboose.]

B

[shanghaiworld]

[Hey, you know why Alice is here?

REVENGE. Yes, this is about her Goliath doll.]

I've seen bigger rocks.

bakugou katsuki | my hero academia

[blazeit]

PROMPT E. ANGRY BIRDS

[ So for some reason, these sparrows seem to have mistaken Bakugou's hair for something very much akin to the nests they tend to make in nature. Bakugou has not thought things through that far, because he's stuck on the fact that these birds keep flocking to him and he's pretty sure they're attacking him.

So when a few birds swarm towards him, he immediately attempts to get them to back off by setting off a very small explosion in the palm of his hand, more to alarm them and send smoke rushing up than to actually hurt them. That said, the sparrows are undeterred by his smokescreen and continue to harangue him. ]

What the fuck! Shitty fucking birds, leave me alone — !

[ And he sets off another warning explosion for good measure, but it's no good. ]

PROMPT F. EVERYTHING AS IT NORMALLY IS...

[ The good news is: Bakugou already makes his hateful thoughts loud and clear.

The bad news is: that doesn't stop the lizard plushies from echoing him anyway. So if somebody happens to give him a sidelong glance (he feels judged, okay, he's a teenage guy with a cute ass stuffed animal), he might say something like: ]

Hey, what the fuck do you think you're looking at.

[ And then an echo: ] Hey, shitface, stop staring like that!

[ Okay, so he actually kind of likes the lizard plush. ]

PROMPT D. DID IT FOR MY... PRIDE...?

[ Why are you competing with this delinquent at the "Pocky" game? Probably because you're massively unlucky and Bakugou hates to lose. Even though this is stupid, he just. Really.

Really.

really hates to lose. ]

Bring it on! You'd better not be underestimating me.

D

[shearforce]

[There's a decent chance Mikasa ended up in the mix by mistake. Like, free food is cool, right? Especially sweets — this shit is a luxury where she comes from.

She's prompted to put the tocky between her teeth so that it's sticking out. Before Bakugou can do anything, though, Mikasa munches the candy down by herself and it takes roughly two seconds.]

I win.

mikasa ackerman | attack on titan

[shearforce]

[A]

[OK, so. This statue somewhere in Verens is broken, and everybody is telling her she can fix it with positive emotions. At this point she's even seen someone do it, so she's pretty sure they aren't all screwing with her.

Mikasa stares at the statue. Stares at it some more. Seconds tick on by. Eventually she frowns and turns towards whoever's nearest.]

How am I supposed to make myself happy?

[Er. That kind of came out wrong.]

[D]

[You're stuck in the garden maze with Mikasa — how fortunate. You could be friends, acquaintances, or complete strangers, and there's a good chance this is going to end up being awkward.

Fear not! Mikasa has a couple of sharp blades with her, so instead of dealing with the first dead end like she's supposed, she starts cutting through the hedge, using both arms to violently hack away. Chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop.]

It's thick.

A

[drinkbrewfight]

Try having a beer!

[For Chen, who couldn't help but overhear as he wandered by, some things are very simple. Why overcomplicate life when you can chug some delicious brew?]

Kurokami no Onna (Chiyuki) | Death Parade

[kurokamis]

C, Image: [ Let's say she's been here a while. And no, she doesn't know her name at this point. She will go by "Onna", or woman, as she's been often called postmortem. She has no issues with it, what with having no strong identity due to a lack of memories of her life.

Today, she has a thinky-thought question. Because thinky-thoughts happen often when one is dead, doubly so when one is dead and in an entirely different world, and especially when there is little else to do. Oh, but she's not bored as others might be led to believe. This is her curious tone and expression! ] Is there an afterlife in your world? If so, what happens?

[ Wow, wow.

What an entirely gothic thing to say. ]

Eeeeee

[spiritofjustice]

[An afterlife... What an interesting question. It's also a difficult one.]

Hmm... From my experience, it depends on one's religion and beliefs. There's a lot of different claims about the afterlife in the world where I'm from. Some cultures insist that souls are reincarnated until they reach certain enlightenment, other cultures insist in heaven and hell. 'Round the parts where I'm from, a great majority believes that spirits linger in the world and can be channeled by a medium. ...Sort of like ghosts or phantoms, maybe, but they can't do anything unless they have a medium's body to use as a vessel.

Sonia Nevermind | Danganronpa 2

[pleasedonot]

G;

[It starts, much like everything else in her life lately, with a game. One minute she's winning at the shooting gallery, the next she's turning around and coming face to face with what appears to be a ninja. She's never done well with being surprised, especially by aggressively posed ninjas.]

Jesus! Shit! You son of a bitch!

[For someone who carries herself with such an air of regalness, she certainly has a mouth on her. Apparently, someone didn't take kindly to being beaten at the shooting gallery. Not that assassins are anything new for a princess; she's been abducted twice in her life already.

Granted, it's entirely possible she's mistaken an innocent bystander for an assassin.]

I must warn you, I do not intend to go down easy!

[And then she books it.]

[sobored]

[...uh.

That sure is somebody barreling towards her.

In fact, she sort of looks like...

...but...

Sorry, Sonia, Junko's just sort of standing in your way, trying to process what's going on here because wait what is even going on.]

Redcloak | Order of the Stick

[wrongeye]

-D-

[How was he roped into this? Well, with a sufficient amount of CR and maybe a critical fail on a Will save, maybe it's possible even a one-eyed grump like Redcloak can end up playing a festival game. He's holding one of the guns offered for the game. Though not really a weapons man, one has to take advantage of the racial bonuses for Dexterity.

Naturally, he's doing as well as can be expected... Angry flowers and hedges are all up on his business. He raises his claws up.]

... T-tell you what, why not throw your tantrum at the people that put this stupid game together? I don't want to be here just as much as you do, and it'll be that much more satisfying. Probably.

Deal?

[He looks over at you as if he's trying hard not to look too imploringly, but can't help himself.]

-F-

[Hooded and in public, Redcloak passes by shop to shop, till the toy store passes his eye. His eye catches the strange lizard and even he can tell that there's a little magic inside of them. Stopping by, he raises the doll up as he appraises it.]

Hm. I don't suppose you can tell me why I'm wasting my time here with you.

"Each second here is a second not spent getting even with those cowardly, hateful humans."

[His eyes widen and, after a few seconds.]

... Well, it's true. Crude, but true.

F

[former_endboss]

Ugh. Do not talk to me about humans.

[Yes Redcloak, we all heard that.]

Nagito Komaeda | Dangan Ronpa 2

[eyeswideopen]

E.

[A bird flashes past, yes you. There's a call of warning and then a pale, long fingered hand snatches the sparrow out of the air. The owner of the limb comes fully into view, pulling his hood back as he lets out a breathless laugh. He's tall with wispy hair and a smile that seems like it might always be present on his face.]

Ah! They said this would be difficult and gave me some tools, but it's not that challenging that way.

[He beams at you, all friendly attitude while carefully cradling the small bird in between his cupped hands.]

Ahahaha, sorry! Did I startle you?

[Rather than protest the situation, he decided to just go along with it. He'd learn far more about this strange place he found himself in if he did that.] Hmm, I did tell you to watch out.

[sobored]

[Hey there. Those scientists are pretty hopeful about people helping out with those birds, right? It'd be a shame if somebody showed up to counter that hope with despair right? But who would do something like that?

...oh wait.]

Ugh, that's so completely lame. I should've known you'd be helping with something like this.

[Spreading hope and whatnot. It's awful.]

Flonne | Disgaea

[loveknuckle]

D

Ahhh...! Look at all the flowers here. I wish I thought of this holiday before, it would be great to get people to care for flowers. But here, right now, we just have people, from all kinds of different lands and histories, taking the time to enjoy one of the miracles of life.

[The sheer joy of the girl viewing flowers, is making more flowers around her. This causes even more flowers to appear. Flowerception.]

F

Oh wow, these are cute. You don't see these kinds of things in the Netherworld or Celestia! The imagination humans can have is great, why can't anyone else make something like this? [She grabs a pigerina.] I wonder if this little piggy can dance as well as they dress. [And here comes the squeeze.]

I want to hug everyone.

Oh! Me too pig!

[You tried, pig. You tried.]

F

[allformysis]

Oh wow, those things really are cute... And they talk too, huh?

Haru Onodera | Nisekoi

[allformysis]

D.

[As a lover of all things sweet, Haru really wants some of that cake, but who on Earth could she possibly eat it with?]

If only sis was here, or Fuu-chan...

[Of course, neither her sister nor her best friend were here. Not even Ichijo-senpai could help her with this one. ... Her and Ichijo-senpai. Feeding cake to each other. Haru turns a bright red.]

N-no, no way... I couldn't do that! He likes sis! And sis likes him! I can't keep thinking of him like this!

[And so the girl continues to switch between wanting cake and freaking out over how senpai won't ever notice her.]

G.

[After spending the whole day out, Haru is trying to head back to her living quarters. Key word, "trying". Watch as a young girl wanders the streets completely lost, feel free to laugh at her, help her out, bump into her, maybe even have her timidly ask you for directions if you're not particularly intimidating?]

D

[bondsofsuffering]

[Hello Haru, have a guy leaning over your shoulder, his eyes also on the cake.]

You're considerin' it too? There probably won't be another chance at gettin' high quality cake like that for free anytime soon.

[...His Kansai-ben is so atrocious it may well be fake, but. That might not be exactly what she focuses on in this situation, either.]

Link | The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

[he_come_to_town]

-D-

[So, these plants attack you (as many in the wilderness do pretty much wherever you go, in Link's experience), you cut down as many of them as you can (which you try to do in the wilderness pretty much wherever you go, in Link's experience), and then you get a prize? This is the easiest game he's ever heard of, even if he can't use his own sword for some reason.

So while you're technically partnered up, Link is peeling ahead like an excitable lawnmower. At least he's having enough fun to keep the flower crowns healthy.]

-C/G- Image

[That's a still image of a band of--you guessed it--black garbed assassins.]

Does anybody know who these guys are? They've been causing a lot of trouble lately, and I don't understand why. It's not like they're stealing anything...

Also, one of them probably needs a doctor. I wasn't aiming for his knee, but I'm afraid it's not gonna heal right.

C/G

[shearforce]

[Mikasa has just been dealing with another pack of these weirdos herself and is in a much less forgiving mood. She shows him an image of her work; there's a good chance the result is a little bloodier than his.

At least none of them look dead??]

They can handle it themselves.