TEST DRIVE: JUNE

[simpathis]

— TEST DRIVE: JUNE —

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, May 25th and Applications open Monday, June 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.
  
  
• IMPORTANT! We have 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? The following emotions will have more effect than usual: hope, despair, fear, and bravery.

• 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: The latest entry in the hot 'Forgefires' series is about to come out, and lines in front of bookstores are blocking the streets! How will you get to your destination when your path is full of frenzied cosplayers who don't dare move lest they lose their spot in line? You might want to be careful, too—some fans are getting into heated arguments about their favorite characters so things might start literally flying if left unchecked!

• Prompt E: Things have been getting a little gloomy lately, so a group of youths have designed the first ever Verens Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament. Somehow you've won through the lower ranks, and are now a finalist. The state of the city is riding on you (or so they claim), so face your opponent and somehow manage to make this farce exciting enough to lift the moods of the spectators (mostly kids). Just be careful. If you do poorly, you might find a tomato or two thrown at you.

• Prompt F: Welcome to FEAR FACTOR! An exciting new brand of entertainment where contestants participate in various challenges that touch home to the most innate fears humans share. Lying in a pit of creepy crawlies; climb up high, precarious structures; go one-on-one with wild animals—can you handle it? Are you brave enough to go for the 1 million sylv prize? Or will fear cripple you and leave you with nothing!? Only one way to find out! Oh, and one more thing—your emotions will definitely effect everything, so if you're climbing up that rusty, half broken steel tower and it starts shaking, that's probably because you're scared out of your wits. Don't let it crumble!

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include giant cheese wheels and/or bucket of nails.

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

[redstainedking]

[He had missed that laughter, even if it was at his own expense--

Oswald is moved easily enough once Lacie has hold of him, those drifting feathers growing smaller until they simply no longer fell in his bit of discomfert. Really, he didn't feel imposing half the time--]

I don't believe I have any claim upon that title anymore. [A simple statement really. He didn't, after fighting to keep hold for something he'd let go of a lot.]

... Hit them.

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

[Lacie flashes a grin over her shoulder at him, and it's only a little sharp, anymore. They've been reunited long enough, by now, that she's worked her way through a generous chunk of the buried anger she'd harbored over their situations in the old life.]

It's probably for the best. I don't think I ever would've gotten used to calling you Glen. Oswald suits you better, anyway.

[A particularly stubborn young dandy lets out an undignified squawk, as she delivers a bruising blow via her elbow to his ribs.]

Just do it! Seems to be the only thing they respond to!

[Riot?]

[redstainedking]

I doubt I could have gotten used to you calling me Glen. [He could admitt that, Levi had always been Glen for the both of them. It would have felt... awkward, to say the least, to hear her address him as that.

He wasn't Glen, no. He'd given up that right the moment he took control of Leo, knowing full well what would become of him once his final act as 'Glen' had ended. An act he let go of, instead trusting Oz to do what needed to be done.

There was a strange look shot the dandy's way, the man shivering as hands clapped over his mouth before Oswald's attention was back on his younger sister.]

Are you sure it's the only thing, or is it something you enjoy doing when they don't listen the first time?

[riot riot riot, he might have stepped on someone's toes by mistake. Apparently they had worked weeks on getting their shoes just right.]

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

[Lacie can't resist shooting a devilish glance over her shoulder in Oswald's direction.]

Who says it can't be both reasons?

[The man who Oswald had trod on did not appear to approve of her answer, however. He winds back a fist, just outside of her brother's line of sight. Acting quickly, Lacie reaches out and tugs Oswald hard, two steps forward, to get him out of the way. The blow misses him by scant inches, and lands on some hapless bystander, instead.]

[The ground beneath them gives an ominous tremor, and the two book fans fall upon each other in a blur of feet and fists. Cackling wickedly, Lacie pulls her brother after her, as the chaos begins to spread.]

[redstainedking]

No one. [He didn't sound surprised by her answer at all, as even after years it was hard to forget just what made Lacie who she was.

He did flinch even after he was suddenly pulled forward, nearly going more than those two steps. For a moment the atmospere around him went dark, a rattling of chains as the ground cracked slightly beneath his feet.

Really, it might have been a good thing that at the very next second Lacie had pulled him after her, the atmosphere that had been starting to form gone just as quickly as it had started to appear, following after her with lips pressed into a line despite the slight bewildered look he had. Just what--]

Well, I suppose they'll be busy now.

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

[It seems that even with Oswald's atmosphere dispersing, there are plenty of other people creating some of their own. As the fight spreads out from the epicenter of rage that's been left, behind him, clouds begin to accumulate, overhead, thunder rumbling.]

[Lacie looks up, laughing in spite of herself.]

Busy and wet, it looks like! Come on, let's find shelter!

[Behind them the shouts of the crowd are growing louder. Above them lightning streaks across the sky, and the first drop of rain spatters onto the top of Oswald's head. They're jostled as the crowd surges the fight starting to catch up to them.]

[Aren't you happy your sister's here, Oswald?]

[redstainedking]

Let's.

[The raindrop wasn't missed, frowning faintly for a moment as he finally picked up the pace so it wasn't mostly Lacie leading him, but instead taking step with her in order to create something of a wider path.

A fight wasn't something he'd intended to run into today, and honestly he would like to be out of the crowd completely. Fight or no fight.]

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

[The brawl is spreading quickly enough that the siblings are jostled despite their efforts to get away from the fighting. Shouts and curses begin to rise up on all sides, and with them a wind stirs.]

[Another peal of thunder sounds, above, louder than before. Lightning streaks across the sky, and as if it were some kind of signal, the rain begins to pour down with a vengeance.]

[Lacie lets out a shriek of laughter and starts running toward an awning, at the edge of the square.]

[redstainedking]

[The rain would have surprised him if the thunder hadn't beaten it, an arm raising above his head with his cloak caught to act as a very temporary sheild from the downpour.

Not that it would hold up very long, running after Lacie in that seeking of shelder, pressing aginst the wall under the awning and making sure there was enough room for the both of them out of that rain.]

... This cannot be an entirely safe place if emotions can do things like this. [A tad flatly.]

[gather_ye_rosebuds]

[Where she huddles next to him under the awning, only Lacie laughs more.]

Maybe not entirely safe, but it's a long way from boring, too! What, did you want your afterlife to be nothing but naps under trees and birds all around?

[She knows her brother well enough to know that would actually be just about his version of paradise. Of course if she'd been plunked down in a situation like that, she would've been bored right back to death within an hour.]