empatheias_ooc | TEST DRIVE: JUNE

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!mod,
*test drive

TEST DRIVE: JUNE

— 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!

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1 | MIX OF A/B, but mostly B and we'll be ignoring taken status on tasks for this.

[ DO NOT KILL THEM

That gets Mikasa's attention about as soon as she looks at the board. She's probably going to skip that one then -- really, because if something or someone attacks her, then usually they're either going down or just getting hurt and it sounds like those options would be bad against them. Her eyes go back to read the full description. Ohh, they're nest-- See those flowers in full bloom near her? Yeah well, they're withering fast and there's some cold wind around her too. The girl looks a little worried or sad for a very brief moment as the reason for it makes her think back to things that happened years ago. Yup, definitely skipping that task now when she realizes there's a good reason for that sentence. Surely there are some safer people around, who will take it and be good at it.

Right, moving on and looking like she doesn't even notice the changes around her. She notices them, kind of hopes no one else will and she really dislikes the whole emotions showing thing in moments like this.

What the hell is a shrimp? More importantly why isn't Sasha around if there's that much free food to be taken down? Mikasa frowns. Even if they're not usually that big, she's used to fighting giant monsters. It sounds like an easy task -- why do they even require at least three people for it? She's sure she can do it all alone if she can use her 3DMG and the pay isn't bad either. But who even needs that much food? Except the potato girl if it's something she'd like. Maybe she could sell it for extra money... It actually sounds like a plan even if she still thinks it sounds way too easy, but it's super easy money, so ...

Would fighting against a giant basilisk made of lava be like fighting against titans? She considers it for a moment. It could be doable for the three of them. Ah well, if it's in a desert, then that one is a "no" too since a huge sandbox isn't a good place for their gears and at least two of them would definitely want to use it there. Again, what the hell is a basilisk even? Mikasa really should read stuff about the creatures here even if she can probably get answers to these from Armin. Because he might have read about them, maybe, she's not sure but at least she hasn't so... Well, there's the crow too and yes, Mikasa knows what a crow is but in her home world at least those have been just normal sized birds... This one kind of sounds like a titan for an animal considering everything the board tells about it. Interesting.

But it's not like she'll be deciding about this alone, just considering her/their options here.]

2 | D
[What now? Something that sort of reminds her of people watching the Survey Corps being about to go outside the walls, that's for sure, even though this certainly isn't it. Ah well, time to see how easily she can walk through somewhere.

Maybe it's good that the Wings of Freedom jacket and cloak aren't with her here or else she might fit right in to these lines. Walking closer, someone tells her to get back into the line. Mikasa tilts her head.]

I wasn't in it though, just trying to walk through here... [She might as well be talking to a wall. Except a wall would stay quiet, not start telling her how she's obviously lying as she is just trying to take his place in the line.. And what's with the question about this series -- ] Never even heard of it.

[Whatever it is, it interest Mikasa just about as much as most things seem to interest her. Does she have to do this with force? She could, she probably shouldn't when this whole line sounds like it's about to get pretty insane soon anyway. He keeps talking, she's not even listening.

The real question here is; has this guy ever heard of girls lifting a guy like they're just thin air? Because he might be about experience it himself. This is just a waste of time. Not like she's in a rush, but it shouldn't be that hard to just let someone go through.]

[OOC: girl is from chapter 68 and that's a 3DMG if anyone wonders what it is. Carrying all those blades around in their boxes like that's totally normal, yup.]

Edited 2015-05-30 01:04 (UTC)

Ah... Mikasa!

[And speak of the devil himself. Armin notices his friend pondering over the Task Board, and approaches. He had been at the library after his shift working at the antique shop was over, finding a new book to read that's now under one of his arms. His path back home just happened to pass by.]

Have you found anything suitable yet?

[He and Eren both make enough money that Mikasa can take her time finding a job that she would like. But he understands needing to be independent too. And having something to do during the day helps to pass the time.]

[Mikasa really should get a job -- and she'll take literally any job but something she actually likes would be nice. Then again, she'd still keep her eyes on the (special) task board because less monsters & more money for anything they need is always good too. Anyway, she can think about jobs later.

Now the girl looks over at her friend as soon as she hears his voice. Perfect timing! She notices the book, decides to ask about it later and nods.]

A few big creatures, though one of them is in a desert and another is probably somewhere near water or in it. [No big deal, at least not the water area.] ...Then there's a bird, that can turn its feathers into rock shards.

[... guess which titan that last one reminds her of even though it's not crystal this time? Might explain why she frowns a bit at that.]

Ah-- Of course, monster hunting would suit you. [Armin approaches the board, and takes a closer look at the jobs she mentioned.] Eren has done some similar work himself. Usually people work in groups to take down the target. We're all used to that.

A Basilisk? One of the local fauna, both a bird and a lizard at once. People say that staring directly into its eyes can turn you to stone. [He shakes his head in amusement.] It's probably exaggeration. However bizarre these creatures are, it's hard to be intimidated when you come from a world like ours.

It's a good way to get to know what kind of monsters live here. [Or she could be cat sitting or wyvern sitting, but -- well, okay, cat sitting doesn't sound like a bad idea. Nor does helping for cleaning up, that's kind of like being back home. Nevermind that and forget the task board, the mention of Eren doing that gets her full attention and Mikasa looks curious, maybe a bit worried too.] He has? I'll ask him about it then. Yeah, they seem to want at least two or three for them...

[ ... She looks away. Of course they're used to it but that's back home, where she has known those people for years. Here? Sounds like a big step out of her comfort zone, she's not the most social girl ever. Then again she'll rather reach out than see the boys in danger, so at least there's that to help her motivation with getting to know people that way too.

Mikasa listens to Armin's explanation about a Basilisk with her attention back on him. And this is why they always ask Armin first, really. She doesn't even look surprised. It's just one of those "oh, okay then" moments, Mikasa is not even going to question it at all as some would. Not her.]

Exaggeration or not, I'd still blind it first just in case if I was going there or if we run into one of those somewhere else later. [She kind of makes it sound easy.] True. Kind of makes me wonder what kind of people here are if many of them can fight against these. Or what kind of creatures they have back home...

Some otherworlders have told me about the monsters in their world, but they never seem like something that could match up to a Titan. And yet, they're the ones with magic powers, enchanted weapons, advanced technologies... Meanwhile, we struggle with the only weapon we have, and can't even power a lightbulb.

[Armin looks slightly cross. It goes without saying; it's all very unfair to him. He understands how their world came to be in the position it's in, a long string of bad decisions have led to these consequences, but he can't help but be envious of others sometimes.]

[... Seriously? Mikasa looks surprised at first. Not by the Titan part, but magic and everything else and looks like she's thinking about it for a moment while she stays quiet. It is very unfair, yes, that's why she's looking annoyed like it makes her jealous too ... unless...]

Maybe some of them know things, that they could teach to us too...

They can. [He'll concede that point.] As far as I've been able to figure, magic isn't something that you can just learn, or even something that can be passed down. But science-- that, is knowledge I can bring back with us.

[It's part of the reason he makes such frequent use of the library. When he's not trying to figure out a way to get them out of here, he's making himself useful by cramming as much potentially world-changing information he can into his brain. He shifts the weight of the huge book under his arm, which looks like a specialized encyclopedia.]

Too bad, magic would be fun to learn. I guess I'll settle to getting used to that telepathy thing for now... Yeah, let's bring back all the knowledge, that we can get here.

[Though she might leave science to Armin, but he has her full support for it. And she moves a bit right after him, almost thinking they'll go somewhere but no, not yet at least. It gets her attention back to the book anyway. Light evening reading?]

What's your new book?

It's about engineering. [He shows it to her. It looks difficult-- more like arcane, actually.] I want to find a way to improve the 3DMG, or make something else that's more effective at killing Titans. I figured I should start learning from the bottom up.

[Mikasa blinks. Engineering? She takes a look at the book -- too difficult for her, yes, and then she looks at him. Armin, what are you getting yourself into?] Improve how? That sounds like a lot of learning to do.

The 3DMG is inefficient, dangerous, and difficult to control. [He takes the book back from her gently.] If we have millions of Titans to kill, we're going to have to find a better way. The Military's model of training soldiers the way they do, for years, only for most to die in in their first real encounter, it's unsustainable... Our numbers will whittle away until there's no-one left that can fight.

[Well okay, she can't even disagree with some of that.] Even if there'd be only hundreds of them, that's still true. [Millions? Maybe. Who knows. It sounds insane, but then again everything is always insane there.] Maybe we'll find something if we're finally going to the basement.

[Said seriously and matter-of-factly, because well maybe, but who knows what even is there. But hey there's a part she can definitely disagree a lot.]

... You say that as if I'm going to let any of you die. [Not happening. Nope, she's done with seeing people die or finding out they have traitors in the squad or hearing someone got kidnapped again. Someone's going to die the next time it happens and it won't be one of them if it's up to this girl. ...Is it just Mikasa or is the air here getting extremely cold for a moment? Ooops.]

If we hadn't ended up here, I would be banking on something being there. But now I've been given a chance to change things... I'm going to take it.

[A shiver runs up his spine. Oh, Mikasa... You're making the flowers wilt.]

I don't doubt that you can protect Eren and I. [And he means it. When he comes to skill, the only person he can think of that can outclass Mikasa is Captain Levi himself. She would turn the Earth upside-down to keep them safe] And save many, many more. But the whole world, when we don't even know what's out there?

If we ever get back, that's going to be our next stop, I think. Good, we should take those chances when we get them here.

[And someone better not rush in from a door or whatever before they get some rest back home. At least they can get some rest here, maybe. Sorry nature. She can make more flowers later with some love maybe. And Armin gets a tiny smile for that.]

No one should ever doubt it. [Even if she tells them that following Levi is their best chance of survival, but hey, she's also following him while she's protecting them and the squad, so-- back to serious face.] It's not like we ever know what's out there -- or here, we just have to deal with it and I won't let anyone or anything get in my way.

[Shit, right? Do these guys even sleep? I've got evidence that proves otherwise.]

Well, it's good to know your usual determination can't be dampened. "You have to fight, if you want to live..." [He says, with a steely confidence, obviously imitating her.] Right?

[Seriously, they only get some sleep sometimes if one of them is in no condition to get up from bed.

She actually smiles a bit more at that. He's kind of imitating Eren there at the same time too, yes.]

Of course it can't, not when you two are here. We just need to find a way around -- magic and everything else others have here, but it shouldn't be too hard.

[Most people probably don't expect the 3DMG stuff, or a boy turning into a rage monster or a girl being prodigy at everything or Armin being like a walking library... And everything else including telepathy here and that they are used to unexpected worst case scenarios. Sounds pretty great to them, not so great to anyone who might go against them.]

[Armin harumphs quietly.]

That's what I thought, when I first came here. But I got to a point where there just wasn't any more information to be had, and no place further I could look. The Arehtei are withholding things from us, only letting us know what they want us to know, and manipulating us for their own ends.

[It goes without saying: he holds no love for the gods of this land. It's just as possible that humans were the cause of the scourge on the world below, but Armin has far less trust for these powerful, mysterious figures that have such a strong hold on their emotions. He hates being controlled against his will, and for good reason, it's no different from what's been done to humanity in their own world.]

[... Yep, that sounds very familiar and Mikasa likes it just as little as normally she likes showing her feelings all the time. So, not at all. Even if -- the whole situation might be better for them here, but who knows if that opinion will change any time soon.]

So considering how this place works -- [huff, speaking of how you feel literally showing around you all the time] -- we might see a lot more if they get to see ... whatever they want to see from us.

[or whatever FEELINGS they want to see, same thing. ]

Huh?! Who the hell do you think's at fault here? You're the one blocking the the damn street!

[A voice from behind the two of them growls. Surprise, surprise. It's Eren. He knows Mikasa well enough to understand that she can take care of herself and fight her own battles, but this guy's rudeness is really starting to tick him off!]

And all for what? Some dumb book?

[Oops-! "dumb" might have been the wrong thing to say because as soon as the words leave his mouth, a hush falls over the crowd. Now it's not just one disgruntled Forgefires fan glaring at them - it's the entire line. Even for someone who fights Titans for a profession, the looks these fans are giving them are rather intimidating.]

[ ...This is going to end up in some chaos, isn't this? Yes, because Mikasa knows Eren so well that she's kind of expecting things to start flying and exploding at any second now, possibly literally in this place. Not that she still doesn't appreciate his company and help, she really does. But guess it's time for her to try to stay calm here then. As if that's going to help ...much.]

Seriously, you wouldn't survive even half a minute under an attack.

[Titan attack, obviously. Not like they're going to experience it here, but you know, when dumb people start blocking things like streets, things come to mind...

Mikasa looks as calm as ever. Thank you for calling it dumb, Eren, and she just makes it worse by making it sound like they're going to attack?? At least sounds like they're mad about that now too.]

Ah, we'll just go through here and you can continue this whatever you're doing.

[Nope, those people are still not moving.]

It's no use talking to them, Mikasa. They're not listening.

[Eren scowls. He doesn't have his gear or blades with him, but that doesn't mean he's not ready to get physical. Several of the cosplaying members of the crowd ready their foam and plaster weapons - a few are die-hard fans enough to bring real weapons though, and that's unsettling on a completely different level.]

We'll have to force our way through!

[He's just about to make his move when a few faces in the crowd catch his eye - there's a group of kids near the back of the line - no older than ten at most. Unlike the cranky, line-protecting adults in front of them, the kids just seem genuinely happy and excited to be here. ...Eren can't bring himself to ruin it for them.

Forcing himself to calm down, he takes a step back.]

...Really though, what's so special about it?

[Oh, she knows they're not listening. She's tempted to just show a blade into their face to make them listen a bit, that usually works. But it also sounds like a bad idea right now. ...Or then not, seeing how some of them have real weapons and well, Mikasa has hers too but she's not in the same mood as these idiots. They'd go that far just for a book? Guess some people have very tiny problems compared to humanity being near extinction and starvation.]

If we're doing that, you just let me --

[His sudden change in behavior makes the girl tilt her head. What? She takes a look around while they (yes, literally more than one) start gushing to them about the series. Seeing the kids, she realizes what's going on. That's... cute. And a little worrying for the kids because this line might blow up anytime as those people are about to start a shipping war again.]

Do you think their parents are anywhere nearby? [Telepathy is useful sometimes meaning that yes, fine, she'll play along because following him is what she always does.]

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TEST DRIVE: JUNE

Mikasa Ackerman | Attack on Titan

A/B

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D - Ahhhh MIKASA <3

H-HELLO ♥ ooops i scared my cats by screaming at seeing you in my inbox

HEHE sorry i'm being such a slow tagger right now. I'M REALLY EXCITED TO HAVE A MIKASA THO OMG

haha, never worry about tagging speed with me