TEST DRIVE: JANUARY

[empevents]

— TEST DRIVE: JANUARY —

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, December 25th and Applications (Canon | OC) open Friday, January 1st.
  
  
• OC Reminder! Just a quick reminder that original characters are currently 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!

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: A new card game is sweeping through the streets of Verens: "Magica Ex Arehtei." Players take on the role of an Otherworlder and form battle decks out of minions, monsters, dunamis, and even the Arehtei themselves. It’s insanely complicated in its details, but this hasn’t stopped a seller from handing you a starter deck and all but pushing you into a chair to face an opponent… who may have just been conscripted themselves.

• Prompt E: After a long period of quiet (something about ‘emotional and physical harm to Empatheias’ and ‘manufacturing plush weapons without a Class E(X) license’), toy manufacturers have flooded merchant stalls and storefronts with a new offering, the hyper-cute stuffed Thras. No negative emotions, they promise! Plush Thras is so full of bravery, he’ll inspire anyone who holds him to new heights of courage and valor!

Naturally, magiscience has gone too far, and picking up the doll instills you with vigor, energy, and fearlessness past the point of recklessness.

• Prompt F: Thundersnow! A phenomenon in which a snowstorm is accompanied by lightning and thunder, and not a terribly uncommon one in Empatheias. But today’s thundersnow is more like an apocablizzard -- lighting lashes through the sky and lances down to catch buildings and trees with its fury, all hidden behind whirling sheets of billowing snowflakes that have blanketed the city in a foot of snow with no sign of stopping.

The outside is cold, windy, miserable, and potentially dangerous. Are you trapped in a building you didn’t expect to be in? Or perhaps you’ve joined up with an emergency emotion squad, trying to impose calm or cheer on the raging storm?

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include lumps of coal or moose.

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

[sobored]

[Well that phrase is going to get a smile from her because it's been a while since she's heard that line. But you know, he's just not the guy she's used to hearing it from, so she's still a little disappointed.

Not that she looks disappointed, she's still smiling. And the crowd's starting to dissipate now figuring that these two weirdos are apparently just way too excited about their card games.]

You're really going to make me pay if I try something? Really? Do you promise?

[...this conversation sure is going places all right.]

I mean, you mean it, don't you? If I do something I'd do, you're totally going to make me regret it, right?

[hopedout]

[ He may be no Naegi Makoto, but that much is obvious in how he says the line. It's with less of a polite inclination and much more crass. The smile that's plastered upon her features sends his nerves on fire, but he keeps a steady demeanor nevertheless. Any sign of weakness in front of her means that she can use it against him in rapid fire succession and he knows better than to give her any ammunition. ]

I plan to, but I won't give you what you want.

[ There's a stern roughness to his voice that shows just how serious he is. And what's that? Did his eyes flicker red for a second there? Must be a part of your imagination, because it's there for just a short moment, and then it's gone again. ]

[sobored]

[Oh wow. That sure was interesting! Just now, was that a flicker of something...or maybe someone?]

Upupupupupu, I won't get what I want, huh? You sound pretty sure about that!

[But she has some serious doubts about that.]

But the game hasn't even started and like I said, I haven't really done anything yet. So I think it's a little early for such ridiculous determination. But hey, better you get it out of the way now, right? Depending on what sort of twists and turns things take, you might not be able to say something like that so convincingly later.

[hopedout]

[ Hinata doesn't even flinch at the sight of her changing personalities like that. He's dealt with her before, and he doesn't plan on backing down. Even if he hasn't been here for very long, the determined look in his eyes doesn't seem to fade.

Nor does it plan on fading anytime soon. ]

We stopped your plans once, and I'll do it again if I have to.

[ It may be too early in this game for that kind of determination, but... no. ]

And I don't think that's going to happen, Enoshima. Because even if there are twists and turns, that's exactly how life works. Things are going to go up and down. I've already decided that whatever comes at me, whether it be hope or despair, I'll get through it and pave my own future. This isn't just for me, either. I won't let you ruin the others' futures, either.

[sobored]

Wow, that's so....so...so cool!

[She's crying again, but this time it's tears of...well, not joy, but it kinda looks like that.]

I won't let you ruin other others' futures! That's such a great line. Seriously, why can't I ever say cool shit like that? I mean all I do is go on and on about despair and I think it's cool, but nobody else does. It's just...

[And she switches personas here again because she's tired of lying like that.]

Kinda late to think of something like that, isn't it? I mean all the futures I've ruined, all the lives I've ruined, they're all totally fucked. It's not like you can push a reset button or go back in time or anything. So as cool as that sounded, it's kinda like closing the barn after the horse has run out. Or to be more original, kinda like grabbing a fire extinguisher after the whole fucking city's been reduced to ash.

[Because that sure is a pleasant picture.]

And on another note, it sounds like beating me was totally a group effort. Which it should be. But you sound confident that you can do it all by yourself. Is it that...or is it that you just don't think the spirit of teamwork's going to be much use given who else is here?

[hopedout]

No, that's wrong!

[ It's an immediate rebuttal, complete with finger pointing and all, the way it should be. Of course he's using the cool one liners right now, but he's not doing it to look cool. That's not his purpose here, nor will it ever be. He's just an ordinary person after all, even if he loathe to admit it. ]

While it's true that you can't redo things, that doesn't mean that everyone's lives are going to be messed up forever. We can still fix things back home. All of us may have made mistakes, but that doesn't mean that we can't fix them. That's what owning up to them means.

[ He's basically saying that he isn't going back to the person he used to be. ]

And it doesn't matter if I have to do it on my own, or if I have others to help me. But the truth is this: I'm not going to allow this world to get hurt because of you. We've already had more than enough of it back home. None of the people here deserve it.

[sobored]

[Okay, it was fun and nostalgic the first time, now it's just getting annoying. So she'll scowl at his dramatic objection. And so what if none of the people here deserve it? The majority of the people in their world didn't deserve it either and that's what made it all the more despair inducing.]

Ugh, such hope, such determination. I forgot how completely gross guys like you could be. But whatever, be gross. Vow that you'll overcome despair and protect the world and all that other crap. It won't change anything. It can't!

[She might be protesting a little too much here.]

[hopedout]

That's where you're wrong. [ His voice is full of determination and anger to the point where the cinematics are skipped and he immediately goes into his Awakened form, so to speak. ]

Humans aren't stagnant, they're bound to change. And more importantly, the people here aren't yearning for eternal despair - so that's right, I will overcome any despair that you send my way. The trials may be difficult, and I might not be able to overcome it immediately, but I will. I mark my word on it.

[sobored]

[She'll just look completely disgusted as he goes on about people changing and all these other things that are just completely lame.]

What an uncool statement. I totally regret wasting my time talking to somebody so lame.

[She sounds calmer than she did before, but a burst of irritation knocks her cards off the table, like a freak gust of wind. And she'll be rude and get up from the table without bothering to pick them up.]

But it's okay. I could always change my mind. People change, right? That's totally what you said. So we'll just have to see who or what changes around here.

[She's not expecting him to despair over her trying to turn his words against him, especially not with such a weak attempt, but hey, it's still something to think about, right?]