Empatheias Events (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
empevents) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
memepatheias2018-12-19 07:39 am
empevents) wrote in memepatheias2018-12-19 07:39 am
Entry tags:
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 25 December and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on January 1st. Apps will only be open for four days!
- OC Reminder! Just a quick reminder that original characters are 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!
- Transfer to in-game. If accepted, you can assume threads made on the Test Drive happen in-game if the scenario can reasonably fit. For new characters, these threads do not count for activity check. However, these can be supplementary threads for players already in-game.
- Enable Me/App This Pls. Talk about your app plans or look for a cast here!
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: Toymakers in Briarlan have been taking on more and more ambitious projects, and their newest work centers on a line of action figures that can battle each other based off of commands given by their owners. These figures, dubbed the Great Clobberin’ Siblings, are promising, but not quite ready to hit the shelves, and so technicians are recruiting volunteer (or not-so-volunteer) focus groups to help them work out the kinks with the toy line. Participants will be rewarded for their time with money and a figure of their choice! Be quick if you want to grab the rare “Verens Yoga Instructor” figure...- All Fox, No Items, Final Destination: The technicians will have participants start with a simple task: merely give your chosen figure certain commands and have them face off against an opponent! Though you will quickly find that these figures’ movesets are not quite as simple as kick and punch. Some may defeat opponents by reading to them until they fall asleep, and then knocking them over the head with their book. Others may yodel loudly until their opponent loses their sanity! There’s all sorts of strange and usual moves, but the figures do not take kindly to being told to use the wrong moves too often. If they hear too many wrong inputs, they’re liable to turn around and attack you instead!
- Super Smunch Bros: About halfway through the focus group session, the technicians will return to offer you lunch! They really want their participants to be happy and well-fed, so they’ve pulled out all the stops with the food. Enjoy everything from mashed potatoes to hotdogs to milkshakes all on the house! However, the action figures seem intrigued by the lunch as well, and they are programmed to do only one thing: fight. Don’t be too surprised if a slice of pie is unapologetically launched into your face. But the question is, will you retaliate, or take the high road?
- World of Fight: After several more hours of play-testing, participants are at last set free and given their sylvs and free action figure of choice. Yes, you got that Queen N. Asty figure you’ve had your eye on! When powered down, the figures seem harmless enough...except that they keep reactivating themselves. Strange! And while aren’t aggressive to their owners — they have their loyalties to keep! — they will pick fights with just about anyone else they see. Is that a complete stranger whose hair they’re pulling or shins they’re kicking? Yikes. Good thing that all it takes to complete disarm the figures is feelings of complete and utter peace. Make love, not war!
• Prompt E: Goblins & Golems, a roleplaying boardgame set in the fictional world of Metiaphase, continues rising in popularity in Verens. Once, a seemingly innocent game, is now being played off the board, with people essentially LARPing all over the town. It's still mostly harmless and more of a nuisance to have around, but people are encouraged to play along anyway! Perhaps assisting these players in their quests will bring this campaign to its conclusion and everyone can just move on with their lives. Still, there are rumours of an anonymous game master taking advantage of this extreme game, using its players to cause chaos around the city. This particular master, if they're real, seems to foster delusion, paranoia and violence. It might be another good reason to play along for now, and find out if these rumours are true!- Outbreak: Whether you are at home, the welcome centre or just a small convenience store, you'll receive a telepathic message through your amulet. It appears to be a wide broadcast, not particularly aimed at you, unless you're an active player of G&G. The message? "A virus has broken out. We must quarantine the sick immediately." ... That's odd. At first, nobody else around the area seems to be concerned. Then suddenly, all the windows and doors get boarded shut from the outside. It all happens so quickly, suggesting there is a large group of these "players", and they seem to be both highly organized and efficient. In some cases, they will even use Dunamis to freeze the doors and windows shut, or melt it with heat if anything is made of metal. Do you find a way out, or just chill and wait to be rescued from the outside? At least nobody is locked inside alone.
- Declaration of War: The Goblin and Golem factions (again, just people in costumes), seem to be on the verge of a war with one another. The players are taking this game extremely seriously, and there's a real threat of actual violence breaking out in the middle of the street. Both sides are accusing the other of decapitating the Minotaur King statue's head, who is a god-like being in Metiaphase. However, they've agreed on a three-hour ceasefire, on the account of you finding the missing head of the statue. Whoever took the head must have wanted a street war to break out, but the two factions are too blind to see it. Find the head before it's too late!
- Endgame: The game master occasionally sends gamewide bounty targets to all its players. Up until now it's been mostly generic names and faces, and anybody who isn't playing the game would wonder if any of this is even real. Surely these players aren't being sent out to attack and hogtie actual people, right? This is just part of their silly game! Until one day, your face and name comes up in the telepathic broadcast, with a completely fabricated crime and a very tempting reward. Whoever this game master is, they seem to want you off their board for good. Run, hide, defend yourself! It looks like this is no longer a game!
• Prompt F: During the winter months, a new trend is taking Verens' performance artist community by storm. Getting a bunch of people to meet at the same location and do some sort of wacky stunt before dispersing. In this case, the wacky stunt is dressing up like snowmen. So yes, Verens is being besieged by snowmen flash mobs.- Abominable Historians: This means that characters exiting anywhere could possibly find themselves surrounded by snowpeople that weren't there before. Which can definitely be a little jarring to exit Steambucks or the Welcome Center and suddenly there's snowmen as far as the eye can see. Sometimes it's something inconvenient like blocking your path. Other times,you've exited into a giant, if brief, snowman production, perhaps reenacting a past event in Verens history. It's like walking into a historical reenactment, but everyone dressed up as Frosty.
- Ice to Meet You: If you're not encountering the snowmen, there's a good chance you could be drafted into their ranks. After all, they need lots of people for their stunts, so characters may find themselves handed a costume and directions to the next area. But there's still time to talk with your fellow snowmen and plot out the next stunt. Or to just discuss how ridiculous this entire thing is before abandoning the snow troupe.
- Snow Problem: It wouldn't be a new trend in Verens without something going wrong, and this proves to be no exception. Several snow creatures somehow have made their way down from the colder parts of the Ferril Mountains, only to get caught up in these shenanigans and they're definitely giving this craze the cold shoulder, opting to rampage through town apparently offended by the frosty facsimiles. Being giant snow/ice creatures, they're definitely weak to fire, but for those less inclined to run around melting them, it is possible to calm them down and lead them back out of the city.
• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include a duck and/or hazelnut.
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! - All Fox, No Items, Final Destination: The technicians will have participants start with a simple task: merely give your chosen figure certain commands and have them face off against an opponent! Though you will quickly find that these figures’ movesets are not quite as simple as kick and punch. Some may defeat opponents by reading to them until they fall asleep, and then knocking them over the head with their book. Others may yodel loudly until their opponent loses their sanity! There’s all sorts of strange and usual moves, but the figures do not take kindly to being told to use the wrong moves too often. If they hear too many wrong inputs, they’re liable to turn around and attack you instead!
Lavi | D.Gray-Man
[Sure, he had enjoyed the show well enough. But what he hadn't expected after giving them their fair reward of applause was two sets of cold "twig" hands grabbing his arms and pulling him into said mob.]
O-oi!
[Lavi twisted in their grasp only to be lofted up high like a bounty by more hands and carted away from the square they'd just occupied.]
Hey! Come on, man! You can't just grab people like this!! What's goin—
[Their destination reached, the redhead found himself dumped unceremoniously onto the ground and something...white dropped on his head.]
Hey! [His temper was starting to get the best of him now, especially with the lack of answers. Around him little fire blossoms start appearing, gently floating and catching nothing on fire (yet) but they multiply rapidly as he tugs the white fabric off.]
...What the... [Face to face with what appeared to be the answer to at least one of his questions—spoken or unspoken—was a snowman face. "Oh, here's the hat!" Confused as if they're speaking to him, Lavi lifts his head only to get hit in the face by the open mouth of a tophat with a muffled yelp.
He yanks it off and the fire blossoms that had started to die down flare up again.] Gang pressing is illegal, ya know!!!
[Not getting a reaction from the regulars, the redhead's shoulders lose their tension and he looks down at the costume. Then, noticing reluctant movements beside him, Lavi looks up at the stranger, the fire blossoms dwindling once more.]
Can't believe they're doing this to us, didn't they have enough snowmen?
[F.3]
[It had taken an hour or two of entertaining and whatnot to finally find a decent gap in things to slip away from the snowman crowd, but Lavi slipped away rather gratefully. He still didn't feel 100% like himself after arriving here, the nagging memories of home and the pain urging him to move more gingerly. This despite knowing that upon arrival he had been completely healed. The redhead sits on a nearby bench, tugging the top hat and snowman head off to lean back and look at the sky. It had been kinda nice getting caught up in the flash mob, for all his complaining about it. The movement kept him from thinking about home.
Worry for Chaoji, badly injured and an unwitting spy for the Noah—even if Lavi still hadn't forgiven him for the words he'd sprouted about Allen. For the old man there was just a deep wound he couldn't quite figure out how to name. It hurt, hurt more than he thought it would, finding out that Bookman had had another apprentice before him... Though, honestly, he should have figured that out from the very start given the old man's age. Betrayal?
Sure, maybe toss that on in with the hurt.
Lavi let out a sigh and leaned his elbows on his knees, hands in his hair. Try as he might he couldn't recall the old man letting anything slip. Not in regards to having worked with the Noah before, the Fourteenth, his prior apprentice... Nothing.
A short, bitter laugh escapes him and he straightens again.
Then again, that lack of any information slipping just went to show the old man's abilities as a Bookman were strong as he was old.]
Never gonna match up to ya, am I, old man?
[Lavi opens his eye and the bitter grin that was on his face falls into a frown watching snowmen advance on the nearby square. Only these weren't...costumes... And they didn't look too friendly.
Perhaps it's being a warrior in a war for so long that helps him strip from the ridiculous costume so quickly, but either way Lavi finds himself in between the snowmen and their quarry.]
Going somewhere, fellas? [Hammer in hand he releases his Innocence and the weapon grows to its standard unlocked size.] Think spring and summer are calling your names if you don't turn right back around.
[G]
[Hazelnut and walnuts not your style? Duck on over to my PMs and we can work out a new prompt~]
F.3! slams this tag down and screams quietly
The snowman at the head of the pack begins to ooze forward. As if coming to ruin the cool atmosphere for Lavi's perfect one-liner, a startled scream pierces the air as a body goes flying through the crowd of snowmen, toward Lavi, and straight through the torso of the head snowman.
The snowman stops, too, then looks down at its new body piercing. Allen's head, torso, and left arm are sticking straight out of it. Already in full Crown Clown mode, Allen Walker is definitely stuck inside a living snowman monster, poking out of it like a daisy in winter. ]
Oh! Hi, Lavi.
[ He grins reassuringly. Nothing to worry about here! Just keep on walking! ]
/o/ hello!
Aww, he wasn't even trying with the one-liner. But he's glad all the same that it's appreciated. He was just going with the corny moment. It honestly seems like something that would happen because of one of Komui's misplaced potions. Animate snow. Come on now, even he doesn't believe this.
The redhead jerks a bit at the startling noise, even taking a step back at the appearance of something (naggingly familiar) piercing the snowman. And then he cracks a grin, his stance relaxing.]
Trying to blend in with the "natives"? [The snowmen might be natives, just for the super northern parts. Who knew!]
HELLO and I've just seen you apped too omg welcome
As for the snowmen, though, this is definitely not how they planned their day to go. The impaled snowcreature starts squirming and reaches its thin little twig arms toward the center of its chest to pull Allen out, but its branches are a little too short. It kind of looks like a T-Rex trying to clap, really. All it succeeds in doing is clawing up Allen's face. ]
Ow! [ Well, now they're both squirming, Allen's arm flailing like he's trying to swim one-handed. It's like a dance. ] Hey, it's not like I asked to get stuck inside you!
[ The rest of the snowman mob seem to finally be getting over their apprehension at this odd scenario. They begin to shuffle forward toward Lavi, possibly intending to absorb him, too . . . ! These truly are the End TimesTM. ]
thank~ hope it's okay! friend wanted me to come back with her and i missed the redhead. xD
Could always call some fire, Allen! [Cheeky grin, since he's usually the fire boy. But hey! You've got emotions working for you here, fire is within anyone's reach, if they reach for it!
But Lavi's not forgetting the rest of the crowd, no... It's kinda like the build up from the Ark, though not as large (so it's not as damaging or demanding). There's the fire seal glowing quietly under the snow.]
Think you're right outside my cut off, so you're on your own, man!
[Lavi doesn't sound to sorry about it, but it's easier to concentrate on not burning himself more so than other people. But a fire snake springs up and engulfs the redhead and the snowmen around him, probably getting about 80%.]
HECK YEAH IT'S OKAY I never expected canonmates! this is like a xmas miracle
[ Allen's friends are terrible and he hates everything. Yes, that is definitely why he ran from the Order and kept everyone he loved at a distance. The warmth on his skin must be from Lavi's flames and not at all from the warmth in his heart at this familiar, companionable banter. Nope, he's not feeling any of that at all.
As most of the mob melts to the ground, Allen starts with realization. He could call some fire of his own! He's not all that great at dunamis, but maybe . . . ! Maybe anger isn't the only emotion that calls forth a flame. Completely unrelated to his previous train of thought, of course.
He stops clawing at the snow around him and instead presses his palm against the snowman's body. It takes some doing, but eventually, the snow begins to melt. A red light glows out from his hand as the warmth grows with recollections of his memories and the feelings he's been trying to ignore. Crown Clown's cloak decides to finally join in, and spikes of that familiar white material lash out, harmlessly lancing the snowman. It may not hurt it, but it does at least loosen the snow.
In fact, it loosens it just enough to make the top half of the snowman collapse on top of Allen, burying him in a person-sized drift of snow. The head sits on top like a cherry on a sundae, its gaping mouth crunching and groaning out insults in a language that must be native to the north.
Allen must look so cool right about now. To his credit, a good number of those natives stare down at the sight, distracted by and in awe of Allen's stupidity, opening them up to attack. ]
lmao or a birthday present!!!!!
At the same time the water is steaming because it was rather warm and the air is definitely still cool enough to keep snow normally in a snow-like state. It slowly clears so that Lavi can see how Allen is faring and it just makes him laugh again, the blooming flowers speeding up.]
I'm not sure if that's an improvement or not, Allen. I'd stay still though, not sure how ping-pong is gonna work with snow.
[The hammer swings...
And hits one of the snowmen in the side, the seal flaring up as it's released and the fire snake bounces from snowman to snowman. But Lavi keeps it from hitting Allen's snowy crown. (Even if he knows Crown Clown will keep him safe, Lavi's not taking chances.)]
haha yes!! both is good. (particularly since I have a January birthday 8') )
(Even if he keeps laughing at Allen's ridiculous failures. Traitor!!)
Still, he ducks his head on instinct, preparing for the attack. Allen stays down until the fire clears. Once it's safe, he finds he's lying in a puddle of water, only a few clumps of melting snow clinging to his cloak and hair. Sitting on top of his head is a lone carrot left over from the melted snowman.
He rises to his feet, brushing off the slush. ]
Not bad, Lavi!
[ He turns to survey the damage. A mutilated snowman is crawling toward them, dragging itself forward by its branch arms. Allen mercilessly stomps his boot into its head. It stops crawling, but its branches are still wriggling like centipedes on the carpet. ]
/o/
Then again, no idea if the snowmen even feel anything.]
So what brings you out to the hills? Surely not the snow? [Since it's all gone! /o/ And flowers are blooming.]
no subject
I just needed to get away from the crowds. It can get a little oppressing, you know? Even without the danger.
[ He casts a cold glare to the clump of decimated snowman. ]
The costumed snowmen were cramping my performance spaces, anyway. [ If they keep this up, he's going to start hating snowmen. ]