memepatheias | Test Drive: April

— TEST DRIVE: APRIL —

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 March 25th and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on April 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.
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!

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: Arehtei Amusements is a new company in Verens seeking to bring Arehtei themed festivities to the people of the city. This might've not been the best idea as it's not endorsed by the creatures themselves and coming up with festivities for some of them can be a bit of a stretch, but they've already incorporated, so it's a little late for that now. Anyways, first up is Piphron, which might not be the best or the easiest choice, but it's too late to change their focus now. So visitors to the Piphron Party will find a few activities awaiting them:

Catch of the Day: One of the first activities people will notice resembles a game of frisbee. But with blindfolds! What better way to build trust if you can't see or at least that's the line of thinking here. Participants will be grouped together and whoever's turn to catch will be blindfolded and have to rely on their partner's directions to catch the flying disc. Everything about this seems like it was a better idea than on paper, but it's probably too late for that now. Especially if one of them is flying at you!
Leap of Faith: For those who want to try out something with less of a chance of getting hit in the face with a frisbee, there's also a trust fall activity going on. But unlike the regular team building exercise, this one seems to have been taken to the extreme and mixed it with bungee jumping. After a brief lesson in Dunamis, one person will be escorted to a platform to fall off it and work with their partner on the ground to slow their descent using emotion magic. And don't worry, it's completely safe! The area under the platform seems full of what looks like foam padding, so there's nothing to worry about if someone messes up or falls too fast.
Paper Trail: The Arehtei have two sides and since balance is important, they've also tried to incorporate feelings of distrust into today's activities (besides the feelings of skepticism one might have from watching this nonsense and learning the event organizers are planning on more things like this). The organizers were trying to set up a mock murder mystery to try and sow feelings of suspicion or distrust in good fun, but it seems like someone's stolen the sign up sheet listing all the roles! So now they're asking for help to recover the sheet and the culprit responsible! It could be anyone, but odds are they're still in the park somewhere. Or more likely, the wind blew the paperwork away when someone wasn't looking, but they don't seem to be considering that one, so good luck hunting for the mystery thief!

• Prompt E: Whether he finds you on a random street corner, inside a grocery store, or at the library, a butler who introduces himself only as Benson is handing you an invitation and informing you that the illustrious Count Dunnit has invited you to stay at his manor for the weekend with a few other select guests. The Count has yet to name an heir for his abundant fortune, and he apparently has decided to bequeath his estate to whoever he enjoys spending the weekend with the most. How can you possibly refuse? However, should you choose to join Count Dunnit and his other guests at the manor, you may find that this weekend is more than you bargained for...

Curious Cuisine: Upon arrival at Count Dunnit’s manor, all guests will be invited to partake in a sumptuous dinner of all sorts of rare and exquisite Verenthian delicacies. The food comes in all sorts of strange varieties and colors and aren’t the sort of things that one can find at any restaurant in town, though perhaps for good reason. Whether or not any of this is appetizing is debatable. Have you ever tried grilled wyvern tail? How about bat wings? Snakes? Just snakes? Well, if the cuisine isn’t to your liking, towards the end of the meal, the lights flicker out and when they return, Count Dunnit has crumpled down into his seat, dead as a doornail. Things just took a turn, didn’t they?
In the Dining Room with the Candlestick: So, Count Dunnit is dead, and everyone in the room is a suspect. You’re a suspect. Anyone here might have killed him to steal his fortune. So it falls to you and your fellow guests to analyze the evidence and discover who the culprit is! Dunnit was poisoned, ostensibly, so starting your investigation in the kitchen and interrogating the staff may prove fruitful. However, it also appears that Dunnit has a stab wound in his back, leaving you to find a knife. To complicate matters further, there is also an injury from blunt trauma to his head. Anything might have caused that. How will you investigate the murder? And moreover...can you trust your fellow guests?
Goodnight Sweet Prince: As your investigation continues, it becomes clear that there are simply too many variables in this situation for there to be any one culprit, and all clues point to the murder being a joint effort by the members of the staff in an effort to prevent any of the guests from receiving the fortune they feel they rightly deserve. Once the jig is up, however, they release a sleeping gas into the manor and make their escape before anyone can pursue them. These sleeping gas has some extra special properties that make those under its influence particularly cuddly and snuggly when they lie down for a little nap. You may wake up closer to someone than expected. Maybe they’re a complete stranger and you can both agree to never mention this again...or maybe not!

• Prompt F: As the years go on and more people begin to get a grasp of their Dunamis magic, Mr. Bubbly, a man with a vision wants to start training exceptional children to become the island's first official superhero group. He believes that by teaching them to harness their Dunamis by an early age, as well as instilling in them a strict moral code, they'll be ready to defend us from anything in the future. The name of this class? The Umbra Academy. Meanwhile, another man with a different set of ideals, Lord Saline, wants to begin his own program, The Astra Academy. While his school teaches young minds to control their Dunamis as well, he is viewed more as an extremist who wants to tear down the wealthy. While the schools are aware of each other, they have agreed not to clash directly.

First Class: As both academies officially begin class, they are going to need both students and teachers. Anyone aged 17 and under is welcome to join either group, be it as a student or a teacher. Anybody over that age will have to apply as a teacher/guardian, as the students are largely made up of ten year olds. Either way, whether you're a student or a teacher, you are tasked with standing in front of the class and introducing yourself. Talk about your world and most importantly, what it means to be a hero! Be prepared to take questions, too.
The Clash: Astra Academy's first mission is underway! Lord Saline has tasked both students and teachers to break into the vault of a museum, using only Dunamis and non-lethal methods when disposing of guards. Ideally this is meant to be a stealth mission, so it's best not to get caught at all. The target? A pink diamond, belonging to a corrupt owner, which Lord Saline intends to sell and distribute to the poor. Meanwhile, the Umbra Academy has a mission of their own! Their students and teachers are to stop an ongoing burglary of a popular museum. If it wasn't obvious so far, it quickly becomes clear that both groups are sent to the same location, with the goal to prevent the other from succeeding. Looks like it's the clash of the academies!
The Last Stand: Eventually, it's revealed that Mr. Bubbly and Lord Saline are in fact the same person, a legendary con man known as Jet. He created both academies and pit them against each other so he can steal the pink diamond for himself, which he succeeds. Now, even though they're officially disbanded, it's going to take the full force of both academies to catch this criminal mastermind before he gets away. Jet commands a luxury airship full of well-paid guards and mercenaries, which is easily tracked down by our heroes. Using your lessons of stealth and combat from either class, it's time to find your way around his cronies and get that diamond back!

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include spiders and/or capes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

D-1: Catch of the Day

[There was honestly something to be said for the festivities going on. What that something was however, Drayden had yet to decide as he was constantly both amused at the antics around him (attempting to match things to emotions was proving that at least) and worried in equal measure at aforementioned antics. So far amusement was winning out, because at least watching the extremes to which the company's organizers had gone to for the event was refreshing to his eyes and at least in some aspects proved to be useful for training. Watching people jump off of the platform towards the ground and people attempting to slow their descent for example, was the sort of training method that Drayden highly approved of.

He even approved of the frisbee throwing, communication was after all, an important thing to learn how to do between two parties. In fact he had just turned to give his praise to one of the apparent people in charge when a frisbee caught his eye. In fact, said frisbee caught his eye because it was flying at his head, and whatever frown he has at it is hidden behind his beard as he catches it. The glare however, at whoever the culprit was for throwing the frisbee, is not hidden and his eyes narrow as he lowers the frisbee and starts walking towards the frisbee thrower.]

The idea I thought, was to guide them in catching the frisbee, not throwing it above their heads and hoping it didn't hit someone else? [If he sounds annoyed and stern in that "how could you screw that up?" sort of way then he's doing his job well.]

B: Beastmaster Hunting

[If one happened to walk through one of the forests of the island, they would hear a loud roar not unlike that of a dragon. Further investigation of that roar would find it's source, a large olive and black creature with blades on the side of it's head battling a trio of Stingers. While the giant wasps are agile, the Haxorus is surprisingly nimble for it's size and seems to be holding it's own, striking at them with it's tail to try to keep them at bay to try and draw it's head back for another attack.

If the Pokemon happened to notice another of the giant wasp's attempting to flank it, well it didn't make any obvious indication. The one who did notice it was Drayden, who appeared out of nowhere and full on tackled it into a nearby tree. The following crunch was, hopefully, the Stinger's last sound and as Drayden pulled away from it his eyes landed on his Pokemon first only to see it swing it's tail and knock away the Stingers into nearby trees. What caught his eye, and probably the eye of anybody nearby watching this little battle, were the shortsword sized stingers that they let loose before that and that while dodged by the Pokemon, were heading towards the onlookers.]

Wildcard!

[No, seriously, have fun here if you have an idea that I didn't think of or want to tweak one of the other prompts! Just let me know, or hit me up on plurk at

atlantisknight.]

[Rosemaster is one of those onlookers. She's been staring at the strange creature and the odd-looking man fighting alongside it, but not lifting a finger to help. Until the stingers the creature fires are heading straight towards her. Only at that point does she wave her hand and a series of enormous, thick, thorny vines burst out of the earth. The stingers bash against them and fall to the ground.

She says, at last making her presence known:] Careful now.

[ Anabel had said she'd be more social as of late, especially not that she's regained Latios and was feeling high in spirits. She'd done this game on multiple occasions out in the forest with her pokemon -- Entei, in particular, loved it -- but she'd never tried it with a person. To throw and guide sounded like something she would be good at if she could get the hang of it... but the blindfolded thing?

Well, one can only hope that she'd get the hang of it. Unfortunately this round she's thrown it a little too hard and thus went above and beyond her intended toss. She only manages to guide her partner a little before she realizes how far it is going and she hesitates with a sigh and is already on her way toward the man she'd hit.

Head canted, she is frowning deeply. ]

I sincerely apologize. I'm afraid I'm used to throwing further and still went with too much force. Are you alright?

[ Jill's out on the hunt, of course. It's how she makes most of her money since coming here and the only thing she can think of is that such a roar might indicate her prey. She kicks up her speed only to realize that it's quite the opposite -- and that it seems two monster groups are fighting. She's about to go after the Stingers when someone else does. It's quite the move and one she'd have made herself (which thankfully also indicates the large dragon-like creature isn't a threat to her, hopefully). She only assumes it's a pokemon due to her friendship with others in the city, although it could possibly be some kind of wyvern or a monster the man had befriended.

She's ready to aid them, but is either being targeted from a distance or is about to be hit as a casualty. Luckily, speed is one of her specialties and she quickly dodges, with a roll to the side. Her gun is still in hand and she aims her pistol with expertise to pick off one that seems to be more actively attacking the duo ahead of her as she rushes forward.

Once near enough that she doesn't have to yell, talks while fighting. ]

Look like you two could use another hand. [ She stomps on the one she shot with enough force to crush the body, a vague chittering sound is drowned out fast by its death. ] You know when they say partner they're not gonna pay you unless you're out here with another human. Lucky you that I'm the charitable type.

[ Jill shifts backward as she looks around, trying to cook up the best tactic that also won't get in the way. Curiosity about what they're doing out here and their skills overpowers that. ]

You caught it, didn't you? [Blue sneers, tugging the blindfold up from one eye to glare blearily back across at the bearded man. Despite Drayden being at least twice his size, Blue doesn't seem intimidated or scolded in the least.]

Not my fault they can't follow commands. Don't see you trying to play along though, huh, pops? Why don't you show 'em how it's done?

[The challenging smirk says the little brat doesn't think he can.]

Test Drive: April

Drayden | Pokemon (Gameverse)

no subject

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B.

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