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memepatheias2019-04-18 08:52 am
empevents) wrote in memepatheias2019-04-18 08:52 am
Entry tags:
Test Drive: May
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 24th of April and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on May 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!
- For any concerns or questions, head over to this top level.
Now with that out of the way, here are some prompts you guys can work from!
• 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: Perhaps one may have heard that Verens used to be a floating island, and it was! When the island then ended up on the surface, creatures which explorers have called "Dinosaurs" (quotation marks included) were discovered inhabiting the plains and the mountains in a far off area. It's time to go back to the jurassic world for a very important mission: gather as many Amaranthus Rubus, red pearl-shaped fruits that heal any and all wounds on one's skin. The hospital needs it! As such, one needs to prepare.
Explorers do not wish to harm the "Dinosaurs", as they are afraid the "Dinosaurs" would go extinct should any danger be placed unto them. This means that one's option when encountering volatile and aggressive "Dinosaurs" is to run away. A fun run is now being held in Verens a few days prior to the trip to the "Dinosaur" plains, where 50 sylvs and a t-shirt that says "I successfully ran away from a 'Dinosaur'!". The colour of the shirt is random, though, but there are as many as the colours of the rainbow. Maybe trade with somebody else who's finished the run if you don't like yellow so much.
• PROMPT E: Once the preparations have been made, it's time to set forth into the land of the “Dinosaurs”. As you enter their domain, it may be difficult to resist the temptation to interact with these rare and unusual creatures, and some of the “dinosaurs” are indeed tranquil and herbivorous. Go ahead and feed the long-necks leafy branches and if you're feeling daring, climb up on their backs for a ride! However, many of the “dinosaurs” are quite a bit more dangerous, and they are very territorial. If you cross paths with the a pack of raptors, prepare to run, fight, or distract. All explorers have been supplied with strips of alluring jerky to placate the beasts. Who knows, you might even make a friend! Be careful not to lose and hand, though.
The Amaranthus Rubus is thickest near the home of the most terrifying “dinosaur” of all, the "Tyrannosaur", and if you are daring enough to approach the lair of this creature to reap the fruits, you may not even have the chance to run away before the creature corners you, roars, and...wiggles his sad, little arms. It seems poor old "Tyrannosaur" just wants some kind of tool to extend his reach! Help him out and he will let you go. Or refuse, and he'll eat you. Sounds reasonable, right?
• PROMPT F: It seems like the land of the "Dinosaurs" isn't so bad after all! Perhaps "Dinosaurs" and man can co-exist, but for that to happen, much research will have to be made regarding a "Dinosaur"'s way of life. Now aboard the ship to head back to the city, researchers are talking about another excursion in the future that's solely for researching on "Dinosaurs" - various species, what they eat, their excrement, and the like.
The trip back to Verens is a little long. Perhaps you're just resting in one of the rooms when there's an explosive sound that can be heard. Oh no! It looks like the engine's running out of steam! Luckily, there's a steam generator in the ship, but steam can only be made through cooperation, anger, and sadness. The entire ship needs your help to get back to the city safely, and if you have to hold someone's hand, slap them, and yell at them to get them to manifest their emotions tangibly, then do so!
• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include swords and/or stones.
no subject
On the other hand, if he can't shoot the machine bastard dead, he doesn't want to go down that way either. Just better not to fight at all.]
I'm tellin' you it ain't none of your business.
[And with that he turns back to his pile of sticks. That would seem to be the end of it... except a second or two later he can't help defending himself.]
Some folks said it was possible. Back in town. [He makes a frustrated gesture at the stack.] I just ain't got used to it yet, that's all.
no subject
The eyes that look back at Marston now are, at least, completely human.]
The emotion stuff, you mean.
[His pale gaze sweeps around.]
That's why your tinder keeps collapsing. You're getting frustrated, aren't you?
[He crouches down and picks up some kindling in his claws.]
I've started plenty of fires, you know...
Haven't figured out how to do it on purpose yet.
no subject
Been frustrated since I got here. [The look he gives Raiden when he picks up a bit of that kindling is sharp and not entirely friendly, but mostly that's a combination of John being generally a cynical grump plus, well, his face just looks like that. He's a simple man, wanting nothing more than to live a simple life with his wife and his son, and he's found himself in some crazy emotion world. And now he's trying to light a fire. With his brain. Being interrupted by some weird machine feller. And apparently his emotions are what's making his fire collapse, and John feels like a damn fool for not realizing it before.
He thinks he's got reason to be frustrated.]
How you been making fires? All's I can seem to do is break things. Guess that ain't new.
no subject
He sees a little of himself in that look... A man who'd rather not be here.
Of course, for Raiden, the annoyance isn't that this world fails to offer simplicity, it's that this world fails to offer the battlefield.
Every day is a prolonged fight to not fight. At best he manages to be outwardly stable but inside he is always screaming...]
You know. By being around.
[The kindling held between his claws starts to spark into flames and Raiden flinches, surprised by the sudden combustion.]
no subject
Crap. [He glares at the bits of kindling as though they've personally offended him before turning back to Raiden, raising his arms in a single exasperated, irritated gesture.]
For Christ's sake. Why can't I do that?? Shit.
no subject
[He sheepishly holds the burning kindling out to the stranger.]
Like I said, I've never done it on purpose.
There's a reason I'm out here and not....back there with the general population.
The people who can control it had to train, I think...
no subject
There.
It's a goddamn fire.
Whoopee.
After a moment of brooding, John abruptly looks back at Raiden. He still looks annoyed, but there's a bit more curiosity behind it.]
So you're out here... 'cause you keep settin' things on fire? That it? You stay away from folk because of it?
no subject
[His colorless eyes lock on to the dancing flames.]
....It's not always fire, though.
Sometimes shadows get darker, or there's fog, or intense wind, or I smash things apart like you do. Never anything good.
So, yeah... It's better for me to be out here, where I can't hurt people.
no subject
You want to be in there? [He jerks his head in the direction of the city.] In civilization. If you didn't make fires or fog or whatnot, I mean. Would you want to actually be in there?
[John himself hates the town. It's crowded, loud, and cramped. Makes him feel trapped. But clearly others feel different. And, well, town seems like it'd be a lot more friendly to a machine than being out in all the elements.]
no subject
It's laughter.]
Me? No.
That place has no room for someone like me, even if I did have control over my emotions.
I belong out here.
[A beast needs the wilderness.
He hooks a claw at the stranger.]
What about you? Do you live out here or are you just hiding while you try to make your little fire?
[Raiden's diplomacy skills are not very good.]
no subject
He gets it, honestly. John often feels like civilized places have no room for someone like him, either.]
I live on the outskirts of the town. For now, anyway. [He waves a hand in the direction of the slums. It's not much, and it's not preferable, particularly if Abigail or Jack were to show up.]
Wanna buy me a piece of land out there. [He looks out towards the open fields. There's a few scattered farms and small hamlets out there, he knows. He's sure there's got to be land he can buy or claim somehow.]
Build me a house, have me a ranch. With whatever beasts I can find around here. I had that, back home, with my wife and my son. [There's the slightest hint of a smile that tugs briefly at the corner of John's mouth, and the look in his eyes is almost wistful as he stares out into the wilderness.]
Out there, it's. Well, it's freedom.
no subject
Raiden thinks about the life he'd almost had with the one woman mad enough to fall in love with him.
The child that hadn't made it...
That was when the man within Raiden died and the beast took over. He stopped coming home after the miscarriage.
...Oh, the stranger was still talking.
Something about freedom...]
...It doesn't sound so bad.
A ranch, I mean.
You'd have freedom and quiet and animals are better company than humans.
[He tilts his head.]
Dunno how acquiring land works around here, though. Maybe you can barter for it.
[Having to get a job and work in town sounds too tedious.]
no subject
[How to get land, that is. And then how to buy animals, raise those animals, plant... whatever crops are available here, build a house, and ignore every cynical bone in his entire body to hope he'll see his family in this place.
He misses Abigail. And Jack. And Uncle too, honestly. The idea of starting a new ranch—a daunting enough task on its own—and then living there alone is almost enough to make John just give up. Or it would, if he weren't such a stubborn damn fool.
John sighs, that wistful look now gone and replaced with his usual cynical resignation, and he stands up, knocking some dirt over the fire with his boot to put it out. The whole point of being here was to make the fire, and that's done. And anyway, he's got something else in mind now.]
You got a name, mister?
no subject
When the fire is put out his brow furrows. He doesn't say anything but a look of apologetic sheepishness crosses his eyes.
Somehow, he feels like he's ruined this man's evening by igniting the kindling.
Not that ruining other people's evenings is a new experience for him.]
Raiden.
[He rumbles.]
What about you?
no subject
John. John Marston.
[He eyes Raiden briefly, sizing him up before asking the next question.]
You ever ride a horse, Raiden?
no subject
[He stands now and lifts his synthetic shoulders up in a shrug.]
I like animals but husbandry was never really my thing.
Besides, even if I had ridden horses before, I couldn't now.
They're scared of me, can't say I blame them.
[There's a pause and he finds himself clarifying.]
'Cause I smell wrong.
...Why do you ask?
no subject
[He tilts his head in the direction of the wilderness. No time like the present, right?]
Thought you might want to join me. Don't seem like you got nothing better to do.
[He doesn't mean any offense, really. John is just not blessed with the gift of tact.
Besides, world-weary cynical misanthropes gotta stick together, right?
Clearly so, because John starts walking back towards the city without waiting for an answer. He does at least explain himself, though, even if it's partly over his shoulder. His default tone of voice is raspy yelling, so it's still easy to hear him even with his back mostly turned.]
There's a stable back in town. I'm sure we could find you a horse that ain't so scared of you. I've known fellers who smelled much, much worse than you, and they was able to ride. Just gotta find the right horse.