Empatheias Events (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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memepatheias2019-12-18 05:55 pm
empevents) wrote in memepatheias2019-12-18 05:55 pm
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:- Pre-Intro Log. For the Test Drive, we are using parts of it as a "pre- intro log," which means not only can players go ahead and use the prompts as if the character is arriving into the game for the first time, but this setting will be adapted and continue in the official Intro Log. For TDM purposes the prompts are a little more generic and vague than what will be on the actual Intro Log, but they're relatable enough that can be easily transferred to the official log with a few minor tweaks. For those who do end up applying and entering into Emp, these threads are considered "forward dated" to the Intro Log.
- Date reminders. Reserves open December 25th and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on January 1st. Apps will only be open for four days! Because we're on a bi-monthly schedule, the next app cycle after this is MARCH.
- Emotions are key! Empatheias's 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. 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 to collect their emotions and serves as the network device. Remember, communication is telepathic, but it works basically the same as most other network devices.
- First or third person allowed. Your threads can be in either first or third, but we'd advise being flexible about it. If you have a preference, be sure to specify. 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.
- For your threads, put the Character Name and the Canon in the subject line to help readily identify them. You're 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!
• Prompt A: How about giving the emotions a try? Is your character feeling particularly wound up upon finding themselves in a new place? Or perhaps they're finally getting to live out the fantasy dream and are overjoyed! Or they just stubbed their toe and are in a lot of pain. Whatever it may be, this prompt is your catchall "let's try these emotion effects out" for any miscellaneous situation you may think up.
• 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: It's winter in Verens, and the festivities are alive with some new gimmicks. As always, emotions come into play, so be careful where they take you! Try not to destroy the city.
- Beware the Snowmen: Do you wanna build a snowman? All snowmen are affected by the emotions around them, and it doesn't take too much to make them come alive. They have imbibed different emotions around them, so you'll find lovey-dovey snowmen who have no respect for personal space, snowmen jumping up and down with joy, sad melting snowmen, and irate snowmen trying to lob their coal and carrots at you. A few snowmen have managed to get hold of murderous tendencies and will now try to kill you when you pass by. Good luck? It's kill or be killed.
- Bittersweet Chocolate: For those looking for a way to warm up, many cafes have begun to offer hot chocolate which is said to be the best in all of Verens. It tastes delicious, with the right amount of sweetness...except to those who hide their true attitude or personality behind a facade. To people who aren't true to themselves, the hot chocolate will taste terrible depending on how much they conceal, not feel. It'll also burn their tongues pretty quickly no matter how long the chocolate has been sitting around.
• Prompt E: Candles of Remembrance for Selenium, a holiday for mourning and grief, are always going through different changes for each year and the prototypes are distributed to see if it works. Normally, when lit, the candles create an image of a person sorely missed, whether they are dead or still alive. But something went wrong with the candle-making process this time. Various scents and aromas were infused into the candles to help improve moods, but the complete opposite is happening.
- Well, This Stinks: No images are produced from the smoke and flames, but instead, they exude horrible and disgusting smells from memory. They can range from recent events like burned cookies from last week, or the stench of a bloody battlefield from years past. The scent of the candle depends on the character lighting it, so everyone will be able to smell whatever they smell from it. It's very strong, so it's possible someone could actually feel nauseous either immediately or from prolonged exposure. But that's not all. The aroma will elicit varying feelings of regret, disgust, hatred, rage, and overdramatic despair.
- Counter Whiff: On the other end, a different kind of aromatic candle is producing far more pleasing scents, but it's way too strong. It's like getting a bottle of strong, "mature" perfume shoved up one's nose. The scents from these candles have even stranger effects, such as actually knocking someone unconscious; soothing them to sleep right on the spot; or even have strange hallucinations believing that the person in front of them is the one from their memories. The candles also make those affected strangely happy with extreme exuberance, and the emotion effects from their displays of joy are just as extravagant.
- Take a Walk on the Wild Side: Both candles have a troublesome side effect: their scents attract a variety of wildlife from the woods. Deer, skunks, chipmunks, foxes, all sorts of birds, you name it, they've begun to invade the city and zero in on those lighted candles, lingering around them or worse, actually taking the lit candles, which can (and will) potentially start fires. The fires can be put out normally, but strangely enough, after they go out, it is as if the affected structures and items were never burned in the first place. Now they just reek of candle scent. Attempts can be made to remove the scent, but it'll take either a lot of scrubbing or somehow creating emotions that produce a more pleasant scent.
• Prompt F: Boreas, or winter, is in the air and this month the city suffered from a number of wintery effects, partially due to the Arehtei Peromei. Some like the blizzard and mistletoe could be considered typical holiday fare. The werewolf flu sweeping the city, not so much, but that still hasn't stopped the citizens of Verens from celebrating the holiday season. [Note: Scenarios pulled from our current event, and the full details can be read here. Due to the timing, these threads cannot be carried over into the game.]
- Hibernation: A despair filled blizzard has taken the town by storm, bringing a strong urge to hibernate with it. Characters with strong negative emotions will be hit the hardest, but most everyone will feel the urge to take a nap right then and there at some point. There are ways to ward off the emotionally induced drowsiness though as roving bands of carolers seek to keep people's eyes open and spirits light. In addition a number of hope infused lanterns have been strung throughout the city to guide travelers to safety and keep them from dozing off in a nearby snowbank.
- Mistletoe:t's not just the snow either, the town is also plagued by a particularly invasive species of mistletoe brought to the island by Peromei. To citizens' dismay, it isn't ordinary mistletoe or even ordinary magic mistletoe. No, instead this awful plant that lurks in corners and on ceilings is influenced by a combination of Peromei's and Elios's influences to make it aggressive and mobile. It now prefers to slither around and attach itself to moving targets. Once attached to someone, it induces a terrible longing for the sort of love and affection one secretly hopes for the most -- anything from a simple hug to a mom to fuss over you to a new friend you can always have lunch with -- and it won't let go until its victim has found someone who can fulfill that longing.
- Wereflu: In addition to the mistletoe and blizzard, there's also the aforementioned werewolf flu sweeping the city. Thanks to a foolish researcher, the infected are suffering partial or in some cases full transformations into wolflike creatures. The main cure for it is positive attention as like the mistletoe, the afflicted will be driven to seek it out and the more they get, the sooner they'll be back to normal. If left unchecked, it can lead to more feral aggressive behavior, so Otherworlders and natives alike have been warned to be cautious when attempting to help those affected.
• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include paper snowflakes and/or cinnamon.
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[He also knew that pain was, unfortunately, a powerful lesson in itself, provided the individual undergoing it used it as a foundation to grow. Obi-Wan excelled at that--and, now with his knowledge of the younger man's future, Qui-Gon can't help but wonder if he's so good at growing from pain because his life was destined to be full of it.]
[It's not fair. Life wasn't meant to be fair. It was a test, through and through, carefully constructed by a power far beyond their full grasp, and designed to either make or break an individual, depending on how they responded.]
[And Qui-Gon couldn't be more proud of how Obi-Wan grew.]
[He sighs, heavy, and reaches out again.]
[Their hug before had been brief. Celebratory. Happy. But it was too shallow a greeting meant between a father and a son who'd been apart for so long. That had been Qui-Gon's mistake from the very beginning of Obi-Wan's apprenticeship: he'd taken too long to make himself emotionally available to his Padawan, and the latter had suffered as a result. He couldn't allow himself to repeat that mistake.]
[If Obi-Wan allows, Qui-Gon will pull him close and fully envelop him again, squeezing tight and murmuring the one thing that he feels Obi-Wan may need to hear.]
It wasn't your fault.
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To an outside observer, especially one without Force ability, within that hug he seems very passive. With his chin down and eyes closed so that his forehead rests against Qui-Gon, hands only loosely gripping Qui-Gon's robes, it looks like he is being hugged without returning it, possibly even just tolerating it.
What he is actually doing is using Qui-Gon as a grounding rod.
This close, this firmly held, he's surrounded by warmth and weight and familiar scent. He can feel the rise and fall of Qui-Gon's breathing. They give him something solid and safe to use to fight the urge to suppress (and therefore hold tightly onto) the deep, bleeding ache of grief and the sharper sting of pain and failure. They keep him anchored in the present, rather than allowing him to sink too deeply into the past. ]
No. [ Without looking up, his breathing synched with Qui-Gon's, voice still... cracking and rough but not strained, now. ] but it was my responsibility.
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[Qui-Gon knows what it's like to understand on a logical level what is and what isn't one's fault, and also how that logic didn't matter when it came to instances of guilt. Especially not when that guilt ate away at one's very core, bringing into question every decision made up until that moment.]
[Qui-Gon knows that trite platitudes will do nothing to soothe or to help with the healing process. So he doesn't bother with them--experience not only tells someone what the right thing to say in a situation is, but also when it's appropriate to say nothing at all.
[And, finally, Qui-Gon knows that Obi-Wan needs support most of all to help him overcome all that's happened. The events that led to the fall of the Jedi can't be changed, but his perspective can. With time.]
[Gladiolus flowers begin to sprout at Qui-Gon's feet, strong, tall and colorful against the cold.]
It was a responsibility that I should not have burdened you with, my Padawan.
And I am proud of you nonetheless.
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He can't, at least yet, accept the fall of the Jedi, or role he played in those events. He tries, logically he does, but in reality he can't quite truly manage. He can't not look back on those events dispassionately (or simply compassionately) or without seeing every. single. thing he'd missed, and the places things could have (should have) been different.
What he has accepted, after two years on Tatooine is that there are wounds that don't heal. That they will ache, and they will bleed, and that the bleeding will stop when it stops, and that trying to staunch the flow prematurely will only lead to more pain, infection, and scarring.
Qui-Gon's death, at least, had already taught him that grief and guilt were not fatal.
He's learned to let himself bleed.
Which is what he's doing, while flowers are blooming strong at Qui-Gon's feet. He's letting emotion rise, so that it can go. The sky turns a pale gray and a strong, but straight, wind of no particular temperature blows in from his back. ]
It was a perfectly reasonable request. What you shouldn't have done was get killed.
[ The straight wind isn't damaging, only strong. It's stronger around being called Padwan, and stronger still when he remembers Qui-Gon's death.
There's nothing damaging about it until he realizes it's directly connected to his emotions. He's already got guilt, grief, remorse, and melancholy love swirling around within him. The realization that he is truly, physically, affecting the environment adds confusion, and fear. It seems to heighten everything he's already feeling.
At that point the sky turns from featureless gray to threatening steel, the temperature plummets, and the wind seems to be coming from every direction at once, blowing stinging grains of frozen now into them.
With that bit of validation of what's happening, but no understanding of it he does what an entirely reasonable Master Jedi would do.
He panics as he has not in many, many years. He tries to get away from Qui-Gon, and shut his emotions down entirely while the temperature continues to drop and the sky continues to darken.]
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[Empatheias' unique emotional effects can be harrowing even to seasoned professionals, so he doesn't blame Obi-Wan in the slightest for his reaction. Instead, he steps forward, flowers still following in his footsteps, although bending against the wind, and tries to catch Obi-Wan's eye. His tone remains calm, if loud, thanks to the wind blustering at his back, rippling his robes and messing his hair. Pellets of frozen rain stick to the thick strands of his unkempt mane, but he pays it as little mind as he can.]
[It helps that his own negative emotional effects are fairly similar to Obi-Wan's; Qui-Gon has managed to cause a couple of storms himself over the years.]
Obi-Wan, it's all right!
[Qui-Gon focuses on the well of calm deep inside of him, using it to counteract the wild tempest brewing around them as he tries to get through to Obi-Wan.]
Breathe! Let your emotions free, and just breathe!
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It isn't hard for Qui-Gon to make eye-contact with Obi-Wan, at least. The frozen rain blown into his eyes stings, but he's got his eyes on Qui-Gon, anyway. Teeth clenched and closer to snarling than was dignified, at least initially, but eyes on him.
What really gets through, though, is the words. The reason for that is two-fold:
Qui-Gon had been his Master. Years of his life had been spent responding to his voice and that calm presence, following instructions under all manner of ...less than ideal circumstance (under more ideal ones he was much more troublesome).
And This isn't the first time Qui-Gon has given him an instruction to breathe when overwhelmed by emotion - even specifically by panic and guilt.
Letting emotion go isn't quick, but breathing? Almost reflexively and in immediate response for Qui-Gon yelling at him to. The first breath is a gasp and the air is so cold it sears his lungs. The second is a little steadier. The third is almost normal, and the fourth is controlled.
And on the exhale of the fifth the wind picks up to something that's gale-force and the frozen rain turns into a deluge. Both higher wind and downpour are gone in a second. The bitter cold remains, but he at least has reason returned to him.
He never looks away from Qui-Gon.]
I think you left something out.
[ They're totally going back to their earlier question if he has anything to say about it, but for now he's just... trying to get himself back to center, or even close.]
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I think I agree.
[His tone is the driest thing in at least a half-mile radius.]
Are you alright?
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He responds to the question with a bland sort of 'are you out of your mind' expression that he'd perfected over years of being Anakin's Master. He'd probably gotten it from Qui-Gon to begin with.
Of course he isn't okay and Of course he isn't going to say so. ]
We need to get somewhere warmer before you freeze, and you need to explain why you believe you shouldn't have tasked me with training Anakin.
[ He just smoothly picks up, like nothing strange here had occurred at all. ]
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[Matching glances aside, Qui-Gon shakes his head before pointing his chin towards one of the smaller streets nearby.]
I know of a good teahouse that isn't too far from here.
[He doesn't add that they're used to seeing him in various states of disrepair. He probably doesn't have to.]
I will answer as many questions as I can along the way.
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The innocence is a joke, sort of, but he really does not have the first idea what he did to earn that look.
He pulls his cloak more tightly around him. Even sodden it provides some protection about the cold. Once he starts walking some of the cold, at least, seems to ease a bit. ]
I'll want as full an explanation as you can give me as to what happened back there, soon. But first, I really would like to know why you believe that you shouldn't have asked me to train Anakin. [ That name will always hurt. Right now it just hurts very, very deep down. ]
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[He brings a hand to his chin and strokes at his beard. He'd had this conversation before... why is it so hard now?]
It wasn't fair to you. You were still just a Padawan yourself, and never had a chance to come into your own as a Knight before taking one of your own.
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[ He looks at Qui-Gon, gaze as quiet and steady as his tone. Odd, perhaps, given his earlier outburst, except it isn't. Release is release and he has. ]
But there was no one else, Qui-Gon. I can see hundreds, even thousands, of times and ways I failed him, but even with the benefit of hindsight... I don't believe leaving him to rot as a slave on Tatooine would have been better.
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[But to repeat them wouldn't help any more than they already have, and Obi-Wan is an adult. Outside of that initial validation from Qui-Gon, he shouldn't (and probably doesn't) need any reminders.]
[That doesn't mean Qui-Gon isn't dealing with his own guilt over the matter, though.]
Perhaps.
[There's a lot to parse through and figure out what he agrees with and doesn't agree with.]
But I want to apologize to you, nonetheless.
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He studies Qui-Gon in silence for a moment. ]
I have the strangest feeling that you've had this conversation, before.
[ It contains a trace of humor, but not much more than that. It's clear that Qui-Gon not only wants to apologize, but needs to. He could argue with it - tell Qui-Gon it wasn't his fault, either, or several other things, but this isn't entirely about him and it isn't a contest at all. ]
You did what you believed was right, as you always have. Apology accepted.
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Thank you.
[His voice comes out quieter than he intended, but the meaning and intent are clear.]
[Qui-Gon clears his throat before speaking next, bracing himself for the potential of what could follow.]
As for having this conversation before... you're correct. This is the second time you've been here.
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Qui-Gon relaxing even that little bit is good. Well worth accepting an apology he hadn't needed.
Obi-Wan has, in a very real sense, simply run out energy to fuel any more strong reactions. He's had his outburst, such as it was. This place is strange, he is talking to his formerly dead Master, and his emotional state is creating weather.
This being the second time he's been here merely results in him lifting his eyebrows a bit and being exasperated (mostly at his own confusion) rather than any truly strong reaction.
Even if he's getting a mild headache.]
That's wonderful news. I now have a very good excuse for us not to have any more uncomfortable conversations. I can assume they've already been had.
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[And they will have uncomfortable conversations, planned and otherwise. That's just the nature of the dynamic, semi-dysfunctional, but dauntless duo that is Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It's their shared ability to find steadiness in the uneasy that's a testament to the bond that's kept them strong over the years.]
[It's enough to bring a smile to Qui-Gon's face, however small.]
I will do what I can to make them less uncomfortable, however.
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[ He outright smirks at Qui-Gon. It isn't a very broad expression, is oddly subtle given that it's a smirk, but it is most definitely a smirk. He's tired, wet, and cold but he...
feels pretty good right now, actually.
At peace, anyway, at least for the moment.]
I am very good at easing uncomfortable conversations. I am also very good at having conversations without actually having them at all.
Think of it as a duel. We'll have fun.
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[Still! He raises his eyebrows at Obi-Wan and, the ghost of a smile still turning the corners of his lips, provides his own retort.]
You've also gotten much better at deflecting, I see.
[But it won't work here!!!]
Shall we delve deeper into that?
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[ Wonderful opportunity, this and he fully intends to take advantage of it. It isn't like a deflection at all, it's simply taking the conversational topic that's presented to him. ]
I assume you still primarily practice Ataru? Or have you switched to something more fitting for a man of your stature in your time here?
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[But only because it's cold out and he can't muster up the energy to argue!]
I maintain that Ataru is perfectly accessible and tenable for a man of my height.
Although, thankfully, I haven't had to utilize my lightsaber skills often during my tenure here.
[And the few times he has... hoo boy. Those were stressful.]
Are you enjoying Soresu?
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Which is to say: Why you're going along with it doesn't matter, old man, it matters that you are. ]
Of course you do. You would never be so stubborn as to pick up the lightsaber form best suited to Yoda, simply to prove you could.
[ Is he teasing? He certainly is. It's gentle, though, rather than anything that so much as approaching truly biting. ]
I do enjoy it. It's been quite a while since I've had any cause to practice it, and I originally began simply to supplement what I was already using, but with the war and all the blaster fire I relied on it more and more. It's proven more flexible than I would have thought and of course it isn't exhausting.
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So what you're telling me is that the Clone Wars have made you lazy.
[Qui-Gon matches Obi-Wan's gentle banter, easily slipping into old habits.]
[He takes another look at Obi-Wan--the shagginess of his hair, the way that his time on Tatooine has clearly aged him... it all points to a difficult life.]
...But you've also clearly earned some rest.
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[ He looks up at Qui-Gon and reads either look itself or the sentiment behind the remark and responds to that as much as the words themselves with a surprisingly elegant shrug of a single shoulder.]
A wise old Jedi Master once told me that life was a test, and passing the test made you human. I also seem to recall him being fond of saying that life is neither fair nor unfair, but rather simply is. He had a point. It also means that I haven't earned anything, except arguably my humanity.
I'll rest when I'm dead.
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Why is it now that you're finally listening to me?
[He's kidding, however melancholy, but it serves a purpose: just how many of Qui-Gon's teachings is Obi-Wan holding in his heart?]
[Moreso... did they do him any good?]
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