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memepatheias2020-04-11 03:16 pm
empevents) wrote in memepatheias2020-04-11 03:16 pm
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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:- Thread carry overs. All threads can be carried over in some way upon officially entering the game. Although the prompts are centered around the Flower Festival, threads can be tweaked to be more generic to fit the current timeline if a character comes in after the festival has passed.
- Application reminders. Reserves and Applications (Canon | OC) are always open!
- 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. (Note: this should be used under the assumption that the character has been in the game for a little while)
• 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: The Flower Festival is just around the corner, and chefs everywhere are preparing a variety of delicious dishes, desserts and snacks for the occasion! Unfortunately, a call has been made for Otherworlders to help the chefs and cooks find their ingredients, many of which have suddenly gone missing in the middle of the night. Help them, and receive some free food as a reward!- I didn't do it! Some ingredients may wind up in the oddest of places - bags of flour perched up on trees, sugar bowls sitting on apartment windowsills, and oh, you don't remember buying that sack of potatoes yesterday? Well, it's now in your kitchen. What do you mean you didn't do it? That's what they all say! Retrieve the ingredients and bring them to the cafes and restaurants of Verens - but beware of some overeager Enforcers (or Otherworlders) who are now eyeing you as a suspect!
- Jumpin' java beans! While the food collection and retrieval operations are ongoing, a new phenomenon shakes up the city. That's right, the ingredients and the dishes finally being prepared are now jumping and running all over the place, climbing trees, sprinting up and down stairs, even barging into houses. Chase them down, but the best results are achieved if you channel your emotions of hate and anger; the food will avoid anyone who is overeager, has too much love in them, or is simply...hungry.
- The cake is not a lie. Verens thanks you for gathering up the food for the Flower Festival, but there is a new problem. Several gung-ho pastry chefs have baked a huge cake - as big as a building - and placed it in the middle of the city as thanks to everyone who helped them round up the rogue food items. Your job is to help finish it, so take as much as you want! The cake magically becomes your favorite flavor the moment you take a bite, and fills you with feelings of trust. Careful, you might just trust that stranger next to you a bit too much and suddenly spill your tragic backstory to them...
• Prompt E: What's a festival without a little - or a lot of - music? The musicians for the Flower Festival are out practicing in full force, so don't be surprised if your shopping trip or your peaceful walk is interrupted by a set of upbeat songs. At least most of them are pretty good? The rest...uh, yeah. Never mind.- The soundtrack of your life. Some of those instruments, however, have minds of their own and are liable to follow people around as they go about their daily lives, pumping out some appropriate music for the occasion. You can try to shoo the instruments away, but there's no guarantee they'll stop giving your life a spiffy soundtrack.
- The music of the night. It's nighttime, but some musicians are still hard at work practicing their tunes for the festival. If you ever wanted to pull an all-nighter, now is the time, because their music, no matter how loud or soft, can and will keep you awake! Suddenly you feel too energized to sleep, and the only way to combat the effects...is to go head-to-head with the musicians in a musical duel! Or just try and block out the music as best you can.
- Mood music. Some music will elicit certain emotions from you when you hear it, depending on your mood. People who are feeling down will hear music that will lift their spirits, while the excitable ones will be calmed down by some gentle classical. And if there's someone you should probably fight but haven't gotten around to...prepare for some epic battle music!
• Prompt F: Not all the new flowers from Elios' lands with the alternating blue and red petals have been processed into perfumes, scents and purported "love potions". These flowers are now being sold in the streets and in flower shops for anyone who wants to decorate their home with some rather unorthodox blooms.- Love me, love me not, the sequel: Are you feeling lovestruck, or struggling with a difficult decision or two? Some city folks claim that the flowers can help you make choices. Simply pluck the alternating petals of the flowers, and if the last one is red, it means you should go for it! Whatever it is you wanted to do. After all, if the last petal you pluck is red, you get a small boost of confidence.
- Petal power: With the sheer number of people plucking petals from these flowers, this means...yes, a lot of stray petals all over Verens. They're on the roads, they could blow through windows, even wind up in your food. Try not to get them in your mouth or up your nose, because the red petals may give you a short burst of assertiveness or affection, and the blue petals, a brief episode of withdrawal or shyness. At least these episodes last less than half an hour?
- Flower fracas: All this longing for love, all this dithering over important decisions, and all the incessant petal plucking have one not-so-logical conclusion. Monsters made entirely out of these flowers have begun to terrorize the city, destroying anything in their path and leaving many more petals in their wake. If you can get close enough, yelling something you are absolutely, 100% sure of (like, ahem, your love for someone) into their faces should be enough to dissolve them into harmless flowers.
• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include tickets and/or bookshelves.
no subject
Pink still skulked around out of habit to avoid people, tried to pretend she was above it all(at only 8 feet tall, she wasn't as above them as she normally was), and still act like the Diamond she was 'supposed' to be, because what if another gem found her, and what if they told Blue or Yellow?
What if Blue or Yellow found her? What if Blue or Yellow thought she ran away? What if Blue or Yellow destroyed this planet because they thought they had kidnapped her? What if, what if, what if--
"Agh!!" Her face scrunched up into tight distress, her shoulders hunched up and she pulled at the cottonball of hair on her head. She shook her head, all as if trying to throw the idea out of her head, and stomped her foot on top of it.
"Blue this, Yellow that!" Pink stomped again, and it made the flower cart rolling by rattle. It made windows rattle, and glass threaten to break. She was so, so tired of being scared of them and hiding away from this place! The sky was so bright and beautiful! There was music pouring in through the windows, a wonderful breeze--she wanted to be part of that!! It wouldn't hurt anything!!
The person pushing it stopped to stare at her for a moment. He'd waggled his brows as if judging this giant woman's tantrum, but none the less, she was an easy customer. It was an easy transaction, and Pink was now sitting awkwardly on the curb in front of her home, knees up to her chest, chin atop her knees, watching the way the colors blended when she twirled them in her hands. She got down to the last two petals on one of the flowers she bought, and stared at the one red, and one blue petal, sulking angrily at it.
F:2 - Petal power
Pink must've arrived at just the right time! There were so many flowers, so many kinds of creatures..but no gems. Which wasn't a bad thing at all for her. There was so much going on that, without any gems around to remind her of everything that bore down on her shoulders that for a while, she forgot about Blue and Yellow. She forgot she had to maintain a certain appearance, to set a certain example for her court. Here, she was just a face in the crowd--a nobody. Pink Diamond meant nothing here, and it was liberating.
She wasn't paying attention very well to what was going on around her, and seemed to be having a good time just dancing in the petals the wind kicked up. A small party of instruments were dancing at her feet, singing loud fanfare, and a few were even scooped up into her arms to be swirled around. Her most recent victim was a flute that she made wheeze, causing her to burst into bubbly laughter when it hopped out of her arms, and a petal flew right down her throat.
Pink kinda coughed awkwardly and gave her head a small, brief shake, blinking a few times after, but she didn't look like she needed help at all.
> Red petal: If you choose for a red petal to be eaten, Pink will pull your muse into the circle of instruments without any warning, and toss them into the air with no effort at all! Not to worry, though, she'll catch them! And if they looked like they had fun from that, she'll even show off and jump pretty high into the air with your muse in her arms. But not to worry, she'll spin circles in the air with them as they drift down as slowly as a feather falls, and so long as Pink is holding your muse, they'll fall just as slowly with her.
> Blue petal: If you choose for a blue petal to be eaten, the music will change, and Pink won't seem to mind it. It will be as if she looked at the instruments for what they are for the first time, and she'll smile with a soft sadness at them, kneeling over to pick up the poor flute she'd teased not moments ago and pat it gently.
"Well, aren't you cute? It's alright--" But then, her hand pulls away and she bites her lip, but she dismisses the thought, and stands back up. The instruments disperse, but Pink lingers, looking over the crowd that moved around her with that same distant, soft sadness. Few seemed to pay her any attention, or minded that she stood there, and those that looked up at her as they passed weren't really noticed.
C - image
[ She was anxious. Almost panicked--trying not to panic. Uncertain. Quietly and tentatively excited in small bursts--from anxiety to excitement and back again so many times. She didn't know this would project her face, she didn't know how much of herself it would expose, and she certainly didn't mean for it to.
Others would only see what she was seeing, which would be her sitting on the edge of her new bed with all the windows drawn closed around her. ]
Hey, I, uh--I can't make any outbound calls toooooo... [ She trailed off, trying to come up with a cover story on the fly. ] to home! Does anyone know what star system we're in? I should...probably go.
F-A
Wait.
His movements pretty much come to a record scratch mid-step. He turns his head slowly to face the figure sitting in front of the house, who seemed to be looking over some flower petals.
"Mom?"
A shrill gasp cries out. The bag of groceries are falling to the floor, and his body flashes pink while some cracks start to appear in the ground by his feet. Nothing could ever prepare him for meeting with his mother, no matter what the form. He had known her once in this form, but only as Rose Quartz. This is his first time seeing her as Pink Diamond... outside of Pearl's mind.
no subject
This was such a silly little habit humans had..she remembered this. Sometimes girls would pick petals off of flowers, as if the flowers could give them answers. She'd scoffed at it then and had her fun with it--but as she stared at the spinning little flower between her fingers, not paying attention to much, she wondered if this was why humans would put any kind of credence in such a meaningless ritual. If the way it took some kind of burden off of her shoulders was why they did it. She wasn't sure. She wondered what would happen if she chose to forsake the pattern and change things.
She just stretched her legs out in front of herself without regards to anyone passing by and sighed, dropping the flower in her lap to stare, instead, upwards at the side of the building behind her instead. What was she doing?? She could already hear Blue's judgement, and feel Yellow's disapproval. Pink saw a flash of pink reflect briefly on the wall behind her; she saw it also from the corner of her eye, and her expression turned into a confused deer in headlights for a second, and she popped into a proper, upright sitting position to stare in the direction in came from. Cause that wasn't her. It couldn't be from her.
Well, it COULD, but she was pretty sure it WASN'T, this time. And Pink was right. It was some curly-haired human boy.
"Wha--?" She just blinked and looked down at him in the time it took her head to catch up with the moment. When it finally did, she swept all of her thoughts under a rug, and neatly put everything away inside the safety of a warm, but incredulous laugh at this Human's notion.
"Pfft-what?" Another giggle. "Me? Noo, that's so flattering, but I'm not your mother."
A beat more, and she smiled easily. Brightly, even, with a little excitement put back into it, without any shown regard or caution for the cracked pavement.
"Are you lost, little one? We can go find her!"
no subject
Steven stares at her, wide-eyed, but he tries to rein it all in. Then he averts his gaze and places a hand on his head as he focuses. The possibilities race in his mind! She doesn't recognize him. But of course she doesn't recognize him! She's Pink Diamond right now. If she's in that form... then she must be really, really far back. He doubts she ever took that form after faking her shattering, given that she did not want to look back.
But that made this more stressful at the same time! How does he explain anything to a version of her who's so far removed from his existence? He doesn't know, but he's started talking to her now, and now he has to keep this conversation going, somehow.
"Oh, um, my mistake!" he says with a forced smile, and without actually looking directly at her. "It's okay, I- I know my mom's not here. And I'm not so little actually! So, it's all fine." Nothing is fine.
no subject
Pink was so used to getting any wide array of reactions from humans and all the other organics of Earth, but being looked at with fear and anxiety cut in a way nothing else ever could. A long time ago, she would've tried to excitedly fuss and rush in and show them quickly that she meant no harm, but she learned some humans are very skittish, and react violently to her out of fear, so Pink suffered to stay sitting where she was so as not to scare him further for how tall she was.
But that look she gave him was pushed away just as quickly as it came, and that silly giggling from before gave way to a smile that was softer and gentler. He looked like he might fall apart on the spot if she got any closer--the pavement around this human just kept cracking.
"Are you sure?" She tried lacing her voice with a faint laugh. "I think you're about to make the roadway collapse..I can help you pick up your things and you can sit here. Or I can help you carry them wherever you're going!"
no subject
He doesn't want to explain that it's an effect of his emotions, because that could mean getting into what those emotions actually are. And he doesn't think either of them are ready for that talk right now. That's another set of thoughts racing around in his mind. If this is clearly Pink Diamond, and she's so far back... what does he tell her? Does he tell Pink her whole life story, her entire future? Lay out all of his problems with her, before she even caused a portion of them? And how does he even explain himself...
Steven chuckles nervously and shakes his head. "What were you asking again? Oh, my groceries!" He had kinda forgotten completely about them in that moment of shock. "No, no, don't worry. I can take care of it all! I don't need any help."
He doesn't want to trouble her, after all. ...And maybe part of him feels some strange pride in demonstrating things he can do without her help, even something as simple as this. Steven starts to scurry around and pick up some of the groceries one by one.
no subject
Roads certainly aren't supposed to do that, but he seemed so out of sorts, she wasn't going to correct him.
"Hey..you know, it's okay? I'm not gonna hurt you or anything, or...I dunno, what is it humans called it? Bewitch your food?" At least she still sounded amused by what was going on, instead of offended or any other such.
"Everyone here looks so different from what I'm used to seeing on Earth though, I'm not sure if I even need to say that here. Someone even traded me for these flowers!" Perhaps what he needed was to get his mind off of whatever it was that suddenly made this human look like he was crawling out of his skin. She tried swapping the conversation over to something that took the focus off of him, and tried to give him something else that she thought might be easier to talk about. "Where even are we? I kept getting these really unhelpful answers, and I can't get in touch with Pearl. I should be going back as soon as possible."
no subject
He does take note of the mention of Earth, though. So she has to at least be from after she started running the colony... Slowly, the timeframe is narrowing down.
"So, about that! We're kinda really far from Earth and with no way back. ...Or to get to any other planets!" Just in case, hypothetically, someone happened to be thinking of another planet as well. "I know this sounds weird, but time doesn't pass back at home when we're here. So one day you'll be able to go back as if this didn't even happen." Voicing that does hurt a little inside. Because Pink doesn't know that this has already happened to her future self.
"This town's called Verens, and it's on a floating island called Empatheias. Oh, and I should probably give my name too! ...I'm Steven." He opts to leave his name as that for now, while he figures this out.
no subject
Fear, excitement, anxiety--all of it coursed through her like lightning and something cold settled in her chest and felt like it was starting to squeeze her. On the one hand...was that really true? Was it impossible to leave? Surely gems could devise a way to get to her. But oh, if it were true? She could just exist here and no one would have to know, no one could find her or make her leave! But then, she did already start to miss them, and she started to worry for Earth. Without her there..Without her there, and having gone missing..they could..
No.
She listened, blinking like a deer in headlights again when he mentioned time didn't pass.
"So we're..essentially in a trans-temporal pocket dimension?" That's right. She'll go home, and one day become Rose Quartz, bequeathing her gem to him without ever knowing that for a while, she got to live with whom she would one day become a part of.
"I..well. I guess the Peridots are gonna go wild about this one." She rolled her eyes and huffed with a knowing, dismissive laugh as she said such. There was SO much for her to unpack, but she didn't want to deal with all of that right now. She was so sick of the what-ifs she could shatter. Pink just wanted to be here, and not worry about it.
"Hi, Steven! I'm..!" She cut herself off, wondering if she should be honest with her introduction. But a stern pout set on her face, and with a little huff, she sat bolt upright and trucked forward. "I'm Pink Diamond!"
That look of determination was quickly replaced by a big, toothy grin of relief. It felt good to just be able to introduce herself like that, such that it never got old any time she spoke to the humans. She took her little bouquet of flower in hand, stood up to her present height of eight feet, and brushed off her bloomers.
"But you can just call me Pink! You know, these structures remind me more of homeworld than anything I've seen humans build on their own. Or any clothes they've worn.
"Gosh, this is just..so surreal! What kinds of things are there to do on Empatheias?
"Are there any animals? Does the whole island look like this? What do the other towns--can we leave the island and see what's below!?" Everything else seemed to fade away for right now, leaving behind only her excitement to explore and indulge in this moment of maybe-freedom. In the wake of her excitement, greenery started to crawl up through the cracks Steven made in the pavement. Or maybe their diamonds were just that good at coaxing plants out of the ground? Who knew.
no subject
Steven pauses as she introduces herself. The size difference that Diamonds get in this world is something to get used to, although at least he's not particularly used to seeing Pink Diamond in person. There's just another small crack or two in the ground as she introduces herself, but even so, Steven waves at her. "G-good to meet you, Pink! I'm... glad things look familiar to you!"
She really is full of curiosity, and Steven can't help but chuckle some more at her eagerness. "Okay, where do I begin?" He starts counting off on his fingers as he addresses her questions.
"There's plenty of things to do here! There are also lots of animals, some like Earth ones and also lots of fantastical ones! There are parts of the island that're different, like a lake and mountain and forests and all. And yes, leaving the island is... possible, but we gotta be careful. That's the other thing - a lot of this world is kinda ruined and can drain the life force of... pretty much anyone, no matter how powerful they are." Even a Diamond.