memepatheias | TEST DRIVE: April

Entry tags:

*test drive

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. These threads do not count toward AC.

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: The Verens Emergency Response Teams are running drills to make sure that the Verens populace, natives and Otherworlders alike, are prepared for any and all emergencies. This means large scale obstruction of public areas, traffic delays, businesses closing their doors temporarily in the name of professional cooperation... and, best of all, Otherworlder participation!

Alpha Lava: If you asked Team Alpha, they would say they drew the short straw. They are in charge of the volcanic eruption preparedness drill! This includes cordoning off sections of the merchant’s square and residential district to conduct the following tasks: evacuation drills, where random houses are the "willing participant" of loudspeaker announcements telling them they have thirty seconds to escape their homes before they die; dunamis training exercises, to determine who would be most able to hold back or freeze incoming pools of lava; and, most helpful, the role of victim mannequin. Posing still as a statue for several minutes at a time to simulate being encrusted by molten lava is a thankless job, but someone has to do it.
Epsilon Epidemic: Team Epsilon's emergency preparedness drill is outbreak of a deadly disease! For this simulation, they will be rounding up helpful Otherworlder volunteers and distributing signs for them to wear around their necks. Following that, instructions are varied. Perhaps some people end up in quarantine, informed that Team Epsilon will shoot to kill anyone who escaped. Perhaps some people are under strict instruction to act out their sign to the best of their ability, and will be penalised if they don't! (What's the penalty? It's quarantine, or no gift bag, or both.) Perhaps they are simply dead and have to lie in the street all day. Yes, that's very boring. No, they don't have a choice. At the end of the simulation, all participants are given a gift bag filled with handmade cookies (courtesy of Team Epsilon's very own multi-talented Agent N) and gift certificate for a spa day for two. Most importantly: have fun!
Gamma Grandstanding: Team Gamma ended up with the newest preparation drill. Its official title is "People With Indeterminate Motives" (PWIM for short) to keep from throwing a wrench in the Briarlan trade deal and offending sensibilities, but make no mistake: it is about knowing exactly what to do if pirates invade Verens and conduct a hostile takeover. Some Otherworlders will be placed specifically in local business - restaurants, independently owned shops, even the zoo - and trained how to protect them from PWIM. Some businesses will be targeted; others will be ignored entirely (hope you brought a deck of cards!). Other Otherworlders will be asked to play the pirates - sorry, PWIM - themselves, complete with lame costumes (eyepatches, fancy hats, fake parrots to sit on a shoulder, itchy peglegs) for the sake of immersion. Arr! Aye, avast!

• Prompt E: Despite the rain and everybody coming down with colds during the month, everyone in Verens is still doing their best to get ready for next month's Flower Festival. And Otherworlders are definitely expected to help with prep work. After all, it's everyone's festival, so everyone should help make it the best it can be! So here's a few ways to help!

Sign Me Up: The Festival needs signs! Lots of signs. And lots of signs need lots of painters! Or one incredibly overworked painter, but in this case, they've decided to go the teamwork route, pairing up Otherworlders and having them make signs advertising various games at the festival! Sounds easy, right? But with emotion based paints in play, be careful. Too much negativity between partners and the wording will change, the paint could run, go too far in the other directions and the signs will be practically glowing, but possibly lead to claims of false advertising!
Special Delivery Flower Festivals need lots of flowers, and people to transport those flowers! And thanks to handy tech exchange with Briarlan, this year there's some fancy containment units for transporting them. They're really just crates with some fancy looking meters attached, meant to open up when they reach the festival grounds. Unfortunately, these new inventions probably could've used some additional testing and are prone to opening randomly sending flowers all over the place! Try and collect as many as possible and bring them back to the grounds, the festival organizers would appreciate it.
Flower Round Up! Or maybe painting signs and boxing flowers aren't your thing, so how about...corralling them? With all the good vibes in the air, it seems some of the flower arrangements have literally pulled up roots and are running around the festival. And you can't have a flower festival without flowers, so do your best to try and get them back where they belong before they run off to start some sort of flower civilization in the woods*.

*They probably will not form a flower civilization in the woods, but you never know.

• Prompt F: With Verens trading with more and more cities out there, some shopkeepers have gotten an idea to try and increase sales by encouraging both citizens and Otherworlders to shop local by promoting a tour of various business in the merchant district! Though the crystal has been a little negative, they're still hoping the tour goes off without a hitch! After all, it's too late to postpone it.

On the Clock: The first stop is Click, Clack, Clock, a clock shop that offers delivery to anywhere on the island! Unfortunately, due to the poor weather, all of the delivery staff are out with colds, so they're looking for volunteers! And yes, you're on this walking tour, but don't be surprised if you're handed a bicycle and a clock and sent on your way to deliver a clock. Hopefully they remembered to tell you where to go before shoving you out the door.
Shine On: Assuming you haven't been conscripted into the clock store's delivery force, the next stop is at Verens' very own Restoration Works, an establishment for restoring old antiques and making them look good as new. They've set up an interactive demo for everybody, so partner up and practice using your emotions to bring some shine back to some dull scraps of metal! Sorry guys, they're not going to let you work on anything really valuable during the tour, but if you show some promise, maybe they’ll hire you on in the future!
Polg-Oh No: Finally, the tour will end with a nice relaxing meal at the Sweethearts Cafe. Or it was intended to be relaxing, anyway (who would've thought the antique store would be the calmest part of the tour?), but it seems no place is safe from the Polgo plague. Better keep an eye on your plates, otherwise the second you’re distracted, the small kitten-sized blue bugs might scurry up the table and try and run off with your food!

Even if you’re paying attention, they might give it a shot anyways. So be on your guard and ready to give chase if it happens!

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include blueberries and/or buckets.

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

b. [ST0302 - the mother]

[ So, on the one hand, easily the most 'her' thing that Jessica has done since arriving in this steampunk hellhole. On the other hand... family that was still alive, just felt like fucking off somewhere you weren't? Probably her least favorite kind of case.

Which might be why Jessica is currently looking for clues in this bar, at the bottom of a shot glass. ]

Testing. One, two, three. Alpha bravo -- uh. Whatever comes after that.

[ There's a touch of hesitation in the mental 'voice' that's coming through your amulet, because fucking really? Hasn't she had enough mind games to last her a lifetime? But then the hesitation vanishes, because if there's one thing Jessica won't tolerate in herself for any length of time it's fear. ]

Look, can anyone hear me or not? Because if this thing is broken, or the welcome party was just messing with me, that would be just my luck.

e2.

Special delivery.

[ Flat. So very flat. Jessica shrugs to set down the crates she was carrying (four of them, improvisationally strung together with rope and borne on her upper back) somewhat heavily on the ground, because she's tired of carrying them and she's so very done with this job -- hired muscle will never be her favorite thing -- but she probably could've stood to be more careful, because whoops the topmost crate just slipped its makeshift leash and now it's falling and --

-- popping open, scattering flowers all over the street. ]

...Technically this still counts as delivering them. I mean, everything's right here.

(Noctis isn't sure if he should focus on her or the crates because...he isn't expecting anything, least of all flowers.)

...Who's it from? I don't know anybody who'd send me flowers.

You're kidding me, right?

[ She takes another glance around the street, looking for -- a signpost, an address, anything. ]

I did not lug these things all the way across town to the wrong address.

(Noctis is standing outside of his friend's restaurant, which is at least a place of business.)

Maybe they're for Ignis, if he's going to decorate. (But, uh, they probably shouldn't be on the floor.) He's busy, but if they're for him, we should put them back into the box. He can't do anything if they're like this.

Maybe? [ She is so screwed right now, Noctis. ] If he's redecorating?

Look, I'm happy to leave these here, [ and she'll even pick up the mess if there's a tip in it, ] but I need a little more than if and maybe. I seriously doubt I'm gonna get paid for dumping this shipment [ at the first sign of an imperial starship ] on some rando's doorstep.

So define 'busy'.

Not here.

(Busy as in running errands, which was why Noctis was kind of idling around outside of the building instead of inside with him.)

I could ask around, but he's in charge of the ordering so they probably won't know anything.

(Either way, they need to be picked up. Bending down, Noctis begins to gather them into his arms.)

Help me get it back in the box. Maybe he'll be back by then.

[ She should bolt. If it's the wrong address, she's not getting paid no matter what. And if it's not the wrong address, well, the shipping company didn't mention anything about insurance or fragility or liability of any kind.

But something about this kid earnestly picking up the flowers -- and it just had to be fucking flowers -- makes that latent thing she likes to pretend isn't guilt all twitchy. ]

Fine.

[ Squatting down to start picking them up! ]

People around here care way too damn much.

[ She meant that last bit to be more of an 'under her breath' thing than it came out. ]

Edited 2018-03-31 21:49 (UTC)

Not a lot of places where people would like to leave them laying on the street. They'll get crushed.

(Noctis' tone indicates a conversation instead of a lecture; he's hardly ever been in a position to lecture anyone.)

And if we fix the box up, you can just deliver it someplace else, if the address is wrong. It's not like you broke the flowers.

[The army brat in Lonnie can't help but chime in absently:]

Charlie.

[Instead of a merely hearing her voice, Jessica can see an image of a teenaged girl with long black hair staring back, hazel eyes blinking before she chuckled behind her hand.] It's Charlie, actually. But anyway, yeah! I can hear you loud and clear.

...And now the inside of my head's going full Snapchat, great. All that's missing are the--

[ Pause. Squinting a little at the girl on the other end of her feed. God, how young do kids see their first unsolicited dick pic these days? ]

--creepy guys with boundary issues. Hi. Welcome to the inside of my head. Viewer discretion yada yada. Can you really just hear me, or is this a mutual show-and-tell?

[Sitting at a bar, brooding over a drink, is the only sensible course of actions some days. Chuuya sits down on a bar stool next to her - except his drink is slightly inappropriate for the downer mood, seeing as it's the fruity and overly sweet kind. It's bright red, and has a cheerful little cherry on top.

It doesn't at all match Chuuya's frown.]

Pass the pretzels?

[He points to the large bowl of free pretzels next to her.]

[ Yeah, Jessica glances up and then gives that drink a very skeptical once-over. Really? Really? ] [ Still, he's not asking for her number or anything. Just pretzels. She gives the basket a light flick, which sends it shooting down the bar, almost past him. ]

Consider them passed.

Edited 2018-03-31 21:54 (UTC)

[ and just as she's pointing and glancing at him to defend the delivery - "everything's right here" - the flowers and the crate are put back together like it never dropped onto the pavement at all.

josuke lifts it up no problem, barely even acknowledging the fact that it's put back together again, but he frowns at her words. ]

Must've been a mistake - I didn't order anything.

You need help, though? There's four boxes and you still gotta make the rounds.

[ You know, she has a very low bar for 'normal', but that's still...... not. ]

Who, me? Need help?

[ She gathers up the other boxes, but doesn't stop looking up at him. ]

I'm fine. Just a little rough on the dismount.

[ Beat. But she doesn't want him asking about her, so why would she ask about him? ]

Charlie. Charlie comes next. Then Delta, Echo, Foxtrot... Et cetera.

[The "tone" of the thought is mostly casual, although there's a hint of pride.]

But the point is, yes, I can hear you.

Right. [ Beat. ] I knew that.

So, what. This thing is a radio?

From what I've gathered, it's more of a mental connection between all of us here.

So while the comparison to a radio is fairly appropriate, it's worth noting that this form of communication can... Get away from a person more easily.

[She would know...]

[Ash plunks down on the stool two away from her, his metal hand resting heavy on the bar in front of him with a thud as he signals the bartender for a shot of his own. he glances over to one side and shoots her a little smile]

You look like you're gonna need another one'a them.

Really, what gave it away? Was it my sunny demeanor?

[ She could drink all day and it would still barely take the edge off, is the worst part. Superpowers suck. ] [ Also, hi Ash. Nice to meet you. The metal hand's a nice touch. ]

Actually, smartass, it was the empty glass.

[he grins. oh, snark wars are fun. he might actually enjoy this]

Name's Ash. [~~Housewares.~~]

[A man in a red suit plops down on the bar stool next to Jessica, waving at the bartender.]

Ten shots of something cheap and strong. Think, paint thinner with less death.

[As he waits for his shots, he glances over at Jessica, giving her a wave.]

Howdy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE: April

Jessica Jones | MCU (Defenders, since S2 is too new to app)

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/adds imgur icons >>

I have the extension, don't worry

c.

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e2

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C

eee pearl

:3

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