TEST DRIVE: April

[empevents]

— 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!

1. 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.
   
2. 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!
   
3. 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!

1. 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!
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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.

1. 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.
   
2. 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!
   
3. 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!

Comments

Future Gohan | Dragon Ball

[lamentingly]

• C

[ Telepathy wasn't a foreign concept to Gohan, for the most part. He used to communicate with Piccolo through telepathy, but that was back when he was a kid, before the androids happened. He didn't know how to initiate it, so much as he knew what it felt like when it was being used on him. As such, being the one to initiate it was... weird, for lack of a better word. Like figuratively holding up a megaphone, and waiting to see who heard. ]

Um. Hi.

[ Yes, good, great start. ]

My name's Gohan. I'm new here. I'm not really sure if this is working, but... if it is, can someone confirm it for me? This is my first time actually initiating telepathy.

• D-1

[ Had it been anyone else doing it, they might've found the idea of standing still and being a statue to be boring, thankless, maybe even insulting. Gohan, however, took to the task with an amused smile on his face, something that looked a little out of place as he pretended to be a victim of the lava. To him, this was basically just a game of Red Light Green Light, which made him incapable of taking this too seriously.

As such, he was trying to make an effort to look distraught. 'Trying' being the key word, since he couldn't really contain his slight chuckling. ]

... You know, this is surprisingly good training. [ He murmured to his fellow victim. ] It takes a lot of muscle control to stand perfectly still on one leg.

• G

[ Got any ideas for Future Gohan? Feel free to throw them my way! You can PM me if you'd like to plot out something specific. ]

C

[seeingaredfuture]

Hello.

[A small, quiet voice comes through. It doesn't sound shy, just naturally quiet even with telepathy.]

It's working.

[lamentingly]

[ Oh, wow, it actually worked! Not that he didn't expect it to, but... well, alright, a part of him didn't expect it to. ]

Oh, great! Hello then, it's nice to meet you, ma'am!

[seeingaredfuture]

[She smiles slightly.]

Hello, Gohan. You can call me Anna.

[lamentingly]

It's nice to meet you, Anna.

[ He may come from a post-apocalyptic hellscape, but he hasn't forgotten his manners, no sir! ]

Have you been here long? I've only been here a few days, so I'm still trying to figure things out.

D-1

[gainsaiyan]

[Likewise, while this was hardly how Gohan had planned on spending his day, he couldn't deny that this was hardly a difficult task for him. Compared to the training he went through the Elder Kai? This was a breeze. It was almost liberating, really, just having to stand still for a couple minutes while looking like he's in distress.]

No kidding. [He throws an amused smile back at his "partner".] I might have to use this one on the boys someday.

[...Knowing his alternate future self like this will probably never stop being strange to him.]

[lamentingly]

[ Yeah, it was definitely weird to actually talk to an alternate version of himself. But at the same time, the fact that there was an alternate version of himself that didn't go through same the hell he did filled him with hope. It figured that Bulma had been right about her time machine... ]

If they're anything like the Trunks I know, you're gonna need a lot of luck to get them to stand still.

[gainsaiyan]

[That prompts a laugh from Gohan. He's glad his alternate self gets what a trial Trunks in particular can be. Just being with him for the past month has really given him a newfound appreciation for Bulma.]

It's hard to imagine that Trunks having been anything like the one I know now, but I guess they had to have been the same at one point, huh?

[Maybe it shouldn't be that surprising to him. That Trunks was shaped by his experiences... Just as his future self was.]

Well, just imagine what he'd have been like with a friend who's got enough energy to give Dad a run for his money.

[lamentingly]

[ There were definitely more than enough differences between the two Trunks, that much Gohan could see. But for as many differences as there were, he could also see the similarities. Like how their stubborn streak was so much like Vegeta's, for starters... ]

I don't think I can imagine that with my Trunks. He was already a handful just on his own. I don't think I can count how many times he kept running off to try and fight the androids...

[ Which, was kind of a depressing topic to go into, so Gohan quickly tried to change topics. ]

So anyway, I wanted to ask you. How did they go Super Saiyan so young?

D1

[robindarich]

[Well.

Thankless jobs are his forté.

Robin is far less animated than Gohan, but he plays along as the victim too. He'll pass on looking distraught for the moment.]

That, and good balance. [He wobbles slightly, as if to counter his own point. Luckily, he doesn't topple.]

How is this supposed to help anyone?

[lamentingly]

I'm pretty sure it's just for effect.

[ Which, to a normal person, would've made the job more pointless. But then there was Gohan, who was taking actual enjoyment out of pretending to be a victim, and watching people's surprised reactions at his distraught face.

Really making an attempt to not smile here. ]

Not that I mind. It's pretty fun, once you're committed to the act.

[robindarich]

[On the other hand, Robin cracks a grin.

Nobody ever said his face didn't have to move?? They're talking, anyway. They're beyond that point.]

You sound like someone who's easily entertained.

[lamentingly]

There's not really a lot of entertainment back home, so I take it where I can get it.

[ After all, there's not a lot of places to go have fun in the post-apocalyptic hellscape that was his timeline. ]

C

[asklepian]

[Telepathy was fairly well-rounded in the Federation, what with Betazoids and Vulcans, but humans generally didn't have that skill. So, Julian's just as unused to it as Gohan is, really.

But, he can keep his mind focused easily enough, so adapting shouldn't be too hard. He hopes.]

Hello to you, too.

...this is going to take some getting used to, isn't it?

[lamentingly]

Just a little bit, yeah.

[ Man, this was weird. Not so weird that he couldn't get used to it, but it definitely brought to mind just how long it'd been since he'd talked to Piccolo telepathically. ]

First time telepath?

[asklepian]

First time projecting back, I suppose. Telepathy isn't an unknown, where I'm from, but humans don't have that particular adaptation.

[Even so, he's experienced with shielding his mind from those who might read surface thoughts unintentionally.]

As a method of communication it does have its merits, but I think I much prefer speaking to people over a computer screen, if not in person.

[lamentingly]

I'm not really an experienced telepath myself, but I'm not unfamiliar with the concept. My mentor was a telepath, so I was used to him contacting me that way over long distances.

[ He was also trained in how to keep people out of his mind. Because of course Piccolo would train him in that. ]

C

[torankusu]

[ Ok, so... he hasn't exactly used this whole amulet telepathy thing much since arriving here but... this is a little weird? Kind of? Gohan's been here longer than him, so... what's with the whole I'm new here thing?

Welp. Time to investigate this. ]

Uh, yeah. I can hear you. Why? I didn't do nothing.

[lamentingly]

[ Well, alright then. Not exactly the response he was expecting, but hey, at least it confirmed the whole telepathy thing. ]

I didn't say you did, don't worry. I'm just trying to get the hang of it.

[ The weird part here was that he sounded familiar, but he wasn't quite placing it... ]

[torankusu]

[ Ok, guess that makes sense? He still needs to get the hang of this thing himself and what better way than to test it out with his dear friend Trunks here, right?

Right? ]

Oh, ok, Gohan. I guess it's kinda different than stuff back home, right?

[lamentingly]

[ Alright, that familiarity's definitely throwing him for a loop. Mostly because he could count everyone he actually knew (that wasn't dead) in one hand, and he didn't quite remember knowing someone who sounded so you--

Oh god he knew who that voiced belonged to. ]

... Wait a sec... Trunks? Is that you?

D1

[picklebro]

[Having actually spent time as a statue once, Piccolo didn't have any intention of signing up for this particular gig. But he'd already been meditating here and it hadn't been that much of a stretch to simply change his demeanor to at least standing up, even if he refused to not have his arms crossed while he scowled into the distance.]

Seems like the only muscle control you're having issue with is your mouth.

[lamentingly]

[ Anyone else would've been upset by that comment. And then there was Gohan, who took to it with a fond smile. ]

Well, that's sort of what happens when I don't see you for thirteen years, Piccolo. [ Had to work real hard there to not say 'mister'. ]

[picklebro]

[It's an impressive amount of restraint and Piccolo would commend Gohan for that, were he ever the type to go around commending people for things like that. He wasn't. Instead he grunts and looks away.]

You're supposed to in peril. Not getting sentimental. [It wasn't particularly easy for him seeing Gohan like this. He'd heard the tale from the Trunks from the future, but it made it a little too real seeing that space where Gohan's arm once was.]

D1

[theabjectauthor]

[whenever volunteers are needed, Lemony usually pitches in somehow. right now, he's still as a post. he hasn't moved a muscle the entire time. you'd think he WAS a statue. but when Gohan speaks, he responds softly, his mouth barely moving, his voice a bass murmur:]

You're doing admirably. Were you trained in flaneur tactics as well?