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

[ Sign painting is not his first choice of activities, but as far as the weird things the locals try to put the Otherworlders through, this is the most innocuous.

Or it would be, if this guy would shut his damn trap. He’s trying very hard not to get annoyed, if only because he knows by now that his emotions tend to manifest in rather volatile ways. ]

Have you managed to do any better?

[There are days when Ardyn can choose to be not completely irritating to utter strangers. In fact, he’s quite good at being charming and even partly considerate, when he feels it’s necessary — but apparently, this is not one of those times. Messing about with paint that seems to adjust to their emotions, he’s quite curious to see its effects in motion. That, or he’s just being critical because he can.

Maybe both.]

As you can see— [Here comes a sweeping gesture at what they’ve managed so far. A large sign with a flourishing brush script (that he’s still working on), reading something along the lines of “Welcome to the Flower Festival!” scrawled across it.] I’m doing most of the work.

Letters are easy.

[ He says it flatly, determined not to let his annoyance get the better of him. It’s less because he cares about the reactions of the paint and more because he knows he might set something on fire. ]

Can you even paint a passable flower? I bet not.

Letters are not easy. They require patience and a delicate touch so that they remain legible.

[He says it as if he’s the expert in such a thing. The grin he keeps on his features is probably even more frustrating than anything, portraying him as oblivious to Akechi’s growing irritation — when in actuality, he is no such thing.]

I could. [And this is the part where he just casually continues to work on the lettering.] But then you’ll have me doing your job.

[ How much trouble would he get in if he just sucker punched this guy with a Persona? It's so tempting....

As it is, the ambient temperature is begging to rise, which is probably not going to do their paintings any favors. ]

It sounds like that's what you want, with all your backseat driving.

[The rising temperature does not go unnoticed, and in fact begins to make their poor project run a little bit. Interesting, though hardly all that impressive -- not possessing the same sort of dramatic flair such as setting something aflame, for instance.]

And yet it sounds to me like someone merely can't take criticism so rightly given to them. All I ask is that you paint a flower that doesn't look like it's sadly wilting.

I don’t even know you. Why do you keep needling me like this?

[ Let him live!! ]

[No!]

Why? Am I irritating you?

[ It’s only then that it clicks. This guy is trying to irritate him. Why else would he be so… irritating?? ]

… I can’t believe this.

[The smile cracks a little wider, which would be proof of the young man’s suspicions, honestly.]

Really, I don’t see the issue.

[He’s just going to continue painting this letter here, neatly. It’s not a terrible job, all things considered.]

Can you blame me, anyway, for indulging myself in a bit of curiosity? [Implying, perhaps, that being new to all of this, emotions affecting even paint is certainly something he wishes to see happen. (Or setting things on fire, that works, too.)]

[ He’s got it now, and he feels like an idiot for letting it get under his skin in the first place. He’s used to being pretty unflappable, but being here has turned everything on its head. ]

If you’re really that curious, just make yourself mad. Leave me out of it.

[That is the most terrible suggestion ever, even if Akechi doesn’t realize it. Ardyn just laughs.]

And why would I do something like that? Then I wouldn’t be able to truly appreciate the results.

[He flicks the paintbrush at the young man, in an idle kind of way to indicate at him.]

Come now. What makes you angry? Tell me.

[ That little flick of the paintbrush lands a few wayward drops of paint on Akechi’s cheek. He presses his lips into a thin line, doing his best not to let it get to him. ]

Why does it have to be anger? There are plenty of other emotions.

Well, do you prefer sorrow? I suppose beggars can't be choosers, but-

[He makes a generalized sweeping motion as he speaks; but Ardyn is the sort of man who speaks with his hands, anyway, so this is nothing new.]

Anger is so much more potent. Difficult to miss, maybe even dangerous. The emotion that will put on the best show. Impulsive, reckless, heated.

I think it’s all pretty difficult to miss. I’ve seen people so happy they leave trails of grass where they walk.

[ He won’t argue that anger is much flashier. It’s ugly and volatile and destructive, but he’s been doing his damnedest to keep a tight lid on his own… issues. He refuses to let some random guy goad a reaction out of him. ]

[If he’s aware of the goading, then Ardyn knows that only makes it all the more difficult to twist a reaction out of him. But he is equal parts uncaring and stubborn.]

How dreadfully cliche. How mind-numbingly dull.

[Likely not a state that Ardyn will be influencing any time soon. Or ever.]

At least tell me of how you’ve changed the environment, if you’re too shy to show it.

I’m not shy. I just don’t want… to set fire to everything.

[ He glances away as he says it. It’s not exactly embarrassing, but he doesn’t like a stranger knowing how explosive his anger can be. ]

[Ardyn would be surprised to see that kind of explosive anger from a relatively unassuming-looking young man. But as it stands right now, he’s just going to arch his brow, gently inclined.]

Have you set fire to something before?

No, and I’m not about to start now.

[ He’s gotten close, though. Dangerously close. ]

I did break a window once.

And was that the fault of someone else, or were you ceaselessly lost in your own mind?

[He wonders, vaguely, just what he could manage with his own emotions. Just how toxic he could be -- but it's a passing wonder at best.]

[ There is a moment where Akechi is very clearly weighing his options. Just how much is he willing to trust a complete stranger with? ]

… There’s someone here that I don’t particularly care for. When we ran into each other, I was shocked and a little angry, and damaged a nearby window because of it.

[ That’s basically it, even if he is downplaying it. A lot. ]

[Unfortunately(?), Ardyn has no way of knowing whether or not Akechi is downplaying it at all; though he does wonder if just being "a little" angry equates to damaging a window.

Regardless, his curiosity is sparked either way.]

Someone you know from your own home?

Yes. We had a bit of a… falling out, I guess you could say.

[ If one considered attempted murder a “falling out.” ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE: April

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER also painting

welcome to the disaster zone

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