memepatheias | 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

[ It occurs to Gohan that he hadn't exactly explained to his alternate self just... how his last encounter with the androids went. Granted, they knew that he died, given Trunks shared that information with him, but... he never exactly mentioned just how close to death he'd been before coming here. ]

... I don't think I've told you what was happening before I came here, have I.

[Gohan falls silent for a brief moment when his other self brings that topic up. He was aware of his future self's ultimate fate.]

No. I'll listen if you want to talk about it, but... Are you sure that's something you want to share with me?

[It's said with some sympathy in his voice. It's painful for Gohan just to think about the fate he'd avoided. He can't even imagine how much more painful it would be for the one who'd actually suffered it.]

You need to hear about it, sooner or later. It's not like we don't know what happens to me.

[ It was said with such a blasé tone, but it also made him incredibly tense. He knew this wasn't gonna be easy to hear, but if they were gonna be discussing the ways their father died, it needed to be said. ]

before I woke up here, I... was fighting the androids. [ He took a breath. ] Trunks wanted to fight them too, but... he wasn't ready for it. He would never be ready for it, unless he experienced a true loss...

[Gohan stays quiet and listens. He knows how this story ends: with his death. But it's true, he doesn't know how it got to that point. And once there's a pause, he finds himself chiming in, as if he understands where this is going. It's not hard for him to figure out what happened next.]

So then you knocked him out and went to fight the Androids yourself, right? [He feels like that's the sort of thing he'd do in that sort of situation himself, after all, so he assumes his future self would do the same. That's the kind of example they were given to live by, after all.] You wanted to protect Trunks, so that he'd be ready one day to bear everyone's hopes for a brighter future.

It's not that simple.

[ He wanted it to be, he really did. He wanted to hope for a better tomorrow, but the reality of the situation at the time demanded real action. That was the moment he realized that he would never survive to see that better tomorrow, that hope for the future came at the cost of his death.

Because the power came in response to a need, not a desire. ]

... Trunks would've never been able to go Super Saiyan otherwise.

[ The asphalt beneath his feet cracked. As if it deteriorated on the spot. ]

[Gohan feels the color drain from his face at the revelation the other Gohan just handed to him. He'd wanted to believe that it was that simple, that he'd sacrificed himself to give Trunks a chance. That was good and noble, the exact sort of thing that Dad and Piccolo always did for him. To protect him, they would sacrifice themselves, and as a result, he'd find the strength to overcome adversity! The mark of a true hero, sacrificing yourself for the greater good!

But this...] ...You're telling me... [To Gohan...] That you threw your life away on... [This was...] ...A gamble?

[His voice is low and quiet, unusually serious-sounding compared to just a moment ago. But the air crackles around him with sparks of lightning, heating up with increasing intensity.]

[ If the display of lightning stunned Gohan, he certainly didn't show it. If anything, his expression hardened, his fist clenching as he continued. ]

... There was literally nothing else I could do.

[ The words were spoken softly, but tensely. He may have looked like he was unaffected by them, but on the inside, he was anything but. It was the single hardest thing he had to do, giving Trunks the motivation to surpass his limits by gambling his own life. But he had hope that Trunks could make the future safe. Hope that Trunks could succeed where he spent thirteen years failing.

The asphalt cracked some more, beginning to turn to dust. The ground seemingly dying underneath his feet. ]

Nothing? [He grits his teeth, his fists curling tightly into a ball. The lightning continues to crackle and surge around Gohan, the temperature steadily rising. Boy, it sure was actually starting to feel like a volcano in here now. Even though they were just outside in the open.]

That was the only option available to you? [It was galling to him, really, that his future self saw that as the only way to push Trunks to his limits and beyond. The only thing keeping him from truly flying off the handle was that, on some level, he can understand the logic. It was desperation. In most situations, he'd get it. But there was one thing that made this situation different from most, and it's that thing that's truly pissing him off.]

Do you even understand how much that messed Trunks up? [His even tone masks a quiet, boiling fury. Trunks was a broken mess because of the decision he'd made.]

[ There were a lot of retorts that came to mind, that Gohan did his best to keep to himself. But it was only partially succeeding, his silence coming at the cost of his demeanor faltering. He took a sharp breath, his fingernails digging into his palm with how tight he was clenching his fist. The wind picking up, causing bits of frost to form on the edges of the worn asphalt.

The air was chilling, coming from him. ]

He would've died.

[ The anger inside him was barely restrained. ]

And we don't. Have. Dragon balls.

[ The wind picked up again, matching his sharp inhale. However, as he exhaled, he closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down some. To keep a level head. Causing the wind to die down, before he spoke: ]

... I spent thirteen years fighting them, and nothing changed. So I put my hopes in Trunks.

[The snap back from the other him was enough to catch him off-guard, to make him take a step back. He stays quiet for a few seconds, closing his eyes tightly as he concentrates, trying to steady his nerves and calm himself down.

He was angry at the future him for making the choice to throw his life away all for the sake of making Trunks stronger. But he was even more mad at himself because, on some level, that decision made sense to him still. Was the only reason he was so mad about it was because of his personal feelings on the matter? Trunks was important to him too, he liked Trunks, his friend who gave so much to prevent his present from becoming someone else's future. So the fact that someone who was himself made a selfish choice that hurt Trunks so much just... angered him.

But... Maybe that's all everyone else ever did for him? Piccolo, 16, Dad... Did they wager their lives all those times for him not to protect him, but just because their deaths would be the trigger that pushed him beyond his limits, because he was their hope?

He lets out a sharp exhale, the air around him slowly cooling.]

...For the record, I still don't approve. I have too many people who still count on me to make a decision like that. [Sorry, at his age, he's still got too much of a hero complex in him.] ...But I get it.

TEST DRIVE: April

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