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

F (SQUEES IN GLEE FOR DAYS!)

[heartofalioness]

[You know what's the absolute epitome of discomfort and awkwardness? Zarkon being here, and from before his corruption. If this world was going to torture her like this, then couldn't it have been her father instead, or at least alongside this? She knew from experience that information from the future had a way of making itself known one way or another here, but for now Allura had her diplomacy and her diplomacy to hide the truth beyond being Allura from his future and that the humans that were here were the current Paladins of Voltron. And hopefully Zarkon would take any sad, conflicted brittleness in her smile as mere awkwardness for the time situation.

Still, she can't help a bit of amusement at Zarkon fumbling with his effects and the papers as she honestly does just happy to be walking by. Growing up, she was more awed by the tall and serious king that led a tall and serious people, and then when she was old enough to look past that he was already slowly being seduced by quintessence. It was amusing to see him like this, even if it made her heart ache for when she still had her planet, her father, even her mother in the early years.

She brushes the thoughts aside as she catches the paper one it exits Zarkon's wind, walking up to the bike and presenting it with a light curtsy.]

I believe this is yours, Your Majesty?

<3

[zariconic]

[Zarkon is tracking the paper so intently that he misses the beginning of her approach—but sees her as soon as the wind carries the paper toward her, and then into her hand.]

Ah, Princess—

[Zarkon composes himself. Although frustration isn't an unheard of emotion for him, he prefers not to display it in public, if he can help it.

It's still odd for him to see her so grown. So suddenly, from his perspective. She resembles her father so much now. It would be pleasant to have Alfor here as well, but in his absence, he should certainly be the one to look out for Alfor's daughter. As he takes the offered paper, he inclines his head in response to her curtsy. He doesn't notice anything amiss in her smile, and so, although he does feel some awkwardness at having been caught scrambling for a scrap of paper, he recovers quickly.]

Yes, it is. You have my thanks. It seems I've been charged with an errand.

[He indicates the clock he's carrying, with a glance and a shifting of his arm.]

[heartofalioness]

So I see.

[Even beyond the faint amusement of the emperor of Daibazaal delivering a clock, the image is just plain odd. The Zarkon she remembers from her youth would've been much too proud for such a task, delegating it to a servant or having to be goaded by her father to help. Normally she'd offer to help someone further, or at least give them company, but... the idea of being around him for longer than necessary is still uncomfortable, any offers he's given to watch over her deflected as gracefully as she can with saying he doesn't need to; that she has the paladins, Coran, and the Blades here, that she has a year's worth of experience here, and that he should focus on finding his own footing. The offer to assist him should he need it was given because it would've been out of place for her not to, not to mention rude.]

I'm glad I could be of assistance, sir.

[zariconic]

[While it's true that they haven't spend a great deal of time together, Zarkon continues to consider that it is his responsibility to look after her, regardless of her feelings on the matter. However, he also thinks that young adults should be independent, so he doesn't go out of his way to impose. True, she may not need assistance now, but if she does, he will provide it, and he sees himself in the role of protector nonetheless.

It's not that he thinks this work is suited to him. It isn't, and the sooner it's over, the better—but it had happened so fast. A lot of things here happened so fast. It is irritating, and an annoyed wind continues to toy with the edge of his paper. However, it would be similarly beneath him to abandon merchandise in the street like a delinquent. (Although the idea had admittedly occurred to him.) He doesn't like to fail. As a paladin, he can't do that. He recognizes that he needs to make some effort to establish himself here. This isn't his planet, and he isn't accompanied by his servants. His rank isn't recognized. He's trying to be realistic: he has to adapt, at least for the time that he's here. It isn't easy. But, for now, such activities might help him familiarize himself with this world and its ways, which will be useful in the future.

Looking at Allura, he's very keenly aware of the fact that Alfor would probably have enjoyed delivering a clock. Well, Zarkon had grown tired of the walking tour, in any case.]

And what do you make of these?

[He shows her the instructions. They're scribbled and somewhat vague. Zarkon doesn't know these streets well enough to make out where they're directing him. If she hadn't been Alfor's daughter, he might well have passed on the task to her outright.]

[heartofalioness]

[While Allura never quite inherited Alfor's unbridled passion for science and technology, she does at least understand and appreciate it, and she thinks the people here are even more impressive for making timepieces through manual and emotional crafting.

For now, though, she's more focused on interpreting the instructions, clearly unimpressed as she reads them.]

I can see why you might have had trouble.

[And her tone of makes it clear that this is Diplomacy for "Ancients, these might be the worst directions I've ever read in my life." She flips the paper to its blank side, pulls a pen from a pouch on the belt that's become a mainstay accessory for her in this world.]

Would you prefer a map or written instructions?

[zariconic]

[Zarkon, for his part, is not impressed by a clock. Or the instructions, for that matter. He nods, understanding her meaning. He feels much the same about them.]

Yes, they leave a lot to be desired.

[Zarkon glances back at the store with a faint look of disapproval. A very poorly managed establishment.]

As does this place of business.

[Nonetheless, he continues to rein in his irritation admirably in Allura's presence. He does have a standard of behavior to uphold where his friend's daughter is concerned. He should be a good example.]

Either is fine.

[There is still a possibility that Zarkon is going to make someone else deliver this clock. However, he doesn't want to hand off the clock to an incompetent, because that would also annoy him.]

[heartofalioness]

[Her eyebrow raises a bit at him admonishing the place of business. Yup, this is definitely her dad's besty, still a bit of a snob. It's involuntary, though, so it only lasts a fraction of a second before Allura turns back to penning the instructions with the help of a nearby window, making sure to list street names, number of streets passed, and any landmarks. Hopefully Zarkon knows basic Altean, but even if he doesn't the translation magic of this world helps a lot.]

Here you are.

[zariconic]

[Look, a good business should not be conscripting customers into service because their management is so poor that they ran out of staff. That's just unacceptable.

Zarkon does know Altean—magic translation or not—so he nods as he glances down at the instructions.]

My thanks again.

[Unfortunately, if Allura thinks Zarkon is about to leave at once, she's mistaken. Clearly, it's more important that he make sure of her well-being than that he deliver an outdated timepiece to someone who can't even write directions properly.]

And how have you been keeping? I trust you've encountered no difficulties recently.

[Meaning, if she has, he's going to do something about it.]

[heartofalioness]

[Quiiiiiznaaaaak... She barely, just BARELY keeps from wishing Zarkon was from her later child when he was more inclined to write her off. "No difficulties recently," ahaha, she got it the last four months, Empatheias, you hate her. She's not really in the mood for verbal irony, so bold-faced lying and subject changing it is.]

I've been doing well, thank you for asking. And you, sir?

[zariconic]

You don't need to thank me. Your father would expect no less of me. I've been well enough.

[There have been difficulties, of course, but Zarkon isn't one to complain about his problems. Not lightly, not to Allura.]

I know what manner of complications can arise here. You have only to contact me, and I'll be with you immediately.

[He's told her that before, but he's telling her that again.]

[heartofalioness]

As do I; I have been here for a little over a decaphoeb now.

[And she actually manages to keep the tone to a light tease instead of the more irritated sarcasm she feels inside, even if she wasn't quite as successful at hiding the slightest flinch at the mention of her father. Zarkon might notice air growing just a bit warmer and more humid.]

Thank you, my companions and I appreciate that. [Although she hopes their circumstances never get so dire that they need to take up that offer... She gives him another curtsy.] I likely shouldn't keep you any longer; depending on the employer, some jobs might make deductions from pay if the work isn't timely.

[If it was ANYONE ELSE, she might've lightly teased about how that's likely especially true for a clockwork shop.]

[zariconic]

I don't mean to suggest that you haven't—only that I understand as well.

[He notices the warmth, but reading others' emotions isn't one of his greatest skills, unless he knows someone very well, like Alfor or Honerva. Even then, he makes mistakes. And this small child who has suddenly become a young woman—he doesn't know her well at all.]

They're not my employer. They can look upon me as their benefactor, since I'm willing to assist.

[He isn't accepting payment, so this is more or less true.]

You should come for a visit.

[He's not great at taking a hint, either.]

[heartofalioness]

I see. My apologies for the misunderstandings.

[Cool, civil, textbook perfect etiquette... very distant for an old friend of her father's, but she can unleash how she really feels later, once she's safely away.]

Perhaps I will. [Preferably on a day Zarkon won't be there. Another curtsy.] For now, though, I'm afraid I'll need to take leave of you, Your Majesty. I have an appointment of my own to keep. I hope that your delivery goes well.

[zariconic]

Your apology is unnecessary.

[Zarkon's politeness isn't as textbook, but he does mean what he says. Most apologies aren't necessary. He doesn't require one from her.

He inclines his head again.]

Of course. I won't keep you. I look forward to it, Princess. And I'm sure it will be carried out without delay, thanks to your assistance.

[Now he's really going to have to deliver this clock, isn't he?]

[heartofalioness]

[Yup, so long, sucker, now Allura has to go drown her rage in calming tea!]