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

[zariconic]

[He does smile at her, faintly. He likes to hear her call him husband. It still feels pleasantly novel, after years of marriage.]

Yes, I have. I could do more—but without control, it's of limited value.

[It's not as if Zarkon doesn't have deeper anger to tap into. He could do so, if he wanted to. He could go around laying waste to forests. But what would be the point?]

It's different than the lion. It understands my thoughts. I can guide it with my will, my reason. These emotions are more unpredictable. But I suppose it is a matter of redirecting my will.

[He can control his emotions. Of course he can—until he can't.]

[shroudedsecrets]

[For her it was a nearly unconscious way of reaffirming the connection between them. Without pressing work or the empire or other concerns to distract, it was the longest amount of time so far that she had been able to... stay.]

It's a resource. One of the few this world provides. Your will is very strong, I know that you will master it.

[Gently, she gives his hand a small squeeze.]

You know that I will help you.

[For her, it was understanding the emotions and their meanings themselves that was the problem. But helping him grasp the theory... that was easier enough.]

[zariconic]

It is a resource, and it is here. Of course I'll master it.

[Zarkon gleams faintly with pride as he says this, the shimmer of it passing over his body accompanied by another surge of warmth. He doesn't want to rely too much on this emotional power, but while he's here, he needs to learn to use it. For his own good, and the good of others.]

It's a matter of time.

[He returns her squeeze with pressure of his own.]

Especially with you by my side.

[shroudedsecrets]

...You will.

[It almost feels like a moment in the past, a brief shimmering of a memory, of standing together knowing a purpose that laid ahead... it lasts only a moment, but it feels warm. Because he's warm. She almost feels... young. And so tired, all in the same instant.]

That's one attainable goal.

[One that could be mastered, built on. Easier to form the others around that.

And yet there were still the other elements. The wild cards. Not knowing if someone else would tell him the future first--but she cuts herself off from that. No need to go down that path. Not when she had to sort out even more important considerations.]

What else would you like to accomplish on this mission?

[zariconic]

[They always have faith in each other. It's what he's used to, and it feels right. His unease about her condition is still with him, but as Honerva says, it's a matter of exercising his will, isn't it? He'll focus on his more positive feelings now, as he leads them both onward.]

We'll do it together.

[Her question isn't too difficult for him to answer. He knows his roles, and so he doesn't offer suffer with indecision.]

This may not truly be our universe—but it's still my duty to protect this place, as I protect the worlds we know.

[He doesn't see why his duty as a paladin shouldn't extend to an adjacent universe—if that's what this is. It simply makes sense that he should engage in fitting work for someone of his status and skill. What's more fitting than honorable battle?]

[shroudedsecrets]

[Protect...

Was that what it had been, back then? Protecting the empire, protecting their planet, because of the rift... the rift, the rift-- but no, it was gone now.

Other planets had not mattered. But this was another reality. She had to remind herself of that, even if being pulled here wasn't anything that she would have imagined that trip being.

But if she wanted to protect Zarkon and Zarkon wanted to try and protect this world... and more importantly, they did have to live here now, so ensuring it's survival... what a strange, strange, concept. She didn't know the first thing about that. Not when it didn't involve using the quintessence to support the empire, support Central Command, that vision of the empire under his rule. Even if it was all falling apart, now, all of it--]

It's a place that we have to live in. It only makes sense to protect it.

[She murmurs, as much as she tries to find the sense in it. Her ways... the ways she knew now, would not help the world. She groans slightly again, that headache returning.]

[zariconic]

[He waits while she thinks; he doesn't feel a rush to fill all silences with noise, like some people do. He's happy enough to enjoy her presence as they travel.

Although the silence that's left between them fills with something other than noise—curiosity about what it is she can't tell him and what it is that seems to be delaying her speech. She'd never been one to hesitate to speak her mind. The air around him runs warm, then cold, then warm again.

When she does speak, it almost sounds as if she's convincing herself.]

Yes, of course it does.

[The atmospheric effects he's creating are relatively subtle, but when Honerva groans, there's suddenly a vibration in the ground beneath his feet, which has more to do with alarm than just unease. He leans down toward her again.]

What is it, beloved?

[shroudedsecrets]

[There's a moment she hesitates, not wanting to worry him, but this situation was already complicated enough with what she was trying to handle.

...And he wanted to support her. That should have been enough.]

I've just been doing too much thinking, about what sort of work that project would entail. It's not at all like Daibazaal. It's given me an ache, but not one that I can't handle. I am sorry to have caused you concern for it.