Test Drive: December

[empevents]

— TEST DRIVE: DECEMBER —

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 25 November and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on December 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. For new characters, these threads do not count for activity check. However, these can be supplementary threads for players already in-game.
  
  
• Enable Me/App This Pls. Talk about your app plans or look for a cast HERE!
  
  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 same committee of natives that decided to tackle Halloween have decided to take on the winter holidays of Otherworlders as well! After interviewing several Otherworlders to acquire some grasp on the traditions associated with these holidays, the committee determines that many of the typical winter festivities just aren’t up to snuff with what they like to see in Verens. So after running away with some ideas and getting the locals involved, there are all sorts of new and unusual winter activities popping up around the city! Which one will you give a try?
  

  1. Tree Toppers: At various locations throughout Verens, there are massive, fully decorated evergreen trees standing tall for the public to enjoy. However, there are more to these trees than meets the eye, and should you approach, you will see a placard among the boughs: climb to the top of the tree, and snatch the crown at the top to become Winter Royalty! Sure enough, the trees are topped with crowns made of real gold, but reaching the top may not be as easy as you think. The trees are several stories tall, and they are not particularly stable. Perhaps you need a partner to spot you, or maybe you’re racing to the top! Either way, it’s going to take some effort to reach the crown.
     
  2. We Won’t Go Until We Get Some: Groups of natives have taken up caroling and arrive at your door to serenade and ask for some figgy pudding. The thing is, they are relentless. They will not leave until they have received some figgy pudding, so if you don’t have any on hand (and why would you), it’s time to take a trip to the grocery store and whip up some of the requested dish. Hopefully you know how to make it...or find someone who knows how, quick! Those carolers are getting awfully hungry, and it’s getting late...
     
  3. Elf on a Shelf: Through the course of their “research”, the committee learned of toy-making elves, though they seem to have conflated their understanding of them with another creature from folklore. They have taken imps from the forest, dressed them up in cute red and green costumes, and set them loose in the city, claiming that whoever captures the most “elves” with be rewarded with a giant rocking horse. Some of the “elves” will hide and thus need to be sniffed out, but others still are far more mischievous and are likely to get into your cabinets and drawers. Oh, dear...perhaps you’ll be earning that rocking horse, whether you wanted it or not.

  
  
  
  • Prompt E: The recent death of an Arehtei has prompted some people to believe that there may be some Arehtei who have yet to come back, or have yet to be discovered. As such, a team not at all enforced by the local government are going around encouraging others to join their cause: find new Arehtei.
  

  1. Make 'em Talk: As most Arehtei are like giant animals, the group has captured all kinds of creatures from all over the world and are trying to see if certain emotional reactions will make these creatures talk. Arehtei talk, after all, so it would only be natural for the undiscovered Arehtei to be capable of speech. Perhaps you come by the petting zoo or perhaps you were asked by a member of the team to help out. Your task now is to make the creature before you speak.
     
  2. The Monthly Rituals: The various emotions represented by the current living Arehtei are all well and good, but what about emotions such as Hot and Cold, Rich and Poor, Alive and Dead, Woke and Lit? There are apparently so many other emotions that don't fall under the spectrum of what the current Arehtei represent, and the group is now hosting a ritual at the park in hopes of summoning new Arehtei. People attending the rituals are partnered up again and they have to make their partner feel these new emotions. For your efforts, you are given a cup of either peppermint mocha or raspberry iced tea!
     
  3. Emotional Effects: Maybe even summoning the long forgotten Simpathis, Arehtei of Apathy, might help. Despite the destructive effects of the lack of emotion, people are encouraged to turn off their emotions for a minute or two in hopes of the emotion drops in people's crystals to help the Arehtei in some way. After all, feeling certain emotions make the emotional state of the world tilt in a particular manner. Should there be a lot of apathy, then the Arehtei of apathy might (re)surface and bring some balance! Just watch out for people suddenly making the ground shake. The glass you're holding might suddenly break, or perhaps the street you're walking in might suddenly lose all its colour.
     

  
  
  
  • Prompt F: Life in Empatheias is generally a peaceful one, but it's also important to be perpetually prepared for any kind of emergency. The Verens General Hospital has issued a half-day mandatory First Aid course for all of its citizen. The staff are aware that these kinds of classes tend to be boring for most people, which is why this one will come with some exciting twists! The first thing everyone will notice is that all the training takes place outdoors. To be precise, it's a forest that looks more like a boot camp. Remember, attendance is mandatory!
  

  1. Stayin’ Alive: The first course is a classic CPR course - you and a partner are given an instruction book on how to resuscitate a person, then apply those skills on a dummy. That's what seems to be the case for most pairs, but some others won't be so lucky! It turns out that some staff members will shoot poison darts from afar. If you're hit, it's your partner's job to either suck out the poison, or run back to the supply cabin for the antidote. This is the REAL test! Isn't it thrilling?
     
  2. I Will Survive: The second course is another much-needed skill when it comes to saving lives; namely the fireman's carry. Once again, you're paired up with a partner, but this time only one has to do most of the work, while the other has to do their best to play their part. What does this course involve? It's an army-style obstacle course, where one has to carry another person through various obstacles. How exciting!
     
  3. How To Save a Life: The final course involves performing emergency surgery. Don't worry! The surgery is performed on a test dummy, of course. With the most basic training instructions (which is completely inadequate for this task), you and your partner are tasked with surgically removing the dummy's kidney and replacing it with a fresh one from your medical box. Work slowly and carefully together... and don't panic. Seriously, don't. The staff have also released some monster snakes nearby, just to add to the excitement. Stay calm, and the creatures won't sense your presence. Alternatively, one partner can fight them while the other one works on the patient. First Aid has never been so blood-tingling before!

  
  
  
  
  • Prompt G: Make your own! It could include music and/or jump ropes.
  
  
  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

adora / she-ra and the princesses of power

[adorka]

i; tree toppers: an amazon falls out of a tree

[ oh yeah.

adora wouldn't necessarily call herself competitive.. okay no, blatantly untrue, she's absolutely competitive. a military upbringing can foster the innate desire to be the very best, like no one ever was, and whether or not a tree climbing contest is kind of stupid is irrelevant. she will get that crown!!

transforming into a giant powerful woman isn't cheating, right? ]

For the honor of Grayskull!

[ cue the blinding flash of light, the magical girl transformation sequence, and she's off, an eight foot powerhouse is launching herself into the nearest tree, shining crystal sword on her back. fair hair billowing, she leaps and swings athletically from branch to branch, the very picture of heroism and power - at least until the tree creaks beneath her and begins to sway. it's.. not a particularly large tree, and she is a particularly large girl. the trunk groans in protest, until the entire tree begins to bend toward the ground. with a shriek, adora clings to the closest branch, and the pine hits the ground with a crash, the little gold crown on top rolling to the ground with a merry tink..]

ii; we won't go until we get some: local teenager burns down kitchen

[ cooking, tho.

adora has quite a few survival skills under her belt, but her training definitely left holes in her life skills. she can definitely prepare, like... powdered food from a bag. but real food? meals? nooo way.

clutching her shopping basket, adora stares down the aisle ahead of her, the... baking aisle. there is so much.. stuff. she looks like a deer in the headlights. baking soda? is that for drinking? is it the same thing as.. baking powder? someone, please assist. ]

Sooo.. I guess I'll need.. figs?

iii; i will survive: football carry

[ now, here's where she can shine for sure. obstacle courses!! with a partner! she can do this. does someone need a carry? here it comes again - for the honor of grayskull!! adora swings her giant crystal sword and shouts the magic words and you're now partnered with a giant glowing woman.

grinning, she cracks her knuckles. ]

Ready?

[ she'll just.. scoop you right up football style underneath one arm. ]

iv; wildcard

[ don't like what you see here? throw something else at me, or tweak one of the above prompts to your liking! seriously, come at me. ♥

i

[zerograv]

[eight foot powerhouse Ochaco is NOT, but she IS doing her best to climb the tree at the same time as several other contestants, Adora/She-ra included. Which means she is acutely aware of the current dork-tragedy at hand. She'd managed to get down before anything terrible happened, but it doesn't look like the cause of the currently swaying tree has managed to get down yet. She shouts up]

Hey! Are you okay? If you fall I can slow you down and catch you!! [hopefully. It would involve her quirk, to be honest. Concequences of that be damned. Even if Adora is currently an 8 foot tall battle machine, a fall COULD still hurt her. As an aside, Ochaco picks up the crown before it rolls too far.]

[adorka]

Nnno! Nope! I'm fine! Definitely fine!

[ she is not fine.

or, well, she's mostly fine, but the tree? less fine. it groans beneath her weight again as it begins to topple, and adora yowls in distress, renewing her grip as it bends hard toward the ground, moving quickly. timber!! make way!! ]

ultimate dork

[zerograv]

[oh. oh no nono. Ochaco has to think quick. She definitely doesn't just want to stand by while someone falls and gets hurt!! Against her better judgement she taps her fingers to her legs and leaps up, effectively making her jump up much higher than she should be able to without her gravity shifting quirk. It works, luckily and she's able to grab Adora by the shoulders and activate it again, lightening her weight enough to slow her.]

Quick! Let go and try and roll to the left out of the way, okay! [the tree may have to just be a victim here, unfortunately. ...As is the current state of Ochaco's stomach, which is already starting to roil with nausea.

In all of this, the crown has been forgotten, laid idly on the ground in the path of the tree.]

don't look at her, she's an idiot..

[adorka]

[ she's bracing herself for impact, when she's suddenly feeling.. light? much lighter. wow this is weird.

anyway, less dwelling on the weirdness, more action. using her newfound lightness, adora is quick to release her grip and swing down from the bending pine - though once her feet are on the ground again, the tree has nothing weighing it down anymore, so it.. catapults back again, like a slingshot. ]

Make way!

[ please don't get a faceful of tree!! ]

ii

[sultrily]

[ Alex has trouble with the most mundane of tasks, but cooking is just under her short area of understanding to where she can actually make this figgy pudding the carollers desire. She's quietly looking at the shelves of ingredients, before turning her head as Adora's voice caught her attention.

Smiling slightly, Alex tilts her head back towards the shelves, indicating what they would need to get. ]

... I'll help you if you want.

[adorka]

[ ahh, an angel in disguise..

adora starts in mild surprise, but soon enough she's exhaling, her shoulders slumping in relief. ]

Really? That would be great..

[ she's never even heard of figgy pudding at all, let alone tried to create it?? ]

[sultrily]

[ As Adora agreed to letting her help, Alex immediately brightens, and the lights illuminating the aisle seem to brighten as well as she smiles warmly. ]

I asked around and I made a list of things to get... let’s see here...

[ She pulls out a folded sheet of paper that she was holding in her free hand. ]

Well, the first thing we should get are figs! ... hm, where’s the Produce aisle?

[adorka]

Figs! Totally called it.

[ that's not super impressive tho adora, i mean, it's called figgy pudding. but uh.. produce aisle? she glances to the left, then the right. ]

What's produce?

[sultrily]

Produce is... fruit, veggies. Things that grow from the ground!

[ Amused, Alex briefly breaks eye contact to look around the grocery store curiously. ]

I’m sure these signs will show us the way!

iii

[deathboss]

[Eikichi is...not used to many people being taller than him, much less a lady....on the other hand, he hates having to run anywhere so...]

Very well! You shall have the honor of carrying me, Eikichi Mishina around, hoooooou!

[He's 6'2" and thinner than a skeleton. Okay maybe not a skeleton but he's basically a twig in human form.]

[adorka]

[ he's tall, but he's all bones, so he's more or less a feather beneath her arm - easy! ]

Great! Hold on!

[ to.. whatever you can, apparently, it's not as if she's carrying him in a way that facilitates any apparent way to "hold on" but whatever!! she's not worried, her grip is secure!! taking off into a hard sprint, adora grins, making her way toward the stepping stones. ]

Arms in!

[deathboss]

But I'm injured! I can't move!

[He's mostly joking from the way he tucks in his arms. He's hold on for dear life, all things considered cause holy shit she's fast!]

Uh are you sure this is safe?

[adorka]

Nope. But you'll be fine!

[ they're just stepping stones, don't be such a guppy!! at least with his arms in they won't be smacking against any of them, because without another warning she's leaping onto the first one, then the next. ]

Want me to carry you differently?

[ if his arms are apparently broken, there are numerous other ways she might tote around a noodle man. ]

[deathboss]

[Well...it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Still he mentally prepares himself for the worst, due to his own terrible bad luck and comedic timing.]

Hey whatever works best for you, babe! As long as we make it there in one piece.

[Please don't take the babe comment wrong, he just calls people like that a lot (it's the whole visual kei aesthetic.)]

i

[crimsomatic]

[ If the tree had held up for a few moments longer, it would have seen one Ruby Rose ascend its branches, and she would totally be cheating by using a power, too, okay. It's fine. But between Crescent Rose and her semblance, she would be at the top of that tree and claiming that crown within seconds!

However, the amazonian girl that knocks the tree right over does all the hard work for her, and so she claims the crown as it rolls into the grown, setting it on top of her head with aplomb. ]

Ta-daaaaaa! I am the Queen of CHRISTMAS!!! FEEL MY WRATH!!!

[ ... ]

...I meant wreaths. Wreaths, not wrath...

[ Maybe she got a little carried away there... ]

[adorka]

[ THIS BETRAYAL..

the dust clears, the poor tree is probably injured beyond repair, and her pride has taken a definite pounding.. and on top of it all, this shrieky goth wannabe stole her crown!! ]

H-hey!

[ dragging herself up, pine needles in her hair and sap in her cape, adora.. pouts. ]

I worked hard for that!

[crimsomatic]

[ She worked hard at knocking the tree over in Ruby's estimation, and had it stayed upright, she has no doubt she would have reached the crown first anyway, with how fast she was going. It's hard not to gloat, even if this girl looks pretty put-out about it. Hm...

What would Yang do...okay, no that's no good. Weiss? No, that's no good either. Bl...ake...??

She's on her own for this one. ]

Do you want to share it? We can take turns being the Queens of Christmas! There's no limitation on the number of Christmas Queens there can be.

[ She literally just decided this. ]

[adorka]

.. no. You grabbed it first, that means you win it.

[ SHE DOESN'T LIKE TO LOSE!!!!!

.. but she miscalculated, okay, she does not deserve the crown!! with a heavy sigh, adora brushes pine needles from her skirt and straightens up. ]

What's a Christmas, anyway?

[crimsomatic]

[ She still feels a little bad — maybe she got even more carried away than she thought. This crown is tainted now!! How can she be a Queen of Christmas with this bearing down on her soul?!?

...She will have to find a way to endure, because it really is a sweet crown and she is not taking it off anytime soon.. ]

Oh — it's a holiday! A big fat man comes down your chimney and gives you presents. It's...nooooot as creepy as it sounds, I promise.

[ And she has yet to see any evidence that this SANTA figure actually exists. She has her doubts. ]

Iii

[expectopromptoyum]

[ Mandatory participation obstacle courses where he didn’t get to pick his own partner and success is a feat of strength. This is gonna be good.

At least Prompto wasn’t picked last, and the girl looks like she should be light enough for him to carry without extra grunting. He tries to size her up without checking her out - he’d believe anywhere from 13 to 23, which is an uncomfortably wide range to a 20 year old.

He gives her a slick half grin and a thumbs up, like relax, no worries. We’ve got this.

He receives a dozen sunspots in return and what might be a case of vertigo. Prompto realizes, no, he really is sideways because SHE is carrying HIM.

Glancing up at the Valkyrie that’s holding him, Prompto assumes the worst. ]

Did you shrink me?

[ A guy of a perfectly normal and not short 68 inches still does not have any to spare. Oh my god, give them back! ]

[adorka]

Shrink you?

[ i mean, he's already kind of a little guy anyway.. who knows, maybe she could have carried him even without she-ra to help!! but this is way easier. her arms are so strong like this!! he's light as a chocobo feather. ]

Nope, I just uh - got big. It's a whole.. thing. Don't worry about it!

[ and she's off like a shot toward the balancing bridge!! ]

Get ready!!

[expectopromptoyum]

Oh, yeah, that thing where chicks grow three feet in flash of light. No sweat, happens all the time.

[ The nonchalant sarcasm is Prompto’s way of hedging his bets. Magic isn’t a problem. Unfamiliar magic with Shiva’s second cousin might be a problem.

Besides, he’s still miffed at being unceremoniously toted around. When he says he wouldn’t mind getting picked up, this isn’t what he has in mind. ]

Get ready for what? My new life as your plushie?

[adorka]

[ look.. she knows it's weird, okay!! it's still kind of new to her, too. but it's a long story that's not for telling while she's carrying a full grown man(?) through an obstacle course.

once they reach the balancing bridge she has to change up her game - carrying him under her arm isn't great for her balance! so she shifts tactics mid-stride and slings him over her shoulders instead. much better. hopping up onto the balance beam, she begins to pick her way carefully and assuredly across it. ]

Plushie? What's that?

2

[bubblings]

Um, n0, fuck th@t, u just need m0re sugar!

[ Beware, as Hiyori promptly puts a whole three bags of sugar in Adora's basket. Beware of the tiny girl with a monstrous sweet tooth. ]