SEPTEMBER TEST DRIVE

[thespaceopera]

THE FALL TEST DRIVE MEME
(Or Spring Test Drive for you Southern Hemisphere folks!)

Got someone you want to try out before you app? Well this is the post for it! Feel free to use anything that fits in the setting of Drift Fleet! Want to play bumper shuttles? Want to go wild in a med bay? Play around with the current plot? Have at it!

Threads from the Test-Drive may be made game "canon" but DO NOT count toward AC!

FOR NEW PLAYERS: You DO NOT NEED an invite to participate in the TEST DRIVE! If you decide to APP into the game, ONLY THEN will you need an invite from a current player!

Helpful Info for Ideas!:

September's Star System

Game Details

Test drives are posted SEASONALLY, so the next one will be in December!

Comments

[echovocation]

[Matthew nods along slowly, working through that like chewing a tough piece of steak.] Well, communicable sentience seems to be one of the universal themes. Of course, that's a pretty chicken-and-the-egg question of whether it arose out of necessity as life evolved, or if the only reason it's a common theme is because life couldn't exist without it.

...'course, I never took philosophy in college. I couldn't tell you. [Shoots a smile in Justice's general direction.] You sound like you've got a lot of thoughts on it. Too much spare time, or not enough?

[whatisright]

Philosophy is not my area of expertise. I only consider these things because I find mortals fascinating.

[Yeah, if Matthew didn't already gather that Justice might not be a regular human, this might be a tip off.]

I only recently began living among them. Prior, I met them rarely, usually in dreams. I have little time where I am not busy, but it would be hard not to have thoughts on their world now that I am spending so much time in it. Or perhaps I should say your world.

[His tone has slid back to his neutral sternness. This isn't him losing interest as much as him bracing for Matthew to react poorly to the implication that he is a spirit from the Fade. He knows that most mortals immediately assume that any spirit is a demon. He knows that he can only expect fear and unease when he reveals these things about himself--but he can't hide it. Being deceptive for the sake of his own comfort would be wrong. And he considers intentionally omitting this fact about himself when it comes up naturally in conversation to be deceptive.]

[echovocation]

[Yeah don't worry pal, that ship's sailed and made it back to port already. Matt hasn't dealt much with...uh, non-mortals, but there's one that chills out in his city with some frequency up in that fancy new Stark tower, so he doesn't bat an eye at the admission.]

You could. I think it's fair to offer up a little division, similarities notwithstanding. [Matthew pauses, hanging onto his cane with both hands as he stops.] Actually Justice, I'd like to ask you something, if you're not opposed to my prying.

[whatisright]

[Justice is pleasantly surprised at how well Matthew takes it. Maybe mortals aren't as frightened of spirits in Matthew's world as they are in Ferelden.

Justice stops with Matthew, watching with some undeniable curiosity.] Ask what you will. If I do not wish to answer, I will simply say so.

[It would be pretty unfair for Justice to ask mortals all the questions, after all. He doesn't mind answering some of his own.]

[echovocation]

The delineation of worlds to which you keep referring, talking about speaking to people in dreams, only recently living among mortals... What are you, exactly?

[whatisright]

I am a spirit of justice from the Fade.

[He says it without hesitation, like he'd expected the answer to that question to just be obvious. Though this would explain a certain amount--not everyone may know enough about spirits to identify them even when he talks about meeting people in dreams. Does he even know about the Fade? Justice chooses to explain it just in case, since he would have expected him to know about spirits too.]

The Fade is where mortals go to dream. The Veil divides the waking world and the dreaming world, and I passed through it when a demon I battled was careless with its magic.

[echovocation]

[Absorbs that.]

...all right. [Gestures before them for Justice to continue walking, should he so wish.]

[whatisright]

You're taking this well.

[Good on you, Matt. If everyone reacted like this, Justice would be happy. Or however happy a spirit of justice can possibly be.

Justice starts walking again, keeping his pace steady and his eye on Matthew just in case he can't hear him moving.]

What do you do in your world? You don't seem to be a merchant or a farmer. [Or a knight or a noble or... well, any profession Justice knows of. Most professions in Thedas end up having their own dress code--armor for knights, fine silks for nobles, dirt for farmers, and so on.]

[echovocation]

[IS HE???? He's back to walking a step behind Justice, but he's not being openly hostile or anything. No, it's more like he's regained a little bit of his caution.]

I'm a lawyer. I uh, I help to protect people using the laws of our justice system.

[whatisright]

[Considering how most people back home react to a spirit in their midst, Matthew seems incredibly chill about it.]

A... lawyer? [This mention of a justice system seems very relevant to Justice's interests, but he's not exactly sure what that means. Ferelden doesn't exactly have a well constructed legal system, much less lawyers.] How does that work?

[echovocation]

Well, it takes around eight years and just shy of four hundred thousand dollars to become one, so. [The amount of student debt he's got waiting for him back home...is not as much as it could've been if he hadn't gotten all those scholarships.] We have a system in place that affords every single person suspected of criminal activity to a hearing, trial and verdict handed down by a jury of their peers. -minus, of course, civil cases, which may or may not have a jury depending on the circumstances.

[He bumps into somebody and apologizes, hand up before turning back to Justice.] As a lawyer, I'm usually on defense. I represent the accused. The burden is on the prosecution to prove the guilt of my client, but ideally, the goal of a trial is to uncover the truth of a crime and see to it that the appropriate parties are punished or set free.

[whatisright]

[Justice assumes that 'dollars' is a form of currency, and four hundred thousand is a lot. It sounds like a lot. Four hundred thousand anything sounds like a lot.

He listens carefully to the description, nodding along. It all sounds... very sensible, actually.]

You have formalized a process for your society to grant justice on a large scale. [This. Is. AMAZING.] And everyone has access to this process? Regardless of who or what they are?

[Some of Justice's enthusiasm for the idea leaks into his voice, but it's still the understated shift all his emotions inspire in his words. A system intended to apply to everyone undoubtedly has flaws, but it's so much better than what Justice has seen in Thedas. In Ferelden, there is little infrastructure to deal with crime, and so local guardsmen will usually deal with it by putting people into gibbets or hanging them. Those without guardsmen to run to have to make do by finding their own justice, and not everyone has the physical strength or influence to do that.]

[echovocation]

They are. [Matt could just as easily rag on their justice system and all its many, many flaws, but now isn't the time for a pro-vigilante rant. This place doesn't affird much obscurity; he'll have to lay low. ...if that's even possible.] Of course, the only sentient species in my world is the human race, so. It's not as if a dog could be put on trial for biting it's owner's neighbor.

[whatisright]

Really? Only humans? No elves, Qunari, or dwarves?

[That's weird. That's really weird. But never mind that--a formalized justice system where a group examines evidence and decides on guilt is much more relevant to Justice. It can't possibly be perfect, because no system created by imperfect creatures can be perfect, but it still sounds so much better than the near free for all Justice is used to.]

I wish to learn more of your legal system. Do you have a resource from which to do so? A book, or perhaps an object you use often while working? [Justice can read objects. He is perfectly happy pulling information from Matt's tie if it means he gets to learn more about this new way of delivering justice to the common people.]

[echovocation]

[wtf an 'object' do u mean like an informative pamphlet] Sorry, not on me. Usually it's just evidence pertinent to the case and whatever's in my head.