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

2/2

[reluctantbastard]

You're joking, right? A spirit? But spirits can't talk.

[Nailed it.]

[whatisright]

What?

[Justice can safely say he's never heard that one before.]

Of course we can talk. Where did you get the idea that we could not?

[reluctantbastard]

None of the mages I know have said Spirits talk. [All two of them.] Demons are supposedly the really talkative ones, though they don't really care who they interact with.

[Alistair finally notices some angry looking people headed in their general direction and inwardly groans.]

I think we'd better save this conversation for later. Those merchants are back and I'd rather avoid fighting.

[whatisright]

Demons talk to mages because they want something. Spirits often want nothing from mages besides to be left alone. [With some exceptions, of course. Some spirits like to meddle in mortal affairs, or they develop an attachment for certain mages that wander the Fade. Justice used to not understand spirits who picked out a mage they wanted to follow around, but now that he's dealt with mortals more, he gets it.

But speaking of mortals, security is here, and they look cranky. Grumble grumble damn charlatans.] If they did not wish to have their lies revealed, they should not have lied in the first place. [But dishonest merchants aren't worth a battle, so Justice holds up his hands to signal that he is unarmed and leaving without a fuss--if Alistair is paying attention, he may notice that Justice wears a ring made out of raw lyrium on his finger--and he starts walking away from security and the angry merchants.]

[reluctantbastard]

[He's just going to tuck that little tidbit about spirits away to really discuss with someone who knows more than him and isn't...pretty much a reanimated corpse.

Because that's just so very disturbing.

And though he was just an innocent bystander of Justice's brand of truth, Alistair does decide to leave the market area so that he's not clamped in irons and trotted off to another prison. One stint in Dragon's Peak was more than enough to last a lifetime for him.]

Ah, that's a part of trade. Whatever merchant can weave the best lies and stories is the one that makes the most profit.

At least that's what I always got from Bohdann.

[whatisright]

That does not make sense. Why would mortals buy from those that deceive them the most successfully? If the merchant is a liar, than the mortal does not know what it is that they are buying.

[Sorry, Alistair, but if you keep walking with him, you're stuck explaining mortal things. On the plus side, at least he's willing to explain spirit things?

The security is just going to glare at their backs as they slowly follow them until they're out of the market.]

[reluctantbastard]

[No, see, this is fine. He can handle this. It's just like walking around with... No, it's not just like that... perhaps more like Sten?

Yes, Sten. Perfect analogy. Good job, Alistair. This is why you're king.]

Honestly, because everyone wants to have something different from everyone else. A noble woman isn't going to care if the silk she has was made by one of the elves in the Alienage of Kirkwall, so long as she can tell her friends that it was made by the silent monks in the Anderfels. Or something like that.

[He honestly doesn't know where silk is from. Val Royeaux, maybe?]

So, it's a bit like that. "Oh, no, Marie. I got this love potion from so and so. It's guaranteed to make that handsome king fall madly in love with me and it only cost me fifty sovereigns."

[whatisright]

[Justice is basically a less mean Sten. And also more magical. And also more concerned with a moral code that Alistair can actually understand. And also he doesn't breathe and he can read minds.

But other than that yes he's basically Sten.]

That makes no sense. Mortals wish to be lied to so that they are not themselves lying when they repeat the lies? [Setting aside the ethical concerns of love potions, OF WHICH THERE ARE MANY] Believing a lie will not change the fact that whatever fake potion a mortal has bought will not work when they use it.

[Justice is not buying this explanation.]

[reluctantbastard]

[Sten isn't exactly mean. He's just very...taciturn. He has no use for stupidity. He's very much a Qunari. But, sure, we can say that Justice is more easily understood in the long run.]

It's more complicated than that. They like to hear things that will make them feel better about themselves. If Lady So-and-so can't win the heart of Ser What's-his-name and she tries a love potion and still can't do it, she can blame the merchant. Instead of focusing on the fact that her voice sounds like a dragon's screech. Plausible deniability is only a part of it.

[Well, women certainly are from what he's learned over the past year.]

Besides, it's more like... giving confidence? A shy girl drinks a love potion and suddenly she can be a bit more open in front of her crush. To her, that means it worked.

[whatisright]

So people wish to be lied to in order to give them confidence?

[This is just getting weirder and weirder.]

Why rely on lies to do that? Why not simply build one's confidence through organic and honest means? [Guess who has literally never had to deal with self-esteem issues. Come on. Guess.] And even disregarding that, why would one even convince themselves that they are depending on a love potion? Why pretend you are using magic to make a person your thrall if you are searching for their honest affection?

[Justice has memories of Kristoff's love for his wife, and the idea of trying to force someone into a relationship like that with magic and manipulation is almost as much anathema as possessing someone. The idea of pretending you're doing that when you're not really is just... weird and messed up.]

[reluctantbastard]

Because it's easier to use a placebo than to really believe that you have worth.

[Spoken like a man who knows the truth of the matter.]

Confidence isn't so easily gained by humans. It's something that if it's organically grown can take years, even decades, to actually form to the point where trusting in your own talents is enough. If it does at all.

[Look, you. You don't know how hard it is to woo a woman you think you have no right to really ask to love you. It's the most difficult thing ever. Just.... trust him.]

[whatisright]

[Wow, that's... really, really sad.]

Some self-doubt is good. It is a sign that you are wise enough to know that you are flawed, and that you make mistakes. Self-doubt to the point where you ignore evidence of your own worth...

[Justice shakes his head. It may be hard for a person to tell if they don't know him well, but the way his expression softens speaks volumes.]

All mortals have worth, unless they have gone out of their way to squander it on evil. Perhaps not all mortals can be the wisest or the most admired, but that does not mean that they are worthless, and that does not mean evidence of their skill can go ignored.

There is beauty in all mortals and their own individual imperfections, and others recognize that beauty. It leaves a mark on your world, and on the Fade.

[Can you tell he's mused about this a lot? Because he has.]

Can you not see that in yourselves?