livinglot | ⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #4

WELCOME TO THE SHOW!↴

Or, more specifically, Lost Carnival's test drive meme! This is an opportunity to try out your characters in the setting before you apply, or to put together samples for characters you've never played before. There are going to be options for both new arrivals and veteran characters. Before we get started, let's lay down some details:

You can read the full premise here.
Reserves and Applications are both currently OPEN.
You can apply as a newcomer or as a "veteran" character who has been in the carnival for up to three years. In the case of veteran characters, you will need to come up with an explanation of why they haven't been around the carnival recently.
TDM threads can be used as game canon after the fact if both characters are accepted and the players agree to it.
If you are interested in additional IC and OOC plot responsibilities, consider applying for a Supervisor position. Treasurer, Wardrobe Manager, and Acquisitioner are currently open. More roles that currently need filling are listed here!

NEW RECRUITS↴

You gotta start somewhere, right? These prompts are for characters who are arriving in the carnival for the first time, and who are destined to sign a contract. How they go about that is up to you, but in the meantime they can enjoy the sights and sounds of something truly out of this world. Visitors to the carnival comes from many different worlds today, as the ringmaster casts out her recruitment lures. Will you become her most recent hire?

► ADMISSION FEES: After crossing into the carnival's realm and passing through the trees, most visitors will find themselves at the front gate - though not all choose to enter that way. If they enter legitimately, however, they will have to pass by a clerk who will trade admission and tickets for various attractions and rides in exchange for "anything of value." What is of value may seem highly subjective, and so some may struggle to produce payment at first, though in actuality the carnival will take anything from mundane currency to items of purely sentimental value.

► MIRROR MAZE: The mirror maze (pictured above) is a big attraction in the carnival, and stretches much further on the inside than it looks like it will on the outside. It's hard to get through, and what's more, after you've been in there for a while your reflections will start gaining a mind of their own - mostly in order to taunt and distract you with personal information. They don't know everything you know, but they know more than they should, and their mind games can be pretty hit or miss.

► GAMER'S CIRCLE: Almost all of the game booths are organized in a large ring around the Cookhouse, called Gamer's Circle. Your can play just about any carnival game you can imagine here, for a variety of prizes sometimes traditional, exotic, or outright magical. Dart tossing? Got it. That game with the water guns? Got it. Most of these booths are currently manned by humanoid spirits who look like they are made of smoke. If they can trick you into earning debt, they will.

► NOT YOUR WHEELHOUSE: Sometimes, even magical ferris wheels get stuck. The carnival's particular wheel is enchanted to create a particular out of this world experience - as you pass along the top, you feel as if they are so close to the sky that you can interact with the stars like baubles hanging above your head. Of course, the novelty probably wears off when the wheel is broken and you've been stuck enjoying the light show with some stranger for the last half hour. How are you going to pass the time?

► TRYING TO LEAF: No matter where you came from, you seemingly emerged from a forest. Obviously, to get back home you should be able to go back in the same direction, right? It turns out you can't. Worse, trying too hard to get through the wood will result in you getting lost, or turned back to the carnival. The trees here are not normal, and are varying levels of alien, including things like trees with glowing fruit or orange flowers that constantly burn like candles.

► WILD CARD: Anything else you can imagine in this setting! There are a lot of possibilities and you're free to explore them. Check out the rest of the game info or the locations page for additional inspiration. Want to make a starter with your character experiencing their first theoretical change? Go for it!

VETERAN WORKERS↴

These prompts are tailored to the carnival's existing employees, the veterans. Odds are they've been here from somewhere between a few months and three years already, and know their way around the block. For them, this is just business as usual - and depending on their attitude towards their job, they may or may not contribute to a few people accidentally getting themselves a contract. Whatever you do, though, don't warn visitors away from the carnival - the ringmaster hates losing business like that.

► DO YOUR WORK: This one's pretty simple - just have your character doing whatever you'd like to have their job be! There is a big list of ideas over here, and you could use this to try things out with a character you intend to be a new arrival, as well.

► WILL O' WISPS: The ringmaster's will o' wisps have gotten free, and she's asked that everyone keep and eye out and help her reclaim them regardless of their official jobs. Wisps are small creatures that burn both hot and cold and comes in a few different variations of the same basic theme. Handling them physically (or psionically, or magically, for that matter) is difficult due to their near intangible nature. Touching and being around them can result in confusion and a sensation similar to being comfortably drunk.

► BREAK TIME: Whatever you were doing, it's break time! It's time for you to relax however you see fit. Do you enjoy some of the carnival attractions yourself, or is that old by now? Do you hang out in the Cookhouse to get a snack? Do you take a nap? Yolo, baby!

► RIDDLE GAME: For a bit of fun, the ringmaster has left a variety of locked chests around the worker areas of the carnival, each with instructions and a riddle written on their lids. The chest will accept three guesses from each worker before refusing to respond to them any further. If you guess the right answer, the chest will open and you will be rewarded with some manner of fun magical knick knack. If you've run out of guesses, maybe you can conspire with someone else and promise to split the prize?

► CAPTURE THE... EGG?: The Ringmaster likes to keep things exciting for her employees, and this time she's devices a game that mixes an Easter egg hunt with capture the flag. She's hidden various metallic "eggs" around the carnival that chime like bells when people get near, and divided participants into three teams (red, blue, yellow of course.) The carnival has been divided into three zones, and the objective is to gather as many eggs as possible for your team (three points for gold, two for silver, one for copper.) However, when you are in a zone that doesn't belong to your team, if they can snatch off your team flag they can take you to "jail" and confiscate any eggs you may be holding for their team. When in doubt, bullshit the rules! This is a prompt, after all.

► WILD CARD: Anything else you can imagine in this setting! There are a lot of possibilities and you're free to explore them. Check out the rest of the game info or the locations page for additional inspiration. Want to do a performance? Hang out in the Backyard? Choose whatever appeals!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And that's how she ends up running straight into Lauren. He's green now, thanks to their little Atlantis adventure, with leaves growing from his head like hair, his ears much longer and pointed than they were when he started here. He had simply been standing their, looking around the crowd when she'd run into him.

He steps back as her body slams against his and her tries to catch his balance. Somehow he doesn't fall. It's only after he catches himself that he notices the newcomer.

"Oh, sorry." He reaches a hand out to help her up if she needs it.

Annabelle almost falls over, both from the force of the collision—and the fact that the person she's bumped into is green, with long, pointed ears, and a head full of leaves.

She grasps his hand to balance herself, eyes wide as he boggles at him, completely baffled.

"My god," is all she can manage.

He almost goes to pull his hand back at her reaction, but she's still holding it so he leaves it be. He does nervously step back a little though.

"Um. Not any kind of god. Sorry."

Oh! This plant person is shy. Annabelle recovers from her initial shock, wondering if all the folks in the carnival are magical plant people, or something. She smiles warmly, looking excited, and only then thinks to let go of his hand.

"That's not what I meant," she laughs. "It's an expression. I was surprised. I've never seen someone like you before."

He blushes and the red tints his green skin in a strange way. He pulls his hand back towards himself, holding it close to his body.

"I know." He sounds unreasonably glum about the statement. He knows he looks strange, but it's been a while since a regular human has reacted to it and not just one of his fellow carnival workers. Still, it's not like he can explain to her why he's upset by it, not without saying more than he should.

"Lots of us here look weird though." just so she knows and doesn't end up accidentally evoking her god when she see's the others.

"The same as you?" she implores, glancing at his hand, idly puzzling over his body language. "Or are they different looking? Do you live here?"

Oh no, she was asking him personal questions. He looks over his shoulder as though assessing his escape routes.

"...Yes I do and they look different... But I can't really talk right now. I'm looking for my brother."

Annabelle is immediately met with a dilemma. There are two different, obvious routes here. She came here to see this wonderful carnival, not to enact random altruism presented to her on a shiny platter. But on the other hand, this is the first time she's encountered another person who seems her age since she was little, and she was already in; the festivities of the carnival wouldn't go anywhere.

And she was curious, now, about this brother of his.

She smiles in a way that shouldn't look devious, but it does.

"I'll help you look, then."

It does look devious though, and for some reason that makes him nervous.

"Er. Are you sure? He could really be anywhere."

"Why, is he small?"

Baby plant person............... She wants to see!!!

He shakes his head.

"Not any smaller than the average 12 year old. I just think he's trying to avoid."

"Oh... Did you have a disagreement?"

The brother was still probably super cute, but there's a good chance that this will end up super boring.

"How about I help you look for him until I grow bored?"

Social skills.

He gives her a look, like what she just said was really weird, which is because it is weird. Who talks like this? Either way he grudgingly accepts her help.

"We didn't fight, but I think he's up to something he knows I won't like." That's always what Susan was thinking whenever he ran off without saying anything.

"He's about this tall, and with brown hair and skin, and he has these wings." He motions with his hands as he speaks, indicating his height and pointing to his back as he mentions the wings. "He can't fly with them though, they're too tiny."

She's almost disappointed to hear he isn't green as well, but the note of wings grabs her attention. She can't help but smile when she hears his wings are too small for him to fly.

"Alright," she confirms. "Let's go, then."

⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #4

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