livinglot | ⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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, and Wardrobe Manager 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

She's something, all right... [There's no hiding the skepticism she has towards the Ringmaster, but at the same time... it's not often that Rita meets someone who knows so much about magic that she doesn't. As much as Rita might dislike or distrust her, she actually has to respect that about her. Of course, there's no way she'll ever say that out loud.]

... Wait, their own magic? You mean magic from dimensions other than this one?

Yeah! There's all kinds of different magics in the multiverse... and a lot of the people here can use stuff from their homes! I'm magic too, actually. But I just inherited that from my mom.

Liiiike... this!

[He summons his magical weapon, a round pink shield with a pattern like a rose vine on it.]

[That's right... If Rita can still use her blastia magic, it stands to reason that other forms of magic could be accessed here. The possibilities could be endless...

And when she sees that shield appear, her eyes widen.]

Incredible... [She bends over to get a closer look at the shield, poking at it gingerly with her finger.] To materialize solid matter out of thin air... is the shield itself made of magic?

Uh... I think it's mostly made of light? [The same stuff gems are made out, anyway.] But the light is probably magic light so I guess that's kind of the same thing?

[This isn't the sort of magic he's ever had to seriously study.]

Edited 2017-03-22 23:53 (UTC)

Light...? I suppose it's possible... [She taps her chin with her finger, considering the information.]

And you said this was some kind of hereditary power? In that case, are you the source of your own power? Or are you able to draw it from an external source?

[He's never really been in the position to look at gem powers very academically, so hearing her marvel over it is actually sort of cool. He nods, grinning a little, and lifts up his shirt to show his gem.]

It comes from my gem! Which is a part of me, so... I guess it's internal? The gem is the most magic part, though.

A gem...? [She stares at the jewel in place of his bellybutton, and for a moment, her fingers brush against the red jewel in her own choker. Using precious stones for magic... could that be a commonality between their worlds? But perhaps the similarities end there, if his is literally part of him...]

Then... people on your mom's side were all born with gems like that?

Yeah! They're called... well, gems. Actually.

[He puts down his shirt, and lets his shield disappear.]

All of them have a gem like mine, and form a body out of light. Mine is still made of skin and stuff though, because of my human parts.

A body of light... wait... [She'd assumed he was from some mostly-humanoid magic race... but actually part human? Human biology and what he's describing aren't normally things that mix.]

You mean you're... half-human, half... something made of pure magic?

Yeah...

[He confesses it just a little bit uneasily, blushing a little, but shrugs it off with a small laugh.]

Weird, huh? I'm the first of my kind to exist, where I come from.

'Weird' doesn't even start to cover it...

[It might not be the nicest way to talk about someone's very existence, but Rita's not one to mince words. The kid's pretty darn weird.]

Of course, from a scientific point of view, it's pretty amazing. Might even make a good topic for research... maybe if I had a stronger foundation in biology. [Or in gem...ology.]

[Steven doesn't know how to feel about that appraisal, but okay! He'll take it.]

I think it's pretty cool... I've never really gone to the doctor or anything, though. I actually don't really know much about how my body works at all...

[He'd be sort of interested in knowing. Maybe. He's not sure.]

[Rita seems to balk at that.] Uh... yeah. Maybe you should try to learn a bit more about your own body. Don't you think that's kind of important?

I guess...

[He looks a little troubled for a moment.]

But gems don't understand humans and humans don't understand gems, so neither side really knows how to figure it out! It's not that it wouldn't be useful, it's just... new territory. For everyone.

I don't even know if I'm ever going to age like a normal kid! I've looked like this for six years!

[Okay maybe now he's kind of venting.]

[So that's the situation... Rita might not have considered how little contact the two species must have had, for him to be the first ever half-gem. But still, there has to be a way to work out the answers to some of the more important questions. Rita's sure of it.]

Six y...

--Wait, how old are you!?

[Steven flushes pink beneath the fuzzy moss on his cheeks, the gem freckles glowing slightly to match. He wasn't embarrassed about this until someone pointed out how weird it was, but...]

Fourteen...

Seriously? You're only a year younger than me?

[Rita might be short for her age, but this kid's a runt.]

And you still haven't tried seeing a doctor!?

[Steven blushes even deeper, wondering if this is actually something he should have done. Was it really that obvious?]

I didn't... I didn't think they'd know what to do about it? I know it's a gem thing! Gems never age, or anything, they're always just the way they were made...

⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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