Lost Carnival Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ringleaders) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
livinglot2017-02-25 04:52 pm
ringleaders) wrote in livinglot2017-02-25 04:52 pm
Entry tags:
⇨ 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:
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! |
Mulan | Disney's Mulan (NEWB)
[This was so not China.
She must have passed out from the pain her wound was causing to be dreaming up something like this. So fantastical, like something out of the fairy tales she had heard as a child. Mulan paused, watching the people entering the gateway hand some various commodities to the person behind the stall, before she looked behind her where she had come from.
It was gone. And no sign of Mushu or Cri-Kee either.
Mulan glanced back to the stall, a little wary, before gently tugging on Khan's reins, opening up his saddle bags. There was little she had in the way of trading goods, but after rummaging through what she did have, she found the rations and the medicinal herbs that had been left with her. Medicinal herbs were a necessity, but she could part with a few jiaozi.
They get her a raised eyebrow but nonetheless, she's granted entry. Mulan gives a small sigh of relief and tugs Khan's reins. They weren't expected anywhere, and it would be a long trip home. They could afford a couple of hours at the very least...]
gamer's circle
[It's so...colourful.
It sort of reminds her of when the village would string up the lanterns for New Years, but perhaps not so bright. Khan squints beside her and Mulan pats his neck, running her fingers through his mane soothingly for both his comfort and her own. She still thinks she's hallucinating the whole thing, but that bump into someone's shoulder sure feels real. Mulan turns her body fully and bows.]
I'm sorry! Forgive me, I wasn't watching where I was going. The...the lights are...
[Blinding? It's a bit difficult to explain. She straightens herself, biting her bottom lip and, looking for a way out of this awkwardness, gestured over to one of the more...strange games.]
What...are these?
trying to leaf
What do you mean I can't return?
[For all that she hated playing the part of Ping and deceiving everyone, Mulan wished she still was, if only to be a little more intimidating. Alas. She rubbed her face, pinching her nose and inhaling deeply as Khan nuzzled the back of her head.]
This is a dream that the medicinal herbs induced. Of course I can "return".
[She winced, hand lowering to her side where her wound was beginning to twitch, hissing slightly through her teeth. Khan gave a worried neigh as she swayed and pressed his nose to her back to help her lower herself down to the ground, kneeling and clutching her side. Peeling her hand away, Mulan flexed her fingers, feeling them sticky with blood. Did she open it up by being too boisterous with those "games" earlier?
She leaned heavily against Khan's leg, fingers tight in his reins as she returned her other hand to her side, grimacing.]
I'm in pain. Why am I not waking?
wildcard
[HIT ME. canon point is before the Huns are spotted, after her gender is revealed]
Gamer's Circle | Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay~
Still, it's a little weird to get such a formal apology. Sora waves his hand at the girl and grins.]
Oh, no, it's okay! It was my bad.
[She seems a little lost, when she asks about the lights.]
These? These are all the games here! There's lots to try, too, so...
[...Wait. Is that...?]
Mulan?
;3
Games? They're...ah...very colourful...
[Mulan hesitates when he says her name, flinching a little. Had her name already spread so far that even people she didn't know knew it?]
I'm sorry, do I know you?
no subject
[He hesitates. Seems like she doesn't know him. Is she maybe from a time before they met? Time in the Carnival is already confusing without timelines coming into play.]
Um, no, sorry. I just... thought you were someone else. Sorry!
[He's a terrible liar and it's probably obvious, but he can't think of a better way out.]
TRYIN' TO LEAF...
[But it does not take much to smell the scent of blood.] MNGH-
Y-you...
Are you injured, miss..!?
no subject
Y-yes. I was injured before the avalanche. Of course a shī is talking to me now.
[That last part is muttered under her breath but likely loud enough for his ears to catch. Khan lowers his hooves, settling and nudging her gently as Mulan turns and grapples for his saddlebags, the movement nearly making her trip over her own feet, barely paying attention to the large canid as she gropes around.]
I have medicinal herbs in here somewhere...
no subject
Are you truly attempting to leave while in such a state?! [Ah.
Actually on that note.] ....You... ....wouldn't happen to be lost...would you..?
no subject
[She's only heard rumors and stories of course, but even the Fa family have statues in the ancestor shrine. The Great Stone Dragon was as familiar to her as the names on the gravestones. Mulan's fingers catch on the herbs as he speaks, turning her head to look at him as she raised a hand to rub at her blurry vision.]
I was with the army when we...were ambushed in the high mountains.
[She grimaces, mostly at the memory, before she continues, drawing out the few herbs that she has.]
Shan Yu managed to injure me before the avalanche happened...and then I was abandoned when they discovered I was a woman.
no subject
J...Japan has an emperor, it is true, but I, the man Gongenzaka, don't believe he has Komainu guarding his pala- [Ah. ....There is something very squint-worthy about this story, though he cannot put his finger on it. As it is it is the last bit that catches his ears in particular.] W...when they di...
They abandoned you, with such an injury, for that...? [His ears pull back, even flattening. It's something he can't comprehend-he comes from a time where so many in the military are women, where at the very least joining on would be 'equal rights'. Not to mention who he trained under in the past, and-
He shakes himself, gesturing toward the carnival.] Please, miss-there is a medical tent for the workers, and we should have proper bandages...mere herbs will not help right now!
no subject
[Hollld everything. That actually vaguely gets her attention. She's heard of Japan, though by word of mouth only from the traders that come through her village. Mulan clutches weakly at the herbs, her fingers worrying them as she tries to make her mouth work, especially when his ears pull back at her words. She nods her head, looking down at the ground.]
I stole my father's armor and took his place in the army when the conscription letter came for him to rejoin to battle the Huns. What I have done is cause for treason, let alone execution...
[And that's what would be waiting for her at home if she woke up from this dream. Surely word had gone out and there was already guards from the kingdom waiting for her there...Shang had done her no favors, only delayed the inevitable. Mulan winced, a hand going to her side, and she huffed, feeling blood through her clothes.]
Perhaps...perhaps you are right...
no subject
[Before he can quite get into 'years', Gongenzaka blinks. Armor? Huns? EXECUTION?! ...He has a feeling he now understands what is going on here, but right now the matter of medical is more important. He nods sternly, and approaches, intending to at the least guide her and her horse back to the carnival itself.] ...Forgive me, miss; it would appear that I, the man Gongenzaka, allowed myself to forget that we could be from entirely different periods of time! Where I am from, to join the army would have been no crime in the slightest for you...but that is not what matters for now.
Whatever you fear for, miss, please know that time will not pass there, while you remain within the carnival limits. At the very least, you should be able to heal before returning, with that in mind.
no subject
[Mulan reaches to part her hair where it's fallen around her face, unable to help but look slightly shocked. And, now that she thinks about it, although his accent is kind of similar to what she might have heard at the Imperial City, it's still much, much different from Chi Fu and even Shang's.
Though that leaves her with more questions than answers. Different periods of time? Time doesn't pass outside of this place? She's not sure if it's her injury that makes her shoulders relax slightly (ever so slightly; she is still in the presence of a boy, monster though he may be, but he's Japanese so that kind of cancels that out). She bites her bottom lip, then gently starts guiding Khan where he directs them.]
I...perhaps, but [But what? What did she have waiting for her back home? Certainly not a hero's welcome. Her father was no doubt too ashamed of her. Mulan reaches to grip the end of her hair, tugging it.] I don't have any form of payment.
no subject
...Did you perhaps partake in any of the games, or sample some of the food, without full payment?
gamer's circle
At her question, she gave a half-shrug and a snort.]
You mean the games, or the freaks running them?
[She shot a suspicious look at one of the smoke-like creatures manning a booth.]