⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #5

[ringleaders]

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!

Comments

[walkonedge]

Following Shima's look over his shoulder confirms that there is indeed a passageway that Yamato is fairly certain was not there five minutes ago, prior to the whole accidentally-breaking-the-mirror fiasco he's found himself in. Secret passageways too? This maze being a warren is a huge understatement, and the deadpan look that Yamato shoots him in response is enough to convey the kind of sentiment Yamato has about his analogy.

"So, is it employee-only, or...?" Could you let me out that way, is the question that Yamato kind of wants to ask and is heavily implied.

Crap. Yamato should have known, with the pretending-not-to-be-threatening thing and the staff slung over his back. Shima is more armed than Yamato is, so while Yamato is calm enough to not really freak out, he does cast a few wary glances every so often as if he's kind of anticipating whether Shima is going to actually use that staff of his. Somehow, he has a really bad feeling about how this is going to go down, and this is probably worse than that One Time back in the Digital World when he and Jyou had to work off all that "accidental" property damage in Digitamamon's diner.

Security shouldn't look so cheerful or matter-of-fact about property damage.

"Uh.... Kinda, yeah. We could work something out instead?" He's not going to run - he's at the very least savvy enough from prior experience to know that it would be a terrible idea, even more so when the person on the other side looks way more dangerous than a giant Digi-egg. Negotiating seems like a much better option - it worked the last time.

[perverses]

Security really shouldn't, but Shima is just one of those chronic smilers. He's already sure it doesn't do much to put anyone at ease, not when you attach the word 'security' to the entire situation here. Still, even if he is armed, he's not going to bother going for his staff or anything. That's for some of their less friendly patrons, fortunately...

In this case, he's pretty sure he's just dealing with another teenager. Probably someone his age. No big deal, right?

"Yeah, kind of employee-only, but if you want out, I can take ya out that way, no problem," Shima says, at least being that kind. Of course, considering his plan is to lead Yamato out but not actually let him go, well, it's more self-serving than Yamato might think.

"But before I let you go for real, you'll have to work something out with the big boss for damages. She's pretty friendly, though! So I wouldn't worry too much, yeah?"

[walkonedge]

To Shima's credit, Yamato has zero idea about the self-serving result of leading him out of the mirror maze. At this point, all Yamato really wants is to just get away from this mirror maze that reminds him too much of the Dark Cave for his own good. The last thing he wants is a mental breakdown in an unfamiliar location. Been there, done that, not cool in the slightest.

"Eh, as long as she doesn't try to kill me, I think I can deal." He shrugs. It's a step above the last time round when he was trying to negotiate with someone who was actively trying to kill him.

He motions for Shima to lead the way. Usually Yamato isn't one for that much small talk, but with how nonchalant about everything Shima is, and with the question at the back of his mind for the longest time, it's mostly curiosity that leads him to ask: "... Does this happen often? The mirrors being broken."

[perverses]

"Nah, no killing. The worst you'd probably get is her turning you into, like, a chicken or a dog or something if you actually made her mad," Shima says, again, far too cheerfully. There's no real way of telling if he's just pulling Yamato's leg here or not, but! Anyway, he does turn and wave for him to follow along, stepping back into the previously hidden passageway.

It's more or less a narrow hall running between the mirrors, offering a much more straightforward way of getting around the maze.

"And sure. You hear the way those things go on? People get pissed at them all the time. Getting shattered now and then serves 'em right, if you ask me."

[walkonedge]

… He can’t be serious.

Although on second thought, just based on this past interaction that he’s had with Shima in the past couple of minutes? Yamato isn’t quite sure about whether he’s actually serious or not. He gives Shima another incredulous look before shuddering, because neither of those options listed sound particularly appealing. “Actually, hold that thought, I’m not sure if that sounds better or worse.”

This new passageway running through the maze is much more straightforward, and apparently he’d gone in much deeper than he thought.

“You mean the reflections?” He hopes so, at least, and not the poor unfortunate souls such as himself that ends up breaking the mirrors. At least his knuckles have stopped bleeding. “What kind of place is this anyway... normal mirror mazes don’t do this kind of thing.”