livinglot | TEST DRIVE MEME #6

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test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME #6

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!

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"Vampires..."

The way he says it, it sounds like he wasn't here for the last vampire attack (and Elsa doesn't remember ever seeing him, at that time), but she wonders if that means he just doesn't know, or it was different vampires this time. Still, the whole thing bodes ill.

Elsa tries to keep any apprehension off her face, though she steels herself for the worst. "Were there any casualties?"

"There were," Strange murmurs, with a little frown. "We managed to save most of the Carnival that had been taken, but they still remain turned. And Miss Nakimani--"

There's a pause as Strange debates how best to say this. There's no easy way to say 'sorry, this person that you know is probably mad dead' so he pauses for a moment before settling on, "I'm afraid the Nightrunner is one of the casualties."

"Mari..."

Elsa wasn't particularly close to the Nightrider, but still, it's hard to learn that someone she knew is now probably dead, or, perhaps, worse.

Still, it wouldn't do to languish on the point for too long, especially when talking to a newer recruit. She schools her features into a mostly impassive look of sympathy.

"I'm sorry to hear about that. But I'm glad for those who we were able to save."

She wonders how many people are now vampires. She'll have to get the full details from someone - Sans would probably be best to hunt down, but he has a habit of making himself scarce unless he wants to be found.

Well, unless Sans is a vampire now. Might as well ask. "What about the Warden? And the other supervisors?"

Could Sans even become a vampire in the first place? The Warden didn't have any blood, but perhaps the magic of vampirism could move past that little problem. Although, come to think of it, the Psionic wasn't a vampire either and he certainly must have different blood than the more human members of the Carnival.

Sorry Elsa, Strange just stars into space for a moment as he mulls over vampirism before realizing oh wait, she asked a question, he probably should actually answer that.

"Oh! Terribly sorry, you asked a question. To the best of my knowledge, Joker was the only supervisor turned. Of course, I could be wrong, I don't encounter a few of the supervisors on a regular basis."

That is actually a good question. How does becoming a vampire work, exactly? Luckily for Elsa, she's never been through it.

She waits with a facade of patience as Strange seems to ponder whatever he is pondering, and is about to speak when he seems to remember she's there. She frowns at his answer.

"Joker too... Alright." So that's one person she knows dead (probably), and one turned into a vampire. It's not as bad as it could be, but it's certainly not what she expected to return to.

Maybe she should have, though. Though the Carnival hadn't been particularly dangerous before (relative to most places), ever since their first deadly run-in with the vampires, she's felt like it could happen again.

"Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome," Strange responds, with a little nod. And then, sighing slightly, he continues. "I wish I could have given better news." After all, Elsa's obviously a veteran. To be gone for a while only to come back and hear surprise, some of your friends have been turned into vampires and one of them is dead...he can only imagine how hard that must be for her.

"But I can at least introduce myself. I am Strange, one of the magicians of the Carnival," said as he gives Elsa a small nod. Since, after all, they haven't met yet. He's a gentleman, the least he could do is introduce himself.

Right, it is a bit rude that she's gone this long without introducing herself, as well. She nods back in response.

"I'm Elsa, the treasurer here."

If he's a magician, that means he's not under her jurisdiction; come to think of it, she has absolutely no idea who is part of her staff now. There was another treasurer before she got bumped into the job, but so many people have come and gone, both before and after she went away on some errands for the Ringmaster, she'll have to learn who everyone is and their jobs all over again.

"I'm usually a bit busy, but I'll try to come see your show sometime."

He can't help but seem a bit interested in that because oh! The treasurer. That makes...almost all the supervisors complete, unless he's forgetting someone (which Strange knows is unfortunately highly plausible.)

"Well, the Ringmaster will be happy to see you've returned. And don't worry about the show. It's entertaining, but I've learned there's quite a difference between show magic and useful magic."

After all, while it might be fun to do the flashy show-offy sort of spells, there's very few situations where something like that could actually be of use.

"And what would the difference be?"

She's actually curious. As her own powers are limited to just what she can do with ice (though she's become pretty creative about it), hearing about other people's magic and powers is interesting to her. There could be something to be learned from him, even if the way he does magic and the way her powers work are very different.

Though she thinks flashy, show-offy spells can be interesting too, if applied in the right way. And they're certainly useful here, where they can be used to raise money in a more conventional way.

"An audience wouldn't be too happy if I spent the act creating roads or moving boxes." It's said with a bit of a wry smile on his face. At least back home, working for the army, practical spells were needed infinitely more than flashy showy spells. After all, sending down a plague of locusts might certainly look impressive but it wouldn't solve the problem of the fact that most soldiers only had one pair of shoes to begin with.

"Audiences want something spectacular. Creating a bit of rain isn't spectacular. Creating rain and thunder and lightning, on the other hand, all in the confines of the big top is something that they'll leave talking about." He's keeping his hands behind his back as he talks, but it's obvious from Strange's expression which one he prefers. Practical has it's purposes but hot damn is he becoming a bit of a ridiculous showman.

The practical things actually interest Elsa; while her own power can do some cool things (no pun intended), it's nowhere near so useful as being able to create roads. Though doing that herself might also put people out of work...

It's too easy to get lost in thoughts about Arendelle, so she puts them aside before she goes any deeper down that train of thought.

"It does sound incredible. You must have a large variety of things you can do with your magic."

Elsa, you already almost put Kristoff out of work, what's one more person?

As for her question though...Strange pauses for a bit, thinking. It's as if he's just realized for the first time all the things he can do with his magic. "I suppose I do. Really, the Carnival's been wonderful for me exploring venues of magic and pushing myself to the limit. There's so much I can do here that I wouldn't be able to do at home."

Between Norrell's crusade to remove street magicians as well as the overarching idea that English magic should be respectable, Strange hasn't really done any fun show-offy performance type magic until he arrived at the Carnival. It's interesting to see just how far he's come in such a short time.

Not intentionally!

"I know the feeling." She smiles, snowflakes fluttering around her hands before disappearing into the breeze. "I came back to the Carnival to test my limits with my own powers."

She's sure it's obvious exactly what those powers are. She doesn't try to hide it anymore, not at home and definitely not here.

He can't help but nod appreciatively as the snowflakes flutter around her hands. Instantly, Strange comes up with hundreds of questions about Elsa and her powers: is that magic, is it solely ice related, what all could she do, so on and so forth. Though, if she does know the feeling, then Strange has a feeling Elsa wants to do so much more than simple snowflakes.

"Well go on then! Show off some more, let's see what you can do!"

Restraint is for suckers.

Elsa laughs at that, glancing around a bit awkwardly. "Right here? Right now?"

Though she has gotten much more comfortable with using her powers around people, even if she didn't sign on with the Carnival to use them as entertainment. In fact, practicing her powers is what she came here for, so should she really hold back when someone is asking to see it?

It won't be like before, after all. She's not going to freeze Strange's head.

"Okay, well... here goes."

She thinks for a minute, thinking of the shape she wants her ice to materialize in. After a moment, she thrusts her hands forward, in a flurry of snowflakes, and poof! A scale model of Strange himself, only about four feet tall, stands between them, made of ice.

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TEST DRIVE MEME #6

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