TEST DRIVE MEME #6

[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

backyard!

[kingsroads]

[ Strange is sitting underneath a tree, ostensibly thinking up new ideas for his act but in practice, being a lazy bum who's enjoying the good weather. It's actually a decent temperature now, he can definitely take a little catnap and not worry about people bothering him. So, he pays no attention to Jade until she walks close to him and he realizes wait a moment, he actually doesn't know this person who's obviously searching for something.

As he looks over Jade, he gives her a small nod. The dog ears aren't confusing him. After all, he's got patches of scales and weird eyes and other veterans have equally odd changes. He just assumes that she's one of the veterans, recently returned to the Carnival and not a new arrival. ]

If you're looking for someone, I can tell you if they're here. Though, I'm afraid our population's most likely changed since you were here last.

[ what with the vampires...and the vampires again. ]

[dogdaughter]

[ Jade hesitates when he adds that second sentence. ]

I was here before? I don't remember that... Oh no...

[ She knows her memory isn't the best, but she hadn't thought she could completely forget a place like this! ]

I don't think I can remember any of you, I'm sorry! Are you sure you have the right person? [ Or maybe a better question would be if he has the right timeline? She has no idea how many doomed-timeline Jades might be out there. Maybe one of them stopped here at some point? ]

[kingsroads]

I'm sure I do, [ Strange responds, with a little frown, as he gets up from where he's sitting. As he continues talking, he gestures to Jade's ears. ]

You're obviously a veteran--look at those changes!

[ It doesn't occur to him that Jade might have had her changes before arriving here. Likewise, he's far too confident in his own opinion to ask her about her ears in the first place. ]

[dogdaughter]

[ Jade, for her part, tries once more to remember when she was here, but... the more she thinks about it, the more she's sure she hasn't been! She shakes her head. ]

Either you met a different timeline's Jade, or you're thinking of someone else entirely. I'm not sure what you mean by "veteran" or "changes" either. And those sound like things I'd know if I'd been here before!

[ Those ears, for their part, prick forward a bit. She'd really like to know what Strange is talking about. ]

[kingsroads]

[ Yeah, he can't help it. As soon as Jade says 'timeline,' Strange scrunches up his nose as if he smelled something funny. Timelines suck, he has personal experience with that, let's talk about her ears instead! ]

By 'changes', I mean your ears, [ said as he points to them. ] The longer you're at the Carnival, the more changed you become as a result of the faerie magic.

[ Strange's changes are obvious. Aside from his eyes (which now that she's closer, Jade can see are mirrors), the hand that's pointing at Jade's ears is clawed and has goldfish scales embedded in the skin. ]

I assume they're a result of you being with the Carnival for a while--you look quite human, otherwise.

[dogdaughter]

[ The person at admissions hadn't felt the need to explain that part, apparently. Jade ponders this, giving Strange's eyes a better look. Wow! She breaks into a bucktoothed grin. ]

Your eyes are actually mirrors! That's so cool! I thought it was just how the light was catching them--the magic did that? So... you started human too? You're not an alien?

...Hm. [ She pauses as something occurs to her, and goes pensive again. ] I wonder if my friends would still recognize me? I might come back looking very strange...

[ She absently scratches at one of those ears briefly before that reminds her of something. ] Oh! Right! About my ears. That's not from magic--although... maybe it is a kind of magic...? Um. It's actually a bit complicated now that I'm thinking about it!

[ She considers how to tell him about homestuck explain the chain of events that led up to her being part dog. Hm. He might not want to listen to such a long story! ]

[kingsroads]

I did! I started human as— [ well, not as she is because of the whole dog ears thing. There's a pause then Strange finishes the sentence with ] —as human as most others started.

[ It is a very lame finish. Still, Jade mentioned magic or at least a kind of magic. That's enough to get Strange's attention and are we talking about magic now, he loves talking about magic. ]

If you don't mind explaining, I'd love to hear about your kind of magic. Magic's a specialty of mine, after all.

[ explanation of Homestuck vs. person with the attention span of a goldfish, ROUND ONE, NO ITEMS, FIGHT. ]