livinglot | TEST DRIVE MEME #7

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test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME #7

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, but will be CLOSING ON MAY 31ST! There is an upcoming game event that is going to make new arrivals during that period impractical.
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, the players agree to it, and it makes any sense contextually.
If you are interested in additional IC and OOC plot responsibilities, consider applying for a Supervisor position. Head Cook, Aquisitioner, and Wardrobe Manager are currently open. Otherwise, we're pretty much down for anything, roles wise.

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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[Zim, being tiny and all, has to look waaaaay up. He's now wondering if she's taller than the Tallest because wow, she's certainly taller than any human he's seen.]

Oh, I'm not one of these filthy humans. This is merely a brilliant disguise. [And if she is somehow human he'll just erase her mind later. Whatever. Anyway.]

You're on Earth, so you can forget about whatever reason you have for landing here. The Irken Empire's already marked it for conquest.

[yellow diamond is not unlike a velociraptor from jurassic park as she curls her hand under the game booth and topples it over. it's too easy, even if she doesn't have as much strength as she usually does, her size makes it easier.

peridot is regarded with a strong amount of disdain. yellow says nothing, but reaches out to bubble her.

at least she's not ripping the gem out of peridot's forehead by bubbling just the gem. she wants to bubble peridot's entire form.

[you know the one advantage of having ridiculously devoted subjects? it's easy to tell when their gems aren't in it. sure, the ass kissing annoys yellow diamond, but it makes the attitude easy to read. even if they're clearly faking it for the superior's approval.

and... honestly, yellow does enjoy it when she has a chance to watch them squirm.]

Unbelievable. In less than a year you have given up on your duty, your species and your diamond. Only a defective gem would give up so fast.

EARTH?!

[okay something in the way she says that makes it obvious that she knows Something™ about earth (it's the cluster and yellow diamond has now been done a mild frighten).]

The Irken Empire will do no such thing. Earth is under the jurisdiction of the Diamond Authority and if they attempt to lay any such claim, they will -- [get a big surprise when it implodes, for one.] -- be annihilated.

[Squirming Lapis does, because she doesn't want to be shattered or bubbled or put into another object again, and it's nothing except objective terror at a Diamond that keeps her trying to explain herself.]

I'm not! I swear, it's the magic in the contract, I really can't do anything to this place! I've tried! [... No she hasn't, but hey, she's particularly good at acting.] I would never betray my Diamond!

[MMMTHAT'S SOME GOOD SQUIRMIN'

as much as yellow diamond wants to put lapis in Traitor Time Out by poofing her, lazulis are very valuable. this one may be under blue diamond, but yellow is the only diamond present and also within shattering range. she won't have a choice.]

I will allow you to attempt to redeem yourself. In the absence of Blue Diamond, you are now under my command.

[can she do that??? doesn't matter since she just did that. Because YD is indeed the only diamond within shattering range of her and Lapis is a fucking coward so she'll go along with it regardless.

She quickly straightens her posture and crosses her arms in the normal Diamond salute.]

Yes, my Diamond. Thank you, my Diamond. [Please don't wreck my shit, My Diamond.]

'Diamond Authority'? [Zim does not look convinced.] I've never heard of you. A species from some primitive corner of space isn't going to be annihilating an Irken Invader! [AKA himself.]

[Peridot gasps in horror, and for a moment she scrabbles around the inside of the bubble like a bug caught under a glass. Eventually she settles on flattening herself up against the far side of the bubble from wherever Yellow Diamond happens to be glaring in at her. If she possessed a stomach, this is probably point where she'd be vomiting in terror.]

WAIT-- wait wait wait, please don't, please don't shatter me I'M SORRY!

[Soak it up, YD; all that delicious fear babbling and-- yup, she sure is crying, too. Gross.]

[Steven thankfully takes that swap on the shield - he could try to stay in the air by floating, but he doesn't actually want to take the brunt of that hit while stationary. So, instead, he hits the ground a few seconds later, stunning himself and momentarily dissolving his shield.

Oof. But he didn't get totally vaporized, so that's already a plus. Must be because she's way shorter all of a sudden.]

You're not on Homeworld anymore! [He's yelling while also trying to get up out of the dirt.] These people don't belong to you!

Of course I'm not!

[steven, please. that doesn't mean she's going to change personality entirely.]

I wouldn't want them even if they pledged themselves to me, Rose Quartz! Perhaps they are the dregs you want to recruit?

[while steven tries to get up, yellow fires off a bolt of lightning at him.]

[yellow says nothing but seems slightly less... explosive when peridot is trapped in her bubble. she rolls her eyes when peridot starts crying and just shrinks the bubble. not enough to poof her or do any damage, but to make it clear that she's in deep shit.]

I will ask one more time. Identify yourself.

[HEY IT WORKED SOME OTHER TIMES. Obviously the carnival is just less good at that than good ol' fashion Earth. Yellow Diamond manages to lightning bolt him before he can summon his shield again, meaning it explodes the ground at his feet and sends him blowing back into the ground again.

He doesn't really know what he's supposed to do in response to this. He's not actually very good at offensive combat.

Still smoking a little from the lightning, he manages to summon up a spiky bubbles shield, and starts trying to summon his weapon again.]

I don't want to recruit anybody! Why can't you just leave us alone?!

I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE!

[jeez yellow cry harder!! anyway, she's a bit weirded out that her lightning didn't poof rose, but whatever. she can roll with it. looks like rose is still getting knocked around, which is actually pretty satisfying.]

HOW COULD YOU MURDER PINK DIAMOND?!

[spoilers: that's why she won't leave you alone.]

Primative?!

[oh yeah implying she's not Cool And Hip is a pretty good way to piss off yellow diamond. as well as, you know, just talking to her.

she charges up and zaps the ground three times, twice next to zim and once in front of him, very close.]

I should send you back to your pathetic superiors in a box!

Excellent.

[she almost smiles. how good to have a lapis!]

Begin the terraforming process. I won't hear anymore excuses.

Yes, my Diamond. I'll begin immediately.

[Wings out, and now fucking rocketing away as fast as they can carry her because if she doesn't get away shes going to probably drop fucking dead like a duck in flight.]

I DON'T KNOW!

[He's not even fighting right now, he's just yelling back at her because this is stupid and he hates it and he super doesn't need to be getting screamed at for things he didn't even do right now. Yellow Diamond is just so off her hinges right now, he can feel how angry and upset she is, and some of it is leaking into his emotions, too.

Tears prickle at his eyes, bot his own and empathic reflections of Yellow's emotions.]

I don't know why it happened!

[Goaded by the encroaching bubble, Peridot drops and hugs her knees with a pathetic squeak, curling into a ball with her tail wrapped around herself.

She can't give her real designation. She has to bullshit something, because if Yellow remembers the full name of the peridot that sassed her over vidcom (and surely she must, because that was OBVIOUSLY such an incredibly grievous infraction), she's toast for sure.]

P...Peridot, Facet 25FL-- [Shit wait no that's her ACTUAL KINDERGARTEN, WHY MUST OLD HABITS DIE HARD??] Cut... Cut 4GZ!

[YUP THAT'S DEFINITELY HER REAL CUT, DEFINITELY NOT THE CUT OF SOME OTHER POOR PERIDOT FROM HER BATCH THAT SHE JUST REMEMBERED IN HER DESPERATION TO FAKE A NAME]

...

[she has no records to pull up to verify. yellow diamond hates that she has to just trust this peridot. she paces a little in front of the bubble.]

As much as you deserve to be shattered here and now, it would be rather inconvenient in this situation. A Peridot such as yourself... have you been hacking? Doing anything with this technology?

[yellow diamond stops and draws back. she smiles, but it's not a pleasant one.]

Don't think I'll forget that you ran, little Peridot. You will be shattered on return to Homeworld. Put on another show like this, however, and I will do it myself. Am I clear?

[Jasper hasn't been here very long. She still doesn't all the way understand how she's here, exactly? But she knows she can't stay here, and to that end she's looking for a way out – which has brought her into the woods, where she's come across the first signs of this egregious temper tantrum, and she's less looking for a way out now than cautiously trying to find out what's caused this.

When she gets far enough in to find out, she stops dead in her tracks, eyes widening, shoulders tensing, as she goggles in wide-eyed disbelief.]

Y ... [but... how...??] ... Yellow Diamond!?

Edited 2017-05-31 18:59 (UTC)

[wheelhouse]

[Somewhere far below, a tall yellow lady is screaming about bringing down the fury of the diamonds.

And somewhere far above, is another diamond, curretly stuck on a ferris wheel. She's not bringing wrath down upon anything at all, because she's far too far above the ground to even hear that indignant yelling and far too fascinated with the way the stars seem to be just out of reach. She has of course seen plenty of stars before, but these were playing some sort of trick, gravitational lensing surely, that made it seem like she could reach out and touch them.]

Come here.

[Whoever she's been stuck with this whole time will be beckoned, with one blue hand and a surprisingly gentle voice for someone so tall and imposing.]

I wonder if perhaps though I cannot reach them, you might? This strange festival has many things that are not quite what they seem, these glittering stars too may be one of them.

[gamer's circle]

But what is the purpose of it?

[If anyone else wanted to play an ordinary game of ring toss, presuming normally the rings are faintly glowing solidified smoke in most games, they're going to be waiting a while. There's a very tall blue woman at the front of the line, a small number of tickets in one hand, and a controlled but puzzled expression on her face. The poor being of smoke and fire trying to get her to play is also apparently having to explain what play even is.

It's probably cutting in on his quotas or something.]

To try to win a fake animal? This is ... 'fun'?

[wildcard]

[She'd found the lake a little while ago and hasn't budged from its shore since, sitting carefully on the sand just outside of the reach of the tiny surface waves. The forest hadn't suited her but this, with its almost perfect mirror reflection of the night's sky, suited her just fine. It was tranquil, peaceful..

... She missed her Pearl.]

It's strange that I might find somewhere so full of organic life to be ... peaceful, after a fashion.

[There's no sense Blue is talking to anyone in specific, but she talks to herself often enough and this isn't about to stop anyone from responding if they wanted to.]

Tranquility never lasts. But while it does..

[You know...some days Pearl just wishes she'd stayed at the temple. Why did she think exploring this carnival was a good idea? It has only led to problems...and now this has got to be the biggest problem of all.

Pearl gasps as several things register at once: 1. There is a tree on fire. 2. The tree was struck by lightning. 3. The lightning came from YELLOW DIAMOND. 4. Yellow Diamond is literally several feet from her and there are very few places she can run or hide without immediately drawing attention.

None of these things are helpful and so Pearl quickly covers her mouth and tries to slip behind another tree. Maybe her advantage will be that she is a Pearl and easily overlooked. Oh PLEASE let that be the case this time. She can't DEAL with this right now.]

[Peridot follows her movements with fearful eyes, sitting rigidly in her little bubble prison. At least the knowledge that she's not immediately on the chopping (shattering?) block means that there's some hope for an outcome where this encounter doesn't end with her gem in a million tiny pieces? Provided she can get some backup out here to save her bacon.

Better play along as much as she can, even if she's piss scared right now.

She throws up the usual salute. She's been leaning into the Rebel Lyfe(tm) so hard for so long now that it actually makes her feel kind of scummy to do that, but it's not like she has much of a choice.]

My Diamond-- Please forgive me, I have been trapped here in this measly, stars-forsaken realm for so long that I had completely forgotten myself, AND all protocol, so much so that when I finally laid my vision spheres upon your radiance once more, I was struck with a blind panic, the likes of which no gem has ever experienced before! I completely forgot myself, but you have my word that it will not happen again!

[That is her story for why she threw a trash can at you, and she is sticking to it.]

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TEST DRIVE MEME #7

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Blue Diamond | Steven Universe

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