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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She's sort of watching him instead of their surroundings as they walk, though she's trying not to be obvious about it. She can't help it, she got stuck here with the guy of her dreams, and now they were going on a ride together? This might possibly be the greatest day of her life!

"You've really never been to a fair before?" she asks, innocently, trying to make a conversation.

[Goliath makes a rumbling sound deep in his chest, closer to a meditative "Hmmmmmm" than a growl.]

It is not a magic as I have seen them worked. No caster spoke or was seen.

This does not appear to be my world. Perhaps it is not yours either.

Luckily Adrien is oblivious enough that he doesn't notice her watching him as they make their way there, although when she asks that he does turn his attention back to her and away from the booths surrounding them (Funnel cake? Cotton candy? He should definitely try and come back this way if he can.)

"I really haven't, I'm usually pretty busy." And his father probably wouldn't let him, even if there was time to do it, but he didn't really want to get into all of that right now. It wasn't important, anyway.

"Have you gone to a lot of fairs?"

[ What the fuck is an android, wonders the dude from pseudo-medieval magical Europe analogue. ]

No, I'm not. [ Shrugs. ] If it matters that much to you, I'm a witcher. [ He doesn't expect her to recognize the term either, that much is certain. ]

Doesn't much matter what anyone is here, though. It shows up for anyone.

[If he hadn't previously mentioned the whole time different thing she would have argued that it was impossible for Peridot and Amethyst to have been here even LONGER than three months. Pearl would have NOTICED Amethyst being missing as the purple gem often made her presence known.

Still, even if she trusted Steven it was a little difficult to believe at first. But she wanted to give him the chance to explain his point of voice on this. She barely hides the eye roll at the fact that Greg had gotten stuck here by not having enough tickets. That certainly sounded like a Greg thing to do.

Although...wait...did it cost to attend this carnival? What about this mirror maze?
She might have already breached these rules and not even realized it and would that make her any better? She glanced towards the reflections as they were being strangely silent. One Pearl was seated and munching on popcorn of all things and the others seemed to be just as entertained--watching and waiting this drama unfold.

Right, so they were no help. She sighs]

Steven. You shouldn't have had to do that. But I suppose it's to be expected.

[Pause. She can't just LEAVE him here...especially if THOSE are the only gems and humans here to supervise him. She can only imagine what's happened in the past three months without her and Garnet's watchful eyes.]

Is there anything I can do?

[Steven's expression falls, gradually being forced to address the bad parts of getting to see Pearl again. He doesn't know what he'd ask of her right now if it weren't for the fact that he thinks there's a good chance that it'll end up already having been a done deal, anyway. Pearl was probably the best at actually paying for things out of the gems, but...]

Did you...

[He trails off, and rethinks how to phrase it.]

If you didn't do anything that would make you have to stay too... you should go home, if you want to. We're just going to be killing time here anyway, and it's kind of stressful sometimes, so...

[He probably shouldn't have told her it was stressful if he wanted her to leave, but oh well.]

I know the others would be really happy to see you! But... we... we should check to make sure you didn't do anything to get in trouble. It's really easy to make a mistake, here..."

No clue what a 'witcher' is. [And for a moment, she almost wishes that the pod was here to explain it to her. It'd know, it had a penchant for knowing useless shit like that.]

It matters to me what you are. I've never seen anything like you before, and it ain't my first tome going to this amusement park.

[... it absolutely is. It's just not the amusement park she thinks it is.]

Oh--hey, thanks for helping out, Little Guy. I'll get you some beans later. [ Lil perks up immediately, both from praise and promise of treats. ] Pearl, this is Lil. Lil, Pearl. He's--well, it's a long story. But he's been looking out for us.

[ He hesitates. ] Yyyyyou've probably figured it's been a busy few months.

[ Given the whole 'different worlds' thing, it's likely this expedition would stump the pod quite a bit, although who knows? It might have a lot to say on the subject of faerie. ]

You didn't seem to recognize it just a little while ago. [ Lambert shrugs, apparently content to take that assertion at face value. But since it's not like it's especially personal information, or anything, he gives the same spiel he's given everyone else before: ]

A witcher's a mutant made for one purpose: to kill monsters. How human we are or not ... depends on how you look at that kind of thing.

[ He was just another human, once. Now ... well, he's faster, stronger, and will live longer than any human will, assuming he doesn't die in a fight. He shrugs, giving her a smirk that bares sharp teeth. ]

Now what's an android?

It looks different from how it normally does. [A2 replies with a shrug.

Still, when he says mutant, that's one thing. When he says the word 'human', her eyes narrow even more into an outright glare. A mutant human created to kill 'monsters'. She can really only assume he means machines. Still, a human, even a mutant should know what an android is, shouldn't they?

A2 scoffs, not put off in the slightest about his sharp teeth. What's he gonna do, try and eat her? He might get through what little dermal layer she has left, but underneath and showing in a lot of places is the black metal chassis of her body..]

A bunch of spare parts designed to look human and slaughter machines. Bullshit on you being human, though. Humans don't exist on Earth anymore. Even mutant ones.

[ So there's a place where humans finally succeeded in wiping themselves out? Or was it a place taken over by the White Frost, like that crazy elf's prophecy, so only constructs could survive? Questions Lambert's not going to ask, so instead, he says, out loud: ]

Some kind of golem, then. [ But not made of magic, and convincingly human enough, at least to his eyes. As to the other part of her assertion, though, he spreads his hands mockingly, gesturing to the carnival around them. ]

Maybe that would matter, if you were still on Earth.

[ In general, Lambert hadn't really been one for the Carnival's rides. The first time around, he'd been too busy hunting down whoever ran this place to demand a bargain; the second, he'd been preoccupied with getting his new horse settled in.

Of course it figured that the one time he actually deigns to try one of the rides is a time that it would break down like this. At his companion's question, he glanced over with a smirk. Curiously, he didn't look all that different from her -- scales creep up the back of his neck, horns curl away from his face, and a distinctly dragon-like tail peeks out from under his coat -- but instead of jet black, his more beastly features are in a glimmering gold. The sharp teeth and talons lent him a distinctly predatory air as he tapped his fingers on his thigh, and shrugged: ]

I have cards, but not the kind you're probably thinking of. Not enough to play a game with, anyway, so I guess we're out of luck.

Edited 2017-05-08 13:43 (UTC)

[At least that gets her attention. Not that it helps her glare any.]

If this isn't Earth then where is it? The moon? [It's not the moon. A2 has never been to the moon, and there's no way for her to even get to the moon.]

[It's true, it very well could be a world that isn't his. It would probably make more sense than anything else, if he thinks about it - he's seen weird things before, but this would be a pretty elaborate akuma attack. But somehow being in another world? That's just too hard to believe.]

How is that even possible? You can't just walk into another world. [Can you?]

Well, a crossroad would imply direction, dear. I've found myself turned around more times than I can count should I try to leave, heavens forbid.

[She'd noticed when he lowered himself, and smiled. Well, wasn't that kind of him. She accepted the offered hand.]

Madhuri of Clan Qalli. I am one of the Au Ra. Come to think of it, I've yet to hear us mistaken for creatures such as gargoyles- the men of my kind definitely share your features and size! I thought I'd met another.

Say, did you find a way inside? The gentleman at the counter seems to take all sorts of currency and yet nothing of mine seems to be of interest.

[Well, he had the look of one of the men of her kind, but he lacked a certain... je ne sais quoi. Still, rather than ponder the species...

No, the time was ripe for something. Chin perched in her hand, her smile turned downright impish.]

Goodness, I hope you're not implying you're not playing with a full deck.

[Pearl's eyes widen. How could he suggest such a thing? Leave them? Even if no time passes back home, to suggest that Pearl just abandon Steven and Amethyst! It's almost insulting...except it's Steven so she knows he's just doing it because he's concerned for her.]

I can't go without you Steven. How would I ever explain that to Garnet?

[She considers his question.]

But what are some ways that a person gets...contracted? I didn't play any games and honestly Steven do you really think I would break anything?

Er...hello.

[well, okay, this creature had led her back here so she supposed it wasn't all bad. She wanted to leave, but it had been trying to help the way it knew how to help.]

I ran into Steven a few hours ago...he didn't get into many specifics, so I started exploring on my own.

[To find a way out or figure out more about how this place worked...obviously she hadn't had any success.]

Then something must be done inside first.[That's how these things work, right? Fight something or move a magical whatsit to proceed.]

That... is not a people I have heard of, Madhuri of Qalliclan. [Goliath pronounces it carefully. How good to meet people who talk about coming from clans again.] I suppose it is coincidence.

I don't need to pass through the gate. Come with me. [He's going to move as if to pick her up, though if she resists at all he'll stop and probably be embarrassed.]

No, but... um...

[He has to think. He didn't actually break any rules himself on his first time. it was probably easier for him, because paying for stuff like this is pretty common among humans.

But, there is one thing. He scratches at his hair nervously.]

Did you pay to enter at the gate?

Why not? I don't know what's impossible anymore.

[still hurting over the world changing so much and it feels like it's happened so fast? nah.]

Wait there. I will come to you.

[Goliath has tired of split-tier communication. He spreads his wings wide and leaps off the rung of the ferris wheel, gliding out above the carnival grounds looking for upwellings of air. When he circles back he's gotten enough height to land near Cat, graceful for such a heavy creature.]

[She laughed quietly.]

Don't you worry if it's unfamiliar. We've always been a tad rare when so few of us leave the mountains.

[Oh, he would be clever and just fly over the gates, wouldn't he? Her heart leaped in surprise when he moved to gather her, but she did nothing to fight him. Hells, free entry, why not?

She didn't mind the method of transportation in the slightest, neither. She only had to hope that nobody would trouble them for the attempt. She pressed a hand atop her hat to keep it secured and nodded to him. Ready!]

[Steven frowns, that moment of determination waning. She hadn't been sure before, so he'd thought maybe... oh well. Maybe she's right. Maybe it isn't so bad.

He just has a hard time feeling like he's not taking advantage of her somehow, like this. He doesn't want to act like the kind of people he's been fighting against. The kind that treat others like objects.]

No... not for me. But I'm not worried about me.

[It's a brief bit of sulkiness, and then he stands up. Trying not to think about it too hard, he reaches over to take her hand.]

It's okay. I can show you the gate.

[A2 sort of just stares at him as he grabs her hand. It's an oddly intimate thing for a human to do, and she narrows her eyes at him even if she doesn't verbally protest.

She can tell his hand is different from hers, flesh bone and blood, lighter, less sturdy than her frame of metal and wires and silicone. Well, silicon in places where her dermal layer hasn't been chipped away through wear and tear.

A2 looks at Steven expectantly, trying to mask her confusion at the fact a human would want to hold her hand let alone actually touch her. Even if he did rub spit on her earlier.

If he wants to lead, he'd better lead.]

That has a familiar sound.

[She doesn't weigh much, to him. Few do. He was named for how huge and strong he is. Also, I should note that gargoyle skin feels like suede. Word Of Greg.

Tragically he can't actually fly, but he will shift Madhuri to one arm and open his wings. There's fencing here, mere chain link. If he's careful, fingers and toes splayed, sometimes using the thumbs of his wings, he can climb it even with one arm occupied, though it jingles and trembles under his weight and the links are deformed. So he does.

Once he's at the top, then he can fly, or glide anyway, over tents and attractions and rides. He doesn't really flap his wings, so it's very smooth.]

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TEST DRIVE MEME #7

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