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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Steven is riding the ferris wheel alone with his Fomantis, because he works at a carnival and he can do what he wants, more or less. The novelty of having the rides available hasn't totally worn off, especially when nobody is policing him about whether he's tall enough for them. If he can take a ride whenever he feels like it, he may as well exploit that opportunity.

Though he isn't really expecting a girl to land on his carriage, not that he's super surprised by it either? It seems pretty definitively like something Garnet might do... though she'd probably be less rude about it afterwards.]

Oh! Hi. Did you... jump up here?

Yeah. I did.

[She squints at him a little. What the hell is he? What the hell is that thing with him?]

What the hell are you supposed to be?

[He's not giving out any machine signatures.]

[On the flip side, he has no idea that she's an android, nor will he even consider that without some kind of obvious prompting. His tail wags enthusiastically though, even though this isn't exactly a friendly conversation yet.]

I'm a human! And... a gem? And I guess I'm part fae now, too. It's sort of complicated.

I'm also a Steven! What's your name?

You don't look human to me. [Also... Gem??? Aren't those inorganic. How can a human be half mineral.

.... He has a tail. It's wagging. Unbelievable.] At all.

[Steven frowns. Maybe she's right? He'd like to think he's still pretty darn humanoid, but the idea that he doesn't look human at all is sort of upsetting. It'd hard balancing such a complicated identity.]

Well, I thought my face was still pretty humany! [He squishes his cheeks indicatively, though the little gemstone freckles and moss don't help.] ...But, I guess a lot of this stuff is pretty new. It kind of comes from living here.

Yeah, and so's mine. [Her face is humany, she means. But that's part and parcel of being an android.] Doesn't make me human.

What do you mean it comes from living here? If [A2 doesn't sound terribly convinced.] you are human, why'd you let this place change you?

[Steven blinks. Like, that sure is an argument, he guesses, though he's not sure what that means in the grand scheme of things.]

Oh. You're not human? [He sounds a little bit surprised, but not in a way that seems to imply he thinks any differently of her as a result. There just happens to be a lot more humans than anything else around here.]

But... I mean... I don't really mind... but it's not really like we have a choice? It's just really magic here, so sometimes that magic makes people grow tails and stuff.

No. I'm an android. [It's said as a scoff, but really, if he is human, or once was, or whatever, her processors are firing off, and her circuits are going haywire and telling her that she absolutely needs his validation, his approval of her.

It's gross. A2 shifts uncomfortably as she tries to fight off her own programming and is only marginally successful. Her voice is... a little softer after. Tell no one.]

Sounds unfortunate. What do you mean you don't have a choice?

[Humans from her universe must be weird. Steven's eyes widen and sparkle just a little at being told she's an android - that explains how she did that cool jump and everything, then! He's never really met a robot person before! Though the idea of inorganic life is hardly a stretch, considering.]

Well... if you end up working here, you have to sign a contract to stay for a year. So, over that time, you're bound to change shapes a bit, just because of all the magic. I've been here for three months, so I got all this fur, and ears, and a tail! I already had this before, though.

[He lifts up his shirt to show her his gem. He doesn't really know what her relationship with humans are, and he can't really tell if it's a good or bad thing, but maybe her knowing he's not fully a human either will make her feel more comfortable.]

I'll pass. I'm more of a freelancer. [That murders innocent baby machines.] Not a fan of changing shapes either.

[When he lifts his shirt, she just sort of quirks an eyebrow at the pink gem that sits on his navel.] Nice jewellery. [She guesses? What do you want her to say, Steven!!]

[HE DOESN'T KNOW EITHER! What do you want him to be??]

Huh? Oh! That's not jewellery, that's my mom! Or... it was my mom. Now it's just a part of my body. That's my gem.

... You know what, I don't want to know.

[She doesn't get it, she doesn't understand it, and quite frankly, it seems like it's too complicated for her to care. She's not one of them fancy newer models.]

Anyway, if you're human, [She's going to go with that, because it's easier on her poor processors.] then is this the moon? [... It doesn't look like she thought it would.]

Um... no?

[He's been to the moon, and this isn't it. Or at least, he's been to his moon. Hers might be different.]

This is the carnival. It tours around the multiverse to visit places,
which... is sort of a lot to take in! [He doesn't know if he'd recommend it, if you don't have some reason for wanting to be there.] But... if you don't want to stick around, I'd definitely make sure you pay for anything you take or play with, and don't break anything. That can get you into a lot of trouble.

[He winces a little, hoping that she hasn't already damaged the ferris wheel somehow.]

[she's 307 solid pounds of hobo android. She probably did some damage.

... Thankfully for Steven, now that her logic processors have decided that despite his weird shape that he's a human, A2 is more or less incapable of calling bullshit.

She is not incapable, however, of sounding completely disbelieving.]

Is that so. I don't have anything anyone here would want. Unless you're into machine parts. [She's not sure what sort of use a human would have for them, but???]

[Oh. Hmm. That's not promising. Steven starts looking concerned.]

So... You didn't pay to get in at the front gate, did you?

No. I thought this was the amusement park. I was going to go kill some machines for spare parts.

[... A2 don't just tell a small child that....]

[Okay well thankfully he's not familiar enough with sapient machines for that to strike him as being as brutal as it probably is. He's mostly just trying to figure out what to do with her, since really, it doesn't super matter where she came from.]

Uhm... well. You definitely have the wrong one. Easy mistake, I guess?

[A2 just kind of squints suspiciously at him for a moment. Not that she can deny her core programming which is telling her to seek validation and approval from him.

Honestly, this is the worst.]

I guess so. [... Does she ask how to leave? But there's a human... She's torn between her oath and her programming now, and it's terrible.]

[If he had any idea what she was going through mentally he would feel so bad that her programming is making her feel like that. He honestly feels bad enough that she might have accidentally consigned herself already.]

Um... It's okay! Maybe if you just jump back to the entrance and pay this time they won't notice! They take robot parts or pretty much anything that's valuable to someone.

Machine parts. [A2 corrects.] They'd really take a pile of rusty bolts for admission? [Yikes, things must be pretty bad here, then.]

Probably! Especially if you went through some work to get them. We don't really need money or anything. The payment is just kind of a formality!

Why even ask for payment if it doesn't matter? [That is the most illogical thing she's ever heard. And A2 has heard a lot of bullshit.]

[Man, don't ask Steven that, A2. Steven don't know a fuckin' thing.]

I think it's kind of symbolic. Like... you're giving the carnival something of yours, even if the carnival doesn't need it.

[Though that is basically an accurate answer.]

I guess if they want rusted bolts or dented plates they can have them. It's not like I've got anything else.

[... They probably won't take them because of the iron content. Whoops.]

[LOL SHIT. Steven isn't even thinking of that because he's a fucking newb. Also, most OTHER kinds of metal are okay, so he's grown complacent. For now he's oblivious.]

Sure! And then you can either hang out in the carnival for a while, or just wait for the trees to let you leave!

Ferris Wheel

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