TEST DRIVE MEME #7

[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, 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!

Comments

Vincent Valentine | FFVII

[coffincomfort]

Egg

The Ringmaster had been very 'excited' to unveil her new incentive for 'teambuilding' and morale. In this case, 'excited' was code for 'pleased with herself.'

Not unrelatedly, Vincent's lack of external enthusiasm was code for a lack of internal enthusiasm.

Not that he was so unwilling that he'd refuse to participate, but protesting was only going to encourage her; he'd been sorted immediately into the blue team, which he was mildly suspicious was a dig at the fact that the only nonblack colours he was wearing were red and brassgold. He kept that to himself too.

Now, 20 minutes later, he was crouched on the floor of the carousel, metal claw braced against the floor and reptilian head cocked as he listened for the melodic chime of some hidden magical egg.

This is it. The moment all those years of Turk training pay off. This is a completely worthwhile use of his skills. Thank you, Ringmaster.

Free him.

[fourthscribe]

It's ridiculous, but at least it's interesting.

Tanyuu has a bit of an advantage in her long body slithering along is much more muted than the steps of the other carnival members. Unfortunately it does still create a low rasp, which means she has to keep her upper body low.

...very low. Her kimono has almost been untied from getting stuck under her three times now.

Her antennae twitch slightly to pick up a somewhat unfamiliar scent, and Tanyuu lifts herself up to peek over the edge of the carousel to see someone distinctly not unfamiliar.

"Vincent? When did you return?"

[coffincomfort]

One of the problems with being... what he is... is that he can hear, smell, see so much more than he was born to sense. The shifting rustle of a mouse underneath the carousel, the bright passage of feathers through still air as a bird flies overhead, the low rasp of a snake in the grass..... the lower, harsher rasp of an even bigger snake over packed, dry earth.

He mostly makes an effort to ignore it; after a certain point, it's just so much background noise--like a television always on in the back of a bar.

Her arrival--with spoken word--is less like a sudden appearance and more like someone suddenly turning that television up. Which isn't to say he doesn't turn, sharply, the mouth of his reptilian muzzle hidden behind the cowl of his cloak--and the armoured ledge of his plated scutes.

But the source of the voice is nowhere to be seen. He sits for a second, listening. But after a moment of deliberation, he reaches the only conclusion possible with the information he has.

.... is she... somewhere underneath him?

".... Tanyuu." His voice is low and quiet--testing.

[fourthscribe]

"Yes! Just a moment..."

She slithers out from the cramped area and raises herself up at the side of the carousel. Folding both arms on the edge, she smiles cheerfully.

"It's good to see you back again."

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy is not doing the egg hunt, as he is busy running supplies back and forth for the after-exercise communal dinner. He doesn't miss Vincent on the floor of the carousel, though, as he's heading by with a cart full of supplies. ".... It's rather... would you like to borrow a spare tablecloth, to keep your clothes clean?"

[coffincomfort]

"............."

There's a long silence as Vincent receives the question and thinks about it--unmoved and unmoving, still crouched amidst a cheery array of painted, ribbon-bedecked animals from across the multiverse.

Eventually, in a low, affectless tone... he finally replies.

"My cloak.... looks like a tablecloth?"

[empty_vessel]

".... No?" Jimmy goes poking through the cart of supplies and digs out a red and white checked cloth, carefully folded and stacked with more of the same. "I was thinking that you might not want to get your cloak dirty? And I've got a spare tablecloth." Although Jimmy personally kind of wonders if any more dirt on the cloak would make much of an impact, it's rude not to offer.

[coffincomfort]

Vincent hasn't actually laundered this cloak in.... 33 years. Which is to say, at any point since he 'acquired' it. He thinks better of saying this, though. Last time he said something about it, he'd narrowly escaped being laundered himself, cloak and all.

Instead, he says, "I'm just.... looking for eggs."

It's not a graceful deflection, especially when his delivery is that stiff and awkward.

[empty_vessel]

"Oh! You're in the egg hunt. Should've figured you were. My bad." Jimmy smiles, putting the tablecloth back on the cart with the others. "If it helps any, she tries to keep it fair enough that anyone can reach any egg. Mostly to keep the fliers from having too big an advantage, I think." Although some being as big as they are probably factors in too.

"So there probably won't be any down there in the dirt, but you might want to check the mouths and benches of some of the bigger animals." The fun of a team building exercise isn't that fun if you need to call in help to gather every single egg, after all.

[insidescoop]

Rather oblivious to the fact that there is only one good reason for someone to stoop down and listen around like this, Carly is...staring. She stares for a number of moments actually, and eventually she decides that it's probably a good idea to speak.

"Ahhhhh...." .........................

"............Hear anything?"

[coffincomfort]

..... well, Carly. Funny you should ask. Because... you see, if he was listening for something...

.... wouldn't you have just interrupted him?

....

If you needed help, the answer is 'yes.'

Fortunately, Vincent is too much of a professional to react to her; in fact, he continues crouching where he is, reptilian head cocked, before he stands--abruptly, with a unnecessary dramatic, sweeping gesture of his cloak.

He takes several steps forward, then stops again, listening.

Then he looks at her.

"......"

Ask a stupid question.........

[insidescoop]

"Aheh...." ......................................

"....So...'No' then?"

Carly...........

[coffincomfort]

"....depends."

Vincent is not known for answering questions directly. He's also not known for looking approachable, or for a sense of humour. He's still watching her with those piercing red eyes--his face impassive, reptilian maw partially hidden behind his cowl.

"What team are you on?"


Okay, so he might be fucking with her. Just... just a little.

He's still keeping one ear--so to speak, anyway--on that egg, though. It's not especially hard, to be fair. It's a pretty constant noise, even if it's not that close. But it's not something he would have wanted to try and multitask when he was a normal human.

[insidescoop]

"Heh?" There is another span of silence, as the question that Vincent asks ever so slowly sinks in.

And once it does, almost predictably, her feathers ruffle magnificently, the girl flustering into a stammering mess. "H-HH-HEEEHH!!! Th- What's that supposed to mean!! I'm not helping the enemy win, definitely not!! That's not happening!!"

Does she even know all of her team mates, probably not.

[tacosgay]

Speaking of a worthwhile use of one's skills, Taako had decided that his own would be best used... messing with the other team. After first casting Arcane Eye-- to lend himself a neat advantage over the others, of course, at least when it came to visually searching for the eggs-- he'd also been using every bit of illusion magic he knew to lead the other teams in circles, creating false sights and sounds wherever possible.

And, hey, even if the illusions didn't work for long, they did grant his team a slight time advantage.

By the time he finally did come across one of his own teammates, he was swinging his Umbra Staff around his finger, whistling idly to himself and feeling pretty damned accomplished.

"Hail and well met, my dude, how goes the search?" He called to the, uh, reptile... individual who was apparently his teammate.