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

(( i. | mirror maze. ))
[ Kanata doesn't have much experience with carnivals or mirror mazes, but he's pretty sure mirrors don't usually talk.

A doctor - a unit captain - scared of the dark. That's just so pathetically pitiful. Did you remember to bring your night-light with you in case you need to attend a late surgery? Wouldn't want to slip with the scalpel now, would you?

He tries to ignore the words, but he wonders if the person he's currently with heard them too (He both hopes they did and that they didn't, he's embarrassed and he doesn't want to talk about why he's scared of the dark, but he also doesn't want to think he's hallucinating.)

When he grabs the others clothes with both hands his doctor's attache case knocks against them both, but at least Kanata doesn't notice. (The metal is a bit hard, sorrry.) ]

Hey, hey hey heyheyheyhey, did you hear that?

(( ii. | gamer's circle. ))
[ When Kanata comes across the Gamer's Circle, he's frozen in place and just staring. If one were to look at his face, it should be very easy to see that his eyes are sparkling.

Once he actually manages to speak, his voice is very quiet and just as awestruck as his expression. ]

Is this Heaven?

(( iii. | ~~not~~ trying to leaf. ))
[ Kanata has stopped at the edge of the forest. He reaches out for a tree with hesitation, and stops before he can actually touch it. He retracts his hand, and he grips the handle of the case nervously. Then he tries again, and grasps a leaf. He lets out a little gasp and his eyes are wide as he rubs the leaf carefully between his fingers. It's like he's never touched (or seen) a leaf before.real ]

S-so this is what leaves feels like....

[Well, this is interesting. Someone's... not actually trying to leave. Axel's patrol job often takes him past the entrance; back when the carnival was more populated, he would bet with the ticket sellers on who was going to come back and who would be able to leave. Now, though... Now they're just spirits, mostly, the kind that your eyes pass right over.

Well, ignoring all that, this is odd. Newbie's... feeling up the trees? Like some weirdo leaf-toucher.]

Yeah, and some of them will feel you back.

[There's a horned, tailed man with hooves staring at Kanata from the carnival fence. Axel gives a little wave.]

[ As Kanata is far too busy to to try to leave yet, busy because of a morbid fascination---because the only plant that exists where he’s from literally kills people but none of the plants in this place looks like the shinigami flower.

He is so busy with the leaf that he doesn’t notice that someone is close by before he is addressed. Not that he ever was very good at that. So he startles and nearly jumps out of his skin, then turns around (And accidentally pulls the leaf he’s holding off the branch.) ]

Eh? What do you mean? [ He drops the leaf as if he’s been burned. ][ He’s asking that seriously. He knows one deadly flower. And he’s more concerned about that than the man’s odd appearance (besides, he’s seen other odd looking people here and he’s a retro games nerd.) ]

[Axel can't help but chuckle at the sudden reaction. He doesn't know what's going on in Kanata's head, or he'd be more apologetic, but for now he's just entertained.]

Not all the plants here are normal, y'know? I'm pretty sure at least a couple were people once. Not that I'm judging their life choices or anything. You might want to apologize for ripping one of the leaves off, though.

[That probably smarts. Weirdo leaf toucher graduates to weird leaf puller.]

[ Anyone who knows about plants and don’t think they’re an unusual thing, are weird in Kanata’s book. Plants are extinct, and Kanata is working to save people from that only one that still does exist. People barely even know the word “flower” any more, and then it’s more as a curious thing from the past that no one has actually seen, unless it’s the Shinigami. ]

Plants in ‘emselves ain’t normal, [ He slips into Kansai dialect by accident, the Kanto dialect he uses professionally. ] but if people went’n got ‘emselves taken over and consumed by flowers it ain’t usually a good thing.

[ Is this place run over by Shinigami hybrids? ]

Really? I mean, they're all over, so... You're even standing on the grass.

[He shrugs. Makes no difference to him if people don't believe him. If he tries to run, he'll end up back here until he makes a contract, if he owes a debt. If not, he's free to go. And if he breaks his contract, RM might turn him into a plant. That'd be one hell of a twist.]

[ He shakes his head. He can’t see how it’s normal. Not even grass… ]

All plants but one’re extinct, so it ain’t normal at all.

[ It’s weird, considering plants as normal. How can this man see it as that? ]

Oh! This is one of those "other world" things.

[Though... he can't imagine a world with no plants. How do people get food?]

My home world has a ton of plants. Well, had. This world, small though it is, does too. I guess yours doesn't.

Other world things…? Like in video games?

[ That's sort of interesting and is making him calm down a bit. He’s a gamer ~~and has probably played his world’s equivalent of Kingdom Hearts at some point~~, so he’d think of games when something like that was brought up. ]

I’d like to see that.. Are there more plants here? All over?

[ He had been focused on other things (games) before so he might have missed it. ]

Sorta? As for the plants... Yeah, every tree is a plant, and the grass, too.

[He points down at the ground Kanata's standing on.]

I also have a little tree in my trailer. Makes fruit. We've even got people with plant traits, here and there.

[ He looks back and forth between the grass and Axel. ]

No, yeah, I know, but...

[ His eyes just widens. ]

In your trailer? There are people that have plant traits? Wow.

Yeah, we're pretty in tune with nature here.

[It's a fae realm of eternal summer, of course they are.]

... Um. I gotta ask. Did you skip your entrance fee? Cheat at any of the games? Any of that? Because you can't exactly leave if you did.

I see...

[ It’s weird to be told something like that, when you’ve grown up seeing no plants except the one that kills people.

Being accused of something like that, even if it’s really just a question, is something Kanata doesn’t like, and he puffs up his cheeks. ]

I wouldn’t do any of that. I’m a doctor of Gokurakuen, if we do something like that we’d break the people’s trust and we’re in enough troubles as is because of the attack on the ship.

Sorry, I'm security. It's my job to ask.

[Some people seem to think cheating is ok, and then they can't leave... it's a breath of fresh air to see someone approaching the situation calmly and not making a mess.]

If you didn't damage circus property other than that tree, you're free to go. I'm pretty sure the tree's not enough to get you in trouble.

[ He rubs his neck and sighs. ]

I guess I get that.

[ But he has some honor in him, okay? (Okay, so there are a few crooks within Gokurakuen too, but hopefully they’re rid of all those now.) ]

Would people not be free to go otherwise?

Yeah. In fact, they wouldn't be able to leave at all.

[He gestures at the trees, which do not respond. The woods are mostly dark, a little intimidating, but statistically unlikely to eat you, at least.]

The trees turn 'em around, lead 'em back here instead of out.

[ For a few moments, he’s silent. He looks in toward the depths of the forest. The only times he’s ever seen forests at all is in retro video games, and it’s not always those seem intimidating. ]

So there is still something going on with the trees.

[ Even if they don’t kill people. ]

Fae magic in the mind, as far as I know. Yeah, actually the trees are mostly normal, but I bet some of them have changed too.

[Like Axel. Like anyone in the carnival who's been around a while.]

Fae…? Like fairies? [ Um. ] Do they change a lot?

[ Then he realizes there was one word there at the end. ]

“Too”?

Just like fairies, yeah. And... I'm not supposed to talk about that, really, not unless you make a contract.

[He's not supposed to scare people off, after all. But he does have gazelle legs, and antelope horns, and a lizard tail, and glowing eyes... So y'know. Maybe the doctor can put two and two together.]

[ It’s mainly because of all the different games he’s played over the years that he manages to figure out a few things. ]

So it’s like one of the hidden conditions that’s in the fine print of the contract that everyone’ll go turn into, um, differently?

[ Because he can’t exactly tell what this guard person is. A faun? ]

[Somewhere between a faun and a dragon, anyway. With dark orangey brown tattoos across his shoulders, visible under his tank top.]

Could be something like that. I admit, I was coerced into this role at first for breaking stuff, so I didn't really read the contract.

You should always read a contract though, you know.

[ He’s had to deal with reading contracts, too, though his older sister is way better at those sort of stuff. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE MEME #7

Kanata Igarashi | Shinigami x Doctor

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