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

A - One Glorious... Return...?

[He was lost before. Horribly lost as he drove upon the path of light held up by the power of his dragon through a nebulous unknown. There was nothing to do but aimlessly drive until Clear Wing suddenly and finally caught a signal.

Yugo surged his D-Wheel toward it until they broke through an exit that led to... right above a lake that totally shouldn't have been there before while the carnival was last around withn this realm. And that is the story of how a white motorbike decked in black and yellow accents ended up in the lake, its rider thrashing his tail in the water with a yelp as the vehicle's bright green engine lights also sputtered out.]
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B - A Friendship Problem

Rrrrmgh.

I'm not lost again!

[Yugo face was stuck in a frown thanks to many factors, like accidentally sneezing a not-fireball at a stall, getting stuck into another contract because of the resulting damage, and also dealing with the weight of crystals and an unwieldy tail that mysteriously grew during his "trip". What a day and he had yet to find his old trailer with this maze....

Days? Longer? How long had he been missing in action from this place? The teen peered back toward the large and mostly white dragon hovering along at his side, even if they're clearly still in a huff.]

Man it's like something's trying to turn me into you. And I don't wanna be here for too much longer either Clear Wing, it just means I have to wait even longer to see Ri-

[He was cut abruptly short by said dragon roaring with what must've been very pent-up fury into its duelist's fin-like ear.]

What do you mean Rin's all I ever talk about?!

KGRREEEREAAAAAARRRR....!!!

Oiiii...! YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!!
---

[OOC Note: Fae changes and abilities involved are still up in the air, so threads here will be non-canon.]

[Yuya's just minding his own business, rolling about on one of the large balance balls for practice... until he sees something appear in the sky. He continues to steady himself as he watches it descend down, down...]

Augh! [He makes a valiant attempt to roll backwards as the wave comes for him, but alas--he's far too late. He falls straight backwards, the balance ball rolling to the side.

He sputters.] What the--?!

[Eventually the shape flails their body to the surface and up the shallower part of the water, but they're not gonna just leave while the bike itself is still down there!]

Ugh...! What the hell! Who put all this water here?!?!

[Yuya sits himself up with a sour expression.] There's always been water the--[Hey, wait a minute.

He gets to his feet and jogs closer to the shore.] Yugo?!

[It's Yugo all right, and he's taller-it looks like he could be in the middle of highschool, with slightly more bulk on his frame. Without his helmet he bears a draconic visage, with slit eyes and fanged teeth, as well as finned ear like a dragon might have.

And across his body is a false impression of scales, occasionally broken by bioluminesent light. What stands out the most though are growths of crystal at his shoulders and waist and the long tail he was flapping about.

It's like someone took Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and tried to make them more humanoid.]

Eh? Oh, you're that Yuya guy.

[Obviously not well met, these two. ~~Such a crime.~~]

[Now that Yuya has a proper look at Yugo, he's leaning back a bit--he's not as transformed as Gon, but it's hard to miss the clear signs that he's been among carnival magic for a while.]

Uh... yeah. [He shakes his head rapidly, trying to clear his focus.] Is your d-wheel going to be okay?

My d-wheel!!!

[Thanks for the reminder, even if the draconic teen now looks panicked all over again. Yugo dives- for literally a second because there's no way he'll get used to swimming with the kind of strange form he has.

At least it's still whole.

Second dive and... still not enough muscle in him for the task.]

[Yuya's not exactly a muscle man himself. Logically, he should call Gon for this. But he also doesn't want Yugo to drown in the meantime trying to save his bike so he wades into the lake with Yugo and grabs hold of the seat, pulling as hard as he can. Maybe the two of them are just enough to pull the bike out?]

[It's slow going, but the strength of two noodles trying with all their lack of might is enough to get it moving through the muck. Probably a good call after all to not go run for a strongman.]

Hah. I guess while I'm looking it over, I oughta figure out how to make this thing lighter.

[With all their noodle might!!] How did you even get in the air with it?

That part was obviously Clear Wing's fault.

[Being two fragments of a certain someone who was able to hear the voices of duel monsters, Yuya might be able to hear the Synchro dragon's growl of discontent from the card and perhaps even the "words" said sound translates to.]

[Yuya just raises a brow. Deferring the blame to the dragons, he sees.

He makes a wavy gesture with his hands.] I dunno, maybe do you bike tricks and hit the ramp really bad? [In the forest??]

Hehhhh? [There is a very sleepy sound coming from one of the trailers Yuugo is wandering past, and it is punctuated by a yawn, and a rather familiar figure coming out from the doorway. Carly might have had some human skin left before, but by now it's all velvety black with neon orange fae marks, and the woman stretches somewhat as she comes out to the chaos.] W...Who's arguing out here, a lot of us are trying to sleep you know..!! And-

[Oh hold on.] ...Y...YUUGO?! [Thanks to Yuugo's changes, by the time Yuuya ever arrived, she could no longer really mistake one for the other; Yuuya was familiar, but not so much that she slipped up back then. Now that Yuugo is here, she's seeing some resemblance, but...

Well there's only one who has a tail like that, she knows that much.] You came back for another year?! [Last she'd heard, your contract ran out buddy.]

[His dragon partner rumbles with an answer that is most likely another barb about Yugo.]

Didn't make another contract on purpose, it's just tha-

[Excuse him, a dip in the lake doesn't add on in a good way for however much improperly the young teen's been taking care of himself. Yugo sneezes out another blast of bright green and yellow not-quite-flame, though at least it was directed towards the ground instead of something else flammable.]

... There might've been a bit of an accident.

[Clear Wing snorts.]

You...didn't?

How did you accidentally make a contract coming in..!? You know how much everything costs don't you?

[Yeah about that-]

Well it's not like I knew I was gonna breathe fire every time I sneezed...!

[That oughta put two and two together very quickly.]

....Fire...?

[Wait what-] HAAAAAUH?! You breathe fire now?! When did that even happen!?

I'm not really sure?

[Clear Wing's very accurate guess is merely a vague point between when Yugo was last around the carnival and now.]

Well, you didn't have it before, so I guess it's just new... [Ah well. She beams.] Th-though...even if you didn't mean it, it's good to have you back at least~! A lot has happened since you disappeared you know!

Really? Like what? How long was I gone?

[If one could really ask that last question. It felt like a really long time though. The dragon perks up from their sourness, seeming interested as well.]

Well, since we were last at the crossroads...it's been a few months! [They've been to a number of locations since you were around buddy.]

[Wow.]

Eh....??? Jeez, that long?

[Really shouldn't have complacent about when the place would finally leave from there, as the dragon so nicely puts it with another rumble of words still unintelligible to an ear unattuned to the voices duel monsters.]

Well you don't have to keep nagging me on it, Clear Wing.

[Mutual huffing between these tight-knit partners.]

Hmnnhhh...wish I could figure out what he was saying... [Carly huffs at the sight, pouting a little.] At least Aslla speaks our language...

Ah, but if you're here again, that should mean you got reassigned a trailer right? Your old one was probably given to someone else by now...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE MEME #7

Yugo | Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V | New Veteran

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