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

angry big slice of pie / su

[objectivous]

a. admission fees

[there's an absurdly tall, bright yellow woman at the gate. she's not as tall as she's used to being - going from about fifty foot to seven is a bit of a shock. it's completely enraged her. so has winding up here. yellow diamond started shouting immediately. very loudly. we've got a real winner here, folks.]

VALUE?! YOU DEMAND SOMETHING OF VALUE FROM A DIAMOND?! HOW DARE YOU EVEN--

[she raises her hands, letting off an incoherent scream of rage. yellow electricity starts to crackle around her and she holds out a hand, shooting it at the clerk. yellow mustered up all her power for that one, so it's probably not gonna feel good.]

DIE, YOU WORTHLESS CRETIN! I WILL BRING THE FULL FURY OF ALL THE DIAMONDS DOWN ON THIS PATHETIC PLANET AND TURN IT TO DUST!

b. trying to leaf

[however yellow's rage fit ended, it probably wasn't pretty. honestly, it probably hasn't ended, just moved location. she is absolutely blind with rage. the trees are taking the brunt of it, unfortunately. one will find the first damaged tree with a perfect diamond punched through it.

it just gets worse. there are charred trees from electrocution and some that have just been straight up torn out the ground and snapped to pieces. yellow, of course, can be found in the middle of all this, still having her impressive tantrum.

intervene? shit self and run away?]

b

[mirrortide]

[The moment she hears the sound of catastrophe and trees being uprooted, Lapis investigates. Mostly because some of those trees are a real great way to nap in.

The moment she spots a Diamond, Yellow Diamond, she makes what can only be described as a sound of pure and absolute terror. Naturally, she quickly wills all of her carnival changes away in a quick flash of light and crosses her arms in a salute.]

Y-Yellow Diamond! [Yeah. She stuttered. She's also bracing herself for the inevitable poofing. Perhaps shattering.

A smarter run away gem would actually run away But Yellow Diamond is terrifying and Lapis is more or less rooted to the spot.]

[objectivous]

[she should probably feel some sort of shame or remorse about how she's acting out. the thought doesn't even cross yellow diamond's mind, however, though if it had she would've made a note to order pearl to feel those emotions for her.

mid tree-ripping, she stops and casually flings it aside. a lapis. personally, yellow would've preferred an agate, sapphire or even a ruby, but she'll make do. at least the lapis can ruin the planet. yellow'll command her to do it out of spite. she's good at that.

an eyebrow quirks and her lips purse. yellow regards lapis as though lapis was the one who'd been throwing a tantrum.]

When were you assigned this planet?

[that's the only reason lapis would be here, right? of course, the thought that she's in the same situation crosses yellow's mind, but she dismisses it on the ground of not wanting to be on equal ground. in the same ship. she clings to the hope that this is just some weird cosmic bullshit and there will be a ship for her to take and leave.]

[mirrortide]

I- uh. I was- [Stop stuttering, Lazuli before you're the next one crushed.] I wasn't assigned here. I was- I was taken, and I've been stuck here in this place since.

[There's only about half a second of pause before she tacks on-] Unable to do my job. [... She hasn't even bothered looking for a way out either.]

[objectivous]

[yellow diamond's lip quirks in annoyance. she doesn't like being in the same position as something as lowly as a lazuli.]

I will inform the Blue Court of your incompetance. [because she's petty and pissed off.] At least tell me you have some information.

a

[starseedling]

[Steven's horror at this sight is twofold: for one, Yellow Diamond totally just annihilated the cinder sprite working the admissions counter, and for the other, the fact that she just did that has pretty much guaranteed that she's going to get contracted to work at the carnival.

Which is about one of the most inconvenient things Steven can imagine.

So, with that probably already being a thing, all there's left to do is damage control. Man, just about anyone else he knows of would be fine, but a diamond being here at all is enough to be pants-shittingly terrifying.

Steven's best effort to stop her while also avoiding dying results in him doing something probably stupid - which is, diving right in there with a float jump and bringing out his shield to block her from the entrance.]

NO! STOP IT!

[objectivous]

[that symbol. that symbol. the diamond's eyes almost bug out her head in recognition. so much so that steven's current form doesn't even register, just the symbol of rebellion. of pink diamond's murder.

fortunately, yellow doesn't know that the shield is reflective. she fires off another bolt of lightning that ricochets off relatively harmlessly (it only zaps another attendant. they don't die. probably.]

Rose Quartz! [shit wait does that mean she's on earth? fuck ass balls the goddamn cluster shit] This was your last mistake!

[blue isn't here to hold her back. she charges up another shock, intending to completely shroud the area in a mini-thunderstorm. buckle up, y'all.]

[starseedling]

[Okay well that escalated quickly. Steven can tell that this is going to result in serious damage or injury to people here, and to be honest, he completely panics. He just wants her to stop, and the only thing that comes to mind at the time is to launch himself into the air and to shield slam right into her face.

This probably will hurt her more than it would back home, at least.]

[objectivous]

[it connects! yellow diamond is actually knocked back slightly and the fact that she felt it at all has clearly shocked her. seriously, what is going on?

she swats at steven the second after she gets her shit back together mentally, trying to hit him out the air.]

A.

[periphrasing]

[Peridot likes to think she has relatively few regrets in life, but the choice to investigate the source of this particularly familiar voice is in a dreadful category of all its own.

Of course she had recognized that shouting. How could she not? The very sound of it is seared into her memory like a painful brand. At first, the tech had almost just assumed she'd finally gone and cracked or something; she has to be imagining things, right, because why would Yellow be HERE, at the carnival of all places? It's ludicrous! Ridiculous! Absolutely improbable. The only thing more improbable? The odds of Peridot successfully being able to relax at all if she didn't go and check things out, just to be absolutely certain.

And that's where the regret comes in, because her calculations were incorrect. Yellow Diamond is much smaller than she should be, but to Peridot she's still larger than life... and that is definitely her, there's no mistaking it. She nearly dissipates her form right then and there out of sheer terror, and only the fact that Yellow Diamond represents a clear and present threat to her friends is enough to convince her to keep it together.

But what the hell is she supposed to do about it? She stands there cowering behind a trash can while her (former?) Diamond screams at the cinder sprite at the admissions counter, trying to come up with a plan or will herself into moving or doing something when the lightning charges up and-- Oh stars no, she wouldn't, she can't--]

WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!

[...She did. And Peridot was a split second too late to stop her. That sprite is toast, and she just blew her cover for nothing. The green gem freezes on the spot, gaping with horror and trembling with terror, hoping against all hope that maybe Yellow Diamond didn't hear her shout and she can still run away while her back is turned. Or maybe... maybe she just won't recognize her as a gem, what with all her physical changes and her carnival uniform covering up her old Homeworld uniform? MAYBE?]

i got this icon just for you

[objectivous]

[the electricity crackles out when peridot shouts and yellow diamond turns, very slowly and deliberately to face her.

peridot's gem is visible, so she's kinda fucked from the start.]

IDENTIFY YOURSELF AT ONCE!

[...really fucked.]

I'm so honored :')

[periphrasing]

[Crud.

Peridot is sweating bullets, and trembling violently like terrified chihuahua. Facing Yellow Diamond was pants-shittingly scary enough when she was doing it over a long-distance call from another planet. Face-to-face is putting her on a whole different level of fear. Like, she's right there. Smaller than usual, yes, but still within easy crushing distance.]

UUUUUuuuum-- Um. Um--

[What should she do!? Lie? She's not even good at lying under normal calm circumstances, let alone under such duress. She sure as hell can't give her her actual facet and cut designation.

Nope. There's only one sensible option here.

She's going to use her metal powers to fling a nearby garbage can at her as a distraction, and then run the fuck away screaming.]

<3

[objectivous]

[you know what would be cool? if she could vaporise that trash can in midair. she probably could, if she hit it with enough volts, but doesn't. the act of insubordination is so unprecedented one can't help but wonder why that the can actually hits her right on the gem. it doesn't do any damage, but peridot probably knows she's basically a dead gem walking. yellow diamond doesn't care that peridot is the only other gem she's seen so far, she just wants to poof the little shit and maybe get her shatter on.

maybe predictably because i don't know any other powers, yellow diamond fires off another bolt at peridot. she won't lower herself to giving chase just yet.]

a. SO READY FOR THIS.

[squeedlyspooch]

[Instead of actually doing his job or being useful in any way, however small, Zim is wandering the grounds. After spending some extremely productive time in his and Taako's trailer ranting to himself he's decided to see if there's anything useful he could commandeer to deal with this whole shitty carnival slave situation.

So lucky him, he comes upon a giant yellow lady electrocuting one of the other employees. He is fairly certain humans aren't naturally all yellow like this, nor can the fire electricity from their hands, and the whole planetary destruction thing is a pretty big giveaway that this has to be an alien of unknown species.

This being Zim and all he's just going to stand there, weird-looking green kid with stupid Elvis hair, and watch. When she's finished her electricity-tantrum he's just going to whistle all impressed.]

Hoooo, that was neat!

YEEESSS

[objectivous]

[she whips around when she hears zim, unnecessarily on edge. she won't say it aloud, but she has basically been kidnapped, after all. this is a very embarrassing situation for a diamond to be in.

she stomps over to zim, looming over him.]

What planet is this, hideous local?

[squeedlyspooch]

[Zim, being tiny and all, has to look waaaaay up. He's now wondering if she's taller than the Tallest because wow, she's certainly taller than any human he's seen.]

Oh, I'm not one of these filthy humans. This is merely a brilliant disguise. [And if she is somehow human he'll just erase her mind later. Whatever. Anyway.]

You're on Earth, so you can forget about whatever reason you have for landing here. The Irken Empire's already marked it for conquest.

[objectivous]

EARTH?!

[okay something in the way she says that makes it obvious that she knows Something™ about earth (it's the cluster and yellow diamond has now been done a mild frighten).]

The Irken Empire will do no such thing. Earth is under the jurisdiction of the Diamond Authority and if they attempt to lay any such claim, they will -- [get a big surprise when it implodes, for one.] -- be annihilated.

b

[stompadour]

[Jasper hasn't been here very long. She still doesn't all the way understand how she's here, exactly? But she knows she can't stay here, and to that end she's looking for a way out – which has brought her into the woods, where she's come across the first signs of this egregious temper tantrum, and she's less looking for a way out now than cautiously trying to find out what's caused this.

When she gets far enough in to find out, she stops dead in her tracks, eyes widening, shoulders tensing, as she goggles in wide-eyed disbelief.]

Y ... [but... how...??] ... Yellow Diamond!?

[objectivous]

[look, she has some issues to work out, alright.]

Jasper!

[she recognises that jasper right away. there's almost relief in her tone.]

Good. Of all the gems to be stuck here with, I can't say you wouldn't be a pick. What have you gathered?

[other than your diamond is a giant pissbaby.]

[stompadour]

[Sorry, yellow, Jasper's still staring. She lifts one hand in the automatic impulse to salute, but...]

... Why are you so small??

[objectivous]

[her eye twitches slightly. this isn't a topic she wanted to discuss with anyone.]

This form is not one I have taken by choice. It seems this planet projects some kind of form distortion field.

[she straightens up, nonverbally showing that she's about the same height as jasper, that that seems to be the maximum.]

a.

[moonfang]

Now that wasn't very nice. I've been eyeballin' that sprite for a snack for days now!

[who the hell is this joker in his white clothes and white skin and fuckoff huge sword]

It's a carnival, dumbass. You gotta pay to get in.

[objectivous]

[oh look an organic that is talking at her. yellow diamond doesn't care.]

Diamonds do not pay.

[said as simple fact. she barely even turns to look at him.]

[moonfang]

Everybody pays. One way or another.

[he tilts his head and gets a little closer, jumping atop one of the other ticket kiosks so he doesn't have to look up at her]

Wait, did you just say diamond? Since when do diamonds come in piss yellow? ... Or in the form of giant ladies, fer that matter.

'piss yellow' HOOTS

[objectivous]

[yellow doesn't know what "piss" means, but she can guess from the context it's not something pleasant. how rude, her colour is flawless.]

Since always, organic.

[she swats at him. go away.]