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livinglot2017-04-30 02:23 am
ringleaders) wrote in livinglot2017-04-30 02:23 am
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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:
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! |
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Lapis probably already pissed off yellow diamond SOMEHOW so. yeah, that sounds about right.]
Yes, my Diamond.
[And she does so! Explaining everything from the rides to the food stalls to the rigged carnival games. And then they hit the big top, and Lapis cautiously toes inside.
She's very intimately aware of how much water she has power over here, and she desperately hopes she doesn't need it.]
Steven? Steven, are you in here?
[please dont answer please dont answer]
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[It must be that Lapis Lazuli Luck kicking in, because it's not long before Steven calls back to her. He's in the backstage area at the moment getting ready to do some practicing, but he's always got time for a visit from Lapis.
He comes out of backstage, wearing a sparkly dancing vest and segmented skirt that leaves his belly exposed - as well as the patches of grassy green fur that cover parts of his body, gemstone freckles, and the ears, tail, and feet of a lion. Of course, he's not expecting to see anyone else when he comes out.
So he stops dead when he does, his eyes widened in shock. He doesn't know who that is, but they look like a gem, and with that stone...]
I... Whuh?
[He's got nothing.]
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Adaptable gems were precious things.
The Big Top is indeed big, she won't even need to duck to enter it. That was nice. She would if she had her proper height..
The voice that answers Lapis doesn't sound like any gem she's ever heard. She was at best reminded of one of her zoo's recent acquisitions, the human who'd understood loss more than she expected a human to.
The appearance is also no gem she'd ever seen before. It didn't even REMOTELY resemble a Rose Quartz, corrupted or otherwise.]
This is your organic friend?
[The gem in his belly suggested so.]
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Steven, this is my Diamond, Blue Diamond.
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[He repeats it dumbly, taking a step back. He sounds obviously startled, and also kind of afraid. He wasn't really ready for a confrontation here. She'll want to kill him, won't she?
Like all of the other homeworld gems.
He self conscious covers his gem with his hands, though he knows it's probably too late for that. He doesn't know why Lapis brought her here, but he isn't really thinking about that right now.]
I-I'm Steven.
[His voice squeaks.]
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[What a peculiar thing to call oneself. It didn't define anything at all. Not a role, not a skillset.. And this small lumpy form didn't look like anything either.
Blue knows the shape of a Rose Quartz's cut though, and even if the rest of him was strange, that was familiar. She watches for a few more moments, looking for any sign of a proper quartz's behavior patterns, movement, anything recognizable beyond a gem.
She raises one hand, sleeve falling back, and beckons.]
Come here.
[It's NOT a request.]
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It's okay, Steven...
[She hopes that Steven trusts her enough to know Lapis will fight if things get sketchy.]
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He nods a little, and then slowly moves forward, creeping along until he's within arm's reach of Blue Diamond. Then, he reaches out a paw, ready to shake hands apparently, which is ridiculous in its own right.]
Wow, um... when did you get here? Hi.
[He's so nervous about this, but so far Blue doesn't seem actively murderous? He can sense her relative calm at the moment, or at least her lack of direct murderous intent.
This is so weird.]
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But Blue had waited five thousand years. A little longer would do no further harm than has already been done, and she wanted more than rumor from other people now. She wanted proof, she wanted certainty after millennia of doubt and grief.
She doesn't move quickly, but it is with deliberation that she reaches out when Steven draws close enough to do so, intending to grasp the hand.. paw? that's been offered and pull him a little closer. She's not used to being so small compared to other beings but in this case it is perhaps ... useful.
If she catches him her grip isn't painful but it is strong, even he will have to work to get out of it. And then he's simply turned this way and that, like an interesting item on display and not a living being.]
I arrived today. A bargain was found to my liking, that may undo what had been done. I admit though I do not know any Lazuli that would lie, it is difficult to believe something so small and un-quartzlike could possibly truly be a Rose Quartz.
[There's pain and anger lurking beneath that serenity but she has control for now. Control she wasn't going to let go of easily. MUST not let go of.]
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She is basically the gem equivalent of sweating bullets. ]
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There's the pain and anger that he expects and understands - he struggles to understand the events he knows she's thinking about, even though anything his mother did was for the good of all humanity. It's nearly impossible for him to fathom intentionally taking a life. Even now, it's hurts to think that his mother is truly responsible for the pain he's sensing now.
But there's a calm control he wasn't expecting, and an inquisitiveness that he might not have anticipated from someone as old and powerful as her. It makes her feel oddly human to him. It shouldn't be a surprise, considering how human all the gems he's met have the capacity to be. Even a diamond, though? It moves him.
His expression fades from one of sheer anxiety to a soft frown of contemplation, even as she moves him around like a someone looking over a horse. His gaze lingers on her, transfixed, until he can think of what to say.]
I... don't know how much Lapis told you...
[He starts uncertainly. He doesn't want to contradict something Lapis said, in case it starts a fight. Rose Quartz is already being mentioned, though, so...]
She... she was my mom. I don't remember anything she did, or why she did it, or... or what she wanted. I'm sorry.
[He looks away.]
I just have her gem. The rest of me is human.
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[How attached was Lazuli to this being? Quite a bit it seemed, enough so (Blue suspected) that she might be foolish enough to try violence should she choose to avenge Pink here and now. An ultimately futile act, but ... interesting. A gem's loyalty should only be to her diamond but that's not the case here, is it?
A thing to think about later. She suspected she too would be very grateful to be freed after so long imprisoned.]
It baffles me to think that a gem might choose to pollute herself with organic material in such a fashion. [It's a little odd perhaps how her voice can be so gentle and yet have something so un-nice to say.] Or how such a thing might even be done. To what purpose? Are you a quartz at all still, I wonder?
[Blue can't sense the truth or lies in others' words, she can only make very educated guesses based on behavior. But she's not used to trying to read human body language, or their particular tells for lies.]
I can feel the beat of organic life beneath your skin, and yet I know the gem of a Rose Quartz when I see it, for I have all of your cut carefully preserved. I admit I wish nothing more than to crush you and be done with it..
[It would be so easy for her to break the bones of a mere organic being, but her grip doesn't tighten.]
Why did you free my lazuli?
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Though she may find herself surprised about how hard he is to break.
Steven just lets all of that wash over him for now without individually questioning any of it. There will be time for that later, probably. If Blue Diamond signed a contract already... that means she's going to be here for a while. It also means that she's under the same rules as everyone else. Maybes he doesn't realize it, but if she shatters him she will be in bigger trouble than a diamond might be able to imagine.
If he has to he might warn her of that. For now, though... tentatively trying diplomacy.]
Because... she was trapped, and she needed help. She was scared, and alone, and I asked her what I could do...
Wouldn't you want to do the same?
[Genuine question, Big D.]
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If that was a ruby gem standing there wrapped in a fleshy shell the conversation would be very, very different.
Instead she has Rose Quartz, and a lapis that seemed to believe in him. As much as the rebels believed in their leader. Certainly Lapis was passionate about what she believed, but couldn't it all be a lie? Her free hand rises, as if to forestall that vehement argument.]
I don't know that I would, little quartz.
[Her tone never wavers from that gentle, serene pleasantness, though inevitably it creeps again towards sorrow. Didn't she keep an entire cut of gem locked away? At least they were unaware.]
I have no desire to see any gem undeservedly imprisoned remaining so. However, a Diamond does not always have the luxury to do what she wants to. [what] There are other things that must be weighed simply beyond ... mere sympathy. No matter how much it pains me to do.
[After a time, she simply ... lets go, releasing her hold on Steven. No harm's been done yet, and perhaps she doesn't intend to cause any in spite of wishing to. But she has her precious future to hold onto, the only hope she's had in millennia, and if it worked out ... and she hoped it would, then it would be another's hands Steven's fate would be left in. Not Blue's, and not Yellow's.]
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He's not exactly comfortable with her attitude, but it's distressingly familiar by now. She has the advantage that she actually isn't trying to hurt him yet, unlike a lot of her subjects. And other rebels. And... well. Lots of people. He exhales slowly, not able to make eye contact at the moment.]
I think I get what you mean.
[It's said with his own sad regret. It's like Garnet had told him... how apparently his mom had had to kill Pink Diamond because there was no other way for the other Crystal Gems to be free. She had to put necessity above her morals, and that sounds like the same concept Blue Diamond is expressing.
Not that he would dare compare the two of them. Not right now, anyway. He sees the connection, regardless.]
It's okay if you don't like me, because of... what I represent, or... or whatever you feel like right now. But we can't fight while we're both here. I'm working for the Ringmaster, too.
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[Not only would it be a completely pointless exercise in futility, what would it gain beyond temporary satisfaction? It wouldn't even make Blue feel better for long.]
You belong to her. At the very best you are a precious part of her legacy, human or quartz. At the worst ... it is not I to whom justice is most owed, and your fate will not lie in my hands. What is waiting another year, after so long?
[Blue straightens back up, pulling her long robes about herself a little tighter as if to fend off a chill. Mostly it's to fend off the grief threatening to boil back up. No. She must not give in. There's finally a light in the darkness, and she must hold onto that instead of the pain. There is hope. There is hope.]
All I must do is make certain you are there to face that judgment, be it for your guilt or your innocence. And if for some unknowable reason she chooses mercy..
[The tall woman inclines her head slightly towards Lapis.]
It seems she would like to keep your company, in gratitude. This can be provided for, even for a strange hybrid such as yourself.
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Even if Pink Diamond decided to murder him, it's not like he'd just stand... and... take it...? Wait a second.]
Another... year? W-Wait. Did you...
[Her contract... was it to... Pink Diamond? What? SHE CAN DO THAT?!]
Did you ask the Ringmaster to fix her?!
[It comes out with a squeak of total surprise. His mind is completely blown.]
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Besides which, keeping tabs on him if he were innocent may prove important.
The squeak of surprise draws an arch of black eyebrows and a look of thinly veiled ... what? Annoyance? Amusement? Even to empathic sense it's impossible to really pick out anything distinct.]
The Ringmaster explained that she would not resurrect the dead. But a shattered gem is not dead she is merely ... suffering unbearably and beyond our ability to ever help. Broken should be gone forever..
[Unreadable emotions surge back towards misery like a sudden tidal wave, and while Blue's smile is bitter, anger can't work its way up. There's that burning ember of hope again, as excruciatingly painful as it is wonderful.]
But now it isn't, and what is a year of being some strange being's pearl in return for that?
[It takes her a moment to wrap her calm around herself like a shroud again, and blink away the suspicious beginnings of tears, then turn to Lapis instead.]
It is outside your usual purview but resources are likely to be slim here, and I have no agate to assign the task instead. This .. friend of yours.. must survive at the very least until Pink Diamond's return, I wish for you to see to it that he does. Yellow will be displeased but I will explain matters to her.
[YELLOW'S HERE TOO?? Well Lapis knows that at least.]
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There are so many things that need fixing, back home. If Blue Diamond brought her back to life, would it be better? Or would it just be the gem war all over again? Steven doesn't know and it makes him feel sick inside. He suddenly and powerfully doesn't want to be in Blue's presence anymore, on a level beyond what he felt before.
Steven's eyes tear up reflexively, and his finds his face wet from them without even really understanding how it started. Her sadness, his own sadness, their own pressured hopes about different things...
He has to get out of here. It's more than he can take.
As Blue turns her attention to Lapis, he numbly begins to walk over to his friend as well, tears on his face but not really sure what to do about it. He could ask this question to Blue Diamond directly, but he doesn't really want to. Instead he reaches out to try to take Lapis's hand, speaking quietly:]
Can we go?
[It's not with impatience, but instead with with literal need. He can't take being here right now, and even beyond the tears on his face, his general demeanor at the moment makes that pretty obvious.]
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Yes, my Diamond. May we be dismissed?
[There's still a very real terror there, but overriding that is the sense of protectiveness for Steven, which should be obvious from the way that Lapis keeps herself half in front of him. Not that she thinks that Blue Diamond will attack anymore; it's more a subtle gesture that she will protect him just like her Diamond wants.
Of course, it's obvious enough that that protectiveness even means to go as far as from her and any other Diamond that might want to hurt him.]
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But now things were a little different. This may be the traitor and matricidal quartz ... and her own lapis may well be a traitor alongside him. Tormenting them because of it wouldn't bring Pink back or make her feel better. What was the point of bothering?
After a solid minute or two of silence, possibly while they squirm, Blue Diamond sighs. It sounds terribly put-upon, as if the weight of this entire horrible circus was on her shoulders.]
Yes, of course. I believe your companion was preparing for some task in this place.
[And then she turns and vanishes from the tent in a brief ripple of deep blue cloth. She had her own duties to attend to soon, but there were things she would have to consider first, and work on reining in her grief again before it made working impossible. She had to keep herself on task now, or pay dearly for it.. The anxiety she leaves in her wake in comparison is utterly irrelevant.]
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Once Lapis's diamond is gone, he lets go of her hand only to wrap his arms around her in a hug, still quietly crying.]
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There's... a lot to unpack emotionally for Lapis rather suddenly, and she doesn't really want to deal with that in the moment. She pulls away only slightly from the hug after a few seconds, giving a smile with some seriously poorly hidden anxiety in it.]
I don't know how much I want to stick around here with her lurking about... Want to go somewhere else?
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