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

[betheman]

[EXCUSE YOU IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF POMPOUS-] NNHH!?

IT SOUNDS LIKE NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS..!

[moonfang]

[Only people that WANT other people to think they're respectful and therefore are actually pompous talk like that!!

... or, well, that's this kid's train of thought]

Jeeeeee-ZUS. I knew a guy who's was well over a thousand years old and even HE didn't talk as oldschool as you!! Pahahaha! Haaa... he's dead now.

[otoko]

.....our entire dojo speaks with this dialect....

[also.] .....1000 years?

[moonfang]

An entire dojo of old farts.

[ayep. He nods]

Yama-jii, the Captain Commander of the 13 Court Guard Squads, and supposedly the strongest Shinigami in history. [Zangetsu frowns] ... But he died like a bitch at the hands of the Quincy King. Which is why I'm here. I'm not leaving it to chance -- my master and I will kill that guy, even if we have to get extradimensional help.

[betheman]

Do not disrespect the Gongenzaka dojo..!! [SERIOUSLY- And....]

Hmmm? ....If he holds such a rank, would it not make more sense for him to speak from such a place, rather than one of humility..? [Doing otherwise, in what SOUNDS like a military situation, would more than likely cause those beneath him to think him as less than impressive a leader after all...

...Hmm. That said. He gives credit where it is due, and bows.] ....Matters of death aside, it would seem that we are here for not so different reasons then.

I, the man Gongenzaka, am here to train, no more, no less.

[moonfang]

Ffft. Train? You? What the hell are you training for? An eating contest? You're so weak I could crush you without even lifting a finger. [he speaks the words like he's saying the sky is blue and water is wet] Despite your appearance, your soul is as human as they come!

[otoko]

[Excuse you he has a sixpack-

Gongenzaka manages to remain astonishingly calm under the retorts however, merely frowning.] Aaah, that I am-I, the man Gongenzaka, am as human as all those in my own world.

And as such, our lives are frail-and I, the man Gongenzaka, have already risked the life of my greatest friend once before.

...I broke my dojo's teachings...and still, I, the man Gongenzaka, failed to truly protect him! My actions were UNFORGIVABLE! Therefore, I, the man Gongenzaka train in my ability to duel alongside him and protect him from whatever future disaster may arise..!

[there is nothing about this guy that isn't extra as all hell, is there]

[moonfang]

[a cold, hollow laugh] At least you know your weakness. So you were too weak to accomplish something. Now you're gonna fix that? ... Admirable, I guess. I'd train myself, if there were anyone here I could go all out on without killin'. So... you a hand to hand man, or do you have a weapon you like?

[otoko]

[He wrinkles his nose.] If you speak of true combat, I, the man Gongenzaka, have been forced to use my duel disk to that end; however, [he adds with a serious nod,] as part of our training, the Gongenzaka dojo teaches all students a mixed form of martial arts.

[There's no real...style to it, beyond their own. But there is definitely trained style in there, and he has used it before.]

[moonfang]

Good! Everyone should know how to fight. That's what I think anyway. [he narrows his eyes] The fuck is a duel disk? Some kinda... weaponized frisbee? A chakram?

[otoko]

[He immediately pulls out from the leaves what looks like........A tablet?

And latches it around his arm.] It is a device which displays solid holograms; they are capable of, in many cases, inflicting actual force...however primarily, I, the man Gongenzaka, used these to create a more sturdy shield during the battles which the Carnival was forced to wage. Actual combat...

...I, the man Gongenzaka, was my own 'weapon'. [...To be fair, those Are big teeth.]

[moonfang]

[One minute Zangetsu is sitting a distance away, and the next, he's right up in Gon's business, prodding the duel disk with a clawed finger] Hard light holograms? That's some fancy-ass shit. Hat-n-Clogs would be proud.

[he backs off as soon as his curiosity is sated, and he puts his hands into the pockets of his hakama]

And all that-- [he gestures with his head] -- came from the Ringmaster?

[otoko]

Hmm?

[What.] ..............Of course not! This is from my own world! These are the devices with which duelists use to participate in the game! An extra-dimensional force weaponized it, however-as such, my own, as well as that of a few others, was upgraded in order to combat it with equal force.

The Ringmaster has not touched it at all! ...In fact, [he coughs,] ...She insisted that merely training here was not enough to warrant a contract... ...Therefore, what I, the man Gongenzaka requested was a guarantee that I would return home alive.

[moonfang]

Tch... You have tech like that and you use it for games? Humans really are something else! Y'all got some of the strangest priorities.

[oh but now. Now Zangetsu has an idea. It's the same idea he always has] ... ya wanna test your mettle, gramps?

[otoko]

Games, sport... Action duels require a considerable amount of physical prowess, be it in the ability to withstand the blows of the holograms, or the ability to outpace another in obtaining various cards throughout the field... [Not that he's into the latter, though he HAS....been giving it more thought.

Gongenzaka raises his eyebrows however, and blinks quite honestly.
Right before scowling.] I, the man Gongenzaka, am NOT OLD! I am not even out of middle school yet..!

[But.] ...It would depend on where, and how. I, the man Gongenzaka, could at the least erect an action field to that end.

[Random platforms in the sky are always great, right?]

[moonfang]

Your body may be young, but your soul is ancient. Ain't no teenagers that talk like you! ... or look like you.

[except maybe Chad. Chad is kind of like that.]

Obviously not on the carnival grounds. I ain't dumb enough to piss off that faerie. Maybe that crazy quantum forest out there?

[betheman]

Hmmnnnn... The forest is perhaps a good place...however, the lakeside could do equally well...

[And...well. He wrinkles his nose, and looks to the side.] ...I, the man Gongenzaka... ...shall give you that. [Is he blushing a little in embarrassment yes he is.]

[moonfang]

[he cackles] Good for you, finally agreein' with truth here.

[an old soul in a 14 year old body! Zangetsu jumps up on top of the nearest tent, balancing expertly on the pointed post with bare, clawed feet] Lake it is. Hurry and get your shit set up. I ain't got all day.

[fwoosh! HE IS GONE]

[betheman]

MNH-There are shades of it-!! [Annnnnd Zangetsu is already gone.

With fluster, fluffed fur, and scattering leaves, he's left to merely pursue.] AAAUHH-!! UNFORGIVABLE..!

[But hey, he'll be there, complete with floating platforms and what's basically a solid light blade on his wrist courtesy of the duel disk. No seriously people have used them like that]