livinglot | ⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #2

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.
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 and the players agree to it.
If you are interested in additional IC and OOC plot responsibilities, consider applying for a Supervisor position. Treasurer and Acquisitioner are currently open.

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 (NEW): 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? (NEW): 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

Miko pouts a little at being laughed at, but she's quickly distracted. Fortunately, Miko isn't really one to dwell on that kind of thing.

"Well, you can't say that for sure. Climbing down would take a while, too."

She purses her lips thoughtfully. "Okay, true, I probably wouldn't die, but all that stuff would still suck. Like, breaking an arm might be better than being up here for five hours--" Would it really, Miko. "--But it wouldn't be better than just being stuck for, I dunno, fifteen more minutes or something."

Foster doesn't see any problem with Miko's maths. He pulls his hand away from his hair for a minute, leaving spaces where his fingers were tangled in it seconds ago.

In fact, now that she's said it, this is just a simple maths problem... one in which the only variable is her priorities.

"So I guess it depends on what matters more to you." He looks up, smiles. His blue eyes are quite bright now.

"Time wasted up here when you could be down there... or time you spend in pain when you could have just waited here."

...Okay, something about this conversation is a little weird. But she pretty much just waves it off; it doesn't strike her as something to be too worried about at the moment.

She thinks for a moment, then shrugs and slumps back into her seat. "I dunno. I guess having a broken arm would suck. I couldn't play guitar or anything."

"And?" Foster looks... well, his face doesn't show much, honestly. But he's feeling something... something like disgust. Contempt?

Anger?

He gets it--he knows what she's thinking. Every second she spends up here is one second she's closer to being rescued. She has seconds to spare in her life. Or at least enough that she thinks she has them to waste.

But she doesn't. He moves to run his hand back through his half-wild hair again, but then knots his fingers in it again, a tangled fistful he isn't quite pulling.

"I know my opinion is... worthless. Garbage. But..." He lets go, runs his hand back through his hair again. He's locked eyes with her, and doesn't break it the entire time.

"You should remember that every second you spend waiting here is a second you could have spent down there." Doing something. Living.

"...Aaaand I'd like to still be able to do that?" Yeah this is going from slightly weird to very weird with ALARMING speed.

She squints at him in sheer confusion. "Dude, nobody said anything about your opinion. Like, I hardly know you, it's a little early for that kinda decision."

Miko glances toward the edge of the car again, giving a thoughtful, drawn-out hum. "I mean, yeah, maybe. Or I could break my neck and die."

Foster's eyes shutter closed, then open halfway so he regards her with something like... disappointment.

"Now it just sounds like you're planning to fall."

He pauses, thinking. He knows what he needs to make happen here. He knows what won't work. What else...

...ah.

He smiles then, bright and open and sincere.

"Here, I know. I'll go first. If someone like me can do it, then obviously you can!"

And so saying, he grabs the edge of their cart, peering over the edge for just a moment before climbing over its rail.

"Uh... no, not really? But it's possible."

As if she was worried about that before he started telling her she should climb down.

All the same, she definitely wasn't expecting this guy to start climbing down himself. She jumps up and leans over the edge of the car, eyes wide. "--Jeez, dude, seriously?"

"Anything is possible," Foster replies, looking up at Miko from under his half-lidded eyes. There's a slight smile.

But he doesn't say anything more--in part because there's nothing else to say. And in part... well, because he's concentrating. His motor skills and memory are not what they used to be.... one, three, five years ago. It's not like there are consequences if he falls.

But that doesn't mean falling is his plan. He is silent as he climbs, painstakingly placing foot after hand after hand after foot.

What the hell is that supposed to mean.

Unfortunately, she's not super inclined to ask when this guy is actually climbing down the wheel. Miko watches him in shock for a moment - then, decisively, climbs over the side to follow him.

"Man, if we fall and die, my ghost is totally gonna punch yours."

"I'm afraid that isn't possible," Foster has to stop climbing to tell her that. He looks up, giving her a few seconds to catch up if she so chooses. "But you're quite welcome to punch me anyway, if you want." He pauses, then resumes his painstaking descent.

"On the ground."

"Why not? And don't give me some crap about ghosts not being able to touch things, I bet they can still punch each other."

She twists around to peer down at the spokes below her, feeling out a place to put her foot - and wincing when it slips for a moment before she regains her footing. "--Hoo, yeah, that still might happen. Just have to wait and see!"

"No, I mean... I can't fall and die." Foster has to stop every time he wants to talk. That level of multitasking is just way more than he can manage right now.

"I mean. I can FALL," he starts laughing. And then he can't stop.

He could fall. And it would hurt. He'd break bones. And maybe those bones could break through the skin. And his body lying broken on the ground, bleeding...

It's just too good.

"What d'you mean, you can't?"

...Uh. That's... huh.

She doesn't see what's so funny, honestly. She frowns down at him again before turning her attention back to climbing.

"You're really weird, you know that?"

"Hahaha! I get that a lot." Foster is still feeling a little shaky--breathless, exhilarated, weak--from laughter, and he's a little afraid to move. But he's also not sure his grip where he is will hold. He... supposes it's fine? After all. He can't die.

He lens forward as best he can, though, trying to recover.

"But it's just because we're two different types of people."

The kind of person with worth and the kind without.

"Yeah? Which ones? The kind that talks about climbing down ferris wheels and the kind that pressures other people into climbing down ferris wheels?"

She starts to twist around to look at him again, but rapidly decides that that sounds like a bad idea. It was stressful enough the first time.

⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #2

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