ringleaders: (Default)
Lost Carnival Mods ([personal profile] ringleaders) wrote in [community profile] livinglot2016-11-20 11:34 pm
Entry tags:

⇨ 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!
kingsroads: (GUESS WHAT IT IS TIME FOR HAM)

[personal profile] kingsroads 2016-12-05 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Appearances can be deceiving and that is entirely what Strange is about to realize (rerealize? Whatever). Because he starts rummaging through the Doctor's belongings (sorry Doctor), until he finds the mirror, which is attached to some other contraption that Strange hasn't the foggiest idea what it is. Who cares though! He doesn't need the other contraption in the first place!

There's a pause while Strange looks around for a seat. Yeah...what seat. Eventually he spots some free counter space which Childermass was probably using to set out the teacups but nope, now it is reserved for sitting. Strange just plops right on up on the counter as he traces a circle on the mirror, then traces it into thirds, muttering a spell all the while as he does so. If Childermass eavesdrops, it sounds an awful lot like a spell of revelation, but every now and then there's a different word or a different phrase used.

Eventually he's done muttering and hops right off the counter as he looks at the mirror and starts explaining.
]

A reworked spell of revelation: a spell to view something's inner workings. [ He turns the mirror on himself for a second, and it's a bit of a ghastly sight: the inner workings of people are bones and muscles. But, still holding the mirror, Strange scurries off towards various appliances, holding the mirror up over his shoulder and looking at the reflection...which looks quite normal. After all, what are the inner workings of something magical? Just magic.

He can't help but give Childermass a bit of a puffed up smile as he scurries back over to the other man, holding up the mirror so that both of them can peer into it and see the absolutely normal reflection of the refrigerator but the part wirey, part magical, part who the hell knows reflection of some poor abandoned Doctor contraption sitting on top of the refrigerator.
]

Enhancements my own, of course. One must learn how to improvise when they're bereft of books.
atouts: (035; ace of pentacles)

[personal profile] atouts 2016-12-07 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's not exactly eavesdropping when he's taken up the spot Childermass was just about to set, yes, teacups down on, which means he's hanging out right there looking mildly irritated by all of Strange's fluttering about. Picking out which spell and noting the differences isn't at all hard for him, though he'd need to write it all down if he ever wanted to copy it.

Of course, then he goes and shows off his own insides with the damn thing. Good job, Strange, that gets him twisting his face in a grimace and retreating a step back. He hadn't expected that.
]

Of course. I imagine you just asked the mirror nicely for that one, as well. [ It's like he's taken his usual deadpan up to eleven at this point. And since Strange has dashed off again, he'll take that opportunity to put the cups down before turning to watch the other magician and his mirror revealing what's running the fridge. It's interesting, but it doesn't garner as much of a reaction as before. ] Do try not to go waving that around at the others. I'm not sure they'll appreciate it.

[ More like 'please don't try and figure out how all your new weirdly transformed coworkers function'. It might be rude. ]
kingsroads: (GIVE IT UP FOR MAGIC)

[personal profile] kingsroads 2016-12-07 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ well I mean the answer to that one is "fairy nonsense," he's not going to be rude Childermass, he'll...just ask potentially invasive questions about what their magic is like instead.

And Strange can't help but roll his eyes at that question. Asking the mirror nicely, that is just plain silly.
] Of course I didn't ask the mirror nicely—mirrors don't speak.

[ DUH, CHILDERMASS. But hey, like a child with a new toy, Strange walks around the trailer, moving the mirror to look at all sorts of other devices, contraptions, and what-not, seeing which of them are purely magic and which of them have bits and pieces of actual technology. All in all, Childermass is right: appearances are deceiving, especially so in Faerie.

All that's to say that Strange has totally forgotten about the tea.
]
atouts: (040; six of pentacles)

[personal profile] atouts 2016-12-07 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ Well, at least some things never change. It's not like most could ever tell when Childermass was mocking them or not. ]

Then I am mistaken.

[ Yes, Strange, he knows mirrors don't speak. He's also not forgetting about the tea, as he'll help himself to his own cup and lean against the counter to watch him go about, flashing his magic little mirror at this and that. It's only when Strange aims it anywhere in his own direction that Childermass will give him a foreboding look.

He likes to think he falls under the net of 'don't bother your coworkers', although there is definitely something magical about him -- or, more like, one or two magical items on him that certainly don't blend in.
]
kingsroads: (well why don't we do this?)

[personal profile] kingsroads 2016-12-07 03:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Childermass counting on 'don't bother your coworkers,' yeah right. Childermass is Childermass, he's fair game for bothering. So, as the mirror flashes in his direction and Childermass gives him a glower, Strange notices those few items that don't blend in. It doesn't really surprise him: Childermass is a magician, after all. And given the chance to explore his abilities without Norrell looming over him, it only makes sense that he would do so.

He files that information away as he watches Childermass drink tea and spots the teacup on the counter. Oh yeah, he did make tea, didn't he. He makes a little noise of recognition at the thought. Setting the mirror down on the floor, Strange walks over towards the counter, picks up the tea and starts to drink it himself.
]

Thank you, [ said with a small nod. And, because he's a nosy son of a bitch, the questions continue. ] Out of idle curiosity, do you have any idea approximately how long you've been with the Carnival?

[ after all, time in Faerie can be different from time back in their world. ]