livinglot | ⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

WELCOME TO THE SHOW!↴

Or, more specifically, Lost Carnival's first 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 open October 5th at 12:01AM EST.
Applications open October 7th at 12:01AM EST.
You can apply as a newcomer or as a "veteran" character who has been in the carnival for up to three years.
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.
Supervisor applications will start being processed a few days after apps open, and will be selected on a competitive basis. If you want a supervisor position, it is best to submit your application as close to the beginning of the application cycle as possible. If you don't get chosen for your desired supervisor position, you will be given time to rework your application to be a regular veteran, or to apply for a supervisor position that is not yet taken.
Lost Carnival could use some additional moderation assistance! If you are interested, please let us know here.

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.

► 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.

► 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?

► 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?

► 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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admission fees

[ "Anything of value" comes easier to Childermass than it may to some others. He has certain things of value, seventy-eight of them, though he dearly hopes he won't have to spend more than one or two to get where he wants to go. His tarot cards are handmade, drawn on the backs of whatever paper had been available at the time so many years ago, mostly from memory. New ones will feel out of place for quite some time.

Yet that is what he'll offer up. One card, either suspiciously apt for whoever the clerk taking the admission is or, failing that, Le Mat, the Fool. ]

I believe this shall cover my entrance.

[ Something he says without much wonder or awe of the bright carnival before him and the rest of the crowd. If anything, he seems disinterested in it all, this Yorkshire man in his shabby black coat and shabby black hat. ]

mirror maze

[ Another wrong turn. Now that is irritating, as he's not all that used to being lost. It's enough that he's beginning to wonder if he should try his luck with his cards again rather than asking where the master of the carnival is (although if they'll feel willing to help after the loss of one, he already doubts it, nor are they ever any good at locating specific, well, anything), as, at this point, it's led him in circles and, finally, into this place. ]

This is taking too long... [ Childermass mutters, finally turning to the reflection doing its best to claim how liable he is to fail like the other two. What other two, the reflection doesn't say, and the man it's mocking does not particularly care to react one way or the other. He just frowns at it. ] If these spirits insist on lingering, they could at least try and be useful.

wildcard

[ well, he has 77 of them left, so hey. ]

Edited 2016-10-01 16:06 (UTC)

[Woaaah. She was getting upset enough even Blue felt a little smidge of what might be guilt. The fact she called him out on the self-proclaimed genius thing may have helped a bit too. Whatever the reason, he dialed back the sass and put his hands up in the 'calm down' motion.]

Okay, okay! I don't really care! Sheesh. Kids are so sensitive.

... but you can't be right about the Kalos thing. I walked here, and I was in Kanto.

[Well he didn't get to see what the thing does to people, but the boy's hysterical anyway because his sense of humor is just that low.]

And I don't see how that makes it my problem..!

[ ...well. This isn't the greeting he expected.

Archer frowns but otherwise doesn't react upon seeing the mutated form of an individual that he does indeed recognize -- or at least, the parts that haven't been changed. He isn't quite certain what to make of the lack of recognition, but he suspects that time is rather fluid here. Or rather, the Ringmaster does not operate within its bounds.

After a moment, he lets out a soft 'tch'. ]

You appear to be quite at home in this one.

[ Just an observation. ]

Has it been that long for you?

Thankfully for Ginko, there is at least one other person at the carnival who knows what is going on. As Tanyuu draws closer she pulls her pipe and a pack of her own mushi tobacco out of her haori, stopping to pack a chunk of the mixture in to be lit with a faintly concerned expression. While the mushi population of the carnival is blessedly much smaller than even a relatively barren piece of land in their home world, there are still enough that a potential swarm is an issue to be wary of.

"They're pretty persistent today."

Edited 2016-10-01 03:42 (UTC)

_{[It's good enough that she does calm down, just a bit, shoulders slacking and fists uncurling. Dedenne too seems to settle down, climbing from her shoulder to nestle against the top of her head, if only to get an even better view of the boy.

Maybe there's something they're missing here. Maybe they were both right and wrong at the same time? Hmm, there's an idea.]}

Well I walked here too and I was in Kalos...so maybe this isn't Kalos or Kanto?

[This one is dropping by to see the next meal, though she wouldn't mind landing a hand either. Some of these ingredients that this girl maybe working on look strange enough, but Vietnam has always given everything a go, given world cuisine. And as long as it's not England's cooking.

Curiosity has gotten the better of her, so--]

If I may ask, what are you making...?

Ψii laughs as Roman circles around him. He twists and turns watching the dog as he does so.

"I'd throw a bone for you, but I think you have enough." He kneels down, petting the dog more as he fogs. Of course Sans coming closer doesn't escape his attention.

"What's up?" he asks, not even bothering to look in the other skeleton's direction. "Keeping an eye on things?"

Kerub had been enjoying himself so far. He hadn't planned on going to a carnival, but sometimes his luck just worked that way. He was carrying a packet of candied almonds in one hand and a surprisingly large stuffed animal in the other. Who knows what he must have accomplished to win such a prize.

He knew he'd wandered into more of the behinds the scenes portion of the carnival, but wasn't in any huge rush to leave. These areas were just as exciting as the main event if you were willing to stick around. Like this guy wrestling a giant rodent. Kerub watched with the admiration of one watching a craftsman at work, until man and beast seemed to reach a standoff.

"Need a hand?" He yelled out after a while, hands cupped around his mouth for extra volume to cover the distance between the two

"You as well, Greg." Indeed, her grip is pretty impressive. She does let go, at least. "You as well."

She does manage to give him a smile.

A goose? A Tauren I could see, but...[Geese were geese on Azeroth. So maybe this was different. Besides, there were cow-folk and wolf-folk back home, even if the Worgen were mostly just cursed humans...]

There's a lot of world out there! But I still haven't heard of China. [And clearly, that actually troubles her more than a little, by the look on her face.]

I mean, that was why Liu Lang left Pandaria in the first place, to go exploring. It's a great Pandaren tradition!

[Ferlwin places the neatly tied bags into the satchel at her side and takes the paper from Koel with a smile.]

I'll certainly do my best.

[She gives the list a quick once over, noting if she'd seen any of the plants on the list or not. The nod of her head as she reads, easily gives away that she'd seen at least some of them.]

I've actually seen a few of these while I was out wandering. How much of these were you hoping for, and when would you like them?

Hotpot!

[—she says brightly, slicing a teal slab of meat into small, easily cooked strips.

Yako makes quick work of the massive hunk, gently layering each of the slices into a boiling, aromatic pot among all sorts of other meats and (presumably) vegetables. Her stomach twangs with the need to have just a little nibble... just a taste, to make sure...!

...but Yako does her best to restrain herself.

Endure it, endure!]

It needs about forty minutes on a lower heat, but then it should be more or less ready. Is there something I can help you with, in the meantime?

[Oh, would you look at that nice stack of plates! Sure would be a shame if someone mean were to stumble upon this peaceful scene and knock it all over right on top of her. Sure would be a shame if that same someone tried to snatch away the plate she's actively working on, and especially so if they did it all with sketchy magic from afar so she can't even tell where the culprit may be in the crowded room. Sure would be a shame if that's exactly what happened, all to one especially unlucky individual.

Spoilers: it happens, and it happens to her.]

AHH- [And in those few seconds, the wisp is looking on end, to another end, and-

They're OUTTA HERE!] Sh-Shoot..! [There it goes... The girl sighs, deflating a little.] I thought this would be easier...

Why are these things so hard to catch..!?

"Excuse me, mister..."

A young caribou approaches Ginko with his ears drooping but his head lifted in something like hope. His fur is dirty and he is out of breath. He is also trying very hard not to burst into tears. Big bucks don't cry!

"Can you help me?"

Oh! It has been a while since I've had hotpot, I will be looking forward to it!

[She watches as the girl deftly cuts up the meat, and look at that...it smells good already.

Even Vietnam can tell this was going to be a challenge for both of them, and she's got amazing patience.]

Since it will be some time...hmm, you need not help me with anything, but rather, is there anything I can help you with? I have time.

I have heard that before! [The Pandaren laughs, and hands over her cask to the fellow taking admission--though hey, there's certainly a way that Gilgamesh can get that beer--there's always a need for quality control, right? If he outranks a mere ticket taker, well then. Done deal! It's really a decent brew, dark and malty with a rich roasted flavor, if one appreciates such things.]

They say that all the time at the Darkmoon Faire. And while this place certainly is interesting so far, I do not know if I would call it a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity. Yet. I do think it ranks the Darkmoon Faire, though. I have never seen trees like that, not even in Suramar...

[Jou Shan is, at least, very willing to give the benefit of the doubt.]

Roman doesn't understand jokes, but it doesn't understand pets, and so as non-soft as a skeleton is to pet, it will soak up the attention. Sans is pretty sure this behaviour is very closely tied to the stuff he got from the Ringmaster at the start of his most recent year. There is no practical purpose for it what so over, but it's pretty great to watch.

Sans grins more widely at the joke, though, and shrugs his shoulders.

"You know me. When I work, I do it doggedly."

I need five plants at the least for these particular herbs...

[Pointing to them.]

...and the lettuce I will need a dozen unbolted plants. The rest, two stalks should suffice.

That's impossible!

[She seemed pretty convinced though, and Blue was feeling those edges of nervous uncertainty creeping back into his voice. He cleared his throat and inspected the Dedenne.]

I mean, I wouldn't have left Kanto! I've got something super important coming up. No way I'd miss it.

[It's not often that The Ψiioniic feels preyed upon, but now would definitely be one of those moments. He takes a step back, bio-luminescent freckles changing in color to a dim pink.]

Oh yeah? What's that?

Edited 2016-10-01 03:58 (UTC)

Yeah a goose. He's a great dad, and I wouldn't give him or my other dad up for the world. I never knew my mom anyhow. What's a Tauren?

[Po gave a nod and a lazy roll of his shoulders.] Strange though. China's a pretty big place. Wait, Pandaren? That's what you guys call yourselves? Huh, and for me it's just Panda.

[Gilgamesh's magic is sneaky, sketchy, subtle, and strikes as fast as a snake.

...but, as it turns out, not quite as fast as a Yako in the middle of a meal. The plate he successfully snagged is somehow already empty by the time it reaches his hands. The culprit behind that particular epicurean slight of hand (mouth?) is a bit too busy trying to keep the rest of the plates from taking a tumble to the ground.]

Ah, geeze!

[She drops back into her seat with a soft, relieved sigh once they're all stabilized.]

...maybe I should take a break and run these back to the kitchen, before somebody gets clumsy and makes a mess.

Mm...

[Yako quickly runs through her mental to-do list.]

Well, we can always use a few more helping hands when it comes to washing dishes.

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⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

john childermass | jonathan strange & mr norrell | new

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work!

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R.O.U.S.

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