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!

Threaded | Flat

Will 'o wisps (for veterans)

[The creatures are similar in some ways to kagebi, but Tanyuu has been at the carnival long enough to know to not assume anything just because a phenomenon might seem familiar. Slithering through the grounds on her off-time and keeping all six eyes peeled, and after a while her alertness pays off.]

[Chasing one of the tiny creatures around the backyard, Tanyuu has a ceramic pot in one hand and the lid in the other. Lunging forward after her quarry, she swipes and misses the living flame, and grumbles under her breath before spotting a fellow worker nearby.]

Help me corner this one, before it can hide again!

Break time (for everyone)

[Finally finding some actual time to relax, Tanyuu has settled near a table at the edge of the seating area for center stage with an impressive amount of food laid out on her table. You almost might wonder if she's waiting for someone else to join her until you notice the enormous body coiled beneath her. Twenty-five feet of snake body takes a lot of calories to keep going.]

[Laughing as she watches a particularly complex acrobatic act goes into its finale, Tanyuu turns to someone sitting at a nearby table and speaks up in a low, somewhat conspiratorial tone.]

It took them three months to get that right, you know.

Break Time

And the first moths of summer...
Suicidal came~
Oh, suicidal came...!

[Despite her duties as a supervisor, Mari spends a lot of her free time... uh. Entertaining herself. There's a lot of down time in life, really, but it can only be called wasted time if you let it go to waste.

Which in this particular case means sitting atop an inoperative ride, aiming a metal sidearm at passers-by and singing to herself.

She trains her sights on a member of the makeup crew, following her target for a moment before swapping to a bouncer. Then she swaps to someone else.]

And we soared on powdered wings
Circling our tomorrows...!

[Bingo.

There's no hesitation. She pulls the trigger, and the relatively peaceful Carnival atmosphere is broken by a loud report. But fear not: there's no bullet. There's no blank round in the cartridge, either.

No, this gun...

This gun shoots eyeballs.

You just got shot between the eyes with an eye. Har har.]

Bullseye!

[Pun intended.]

Will-o-Wisps

[You'd think that four arms and over 30 eyes would give the Nightrider some kind of an edge in catching a glowing ball of light, but to be honest, when it comes to physical challenges, she likes to be able to hold a thing, to touch it and feel it. Which is why she's stalking one but not touching it. Yet. She smiles, though--a wide, close-mouthed predatory smile.]

Ooh, you're tricky!

[It bobbles in the shadow, looping erratically towards the sky before dropping suddenly near the ground.]

... herding light, huh? If I didn't know better, I'd say she was doing this on purpose...

[Her expression grows serious.]

.... well. Here goes nothing.

Wildcard

[I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't give you one!]

Edited 2016-10-01 00:06 (UTC)

► ADMISSION FEES

[ He walked through the portal without a second thought.

As Archer considers his surroundings, as well as the strange magic that is surely at work here, he is curious more than anything else. The existence of a guardian is colorless at best so upon being presented with the opportunity to willingly leave the desolate space he occupies when he isn't doing the bidding of the world, he took it without hesitation.

Perhaps you've recently arrived just like him. Perhaps you've been here for quite a while. Either way, he appears to be deep in thought as he considers the fee for admission.

He hasn't decided yet what to offer. ]

► GAMER'S CIRCLE

[ As one might expect of a carnival, of course, there are games. Archer spends most of his time wandering around, taking in the sights as he watches other people play. He's actually more interested in the spirits manning the booths than anything else so, after a while, he finally decides to participate.

It's juvenile, but the water gun game passes the time, and if you happen to be standing next to him, he remarks on your aim: ]

You should try again, a little to the left.

[ His own success, thus far, has been pretty damn good. ]

► TRYING TO LEAF

[ When Archer finally tires of the noise, he leaves the carnival for the woods outside. Of course, he isn't really trying to leave -- not after going through all the trouble of negotiating a contract with the Ringmaster.

The quiet is welcome, however, and having perched himself in a tree, he's perfectly fine with watching the colors light up the sky from afar.

If you're trying to leave or explore nearby, he'll eventually call you out. ]

If it's an escape you're looking for, you won't find it here.

► WILDCARD

[ Hit me with whatever! c: ]

Edited 2016-10-01 00:40 (UTC)

i. GAME ON!

Who doesn't love a good game or two? Natsu patrols the fairgrounds, totally lost in the swirls of color and the sounds of game bells and carnival music - to the point that he's managed to wander off on his own. He's been past several stalls, pondering what some of these contraptions are even supposed to do, and feeling just a little down that none of his buddies are around to challenge in those strength-based games, and eventually the dragonslayer settles on a simple ball toss.

Of course, with Natsu, it's never simple. He's making a huge production of it, complete with excited shouting and a generous helping of magical pyrotechnics.

"All right, here comes my next one! You might want to back up, pal, this shot's gonna knock your wispy socks off!!"

Like everything else, he overdoes the throw, sending the ball ricocheting off the back of the stall and right back out, narrowly missing Natsu's face. Whoever was standing behind him may not have been so lucky...

ii. FIRE IN THE HOLE!!

Carnivals are known for their bright, colorful lights, of all colors and shapes and sizes, but most carnival attractions aren't meant to be on fire. The blazing attraction certainly catches attention, as the flames climb higher up the sides of the small tent. Silhouetted against the almost comical pyre stands a very flustered and baffled Natsu.

"Oh man, this isn't what I had planned at all, umm, uh -- YOU!"

He jabs a finger at the first person - or at least someone person-looking - he spots. "I need water! Uh, probably a lot of it!" He waves his hands absurdly around himself, trying to get his urgency across. The last thing he needs on his track record is another festival burned to the ground.

iii. GET WILD!

Wildcard!! Without his friends to keep his mayhem in check, Natsu's bound to be wreaking havoc all over the place. Feel free to plot with me on plurk @

asraith!

[gamer's circle] (where else did you expect to find him, honestly!)

[It's a nice distraction, really. The allure of the lights, the carnival music, the sounds of people bustling about around him. It let him ignore the empty feeling as he navigated the Circle, one prize already completely dwarfing him. Yuugi hefted the large stuffed lion under his arm again, and he would have been leaving already had something else not caught his eye. There's a game off to the side - a booth with water guns - and he pauses before turning towards it. Luck and chance games weren't really his thing but...

One more couldn't hurt, right?

Setting the lion down, he held up a hand, waving for attention from the carnival worker.]

Excuse me! One over here, please!

[It's a bit hard, but eventually he gets the man's attention (it really sucks being just under 5'5"), and looks around before turning to the person next to him.]

Ah, sorry to bother you but do you think you could...

[Yuugi gives a helpless gesture to his height, flushing red on his cheeks.]

Help me out?

[wild card]

[hit me!]

Edited 2016-10-01 01:25 (UTC)

► DO YOUR WORK (NOT REALLY)
There's a certain degree of plausible deniability regarding some of the other carnies when it comes to their outlandish looks. You could imagine that their strange features are some mixture of makeup and SFX. In Sans's case it's a little hard to convince yourself of that, though. He's made of nothing but bone, and you can practically see the breeze blowing through his phalanges. No skin here, nope.

Sans isn't really feeling it today, but that's not surprising, because he rarely is. He's actually doing something resembling his job as the Warden, however, because he's moving around to place to place and keeping his eyes on things, which is more than he does usually. It's mostly because he has the excuse to walk his weird dog.

It's not really a dog, he guesses. It's one of his magical summons, which he originally created because it could shoot lasers out of its mouth. Since coming to the carnival, though, the blasters have managed to develop into something far more complex, and attending to their new and exciting interests is something he genuinely enjoys. He's used to dogs, after all. Most of his coworkers were dogs, back home.

So, get ready to get ogled by this weird looking skeleton guy on digitigrade feet with glowing cyan tattoos and his very large skeleton dog minion. In fact, the skeleton dog is probably going to make it its business to trot over and smell you with its weird skull. Sans doesn't seem very concerned about it, but he doesn't look concerned about a lot of things.

► DO YOUR WORK (EVEN LESS)
Or, you'll find him sitting back in his chair somewhere, literally asleep. It could be a lot of places - he has a tendency to teleport himself and the chair around, so he doesn't have to remain standing when it's unnecessary. One of his dogs is curled up and also sleeping at his feet.

This is super normal in carnival terms. He'd probably be doing a better of patrolling if his eyes were open, though.

(OOC: Georgia is not only depressed but suicidal and it is mentioned in this starter as well as may potentially come up in any thread with her. Please don't interact with her right now if this may cause distress.)

She stood just inside the carnival, unsure of what she's supposed to do now. This was not what hse was planning to do today, not by a long shot. She thought she would be dead by now but that clearly didn't happen.

Georgia isn't entirely sure why she did it, why she decided to come here instead of going to the bathroom and getting it over with. But she's here now and she's not sure she's going back any time soon.

She takes a few more steps into the carnival, eyes scanning the area and analyzing the space around her. She was pretty sure there were no zombies here, at least that's what the ticket taker said but she was still uneasy with no weapons and no backup.

Maybe this was a mistake.

Maybe it was all a fucking mistake. Maybe she should have stayed home. Maybe...Maybe...

She shakes her head, trying to clear her mind and keeps walking. She has no idea where she's going but she's on guard, tense and a little nervous at this whole thing. Still, it's better than where she could be or what she could be doing.

Edited 2016-10-01 02:44 (UTC)

Mirror Maze

[ Mitsuki's not sure how he got to this carnival but it's a good distraction and he likes mazes well enough. The mirrors made it far more challenging but soon the visible reflections are nothing compared to what's he's hearing. It's his own voice--he knows it well enough, he's listened to his own recordings--but it's saying out loud the kinds of things he usually only thinks. Crybaby. Graceless. Fat. (The last one is confusing but he catches a glimpse of himself in the closest mirror and it's just an optical illusion.)

He's started to rush just to find the exit but the mirrors make the path deceptive and rounding a corner, he smacks into one hard. The maze is immediately filled with the sound of his own laughter bouncing back at him, and Mitsuki's had enough. He kicks the nearest mirror, not even reacting when the reflection in it jumps out of the way, then starts berating it. ]

You have no idea what you're talking about! I'd never laugh at something like this, someone could've gotten hurt! If you think you're going to get into my head or freak me out this way, you've got another think coming!!

[ Except he's yelling at a bunch of mirrors so clearly it's working better than he's willing to admit. ]

Wild Card: Ferris Wheel

[ After enduring the indignity of having to prove his height and his age to get on (sure, he had to give them his ID card but surely he'll get that back when they get down, right?), Mitsuki is determined to make the most of this ride. The glow of the wheel's lights has felt like it was calling to him since he got here and now that he's seated on it, he's sure he was right. After all, it feels like he could just reach out and--

Wait, he did reach out and touch that star. That's not how stars work! Just how high is this wheel!? He looks across the car at you, startled but not entirely displeased. After all, he did just touch a star. ]

Did you see that?

Wild Card: byo prompt!

Annabel seemed utterly delighted by the sight of the carnival. She wandered up and down the paths, looking at everything with a cheery inquisitiveness. It was a new experience, a new sight to see and while she was a little nervous, she was more intrigued than anything else.

She poked around at the games for a little, then wandered towards the smell of food. She'd been in her lab before this and had altogether forgotten about food in favor of science. That was normal for her but it didn't stop her stomach from responding at the smells coming from ahead.

Acquiring cake, Annabel found that she got distracted looking at the other people eating. Some looked average but others, oh they looked terribly interesting indeed!

She sat down, picking at her cake every so often but mostly watching people come in and out of the Cookhouse. She would get up and explore again soon enough, she just needed to eat and get rid of this terribly annoying headache she'd developed, probably from lack of nutrients.

Working - Animal Keeper

For the most part, the circus’s animal enclosures are pretty effective - they have to be, given some of the animals kept here. But even the best pen can have an occasional… problem. Like a particularly determined tenant managing to bolt past its keeper while he’s trying to feed it.

Which is how a fuzzy, greyish, vaguely rodent-like creature is now clinging to the side of a trash can with its weird pink rat hands, having plunged its ENTIRE HEAD into the can. Ginko, equipped with thick leather gloves, has one arm wrapped around it and is using his free hand to try and pry its fingers free of the garbage can’s edge. The animal itself does not seem very pleased about this, and, besides its ongoing squirming and efforts to scrabble at his stomach with its hind feet, is occasionally pulling its head out of the trash to snarl and snap at him.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you want to gorge yourself on garbage. Well, guess what, I’m the one who gets in trouble if you get yourself sick, so-- don’t you bite me.” He scowls and, with another quick pull, manages to dislodge its grip. Meaning he’s now standing here holding an enraged, screeching animal the size of a large-ish dog like it’s a particularly belligerent baby, but at least now it’s out of the trash. An improvement??

Break Time

Ginko is leaning up against a convenient fence, staring idly not at so much as in the general direction of one of the attractions. He has one of his strange-smelling cigarettes balanced between two fingers and a chunk of funnel cake sticking out of his mouth, looking generally pretty content to just stare into space and probably eventually finish his food, only paying enough attention to his surroundings to whisk his tail out of the way of any passing feet - until a few of the mushi drifting around the carnival float too close, a cluster of tiny glowing shapes in his peripheral vision.

He frowns and blinks, waving them away with one hand. One drifts over again, now sort of patting at his face with a faintly glowing appendage. Ginko stands upright and waves it off, only for it to be replaced with a couple others. Whatever the cause, they seem to be unusually grabby today, and Ginko isn’t too pleased with it.

Of course, for any of the majority of people who can’t see the tiny creatures, it looks a lot like this guy is just… getting increasingly annoyed over nothing, swatting at the air around him.

Wildcard

[Just come at me!]

Gamer's Circle

[Truth be told, it's not like he's ever been in a carnival before and Shadow's not settled yet on his opinion of this place. Though you won't see him trying one of the games right away, he's not causing too much trouble as he observes other guests having their own fun.

Just don't be surprised when he does starts meddling with people's aim and concentration with his magic. Mischievous pranking to try and distract himself from his thoughts is a far cry from the darkness and destruction he helped sow and then put a stop to back in Hyrule.]

Trying to Leaf

[Instead of trying to find his way from the carnival and through the forest, Shadow opts instead to explore his alien surroundings. He floats past orange blossoms indistinguishable from candles, bushes with nuts that ring like bells, and a tree with glowing fruit that somehow catches his attention the most.]

Hm....?

[Still, they look harmless. He settles back onto the soft ground after picking off a berry in the tree. The fruit is comfortably warm in his palm for merely a moment, but then he's forced to drop it with a pained hiss as the berry reacts to him, the light of it suddenly stinging and burning.]

Tch. Light. I should've known.

Wildcard!
[Got a different prompt in mind? Come at me!]

Edited 2016-10-01 03:17 (UTC)

work

[For all the skills she has cultivated during her time with Neuro, Yako is naturally at her happiest in a kitchen. She moves around with a certain single-minded ease, chopping, stirring, skinning away at various ingredients with a pleased, relaxed humming drifting in her wake. If you've stopped by to check on the next meal or to see what's available for snacking, you might notice that some of the ingredients...

Well, some have scales, or glow faintly. Some are strange colors.

Yako doesn't seem to be very bothered by them, of course, but do you dare ask for the gritty details?]

break time

[Out of the kitchen and in the dining area, Yako is easily packing away plate after plate of her own day's labor, with palpable enjoyment, and absolutely no indication that she plans on stopping or even slowing down any time soon. Extra sauce is mopped up with bread, so each plate is practically pristine as it's added to the top of the quickly-growing tower.]

Mm... yeah, adding cumin was definitely the right move. I'll have to remember that for next time!

[Perhaps the most unnerving part about this scene is that she... doesn't appear to have undergone any changes just yet.]

riddles

[The game is meant to make the workers think. In Yako's case, her thoughts are quickly tangled up in nostalgia. Rather than attempting to actually solve the riddles, she's seated with her back to one chest, ruminating on the past.

The past, and the reason she originally signed on with the circus in the first place.]

I wonder if he'd be happy or annoyed by all of this?

[...probably the latter, knowing Neuro, she ruefully concludes. None of these puzzles were anywhere near complex enough to satisfy his appetite.]

wildcard

[I'm up for any antics, so step right up.]

Edited 2016-10-01 03:37 (UTC)

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)

//Mirror Maze

Kerubim had entered the maze expecting it to be a simple, enjoyable diversion before getting back to the carnival. It couldn't be more difficult that any of the myriad of dungeons he had completed in his life. Even the minotauroro's labyrinth had been child's play for someone with his luck.

But after smacking his face on another mirror, his mood had gone from bemusement to frustration remarkably quickly. Even he had to admit luck alone wasn't going to get him out of this. Now he was prowling through the maze with one hand on the right wall, accompanied by a low-pitched squeal as his gloves dragged across the smooth surface.

Making yet another turn into yet another mirrored hall, he finally lost his temper, smacking the wall next to him with his fist.

"MEOW! Doesn't this place ever end?!"

//Gamer's Circle

Kerubim had, surprisingly enough, not partaken of any of the games. Not to say he hadn't spent the majority of his time in the carnival wandering through the Gamer's Circle. Games of chance and skill everywhere you looked, it was an ecaflip's Dream! He had merely been sizing up his options, noting which games would be a an easy win, which were clearly rigged, which had the most lucrative prizes.

He was drawn to one of the ball drop games, a tall pegged board with slots at the bottom, one of which promised a jackpot that would automatically win the best prize option, though it was surrounded by slots yielding only the lowest of points. Kerubim watched for a while, unimpressed by those attempting the game who continued to win only meagre points. After one patron lost for a fourth time in a row, he scoffed.

"Pssh. Idiots. Even a kitten could win this game."

//Wild Card

[Feel free to post your own idea! I'm open to anything.]

Edited 2016-10-01 05:55 (UTC)

WORKING

[Jasper performs tasks as one of the carnival's mercenaries, but that's not always a full time job. Some stops don't require that service at all. In the meanwhile, a large orange woman with a gem for a nose (plus a few other carnival given additions) can be found standing outside a game of "Test Your Strength".

She leans casually on a large wooden mallet, but she'll be glad to lend it to anyone who wants to give it a go - provided they hand over tickets first, of course. The gem doesn't see any need to yell to get anyone's attention. Her very presence should take care of that.]

BREAK TIME

[Something people generally wouldn't expect to find someone of Jasper's size and build doing on break is hunkering over a handful of papers, studying them intently. But that's exactly what she's doing now. Who has time to take a break when they've just succeeded in doing something she's been trying to do for over a year now?

A brute like her should be stuck bashing things with her head or her fists for the rest of their existence, but she's had an opportunity now. That's what she has to believe this is - an opportunity to improve herself rather than a step against the grain. She does this for the benefit of Homeworld, so that when she returns she can get rid of whatever gem specks are left on Earth for the glory of the Diamonds.

It isn't completely self-serving. She's better than that.

She holds her hands apart, and an arc of electrical energy surges between them causing a bright grin to spread across her face. However, this is abruptly followed by widened eyes and a bit of harsh coughing.

Anyone who might have caught her in this moment will be shot a glare.]

Don't you have something better to do?

WILDCARD - AFTER THE PREVIOUS PROMPTS

[The carnival had already caused Jasper's usually hulking form to be smaller than usual - closer to that of an average human in height - but there's something else off about it now. It might be hard for anyone to place their finger on.

What's easy to notice is that her face is covered with a bright and colorful mask with a great big smile painted across the front. It's entirely unfitting but she doesn't seem inclined to take it off.

She can be found back at the Test Your Strength attraction or skulking in the carnival's background.]

Edited 2016-10-01 06:30 (UTC)

ADMISSION FEES

[Spyro's not opposed to paying his fair share for admission. Frankly, he's just glad it's not a certain stuffy, stuck-up bear behind that ticket counter, waiting to charge him a wing and a horn to get in. Trouble is, even if he's not dealing with Money Bags, he's not sure if what he has here is enough...

He gathered up a few gems on his journey through the woods here, but it's really only a modest amount. It's all spread out on the ground in front of him now, approximately 12 absurdly large precious gemstones in colors of rich green, blue, and red. Where he comes from, things like carnival admission and such usually cost at least 100 of these bad boys, so he feels just slightly embarrassed checking to see if this pile of chump change will be enough to get him admission.

Perhaps your the clerk in charge of the admission. Or perhaps you're another newbie in line behind him, waiting for your turn at the desk. Either way, you're there as he takes his concern up with the carnival staff:]

Hey pal! Yeah, down here! Is this good enough to get me into the action, or am I going to have to come back later?

GAMER'S CIRCLE

[Alright, games! This is Spyro's kind of jam. The games here are pretty different from the ones he remembers from Dragon Shores, but that just makes them even more exciting.

He's got his eye on one of the water gun games, the kind with the moving targets that you have to blast, but he's having some difficulty figuring out the provided weapon.]

Wait... How am I supposed to use this, exactly?

[It's the trigger that's throwing him off. He's used to using turrets built with folks like him in mind, hands-free cannons and such that use magic to fire when he wants them to. Most places usually have that, or they'll at least provide a fireball powerup so that he can play with some good old fashioned fire breathing. But a regular old squirt gun? He can't get his little claws around that effectively.]

Well, I'm stumped. Any ideas, Sparx?

[He's talking to the glowing dragonfly hovering faithfully next to him.]

DO YOUR WORK

[It never fails. Large crowd of guests arriving? Inevitably, at least one of the rides is bound to break down. Which is of course, where maintenance comes in.

Peridot's facing off against an old nemesis today: The Vortex. This finicky hunk of junk is one of the more popular attractions but it has a habit of busting loose and jamming up and -- OK, she's kind of lost track of the number of issues it's had since she's arrived here. Point is, it breaks down a lot, probably because it sees so much use.

Unfortunately its popularity means that she has a huge crowd of people waiting impatiently for everything to get back up and running again. The little gem is crouched up on one of the arms, bag of tools slung over one shoulder as she fiddles with some of the mechanisms up there. She keeps cursing and grumbling to herself as she works. Be you guest or ride operator, it's probably best not to disturb her... but if you're choosing this prompt, presumably you're ballsy enough to do it anyway.]

WISPS

[Now here's a disaster. Peridot fails to understand why catching these things is more important than her actual job, but far be it for her to question the Ringmaster's motivations.

She swipes a clawed hand at one of the little creatures and recoils with a yelp, holding her singed paw in the other.] Hot hot hot hot hot --! Nnnngh, just how the heck does the ringmaster expect us to catch these stupid cloddy things anyway!?! [She says to no one in particular. Well, more like squawks. There's a lot of pointy teeth gnashing going on.

Seriously though, she's getting really flustered. Feel free to lend a hand. Or you can mock her. Y'know. Whichever you prefer.]

[OOC:] Here's a visual reference for Peridot's carnival form, if your character wants to comment on any of her changes.

► ADMISSION FEES
"I AM NOT THE FEE!" He didn't know what else to say to the ticket taker. His left eye twitches a little and he makes an incredibly rude gesture to the back of a older man retreating into the carnival proper.

Leave to to Genma to once again pawn his son off onto someone for something he wanted. Sad thing is that Ranma is completely used to this. Doesn't mean he has to like it any. He's got his pride and he's not a thing to be just sold off...again. But because he's got his pride, he doesn't like being in debt, even if it's his dad's debt.

"Right...so... this sucks. How much is it again? I guess I gotta pay for the both of us, right?"

► MIRROR MAZE:
Mirror mazes. Fun times right? Wrong. He's not Ryoga. He's not the sort that'll get lost in a wet paper bag, but there he is. Lost. In the maze and has been for a while. Long enough that his reflection has been doing and saying weird things. Which, seeing as Ranma's tolerance for really strange things is really high, that says something.

What's more is when he turns a corner, the dark haired boy doesn't see his reflection. Well...he does but it's not the him he knows he is right now. He stands before the mirror and reflected back at him is a petite red haired girl. She does a nauseatingly cute pose at him, sticks out her tongue and chirps back at him in his own (female) voice. "You're never getting rid of me, you know."

"Shut up!" He turns to storm in another direction, only to run into someone. Behind him, his reflection giggles.

► GAMER'S CIRCLE: (Feat girltype)
It was inevitable. If there was water, somehow, no matter how hard he tried, it just sort of found him. He had been minding his own business, looking at all the games. There looked to be some fun challenges. Ranma can't turn down any sort of challenge. So Anything Goes Martial Arts Dart Tossing. Yes. Anything Goes Martial Arts Clown Dunk. On it. Anything Goes Martial Arts Gold Fish Catch.... well, he'll actually pass on that. Only some little kid decided that they were going to splash that gold fish water everywhere. Including on him.

Now, he is a her. In place of a dark haired martial artist, there is a small buxom young lady with brilliant red hair. She's soaking wet and looking pretty annoyed at herself. "What did you do that for?!" She demands before sighing and wringing some of the water out of her hair. She then sloshes around Gamer's Circle.

"I guess you don't know where I can find hot water, do you?"

► WILD CARD - acrobatics
Well, he's stuck here for now he guesses. Might as well get some training done. He's walked around the carnival for a while and came upon the big top. Honestly, Ranma's pretty much done the circus thing before. He can juggle and do all sorts of crazy things, but what he's most skilled at is arial combat. There is a high wire up there with his name on it.

Ranma effortlessly climbs the ladder up to the thin little wire. With confidence, he steps out on the wire. It's just like walking on the chain link fences back in Nermia. At first, he just gets his balance and his baring up there. As soon as he does, he goes to the middle and up on one foot. Then he kicks above his head.

From there, he slowly goes through his kata, the movements growing more and more complex as he jumps and moves and flis, always landing perfectly upon the wire, sometimes with both feet, sometimes with only one and an few times, with one hand before springing up into the air again for astounding flips.

He's utterly unaware of the audience he's gotten below him. Instead, he starts a series of flips and twists, down a line over 50 feet into the air. It's not until he's on the other side and catching his breath as he notices. "Oh!" He sort of waves down below and waves a little. "I guess I shouldn't be up here, should I? I'll be right down."

Edited 2016-10-01 18:15 (UTC)

[ ooc: action tags also welcome! ]

Mirror Maze

At first, it's fun. The room is full of mirrors, and if you look at them when you're surrounded by them, you can see your reflection double and triple and on and on until you can't even count them all anymore. Goku has never seen anything like it before. And maybe this is why he's spent far too long inside. Though if he stops to think about it, he'd wonder why he hasn't reached the exit on the other side by now. The building didn't look that big from the outside.

Also, he keeps thinking his reflections are looking back at him funny. That's just not possible though, right? They're just mirrors. They shouldn't move in a way that you haven't. Or talk. They definitely should not talk.

"Oi," one of them says in a voice that suspiciously resembles Goku's own.

"Huh?"

He glances around, but he doesn't see anyone else around him.

"Over here, idiot. You lost again?"

"....again?"

"Oh that's right, you weren't lost last time. You were abandoned." Not-Goku in the mirror smirks back at him in a not-very-nice way. Goku jumps back, startled (mostly by the talking reflection) and tries to turn the corner. That's the way out, isn't it?

Gamer's Circle

Watergun racing! He's got this. Goku has a fun streak, but he's also very competitive. He likes the kinds of games where you play against other people. Besides, this place seems to be full of colorful folks that he's never seen the likes of before.

He smacks down his ticket and takes a seat in front of a watergun.

"Hehe. Good luck!" he says cheerily to the person sitting next to him. May the best racer win!

Wildcard

[ ooc: Come at me! :) ]

You Have A Job

Or rather, you and she both do - and yours is getting hard to do on account of an ornery customer, whether they're audience or participant. The commotion has attracted the notice of one Fae Classic-looking young girl - her eyes glow green, she has flowers growing in her hair, and she's hovering slightly off the ground with pointed, transparent wings.

"What seems to be the problem?"

Of course, she doesn't look completely soft - now that she's come closer you might have noticed the short horns and claws, even if the latter are bright pink. Whether the pointy ears contribute to the image is a toss-up.

Alternatively, maybe you've just arrived, and you yourself want to give the staff a piece of your mind.

Wisp Wranglers

The nature of working as a Patch means Io has more time than average to be on the hunt for stray will-o-wisps. Just her luck that she'd come across one here, in one of the more-frequently-traveled areas of the grounds; she'd rather not have some magically addled guests cause an incident tonight.

Naturally, it's out of her reach; as such she's called for help, and that help is you.

"I know you had something to be doing, so let's catch this quickly."

Free Space

[ooc: Open to whatever - if it matters, she came here from a timeline where the protagonist went Meritocracy and she opted not to join him!]

Will O' Wisps

C-come here! Oh, dear...

[Emil, hot on the heels of a stray wisp, wasn't being careful about where he drove it. The little creature is headed right toward another person!]

Watch out!

Break time!

[Somehow, the glitz and lights of the carnival never seem to get old for this guy. Whenever he's off duty he likes to just meander, taking in the sights and the smells and the music. There are always new people, new locations. He stops at the carousel and just hovers by the gate, watching it go round and round. It's fun to ride, but he was just happy to see the smiles on everyone else's face.]

Wild card!
[Other veterans have probably seen this creepy little guy around -- it's hard to miss a floating skeleton, even if he does speak softly and keep to himself as much as he can. His name is Emil, and he's quite eager to accommodate.

For the rest of you, well... a child-sized skeleton, apparently overwhelmed by the new people, is fluttering anxiously from location to location. He would very much like to help you, and eagerness can be read in every gesture, but he's worried about scaring people away with his face.

Anything else you want to do? Hop in or PM me!]

((OOC: Veterans, feel free to assume CR! Emil is very eager to please and easy to get along with.))

Edited (typo) 2016-10-01 19:53 (UTC)

A. Admission.

[Walter is just short of a hundred percent sure this is an illusion. He certainly hadn't heard that there was a fair going on in Bowerstone, whoever could've decided to set one up with this timing would've had to have been impossibly daft, and despite said timing... well, it looked completely untouched by the darkness. It looked like it had been dropped into the city in the middle of all the fighting after having been cut from someplace else, strange... Set pieces? Machinery? And all.

He tried to avoid going toward it - ohh, no, he wasn't falling for that - but when he turned around, the street had, apparently, filled in with trees behind him. He tried to call the Queen. No answer. Tried to call Ben, Page, Sabine. No answer from any of them, either. With the only way out of this looking to be through, he bit the proverbial bullet and started to ever-so-cautiously approach the carnival, sword drawn - and as he moved forward, the sounds of the fighting started to die.

He's at the gate now, and the fact that he's made it this far without whatever this is giving up the game and going straight to hell has him right on-edge. Still. Keep it together. Stay vigilant. Got to keep going, see where this goes...

He fishes a few coins out of his pocket with a grumble and drops them into the hands of the clerk, who tells him to enjoy.

Muffled, unhappy laugh.] Yeah, right. You will, won't you.

B. Forest.

['Hoy! Happen to be wandering in the woods rrroughly in the vicinity of this old goat?

Much as he's bursting with a weird, dread-tinged frustration on starting to see the fair that he just left through the trees, he's kind of reassured - subconsciously a little less suspicious with regards to the reality of... all of this - on seeing someone else with interest in not being on the grounds. Hope you don't mind being singled out for possible commiseration.

He slows his trudging down to a stop within reasonable communication distance, and brings up from a groan:]

Aaand... we're right back where we started! Serves one right for even trying, doesn't it!

[Hufffff.]

Balls... [Starts to slowly shake his head. And he kind of... coughs out a wry, dragging chuckle. Looks a bit more directly at whoever's nearby.] The longer this goes on, the more I start to like the idea that I've plain gone mad.

[He kind of asks himself why he even said that, after he does, but... pfhah, he knows why he did. Just trying to beat back the serious thought that he might be stuck here, period, Crawler illusion, bizarre cursed-or-what-have-you detour away from the fight for his country and the court he serves, or otherwise.]

C. Wildcard.

[Hit me!]

New Recruit - Admission Fee / Gamer's Circle

It had been during a night walk on the park around the trees to read her book of charms, when the concentration of trunks became thicker, until the lights and music of something filtered from beyond the trees. Music coming from pipes, something resembling the times of her childhood.

The sounds and music surrounded Yukine Miyazawa just as she emerged from the trees, and saw the Lost Carnival for the first time.

Even at a distance, she wondered if she was dreaming, as she believed seeing strange silhouettes, things not quite human in the distance, moving with the same elegance as either quadrupeds or arachnids. Due to the desire to know, either curiosity born from dread on the back of her head, or something reminiscent of her childhood, Yukine stepped forward. At first cautiously, then walking forward.

Anything of value, please.

Yukine stared at her own book of charms, and knowing she would easily get another far too quickly from confiscated material at the library and the reference room of Hikarizawa High, and the fact she had memorized many of the charms and incantations of it to continue helping, she offered it, having it taken and accepted like old fairy tales and legends.

Her first places to explore were the games. Darts, ring tossing, water guns, bell-ringing. Many of them were familiar, but then were games she had never heard before that, Yukine felt as if in a dream when a coin from a game bounced on the floor to then fly to the roof, outright violated known laws of reality.

It's most likely a dream, Yukine smiled as she thought, and explored around the stands, as this was a night she would spend a few hours tonight, and not the many, many, many months that she would spend in here paying a debt.

All over a sodding coin charm she would invoke at the worst possible moment.

Veteran - Do Your Work / Will O' Wisps

Yukine Miyazawa smiled as one pair of hands worked on cutting curiously-colored vegetables on the table in front of her, before passing them along from hands to hands to another pair that wore gloves in front of a small stove, which in turn extended the small pseudo-bird to another pair that finished beating an orange sauce and poured it over the dish, before it was put inside of the oven, all hands moving in synchrony for another dish for workers and guests alike.

It was incredibly efficient to have all of those arms belong to her long body.

Exposure to both strong fae magic and the ingredients of hundreds of universes had radically changed Yukine's physiology until she stopped being human in her entirety. At first something embarrassing, in time it became a talent to handle an entire kitchen when nobody was available, happy to help anybody that needed her within the carnival.

It also made her much less afraid of faerie exposure, since she was well beyond the point of normalcy, which is why she had in fact been part of the people to tell about the wisps that were necessary to recapture, and in fact didn't even get to know until she saw one hovering above her.

"Hnn?"

All of Yukine's arms stopped their cooking on all stations when she felt the shift in temperature over her food, and then saw the dozens of specks of light above her. She turned all stoves off in synchrony, trying to look at the specks as they hovered and shifted, then lifting all yards of length up the higher the collection went...

Wild Card

All available! Both prompts can be at any time they happen, whenever if it's when Yukine is asked for something at the admission fee, or when she's cooking, or make your own prompt!

Edited 2016-10-02 02:34 (UTC)

You Lucky Duck
Game Corner

Amidst all the games that actually involve some elements of skill there sits one carnival game that doesn't bother to hide the fact that it's entirely based on luck. If you leave the ring toss both behind you, ignore the heavy milk bottles and the fake shooting range you'll soon come upon a game titled nothing other than "Lucky Duck." The booth proffers up a small contingent of rubber ducks, all with smiling beaks and joyful eyes. They are perpetually happy to wade in circle around and around. The game is simple, pick a duck and look at it's bottom side. There a number will be written, ranging from zero to five. Each number corresponds to a different group of prizes.

A zero earns you nothing, don't even bother trying if you're cursed with bad luck, you'll never get anything but. A one will earn you something small, useless, a pity prize. A two is mildly better, a three is where the things you might actually want live. A three will also earn you this option, give up your prize and try again for a four or a five. Fours are the best you can hope for really, the big toys, or some small useful trinket perhaps with a one time magic use. There's only ever one five, and the corresponding prize, well, it's a mystery, but it's guaranteed to be something amazing.

For as simple a game as it is, it's the one that's always intrigued the Ψiioniic the most. He is determined to get mystery duck number five sometime before he leaves the carnival. If he's only tried once a night the entire time he's been here he's still tried too many times. He's been here for nearly three years now, and he has the changes to show for it. His eyes number four instead of the usual two. His skin is speckled with glowing purple spots and short antennae can be seen sprouting from his hair in between his horns. He studies the ducks intensely, the purple spots on his skin dimming and glowing brightly again in a slow and steady pattern as he thinks. He's waiting, for just the right moment to strike. Tonight he'll get it for sure, the mysterious number five.

You Lunky Druck
Willfull Wisps

He's trying his very best to catch these damn things without touching them. He glows a dim shade of purple as he flits around the carnival looking for the small beasts, but he soon discovers finding them isn't really the problem. The appear and vanish in a flash of light, it's not hard to spot the little buggers when they take form. It's actually catching the damn things that's proving difficult. The Ψiioniic isn't called such because of his lack of ability, but holding onto these things telekinetically feels like trying to hold smoke with your bare hands. It's a study in patience and the Ψiioniic has never been a very patient troll.

He swears loudly as another wisp breaks free from his grasp and flits off. His freckles glow a dangerous shade of red. He's not usually one to get angry, but tonight hunting down these wisps, he's definitely starting to loose his temper. It doesn't help of course that simply being near the damn things is disorienting as fuck. It makes him even more unfocused, which means he does an even worse job the next time he tries to catch one. Eventually the flash of his psionics begins to desynchronize, shifting from violet in color to alternating flashes of red and blue. That just pissess him off even more. He cusses again, this time in his own troll language instead of the fae speech he's grown accustomed too. He probably sounds like a very angry cicada and a cricket having a fight to the death. Dare ye approach?

Break(?) Time
C A T A R O T

[The strange looking troll approaches, a very fluffy very grumpy looking dilute calico perched on his shoulders.]

You know, my cat can see the future.

[Respond? Y/N]

Riddle Me This (Batman)!
Locked Chests

Of course a lot of people are intrigued by and examining the chests, hoping to find one with a riddle they can actually solve. The Ψiioniic is going about his selection process in a bit of a different manner. He's crouched down, wandering from chest to chest with his cat held out in front of him. Carefully he pushes her forwards to sniff and examine the containers, waiting to see how she'll respond before even reading the riddle.

"Come on Dee. Which one's got the big money?"

Edited 2016-10-02 17:21 (UTC)

ADMISSION FEES

[ Anything of value is exactly what Dave doesn't have. He searched his sylladex for anything that might be remotely interesting. Can he tempt the admissioner with a jar full of fluid that contains some grim looking thing floating on the bottom? By the look of their face, Dave is going to say no. He looked through the rest of his useless shit, and either he wanted to hold on to that, or that was equally as useless. Ugh, definitely not that.

There was nothing to it then. This could only be solved one way.

He turned to the person standing behind him in line and shoved the questionable looking jar into their hands. ]

Don't bother saving my spot. Time to split like Bradgelina, you feel me?

MIRROR MAZE

[ This is a carnival. Shit is suppose to be fun. Not like Dave could possibly know for sure, though. Bro would never bring him some place as campy and unironic as this dump. He's seen enough TV to know how this song and dance goes, so he knows for certain that his reflection should be all distorted and humorous in the way anyone without a brain should find hilarious. But that's not what he finds in his reflection. Instead he sees one version of himself with a slitted throat, another with his chest ran through. They're stretching, yawning, one scratching his nose. They seem oblivious to the fact that they should be in fact dead.

The real Dave is standing with his arms crossed, face a little pale, but otherwise not reacting. ]

Now that's just sad. If this is all this place has to offer I'm thinking I'm due a refund on that ticket I definitely didn't pay for.

WILDCARD

[ Anything at all. I'm still voice testing so hit me up with random out of left field stuff. It will be good for me. ]

Threaded | Flat

Page 2 of 4

Tanyuu Karibusa | Mushishi | Veteran

Mari Makinami Illustrious -> Evangelion -> Veteran

Archer | Fate/Stay Night | Newbie

Natsu Dragneel | Fairy Tail | Newb (OTA; both styles!)

Yuugi Mutou | YGO:DM (post canon) | newb