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

[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.]

[Large Orange and Fluffy, meet Small Purple and Scaly.]

Hey bub! So do I have to use the mallet to do this thing? Or can I try something different?

[Spyro's got the tickets, but he can't exactly use the mallet to play. #Quadruped Problems.]

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.

[This is exactly one reason she enjoys pandaren company. Between that and their cooking it certainly makes even an old butter woman feel a bit more spry and content. She lets out a short laugh.]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. [Odd, questionable and even acts that would probably result in getting sick has happened a lot in her life. No time to start being cautious about drinking now]

Ever end up drunk and sharing a mug with a drawf? I'm sure that was worse. Their beard catches everything.

[If it's because she's too stubborn or it isn't the scream of demons, her reaction to the laughter is the twitch of her left eye. Valamia was entirely too old for such antics and with her arms defiantly crossed she simply decided to wait for him to show before responding. The corner of her mouth turns up to a grin. Whatever he was, which she had decided by now to simply stop asking people about it, didn't matter much to her. His attitude was another story.]

Oh I'm from some little planet that you've never heard of. [She rolls her eyes.] I would say that I have all day but I don't want to waste my time with rude youngsters.

[Fortunately for Peridot, Carly is smart enough to Not disturb the working engineer. While she is standing rather unhelpfully nearby with her tongue in a drink, she at least isn't saying anything.

Unfortunately for Peridot...everyone else is.] Is it fixed YET...

When will the ride be ready??

They said twenty minutes twenty minutes ago..!!!

MmmmMMMmmmMMM [no plz sirs and madams don't-] Aaah- Ahm soor zat ifs almof vere..!! J...Juft twy to be pathient..!!

[Maybe she should have brought her tongue back in, because all that succeeds in is even MORE angry customers, combined with a now panicked scout.] AAAHHHHH sheth twyin!! Sheth twyin..!!

[As a scout, Carly doesn't tend to interact very much with the mercenaries under the Nightrider. The last time she did, it was during the Vampire War.

And that wasn't exactly a time to socialize. What she DOES know of Jasper from that however, is that she is Very Grumpy. Or at least, it seemed that way.

~~Kinda reminds her of a guy though...~~

But after a number of hours of chasing wisps and slicing up her straw tongue drinking soda, the sight of the merc practicing what she's fairly certain is magic is...well.

She jumps, coughing and sputtering once she's noticed.] AAHHH- Ah, well! I was just getting energy back, it's really tiring chasing after wisps all day, especially when I'm a bird, so it's really nothing..!!

[She should. Maybe stop while she's ahead. The girl coughs.] ...Was that lightning..?

Edited (PROOOOOMPT SWIIITCH) 2016-10-01 17:14 (UTC)

[Gilgamesh seems to take some amusement from this, as there's a pause on his end followed by quiet laughter.]

I am five thousand years young, by standard measure. Would you still accuse me of childishness?

[Gilgamesh pulls out a coin. Plain, nondescript, and silver, with the head of the ringmaster on one side and her insignia on the other.]

Heads or tails?

[It's a trick coin, but there's also a trick to the trick, as it were: if she asks about its legitimacy, Gilgamesh cannot lie, and must tell her about its true nature. But if she does not, Gilgamesh will win. His eyes give nothing away, and he merely waits for her to choose. He does not seem the slightest bit nervous, as he has no reason to be.

As it turns out, Gilgamesh was a marvelous liar without ever even opening his mouth.]

[As a cheater and a liar himself, Matthew can spot a scam a mile away. These games that promise big flashy prizes to complete simple tasks? They're definitely rigged. He watches in amusement as people try and inevitably fail to knock down bottles, land a beanbag in a hole, or grab a toy duck with a sufficiently high number.

But as he wanders further he finds one area where people are failing even more consistently. There's almost no near misses, and the grumbles of frustration and annoyance are louder here than anywhere else. Most strangely, the game runners look almost as confused as the patrons. Something else was afoot here, and Matthew, as always, was curious.

The magic he's used to seeing back home is bigger, flashier, destructive bouts of elemental power, but shadow magic exists there too and it doesn't take too long for him to find the rather unlikely source. A child getting up to no good and having some fun. He's hardly one to put a stop to someone pulling a prank, but there's an opportunity here that the kid is missing out on. Matthew weaves through the crowd and puts himself next to the boy, leaning casually on the side of a stall.]

You know, if I could tip the scales, I'd be messing with the game runners, not their marks.

Certainly not. I would have killed you if you so much as suggested it yourself.

[Gilgamesh...

But he's a man of his word, mostly. Gilgamesh gives a wave of his hand, and moments later Yuugi will find himself slightly lighter on his feet—light enough to float the extra bit of distance required. Not exactly a step stool or or an arm throne, but it gets the job done. Gilgamesh claims his lion and looks to Yuugi somewhat curiously.]

Do you believe you can win?

[That's the question of someone who's already considering another challenge.]

[Gilgamesh just shrugs, flatly, and...]

I felt like it.

[...here we go, it's going to be one of those days.]

"I didn't see any towns when I was landing, but maybe I just missed it," Pidge mused half to herself before Gottlieb was explaining about demons being very, very real.

"Wait, so a demon lured you out to a cornfiled and all you did was spend the night there feeling uncomfortable?" Pidge seems a little unimpressed by all this.

"That seems a little low key for a demon."

"It is when I've got some guy standing making comments about it," Pidge griped in reply. She stands, abandoning the game.

[ Pidge lets out a confused noise as she hears a voice. She looks around for a moment before focusing on the tiny hummingbird. Talking bird. Okay, about as weird as intelligent mice, she guesses.She adjusts her glasses and leans forward to get a better look. ]

Ah, yeah, I'm trying to get back to where I left my lion. I'm not sure I follow, though.

"To the right?" Pidge looks over at the other teenager briefly, adjusting her grip on the water gun as the more expert shot begins dispensing advice. This guy at least seems friendly about it and he's not being a jerk, so she nods and gives a brief little smile.

"Right. Both eyes open. I never really did much shooting at home," she murmurs, mostly to herself, then presses the trigger again. This time the water shoots out and hits the target dead on. Score!

"Hey, you were right!"

[ Pidge doesn't really have the taste for beer, sadly. ]

Whoa, really? That's pretty neat. I've never been a great cook myself. Must be nice to be able to whip up your own food pretty easily.

[ Being rational is kind of Pidge's Thing, most of the time. She bobs her head in a nod at the Draenei and glances around at the trees. ]

Yeah, I'm with you on that one. But it'd be nice if I stopped getting turned around trying to get through the trees.

"It's the truth!" he huffed, furrowing his brow, "And aside from that, the horrid creature stole my personal music device! That was a gift from a very dear friend. They may be devastatingly gorgeous but they also have no sense of--"

He turned to look back at the carnival, a low growl forming in his throat.

"At any rate, whatever is afoot is not something explained by rational means. You saw no town. I came here by my own two feet. I have witnessed many strange things in my time, but this is by far the strangest."

Ψii shrugs, though his expression turns somber.

"Can you blame them?" He asks, mind turning back towards memories of their tragic vampire encounter. "Everyone's a little on edge these days."

If you do it will not be my fault!
That is a process I cannot halt.

[She swipes at her muzzle with a hoof as she chews. Having her nose glow still distracts her even after a year of enduring it, and that isn't even mentioning the other changes she'd had to endure.]

[Among those in the crowd is a gentleman who might stick out a bit, between his gray skin and clothing that was in fashion in the late 18th century. He's watching the performance with wide eyes and a broad grin, clapping fiercely at every spin and swirl.]

Bravo! Wonderful! Amazing!

[Even the excited kids in the audience don't seem half as enthralled as he is.]

Ah, that is a problem indeed.
I cannot help you with that need.

[Sympathetic, the zebra moves away from the mirror conjunction, leaving only a few of her scattered here and there among the panes.]

In time I came to recognize
That it is best to compartmentalize.

Where I am from, they surely do.
But not everywhere, I fear it's true.

[Her first encounter with animalistic equines had been very, very disturbing -- enough to give even this seasoned and wise mare the willies.]

Ha! A little squirt like you couldn't pinch hard enough to wake up a Pidgey.

[Yeah that makes sense.]

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⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

Spyro | Spyro the Dragon | Newbie

Test Your Strength!

Peridot | Steven Universe | Veteran

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face in hands forever

DO YOUR WORK...with a TWIST

SCOUTS AND MERCS ARE BOTH NIGHTRIDER FOLKS SO TIME TO FIGURE OUT COWORKER CR

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Gamer's Circle

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Re: I SEE U TRYIN' TO LEAF...

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DO YOUR WORK

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