ringleaders: (firebreather)
Lost Carnival Mods ([personal profile] ringleaders) wrote in [community profile] livinglot2016-09-29 10:38 am

⇨ 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!
pokepochette: (pic#10618756)

[personal profile] pokepochette 2016-10-02 07:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Er, well...usually only people talk!

[Not, y'know, creatures that weren't somewhat human?]
linkedpenumbra: (good boy)

[personal profile] linkedpenumbra 2016-10-02 07:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[The guy looks strange, but he's more than familiar with monsters to not be caught off guard by such a sight.]

... Where are we exactly? This doesn't look like any place I've been to before.

[Hyrule? The Dark World? Both? Shadow won't specify.]
missionfail: (talking)

[personal profile] missionfail 2016-10-02 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
What makes you think your magical skills mean anything to me?

[They might have the same supervisor, but she hasn't worked with this girl directly before. That makes her inconsequential for the time being. Maybe later she'll want to know, but for now she's content with being a jerk.]

You just haven't seen enough to know what big and flashy really is.
fortuneglass: (>3>)

[personal profile] fortuneglass 2016-10-02 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
You just told me off for not knowing yours didn't you!? [You can't just slide away on the same thing you got her for!!

...Or. Maybe. You can. But-
] If you don't know what mine is, then you can't know I haven't seen enough anyway!!
linkedpenumbra: (amused)

[personal profile] linkedpenumbra 2016-10-02 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
I think you're overestimating what magic I have in this place.

[Not that he didn't let the wisp go on purpose, but she can't prove it.]
sweatysometimes: (sarcasm maybe)

[personal profile] sweatysometimes 2016-10-02 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
So I stay here and work for a year to pay off missing the price of admissions and somehow I... go back to where and when i was without aging and no one missing me? Sounds kinda impossible.

[ It's not that Pidge doesn't believe you, Carly. She's just healthily skeptical of what sounds like literal magic. But then again... transforming robots. Pidge rubs the back of her neck. ]

What if I don't want to hang around for a year?
fortuneglass: credit - haptisms @ lj (OnO)

[personal profile] fortuneglass 2016-10-02 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
A carnival travelling different worlds and dimensions should be impossible too then right? [But it iiiiisnnnn't!

And oh-! She's quickly ruffling her feathers again, sputtering.
] Y-You can't just skip out of a debt, that's not how it works! If anything that just adds more debt, probably!!
sweatysometimes: (not as keikaku)

[personal profile] sweatysometimes 2016-10-02 08:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"My friends are probably worried about me, too," Pidge replied quietly. The thought of the rest of her friends being stuck with her is both comforting and distressing.

"Yeah, same here. I mean, I don't have time to spare either, but here I am."
pokepochette: (pic#10618756)

Admission

[personal profile] pokepochette 2016-10-02 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[If there's one thing Bonnie doesn't appreciate, it's being handed a jar full of weird...liquid? Goo? Ew gross.]

H-Huh? Wait I don't want this...

[Dedenne doesn't exactly seem pleased either, the little mouse Pokemon hopping down from her head to perch on her shoulder for a better view of...whatever it is his owner's holding.]

Take it back!

[No Dave, she doesn't feel you.]
Edited 2016-10-02 20:14 (UTC)
fortuneglass: (<o<)

[personal profile] fortuneglass 2016-10-02 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
W-Well I am- [Wait.

Give it a second.

A series of flapping and she quickly realizes something is off there-
] OH!!! [And with a flurry of feathers, that should fix it. She's still kinda bird looking but...well there they are.] See! I'm human!!
masterballer: (its called a hustle sweetheart)

[personal profile] masterballer 2016-10-02 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Electric, huh? Guess it's obvious I'd have no trouble with him. [Gestures to Rhydon.] I faced Surge and he was a cakewalk.

[Rhydon tilts its head, murmuring a word or two of greeting at the little mouse. Probably asking if it knows anything about this strange place.]
fortuneglass: (>:[)

[personal profile] fortuneglass 2016-10-02 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm definitely not!! You even timed it!
veinglory: (Did someone say lunchtime?)

[personal profile] veinglory 2016-10-02 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"My apologies. When you're a vampire, you have nothing but time on your hands," he shook his head, "It's certainly more cruel to trap someone without such a boon."
linkedpenumbra: (heh)

[personal profile] linkedpenumbra 2016-10-02 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh... so what if I did? You'd still have to prove it, lady.
fortuneglass: (o-o?)

[personal profile] fortuneglass 2016-10-02 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
MMMMNHNNN! [Except she can't. ...Wait.] Well..!!

We have witnesses!! [THE GUY MANNING THIS GAMESTAND RIGHT HERE! ...who is...an ash sprite.

Shoot.
]
pokepochette: (pic#10618753)

[personal profile] pokepochette 2016-10-02 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
He has more than just electric types, y'know. I bet you'd be in for a surprise.

[Don't underestimate her brother! Unfortunately for Rhydon, Dedenne knows just about as much as he does, squeaking in reply with a mousey shrug.]
zebrarhyme_everytime: (ominous)

[personal profile] zebrarhyme_everytime 2016-10-02 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[Touching the cloak that's spread over Zecora's form is much like touching, say, a blanket with a fan beneath it. There's pressure, but it yields with a gentle push, her hand sinking into it.]

In darkness, it's as air.
Nothing is truly there.
linkedpenumbra: (too pleased)

[personal profile] linkedpenumbra 2016-10-02 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Sure, you keep telling yourself that.

[And the boy turns his back on the hummingbird woman.]
fortuneglass: (D8<)

[personal profile] fortuneglass 2016-10-02 08:31 pm (UTC)(link)
MMMNNNN! [WELL! THAT'S!!] If you do this to anyone else, it really will be obvious!!
linkedpenumbra: (Default)

[personal profile] linkedpenumbra 2016-10-02 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
And why pull the same trick twice? I just hope no one else is as gullible as you are.

[Feeling the burn yet?]
dontpokethat: i just want to leave so i am not around to hear it (before anyone says anything)

[personal profile] dontpokethat 2016-10-02 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[Honestly, he's probably used to it. He gives a quiet huff, more amused than frustrated.]

Uh... well, I'm a worker here. Defining it beyond that might be up for debate.

[Ginko, that's not very helpful.]
Edited 2016-10-02 20:37 (UTC)
fortuneglass: (D8<)

[personal profile] fortuneglass 2016-10-02 08:39 pm (UTC)(link)
And if I just warn people about your face?
missionfail: (shine)

[personal profile] missionfail 2016-10-02 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh.

[Jasper leans down so she's closer to Amethyst's level.]

I just don't like you.
pokepochette: (pic#10618753)

[personal profile] pokepochette 2016-10-02 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[There's a hum of confusion as she looks him over again before simply accepting his answer. It might not be a proper explanation, but maybe he was shy about what he was? Either way, she won't push it. Instead she smiles, letting Dedenne who's begun to squirm in her hands scramble up her arm and onto her head.]

Do you like it? Working here?
zebrarhyme_everytime: (ominous)

[personal profile] zebrarhyme_everytime 2016-10-02 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
The short time we dealt with Discord
Was worse in ways not to be ignored.
But it had a beginning and an end.
For those trapped here, I cannot defend
The difficulties they must face.
In that respect this is a foul place.