livinglot | ⇨ 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 | Top-Level Comments Only

Wow! That cat does a really good impression of a sleeping owl.

[Susan laughs as he tucks his cloak around her again.]

She's only a cat sometimes. Right now she's an owl. I'd show you but it takes a while... And she'd be mad, 'cause she's sleeping.

[She snorts, momentarily blowing some hair out of her face.]

Yeah, and then you're coming back to Earth to crush us, right?

[She doesn't sound as 100% flippant about this as she's clearly aiming for.]

Maybe it's the same place, but in different worlds.

Time travel? Oh that is so cool!

[Shattered?] Uh, what happened to "Outland" to "Shatter" it.

[Po quotation marked there.]

[Ψii is moving something heavy, not physically of course, but mentally with his Psionics. It's not hard to move, but it is hard to see around.]

Hey, Emil! Can you help me watch out for people?

[He calls out to the small skeleton as he see's him flitting around. He doesn't want to hit anyone with this gigantic obtusely shaped object.]

"Haha, yeah, okay," says Amethyst, folding her arms behind her. "That's probably why he's so cranky, though, I'm just saying. I'd be cranky if no one let me eat outta trash cans."

Yeah, I know what you mean. Dee gets mad at me all the time for taking her around, but if your cat has an amazing talent you should tell anyone who will listen.

Well yeah, why wouldn't you? She sounds really cool.

[And he's just gonna kinda... hold his hand out towards the cat, as best he can, to see if she wants to sniff it. He's probably too short to get it too close though but why would that stop him?]

Well, yeah.

[Ψii offers with a smile and a shrug, but he continues to watch her none the less.]

But I'm pretty sure you do to, so.

[The Ψiioniic scratches his chin, looking thoughtful for a moment.]

I don't think your species has anything to do with it.

[Of course you weren't talking to him, but you weren't not talking to him either.]

[Well, that's spooky. She draws back a little, wary, uncertain, but it's clear this zebra isn't for eating, and so those plans are abandoned... for now.]

Alright, alright -- I won't eat you. Just tell me how to leave. They took my kill when I entered this place... and I think I'd feel more comfortable catching something else somewhere else.

Uwaa!

_{[She lets out a sound of surprise as the little bird creature turns into a far more human looking one. Definitely wasn't expecting that.]}

So cool!

How's he?

[Ψii asks looking down at the other girl curiously.]

[ The obvious ( and perhaps wise ) obsequiousness of the troll takes some of the hot air out of the bird, causing his crest and his eyebrow-esque feathers to relax a tad. A little smoke escapes from the rustle of his wings. ]

Yes, ehm... [ He's always had a difficult time pronouncing this one's name. This time, he chooses not to try. ] Have you any experience with riddles, my boy?

Considering I tackled the entire Elite Four without breaking a sweat, I highly doubt it.

Buuuut, I guess you'll just find out whenever I take Kalos by storm in a couple years.

[Ψii laughs as he sees Ginko swat at nothing, but he comes over to harass him more directly after only a moment.]

Do you need any help?

She does lean over, as any cat would, to sniff at his hand. Liking what she smells she apparently gives his fingers a few licks, before pulling back and loosing interest. She watches strangers pass by, as her eyes flick around to observe the noise of the carnival around them. The Ψiioniic's attention is on Susan though. From the point of his ears he can guess the boy has some fae magic running through him.]

Yeah. She is really cool, must people don't seem to understand that though, so I'm glad you do.

What brings you to the carnival then?

[Shoot. Well, she tried. One of these days, though...]

Nice catch.

[Though she's curious. Are you just gonna keep it now, or--]

Don't tell me it's too gross for you.

[She's heard enough about Trolls to know you guys are WAY worse than an eyeball or two.]

[He rolls his eyes, all four of them, though since none of them have pupils it may still be kind of hard to see the annoyed gesture. The eyeball moves into his hand where he catches it, feeling it to see if it's real.]

I'm not grossed out by an eyeball, only by the thought of you harvesting them for some game.

[Aw, no kitty pets then. That's okay, he just watches her anyway until he asks that and gets Susan's attention again.]

Well... I was just bored, I guess, and exploring. And it looked cool.

And of what use are you?

[ A quavery voice inquires, bounced along the reflective glass and the jeering faces of Childermass' doubles. There is a clicking, jangling sound of footsteps, a whisper of cloth, but the owner himself is not yet to be seen. ]

What have you offered that you should be given anything?

[And she takes it you disagree!

Which is fine. That's kind of the point, really. She doesn't need target practise. She's hunting for reactions, not... whatever else you might hunt for with a gun that shoot eyeballs. There aren't really a lot of other options there. People allergic to eyes, maybe?]

That's a rhetorical question. Try asking one I can actually answer, okay?

[He's simply wandering around when he see's the waterworks start. Oh no. He carefully approaches the girl, looking wary.]

Hey! You don't need to cry, what's the matter?

[The Ψiioniic smiles at the guest.]

You almost had it. Are you going to try again?

[Tragically for everyone, it is absolutely real.

Fortunately for everyone, it exists because of magic, not because Mari has THAT much free time.]

Oh... no, no, no. What, did you think I keep a barrel of eyes in my trailer?

[That would probably start to smell bad really fast.]

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⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

Re: break time

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Wildcard!

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Re: break time

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Break Time

Gamer's Circle

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riddles! wooo never seen a nougami player before!

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Break Time

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mirror maze

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admission

gamers circle

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