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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[Kerubim sauntered further into the ring, waving to the crowd as he went. The movement in the shadows went unnoticed, masked by the noise from the audience.

Shen's question hit him like a jab to the heart, and he faltered. The smile slipped dropped from his face in an instant, struck by the memory of how his gambling addiction had nearly ruined his life, and the months he spent recovering from it. The most he'd ever lost in a wager? More than he'd ever thought possible. When he replied his voice was uncharacteristically quiet.]

Everything I ever cared about.

[He laughs.]

He's useless without you, huh? But you're brave enough to wander around here, aren't you?

[That humor has a passing resemblance to someone else's. Chara's eyes flick to the side, towards where Sans is chilling. Then they flick back to the center-most reflection. If their eyes weren't red before, they are now, as an initial consequence of the fae magic – every once in a while, their iris's also appear to glow.

Sans is clearly a monster, but he's not the first Chara has seen since they arrived. They're used to monsters, obviously, so they're unfazed by Sans's appearance. Humans were the dangerous ones. Chara felt like they'd known it all along, and spending so much time in the underground only confirmed it. They'd been taken in even though it was the humans who had killed the monsters and all of them down there in the first place.

Chara's corpse in the mirrors doesn't move – of course it doesn't. What it does do is start to decompose at an accelerated rate. They have obviously spent too much time in here, because these damn reflections have gotten pretty elaborate. Chara attempts to ignore them.]

I don't mind. It's better not having to deal with anyone rotten.

[The corpses in the mirrors, incidentally, have begun to rot in earnest. Chara keeps a straight face. Did they even mean to pun there?]

Greg lifts a shaky thumbs up, even as he continues leaning for support.

"'M good. Just... yeah." He takes a deep breath to help muscle through the pain. Won't do to make the guy feel bad over an genuine, if painful, accident. "Don't worry about it, it was an honest mista--"

Where'd the ball go? Right under where he'd just put his foot down, in a soda-slickened patch of mud no less. Or, that's where it was, before it shot out from under his foot and sent Greg sprawling to the ground.

Totally! I need to find him a good wife...but until then I'll take care of him!

_{[Poor Clemont if he ever does show up...his image will be tarnished. As for being brave, well...]}

It's not that scary...I just don't like being lost.

_{[That's the scary part - not the carnival.]}

[He's going to assume yes, and that this is some kind of deadpan schtick. He looks over at the mirror, and at the rotting body. Monsters don't decompose, so the look of it is kind of surreal. Too unfamiliar to bother him much.

He reaches over and taps his claw against he glass.]

Gross.

[It's like he's vaguely scolding someone responsible for the imagery. His own reflection seems to have vanished entirely for the moment.]

Did the mirrors come up with that, or is that all you?

[Some people have enough material locked away inside of them that the mirrors don't even have to try.]

[Ψii's smile soften.]

Don't worry, you'll find your way back home eventually. I'm sure of it.

Edited 2016-10-03 06:24 (UTC)

Even the horses?

[Of course the horses on Alternia are a bit different than the kind Susan means, but it's still an impressive feat.]

Yeah, even the horses! My brother fixed them, though... Otherwise we would have had to do a lot of walking.

Oh, I've no interest in anything I've mentioned. Nor, for that matter, will our Ringmaster, if it is a bargain you wish to make.

[ In truth, he's searching for Childermass, a much more difficult task than finding his way out of the maze. He's close now, though - he can tell that much when the other's reflections show up. Soon enough, John will see his too, or at least a version of him.

He's a ghostly white, distorted figure on the mirrors in the shape of a tall, slender man, or at least a humanoid, with his arms folded at his back. A great robe trails behind him as he passes from mirror to mirror. He pauses at one point, examining his reflection in comparison to the human's. He's shorter, he's displeased to see, coming up to John's shoulder. No matter how hard the other looks, he won't be able to see a face on the almost spectral form; it is a white silhouette at best. ]

She will ask for your service, assuming you've any talents she can make use of. Do you?

Edited 2016-10-03 06:24 (UTC)

[He laughs.]

Why even hit the horses then?

Um... Well, it was an accident. I didn't mean to hit them...

Yeah! Clemont'll come and find me!

_{[There! Nothing to worry about, right?]}

I wanna go on the rides, Psii! They look like a lot of fun! But...I don't have any money to get in. My brother's the one who has everything.

[Chara's eyes narrow a little, because that's an interesting question. Did the mirrors really react differently depending on the person? The fact that Sans is asking rather than telling makes it easier to deal with, at least. Discussing suicidal impulses with this monster she just ran into is not high on the list of things Chara is interested in doing.

Still, they are obligated to answer in some way.]

If I was in control, then why would I want to watch this?

[And yet they still find themselves following the progression, though at least it doesn't go on and on. Soon enough, all of the flesh disappears, leaving only a clean white skeleton behind.]

_{[She nods, smiling this time. She'll do her best to keep Dedenne from running off.]}

Ginko...ah! You work here, right? Ginko, what job do you do?

No kidding...? [ That answer only confuses Greg further, and he never knows what to say about this kind of junk.

There's an awkward pause as he rubs at his neck, trying to think of a good way to continue the topic, but it all seems uncomfortable and maybe a little invasive? ]

S-so, uhh, you--were you gonna play a game, or should I go first...?

[ He hands the tickets over readily, but looks contemplatively at her foot-grasp a moment before taking the mallet. It's less that he's staring, and more that it's causing him to rethink. ]

This thing is at least kinda calibrated for humans, right? [ He shifts his grip on the hammer, testing the weight, and gives the gem a wry grin. ] I dunno if I'm in the same weight bracket as... I dunno, an orc, or something.

[ Despite being with the carnival for two and a half years, Shen had never completely lost sight of his objective, which was simpler said than done - he wished to return to his China and reclaim his throne. Keeping that in mind often did make matters simpler for him, though, at least when it came to people. He was not one who made friends easily, too proud and too tempestuous to keep anyone with a modicum of self-worth around for long. His affections were hard to win and easily lost, and if it had happened that he did have a certain few in his favor that perished during the Vampire War...

The past was in the past, and he had to look forward. Among tragedy, there was always opportunity, and Shen was nothing if not ambitious. The current Nightrider's folly meant the position was more or less open in his mind; all he would have to do is make the Ringmaster see that as well. But while there was no doubt a part of him that hungered for power, another still wondered if it was wise to seek authority in a place where too good of a job could mean more years in service than he intended to offer. It still did not cross his mind that he could fail to accomplish whatever he set out to do.

His mind was working as his body went through its practiced motions. That he had an audience was doubtless in his mind; doing his exercises in public was a necessity in terms of space as well as his desire for attention. Drawing close to an hour of performing now, it was time to take a break. His mind would still be working but the flesh, alas, called for a few minutes of respite and perhaps a spot of tea.

Working through the finale was a show of twirling his bladed weapon from wing to wing, spinning as he went. Faster and faster around went Shen, narrowly missing his wingtips and his body with the keen edge. A whispered word and his tail-feathers threw sparks behind him as he cut the air in a deadly horizontal arc before him. Leaping into the air with a triumphant cry, he throws the crooked blade forward for his talons to catch and mercilessly plunges it into the earth.

Now perched atop it, he feigns graceful indifference as he surveys his surroundings, silently soaking in his spectators. He is panting, however; though he manages not to do so open-mouthed, the fae mark on his chest rises and falls tellingly with his labored breathing. It's a red-black sun over where his heart should be, winding dark flecks around his neck like an amulet.

Meeting Carly's eyes eventually, he arches his brow-shaped feathers expectantly. ]

Edited (holy run-on sentence, batman) 2016-10-03 13:41 (UTC)

[ The gratification Shen might have gotten from striking someone to their core is lost for a moment in his surprise; not that he had struck a chord in his volunteer, but how Kerubim's response struck chord in him. Everything...

Shen, too, had lost everything he'd ever cared about. Twice. His ambition and his fear had cost him his parents as well as his kingdom, and upon trying to reclaim the latter, he had failed.

His beak opens and shuts, the colorful crest on his head falling some. Goodness, but this was rather awkward, wasn't it?

Fortunately, he recovers quickly, folding his wing more tightly around the other and craning his head closer so that they are eye to eye. ]

But that's not true, Master Crepin. You have your life, don't you?

[ He speaks softly, knowing it is likely as cold a consolation as it had been to him. ]

You have your health. Would you be willing to wager that much on me now? Having seen what I can do, could you trust me to take you as close to death as you ever have been?

[ Every now and then someone in the audience is bold enough to come down into the arena without being directly invited. Having been around to do an act for a few years now, Shen has acquired the grace to accept and work with the eager participant rather than shouting them back into their seat. Never before, however, has someone come down from the audience to attack him.

And that is what Shen immediately considers himself to be facing when he sees the kettle in Ranma's hand - an attack. He doesn't see the steam coming out of it yet, but a kettle is a weapon in its own right, if an unconventional one. It would certainly hurt him if the human were to throw it at him! And he's rapidly closing the distance.

Shen's instinctive response is to stand his ground and flare his tail up, giving Ranma and the audience the full and startling display of his many-eyed plumage. Black blades flash to his wingtips as he takes a defensive stance and shouts. ]

STAY BACK! BACK, I SAY! IF YOU THROW THAT AT ME, I ASSURE YOU, YOU WILL--

[ By the time Ranma gets within the proper distance to throw the water on him, Shen will have lost his nerve enough to fling the knives from one wing at him while trying to dart away. ]

[ Shen sighs emphatically, beginning to pace around the thing. ]

Yes, I tried that. I also tried when it's locked. Now you've two more chances and I have one.

[ If nothing else, he feels partially consoled that someone else had the same thought. The downside is that there are very few Lord Shen would feel pleased to be compared to.

He hops atop the chest, clicking his cruel talons thoughtfully upon the engraving. ]

Have you managed to open one of them yet?

Thank you sir! [ When he speaks this teenager's English isn't broken but it definitely carries a French accent. ]

I can't find my way back to the exit. Could you point me in the right direction?

[It doesn't really seem like something to joke about, but Yuugi lets it slide even as he frowns slightly. ~~Okay. That sounds fake but okay.~~ With a small nod, he puts his wallet back into his pocket beside his deck holster.]

If you're sure. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on this, it looks like a blast.

[He smiles slightly, looking a little sheepish and waving a hand nonchalantly at the thanks.]

No worries. My grandpa always said you should help out where you can.

"I've been in my fair share of rigged games," he says with a small sigh as he watches, turning to his own prizes and shuffling them into his backpack before shifting it onto his shoulders with a slight heft. At least that giant lion he won earlier went to a good home. "I've been wandering the Circle and most of these seem pretty legit. About the only trouble I've had is with height."

The comment about the carnival makes him tilt his head towards her, a frown forming. "You think it's weird too, huh?"

[He almost feels like asking who Jack is but figures that's opening up a whole other ballpark, so he decides to keep his mouth shut for now. Honestly he'd half wondered if Paradox had been working for Dartz when he encountered the madman, but no connection seemed to crop up so the question was dropped. Yuugi gives a small shrug, then tilts his head.]

You said this place travels through time, right? I guess that explains why one of Yuusei-kun's friends is here.

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⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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birbs of a feather... might be awful together

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cackles

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Trying to Leaf

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