⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

[ringleaders]

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!

Comments

[impulsors]

"Well," Keith says, "I'm pretty sure you'd remember that."

It's only a little deadpan -- but the truth of the matter's that Pidge doesn't look like someone who struck her head and crawled out of the woods. She'd had to have been deep, to leave her lion where no amount of treading and retreading could find it. A bulb flickers, red and black and red again -- and Keith's eye snaps back to the booth, over the guns drooping forlorn, the bone-dry targets.

". . . is this the first game you've tried?"

[dragnerd]

[ Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man a dragon a REAL DRAGON. Natsu could just about burst with excitement. Thankfully, he doesn't. Instead he asks his question. ]

Me! Dude, you wouldn't happen to know any other dragons would you? Maybe a red one with fire powers?

[ Please say yes. Please say yes. ]

[puddingemote]

What!? This carnival?

[Tamaki had no idea. He thought it was just a normal thing that popped up (in a forest in the middle of Tokyo, Tamaki?).]

Is that bad? Good?

[puddingemote]

That one.

[He points at one where the object is to throw balls at milk bottles and knock them down.]

It has a cat toy prize.

[puddingemote]

Uh...

[Tamaki pulls out the pockets of his pants, producing nothing but pocket lint and a few keys on a Ousama Pudding mascot keyring. Then he pulls out the pockets of his hoodie, producing a few Ousama Pudding mascot stickers.]

Ousama Pudding stickers.

[They're super valuable(?).]

[sweatysometimes]

"I'm pretty sure I would, too."

Her reply is not quit deadpan. More concerned. But then again, Keith has always been a bit more restrained when it comes to this kind of thing. She follows his gaze towards the booth, nose scrunching a little as she considers the game.

"Yeah, first one I've tried so far. I'm pretty sure they're all rigged, though."

[puddingemote]

"Ah? Then maybe you should get better at ignoring distractions."

This feels like obvious logic. He's not intimidated when she steps away, but then, he is quite a bit taller than her.

[sweatysometimes]

Pidge doesn't want to come off as unsympathetic but there's something distinctly uncomfortable about sitting next to someone who might regard her as a snack. She scoots away slightly, trying not to make her move too obvious.

"Ah. That might be troublesome, yeah. I mean, I can just go by concessions but don't you need to, uh, find someone to chew on?"

[puddingemote]

Where are you from? America?

[It feels like if talking animals could live anywhere, it would be America. Aren't there talking animals in Hollywood movies?]

[sweatysometimes]

"Yeah, but getting spun in circles on a ride doesn't get me any closer to getting out of here, does it?" Pidge retorts with a small snort and shake of her head.

"You mean like, trapeze artists? Like a circus?" She's used to aliens being weird, but this one is a bit weirder than some of the others she's encountered, if she's honest.

[sweatysometimes]

"It's definitely weird," Pidge agrees. She does her best not to stare that magnificent mane of Yuugi's as she speaks, her expression thoughtful.

"I mean... I don't remember actually arriving. My brain is telling me I should have landed the Lion, gotten out and walked here but I don't actually remember it. Plus, uh, all of the attendants are a bit..." What's the word she's looking for here?

"Shadowy?"

[dontpokethat]

After a few more seconds of upset squirming, the animal slows to near-stillness. It gives one more squeak of protest, but it's a good bit less adamant now.

Ginko takes the opportunity to shift his hold on it to better immobilize it, giving a sigh of relief. "Thanks. It's being worse than usual today, for some reason."

[dontpokethat]

I take care of the animals here. Feeding them, cleaning up after them, things like that.

[Pulling them out of trash cans...]

[cuckooed]

Excellent.

[The wheels in her head turn as she thinks.]

It would be prudent - not every world is necessarily abundant in supplies. If there comes a time where self-sufficiency is needed, I'd like our food to at least be prepared for that possibility.

[cuckooed]

"I can see that." She keeps her eyes fixed on the little hellion for a little bit. Let the fact he's in trouble sink in, animal to animal. "Probably the amount of people we have coming in. Still, he knows he should know better."

[atouts]

I would think that's a decision for your Ringmaster to make.

[ Childermass doesn't trust a damn thing here, perfectly willing to let that grate on Shen's nerves. He's still watching the reflection closely, still trying to discern features. The fluttering with the hand -- though it seemed awfully long for a hand, didn't it? -- reminds him vaguely of a bird. Something to file away for later.

For Shen's trouble, he'll finally break from his serious demeanor with a faint, crooked sort of smirk. ]

Ah, though suppose I could tell you. Only... [ And he'll leave a very obvious pause here to bring a finger up and tap his chin, oh so thoughtfully. This time, his reflection mimics him somewhat more properly, as it begins to catch on to what the man is up to. Of course, the mirror image's version is still comically over-exaggerated, much more like the chin-stroking villain that he's never really been. ] It is as you said before. Everything here costs something and I'm not like to tell you much if there's a chance you'll leave me here regardless.

[dragnerd]

Natsu straightens and rocks back on his heels. "Well, alright. What other things do you guys have?"

He's still staring at the rat-thing, and the look on his face says he hasn't conceded entirely just yet. What if its fur has a really cool texture that he's missing out on? It would really suck to go home and have missed out on something like that. He still isn't entirely convinced it doesn't spit acid, either.

[ferlwin]

[Ferlwin considers that, along with the small amount of experimenting she'd been doing with plants at the edge of the grounds.]

Perhaps we should approach the Ringmaster about building a small greenhouse? The hybrids and odd plants I've been breeding near the forest border do seem to attract a good deal of attention anyways...

[Pausing and doing a few mental calculations she adds]

Maybe not so small if it was supplying a large amount of food, but... hmm... I don't think it would be hard to make it an attraction, as well as an emergency supply.

[dragnerd]

Me? Eh, nothing like this. I learned how to use magic!! [ He grins. ] But I guess that's not too special. I mean, everybody uses some kinda magic, right?

[ Well, not everybody uses the kind of magic he does, but that's only really a technicality. Breathing fire and all that is cool, but it doesn't seem especially unique to Natsu. It hardly holds a candle to some of the wizards he knows. ]

[impulsors]

"Let's take a look around."

He gestures ... down the path. There's an array of other booths, after all -- hoops and hammers flashing challenges and promises alike, fortunes beyond your wildest dreams!, carnival rides under domes like painted porcelain. Nothing, Keith thinks, that's really supposed to interest anybody over twelve years old. More importantly --

"It's a pretty hard setup to miss."

If anyone's going to come looking for them, surely they'll start here.

[huoyao]

[ Shen chuckles softly. ]

Ah, but if you tell me nothing, then my leaving you will no longer be a question, but a certainty.

[ He turns his head to stare askance at Childermass' reflection, uncertain whether the exaggerated motions are the human's or not. In any case, Shen can't say he cares for them. ]

I think you may be confused about your situation right now, but it's really rather a simple one. I'm offering you a favor for a favor. If I find the idea of your talents tempting, I have every reason to hold up my end of the bargain, don't I?

I am so sorry I keep messing up tenses. Oops.

[veinglory]

Luckily, no offense seems to be taken and he continues to be as oblivious as he has been since the conversation started.

"Quite right! It's unbelievably bad form to simply take such a thing from someone." he taps his chin thoughtfully, "Animals can also be a solution. Deceased, of course, I wouldn't dream of scaring the poor things. I quite like animals."

Turning to Pidge, he offers her a bright grin, "Although that concession food did look quite decadent. Even if it does not sustain me, I'll confess I have a bit of a sweet tooth anyway."

[atouts]

[ The reflection, in response to Shen's stare, can only shrug (which is a common enough reply from the real Childermass, to be quite honest). ]

And if you do not, you learn something of me and I'm left wandering in a maze. I think I would call that more of a gamble than anything else.

[ This is growing tiresome, though, and he can't keep that entirely out of his tone and expression. The smirk certainly fades off some, it's tighter now, as he weighs the option of actually taking the chance or not. ]

[fragileandsoft]

"Uhh."

Greg rubs at his beard, feeling a bit put on the spot. "I'm not... super sure what counts as strange around here..." You can't fault him for that, Ginko.

He casts a glance around as well. If this guy is looking under booths, it's probably not anything dangerous like a bear, or a... fairy bear? But a runaway animal is no small matter either way. "But I don't remember seeing any animals or anything."

[pokepochette]

Ah! That sounds like fun!

_{[No really, it does. So much so that her eyes light up and she squirms a bit in place.]}

I get to take care of Dedenne and other Pokemon sometimes. I love it!