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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[Cool beans. He's following.]

Do not be so modest, woman. You are more than welcome to accompany me for as long you wish...

[...he's following, and not only that, brushing him off will prove an arduous task in itself. She's a woman, and she's also a very beautiful woman with a face like someone he could never forget, so she's effectively doomed herself to his company. Unless she can convince him otherwise.

And trying to convince Gilgamesh to give up on a sweet piece of tail was truly a once in a lifetime event.]

Work, play, it is all the same in this place. Or hadn't you noticed?

Huh?

[ Aomine looks around to check where the voice was coming from, but the only reasonable conclusion he can draw from his empty surroundings is that he had finally lost his marbles and the cussing had, indeed, come from his own mind.

... he can't say he remembers ever having learned Spanish, though. ]

This fairy shit must be messing up with my head real good...

Hm...

[After a second or so of thought, Gilgamesh agrees, and saunters over. She doesn't look too tough, and even if she did, Gilgamesh doesn't back down in the face of a challenge. And he can sense he's being challenged here. Game on, then.]

Very well. What is the riddle?

[Naturally, he believes he can solve it straight away, but he'll hear her out regardless.]

[Why is life so hard? She never asked to be a saberface.

Okita continues walking as he follows along, as if hoping that'll just make the problem go away. Maybe he'll get bored.

For the love of god please get bored.]

Unfortunately, that's just how this dutiful saber-san before you is...a "hard work is its own reward" type. Not very interesting I'm afraid.

[This boy certainly wasn't paying any attention to the commotion until that shout reached his pointed ears. He's not entirely sure of what this place is, but it's amusing enough. Perhaps the need to be slightly generous crept up on him, because after side stepping from the strange... thing coming close, the boy bothers to raise a hand and attempt to trap it within an orb of darkness.]

What, you're looking for this?

[He smirks, showing off a hint of fangs.]

[Admittedly, NONA1 can't exactly pick up minute emotional details like most humans or even the fae. She stares at the dragon-like man, her eyes blank and expressionless.

His offer sounds reasonable, but she feels she has no metals or money to offer for the wager. Most of them were taken away for the circus to have or are loan from them for performances. There's only one possession left.

She feels conflicted, but surely she can win this back if she loses, right? She undoes a handmade necklace with glowing purple jewel at the end and hands it to Gilgamesh.]

The necklace is a jewel from the Driftwish clan of the Fae. My namesake wore it as it enhances magical power. It was given to me the day I was awakened for trials.

Her hesitation does catch his attention, for just a moment. Greg's not able to place exactly what just happened, but for just a moment he feels out of place. He finds himself looking around for his son.

"Yeah, he's been living it up. We weren't planning on a day out like this, but it's been a nice surprise. This sorta magic junk is what he's all about." Greg less so, but hey! This magic is so much more friendly and accessible than normal.

He lifts his wallet, smiling sheepishly. "I was hoping for a few bucks?"

[Gilgamesh gets so bored he swoops ahead with his massive wings and blocks her path. So much for that tactic. Like a predator, Gilgamesh starts to circle; and, like a Servant, he's effectively making his challenge to her. At least the Gate isn't quite what it used to be, or this could escalate to violence fast.]

Dutiful "Saber-san", did you say? Perhaps you truly are of her blood.

[Not that she'll know what he's referring to. If the gods were kind, they'd keep Arturia very far away from this man.]

[Underestimated, as usual. But that's her draw, her favourite thing, and she shuffles a little over just so he can join her and smooths out her clothes.]

Alright, it goes: When you have me, you feel like sharing me. But, if you do share me, you don't have me. What am I?

[It's probably not that difficult to him.]

[Those same eyes go very wide at the prospect of such a prize. This was no ordinary trinket; just as he requested, she'd ponied up a possession of substantial value. Against himself, he's a little impressed, but refuses to say as much. He nods, in acceptance of her wager, and pockets the necklace for now.]

Your price has been paid.

[And, because he must ask, in some display of slight fairness:]

Name yours, should you prove victorious.

[The blond satyr that entered the cookhouse didn't take a seat, but waited patiently until Koel has a moment to spare. She wasn't there for food at the moment, but looking for seeds.]

I don't want to be a bother, but do you have any apple cores or pumpkin seeds in the kitchen currently?

[She was good with her magic, but not so good that she could create a plant from nothing. She needed seeds, but why go to the forest and do things the hard way, when she could possibly get some much closer? Besides, she had yet to see either apple or pumpkin in the forest.]

Your body, naturally.

[...oh, gods, it's already begun.]

Will 'o wisps (for veterans)

[The creatures are similar in some ways to kagebi, but Tanyuu has been at the carnival long enough to know to not assume anything just because a phenomenon might seem familiar. Slithering through the grounds on her off-time and keeping all six eyes peeled, and after a while her alertness pays off.]

[Chasing one of the tiny creatures around the backyard, Tanyuu has a ceramic pot in one hand and the lid in the other. Lunging forward after her quarry, she swipes and misses the living flame, and grumbles under her breath before spotting a fellow worker nearby.]

Help me corner this one, before it can hide again!

Break time (for everyone)

[Finally finding some actual time to relax, Tanyuu has settled near a table at the edge of the seating area for center stage with an impressive amount of food laid out on her table. You almost might wonder if she's waiting for someone else to join her until you notice the enormous body coiled beneath her. Twenty-five feet of snake body takes a lot of calories to keep going.]

[Laughing as she watches a particularly complex acrobatic act goes into its finale, Tanyuu turns to someone sitting at a nearby table and speaks up in a low, somewhat conspiratorial tone.]

It took them three months to get that right, you know.

[Ah intensifies.

Her face turns bright red, HOWEVER--]

S-surely you jest! [POINTS AT THE CHEST.] A-and it remains locked!

[And it remains locked. Honestly now.]

[Go away, the stranger all but says. Come closer, Gilgamesh all but hears. Gilgamesh fluffs up those impressive wings and glides down, smooth as could be, flashing a flirtatious smirk at Masamune. Gilgamesh had earned something of a reputation for predatory behavior off the clock, and so too does he display it here.]

It does not appear you are making much progress.

[Never mind his superb eyesight, it's just a very specific guess based on observation. Really, Masamune looks downright lost. His favorite type of person to lead further astray.]

Are you certain you did not even desire a hint of some sort? There is no shame in asking.

[...this right here was a piece of work, Gilgamesh could tell already. Brows shoot straight up as he assesses him and immediately determines him not to be threat; he then shrugs his shoulders and holds his stance. A stance that has now turned slightly aggressive by a Servant's standards.]

A game of riches, wealth, and bounty. There can be none other.

[Not for people like them.]

[Well, she's no choice but to acknowledge this now. Maybe she can just be firm and—

But then it's a surprise to hear him act as if her class is new information to him.]

Err...the King of Knights and I have no relation, if that's what you're wondering. [Jeanne isn't a saber, after all, and to her knowledge there are no other servants with this face except for the 7,000,000 artorias out there.] But you...could it be you don't know me, King of Heroes?

[Her hand rests on Kiyomitsu's hilt at the wrist, a casual enough gesture that it might not be seen as a sign of caution.

But it definitely is, face to face with this deviant.]

Break Time

And the first moths of summer...
Suicidal came~
Oh, suicidal came...!

[Despite her duties as a supervisor, Mari spends a lot of her free time... uh. Entertaining herself. There's a lot of down time in life, really, but it can only be called wasted time if you let it go to waste.

Which in this particular case means sitting atop an inoperative ride, aiming a metal sidearm at passers-by and singing to herself.

She trains her sights on a member of the makeup crew, following her target for a moment before swapping to a bouncer. Then she swaps to someone else.]

And we soared on powdered wings
Circling our tomorrows...!

[Bingo.

There's no hesitation. She pulls the trigger, and the relatively peaceful Carnival atmosphere is broken by a loud report. But fear not: there's no bullet. There's no blank round in the cartridge, either.

No, this gun...

This gun shoots eyeballs.

You just got shot between the eyes with an eye. Har har.]

Bullseye!

[Pun intended.]

Will-o-Wisps

[You'd think that four arms and over 30 eyes would give the Nightrider some kind of an edge in catching a glowing ball of light, but to be honest, when it comes to physical challenges, she likes to be able to hold a thing, to touch it and feel it. Which is why she's stalking one but not touching it. Yet. She smiles, though--a wide, close-mouthed predatory smile.]

Ooh, you're tricky!

[It bobbles in the shadow, looping erratically towards the sky before dropping suddenly near the ground.]

... herding light, huh? If I didn't know better, I'd say she was doing this on purpose...

[Her expression grows serious.]

.... well. Here goes nothing.

Wildcard

[I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't give you one!]

Edited 2016-10-01 00:06 (UTC)

"I see." Koel watches Greg. "I'm glad he's enjoying it. Your son? Grandson? Or another relative?"

She does offer her palm to take a few dollars, though.

Mm. Indeed. You know, I have seen this make of chest before, and it only opens for one reason.

[Of course he's pieced together solution. But just giving it to her wasn't any fun; he'd make her work for it first.]

You must whisper something you hold close to your heart to another person. That, in itself, shall provide the answer.

[Thankfully, the potion isn't just a straight up emetic. Even the ringmaster agrees that would be too rough on his system. Instead it's something like a vanishing potion, clearing out his guts in a way that's certainly still uncomfortable, (it feels unnaturally hot in his guts, and makes him burp a lot afterwards), but at least not as traumatic as repeated regurgitation.

He'd found a nice cramped maintenance shed to squeeze himself into, and was just taking the first swig of the potion when he's approached. Quickly he rearranges himself so that his torso is a few feet away from the rest of his body, while his tail stays tightly balled inside the shed. He automatically makes himself just a little bit shorter than the other man. His smile is small, bland, and forced. One shoulder tilts in a halfhearted shrug.]

I'll be alright. Did you....enjoy the show?

Edited 2016-10-01 00:13 (UTC)

[Amethyst has her feet up on the table like a jackass. She grins.] Whatever you got, Big K! You know I'm not picky.

[She also doesn't actually need to eat... but boy does she love to. She is completely content to just shovel down whatever garbage, scraps and leftovers are knocking around the kitchen.]

Edited 2016-10-01 00:09 (UTC)

"Oh?" The elderly woman looks surprised. "Are you sure? You're practically bones."

There is the ghost of a smile on her face as she says this. It was a joke, after all.

...?

[Huh. Not the answer he expected. This Gilgamesh happens to hail from a crazy world where every Servant along with their entire Takeuchi clone army isn't crammed into the same single space at the same exact time, so he's a little thrown by her immediate recognition.

But it does shed some light on the situation and who she is. He's forced to act dumb and shake his head at her presumption.]

I have not once seen you before in my five thousand years of life.

[In the past, it would've been vaguely comforting to encounter kin. Now, it's just another reality he's distanced himself from.]

[fueghewugiwehviwr]

I'll get you poor man's pizza, but only if you take your feet down from the table.

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⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

sorry for him in advance, souji...

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she's used to shitty archers

Wisp Catching

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DO YOUR WORK II

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Tanyuu Karibusa | Mushishi | Veteran

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Mari Makinami Illustrious -> Evangelion -> Veteran

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DO YOUR WORK II

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