⇨ 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

[hoasen]

[She knows he knows the answer, now he's just playing with her! But then again, they are playing games, so she tries to recover from being so flustered and keep playing.]

Fine. Come here. [And so she urges him to lean down, pulling at his arm, so that she could whisper quietly into the ear of this very tall dragonlord.]

As a country, I hardly have any sec...rets... [She blinks. And while her voice isn't any louder than the whisper since she hasn't pulled back--] It's a secret!

[Treasure chest: Click!]

[leglesspariah]

[When she approaches him, he hastily starts emerging from where he's coiled up, but stops midway when what she's saying to him sinks in. He gives a relieved sort of sigh, a thankful smile, and then retracts back into the ball he's curled into in the food cart.]

Thank you. I appreciate it a lot.

[aoimine]

Ah...? [ He hooks an idle eyebrow without a lot of interest, checking Vietnam down from head to toe-- a decidedly short trip, he concludes. Definitely no basketball player. ]

You can pick from this stuff-- [ He makes a vague motion of his hand towards the back, where the usual carnival prizes - teddy bears and cute little trinkets - lay in neatly organized stacks that Aomine most certainly did not work on, himself. ] --and this other stuff-- [ More lazy gesturing, this time towards his right, where slightly more valuable prizes - small electronics and jewelry, for the most part - tried to lure more customers in. ]if you're really good and can do three rounds of three. Interested?

[cuckooed]

[She does come over, a bit curious...ah. Of course.]

Not at all. I have both, actually.

Trying to Leaf

[linkedpenumbra]

[The boy huffs. Honestly he's not too concerned about getting back, but it felt like it was worth a shot to try.]

Depends on if you'd be able to tell me anything about this carnival.

[It's not like there's much for him to go back to.]

[rats_r_delicious]

Look down here Gigante.

[Near one of his feet is a black snake, and if snakes could look upset this one is.]

You nearly crushed me with those huge feet.

Re: someone's gotta... petting zoo

[leglesspariah]

[Oh shoot, oh no. Um. He shifts, stretching his torso away from the rest of his tail by a few feet and "standing" across from the man with the very bright hair. Behind him his coils shift, tightening both as a sign of nerves, and in a futile attempt to maybe just hide the goat in there somewhere?]

Well, uh. No I don't...ususally. [He looks down at the ground pretty shamefully.] I generally eat things raw.

Break Time

[fourthscribe]

[Right between all six eyes, and Tanyuu flinches back from the impact with a distressed sort of squeal. She catches the eye-bullet on instinct, blinking and looking down at it in first confusion, then shocked horror.]

Yaaaaaah!!

[She flings the eyeball up and away, taking a moment to compose herself before raising high up on her tail and turning to glare at Mari, arms crossed.]

And just what in the world did I do to earn that?!

[Oh, who is Tanyuu kidding, Mari just chose at random.]

[geho]

[That's a shame. It's a real party.]

Ah, I see...could it be that between us I have the advantage, over none other than the famed first hero himself? Things certainly are looking up for me.

[Here's a key difference between her and Seiba, though.

She's a moron who shouldn't say this kinda shit to someone who can't take a joke.

And yet...]

[hoasen]

[THANKS FOR THE SHORT JOKE. But she didn't even know she was getting sized up so you know. It was too fast amirite.

She watches carefully as he tells her what can be won, looking over basic goods (cute...) and the most intense ones, and three rounds of three? She's not even sure if she can survive one.]

I can try. It's not going to be impressive, but I am not one to say no to a challenge.

[drrdrrdrr]

Aw, just for you.

[She shifts around to move her feet onto the floor where they belong, and leans over the table on her elbows.]

How's it goin'? Any hot goss?

[ferlwin]

[Ferlwin looks much relived, as she wanted to get a project started sooner rather than later.]

Could I bother you for a few of each if you have them to spare? A few strawberries would not be turned down either.

[She'd been working at the carnival for about six months now, yet she rarely came to the cookhouse for food. Far too used to cooking and providing for herself, but still, it was clear that something in the air had caught her attention. Yet she would not indulge in the food here for some reason.]

[babbylon]

Give me the goat.

[As an afterthought:]

And stand back.

[fragileandsoft]

"My son." Maybe he ought to take offense at the grandfather line, but... meh, not worth it. He hands over the money, looking around for the boy in question again. "Ah, don't worry, he's not running around by himself or anything." Lion's never far behind. Even so, Steven can most likely hold his own better than Greg.

[rats_r_delicious]

No, not really. Feeding shouldn't be something for people to see and gawk at.

[Joaquin is currently glad he's just a regular snake and not really used to actual performances... yet. They have yet to hire a snake-charmer.]

[babbylon]

[As a country... that's likely the most curious thing he's heard all day, something that stirs a long since buried sense of recognition within him. Gilgamesh files it away for future reference then gestures to the chest, almost graciously. See, he's not rude all the time. Just most of it.]

Claim your spoils.

[In a tone of warning:]

Half. Half is my price for assistance.

[leglesspariah]

[For a split second Kadin looks devastated. He's so hungry he has food in his clutches but he got caught and now he has to hand it over. He thinks of running, booking it back over the fence he'd climbed earlier, but it wouldn't be as easy while hauling a meal. And if it really came down to it he wouldn't be able to put that much distance between himself and the carnival before he would need to stop and eat, and then he'd be caught for sure.

So he reluctantly loosens his coils, grabs the limp goat from them, and presents it to the man, then obediently backs up into a sad anxious ball of snake.]

[cw: eating eye offal??????] Break Time

[cuckooed]

[The eyeball bounces off of the old lady's forehead, and right onto the palm of her hand. Rolling what was left of it between her thumb and index, Koel looks up at Mari - and, after a moment of staring, brings her hand up, sniffs the eyeball and--

pops it all onto her tongue, allowing it to roll into her mouth. Three slow, deliberate chews, and a gulp, followed by her tongue wrapping around her fingers to get the rest of the juices off.

All the while, staring at Mari.

A waste of a good eyeball, really.]

[wardance]

[ Well... that much is true. Masamune creases his brow a little but doesn't let any more acknowledgement escape from him than that. ]

Uh huh... And why should I think you know the answer, already, to offer me a hint even if I did?

[ He's cautious, keeping his attention in his paper but not completely willing to give up being able to watch the ... dragon? Masamune supposes a dragon is easiest a description. Of course, he can only do if from one side and angle... but he'll make the best of it like he always does. ]

Break Time

[fourthscribe]

[Kadin is new enough (and more importantly, not in need of extensive making up for his show) that Tanyuu has yet to have met him around the carnival. There aren't too many others with naga bodies around, so when she does spot him he stands out like a sore thumb--especially with that still-full gut of his. Just how much had he eaten...?]

[Increasing her pace somewhat awkwardly, she comes up beside him and reaches out to rest one clawed hand on his shoulder.]

Are you alright? I can take you to the medical tent if you need.

BREAK TIME

[babbylon]

[That's some funny shit right there, Mari, but guess who isn't laughing. Guess who's the furthest thing from laughing. Guess who's giving you the stink eye for your eyesore of a prank. This guy. This guy who's now stalking towards you with wings spread and fangs bared.]

Start running, mongrel.

[Well, that's one way to meet new friends...]

[leglesspariah]

[The sympathy prompts an immediate and complete overhaul in Kadin's demeanor. His head slumps forward in a sigh of relief, and behind them his coils shift and turn, the tight knot relaxing some.

Kadin takes a second deep swig of the potion, winces, and then replies.]

Thank you. To be honest this is my worst nightmare.

[cuckooed]

"That's good." It will have to do. She takes the money, smiling. "Do you need help finding him?"

[hoasen]

[She laughs softly, a gentle excitement after such success, and nods firmly.] Of course, we made an agreement, no?

[And so for the gracious(?!) dragon, she will give him half, after she goes to claim the prize, that is. She goes to see the contents of the chest, what magical trinkety thing would it be...?

She lifts it up, and it looks like some kind of pretty bracelet, really.]

It can't be shared. [Instead she holds it out to him.] You can have it.

[spaghettimonster]

Her ghostly smile is too faint, or maybe it's been too long since he heard many bone jokes; Papyrus misses that it's intentional. Instead, he gives a little cough of a laugh, sure that the little old lady has poor eyesight.

"Yes, that is completely true. After all," he waggles a finger, gently admonishing, "milk is good for bones! And I am a skeleton."