⇨ 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

[missionfail]

[Sorry to say, she honestly doesn't care how Greg used to look. At least she doesn't express as much.]

Real gems always remain close to their original form. It defines them.

[Let's just ignore the way she looks currently. This is a special situation.]

[anti_altruisms]

[ Suuuuuuuuuuuure.

A name holds power. Any Servant, even here, would be wise (in his own view) to keep such information to themselves, regardless of location. He wouldn't expect his own name to be recognized, but then, in the off chance he could be, he doesn't want to deal with consequences if he was.

Lancer gives a roundabout answer to the question, but Archer accepts it, nonetheless. He waves a hand dismissively. ]

You aren't as cheeky as the Lancer I came to know.

[ He can practically smell the chivalry from here. ]

Archer will do for me.

[anti_altruisms]

[ Listen to the wise, old men, Yuugi. They know things. ]

Yuugi Mutou.

[ He tests the name. From Japan, hm? ]

You may simply call me Archer.

[fragileandsoft]

You're a-- [ He blinks, squinting at her nose-gem a second. ] Oh. Oh, wow, I didn't even--huh. That explains a lot, actually. I didn't expect to run into another gem here!

[fragileandsoft]

"Baww." Greg's still a little wary of potential fire breathing or biting or anything, but he can relate to being an entertaining but poorly trained distraction. "Well, I'm glad you found him before things could go south. This place is pretty overwhelming even for me."

[toogoodtoopure]

[Archer...that sounded more like a title than anything, or an alias, almost like how he had called Atem "Yami" before they learned his name. Yuugi looks a little dubious before inclining his head, smiling slightly. No reason to think too much on it, considering they'd just met.]

Are you going to play any of the games, Archer-san?

[bespotted]

[A name holds power. Anyone in the company of fae would be wise to mind carefully what they do with theirs; a Servant who has been affected by their graces even more so. His answer is less roundabout than, again, honest to those who would decipher it. Though he cannot bring himself to offer his true name here and now, there are others who may know it - and he will not stop this Archer from seeking them if it is in his character to do so.]

I see.

[That's a mistaken conclusion. Diarmuid is only less generous with his friendship.]

Don't feel the need to keep comparing us, then. I'm not your Lancer, and I'd thank you not to become my Archer, either.

[Haha. Fuck you, Gilgamesh.]

[missionfail]

[Jasper's eyes narrow.]

You know about gems?

[Usually the only ones she runs into that know about them are gems themselves.]

[anti_altruisms]

[ And that is exactly why he won't be sharing it here. The Ringmaster likely knows what it is, but he doubts she'll spread it around.

In any case, he scoffs lightly at that declaration. ]

It was in passing, I promise you.

[ Cú Chulainn is quite distinctive in his own right, that much is certain. As for this Lancer's Archer.... ]

If you participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War, you have my sympathies.

[ Fuck you, Gilgamesh, indeed. ]

[bespotted]

[Diarmuid, unknowingly trash talking his fellow bright, unlucky Irishman with a history of trouble with women. Nailed it.

In any case, the man's latter comment stills him.]

You know him.

[But not enough of the circumstances to identify Diarmuid. His tone and the following pause invite elaboration, but he'll understand it should Archer decline.]

[upadly_aniol]

[looks at him warily, as if this could be some kind of trick, but. He has no idea whether it is or not.]

I'll go and check. You - stay here! If I find out that you've deceived me, you shall pay. And if this information is true, you have my gratitude.

I mean lbr they've pretty much confirmed it,,,

[fortuneglass]

N...normally people don't live that far in a mountain though... [she murmurs worriedly.] If you say so...

[anti_altruisms]

[ The luck of the Irish ain't just a river in Egypt. Not that he can talk, since his is pretty shitty, too.

He notes the reaction, and while Archer's knowledge of the Fourth Grail War isn't exactly detailed, he has a fair sense of what went down. (Just give him time, though, if he could figure out the identities of his own Lancer, Caster, and Berserker, he can probably piece together Diarmuid's identity, too, eventually.) ]

We've met.

[ It was not a positive experience, either. ]

I spoke with him earlier, but as he appears not to remember me or his own involvement in the Fifth Holy Grail War, I see no reason to inform him otherwise.

[ In other words, they are not friends, they never were friends, and that is how it will stay. ]

[motivenotfound]

Oh! I thought you didn't want to talk to me?

[But she's already patting herself down, fishing in her pockets with one of the two hands that will actually fit in her pockets. The reason for this becomes apparent in a moment.]

--drat, and I don't even have a card.

[Whether or not she actually has business cards at all is probably best left for another time.]

Mari Makinami Illustrious, at your disposal!

[dragonsattendant]

Oh, we don't actually live in Dragon Roost Cavern! The Rito would never have survived like that. It's just a part of the island, heheh!

[fortuneglass]

O-Oh!

...we still don't normally travel near them you know...

[fourthscribe]

"We still need some new hires, though. There's only so many jobs everyone can double-up on."

She takes another drag off her pipe, letting the smoke out in a long stream and watching it dissipate.

"With any luck most of them are signing on willingly."

[dragonsattendant]

I understand. [ Medli waves Carly's concern off. ] Humans can't get around it as easily as we can.

Anyway, are we almost there?

time to wrap this up for GAME THINGS-

[fortuneglass]

W-Well as long as it's safe for you then..! [Realistically she's probably some kind of fire proof herself, but shhhh.

They're coming toward a series of tents now though, and Carly beams.] Yep! Just in here, and you can talk to the Ringmaster!

Follow me!

[...To handwave land, where the Ringmaster exists!]

[life_binder]

That's a very kind way of putting it.

[ Though she says it almost sarcastically, there's a hint of sincerity to it, as well. Bold is not the word she would have used. Foolish, perhaps, is more like it. She takes a look around, but finds the surroundings no more helpful than she did a few seconds earlier. ]

Still, I have no intention of being kept here. And neither do you, I take it. I think we will have a better chance at taking our freedom if we work together.

[ When she looks at him, it's with both question and compassion. Though she doesn't wish to put too fine a point on the contradiction of the guardian of life on Azeroth asking the undead to accompany her, she understands that this must not be a comfortable prospect. It's not for her, either. But they have a mutual enemy here, and the undead were once living; they once had parents, perhaps siblings. Family. Friends. That is what's foremost in her mind as she extends the proverbial olive branch. ]

[fragileandsoft]

[ That sets off a small chain reaction of thoughts in Greg's mind.

She's a Gem, but he doesn't know her. Which means she's probably from Homeworld. Which isn't super fond of Earth, and definitely not fond of the Crystal Gems. But she's here, and not on Homeworld, which means...?

...Well, he better play it safe. ]

Yeah, you know, you guys, are, uh... you all travel all over, you know! Conquering planets and stuff. Word gets around...

[missionfail]

You're human.

[It's not as if every planet has a population of creatures that are exactly the same. Humans are quite specifically an Earth species.

She flips the hammer around so that the heavy end hits the ground with a loud thud, then leans on the handle.]

How did word get around?

[fragileandsoft]

Oh! You've heard of humans! Ah... ha.

[Clears throat casually]

Well, uh. History books talk about things, a little. Relics left behind. You know!

[missionfail]

No. I don't know.

[She hadn't looked into Earth history. It hadn't been important. Human existence as a whole isn't important. They're taking up space on a planet that should have belonged to gems by rights.

Greg's lucky, though. Because:]

...Honestly I don't care. [She relaxes her stance.]

Your recollections of history would be inaccurate anyway.

[fragileandsoft]

Y-yeah, probably. Not like I was there, or anything...!

[Sounds like his cue to go before things can escalate. He backs off, smiling warily.]

I better get out of your hair, let you get back to work. Uhh, thanks for chatting!