⇨ 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

[dontpokethat]

Looked like he got it. "Yeah."

...Ginko wasn't sure what that look was about, though. "...What is it?"

[neighborofthebeast]

Roman continued to frown thoughtfully. If the Ringmaster was Jareth, it was no wonder people did what she said. Jareth was scary. Muppets were scary. He still didn't understand why Ginko cared about his well-being at all though. Shouldn't he be making himself look good by squashing the competition?

He narrowed his eyes.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

This time it sounded more suspicious than angry.

[coinsforlockerrooms]

[ That lack of heartbeat is something that makes Yukine wonder if there's something supernatural about him. She looks at him for a moment. ]

Do you have change? I heard that they are not fond of people going in without paying anything, so please be careful. They are all supernatural beings...

[ Which is true, by the line that crowds that the two of them would see again. ]

[dontpokethat]

"...Am I?" Ginko gave a quiet hum as he thought that over. He couldn't see anything particularly notable about how he'd been acting. "What, would you rather I didn't?"

[small_reservations]

[There is definitely something weird about him. I mean, have you seen that hair? But there's also the lack of heartbeat, the long black hooded coat and gloves despite the weather...]

Yeah. I've got plenty of munny.

[When you go on as many missions as he does, you get paid a lot. Not that he ever uses it, except to sometimes buy some ice cream. It's got little value to him.

When they get towards the front of the line, he hands her a large yellow gem-like object.]

See? Munny. We can pay with that.

shijima kuro'okano | nabari no ou | newbie

[ex_catty656]

a. admission fees

[She's four and a half feet tall, but you wouldn't know it by the way she slouches. This girl's gnarled hunch and tangle of white hair make her look like the littlest old lady one could find, except for the youth of her face. But that youthful face is sour—not openly resentful, maybe a little too passive aggressive for that, but she looks unamused and unwilling to cooperate. There's something stern about her, as if anyone she lays eyes on is liable to hear a very detailed personal criticism.]

But it's stupid, [she says to the ticketmaster, wobbling a bit on her twig-like legs.] If it's stupid, I shouldn't have to pay to get in.

[Her voice is quite soft, almost cottony, but she really does sound critical.]

b. trying to leaf

[Whoever you are—whether you're trying to get home yourself, or whether you're just watching the new folk scurry around in the woods—the looming trees are rustling with a wind that isn't present. The air is mostly still, but the leaves are going wild: here and there, a tree limb will shake, and leaves and maybe odd fruit fall down to the ground. It's eerie, and the atmosphere is made even worse when some birds are disturbed from their sleep and shoot out of the tree in a panic.

...

Momentarily, it grows quiet, trees gone still, and then...

A very small girl pops out of some leaves. Her face is calm and mostly smooth, aside from the slight wrinkle of her nose, and her long white hair sways in the air as her body hangs from a branch.]

An odd smell around here, [she says,] don't you think.

[neighborofthebeast]

"Well it'd sure make it a lot easier to believe what you're saying." Roman folded his arms and frowned at Ginko as thought he were an idiot for not thinking of that himself. "But whatever. Thanks I guess. I don't really want to waste my year coughing up furballs, I've more important stuff t-to do."

trying to leaf

[meanlook]

[Silver jumps slightly in surprise at the girl popping out, although he tries to recover quickly. Being frightened of something like that is just downright embarrassing.]

-- hey! Don't do stuff like that.

And I don't know, I'm used to it by now. It's probably just the animals.

[ex_catty656]

The animals, [Shijima says very softly. Her brow furrows so slightly that it's easy to miss, and she looks off in some distant direction, ostensibly trying to ascertain exactly what sort of animals would be this strange.] Indeed?

[Then suddenly she turns her head to look at Silver, her big, golden eyes finding his face, irises giving a peculiar glint in the forest's minimal lighting. She is blank-faced, unbothered, when she asks,] Why shouldn't I do it? You were scared?

[meanlook]

No, I wasn't scared. But if I was someone who was, you could've gotten attacked.

[He delivers the explanation smoothly, and with more than a grain of a condescending 'let me tell you something small child' tone.]

[ex_catty656]

In that case, perhaps you ought to learn when to be scared, after all.

[Her words are as condescending as his tone, but she doesn't bother with tone at all—she is nonchalant, just dry if anything. Then she smiles, scant, not showing her teeth.]

It's not so bad, getting bitten because you're scary. That's what scared things do, of course. One should really expect it, if one tends to be a spook.

[meanlook]

[Her retort earns her a classic teenage exasperated eyeroll ™ and a shake of his head.]

It'll be more than biting if you're unlucky. But whatever, if you get into trouble it's not my problem.

[A beat later, accompanied by a smirk.]

Well, more trouble than you've already gotten into by winding up here, anyway.

[ex_catty656]

[Silver's smirk makes Shijima stare. She doesn't look upset or angry, and neither is she smirking back; she's just watching him, her eyes all big and shiny...

Abruptly, she drops from the branch onto the forest floor. She's wearing a little pink dress over a blouse with lacy edges. If she weren't so disheveled, she'd look like a doll.

She looks up at him. It's less of a long way than it is with most people, but she still has to tilt her chin up.]

Why is it you say I'm in trouble?

[meanlook]

[On an upward swish he catches his tail in one hand, holding up the spade tip to show her.]

Aside from slowly turning into a freak the longer you stay? Some of the stops aren't all popcorn and clowns. It's not exactly a good place for a little kid.

[dontpokethat]

"So, what, you're in the habit of only listening to people if they're rude to you?" That seems pretty weird to him but alright.

"Sounds like a good plan. Though I have to admit, I'm not sure what 'important stuff' you're planning to do here, if you're as disinterested in the carnival as you say."

i logged in as the wrong character two times trying to respond to this

[neighborofthebeast]

"Wouldn't you like to know!"

Roman adjusted his glasses and turned as another hoot from the animal pens tugged on his attention.

"In fact...maybe you can help me."

[dontpokethat]

"Can I, now." Ginko gave Roman a look of sheer incredulity. He knows how you got here, kid, he sure hopes you don't expect him not to be kind of suspicious after that.

[neighborofthebeast]

That is exactly what's happening here, Ginko.

Roman's ears perk as he flashes a huge grin at the animal keeper.

"What's something you've always really really wanted? Because man, ringmaster or no ringmaster, I can get it for you!"

i'm so glad i get to use this icon

[dontpokethat]

Ginko doesn't even hesitate before replying, his voice flat. "I sincerely doubt that. I also doubt I'm going to want to pay the price for it."

Roman, if you wanted to try this you should have done it before admitting to trying to con the Ringmaster. He might have thought about it for half a second then.

[neighborofthebeast]

Roman let out a blustery, "UH!" insulted. So insulted! His little ears flopped back again.

"You get to decide the price, dude. I'm trying to do that being nice thing you're so insistent on!"

[dontpokethat]

"Really. Then I guess that means we're trading, huh."

He shrugged, shifting his weight back on his heels. "Anyway, the point is, there's nothing I want that you'd be able to give me, and I can't think of anything I want to give in return."

[neighborofthebeast]

"I don't believe that for a second." Roman let out a snort and propped his fists on his hips. "There's always something. Everybody always wants something, even if they pretend they don't. When you eventually change your mind, come find me. I'll do you better than she did."

That was a lie.

And finally, Roman turned to stomp off in search of work that didn't smell bad or make his shoulders sore--so probably manning a ride.

[dontpokethat]

"Sure you will."

Ginko watched Roman storm off, then just rolled his eyes and turned away to head back toward the menagerie. He had better things to do than deal with angry goat children.

[ex_catty656]

[Shijima examines the boy's tail for a moment, and his whole body with all its anomalies, her head cocked at an odd angle. She seems to at least be mulling over his words. Her face isn't earnest, exactly, but she's not sneering or sniffing.

But...]

In that case, why are you here?

[It's a question delivered with blunt force trauma.]

[meanlook]

[It takes a few seconds for the meaning of the comment to sink in, and when it does the smirk is wiped right off Silver's face. Bullseye, Shijima.]

I am not a kid! I'm sixteen! And I've been through a hell of a lot here already and made it!