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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Admission fees

Standing at the gate and possibly holding the line up is a confused looking woman in a simple red dress. The clerk is somewhere between amusement and annoyance as they try to explain to her that she needs to pay before she can enter.

C'mon, lady, don't you have any money?

"Money...?" The woman tilts her head ever so slightly, trying the word out on her tongue. "Oh, dear... I'm afraid I don't know what that is."

A mischievous grin flickers on the clerk's face. Someone help this poor lady before she gets taken advantage of?

Mirror maze

This is supposed to be fun? This isn't fun.

Hinawa has been stumbling around in the dark for... well, she's not certain how long it's been anymore. She's taken to walking with her hands out in front of her lest she run into a mirrored wall. She swears she's heard voices from just around the next corner, but when she finally gets there, no one's there. What's worse, is that she's starting to think she's seeing things, too. Is it her imagination, or did her reflection just wink at her?

She's almost glad the boys aren't here. Claus would have run off and gotten lost on his own by now, and poor Lucas would be frightened out of his mind!

Something seems to dash by her, just out of sight,, and she wheels around to see, yet again, that there's no one there.

"Hello?" She calls out in her best stern mom voice. "If you're trying to play a trick on me, I'm afraid to say it's not very funny!"

Well, that settles it. She's had enough of this place! Once she finds her way out, she's going home!... If she can find her way out.

"Woah--hey, I got it, here we go."

Greg's spent enough of his life both poor and next to a boardwalk to recognize this scene. Beach City is no town of scam artists, but everyone hikes prices up a little around tourist season. He hands out a bill to the clerk, who looks him over, fairly annoyed for the interruption.

Hey pal, the lady's gotta buy her own ticket, got it?

"That's not--how is that a rule?" Greg gives Hinawa an apologetic look. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to butt in."

Hinawa's cheeks blush bright red at the gesture. "Oh, no, no, not at all! I'm sorry for causing an inconvenience for you, sir."

She looked down at the bill he was offering. Was 'money' really just paper?

"Oh, hold on, I think I have something like that...!" She mused as she reached into her pockets and produced a piece of nut bread wrapped in some wax paper. She unwrapped the snack and handed the clerk her trash with a smile on her face. "Will this do?"

A moment of silence follows while both Greg and the clerk stare at her offered payment.

Greg blinks up at the clerk. "Will it?" This is what happens when your currency system is poorly defined.

The clerk's patience is wearing thin. What kind of operation do you think this is, bud? Greg starts to answer, but the clerk ignores him. I'm talking valuables, hon. Whatcha got that's WORTH anything?

She got it wrong? But it's paper! This whole money thing is entirely too complicated for her!

"Well, I..." She switches hands, holding out the nut bread instead. "I do have this. It's homemade! Made it fresh this morning!"

Sure enough, it looks fresh. The aroma of sugar and walnuts wafts in the air as she holds it out.

The clerk takes a sniff, and their expression lightens. Looks legit. All right, you're in. There's an implied now get out of the way, you're holding up the line as they snatch the bread and take a bite.

"But you didn't give her any--"

Greg's protest is cut off as the next customer takes their place at the entry booth, impatient for the extra time they had to spend in line. The clerk's completely tuned them out to focus on their work.

With a sigh, Greg backs off, scratching at his head. "Well, at least they're letting you in." He smiles faintly at Hinawa and pulls a few tickets off his own collection. "Here, you'll need at least a few of these to play any of the games around here."

"Oh! Are these money, too?" Hinawa accepted the tickets. "Thank you so much for your kindness, sir. I hate to admit it, but I'm a little out of my element, here!"

She looks up from her handful of tickets and gets a good look at the carnival close up. The lights, the sounds, more people in one place than she's ever seen in her life.

"...Really out of my element."

"It's no problem, miss, really. This stuff isn't money exactly, but I think it does the same sort of thing around here."

Greg watches Hinawa's awe, bemused.

"You're from pretty far out of town, I take it?" Well, he is too, but at least he knows how transactions work. "Yyyyou seem a little overwhelmed."

"Miss," a gentle voice spoke from beyond the mirrors, revealing the face of a sandy-haired girl from the mirrors, "are you alright?"

Her upper body comes to emerge from a wall of mirrors, her own reflections showing *only* that, some of them trying not to close their eyes, or even smile, for a brief moment, like a confusing moment when people around one try not to laugh, as they play a joke on somebody.

"A lot of people tend to have problems going in this mirror maze. I'm really sorry for the problems this might have caused."

At first, Hinawa isn't sure which girl to look at, and which ones are just a reflection. They all seem so odd- is this another trick? But she seems sincere... whichever one she is. She also feels a little foolish for fussing at shadows just now.

"Oh, my," She stammers. "It's not your fault, dear! I feel like I've been wandering in here for a long time, and I think the dark is getting to me."

The girl took a moment to frown at her reflections. It seemed as if they didn't quite imitate her. Somehow they did a better job when she turned back to Hinawa.

"It gets troublesome even for people used to it, I can guide you out of here." She offered a hand... which she then slowly curled, as she looked down with worry.

"You might have already seen strange things around here. Just please stay calm with everything you get to see. It might be a little frightening, but please trust me."

Then, she extended the hand again. As she did, the reflections, while this time imitating the girl, seemed as if it -tried- to show what was beneath her, like mirrors bent to further show her waist like a distorted reflection, showing another pair of arms beneath her.

Hinawa reached out to take her hand, but paused when the girl withdrew.

"I thought I saw my own reflection making a face at me," She smiled. "What could possibly... be... stranger..."

She had an extra set of arms? No, it had to be a trick, right? It was just an elaborate costume! right?

Well. It would be rude to stare. And she said not to be afraid, so it was only right for Hinawa to try.

"I trust you'll help me out." She smiled again, and took the girl's hand. "It's awfully kind of you to offer!"

Yukine smiled, "thank you." Her hand then pulled Hinawa towards her, followed by a second, then a third and a fourth hand, as the girl seemed to move back as she led her along through the corner, not letting out any sounds of shoes stepping over wood and instead of hands over glasses.

In that turn, with Yukine shrinking her first set of shoulders, even as she faced her guest with a snaking torso that balanced itself with dozens of arms, she led her as the literal link to the outside. What Hinawa saw was a distortion of the mirrors. It wasn't an extra set of arms what Yukine had. They were extra sets of arms, Yukine resembling a centipede with dozens of arms holding the mirrors.

One centipede that smiled gently, and instead almost caressed Hinawa's hand as if asking her to follow rather than pulling her, wondering how would she react, "we're almost out. Don't be afraid."

Oh... oh dear. It was getting harder to believe this was some kind of elaborate illusion. Hinawa hesitates at first, but Yukine's smile puts her at ease. It doesn't matter what kind of bizarre trappings there are, she's a sweet girl who wants to help!

"All right, let's go." She smiles, and tries her hardest not to be afraid.

Yukine allowed the woman the time, and the willpower, to continue to move forward, her arms stopping whenever Hinawa did so, moving slowly as her own torso was already occupying much of the path out of the labyrinth. To appear less threatening, Yukine lowered her own upper body in comparison to Hinawa's, showing herself as vulnerable.

This in turn allowed Hinawa to see the lights of the carnival outside of the maze, and the meters of length of Yukine's back that required almost half a dozen copies of her upper uniform to cover it, making it look like a long children's slide, even with the numerous arms moving in locomotion to extract Yukine and Hinawa out of the maze of mirrors.

The mirrors faded, and they would now be once again beneath the night sky accompanied by the lights and beings of numerous rides. In front of Hinawa, would be Yukine as she curled backwards, her two lone legs kneeling, and the two hands immediately above them holding against the ground to support the meters of length lifting in a curl upwards, towering over Hinawa by a full person's height with many sets of arms resting over her.

And Yukine smiling, more as if Hinawa had been inconvenienced by a closing of a ride rather than her own image.

"I apologize for the problems back there. The mirrors are hard on the guests, in my opinion, but they can be befriended like all of us. My name is Yukine Miyazawa" She did the best bow she could at her massive height. "I used to be from a small town on Earth."

At first, there's no response.

Then, a red-eyed girl with a ponytail and a... beak(?) comes around the corner, looking kind of guilty.

"I'm sorry... I was just trying to find my way out. I wasn't trying to alarm anyone, honest!"

"Oh my goodness!" Hinawa can feel her face turning red. Good thing it's dark in here. "And here I thought someone was playing a trick on me! What's your name, dear?"

Well, it seems she's not in trouble... that's a relief, but she still feels a little badly about the experience.

"I'm Medli..." The Rito girl takes a polite bow, and then realizes that she's far from home. Perhaps a namedrop is appropriate. "... of Dragon Roost Island."

Hinawa feels bad for making Medli feel bad. Infinite bad feels loop.

"Medli, that's a lovely name." She smiles. "I live on an island, too, but mine is called Nowhere. I can't say I've heard of Dragon Roost."

Medli blushes, and scratches the back of her head. "Thank you, ma'am..."

She then looks thoughtful. "Nowhere Island? Hmm... I don't think I've heard the postmen mention it before, but then again that's not my duty, so I don't hear much of what they say..."

Okay, Medli, you're getting off-track. Focus on the original problem! "You wanted to get out of this maze, right? I think I know a way!"

"Oh, you do? That's wonderful!" Hinawa claps her hands together. "I'm afraid I've gotten all turned around, if you could show me the way I'd be grateful!"

"Yes! My mentor once told me that if you ever get lost, keep your hand on the wall and follow it until you're out!" Medli beamed at the memory. "A-and if that doesn't work, we try the other wall. But anyway, let's try... this one first!" The girl turns with her back to Hinawa, and plants her hand on the left wall. "This is the way I was going when you saw me, after all."

"Aha! That's a good trick to remember." Hinawa nods. "All right, let's head this way, then."

She stays behind Medli, her hands hovering just behind the girl. She's fairly certain there's nothing dangerous in here, but it never hurts to be prepared. She chances a glance at the mirrors and her reflection winks at her again. "It might be best to keep looking straight ahead while we're at it..."

Medli, (un?)fortunately, hadn't been in long enough to see the mirror's trickery yet. Beginning to walk, she glances back at Hinawa. "Why is that, ma'am?"

Medli's reflection removes her hand from the real one's in the meanwhile.

Hinawa sees what you did there, reflection.

"I don't want to frighten you, dear, but I think someone may still be trying to play a trick on us." She says in a hushed tone.

⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

Hinawa | MOTHER 3 | Newbie

Admission

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Mirror Maze | Playing as veteran

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Mirror Maze

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