⇨ 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]

After a few more seconds of upset squirming, the animal slows to near-stillness. It gives one more squeak of protest, but it's a good bit less adamant now.

Ginko takes the opportunity to shift his hold on it to better immobilize it, giving a sigh of relief. "Thanks. It's being worse than usual today, for some reason."

[cuckooed]

"I can see that." She keeps her eyes fixed on the little hellion for a little bit. Let the fact he's in trouble sink in, animal to animal. "Probably the amount of people we have coming in. Still, he knows he should know better."

[dontpokethat]

Ginko hauls the still-halfheartedly-squirming animal over to the pen nearby, letting out a quiet huff. The moment it's released, the possum thing bolts for the door again, but Ginko latches it in a hurry.

"I would hope so, but I'm not so sure he really does. Probably doesn't care too much, in any case."

[cuckooed]

"Well, well see how he feels when he doesn't get his extra snacks for today."

Yup. look at that. you're being punished. Was it worth it?

[dontpokethat]

He crouches down to pick up the bucket of meat he had dropped when the rodent bolted - and the pieces of meat that had spilled. It's not like the animal itself was going to care if they had been on the ground.

"Sounds like a plan - though I'll say again, I'm still not sure why you give him extra to begin with." It's not a health hazard for the little (big) rat, or he'd be pushier about it, but frankly, he's not sure the thing deserves the treats Koel provides it with.

[cuckooed]

"Good behavior." She wryly looks away and towards Ginko. "Or performing well in the big top. Maybe I do spoil the animals here, but sometimes, I just can't help it."

[dontpokethat]

"Yeah, see, if it was just good behavior maybe this thing wouldn't be so heavy." He grabs a handful of meat chunks and tosses them into the pen, and the rodent thing jumps on them immediately.

Ginko laughs quietly, then upends the remaining contents of the bucket into the bowl in the corner of the pen. "Fair enough. At least it's not like it's dangerous for them or anything."

Because let's face it, he trusts Koel to be responsible with what she feeds the animals way more than he trusts the occasional visitors that try to give them their leftover carnival food.

[cuckooed]

"Of course. I understand what its like being on a diet, after all."

'Diet' as in certain foods can only be eaten, of course.

"One day you'll have to join me in the Cookhouse. The animals learn pretty quick we're the ones in charge, after all."

[dontpokethat]

"Mm. Most of them anyway." He snorts, setting the now-empty bucket down on the ground. "Maybe, but I feel like I'd probably get in the way. I'm not exactly a master cook myself."

[cuckooed]

"No need to be." Koel bends down to pick the bucket up. "Just need to know how to use a knife without cutting your fingers off for the basics."

[dontpokethat]

"Alright, that much I think I can do." Ginko glances over at the pen again with a thoughtful hum. "I could probably come over just about any time today, actually. If it's convenient for you, that is - now that this guy's fed, I don't have anything else to do for a few hours."

Unless something catastrophic happens, but he figures that goes without saying.