⇨ 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

[leglesspariah]

[Despite the fact that Kadin had watched him approach and knew the touch was coming, he can't stop the automatic flinch his tail makes in response. His muscles contract, the tightly balled portion managing to shrink even more, and the rest bending into a nervous curve. But Kadin gets a hold of himself very quickly, and stretches back out, cooperatively presenting himself to this stranger.

Kadin has rarely, (not never, but rarely), been as anxious as he is right now. The air of entitlement, the fascination with his shameful eating habits, the lack of respect or understanding of boundaries. Kadin knows a bully when he sees one, and this man is a perfect storm.

He wants to leave, wants to make a break for it and find somewhere to hide, but he fights down that urge. Denying Asim's backhanded praise and false compromises had always been the worse of two wrong choices. So he breathes in long through his nose, and lets his discomfort show in the form of embarrassment and humility.]

...Thank you. No one has ever said that to me before.

[It could explain his nervousness, and hopefully it would make his compliment that much more effective in this man's eyes.]

[babbylon]

[Bluntly:]

I find that remarkably hard to believe.

[So either he wasn't buying Kadin's shy and innocent act, or he's simply sharp enough to presume that a naga would've caught someone's attention in the past. Certainly many people would find him ugly, but at least a few would consider him precious treasure. Including himself, unfortunately for Kadin.

The clawed tip of a finger traces its way to his face, where it lingers.]

Why are you so reticent, anyway? Your kind are a dime a dozen here; it's not as though you are unique.

[He says that, but the way he looks at him... suggests a different story.]

[leglesspariah]

[The claw on his face sees Kadin swallow, he's hoping it reads as a neutral gesture, but he's losing faith by the moment that he's actually maintaining his composed facade. After a long steady breath he blinks, slowly and deliberately, then tilts his head slightly. He's intentionally not leaning into or away from the hand, the movement meant as an inquisitive gesture.

Hard for this man to believe or not, it actually was true. Living in a small, tightly knit, closed community meant that nearly all of the attention his non human portion had attracted was resentment, distrust, and anger. Seemingly the only people who didn't see him that way were Baqer, his teacher and practically his father, and Shen. Shen may have called him brave, and strong, and kind, and gentle, and maybe even wonderful, but he doesn't remember ever hearing the specific word 'beautiful'.

But whatever attempt he was going to make at defending his statement dies in his throat at the second jibe. Uncharacteristically, the contradiction between his actions and his words slips past Kadin, and something lights up in his eyes and his mouth opens just very slightly in surprise before he responds.]

There are other nagas here? Really?

[Hope is not a negative or anxious reaction, and so Kadin makes little attempt to hide it. If this man were as fascinated in others like him then surely he knew where Kadin would be able to find them. There is something very like longing, and maybe even tentative gratitude building in Kadin's chest. All this discomfort would be thoroughly worth it if it meant he could talk to someone else who had never had legs.]

[babbylon]

[Gilgamesh just purrs. It's really all he needs to do...]

None so pretty as you.

[...in order to suggest Kadin may be in well over his head.]

[leglesspariah]

[That answer is not only similarly hard for Kadin to take genuinely as the 'beautiful' comment, but also very unsatisfying. Kadin has longed about meeting another naga almost as far back as he can remember, and honestly at this point he'd settle for just a talking snake. He doesn't like this man or this situation or this conversation, and what he wants most now is to just dash in the general direction of the fair. But that deflection and the repetition of the compliment are sending up red flags in his mind. He may be going about it very differently, but that push, that insistence is exactly how Asim got what he wanted too.

Kadin isn't just filled with general anxiety anymore however. Sure there's still plenty of that, but now he has something he wants out of this interaction too. He has a direction to follow.

So, what does he want to hear? He had gone immediately to insults when Kadin acted humble before, but a complete change in demeanor would be unprompted and stupid. He has to go for a variation on a theme to see what he wants. Kadin channels his frustration into a small, low chuckle, and ducks his head quickly before letting it bob up again quickly.]

Now it's my turn to be doubtful.