⇨ 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

Pidge Gunderson | Voltron: Legendary Defender | Newbie

[sweatysometimes]

Gamer's Circle

Pidge was still a little unsure about just how exactly she'd arrived here, but it seemed like kind of a nice place, really. A little eerie, but it was a nice distraction from, well, everything. She paused, peering at the strange, rickety carnival games. Of all the planets (well, all two of them) she'd been to off of Earth, this one seemed the most familiar somehow. Maybe it was just the ay this reminded her of places she'd been back home.

She paused at one of the booths with the water guns and smiled a little to herself before stepping up to give it a try. Squinting down the barrel, she squeezed the button that activated the water gun and doggedly tried to keep the stream on target.

"C'monnnn--! Darn it!" She'd just failed to earn a prize on her first try. Digging in, she set to it again, entirely focused on trying to earn herself some sort of memento.

Trying to leaf

Okay, the carnival had been fun and all, but it was time to get back to the lion and try to figure out where the rest of the paladins had been scattered to. Pidge had hiked gamely back the way she had come, moving between tall, alien trees that glowed with inner light and weaving amongst the underbrush. She had to be close by now, right? She remembered being close. Breaking free of the trees, she came to a stunned stop as the carnival sprawled out in front of her.

"What? But..." She turned around to gaze back at the trees, frowning.

"...I just came from here."

Trying to leaf

[veinglory]

Pidge will first be warned that there's a very frightened and confused individual coming up behind her from the high-pitched nattering. When he emerged from the brush, he gasped and jumped back at the sight of her, putting his hands up in front of his face with a whine.

"Please! Don't hurt me! I'm very, very lost and --"

He paused from his rambling to open a single eye, actually bothering to look at the person he almost bumped into.

"... ah, you don't seem to be any sort of awful beastie."

Re: Trying to leaf

[sweatysometimes]

Pidge squints at the person cowering in front of her, then reaches up to push her glasses back up her nose. He's honestly one of the more normal people she's seen, even with his weird clothes and ashen skin.

"Uh, I'm not gonna hurt you, relax," she does her best to reassure Gottlieb.

"I'm defnitely not a beastie, either. I'm just trying to figure out how I keep getting turned around back to the carnival."

[veinglory]

Her words seemed to mollify him well enough, an expression of relief and even a smile coming to his face.

"Oh, splendid! I am having the same quandary!" he clasped his hands in front of him, "I suppose if one must be lost, being lost in pleasant company is ideal!"

He turned his head to observe their surroundings, biting his bottom lip.

"I knew wandering so far from home was a dreadful idea."

[sweatysometimes]

"Yeah, I guess? I'd prefer not to be lost then be lost with company, though." In the back of her mind, she wondered what Shiro would do if he were here and wishes not for the first time that one of the others was with her.

"Yeah. I'm pretty far from home right now, too." Her thoughts turn to the castle, then to Earth. Both seem impossibly distant--who even knew where she was now?

"I'm just trying to get back to my Lion, really."

Trying to Leaf

[peridork]

Newbies. Honestly.

Peridot's taking her break on the edge of the grounds, which is a decision that she's already kind of regretting. Rowdy crowds of other employees taking their 15 had driven her away from the usual haunts, but it turns out it's not really any quieter out here than it was in there.

And then she has the wanderers to deal with...

The Gem grunts under her breath at the sight of the confused human. They're likely to figure it out on their own eventually, but she's feeling generous today, she supposes.

"Hey!" her shouts out, nasally and shrill, clawed hands cupped at either side of her face for amplification. "Are you lost or something!?" She asks, as if that isn't blatantly obvious.

Re: Trying to Leaf

[sweatysometimes]

Newbie is the best term to describe Pidge, considering that she's been a paladin for all of a couple weeks, if that and now finds herself on yet another bizarre alien planet without her friends OR family now. She's standing with her arms crossed, trying to focus on what to do next when the shout interrupts her thinking.

"Huh? Oh." She looks over at the green (very green) woman who's possibly even shorter than her and gives a resigned sigh and a nod.

"I keep trying to get back to my Lion, but every time I think I have it, I just end up back here!"

[peridork]

"Your... Lion?" One eyebrow goes up. "Strange. I was lead to believe that lions aren't particularly common pets for humans."

Peridot shrugs. "Anyway, surely you've figured out what the issue is by now," she says, very matter-of-fact. "It's a supernatural forest. There's no way through it."

[sweatysometimes]

"It's not my pet," Pidge replies with a touch of testiness. "It's my... uh..." Spaceship? Giant robot? Friend?

"Spaceship." Spaceship sounded better. At least to Pidge. She squinted at Peridot for a moment, not quite sure what to make of the answer she's getting.

"Supernatural? That sounds kind of unbelievable." Yeah, okay Miss Pilots-a-flying-lion. "And if there's no way through it, does that mean I'm stuck here?"

Gamer's Circle

[puddingemote]

Tamaki is walking by when he sees Pidge attempting the shooting game. He watches her failed first attempt, and then as she digs in to try again.

Finally, he decides to give his opinion on it.

"You're not very good at it, huh?"

His rude opinion on it.

Re: Gamer's Circle

[sweatysometimes]

Pidge's intense concentration is broken by Tamaki's rude comment and her second attempt ends much the same as the first. She glances back over her shoulder with an annoyed little glare.

"No one asked you, you know."

[puddingemote]

"Huh? Did I say something wrong?"

But she failed again, so clearly he isn't wrong (by Tamaki logic, anyway).

"Is it really that hard?" He gestures at the game, and the still-standing target.

[sweatysometimes]

"It is when I've got some guy standing making comments about it," Pidge griped in reply. She stands, abandoning the game.

I SEE U TRYIN' TO LEAF...

[fortuneglass]

[The trees of the forest are quite nice to take a walk through, when one doesn't intend to leave. In fact, it's nearly impossible to get lost! Whenever you need to leave, the exit is right there-probably the best thing about the woods in her opinion, now that she's not thinking of them as a barrier.

It makes for a good place to practice things as well-anything from weird fire magic, to being a bird, to both! Ever see a bird on fire?

...She's fortunately not on fire right now though. Actually she's considering taking a break; hummingbirds use a lot of energy just flapping around, and adding fire to the mix can be catastrophic she's finding. Which means she happens to be perched right near where Pidge is wandering and chatting to herself.

'Just came from'? Oh dear.

The hummingbird chirps.] Um-! Are you maybe trying to leave? [she asks, continuing on before Pidge can even answer.] I mean, if you paid properly to get in that should be fine!! But if you maybe spent a little more than you had...

Re: I SEE U TRYIN' TO LEAF...

[sweatysometimes]

[ Pidge lets out a confused noise as she hears a voice. She looks around for a moment before focusing on the tiny hummingbird. Talking bird. Okay, about as weird as intelligent mice, she guesses.She adjusts her glasses and leans forward to get a better look. ]

Ah, yeah, I'm trying to get back to where I left my lion. I'm not sure I follow, though.

[fortuneglass]

Well! [You know, she thought she was obvious at least. The bird's feathers ruffle a fair bit, and she tries to explain.] Well, if you didn't pay for everything properly, then you racked up a debt!

And a debt means you have to pay it off before you leave!

[She sounds entirely too cheerful about this.]

gamer's circle

[toogoodtoopure]

"Try moving it a little to your right."

It's an innocent comment, but from the prizes stacked up to one side of his part of the booth, it looks like he knows what he's talking about. Yuugi gives a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck as he puts his own gun down on the booth counter and steps down from his little box, hands sliding into his pockets as he comes over. A tilt of his head and a nod reconfirms his statement before stepping back a little to allow her room.

"I didn't get it at first either but it works," he supplied rather unhelpfully, shrugging slightly before looking at how she was holding the gun. "And try holding it with two hands without squinting. Both eyes open so you can focus."

Re: gamer's circle

[sweatysometimes]

"To the right?" Pidge looks over at the other teenager briefly, adjusting her grip on the water gun as the more expert shot begins dispensing advice. This guy at least seems friendly about it and he's not being a jerk, so she nods and gives a brief little smile.

"Right. Both eyes open. I never really did much shooting at home," she murmurs, mostly to herself, then presses the trigger again. This time the water shoots out and hits the target dead on. Score!

"Hey, you were right!"

[toogoodtoopure]

He overhears the murmured comment and raises an eyebrow a little but doesn't remark on it, instead choosing to shrug it off. It's really nothing to think about, and he steps back to give her space and gives her an encouraging smile and double thumbs up, used to giving his friends encouragement in their own endeavors.

When she gets the shot, Yuugi gives a cheer for her, grinning from ear to ear. "See? I knew you could do it!" he says, thoroughly impressed and not even the least bit jerkish about it. "I'm not usually into these types of games, but they're easy once you figure them out."

gamer's circle

[impulsors]

Aren't these usually rigged?

He doesn't say it out loud -- even Keith can spare a little grace now and then, if grace means standing two steps back for an extra moment or two, arms folded, silent, avoiding messing up her shot. His eye follows the curve of water across the cooling shadows, the hole like a pinpoint from their distance. Pidge's second attempt lasts, it feels, longer than her first, but no better. The gun's stream tapers; off to the side, the booth's mechanical clown cackles, jangles its creaky arms in offensive glee as a siren swoops through the wannabe-comical notes of a loss: wah. wah. waaah.

Keith crosses over as the tune eddies away, quick and sure, to check out the gun from over her shoulder. A little too quick, maybe, when they're in strange territory, and he hasn't actually announced himself.

"Which one?"

Keeeith! <3

[sweatysometimes]

The same thought is undoubtedly circling Pidge's brain, too. She's beginning to doubt that anyone can win this stupid game and after her second attempt and she's strongly considering going over to try out the lucky ducks or even the ring toss. As the clown jeers at her in its insistent mechanical tone, she sets the gun down to glare at the target, as it might aid her in a third attempt. As she ponders over whether to go or to give it another shot, a familiar voice is suddenly in her ear.

"What do you mean, which one--?" The response comes automatically before she has a chance to process, then she whirls around. "Keith! Oh, man! I--I thought I'd lost all of you guys when the castle--!" She's babbling a little, a huge smile splitting her face.

"I can't believe you're here!"

piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge. ♥

[impulsors]

Reflex: the flex of his fingers as she spins around, ready for a mistake, to catch her if she's stumbling -- but no, it's Pidge after all, talking in her usual sharp tumult, quick as anything.

The castle. There's still a thousand-thousand questions jostling for priority: how'd they even land? where'd their lions go? (how could anyone miss a lion in this mess of lights and trees?) why do so many booths look deserted, crawling with shadows that stir and sway at the corner of his eye like nothing human?

Luckily, Keith's a boy for focus.

"Yeah." His gaze cuts briefly groundwards, drags back again to Pidge's familiar beaming. It's no time for misplaced guilt. "I'm guessing you haven't seen any of the others around."

trying to leaf

[dontpokethat]

Ooh boy, looks like they've got another one. Ginko, carrying a bucket of animal feed in each hand, slows to a stop, his brow furrowing as he watches Pidge look around.

He calls out after just a few seconds. "Hey! Something wrong?"

Re: trying to leaf

[sweatysometimes]

Pidge looks up at someone calls out to her. She focuses in on the new voice after a moment. Grimaces.

"Yeah, I think I'm lost--I keep getting turned around in the woods."

[dontpokethat]

Ginko just frowns for a moment, though for all he knows Pidge isn't going to be able to see his expression from over there. Yeah, okay, confirmed.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this, but you probably weren't getting turned around so much as the woods were turning you around."