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

Why was this guy so concerned? It was so strange. He hadn't met an adult in years that he could trust, much less one that gave a shit about him. His ears swept backwards and forwards as he decided whether or not to humor him.

Roman glanced at Ginko's hooves. At least they had a few things in common...

"Okay, I'll bite. What is she gonna do, put me in t-time-out?"

"Think bigger. Or... well, smaller as the case may be." Ginko rummaged around in his pocket for a bit before producing a small, wooden cigarette box, pulling it open as he spoke. A few of the mushi drifting around the carnival had gotten closer as they were talking, and he'd rather head that off now.

"Now, I should note, I wasn't here for this, but it gets talked about all the same. A while back, one of the carnival employees - the current Warden, actually - had been neglecting his duties for a while, and the Ringmaster got sick of it. Apparently, she figured that, if he just wanted to sleep all day, he might as well." He fiddled with his lighter for a bit before lighting the cigarette, mumbling around his hand. "So she turned him into a cat."

Roman waited and listened with probably the first ounce of respect he'd shown Ginko during their entire meeting. As the story seemed to grow dire, worry crept up the little demon's spine--but unfortunately the end to the story didn't get the desired result.

"A cat!" A scoff. "I can think of worse things to be and EXCUSE YOU!" Roman pointed a clawed finger at the cigarette Ginko had casually lit up. "Some people are allergic t-to that shit you know! And it can kill you. I should be lecturing you!"

"I'm sure you could, but from what I heard it was a pretty unpleasant experience for him all the same."

...Really. This again. Ginko supposed he should be used to people complaining about his smoking by now, but he still didn't like having to stop and explain. "Hey, don't freak out. I can assure you, this isn't what you think it is."

Roman let out another smokey huff of his own, no cigarette required. "Surprise me!"

He raised an eyebrow, considering for a moment whether to give him the full explanation right away, or...

...Nah.

"It's called mushi tobacco. Doesn't actually have any tobacco in it, of course, but that's just the usual term for it."

"It's still smoke!"

A wild thought ran through him like an electric zap--to reach out and snatch that cigarette, to render it to ash. But being a weird monster kid also gave him a few animal instincts and one of those instincts was screaming very loudly: do not fuck with the giant horned man!

"Whatever. Did this cat dude get t-tortured or what?"

"It sure is. If it causes any problems for you I can stop, but I kind of need these cigarettes."

He gave a lopsided shrug. "Not exactly. Not intentionally, anyway... one of the other employees really likes cats, and she apparently saw fit to just keep him in her trailer. She knew who he was, for the record, but I guess she didn't care. Apparently not having to work lost its appeal after being treated like a pet for a while."

Another thoughtful pout. Roman's ears swept backward as a animal somewhere on the grounds bugled or hooted or whatever. This carnival was full of strange new sounds. Being pampered and loved on would be pretty fucking sweet...but he couldn't make deals as a cat. He had to regain his memories. Even if he did end up being stuck here for a year and a day, he didn't want to come back out having lost all that time.

The spines on his tail stood up in agitation and he scuffed one hoof in the dirt.

"Yeah well..."

That was better than more outright arguing, as far as Ginko was concerned. "Well?"

Roman's ears fell into a droop. He wasn't seriously expecting him to follow that up with anything, was he? He was fresh out of whatevers over here!

He tugged his glasses off and cleaned them on his shirt, trying his best to look bored with the sudden realization that a wrong move could waste his entire year.

"So, what am I supposed to c-call you?"

"Well, my name would work. I'm Ginko. You?"

Ginko. He'd heard that word before--or he thought he had. Probably not quite the same spelling.

"Roman. Like the soldiers."

There was another silence. His tail crept around one orange hoof as he glanced aside. A bell rang somewhere--someone winning the test-your-strength game no doubt.

"What happened to the cat?"

Ginko shrugged, and answered without thinking about it. "He's fine. He got turned back into a skeleton eventually."

"WHAT!"

Roman's charade of chillmaster supreme shattered like a window--but only because he hadn't met one of the four animate skeletons walking around yet. His tail coiled in on itself like a spring.

...Ah. Yeah, that was probably a weird thing to say, wasn't it.

"--Oh, right. Um, he was actually a skeleton to begin with. A living one."

Y e p.

"How is that even a thing!"

Asked the technically dead kid of the towering green deer man.

"Ugh! God! Fine!" He threw his arms into the air and spread his wings. "I'll try not to sleep in public! I just wish they'd start giving me jobs I can actually do!"

Ginko shrugged. Hell if he knew, but it sure seemed to be one.

"If it really gets to be a problem, you could go to the Ringmaster about it. Otherwise, just take it a bit at a time and it should get easier."

"Oh! Sure! Because talking to her worked out g-great for me last time!"

However this time his anger didn't seem directed at Ginko. He paced in a little circle, lashing his tail and slinging sawdust everywhere.

"We made a deal! We SHOOK on it! She signed her name! And she cheated! You can't cheat the devil! That just doesn't happen!"

As Roman ranted, Ginko's eyebrows crept incrementally upward. After a few moments, he responded.

"...What deal did you make?"

Apparently he hadn't intended to sign on willingly. Which left the question of if this guy had really expected to come out on top of a deal with the Ringmaster.

Roman stopped pacing so he could fume and hunch over, arms folded tightly against his chest.

"It was...it was a standard favor. You know. You summon the devil, offer a sacrifice, and get some stupid mortal concern dealt with--success on a test, that job you wanted, an ex you don't like suddenly comes down with an incurable disease. You know."

His voice grew quieter as he rattled off the common orders he got from people. Humans were so selfish.

"I was supposed to get her car."

That takes a few moments to sink in.

Then Ginko starts laughing.

Coming from anyone else, it would barely qualify as a laugh - just a low, quiet chuckle, brief and barely audible. He reaches up to take his cigarette out of his mouth, partially hiding a smirk. "Well, I would-- I assume that you realize the problem with that now, right?"

The sudden chuckle drew Roman out of his grim daydream. He whipped around, eyes wide and ears standing tall.

"THIS. IS NOT A FREE RIDE. This is not what FREE RIDE means! Stop--stop laughing! Shut up!" He kicked sawdust at Ginko. "How was I supposed to know she wasn't just some drunk chick! How was I supposed to know she was in charge of some interplanetary bullshit freakshow! This is not! What! I signed up for!"

By the time Roman's actual break was over he was going to be too tired to even do any work.

"You-- hold on, you actually made an agreement in exchange for a free ride? Did that phrasing not strike you as a little off?" He's regaining his composure now - not that he lost much of it to begin with - but he still looks undeniably amused.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but that's how the Ringmaster operates. And, as I assume you've picked up on, beating her at her own game isn't something that really happens."

Roman was only moments away from straight up stomping his little hooves.

"What IS she, Ringo?"

Close enough.

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