livinglot | ⇨ 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

[Mitsunari quickly turns in the direction of said voice, instinctively drawing his sword and pointing it at the voice's general direction. The fact that it's so dark in this forest doesn't exactly help, but he's furious with himself at having been caught off-guard. How could he have allowed somebody to sneak up on him?!]

Show yourself!

[Well. There’s always someone.]

[Lazily, Joker spreads out his wings. Not full span, no, but enough that the very insides of his wings can be seen. Amongst the dark feathers there, light glitters in soft pinpricks of pale blue. It’s by no means enough light to show him completely, but combined with the lights of the carnival still visible in the distance, there’s enough to show his general vicinity.]

Mate, put down the sword, thank ya kindly. I ain’t got any interest in hurtin’ ya. I just work at the carnival, yeah?

[He's not sheathing his katana, but he at least lowers it slightly, now looking at Joker's wings with wariness and suspicion.]

What are you? And who would employ a demon like you, or if not demon, whatever freak you are?

Though I don't care. Tell me how to leave this place, and begone.

[Well now, isn’t that rude. A legitimate reaction, but rude. Joker doesn’t seem particularly offended, however, just shrugs and leans back.]

I’m human, thank ya kindly.

[Or maybe he’s not anymore, but it doesn’t matter. Instead, he jerks his head back in the direction of the carnival.]

It ain’t up ta me if ya leave. That’s somethin’ ya gotta do back at the carnival. If I tell ya the specifics, will ya stop pointin' that sword at me?

[But I'd love to continue the thread. /ooc.]

[frowns, looking almost ready to grit his teeth or scream or cut something, if this continues.

But for now, his voice is, for him, almost calm] I shall, the moment you begin to make sense.

Listen… The way out of the carnival’s woods is always changin’. The only way ta find out which path ta take is back in the carnival. There’s a certain tent that ya have ta look into and the way out is written inside.

[Things that are a blatant lie: that. However, no one would tell from Joker’s expression. He talks about it all as simple as anything, even rolling his shoulders up in a shrug.]

It’s a trick most people don’t catch onto, so they don't leave the carnival… But I don’t have any interest in bein’ skewered with a sword, or havin’ anyone I work with have ta deal with that either.

[looks at him warily, as if this could be some kind of trick, but. He has no idea whether it is or not.]

I'll go and check. You - stay here! If I find out that you've deceived me, you shall pay. And if this information is true, you have my gratitude.

Edited 2016-10-15 17:44 (UTC)

[People who are going to get their ass kicked: Joker]

[People who don’t care: Joker]

[The bit about gratitude does almost make him feel a bit bad about things, but, frankly, he doesn’t care for having a sword waved at him. He shrugs at the threat.]

Would ya rather I just tag along and save ya the trip?

[his eyes narrow]

What's this? Why would you wish to follow me: is this some trickery?

If I wanted ta trick ya, wouldn’t it make more sense for me ta wait until ya were gone and then fly off?

[He stretches his wings out a little to show his point.]

[....Also he’s not wrong, but Joker isn’t going to let him know that.]

As if I knew how a trickster's and a liar's mind works.

Nevermind. Come with me, then if you try anything, I'll see it immedietaly with my own eyes.

[And he goes back towards the carnival, expecting the winged man/creauture/whatever to follow, hopefully without further irritating suggestions. And as for flying off, Ishida's first thought is to cut those wings off if the man ever acts suspiciously. That's what he'd do if a bird attacked him, after all, and it's the same thing, isn't it?]

Edited 2016-11-06 06:51 (UTC)

So rude, so rude.

[Not that his tone reflect that he’s bothered in any way, and he’s still grinning as he follows along, although he tries to keep out of range of that sword.]

Why don’t we introduce ourselves? I’m Joker~.

[keeping out of range might not be so easy if it came to that, as Mitsunari's insanely fast. Still, a good idea.]

[brow raise, not sure that's the name real's name, but he's heard stranger ones, so why not]

[and this man is professing to help him after all, so might as well introduce himself] My name is Mitsunari Ishida.

Mitsunari Ishida…

[For all the flippancy he radiates, Joker is making an attempt to very carefully pronounce the name. His accent has always been thick, he knows, so he has to take extra care with foreign names.]

That’s, ah- no not oriental- Japanese, yeah?

[he just nods]

[and then mutters] A foreigner? Well, no matter.

[he's now just going to go back to the circus and see if there's any way to leave for home from there]

We’re all foreigners in the carnival~.

[He lets Ishida take the lead to the carnival tents, watching him carefully despite his carefree smile.]

Although yeah, even before this, we ain’t exactly from the same part of the world, ha. I’m British, if the accent wasn’t clue enough.

⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

► TRYING TO LEAF

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I won't app this app session (I will the sec the next app session begins), coz rl things happened.

I'm game for continuing the thread too!

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