⇨ 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

[atouts]

[ Elizabeth's tap on the shoulder earns about the same sort of bored look as the rest of his surroundings have garnered thus far. He'll quirk an eyebrow at her question, as he's reshuffling the deck and moving to hide them away again within his coat. ]

They are. Or were.

[ Then, with a polite nod to her, he'll move on, though more to get out of the way of everyone else entering the carnival than to get away from her. ]

[beunbroken]

[Elizabeth severely lacks in the ability to pick up social cues. That's what happens when you live for almost twenty years in complete isolation with only a giant mechanical bird and the characters from your books for company. So she tags along after Childermass like there's nothing wrong in the world.]

Oh, wow. I've never seen any before- may I take a look? ooh! Could you read my fortune, sir?

[atouts]

[ Somehow he's not surprised. She seems genuinely interested, however, so he doesn't mind too much. ]

I cannot. The deck is no longer complete. [ Which is as good an excuse as any (and truthful, at that). He does pause once they're out of the worst of the gate's traffic, however, to give her a second, slightly more curious look. ] And looking at them all depends on whether or not you promise to return them.

[beunbroken]

[Elizabeth tries not to look too disappointed that he can't read her fortune anymore.]

Oh, of course! [Stealing was wrong, after all, and Elizabeth was not a thief.] I just want to know what a deck really looks like. And this looks like such a beautiful one. [It wasn't needless flattery- she liked art, and was something of an artist herself.

But Elizabeth was a lot of things, all at once. When you had nothing but time on your hands, you learned all manner of things.]

[atouts]

[ There's reluctance, obviously. The cards are a lifeline in a place like this, though she's already promised to give them back and, well, he's surprised anyone would call his cards beautiful, of all things. ]

You must not have seen enough of them, if you think that.

[ He says it mostly in jest, amused (even if he isn't smiling), since he sees nothing wrong with them himself, only... they aren't a standard deck, which she'll discover once he takes them back out and spreads the deck like a fan, face up, to hold between them.

They're old, worn with age and marred with yellow, and named in French, drawn on whatever bits of paper had been available at the time; bills, ads torn down to size, random re-used pages torn from books or other places, pasted down onto something firmer to make them more card-like. The art of the cards are, likewise, done by hand and, while not terrible, they were obviously sketched down one time in a rush, only for him to have come back later and finish them up from memory. This has left them about as ragged as the man himself. Unique, too, since from memory alone forced him to provide his own details. ]

[beunbroken]

I've only ever read about them,

[Elizabeth says, as she accepts the cards from him. Almost religiously, she pages through them. They're unique- clearly hand-made, and therefore, that had to make their powers stronger, right? Or, at least, his readings more accurate.]

Did you make these yourself? [She just wants confirmation, before she ooes and aahs even more over them.]

[atouts]

[ If that did make them more accurate, he wouldn't be able to say. He's never bothered with any other deck. ]

Half from memory, but yes, I did.

[beunbroken]

[Elizabeth continues to look through the deck, turning the cards over one by one.]

That's amazing.

I'm very impressed with your work, sir.

[atouts]

[ Well, he supposes he can take a compliment with a small smile, especially if it's towards the cards. ]

You are too kind, miss. [ And he probably shouldn't linger here, but he'll at least let her finish looking through the cards properly, rather than appear to be in any rush. ] Though I am surprised someone who has read much about them has never seen a real deck. Do they not make them where you are from?

[beunbroken]

[She shakes her head.]

If they do, I've never seen them.

[Finishing paging through them, she hands them back to him, albeit a bit reluctantly.]

Thank you, Mr...? [She looks at him expectantly.]

[atouts]

[ Hard to let them go once you have them, eh? He knows, which is why he's quick to hide them away again in his coat once she hands them over. ]

Childermass.

[ He provides on cue, along with a polite nod. ]

[beunbroken]

Thank you, Mr. Childermass.

[She smiles again, and then holds out her hand.] It's lovely to meet you, I'm Elizabeth.

[And now you're stuck with her for the rest of your visit.]

[atouts]

[ Up until he makes an effort to lose her, anyway. An unfortunate inevitability, but possibly a necessary one. Though even with that thought in mind, he'll take her hand and shake it. ]

Likewise, Miss Elizabeth. [ And then he's off glancing around them, at the carnival itself. ] And as interesting as our little chat has been, I'm afraid I must get going.

[beunbroken]

[Elizabeth frowns just slightly.] Just Elizabeth is fine, Mr. Childermass.

[She follows his glance.] Do you mind if I follow you? At least until we get to where you're going- I find it better to wander with someone.

[atouts]

Hm? Fine. Just Elizabeth, then.

[ Well, if she won't find it rude, whatever. He brings his attention back down to her after figuring out what way he wants to go, raising his eyebrows at the request.

If you wish. I dare say I wouldn't be able to stop you. [ She's liable to tag along anyway, he feels, so he'll just nod the way he's meaning to head off in and then do so. ] Have you ever been to this carnival before?

[beunbroken]

[Elizabeth beams at him.] Thank you, Mr. Childermass! [So much more agreeable than Booker DeWitt ever had been.

She follows along.] No- I'm afraid I've only ever read about them. But I'd always wanted to see one. [she could only hope they had cotton candy. She loved cotton candy.]

[atouts]

It sounds like you read about a lot of things.

[ Who does that remind him of? Although that particular bookworm would have died of panic just at stepping foot in such a place! ]

But I suspect your books didn't come with any warnings, did they?

[beunbroken]

I do.

[This bookworm is going to have the time of her life here at this carnival, meanwhile, excited to explore every nook and cranny.]

They did. They said it was witchcraft, a way to communicate with the devil. [A pause] I don't believe them.

[atouts]

Hm, yes, heaven forbid there be witchcraft involved.

[ Something he, a magician, says as deadpan as humanly possible. ]

Though I meant more along the lines of not trusting so easily. Every man, woman, and child who works here are like to rob you blind given the chance.

[beunbroken]

I just think it's a more advanced sort of science.

[most of the magical things in her life can be explained with science after all.

Elizabeth frowns.] They did, Mr. Childermass- and the last man I spent any time with certainly wasn't very trust worthy at all. Luckily I don't have anything worth stealing on me.

[atouts]

[ Now there's an explanation he wouldn't mind humoring, if only to see how she fits magic into science, but he doubts there's time for it. Instead, he almost laughs at her.

Almost. ]

You would be surprised at what they're able to find worth in. You'd do well to take that last man's wariness to heart.

[beunbroken]

They took my thimble. [She looks down at her left hand, where her pinky finger is a whole knuckle short.] So who knows.

[Elizabeth scoffs at the very idea of taking anything Booker ever said or did to heart.] He's not exactly the hero type. I think I'll pass.

[atouts]

Most people aren't. [ Childermass certainly isn't. ] Ah...

[ Although he can't help but give Elizabeth's shortened finger a very brief look of wariness, when her own glance down draws attention to it. Why is it always young women with missing pinkies? Really? ]

Your thimble?

[beunbroken]

Yes. [She holds up her hand so he can see.] I don't know what happened. It's just... always been like this. So I wore a thimble.

[atouts]

And here I thought you might be a seamstress.

[ Dryly said, like he might be kidding. He is, actually, though it isn't always easy to tell with Childermass. Although, at this point, wandering further into the carnival as they are, he's beginning to look distracted, attention wandering at random now rather than focusing on Elizabeth or her (lack of) little finger. ]