⇨ 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

[rescuee]

[ Alright, he'll admit that was a stupid question. ]

A fair point. [ He edges nearer, ducking carefully around a few treacherous walls, and studies the man ahead of him with a bright interest, noting in particular the ears and shade of his skin. He looks almost human... huh. ] Which way are you coming from? We might be able to rule that out.

[ He also saw that bit with the sword, and has the idea that while the people who run this place probably won't appreciate the few cracks he's left in his wake, they really won't appreciate straight up bashing up the mirrors. He'll just keep an eye on this guy for them. ]

[respired]

[ He makes a vague, irritated gesture to the east. ]

That way. If you've found a new path, I'm eager to take it.

[ The man puts him in mind of a draenei, but the details don't quite shake out--no tentacles, for one thing. He seems affable enough. A little wary, perhaps, but that was wise. Koltira feels liable to punch something if he doesn't escape this mirror maze soon. ]

[rescuee]

Good to know. [ He nods, and gestures a little behind and right of himself. ] And we can rule out that way, too. That leaves us with two directions.

[ He offers a smile, cheerful and polite. ]

Would you like to do the honors and make the choice?

[respired]

[ Koltira glowers up at him--been a while since he's had to do that--and ultimately just starts walking. ]

This way, then.

[ He tries to keep his gaze averted as he moves, but the reflections continue to shift and whisper, and it's clear that he's becoming increasingly agitated. His fingers flex against the hilt of his greatsword. ]

[rescuee]

[ Jajo turns to follow his new company — and crashes his shoulder straight into what he was really sure was an empty doorway. The entirety of the mirror cracks and shatters around his shoulder, metal under the cloth of his shirt, and he springs back — into another mirror. He pulls back from it more carefully, but of course the damage is already done. That one's cracked too, leaving Jajo standing in the middle of the very narrow-to-him corridor, surrounded by broken slivers and looking supremely guilty.

It sounds like a good time for an awkward cough. ]

Sorry... I'm... sure they expect some of that. It's a lot of mirrors.

[respired]

Hmm.

[ Koltira stares at the stranger for a few moments, considering. Then, he slams his fist into the mirror beside him--a mirror filled with a mocking, distorted image of his own horrible face--and smiles slightly as the glinting shards crash to the floor. ]

Yes. So many, many mirrors.

[rescuee]

[ Well, this is exactly what he'd been hoping to avoid. He watches this with some dismay, then carefully picks his way forward and out of the glass shards. Whenever he steps on one, his almost comically dainty, metal foot lands with a clink that inevitably turns into a crack. ]

Did that help?

[respired]

[ Koltira glances at that foot--a false limb of some kind?--and back up again. ]

No.

[ He gestures down the corridor. ]

Many more await.

[rescuee]

[ Both feet are the same undeniably mechanical construction — and his large, three-fingered hands too, although they could pass as gauntlets that disappear up into his sleeves. Jajo sighs, but decides to pass on the reminder that that is destruction of property. This guy looks like he doesn't really need his day getting any worse. ]

Maybe we can keep these ones intact.

[ He's... the guiltier party here, after all. He casts one last glance back at the two broken ex-mirrors before he starts forward. ]

Mind if I ask your name, as long as we're fighting through these together?

[respired]

[ Koltira's well aware that it's destruction of property, and he could not give a fuck. ]

Koltira. Koltira Deathweaver.

[ His eyes narrow slightly, as though daring this stranger to challenge the epithet. ]

And you?

[rescuee]

[ What a hardcore name. He's certainly not going to argue it. Especially not when his own is: ] Jatuarnada Joadiarnadata.

[ But don't worry, he's not a cruel man. A heartbeat later and with an apologetic smile, he adds the usual amendment. ]

But you're welcome to call me Jajo.

[respired]

[ That's a mouthful, to be sure, though Koltira was prepared to gamely sally forth. He is--quietly, his expression never shifting--appreciative for the immediate nickname. ]

We're introduced, Jajo.

[ He starts moving again, eyes forward, head high. He takes long strides (though likely not quite so long as Jajo), and he walks with purpose, like he has somewhere to go--even though he's still utterly lost. ]

Come.

[rescuee]

[ So they are, just like that. What a taciturn fellow. At least it matches his name. Jajo ducks after him, keeping his steps shorter than he normally would and his arms tucked carefully into his sides. He second guesses every turn, and keeps as close to Koltira as possible.

With all these distractions, though, he still can't completely ignore the way sometimes the mirrors don't quite match up with his actions. The way he'd swear one of them is leaning in to whisper to him from the corner of his eye. ]

...Do these seem like normal mirrors to you?

[ It feels like a stupid question, but he has to ask it. ]

[respired]

[ Koltira hisses through his teeth. ]

Have they not spoken to you? Taunted you with your own face?

[ Because that's still happening to him as they walk. The mutters about his life in Quel'thalas, about the atrocities he committed while enslaved. Both painful, albeit for entirely different reasons. ]

[rescuee]

[ He slows down a little, studying one pane in particular. It's true, the reflection within isn't wearing a mirrored version of his expression. It looks like a cruelly mocking smile, even when Jajo is sure he himself isn't smiling. But when it opens his mouth and does indeed start to whisper, that's when Jajo pushes swiftly on to catch up with Koltira. He'd rather not listen to whatever it has to say. ]

They hadn't yet. Maybe you bring out the worst in them.

[respired]

[ Koltira's ears flick back against either side of his head. ]

My kind often have that effect.

[ He turns another corner, his scowl deepening. ]

Is there no end to this damned place!

[rescuee]

[ He has to wonder what my kind is, but it doesn't quite sound like a question for the present moment. The present moment seems more suited to agreeing that this place probably does just go on forever. ]

I could boost you a lift to see above the walls. [ Not here, of course, in this presently compact and awful hallway that he's stooping to get through -- but in one of those places where the ceiling fades into blackness overhead. ]

[respired]

[ Koltira visibly balks at the idea of being picked up. He's sure this giant draenei-adjacent man could do it without trouble, though, and he has to admit ... it's tactically sound. He keeps moving forward, not answering right away, his lips pursed. Once they reach an area with a high, vaulted ceiling--its end invisible in the darkness--he sighs and stops. ]

Fine. Be quick about it.

[rescuee]

[ It's not the most ringing endorsement of the idea, but Jajo will take it. Especially because he wants to get out of here too, and pretty badly at this point.

He steps in close as soon as Koltira has given the word and stoops, wrapping his arms around Koltira's legs at about the hips. He straightens again, Koltira braced against his chest and hefted up easily, and leans back to see if he's gotten him up over the walls far enough to see. ]

How is that? High enough?