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

i. GAME ON!

Who doesn't love a good game or two? Natsu patrols the fairgrounds, totally lost in the swirls of color and the sounds of game bells and carnival music - to the point that he's managed to wander off on his own. He's been past several stalls, pondering what some of these contraptions are even supposed to do, and feeling just a little down that none of his buddies are around to challenge in those strength-based games, and eventually the dragonslayer settles on a simple ball toss.

Of course, with Natsu, it's never simple. He's making a huge production of it, complete with excited shouting and a generous helping of magical pyrotechnics.

"All right, here comes my next one! You might want to back up, pal, this shot's gonna knock your wispy socks off!!"

Like everything else, he overdoes the throw, sending the ball ricocheting off the back of the stall and right back out, narrowly missing Natsu's face. Whoever was standing behind him may not have been so lucky...

ii. FIRE IN THE HOLE!!

Carnivals are known for their bright, colorful lights, of all colors and shapes and sizes, but most carnival attractions aren't meant to be on fire. The blazing attraction certainly catches attention, as the flames climb higher up the sides of the small tent. Silhouetted against the almost comical pyre stands a very flustered and baffled Natsu.

"Oh man, this isn't what I had planned at all, umm, uh -- YOU!"

He jabs a finger at the first person - or at least someone person-looking - he spots. "I need water! Uh, probably a lot of it!" He waves his hands absurdly around himself, trying to get his urgency across. The last thing he needs on his track record is another festival burned to the ground.

iii. GET WILD!

Wildcard!! Without his friends to keep his mayhem in check, Natsu's bound to be wreaking havoc all over the place. Feel free to plot with me on plurk @

asraith!

There's no ringing bell for hitting the right target, but that yelp lets Natsu know he sure hit something.

To be fair, there are a lot worse places than the gut to get pelted with a speeding ball, especially when you've got a bit of extra gut than average. This thought is of little consolation to Greg right now.

"Hooookay. Oorgh. That's fine. I'm fine. Aaaahahaoww..." He leans heavily into a post, dripping spilled soda. "Mmmghkhnicethrowghhh."

He spins around at the noise, having not expected to hear something from behind him. One look is all it takes for him to realize what just happened.

"Ahh, crap, okay. Uh. Are you alright?" A pretty obvious question, but Natsu's a little flustered right now. "I can, uh, get you another drink if you want."

Where'd that ball go?

Greg lifts a shaky thumbs up, even as he continues leaning for support.

"'M good. Just... yeah." He takes a deep breath to help muscle through the pain. Won't do to make the guy feel bad over an genuine, if painful, accident. "Don't worry about it, it was an honest mista--"

Where'd the ball go? Right under where he'd just put his foot down, in a soda-slickened patch of mud no less. Or, that's where it was, before it shot out from under his foot and sent Greg sprawling to the ground.

"That's goo--AHH!" When Greg goes down, Natsu just shouts in alarm. Yeah, this guy is definitely not okay. Where'd he even hit him? His head? Hopefully not his head, that would be really dangerous. Can you die from getting hit with a rubber ball? Is he dead?

The ball bounces off the bottom of the stall and harmlessly rolls away behind them, completely ignored at this point by the panicked dragonslayer who's now crouched over the other patron, trying his best to not have a mental breakdown.

"Uhh. Are you sure you're okay, mister?"

What little luck that remains on Greg's side keeps him from hitting his head on the way down. The wind is pretty effectively knocked out of him, though; it takes a few extra seconds of disorientation and wheezing before Greg manages another, even shakier thumbs up.

"I... 've had w-worse..."

Look, see, if he can make light of it that means it's okay, please do not panic on his account or he'll start feeling bad for real.

"I--!?" Kanata had already been shocked by the fire that came from nowhere (it's some amazingly advanced pyrotechnics, he's never seen anything like it) and he takes a few steps back without noticing it. "I don't have any---I only have disinfectants an' medications, you can't use 'em..!" He slips right into the accent he grew up with due to the sudden distress, and he clutches to the bottle of disinfectant in his doctor's coat pocket. But there should be someone that knows, right? Right? He looks around. "Ain't there any fire extinguishers 'round here anywhere?!"

"Fire whatsit? No, man, I need water. Or maybe someone who can use water magic, or something." He glances back at the fire for a second. It might be worth a shot to try and put it out himself, but Natsu would really hate to make himself sick before he's even gotten to see everything. Maybe it'll just go out on its own?

"Hey, could you wait here? I'm gonna check and see if anyone got caught in it."

"Huh?" He was just about to open his mouth to explain that a fire extinguisher was meant to be used to put out fires, when his attention was caught by talk about magic. Because seriously, magic? But now was not the time to focus on his confusion.

"Yeah sure but how will ya do that?"

Honestly, it's probably inevitable that if there's someone making a big production of something, Miko is going to end up kind of gravitating toward them... and in this case, she arrives just in time to narrowly avoid getting a rubber ball to the face.

She freezes for a moment, blinking, before looking over her shoulder, where the ball has crashed into another booth... then she spins to face Natsu again, her grin far too wide for someone who just nearly got her head taken off.

"Dude! That was totally bad-a! How fast d'you think that thing was going?"

⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

Natsu Dragneel | Fairy Tail | Newb (OTA; both styles!)

GAME OFF

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fire in the hole

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GAME ON