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

They never did this at the Darkmoon Faire, though! Aren't they as bored there, would you not think??

[Ah, a Draenei! There's probably going to be no trouble there--the Draenei had always struck Jou as a sensible people, even if she had allied with the Huojin and not the Tushui. She wasn't planning on any trouble. Well, any more than they were already in...]

There are not trees like this in Suramar...or anywhere else on Azeroth, either. I am very confused.

I'm not sure. I am not aware how these worlds do their...carnivals.

[She may be old, she may know a lot of things. That does not give her any ability to understand azeroth carnivals or interdimensional ones either.]

Strong enough magic could pull us off Azeroth if they truly wanted. It would explain why I can't get teleport back.

That makes sense. It would explain why I cannot, either. Hn. [Not that Jou isn't upset about this turn of events, but having a tantrum would do no one any good.]

I wonder what "making the best of a bad situation" would be, in this case?

[At least one of them isn't upset over the turn of events. Valamia happens to enjoy Azeroth. As much as anyone who thinks it's an insane world can.]

Finding a spot to drink oneself into a stupor may not be a bad start.

Well, Celestials know I can help with that!

[And yes, far be it from a Pandaren to be far from a brew keg, but this is more like a cask. Smaller than Brewfest's pony kegs, that was for sure.]

I'll spot you a share! Well, if you have a mug. I only have a mug for myself. [Jou pauses, then, a little sheepish.]

You could use the mug, but I am not sure you'd want beer from the cask after the hole touched my mouth. [And she couldn't blame you.]

[This is exactly one reason she enjoys pandaren company. Between that and their cooking it certainly makes even an old butter woman feel a bit more spry and content. She lets out a short laugh.]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. [Odd, questionable and even acts that would probably result in getting sick has happened a lot in her life. No time to start being cautious about drinking now]

Ever end up drunk and sharing a mug with a drawf? I'm sure that was worse. Their beard catches everything.

[Jou Shan makes a face at that. Clearly, she has shared a mug with a dwarf and it's not specifically the beard catching that squicks her.]

That beard hair gets in everything! That and they are always "saving some for later" by hiding food or even beer in there. Some of them anyway. I like the ones who are more tidy and have carrying containers and pony kegs for their food and drink.

Either way, I am willing to share what I have!

[She grins and manages to repress a snicker. Not at Jou Shan, rather at the complaining. To be able to share minor, silly grievances felt good.]

If we tell them that maybe we can make it a standard for them. [Probably not.]

I would be honored.

⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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