⇨ 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

Yako Katsuragi | Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro | Veteran

[itaidakimasu]

work

[For all the skills she has cultivated during her time with Neuro, Yako is naturally at her happiest in a kitchen. She moves around with a certain single-minded ease, chopping, stirring, skinning away at various ingredients with a pleased, relaxed humming drifting in her wake. If you've stopped by to check on the next meal or to see what's available for snacking, you might notice that some of the ingredients...

Well, some have scales, or glow faintly. Some are strange colors.

Yako doesn't seem to be very bothered by them, of course, but do you dare ask for the gritty details?]


break time

[Out of the kitchen and in the dining area, Yako is easily packing away plate after plate of her own day's labor, with palpable enjoyment, and absolutely no indication that she plans on stopping or even slowing down any time soon. Extra sauce is mopped up with bread, so each plate is practically pristine as it's added to the top of the quickly-growing tower.]

Mm... yeah, adding cumin was definitely the right move. I'll have to remember that for next time!

[Perhaps the most unnerving part about this scene is that she... doesn't appear to have undergone any changes just yet.]


riddles

[The game is meant to make the workers think. In Yako's case, her thoughts are quickly tangled up in nostalgia. Rather than attempting to actually solve the riddles, she's seated with her back to one chest, ruminating on the past.

The past, and the reason she originally signed on with the circus in the first place.]

I wonder if he'd be happy or annoyed by all of this?

[...probably the latter, knowing Neuro, she ruefully concludes. None of these puzzles were anywhere near complex enough to satisfy his appetite.]


wildcard

[I'm up for any antics, so step right up.]

work!

[hoasen]

[This one is dropping by to see the next meal, though she wouldn't mind landing a hand either. Some of these ingredients that this girl maybe working on look strange enough, but Vietnam has always given everything a go, given world cuisine. And as long as it's not England's cooking.

Curiosity has gotten the better of her, so--]

If I may ask, what are you making...?

[itaidakimasu]

Hotpot!

[—she says brightly, slicing a teal slab of meat into small, easily cooked strips.

Yako makes quick work of the massive hunk, gently layering each of the slices into a boiling, aromatic pot among all sorts of other meats and (presumably) vegetables. Her stomach twangs with the need to have just a little nibble... just a taste, to make sure...!

...but Yako does her best to restrain herself.

Endure it, endure!]

It needs about forty minutes on a lower heat, but then it should be more or less ready. Is there something I can help you with, in the meantime?

[hoasen]

Oh! It has been a while since I've had hotpot, I will be looking forward to it!

[She watches as the girl deftly cuts up the meat, and look at that...it smells good already.

Even Vietnam can tell this was going to be a challenge for both of them, and she's got amazing patience.]

Since it will be some time...hmm, you need not help me with anything, but rather, is there anything I can help you with? I have time.

[itaidakimasu]

Mm...

[Yako quickly runs through her mental to-do list.]

Well, we can always use a few more helping hands when it comes to washing dishes.

[hoasen]

[ANd she starts rolling her sleeves up!]

Alright, let's get those done then we will be able to eat! Where should I start?

break time

[babbylon]

[Oh, would you look at that nice stack of plates! Sure would be a shame if someone mean were to stumble upon this peaceful scene and knock it all over right on top of her. Sure would be a shame if that same someone tried to snatch away the plate she's actively working on, and especially so if they did it all with sketchy magic from afar so she can't even tell where the culprit may be in the crowded room. Sure would be a shame if that's exactly what happened, all to one especially unlucky individual.

Spoilers: it happens, and it happens to her.]

[itaidakimasu]

[Gilgamesh's magic is sneaky, sketchy, subtle, and strikes as fast as a snake.

...but, as it turns out, not quite as fast as a Yako in the middle of a meal. The plate he successfully snagged is somehow already empty by the time it reaches his hands. The culprit behind that particular epicurean slight of hand (mouth?) is a bit too busy trying to keep the rest of the plates from taking a tumble to the ground.]

Ah, geeze!

[She drops back into her seat with a soft, relieved sigh once they're all stabilized.]

...maybe I should take a break and run these back to the kitchen, before somebody gets clumsy and makes a mess.

[babbylon]

...!

[She's quick, surprisingly so. He expected to make a complete mess of her, send her running off in tears, but instead she's recovered with admirable grace. It frustrates him. It infuriates him. And that doesn't bode well for the girl when the angry tyrant's got a dish in their hand ready to fly.

Gilgamesh has absolutely no qualms sending said dish sailing like a frisbee at her head, with the earnest hopes of cracking her skull open, and that's exactly what he does.]

[itaidakimasu]

—ow!!

[It connects, with enough force to rival one of Neuro's blows. It sends her head smacking right down onto the table, leaving her to gingerly rub her nose and the back of her head once she carefully straightens back up. He got half of his earlier wish, given the tears that particularly bratty move brought to her eyes, but she blinks them away with experienced ease and a few careful breath.

When she looks over at him, her glare is equal parts confused and accusing.]

What was that for?!

[babbylon]

[Gilgamesh just shrugs, flatly, and...]

I felt like it.

[...here we go, it's going to be one of those days.]

riddles

[geho]

I don't think that's the answer...

[She points unhelpfully at the chest, to indicate it's still locked.]

See? It still hasn't opened.

[itaidakimasu]

Huh?

[Yako blinks glancing up.]

—oh. No, I wasn't trying to answer. Just got lost in thought for a minute.

1/2

[geho]

[. . .]

I knew that!

[geho]

[MOVING ON.]

A comrade, then?

[Whoever she was talking about.]

[itaidakimasu]

Yeah. My partner. I haven't seen him in a while, but he has a certain... taste for puzzles and riddles.

[Understatement of the century there.]

[geho]

I see...it's a shame he isn't here. Someone like that would surely be a lot of help.

[But wait-]

N-not that you wouldn't be either! I mean, I bet we could solve it by ourselves if we wanted to.

riddles! wooo never seen a nougami player before!

[dorkypantsuit]

How's he?

[Ψii asks looking down at the other girl curiously.]

[itaidakimasu]

...hm? Oh!

[Yako blanks, rubbing the back of her neck.]

Ah, sorry. Just thinking about my old partner. He might have liked this sort of thing, is all.

Work | Playing as newbie

[coinsforlockerrooms]

There was a limit to the kinds of new ingredients Yukine Miyazawa liked to experiment with when she used to cook back at the reference room. That she was willing to even touch and inspect a slice of meat that glowed a strong purple over her was either an act of extreme devotion towards her job as a caretaker and cook, or resignation that she would not see herself as human for a long time, anyway. She was already growing like a tree in just a month in here, anyway.

"Is... all of this bound to have secondary effects on us, by exposure or consumption?" She turned to Yako, before looking at her own uniform, which felt smaller and smaller every passing day.

[itaidakimasu]

"That's... a good question." Yako herself had earned a pretty mosaic of yellow and white scales dotting up and down her legs beneath her own uniform, but she was almost entirely certain that their growth was a matter involved with her contract, not her cuisine. "Cooking nullifies a lot of them, but every so often something slips through. I haven't come across any that are permanent; most don't last any longer than a case of food poisoning would."

[coinsforlockerrooms]

Yukine smiled down to her, calmed down, "it's good to know, then."

She lifted said piece of meat onto a table, which she then began to cut in pieces, the glow emanating even stronger by each piece, in what was going to be a more complex dish.

"It's not that I want to stop cooking. I still like doing it," she lifted the pieces to put them into a pot, "it's just that I want to be prepared in case my job ends up changing me too much. I've become too tall in just a month."

She then smiled to Yako, "you look mostly normal for your time in here, Miss Katsuragi."

[itaidakimasu]

"Oh, my time is coming, I'm pretty sure." Yako sighed and shook her head, checking the soup stock on the stove. Something glittered as she stirred it, which she had learned was a good sign, altogether. "Right now I'm at the limits of what normal modesty can cover up. If it was a bit warmer, my legs would make it pretty hard to cal me 'normal', at this point anyways." But, a kitchen isn't exactly the proper local for shorts.

Especially not with potentially hazardous, boiling, or sharp items around. "Still, it's good to plan ahead. And if you do get nervous, just double-up on gloves when prepping ingredients."

[coinsforlockerrooms]

Towering over Yako, Yukine got to see from above her that it was working. She made a mental note next time they had to do that dish, for both her guests and to know what would probably give her scales.

"I'm happy you can still cover up. I used to sew a few things for guests of mine back in my town." Clothes torn from crossing over chainlink fences that she was all too happy to repair for them. "I think it would help to make clothes sometime for all of us when we change even more."

While Yukine was a little frightened by the changes she had seen and that she knew she would face, she also learned to try to make light of it, as becoming abnormal would become normal in here.

She used her longer body to grab gloves from above them, "it is at least a little convenient, even when the ringleader wants to change us."

break time

[yakan]

[ Gon, his hands loaded with plates of food as well, sits down beside her and peers at her plate. ]

Did you try a new recipe or something, Yako-chan? It's good? I gotta try it~

[ He's a fellow glutton so of course he must try even if it had not been obviously good. ]