⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME: NO ONE'S HOME

[ringleaders]

WELCOME TO THE SHOW!↴ Or, more specifically, Lost Carnival's 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 (and should) read the full premise here. Reserves and Applications are currently OPEN. This month, applications can be for WILLING CHARACTERS ONLY. Meaning, the Ringmaster will only be taking newbies on if they are willing to sign a year contract for one of her rewards. You can apply as a newcomer or as a "veteran" character who has been in the carnival for up to three years. In the case of veteran characters, you will need to come up with an explanation of why they haven't been around the carnival recently. TDM threads can be used as game canon after the fact if both characters are accepted, the players agree to it, and it makes any sense contextually. If you are interested in additional IC and OOC plot responsibilities, consider applying for a Supervisor position. Head Cook and Treasurer are currently open. Otherwise, we're pretty much down for anything, roles wise. CURRENT STOP↴ ⇨ NO ONE'S HOME ⇦ This winter break, things are a bit odd down in the carnival grounds. Reason being? Almost all of the workers are currently spending their vacation up on one of the carnival's two moons, enjoying the winter wonderland the Ringmaster created for them. This means that the actual carnival area is mostly abandoned, and in this case? Anyone turning up there is doing so by total mistake. Ostensibly the Ringmaster is enjoying the eggnog a bit too much. This will only be happening for a day or two out of the holiday schedule, but during that time your character may find themselves arriving in a totally abandoned carnivval, which is not what anyone wants. They'll be left to wander alone until they encounter other visitors, or until someone from the carnival happens upon them while stopping at the grounds for whatever reason. All ther regular attractions apply, but they are unmanned by anything but the ghoulish spectres known as cinder sprites. Without the Ringmaster here, they won't even address you. ► ABANDONED: The carnival is completely empty, and it's dark out, and, well... it's sort of spooky? None of the attractions will be running, though nothing is stopping you from wandering inside with the cinder sprites not paying much attention. It's entirely possible you could get into some trouble like that, or maybe you're just totally freaked out and desperate to find someone who can send you home. ► WILLING CANDIDATES ONLY: For the most part, unless your character does something really dastardly, all applications this month must be from WILLING APPLICANTS ONLY. This means, once your character is eventually found, they must be willing to sign on with the carnival as a new hire for one of the Ringmaster's boons. No trickery this time around! Keep that in mind when applying. ► MONSTERS LURKING: While all the workers are gone, there are a few beasts that have been left to roam while everyone else is on vacation. Along with the cinder sprites, there is also an Alolan Exeggutor that wanders the forest looking for someone to smash, and the tentacle monster that lives in the Tunnel of Love. There's also a Slenderman, but don't worry about him. He's got the intelligence of an above average dog, and probably just wants to play fetch. 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. 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 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. ► TUNNEL OF "LOVE": A brand new attraction in the carnival, the Tunnel of Love is mostly what you'd expect from such a ride - two people sit in a boat together which journeys through some glitter filled caves, complete with mood music. Unfortunately, there is also something else in there with you... in the form a moody kraken living in the waters, who has very particular opinions about shipping, and may either stubbornly interfere with any attempted intimacy, or may politely encourage it. Or they may just generally be a dick if they're in no mood for either. The Ringmaster insists it is a romance expert. ► 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. ► 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. ► 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! ► DUNK TANK: Sometimes acting like a dick will earn you the gentle reprimand of being sent to work in the Dunk Tank for the afternoon - you know that game where people throw balls at a target, and if they hit it you get dropped into the water? It's like that, only sometimes there are daunting (but harmless) critters in the water, or some other strange magical affects to spice things up. Hopefully, the visitors will have bad aim. ► 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

Starflight | Wings of Fire

[petrifiedshadow]

I. Abandoned
When he’d used the dreamvisitor to try and get a message to his friends, Starflight had been expecting a dream like the others he’d seen previously, not a nightmare like this. Dark empty stalls, no one around except the glimpses of fiery creatures that looked nothing like dragons, it was hardly welcoming. Starflight had his wings tucked as close to his body as possible, moving silently between the booths, hoping one of his friends would appear.

Hearing something coming behind him, Starflight swung around to try and see what it was, but couldn’t see anything yet. Whatever it was must still be coming. He clutched the magical sapphire tighter in his claws to make sure he didn’t accidentally drop it and darted behind one of the empty booths, making himself as small as possible. In the darkness his black scales made his nearly invisible. He held his breath, waiting to see who, or what, came around the corner.

II. Monsters Lurking
Starflight galloped through the woods, hearing the creature behind him crashing after him amongst the trees. He’d only been trying to get away from the empty fairgrounds. That should not mean getting chased by a giant living tree. He didn’t even dare risk checking behind him, after all it would just slow him down and he might run into something. For the only time in his life he wished he was a RainWing so he could move between the trees as quickly as they could. As it was, it was too narrow for him to fly out of here, and based on the noise behind him be was doing a lousy job losing his pursuer.

Starflight squawked as something appeared suddenly in front of him, digging his claws into the earth and snapping his wings wide to try and slow his careening before he collided with the person who just wandered into his path.
“Watch out! There’s- something- coming,” he panted, glancing over his shoulder in a panic.

III. Wildcard
Whatever suits your fancy.

II

[essucasa]

The woods are a common training ground for Mikasa. There may be little need for combat in the circus, but with her gear, it functioned similarly to her practice as an acrobat. That was her argument to keep her equipment, anyway. Plus a part of her felt it necessary to keep her blades with her. Just in case.

Turns out that was a smart decision, given all of the commotion of the nightwing charging through the forest for whatever reason. It's difficult for her to see him, with the night working to his advantage. Hear him, yes, but see him? Fortunately, he had no trouble seeing her and coming to a complete stop. Her grip tightens on her blades, unsure of what to make of the dragon himself, but if what he says is true...

"Did you see what it was?" What would have a dragon fleeing in terror...?

[petrifiedshadow]

"I, it's-" Starflight turned back and wasted precious second staring down confused before shaking his head quickly to refocus. Talking scavengers were not the weirdest thing he had to deal with right now.

"It's some sort of living tree, or something. And it is really, really mad."

He carefully sidestepped around her, eying the swords she was carrying and started moving backwards away from the still approaching plant. He felt like he shouldn't just leave her at the thing's mercy but also he had to keep moving before it got them.

[essucasa]

She can't say she's very used to talking dragons or sentient, angry trees, but at the same time, few people believed her when she told them about titans. Mikasa's still learning things from this place, whether about the carnival itself or the various other places people come from.

There's no time for much more conversation before the tree makes its appearance, forcing Mikasa's attention away from the nightwing. The tree aggressively moving towards her is the last straw, with the girl leaping into action with a shot from her maneuvering gear's grapples. She moves right towards the beast, attempting to swerve around it and through any flailing limbs to find the opportune moment to attack. These blades are designed for titan flesh and not wood, so there's not a whole lot they can do, she's sure.

Still, she'll attempt to cut into it as she whizzes past the creature.

[petrifiedshadow]

Starflight watched as shards of bark when flying as her swords slid across the wood. He was honestly awestruck at how fast she moved, not just her reaction time but how the maneuver gear let her swing through the trees. No one ever told him scavengers had tools that let them fly through the air like that.

The tree thrashed more as the swords grazed it, and Starflight could have sworn it growled somehow. His instinct was the keep running, but he wasn't convinced this scavenger could manage to take it down alone, and it wouldn't be right to leave her with it since he brought it here in the first place.

He skittered forward, taking a deep breath and breathing a stream of fire towards the base of the tree so he wouldn't hit his airborne ally.

[essucasa]

Honestly, that breath of fire probably does more damage to the tree than anything her swords can do. It does make her wonder why the dragon didn't just...do that earlier, instead of fleeing for his life, but it's too late to think about that. The tree is pretty freaky looking, she'll give him that.

Not freakier than titans, but different standards and all that.

Mikasa quickly turns herself around to strike at the tree once again, originally aiming to cripple it with a blow to the legs, but the flames should help with that, if not repel it outright. She takes a swing at the same spot she struck before, ideally with the goal of getting the same spot. Scattered cuts won't do much, but group enough into the same area and she might achieve something. She does shoot past Starflight's head a little, mostly to perch herself against one of the less violent trees to study this one's reaction. Will this be enough to drive it away or will it need to die...?