⇨ Test Drive Meme: SPACE OLYMPICS

[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. Recruits can be either willing or tricked this month. 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, Foreman, and Treasurer are currently open. Otherwise, we're pretty much down for anything, roles wise. CURRENT STOP↴ ⇨ THE SPACE OLYMPICS ⇦ Welcome to the Space Olympics! The year is 3022. This year's host is Zargon, which is only hosting because the four previous hosts all dropped out. Still, Zargon's put lot of time and money into developing a complex perfect for the Space Olympics. Floating above the planet's atmosphere is a large spaceship turned athletic arena, obviously named Olympic Spaceship. Stadiums are on every corner, there's swimming pools every other block, and a large racetrack surrounds the city. Of course, not much about this matters to newcomers visiting the carnival, besides the wide array of weird aliens visiting alongside them. ► DIVERSITY: If you've arrived at the carnival without being aware that it was a separate world from your own, the presence of dozens upon dozens of aliens visiting its grounds may clue you in. All the big names from classic science fiction are here, apparently for some kind of sporting event? Wookies, Vulcas, you name it. Apparently they are from some kind of alternate reality where all of these species both exist in the same universe and are inclined to have sports competitions with each other. The multiverse is wild, ain't it? ► WIN OR RIOT: Along with sports comes bravado, and with a lot of alien races intermingling for the sake of competition, blood can run a bit hot. Don't be surprised if some fight break out before different species while visiting the carnival round, and also don't be surprised if you get mixed up in it. The carnival has security but, y'know. It's a busy day. Recruits from this month will be signing on with the carnival between Day 30 and Day 37 on the season calendar. They can appear in the carnival at any point during those days, or the week following if time distortions happen. 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

[littlenightmare]

[At least it's not particularly hard to carry Six down to the pocket, and not particularly hard, either, for her to curl up tight so that she's not seen. It's only when Reira is stopped and there's the sound of machinery moving down before her does Six poke her head out curiously. The closest thing she can remember being on that's close to a swing would be a certain line of hooks...]

[Despite knowing how gravity works, and a faint idea of physics, it's still a surprise to Six when the swings begin to go into the air, tilting sideways. Jerking in alarm, she digs her fingers all the tighter into Reira's overalls. There's a split second where she isn't sure about any of this-]

[Except there, in her ears, first. There's a familiar melody, clinking daintily along, wiping away feelings of anxiety and fear. As it continues, the world blurs around her and seems to become something different. A room instead of open air, and her feet digging into wood but not cloth... Such a short memory, and yet it seems to stretch on forever with the music box playing for ages, uninterrupted this time.]

[When the ride finally begins to slow, and the machinery begins to quiet, Reira might hear a song being hummed from within her pocket.]

[soft_focus]

[Reira herself doesn't have a lot of happy memories-it tends to switch up a lot on the ride as a result. This time, it was managing to get her shield right. That was good!

But the ride is over now, so she has to get out-Reira does so, and hearing the humming, makes her way off to the side-a little more away from the rest of everything else.] Umnh-

...Do you know how to sing? [She asks, perhaps with a little bit of awe. She didn't really try on the stage before, since she's pretty sure she wouldn't know how. So music from someone else is just Impressive.]

[littlenightmare]

[Oh. The ride is stopped, and Reira is talking again. Feeling a little faint headed for some reason, Six pokes her head out from the pocket again. At some point, although she's not entirely sure when, she'd slid down again. Probably for the best, with how fast the ride had been going.]

[Can she sing.... Tilting her head back, she starts to shake it only to pause halfway and shrug instead. She's never tried. There's never been anyone to sing to, she thinks. Rats don't appreciate music.... and neither do leeches. Perhaps the kids around the campfire would have appreciated it, once upon a time.]

[Either way, singing would require speaking, and she still doesn't know about that. All she knows is the melody without words.]

[soft_focus]

Mhnnnn... [No words are needed once more, it seems, as Reira figures it implies no singing either. So she simply nods.] ...The sounds were nice at least, [She determines, finding the humming good enough in any case.]

...Should I find another ride? [She asks, looking down at the pocket. They could do that-or they could look at other things, after all.]

[hellzone]

"But with sunburns, you still look like you. Just red," Yoshiko points out. She leans in towards Lauren, looking him over, as if closing the distance will help her understand what the heck's going on. She thought it was a costume at first but now...it's a really good costume. A bit too good.

Without any shame, Yoshiko reaches up and tries to grab one of Lauren's antlers.

[mylastchance]

As soon as he realizes she's trying to grab (?) him he jerks his head back. A moment later he rest of him follows as he takes a full step back. Wow, does this girl know the meaning of personal space? Clearly she doesn't because she just tried to grab his hair or something.

"Please don't do that." He says, looking at her as though she's the one with antlers. He doesn't even want to be polite about it, but he honestly has no idea what else to say. This isn't the kind of thing he thought he'd ever be giving a lecture on.

[dressedtothe]

Oh! He knows about this!! This is a handshake! It's a bit weird to be treated as if he were human, but the friends he's made has really gone a long way towards breaking down the formalities between android and human.

So he reaches and grasps Yuusei's hand in a handshake.

"I'm 9S." He smiles and lets go of the human's hand. "When I arrived here, it was my first time at a carnival, too. The Carnival is full of surprising things, so don't worry about not knowing what to expect. See the sights, enjoy your time here."

[littlenightmare]

[Another ride? It's tempting... but Six is wary of taking a nice thing for granted. It feels as though if she gets too greedy, too soon, it might be snatched out from under her. What she's taken from the Lady had her confident.... for a little while. But this place is so different...]

[Looking down, she curls her fingers loosely against her stomach with her knuckles bumping into the buttons there. When she'd been in the Maw, there'd never been time to stop and eat for fear that she'd be caught unaware, with every step fueled by adrenaline of needing to escape something horrible. Of course, then it would strike at sometimes the very worst moment.... But she's not running from anything this time, she thinks. So...]

[With her hand still curled at her stomach, she looks back up to Reira.]

[soft_focus]

[Even a little hesitance is enough to keep Reira from asking again-and as the unpleasant feelings grow, she begins to look a bit worried-so when Six looks back up, she studies the other with those worried eyes. Trying to determine just...what it is they should do, then. Six is holding her stomach, so...

...Ahah!] Oh-

...Umnh... ...are you maybe...hungry?

[hellzone]

Without any sense of shame, Yoshiko continues to try and grab Lauren's antlers.

"Come on!" she whines. "They look real but they can't be real so I want to see if they're real or not!"

Because obviously they can't be real. If Lauren's antlers are real then that means everything else here is real and honestly, Yoshiko's not really sure what to think about that at the moment.

[littlenightmare]

[Well, she's not hungry yet... but it's probably a good idea to get something before she is. So Six merely nods. It's all close enough anyway.]

[soft_focus]

[Misunderstandings-they Happen. They have...a few options however, so she does have to think about it.] Mnhh...

...there's food in the cookhouse, but... ....there's also food at 'stalls'-like 'funnel cakes', or 'hotdogs'....

What kind of food do you want?

[littlenightmare]

[After much careful thought and heavy deliberation.... Six nods.\

[Yes.]

[Yes is her answer.]

[soft_focus]

[That's not an answer. But.]

....Most of the food is in the cookhouse, so we'll go there then.

[That way, you can make...Choices.

So off they'll go, then.]

Tigerstar | Warriors | New Recruit

[catsatan]

(( A WARNING to anyone not familiar with Warriors - Tigerstar is an intact male cat, and he will be spraying on things. I'll try to keep those on the DL, but this is a blanket warning that some prompts will have more specific warnings about unsanitary content. If anything needs to be revised, please feel free to alert me and I'll get on that ASAP.

Terms used -- twolegs//humans; StarClan//basically warrior cat ancestor spirits; TigerClan//a short-lived united Clan established by Tigerstar ))

i. TRYING TO (GREEN)LEAF

[ It was a patrol. Nothing more. Tigerstar is quite pleased with himself, having an enormous, united Clan at his beck and call after many moons of careful plotting and patient waiting. So, as many toms are wont to do when they have achieved something, he had been patrolling his new Clan's expanded territory, trying to familiarize himself with the sights and scents of RiverClan's ranges, bold and alone as he often was. He certainly wasn't just trying to get away from fish-stink, no way.

This is where things began to get strange. He takes a left, following a track worn well by many cat paws and marked by many cat sprays. He follows the path as it curves to the right. WindClan is this way, he remembers, but the border must be farther out than he thought. Tigerstar continues further, the familiar cat scents around him gradually fading away from his senses. This is the first odd thing he notices. Even so, the path goes on, and so does he.

Broad paws carry him deeper into the forest, even as strange scents tease his senses - twoleg scent is strong here, yes, but it's mingled with...other things. Birds and cats and horses, but these scents are slightly different from the ones he knows. They have a certain bite to them. A tang.

He keeps on anyway. His heart pounds a little in his chest; his claws peer out of their soft sheathes in anticipation of something special happening. Is StarClan leading him somewhere, on this strange path? Is it a vision? There's only one way to find out, and so he keeps on.

This is where the oddities reach their pinnacle. There's a snap of twigs. A crash of leaves. A shower of pollen that smells much to sweet....and suddenly someone is there in front of him. Not a cat, but perhaps not a twoleg, either. Against his better judgement, instinct drives Tigerstar's claws to their full, wicked lengh, his hackles to their highest heights. Very fearsome for a cat to see, but maybe a little more comical for anything bigger than a fox. ]

INTRUDER! [ A brazen hiss accompanies the accusation. ]

ii. OF RODENTS AND REGRET (( This one is kinda gross! Barfy gets an unwelcome visitor. ))

[ Okay. So this is a "circus" or a "carnival" or something, and the not-twolegs here can talk. That's fine. This is fine. StarClan works in strange ways. Maybe this is a warning about one of these "attractions" coming to the territories. Maybe TigerClan will have an opening to strike their enemies in the chaos! He must pay attention.

Tigerstar elects to continue his quest after having gotten himself rather lost in those bizarre woods. He has seen the entryway, certainly - he has seen it several times, in fact - but no self-respecting cat uses the front door. Thankfully, one of the menagerie stalls has a window, and while it's by all means too tight a fit for a human, Tigerstar is not a human. It's still a bit of a squeeze to push through the bars into the rancid-smelling enclosure, and Tigerstar has a few regrets at choosing this one in particular, but a warrior never turns back until it's absolutely necessary.

He sniffs around a bit, and the stink of twolegs, animal droppings, and hay punish his senses in return. He can't help but bare his fangs in a soft hiss at the odors that assault the roof of his mouth. There's something in the corner, he knows - he can see it, some kind of rat-creature. The source of that rotting smell. It must be dead. Well, if he's going to wander around here, he might as well make some effort to make it smell a little less terrible.

It's not until he's raised his tail and made his mark that Tigerstar realizes he's made a grave mistake. A hiss answers his move, and soon after he feels several sharp somethings bearing into his hindquarters.

Fur flies. Claws swipe. What follows is quite possibly one of the most ungodly cacophonies to descend upon any of the menagerie enclosures, as this 13-pound cat finds himself locked in vicious combat with a rodent of unusual size. ]

iii. ADMISSION FLEAS

[ To put a Clan cat in a collar is humiliating. To put a Clan cat in a harness is tantamount to torture. Tigerstar had not ever considered that there might be something worse than either of those, but here he is - with these horrible, too-sweet smelling twoleg-made cobwebs strangling his legs and behind with more fury than any snake he's ever tangled with.

He sits, dog-like and sullen, on the admission table in front of the carnival after a worker so graciously deposited him there. He can't bend his legs. He still smells like rat-thing. And now he has to put up with more of these weird talking not-twolegs. All of it stinks, literally and figuratively.

But he is a Clan cat. Even when he's stuck wearing what's effectively a gauze diaper, Tigerstar still finds a little dignity in himself to sit with his chin high as he regards the carnival worker in front of him. Or perhaps the new arrival behind him. Either way, these twolegs make him angry and he has a few things to say to them. ]

This is an outrage! [ Another hiss slithers out under his words. ] First you invade TigerClan territory, then you humiliate me. I never imagined you twolegs to be the dignified sort, but it disappoints me to find out you have even less honor than I anticipated. What do you have to say for yourself?

iv. WILDCATS! ER, WILDCARD!

Somehow, Tigerstar does manage to get himself into the carnival the right way. You might encounter him somewhere on the carnival grounds, though most likely not inside any buildings or tents. Maybe you tripped over him. Or maybe he made a mad dash for your ankles. Let's get creative! Feel free to add or DM me on Discord @asraith#4423.

TRYING TO...LEAF.... the link is to an image ref GON LOOKS VERY NOT ICON-LIKE

[betheman]

[Well, speaking of foxes...

This 'fox' isn't quite a fox. Rather, this 'fox' has traits of one up the top, but then the forelegs of a bear, the hindlegs of a massive horse, and a mane of leaves from head to tail, fierce antlers poking from his brow there. And as comical as he seems to others, he is also quite large-nine feet tall, in fact, and peering downward with rather large, innocently confused eyes. In other words, certainly nothing likely to appear 'comical' to Tigerstar. A crash of leaves brings more leaves, upon great, massive paws.

And well, with such size, why would he be at all threatened by a spitting cat!] Hmm?

[Gongenzaka's voice is a rumble, and yet he does not move even to defend against what scratches may come.] Intruder? [he questions.] Have you perhaps wandered in from your own realm then, sir?

[And it must be a sir, that much Gongenzaka is certain of. From the voice which he hears, it cannot be a child...though it is odd, certainly, to be speaking to what seems to be an ordinary cat. Ah, well-there are all sorts of realms after all, are there not?

And so Gongenzaka continues.] Perhaps we may speak about this, if you are willing? If anyone is intruding, it would most certainly be yourself...however, such matters are hardly a serious crime with that in mind...

[Certainly not with the Ringmaster's latest judgement, anyway.]

3

[scientificist]

[After a notification from the Animal Keeping team, Herbert made his irritable way over to admissions. Apparently, he's not only functionally a vet now, what with the animalistic changes to various coworkers, but literally one, what with the newest arrival literally being a cat. A talking one, certainly, but still a cat.

He stands in front of the cat in his shirtsleeves, heavy gloves he borrowed from Maintenance tucked under one of his arms. On his back, his wings droop halfway open like an injured bird, as he's forgotten to keep them tucked up against him again, new as they are.

The cat seems to be a domesticated sort, if scarred and filthy in a way that suggests he's feral. It's actually something of a relief that he's talking, because Herbert knows how to respond to that in a way he never really knows how to with normal cats. Even so, his cat inexperience is fairly evident because he keeps eye contact through Tigerstar's entire complaint, his expression shifting from flat to a mildly more intense stare out of bemusement.]

Are you referring to your treated injuries or to being placed on a table?

Trying to Leaf

[criticallyfucked]

[The bad news is that Tigerstar's intruder is about 9 feet tall from the top of his head to the bottom of his hooves.

The good news is that he stops dead in his tracks regardless, his brow creased just slightly, two dead squirrels closed tightly in one heavy bearlike-paw.

Foster has... seen a lot of things in the past several months, and very few of them have given him much pause. Dragons ('dragons'), fae, magic, terrible and awesome transformations, deaths and rebirths... all of that is well within the bounds of his reality anyway.

This is also technically within those bounds, but...]

[catsatan]

[ What in StarClan is that thing. It smells like a twoleg. And a tree. And a horse. And a few other things Tigerstar has never smelled before. But, more importantly, it's very big and it's very close. Now, Tigerstar isn't one to be frightened away by most things - he wouldn't play chicken with a monster, of course, but he's certainly had some close calls without being scared off or even especially ruffled.

This, however, scared him. Maybe it was the loud noise of Gongenzaka's hooves shaking the ground under his paws. Maybe it was the baffling cocktail of smells that blew in on his tailwind. Or maybe it was just because he was, in fact, very big. Either way, it's enough to prompt Tigerstar into doing something he has not done in many moons.

He swipes at one of Gongenzaka's forepaws...and then runs away. His retreat is far from quiet, of course, but it's pretty hasty. Regardless, it would not be hard for a quadruped of Gongenzaka's size to catch up.

Tigerstar hardly registers that he understands what this creature is saying until he's a few meters away. ]

[betheman]

AUH- W-WAIT-!!

[There were enough normal cats about the carnival, that Gongenzaka could at least recognize...somewhat, what happened. A cat had scratched, admittedly drawing some glowing red blood (not that he paid it much mind), and bolted- which were...pretty good indicators of fear.

Suffice to say, he does not follow immediately, scratching the side of his cheek instead before sighing and sniffing at the air. Unfamiliar cat or no, it is still a unique scent, and so he follows until he is at a close enough distance that he can attempt speech.]

Sir! [He announces, sitting his lower half down for the moment. Perhaps that will be enough to prove peaceful intent-the rest of him, fierce as he appears, certainly lacks the tells of a violent stranger.] As I, the man Gongenzaka, stated...you walk upon Carnival grounds.

Neither myself, nor any other here I should believe, intend you harm... But if you could state your own name, it would assuredly make this a far easier conversation..!

[It's Gon-Speak for Introduce yourself.]

[catsatan]

I'm referring to these cobwebs. [ He doubles over and lifts one leg to tug at his bandages with his teeth. It tastes terrible, but he would love to loosen them at least a little bit. ] They stink of those twoleg cutters and they look ridiculous.

[ The irate tabby tomcat relents eventually and glares back up at him. He wrinkles his scarred snout in an open snarl and hisses, the sound yet again undercutting Faeish in a peculiar way. ] If my haunches weren't bound I could easily leave this silly stump and get back to figuring out how to get you and your stinking contraptions off of my territory.

[ Tigerstar boldly maintains eye contact with the doctor, bristling from head to tail in response to what certainly, definitely has to be direct aggression toward him. This man smells bad. Almost as bad as the rat-thing he was fighting earlier. Maybe worse. He doesn't like him either way. ]

[catsatan]

[ A horse? A HORSE!! Tigerstar has been close to horses before, but he's never been this close. And this one's carrying squirrels - it's a poacher!

But...wait. It has a twoleg body, too. Oh, okay. He's heard of this. Sometimes twolegs sit on horses.

A TWOLEG IS POACHING ON TIGERCLAN TERRITORY! ]

Those squirrels!! Those don't belong to you!

[catsatan]

[ Where is he? Tigerstar, being the tabby that he is, is at least a little naturally gifted at hiding in underbrush. That said, it may be a bit easy for Gongenzaka to hear the clumsy steps of a distressed feline trying to move around him. The furious feline screech that greets him as Tigerstar launches himself up at his (mostly) equine body, of course, is even harder to miss.

The enraged Clan cat would sink his long claws into this stranger's hide, given the chance. He just got TigerClan united, and by StarClan he is not about to let some weird horse...twoleg...tree...thing threaten that unity. ]

I will not share niceties with you, outsider!

[ It would seem that so far Gon's words are not getting through to him. How one calms down a furious talking feral cat, however, is another question entirely. ]

[criticallyfucked]

[That's sort of like what's happening here, Tigerstar. Except it's not actually what's happening here at all, other than the part where he's being accused of not owning the squirrels in his hand.

Which is technically true. He looks briefly uncertain, pausing just a moment before glancing askance at the ex-rodents.]

No... who are you?

[He's been 'harvesting' rodents and birds from both the barn and forest for months without issue; the Ringmaster never intervened or seemed to notice. Which made sense. The wildlife belonged to her. He also belonged to her. His killing and using her fauna didn't change that--in the end, all of it was still hers.

But that's the only thing he can think of, at the moment--that this hefty cat is somehow a messenger of the Ringmaster's come to warn him against further predations. So he's actually asking when he says:]

Did the Ringmaster send you?

[betheman]

[Oiii Oiii...] If there are any between us who is an outsider, it would be yourself, if anything... This is assuredly no territory of yours, as much as you appear to have found an enterance to this place...

[He crosses his arms, raising a brow.] If you feel this is not the case then sir, I, the man Gongenzaka, ask you...prove it. Give reason that we would be standing in something rightfully yours.

[Go on, make his day.]