livinglot | ⇨ Test Drive Meme: SPACE OLYMPICS

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Despite everything that's recently happened, painful and kind of awful as it was... 'The show must go on'. And so the Carnival has moved on, and opened its doors once again. This time they're not even taking a week to get to know the locals and practice - just directly going into welcoming guests.

At least this time has two big things going for it!

First is that, with the Foreman away, Papyrus is the effective head of the janitorial staff, able to decide his own schedule (cindersprites have to do what they're told, unfortunately, and the only other employees are temps assigned to janitor duties as punishment). So if he wants to go explore the spaceship, or stick around the carnival... there's not much stopping him, except maybe for the Ringmaster ordering something, or word coming about his brother's egg.

Second is that, unlike about half of their usual destinations, this one doesn't have just mundane humans everywhere. The people coming through the gates are only sometimes bipedal, a wonderful variety of shapes and sizes that feels like home. No hunted and haunted expressions from living with mysterious disappearances... and even a rock-riddled skeleton like himself hardly gets second glances, as they push forward to enjoy the rides, games, and performances.

It's a relief. Such a relief, after such a stressful time, that Papyrus is hanging out people-watching. Loitering by the entrance gate with a cleaning cart nearby, just in case something happens. Still in his Staff shirt but, really, off the clock.

So he's in perfect position to notice when one of the crowd pauses to stand and stare around them, even before reaching any of the major attractions. That they're one of the sort who looks nearly human, with only minor clues like pointy ears or golden lines... and that they don't seem to be here with anybody.

Well, if he wants to get back to feeling like himself, maybe a good place to start is welcoming this lost and confused person. Papyrus waves and calls out, "Hello, over there! Is there anything I, the great Papyrus, can help you with?"

Yuusei's broken out of his daze by the sound of a voice cutting distinctly through the general uproar of the crowd. It isn't a voice he recognises by any means, but he turns to where he thinks it came from anyway since it sort of sounds like something someone might say to someone like him. To say there's no shock in his expression when he's met with a skeleton would be false.

He's definitely human, so the surprise is perhaps to be expected, but in truth, all it takes is a few blinks for him to settle back into the confusion brought about merely by his surroundings. In addition to currently being surrounded by aliens and other sorts of creatures, he's also been through a lot within the past several months. A very friendly-looking skeleton in a sea of sort-of-monsters is something he can handle.

To his own surprise, he returns the skeleton's gesture with a small wave of his own. "I... I'm not sure," he answers truthfully, continuing to glance around as if still gathering his bearings. "This is my first time here... Er, at a carnival in general, actually..."

For Papyrus, it's still a mystery. He'd thought he finally figured out which traits were common to all humans, and then keeps coming across exceptions. Humans who've been changed somehow, people that just coincidentally look human but aren't, now other species that look almost exactly human... Most of which have skeletons that look like him, and get spooked at the sight.

But, brief spooking aside, he smiles more widely at the answer and says a little wistfully, "Oho! I remember when that was me. Marveling at the sights and sounds..."

He turns and considers the bulk of the park. What would be best to suggest to a new, short-term guest? "Hmmm... There's plenty of food, if you're hungry! And rides and games, if you'd like to try something fun. Shows of astounding athletics, if you like to be awed... and, uh, if you have things you'd like to reflect on, there's always the mirror maze."

It's not the most popular destination, but it is a spot that upsets some people enough to break a rule and get in debt. Probably a few of the accidental employees started out there.

⇨ Test Drive Meme: SPACE OLYMPICS

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