livinglot | ⇨ Test Drive Meme: SPACE OLYMPICS

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test drive meme

⇨ 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

[She tilts her head a bit. No words? Well.

She can probably work with that. She wouldn't need shadows anyway.] Umn...you don't have to work. Just some people stay. I'm staying, because the Ringmaster is going to help someone for me... ...but, also, I get to learn lots of things here, [She decides, nodding.] ...I got schoolbooks that I can read now, and there's lots of different foods I never saw before...and 'holidays', too... [Really there's so much at this point it's a bit overwhelming, so she changes focus to Six's raised hand. What could she be questioning...

...Oh!

The other thing.] Umnhh...but if you don't want to work, 'Carnivals' are supposed to be for 'fun things'. I'm still learning about those too, but...a ride is something to sit on, and it takes you through the air, or through a tunnel, and you do it to be happy, I think.

...The roller coaster made me feel happy, I guess... [She's still trying to really...come to terms with how feelings work for her, honestly.]

[Fun things... Somehow, the idea feels a little foreign, but not so much. She can remember taking a few moments of peace for herself, bouncing up and down on mattresses that hadn't been too worn down for it. It was 'fun', she thinks, to listen to the music box play for a moment, and fun for a fraction of a second to see the looks of delight on the other children's faces when she had brought it to them.]

[ (and then, perhaps typically, the feeling had been ruined, lost, replaced instead by another tale, another reminder of the horrible things which could lurk in even the fun or mundane.) ]

[Her chin tilts down a little bit in her thoughts, and she finally steps out a little more from behind the tree. Finally, her gaze is torn away from Reira to look at the bright spectacle that is the carnival. It goes back and forth a few times, uncertain and confused.]

[And Reira sits in silence, feeling the feelings that Six gives off, identifying what she can, but finding most of them rather close to the ones in her own heart.]

...'Fun' things are hard to know, [she eventually decides, following Six's gaze toward the Carnival.] ...it's hard to know what to do or try, I think.

...Lots of things look more dangerous, sometimes. [They speak of hovering missiles, or roving tanks, distant things that her mind has already worked hard to forget. That or they speak of bike chases across the dimensions, colourful holograms used for the destruction of everything else.

Well, she decides.]

...Sitting here is 'nice', though. ...It's quiet.

[Indeed, it is.]

[Perhaps they know the same things, if the other girl can say that so easily. In her own mind, Six follows the words to their conclusion. Lots of things look more dangerous, with their fake faces or their long threatening hands... And sometimes it's the things that look elegant and pretty, all flowing grace, that are actually the most dangerous things of all.]

[...But maybe she doesn't have to worry about that right now. Reira is right, and Six nods her head slowly. The plants are beautiful, and new, and seem to speak of better things than the cold dark of the Maw. If that's only wistful thinking, who knows.]

[After a second, she moves onto more pressing matters, and points her hand to the soft fluffy thing in Reira's lap.]

[The fluffy thing stares back.] Mnh. That's my 'daemon', [Reira explains calmly.] ...I learned how to make them come out, while we were having the carnival at another place.

...It's my 'soul', [She adds.] But... ...They remember some things I don't, and don't like to talk a lot... ...They sound different too.

[But all the same, as she stares to the squirrel, it seems to realize that she'd like them to speak now. And so-]

...Greetings.

[A deep echoey voice that does not at all fit the squirrel, meets the air. But that's all it says.]

...Sometimes, they're other things, like a big bird-almost as bit as the Eagle is.

Right now they're as big as Kage though.

[Who's Kage? Who knows.]

[Six faintly thinks she recalls what a soul is, although she can't recall where she's learned it. It's certainly strange information, even if it doesn't seem bad... yet. She takes another step, her limbs tense in preparation to leap anywhere in response to anything, and she raises a hand again, this time palm out.]

[It... It looks really soft. So much so she kind of wants to touch it.]

[Careful careful, Six. There's something a bit taboo about the idea of touching the daemon, that sits in the air, but it's very light. Especially as Reira gently nods to the little thing, and as it braces itself as well-reaching out after a moment to bow their head.]

[Sorry, what, she missed the boat on that particular stop.]

[That's enough for Six to carefully trot closer, pausing every now and then to look around as if to make sure there's no traps waiting for her. Soon, however, she pauses close enough to reach out just enough... and run her hand carefully along the very tips of the fur. A smile finally spreads across her face, delighted at such simple softness that tickles her skin.]

[A True Shame.

Except maybe also not, given the gloomy island of kids and spectres-

It's a very soft feeling, and a very warm feeling as well. Reira can feel it in a weird way, in her heart-and both she and the daemon close their eyes, smiling in the silence.

They'll be patient however, as if they didn't have a lot of chances before, they're sure Six hasn't either.]

[For a while longer, she continues to pet, almost never daring to really press her hand in. When she finally pulls her hand away, it's still with that little smile of contentment on her lips.]

[Once more, she looks back towards the carnival, thinking. Maybe... She points to the carnival again, still looking down at Reira's demon. Are there more things like this there, then?]

[Reira carefully moves the squirrel up on her head. They're safest there, and a tiny sparrow is actually pulling their way out from behind odd flower things and more hair to join them. Peep peep-

The message fortunately, has been received though, and she actually...shakes her head???]

Mnh, I don't think a lot of people have their daemons out, when they're working. But...if you want to see animals, that's in the menagerie, where I work, [she explains.] ...Most animals get scared because of the loud noises, and all the different people...so they have their own spot.

A lot of them are really big, [She adds-and if Reira says they're big, imagine how much bigger they are than Six!] ...So I'm supposed to look after the smaller ones instead.

[If this kid thinks they're big... Six definitely recoils a little, the smile disappearing fast as it'd came, and she shakes her head.]

[No. No going to the menagerie for her, thank you.]

Mnh. Ok. [No judgement. She's pretty sure you're the size of Tyrannosaurus' eye, friend.

But anyway.] ...Do you think you'll stay for a while here, then? [Just...here, on the outskirts, she supposes. She doesn't know where you came out from, but it probably wasn't the best place if you're all hidey.]

[Well.... Thinking carefully, Six considers her options. There's no point in going back to the Maw. Honestly, there's nowhere else for her either out in the world, which is filled with as many other horrors as the Maw itself.]

[Maybe... Tilting her head back up, her feet shift against the ground a little bit. She's not entirely sure how to get across the question she has in her mind.]

...Are you stuck?

[Is what she thinks of in turn, with that sort of hesitance. Not wanting to go back, but not knowing about what's ahead.] ...I could let you hide on something I have, and show you things, if that helps. [She pauses though, frowning.] Umnh... ...I don't know what things to show, but I can definitely show some things, at least.

I'd know how to get back to the tree, definitely.

[Stuck.... Her head tilts to the side curiously before she nods. It's a good way to put it. She's stuck, like when she's been in a room and unsure how to move through it before something bad could happen. Like then, she supposes she could just forge ahead, taking things as they come.... but to know things ahead of time seems almost like a privilege she should take advantage of.]

[The only question she has now is.... She leans from side to side, taking in Reira. Where exactly would she hide?]

[Well, there's a few options, ones that Reira will let Six decide on. The first is her work pants-they're overalls, with a big pocket right at the front. The other option is...probably those weird tube-looking flowers off the back of her head. That could get dangerous though.

The other option is similarly cling-dependent however. Reira's hair is long. Really long. She could probably easily hide off her back, and just peer over her shoulder. No one would ever know!]

[After a few seconds, Six comes to her decision. What's getting pointed at next? Reira's hair, of course.]

[If she's going to be somewhere... then it feels it would be easier to take control of the situation back there than anywhere else.]

[Hair it is.] Mnh-back there should be ok...that's where Kage goes, [She adds, a small 'peep' coming from the sparrow up top again. The girl nods, and stoops down a bit, so that Six can climb up. The shirt she has should at least give some grip for scrambling up, if need be. And she's patient enough to wait until Six is ready.]

[If nothing else, Six is a good climber so long as her fingers have something to gasp and her feet have holds to steady against. She goes up Reira's overalls quickly enough, and carefully maneuvers her way over the shoulder down into the curtain of hair.]

[Okay... She should be ready.]

[Well, assuming Six gives...some sort of indication that she's all set then, Reira is careful to only slowly get up. She doesn't run either. She keeps herself at a pretty steady pace walking!] Umn...I'll try not to talk a lot, so that people don't realize you're hiding, ok? But if you want to stop, just tap, ok?

[That should be fine, right? Anyway. Off they go, they'll be walking past the threshold...Reira does take care to pay for admission to cover Six though. It'd be terrible to trick someone into a contract like that!! They're mostly going past midway stuff first though.]

[Very faintly, Reira will be able to feel something very light patting against her back. Six is pretty strong, for her size, but that doesn't take away from the tininess.]

[Still, she waits almost breathlessly as she feels Reira move. It's strange, clinging to someone like this, having to rely on them to get her somewhere safely. When Reira stops to pay for admission, her heart almost stops. She can't see anything, after all.]

[But then they're moving right along again, and she cautiously calms down.]

[The carnival, primarily...is lights. Up in the sky is the stars and two moons, down below is lights, and predominantly laughter as people run about with purchased and mildly magical squirt guns, or cheap carnival toys. Reira is careful not to let herself be bumped into, or to bump into anyone, for that matter-important, for even among aliens she really isn't that big. Most of these people and things are at least a head if not two taller than she is.

She manages well enough though, and eventually they're wandering around the attractions of the right side of the Carnival. Things like 'test your strength' and 'rubber porg catching' are now here for the location, but Reira's attentions are mostly fixed on a rather large tower sort of thing that she keeps going toward unless she's stopped.

If they do get there-swings is what it is. She'll mutter, when she's pretty sure no one can hear her-] ...I don't know if it's 'fun', but I was happy when I was on it, at least. ...Do you want to try? We can use my pocket so you don't fly away.

[Otherwise, y'know. ...Could be dangerous.]

[All the details of the carnival are lost to Six, for most of their journey, at least those that she can readily see. Reira's hair is in the way for that, although all the light flashes through. It's a strange, brilliant thing, to see all the different colors that shine past. All the lights Six can remember are the painful bright florescent of kitchens and televisions, the sad flickering of campfires and little lighters... Things like that. Nothing that is anything like the colors she sees that flash past Reira's hair. It's almost enough to make her want to poke her head out, even before the bigger girl comes to a stop.]

[At the sound of Reira speaking up again, her clothes start to be tugged as tiny hands haul Six back up past her hair to flop onto her shoulder. For a second, everything is so bright and dazzling that Six can't see anything. Her vision clears up after a moment and a lot of blinking, and, while her eyes can't be seen still, her mouth is a little agape.]

[That is a definitely A Thing.]

[Six has definitely seen a lot of strange bits of machinery before, all over in The Maw as it worked to keep itself afloat. Yet she'd never seen something like this, with so arcane a purpose. And this is "fun"?]

[...Well. Alright. After a second, she gives a slight nod. She'll give this a try, and the pocket will probably be an idea for the better.]

[Right right-pocket first, and she offers her hand for Six to cling onto so she can help her to it. It has a flap, fortunately. So when they meet with the Cindersprite (with Reira, again, covering the fare for both of course), Six should be able to stay plenty hidden.

The swing itself is simple enough to get into, at least for Reira. A small bar latches down to keep her from falling through it, and beyond that the ride will slowly start to turn around.]

Mnh-here we go... [Hopefully this is nice?]

⇨ Test Drive Meme: SPACE OLYMPICS

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the number of shortshort versions of these on tiny kids that I had to dig this from makes me sad,,,

sympathetically pats

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