⇨ Test Drive Meme: THE ATHENAEUM

[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 CLOSED. Lost Carnival is now accepting willing recruits only. This means that your character will have to willingly sign on in exchange for a major favour from the Ringmaster. Current characters are encouraged to make this offer known. Future events will temporarily make specific forms of unwilling recruitment available, but those will strictly event specific and will be announced as they occur. 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. CURRENT STOP↴ ⇨ THE ATHENAEUM ⇦ The Athenaeum is a city sized library realm comprised of absolutely nothing but hall after hall of books. Some rooms are well organized, vast and carefully categorized, while others are simply enormous piles of tomes with no rhyme or reason to their contents. Many cannot be read at all. The ones you can read, however, are a sampling of literature and history from all over the multiverse, in quantities beyond your comprehension. The catch? The only true way to find what you're looking for is to trust in fate. Literally. As it turns out, the carnival is currently nestled right in the middle of this massive library, with tall shelves of books replacing what would usually be trees. It's a peculiar sight - thought perhaps not quite as odd as the hundreds of book character brought to life that are attending the carival with you, as fellow patrons. ► BOOK GHOSTS: While many of the specters are perfectly innocuous, there is nothing dividing them from the evil and dangerous things in fiction, and within the Scribe's recorded history. It's entirely possible that certain characters or imagined beings may threaten carnival visitors - the best way to fight back against them is to improvise a story back at them, and to play by their stories rules while turning events so that you come out as the winner. Suffice to say, it will be difficult if you aren't a creative type. For more details about these book ghosts, check out the event post. Recruits from this month will be signing on with the carnival between Day 47 and Day 53 on the season calendar. They can appear in the carnival at any point during those days, or the weeks 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. The spirits are even more grouchy and bored since the Ringmaster told them they weren't allowed to trick people into taking on debt anymore. ► 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. They may have originally been tricked into service, but apparently the Ringmaster isn't doing that anymore. ► 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

ERUKA FROG | RETURNING VETERAN

[amphibiopathic]

Re-Arrival

Well, well. Of all the places Eruka expected to find herself back in, the Carnival wasn't it. Her changes haven't entirely faded in the time she's been away: her hair has a translucent, gelatinous quality to it as it sways behind her, bioluminescent teal spots are scattered across her nose like freckles, and there's something not quite right about her shadow... but none of that is important right now. She enters the Carnival after paying a nominal fee, and immediately looks to find the ones who are obviously Carnival workers -- anyone with visible changes -- who she's quick to accost, the point of her hat bobbing as she goes.

"Hey, you. Do you know where I can find the Ringmaster?" She tries to put as much authority into her voice as she can, though she can't quite suppress the nervous ribbit it's punctuated with.

Gamer's Circle
Eruka's making a particularly aggressive stinkface at one of the games -- throwing a ball to knock down a bunch of glasses stacked together -- which is more than understandable, considering the last time she was here, this is what ended up with her being forced to sign on for a year and a day.

"It's harder than it looks," she tells whoever might be around at the time. "Don't let yourself get fooled."

Tunnel of Love

"Now this is new." Hands on her hips, the girl in the creepy witch hat is surveying the unfamiliar attraction with interest and an increasingly mounting sense of excitement. Eruka wouldn't call herself a romantic, per say, but ... this looks like a real bit of harmless fun, doesn't it? Not as creepy and personal like the mirror maze!

But... at the same time, it would be really lame to go alone, so she's naturally turning to the person next to her with a playful wink.

"How about it? Want to ride with me?"

[ ooc: Eruka is a veteran, but her exact place in the timeline/duration at the Carnival is flexible and something I'm still feeling out! ]

TUNNEL OF LOVE LMFAO

[betheman]

"MNH- NNH!?" Gongenzaka doesn't recognize Eruka- certainly not immediately at least. It's been months, literally, and he himself hadn't exactly been especially social during the six few months he had been around before the Vampire War. For him, it was a focus in training, a focus on working with the Warden of that time, so on, so on...

Now?

Now, he's...very different. "A-Auh... I, the man Gongenzaka, do not feel it would be the best experience..!" His quirk at least will no doubt give the ever fluster-able teen away, but he's quite a number of feet taller thanks to his legs being traded out for this centaur form. More than that, before he'd ended up fighting a pile of vampires, his changes were far less significant. Fur had covered his arms, and his ears at most more or less. His fangs were shorter, and his ears simply pointed rather than the large fox ones they are now. The rest of him at the time had been, well...

Human. 5 feet and 8 inches of human. Not...This Mess. "Is...Is there even room..?!" he continues to question, currently wondering if he ought to back away from all of this.

gamers circle

[hellzone]

Don't let yourself get fooled, yeah right. She can take this! She's Yoshiko Tsushima, normalass school idol Yohane, fallen angel extraordinaire! What's a simple knock down the glasses game compared to demonic power? Nothing! Eat dirt, carnival games!

Yoshiko strikes a pose, making a dramatic hand gesture over her eye with one hand while she holds a ball with her other hand. She lets out a low chuckle before she starts talking. "No matter how hard it is, with the forces of the demonic at my fingertips, tis but a trifle!"

She brings her arm back, throws the ball at the glasses...and misses entirely. The ball soars a good foot above the glasses before hitting the back of the tent. Whoops.

[amphibiopathic]

On sight, Eruka hadn't recognized him in the least -- poor boy, she'd thought absently, must have gotten a double dose of the Ringmaster's magic. But as soon as he opens his mouth, there's no mistaking that voice.

The question of fitting into the Tunnel of Love's seats has to be put aside for the moment, as Eruka takes a couple of steps back herself just to squint up at Gongenzaka properly (and there's quite a lot of him, so that's no easy feet). Could that really be--

"Gon?!"

[betheman]

It could be considered impressive, that he jumps- perhaps more impressive is that he noticably jumps, springing up a fair bit in shock as things click into place. "MNH- E-Eruka..!?" he sputters, blinking rather rapidly to make certain he's correct. It's been some time, after all- but there's no doubt about it.

"It has been some time..!" he chokes. "I, the man Gongenzaka, had thought your contract completed..!" What's she doing back here!? It's the worst-

Or, well maybe 'best' in some ways, they could use some demolition sorts...

But it's the worst time to come here!

[amphibiopathic]

"Pfft--" Eruka isn't trying very hard to smother her snicker of amusement as Yoshiko completely fails to come anywhere near hitting the target. However, it seems like good fun at someone else's expense, so she'll linger where she is, rabbit-like ears twitching curiously.

"Doesn't seem like the demonic forces heard you that time."

[amphibiopathic]

"It was," Eruka says firmly, not without a little shudder at the memory. Really, it wasn't so bad once she finally accepted the idea she'd be stuck in a traveling interdimensional carnival (something that took a few months, admittedly) for a while, and she was almost sorry to go, but she had better places to be. Things to do.

And then Medusa happened, and, well...

"I'm here to make another contract." She puts a hand to her hip, surveying Gongenzaka up and down. "Looks like I've missed a lot."

[betheman]

He is polite enough, fortunately, to not question that. After all- people came back for all sorts of reasons, and who knew what sorts of developments the more volitile of realms would bring. If one came out from a world where combat was more common, well...

...It seemed natural that things would escalate. All the same, he coughs. "Auh....I-in a sense, yes..! Truthfully however, I have only recently completed my own initial contract...as far as I, the man Gongenzaka can tell in fact, nothing about myself has changed since the second contract was drafted..." It's quite a lot to occur over a year- half that, even, given the differences.

He's very unlucky.

[hellzone]

And Yoshiko's already trying to come up with an explanation to justify her natural unluckiness. Because that's what this is: pure, simple unluckiness.

"They work in mysterious ways," she grumbles, as she picks up and throws the second ball. That's another wide miss.

FELIX | RED VS BLUE | NEW RECRUIT

[monology]

ADMISSION FEES
"Look, you already took my guns and ammo from me, why don't you keep some of the rounds and call that something of value!" A man in some high tech full body armor is arguing with a front gate clerk. With the electronic filtering on his voice, it'd be easy to mistake him for some sort of robot if not for the fluidity with which he was angrily gesticulating.

"Just because you're some sort of hallucination, doesn't mean you can try to pull a fucking scam on me," he says as he jabs a finger at the clerk. It doesn't seem like he's got a solid grasp on the situation.

MIRROR MAZE
Felix hadn't actually meant to go into the maze, but he'd found himself stuck inside almost immediately and decided to just go for it. Now that he's been in here long enough for the Complication to arise, he's really not in the mood for it. "Your constant talking is just covering up-" The reflection's taunt is cut short by an armored fist smashing the mirror it was standing in. Felix makes it about 5 feet before another reflection pipes up, "Your mother would be so disappointing with what you've become!"

He stands there, a moment, "really, that's supposed to throw me? Like I care." He doesn't seem to be lying about this, but smashes the mirror anyway. This property damage probably shouldn't continue.

WILD CARD- COOKHOUSE
Later, after having gotten his bearings and met with the ringmaster, Felix is sitting in the outdoor seating of the cookhouse, looking vaguely irritated. You can tell this, because he's finally removed his helmet.

You'd think someone signed up for a magic carnival would look a little less put out, but he's sitting here futzing with an empty hot dog tray as if he's trying to extract information out of it.

admissions

[whattaprick]

"And what scam would that be?"

Swaggering up to Felix is a man that would look honestly more demonic than anything else, between the golden horns and lashing tail. People treating the situation like it's a hallucination is hardly a new sight, but this new arrival looks like he could be trouble, if it's not all nipped in the bud.

"Can't be something of value if you give it up that easy."

mirrors!

[kingsroads]

The property damage really shouldn't continue. And Jonathan Strange, who had been practicing his magic in the mirror maze, certainly won't let it continue. He's using these mirrors, idiot, stop breaking them!

One of Felix's reflections is replaced by the image of a man in his thirties, wearing a loose cotton shirt and a set of trousers that look like they came out of a Jane Austen novel. His hair is slightly on fire and his eyes are mirrored over. Various other patches of mirrored coating on his body reflect the light like he's some sort of period drama disco ball.

"If you're going to break things, shall I direct you towards the forest? We've a couple of beasts there that would make better targets than the mirrors."

Strange himself is physically somewhere else in the maze. But he is speaking to the angry man via reflection first so he doesn't get punched in the face.

[amphibiopathic]

"The last time I saw you, you didn't have six limbs," Eruka says, harrumphing faintly, and her brow furrows, taking a closer look.

"What happened to your arm?" She has so many questions, Gon. This is what happens when you're lucky enough to peace out before the vampire run-in happened!

[amphibiopathic]

"Hmm~" Eruka places her hand on her hip, tutting. "You're never going to win anything like that, ribbit. Maybe you should quit while you're ahead."

She doesn't the type who would, though. Eruka's counting on that ... and counting on Yoshiko burning through whatever money she has on this stupid game! Imploding someone's wallet isn't nearly as fun as blowing something up, but she'll take what she can get.

[betheman]

"Eaten," he huffs, looking caught somewhere between 'it was annoying' and 'it's bad but it's really not as bad as it sounds, trust me'. Perhaps with a side dose of 'ok it was'- but, he holds the arm out in case Eruka wants to look it over, the lens on the repulsor shining. "One or our current Patrol members is a blade of unique sorts- they had entered frenzy, and took my arm when I stood between them and others."

There is a somewhat awkward pause, and his ears flick. "Afterward however... ...He apparently regretted this enough to tear off his own arm, for until he was able to purchase a replacement," Gongenzaka coughs. Hence, the robo-arm.

That said.

"As for the limbs... ...it is what one apparently risks in requesting a second chance at life with the Ringmaster. After you left, we were attacked.. ...I, the man Gongenzaka, was among the casualties."

[hellzone]

She is not the type who would quit. Instead, Yoshiko grabs the third ball, closes her eyes, then starts back on her bullshit as she very loudly intones to all those who can hear her,

"Forces of darkness! Little demons of Numazu! I, Yohane, fallen angel, call upon you to support me in overcoming these trials and tribulations! Let thy aim strike true and heed my call!"

She opens her eyes and gives the ball stand one last fiercely determined look. Yoshiko brings her arm back and lobs the ball as hard as she can. It...also misses, but the ball ricochets off of a wooden support beam at such an angle that it's flying right towards Eruka's face.

Son Goku | Dragon Ball

[4starlowclasshero]

Game Center:

"Oh, wow, now this looks like something fun to do!"

Goku couldn't help but look at the gathered games and took notice of one of the strength games, the kind where you gotta hit the plunger with a hammer. That was really easy for Goku to do, but he knows how stupidly strong he is. Taking the hammer, he's busy trying to judge his strength and how to hit this plunger. "Okay... can't hit it too hard... here!"

And he just drops the hammer on the plunger, causing it to lift it partway. The spirit is easily urging him to go harder.

"Oh, no, I can't do that - I'd probably break something!"

Wild Card - Cooking Circle

Oh, hey, see that table that has piles and piles of food on it? Is there a family there or something? Oh, no, it's just Goku. And he's eating the entire pile as if it was nothing. And he takes notice of you.

"Oh, hey there!" he says, mouth full before he swallows it. "Ooof, sorry, I was really hungry and they had so much here to offer! Training for awhile really takes it out of me!" He continues eating for a bit. "So, what brings you over here? Don't tell me break time's over! I just started!"

GAMES

[betheman]

It is with warm laughter, that Gongenzaka greets the one at the Test of Strength. His paws and hooves plod behind the other, and he beams. "It is not often that one takes such care to avoid damages," he observes, nodding his head. "There were many a patron who found themselves in debt as a result, though it would not be enough now..." Ah, but that aside.

"Are you enjoying yourself, sir?"

[4starlowclasshero]

"Oh, believe me, sometimes I forget how strong I am and I kinda wreck things." Goku said, laughing nervously. "As for enjoying myself, you bet! Been awhile since I could stop a bit and just do something fun."

He leans over to Gongenzaka and whispers, "Just don't tell Chi-chi. She still thinks I'm out tending the fields."

[betheman]

"Chi-chi..?" He pauses for a moment. Maybe...a friend? Partner? If tending the fields is in there, then... "Hmn! A farmer, are you?" Gongenzaka asks, raising a brow. "I, the man Gongenzaka, confess...that is not the profession I would expect of one who claims to struggle with control of strength..." And he's spent a while learning to control his.

That said. "Well! You should not worry all the same," he laughs. "Time shall no doubt 'pause' itself beyond the limits of this realm for until you leave after all..!"

[4starlowclasshero]

Goku was about to explain before... “Wait, time doesn’t move while I’m here?” With that, Goku slumps to the ground crosses his legs and ponders something.

gon do u even kno who this is..............

[betheman]

"Ah...Correct. That is what I, the man Gongenzaka, said..." He blinks.

"...Do be warned, if you intend to take advantage of this...things are likely to grow quite dangerous here," he warns, frowning.

Oh, he will!

[4starlowclasshero]

“Dangerous? Heh, I’m always up for a good challenge!” Goku said, grinning. “The tougher the better!”

[betheman]

"Auh....Th-That..." He coughs into his mechanical arm, looking somewhat awkward. And very nervous. "...This is far from a matter to take lightly, you should understand..! More than that, you are here to enjoy the entertainment offered by the Carnival, not the dangers of those pursuing us, are you not..!?"

He didn't even mention they were being pursued before, but maybe a slight, quiet part of him hopes that will sober Goku up.

It will not.

[4starlowclasshero]

“Wait, you guys are being chased?!” Goku said, hopping up onto his feet, surprised. “Look, I just met you and just got here and all, but I’m not going to let anyone bully people around! Especially if they can’t protect themselves!”

Goku’s serious face is on!