⇨ Test Drive Meme: EDEN (Rescued Captives)

[ringleaders]

WELCOME TO THE SHOW!↴ Or, more specifically, Lost Carnival's test drive meme! We've changed a lot this time around and have introduced a whole new method of entering the game. Before we get started, let's lay down some details: You can (and should) read the plot FAQ here. Reserves and Applications are currently OPEN. This round, new characters will be entering as rescued captives. Initially stolen away into this world by the leader of Eden, they will be rescued by current characters as part of an in-game event. 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. They will arrive in the carnival grounds with no entry log necessary. 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 SCENARIO↴ ⇨ GARDEN OF EDEN ⇦ Eden is a magical, almost idyllic realm created by a powerful nephalem, with the specific purpose of finding a way to craft the perfect mortal soul. Above ground there are beautiful forest, gardens, and architecture that is otherworldly in its splendor. You, however, don't get to see most of that, because you have been brought to its underground prison, locked away like a zoo animal to be studied by the locals. This is extra weird because everyone living in Eden is some kind of uplifted animal - the beings attending to you are a diverse assortment of species, all with the ability to talk and apparently bend reality. The underground garden you're being kept in doesn't look like a prison at first. Despite its lack of natural light, it's well decorated with plant life and various water features, its trees growing enough fruit to sustain you indefinitely. But there's no way out. It's just you and the other captives, and occasionally one of Eden's beasts coming in to check on you, or drag someone out to be examined. It's like being abducted by UFOs if the UFOs were talking animals, and the spaceship was a magical realm. You may have noticed by now that, eventually, individual test subjects stop being returned to the garden. You could imagine this is because they've been released, but realistically, you suspect it's something much worse. ► THE MIRROR: The first thing you remember of your stay in Eden is seeing a mirror, its pristine silver surface being all that you can focus on. You don't know how you got there, only that the reflection seems to reach inside of you and pull something out, as if it's splitting you in half to create your mirror image. Eventually, you lose consciousness, and wake up in the garden prison. It took you a while to get the chance to talk to any of the animals, and they are disinclined to give you anything but the most basic of information - what to eat, where to sleep. They don't seem to want to get attached. ► THE GARDENS: There's not much to do in the garden, besides lounge around and maybe speak with your fellow captives. They have more information for you than any of the animals will - some of them are human, but some of them are obviously alien, telling tales of different worlds far beyond your experience. The lights dim at night and brighten in the day, but there's no outdoors to be seen. There are cushions and blankets laying on the grass for you to sleep on, but there are no beds. No one who has gotten violent towards the animals that attend to you has come back after being hauled off. ► SOMETHING MISSING: Since the moment you've arrived, no magic or powers you had previously have worked. More than that, you feel like something inside of you is missing - like some part of your soul never came back from being split into that mirror you saw. Maybe that's an abstract idea for you, maybe you don't believe in souls. Yet, now it's an instinctive feeling that is hard to put out of your mind. What did they take from you? Can you get it back? ► WILD CARD: Want to try some threads with the assumption that your character is already with the carnival? 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 run the obstacle course? Hang out in the Backyard? Choose whatever appeals! These prompts will be considered non-canon, unless you are applying as a veteran. Recruits from this month will be signing on with the carnival in an entry log that will be posted around the start of August. You can view the in-game calendar here. ENTRY STATUS↴ Approved characters will arrive as part of an in-game event log which will cover their rescue. TDM threads are meant to be pre-rescue circumstances, and current players will be tagging in as NPCs or other captured characters. Characters rescued from Eden can have been imprisoned in the gardens for anywhere from a single day to up to three months. Good luck keeping track, though, there's no clocks down here. Characters rescued from the gardens will be mostly depowered at the time, but will get their powers back by the end of the event. Characters will be imprisoned with only the clothes on their back. All items will have been confiscated, but can potentially be retrieved in the event log.

Comments

[douchebagsealion]

"Maybe you shouldn't!!" says Ornut, drawing themselves up imperiously, insofar as a sea lion can accomplish this. They would be sweating, probably, if pinnipeds sweated. (Actually I just googled whether or not sea lions sweat and the results were inconclusive and apparently hotly debated, so Ornut may or may not be sweating profusely from the flippers, depending,,) "Maybe I have much more important things to be doing with my time than answering your, your silly people questions!"

[krunmacula]

Pluto giggles a bit to herself, but seems perfectly fine to leave Haruhi's perceptions where they are. She's not fully herself yet, after all! That can wait for later. Instead, she focuses on Haruhi's smile: direct, sensible, confident in its own way.

She so, so loves to see others smile like that.

"Oh, I love it!" And she's not particularly shy about expressing it, either. "Hold onto that feeling, okay?"

[krunmacula]

"Is that so?" Usually, Pluto's voice carries a hint of condescension in it. On her best days, it tempers out to an even certainty; more often it just seems a little smug. And this- well. This is absolutely patronizing. "Maybe you should be doing them, then. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble."

[naturalsakura]

Haruhi blushes, only a bit, as she continues to smile. It seems that they were both feeling quite confident then! She gives the other woman a firm nod. "Of course. As long as you hold onto it, too!" She says firmly. She believed that they will all get out despite the slim chances of escape. Someone or something will come and save them all, taking them back home.

"I'm Haruhi, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

[apaintingdarkly]

“I wouldn’t be much of a thief if I couldn’t steal a prisoner or two.”

She is not mistaken. Dark doesn’t stumble in making excuses, at least.

“I have certain useful skills that you don’t.”

hard same

[apaintingdarkly]

Somehow Dark manages to keep a straight face as he shrugs.

“Nah, I’m good.” He’s going to keep following and peering though.

[naturalsakura]

"Riiiight." This guy...

Haruhi raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Oh yeah? And what are this useful skills?" She asks. 70% curious, 30% ready to laugh at whatever his reply was.

[apaintingdarkly]

He sighs regretfully.

“Aside from the skills needed by a master thief? Nothing I can show you just now.” Humans tend not to believe in magic without proof, and he doesn’t intend to make himself look stupid by telling her he has it.

[naturalsakura]

Haruhi shrugs smugly. "Oh, I see how it is." She says, teasingly. "You're all bark and no bite. That's okay. I won't judge you, of course. But you really don't need to lie about those sorts of things to try and impress people. Just be yourself, Dark-senpai." Her voice dips from sarcasm to serious nearing the last part.

I am so sorry for him

[apaintingdarkly]

He moves quite suddenly into her personal space to lift her chin with a finger, his face inches from where hers would be if she didn’t pull away first.

“If you want me to bite all you have to do is ask...”

he's beautiful

[naturalsakura]

Haruhi is...unimpressed. One would be surprised how many times she's had attractive guys invading her personal space. "Real smooth. I'm absolutely swooning." She says sarcastically.

"Is this an attempt to seduce me or keep your alleged abilities a secret?"

my precious garbage boy :’)

[apaintingdarkly]

He couldn’t say he wasn’t a little disappointed, but he grinned.

“I like you, Miss Haruhi,” he concludes rather than answer the question. Haruhi knows the answer anyway, probably. He takes his time letting her face go and standing upright again.

“But you’re gonna have to be patient if you want to see what I’m capable of.”

emphasis on precious

[naturalsakura]

"Alright then. I'll hold you to it, senpai. Though, you better not disappoint." She says with a smile. This guy was certainly host club material. Maybe she could get him to break a vase and make him take her place there. Maybe. Just maybe...

"And I feel the same. Glad to see I made such a good impression so fast." She says. "Though, you can quit calling me Miss Haruhi. It's just Haruhi. Ha-ru-hi."

[apaintingdarkly]

Ouran is probably not the best place for a consummate thief, flirt or not. He would run out on his debts with all the most valuable artworks in the building.

“Haruhi,” he agrees with something like affection in his voice. This is why he likes girls- they’re so entertaining.

[naturalsakura]

"And don't go forgetting it either, oh great Phantom Thief Dark." She says. Haruhi falls silent as she takes off her suit jacket and puts it over her shoulder.

"Hmm. Phantom Thief Haruhi has a good ring to it too, though. Think I can steal your title?"

[raisineyes]

The dog huffs irritably but turns back to his work. However, he barely takes two steps before he realizes that Dark is still lingering nearby, at which point he whirls around again, twice as agitated as before.

"Now-- I really MUST insist that you cease this-- This infantile behavior at once!" he snaps, waving his pencil at the man. "I'm very busy and it's impossible to record my findings with you hovering like this!"

[douchebagsealion]

Ornut definitely wants to leave, ideally quickly -- or at least, as quickly as a sea lion can waddle on land. But that feels like it would be letting this impertinent People win.

"Look," they say, slapping a front flipper indignantly against the ground and bristling their whiskers, "if you know something that you're not letting on, you'd -- well, you'd better let on!!"

[krunmacula]

"Oh? Is that a threat?" She sounds, oh so desperately, as if she wants it to be. "And what will you be doing if I don't?"

[douchebagsealion]

"I'll -- I'll be going to get somebody," says Ornut, like they know that this is not threatening in the slightest but are trying their best to sound as if it is.

[krunmacula]

"Haruhi, huh?" It's clearly not a name she's used to hearing. She tests the word on her tongue, humming lightly as she thinks of her response. There's no need to go into much details here, is there? If Haruhi's from Earth, either she'll know her or she won't. And besides, Princess is such a stuffy title, isn't it? So she smiles, and chuckles, and says in that same tone- "Pluto. It's just wonderful to meet you."

And she means it - even in a place like this. She turns back to the surroundings, taking in all the trees and vegetation. "Is it like this, where you're from?"

[krunmacula]

"Oh, good!" Ornut's instincts prove accurate. Not only is it not threatening in the slightest, it seems to be encouraging this uppity human. "What a good guard you are! You'd probably get someone who could get that information out of me, right?"

[douchebagsealion]

Ornut opens their mouth, and then closes it. Honestly at this point they are probably sweating profusely even if sea lions don't sweat.

"Why would you want that!!"

[krunmacula]

"Hmm. I wonder!"

She may not have her gravity, her psychic powers - but she is exerting pressure and she knows it. So she leans in closer, getting juuust close enough to infringe on the sea lion's personal space. "What do you think? If I knew something, why would I want that?"

[douchebagsealion]

Ornut leans back, looking frankly alarmed. "I-- I don't know!"

[krunmacula]

"I see." Pluto leans back. Her expression is grim; for a moment, however brief, the humor has evaporated away from it. "Maybe you should figure that out, then."

She lets it linger just long enough; her eyes meeting theirs, her expression neutral. Even if she can't reach out, can't pull others into her gravitational pull any longer - well, she can almost feel the narrative-space in this moment. She sighs, smiles brightly once again, and gives a cheery little wave.

"Well, I won't be keeping you any longer!"