livinglot | ⇨ Test Drive Meme: EDEN (Rescued Captives)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It had been an odd sensation staring into the mirror, but waking up in a land such as this wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to him recently though. Not by far. He had felt it though, that something missing, and unlike what he read on most of the other folks here, for him it was a bit of a relief. The beast inside of him was quiet for a bit, but he couldn't help but notice the fact that many of those taken out were not coming back. And he was certain that even the others were able to put it together gradually.

Without weapons and knowing just what they were facing though, the best option was to bide time. Going over to one of the pools of water he splashed a bit of water on his face to try to keep himself awake, as well as to wash up a bit and not look quite as frightful.

"Not the first time I've had to sleep on the ground under the stars. I guess I should be thankful they were kind enough to provide a bit of cover and something to eat, and that there's plenty of clean water."

He hadn't been speaking to anyone in particular, just seeing who might have been close enough or was actually paying attention to what he was saying. After a few moments, he just sat back, looking towards the direction that their jailors would come and go.

"Though I am curious as to what they call this place?"

Wildcard: Open to him mingling about the carnival, maybe putting on a show as a sharp shooter and reliving the days he spent traveling with that small troupe of entertainers.

Edited 2018-07-31 00:25 (UTC)

It's not often that Pluto gets downtime these days! It's taken her some getting used to, too. Going from sitting in a lab to flying a skinself was one thing, but this- this is almost more, in its own way. There are no gravity reactors for her to impose her will on the outside; without Krun Macula, she is unbearably small, a fragile human soul contained in a fragile "human" body.

Not that her body's staying entirely the same, either. This place has a gravitational pull all of its own, and she's let a few changes through already. Dust and blades of grass and leaves orbit her like tiny asteroid belts; her eyes glow with the reflection of hundreds of stars. Most notably, a veil of crystals hover gently in front of her face, lifting only when she sees fit to take them off.

This is one of those occasions. She's let the crystals slide away, watching with something approaching admiration in her eyes as Ethan practices his routine. She stays silent - mostly silent, at least, a soft and fond giggle if the routine warrants it or a small gasp when he does something especially skillful. It's only when he finishes his routine that she speaks up.

"Amazing! You're amazing." She comes across at the perfect intersection of patronizing and heartfelt; she means every word of what she says, and maybe she means it a tiny bit condescendingly as well. "How many years of practice did it take?"

It had started off simple enough, shooting empty bottles and cans from a distance that would impress most. Then it moved onto shooting the spade out of an ace as it was thrown across the stage, as well as keeping a horseshoe suspended in the air for several seconds with consecutive shots and landing it on a peg. It was obvious that he'd had plenty of training with the pistols and more than a little practice in showmanship. More than once he began to show off by not even looking towards the target. Instead, he gave a wink or a nod to one of the spectators. Maybe even one at the lovely lady that seemed to be walking up to him now.

He could sense the slightly condescending tone in her voice, but hey he'd dealt with that plenty in the times that he traveled. Usually, those were the ones that were the most impressed, and the most fun.

"Thank you. I can say that I've had quite a few years to get the hang of shooting, but then I did start when I was rather young. Though if you'd like, I'm sure I could teach you a thing or two."

"Could you?" It's somewhere between a question and a challenge. The pleased lilt in her voice never drops away as she speaks, her soft alto staying even the whole time. "I've never fired a real one, you know? Plastic and hard light just aren't the same."

Her gaze drops down to the gun, her smile not receding for a moment. It's an utterly human invention, isn't it? Bright metal and angles aplenty. It distances itself from the body so that it can do what humans can't. Even that's amazing, in its own way, but she can't help but feel- sad, just thinking about it. Humanity tries so, so hard, even burdened down as they are on Earth. Why impose those limits on others?

"There's no substitute for the genuine thing. And as far as being able to show you, well that's entirely up to you miss."

He certainly made it seem easy enough, and there was a certain art and respect that he had for the gun. Ethan recognized the lethality and usefulness of it, it was so much more than just a chunk of metal that many saw it as. Though he had learned that in the world there were things that were much deadlier and dangerous. And he had killed far more with tooth and claw than a bullet.

Look at the woman though, Ethan wasn't really able to get a read on her. He had thought her interested in him and the show at first, but now he wasn't entirely certain. Most of the women wooed by the loud bang and the flashy showmanship were a bit more, well straightforward.

"I have to warn you though, it's got a bit of a kick to it if you're not careful."

⇨ Test Drive Meme: EDEN (Rescued Captives)

Ethan Chandler | Penny Dreadful

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