⇨ 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

[idontcarebear]

Oh no.

Misaki groans low in her throat as Kokoro sprints over. It's tempting to roll over on her side and ignore the question altogether, but the mere thought of what Kokoro might do with an imagined injured Michelle on her own immediately perishes the idea.

"I know this is going to go in one ear and out the other," Misaki sighs, sitting up, "but I am Michelle. There's nothing wrong with her. It. It's just too hot."

Somehow, Misaki already has a headache.

[happyluckysmile]

"It's too hot for Michelle?!" Hands on her hips, Kokoro leans down to get a better look at the Michelle suit, an examination that absolutely fails to clue her in at all to the fact that this is not a real living bear. "Hmmm... maybe one of the animals can get her some water!"

[idontcarebear]

Yep, just about as expected.

"No, she's fine," Misaki says quickly, cringing at the idea of the inside of Michelle getting wet. It'd be a total sauna in there. That, and she'd rather not get the talking animals involved. "She's...just resting. You know, uh, enjoying nature. It's really relaxing, you know?"

Actually it's stressful as hell and she doesn't think Kokoro performing CPR on a mascot suit is going to improve the situation any.

[happyluckysmile]

"Hmm..." Kokoro tilts her head and looks at Misaki. "You're right! It must be nice for Michelle to be with other animals, right?"

[idontcarebear]

"Uh..."

Nice. Right. Misaki doesn't think she can manage to drum up any enthusiasm for that one. Then again, Kokoro tends to listen to Michelle more often than Misaki, which...admittedly still isn't a lot, but it's something.

"Actually...it hasn't been that nice for Michelle," Misaki says, putting a hand on Michelle's (currently disembodied) head. "That's why she's taking a rest. The other animals haven't really been all that nice. Michelle wants to leave, but they won't let her."

Or any of us. Including you. Please tell me you understand that much?

[happyluckysmile]

Kokoro does actually frown for a moment, looking genuinely worried as she glances over her shoulder. But then her eyebrows furrow in determination as she looks back at Misaki. "Well.. maybe they have a good reason," she insists. "They must know much more about what's going on than we do, right? I bet they'll let us go home soon."

She glances at the limp form of the Michelle suit, and bites her lip.

"-- And, well, if they don't, then we'll just have to persuade them! They'll have to listen if we explain!"

[idontcarebear]

"Somehow I doubt they will," Misaki sighs -- although Kokoro really does have a way of convincing people... But no, Misaki's decided that this is beyond Kokoro's reach. It's pretty much hopeless. "Can you think of a good reason for a bunch of talking animals to hold us hostage here? Because I can't. Besides, they haven't exactly been all that talkative."

[happyluckysmile]

"Have you tried talking to them?" says Kokoro, giving Misaki a Look. Kokoro is oblivious in many ways, but she really can't imagine Misaki would have gone out of her way all that much to try striking up conversation with any of their hosts.

[idontcarebear]

"It's sort of difficult to have a conversation when they won't actually say anything," Misaki says, but Kokoro is not that far off the mark. Misaki coughs. She had given up pretty early on after her initial attempts yielded nothing -- she just didn't see the point in pushing it only to get more of the same. Not that she's got much of a plan here. "We don't even know why we're here. I think it'd be pretty hard to convince them of anything without knowing what they want."