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

“I steal art, not people.” He is not a thug! He is a handsome rogue! Emphasis on handsome.

“Your friends human? These things don’t have the same limitations that humans do.”

"Sounds profitable," she shrugs. "Pretty safe line of work, yeah? But it's time to think outside that box already."

Beau is a beautiful thug and she's proud of it. Mostly. These days she's been thinking some dissatisfied, conflicted thoughts on her usual methods, but nothing she's going to share with a snobby art thief.

"First off - no, most of my friends aren't human. But they're closer to human than these guys. So it won't be that easy, I get that. I can't just... not think about how to get free."

“If it comes to that I will. Until then, fuck off.” He flips her off as well for good measure. She may be a girl, but she’s not his type at all. Too rough around the edges, not enough maiden in distress.

“Keep thinking. As long as you can do that this place can’t keep a grip on you.”

Yeah, if he's looking for maidens in distress that'd welcome his company - or his flirting - he's best looking elsewhere.

Beau just lazily returns the gesture with one hand, then looks into a middle distance pensively as her other hand starts tap-tapping on a branch.

"You think that's all we can do, though? Keep our wits, and wait?"

"It's probably all you can do." He has his own magic, if he can just get it back. Let the humans putz around here while the Great Phantom Thief does the real work.

"Ugh. Look, man, you're in here too. What are you getting so cocky about, unless..."

An idea occurs to her, and she stares him in the eyes, tilting her head at a more aggressive angle as she asks, "are you some kind of shitty plant? Trying to piss people off, so they get hauled out to wherever? Is that what this is?"

He is suitably unimpressed with this conclusion.

“I go in and out of worlds like this one all the time. Usually chasing after people like you who’re in over their heads.”

Seems like he really believes that. Maybe it's even true.

"Riiiiight. And that's why you're here, in the same damn tree. Because you're not in over your head at all."

But until he shows some cool results, all that bragging just sounds like a gasbag blowing hot air.

It is exactly that, but only in this one instance. Usually he's really very good at this.

"I'm in this tree because you thought a bunch of magic animals wouldn't spot you up here."

"They might not," she jerks her shoulders in a shrug. "Lots of people don't look up, I figure it's the best shot at privacy... But birds might look up. Shit."

It's all the more frustrating, to go from being great at something, to being stuck like this. They're both in that boat, and she hates it.

“Yeah, exactly.”

He huffs, glaring out at the garden through the leaves.

“Why’d it have to be stupid animals anyway? What a shithole.”

Beau nods, sighs, and lies back on the branch.

"Wish they gave us some booze in this place. We could ferment some fruit... but it wouldn't be the same. And I could go for something hard right about now."

Booze. Man, he cannot wait for Daisuke to get interested in alcohol. For one thing it’s a lot easier to snatch control when the body in question is drunk. But that’s likely a long time off. Daisuke’s only 15, and pretty straight laced.

“We’ll get out of here sooner or later, and you can have all the booze you want.”

"But I want booze now."

She figures, that they've bickered and concluded there's nothing to do, they're on the same side of trapped-and-want-booze and they can be complaining buddies.

"Well I'm sure if you whine about it loud enough a bar will magically appear in the clearing over there."

As long as it's in this world he can drink, but that's not an option. Once they get out he'll be back to sharing a body with a teenager, he assumes.

"Yeah, or, or, what if: one of those pools turns to wine?"

That would be plenty for everyone, and no one would need to risk hopping worlds - and losing their bodies - to get it.

"Lemme know how that goes for you." He can't help a small half-smile. It's a nice fantasy, anyway.

"Sure thing, man; if it's a whole pool, I'll share."

She exaggeratedly stretches back and relaxes like she's going to nap in the tree. Might as well milk this daydream for all it's worth.

Dark just shakes his head in amusement and hops out of the tree as easily as he climbed into it.

⇨ Test Drive Meme: EDEN (Rescued Captives)

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