⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #3

[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 read the full premise here. Reserves and Applications are both currently OPEN. 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 and the players agree to it. If you are interested in additional IC and OOC plot responsibilities, consider applying for a Supervisor position. Treasurer, Wardrobe Manager, and Acquisitioner are currently open. 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. Visitors to the carnival comes from many different worlds today, as the ringmaster casts out her recruitment lures. 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 (pictured above) 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. If they can trick you into earning debt, they will. ► NOT YOUR WHEELHOUSE: Sometimes, even magical ferris wheels get stuck. The carnival's particular wheel is enchanted to create a particular out of this world experience - as you pass along the top, you feel as if they are so close to the sky that you can interact with the stars like baubles hanging above your head. Of course, the novelty probably wears off when the wheel is broken and you've been stuck enjoying the light show with some stranger for the last half hour. How are you going to pass the time? ► 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 - and depending on their attitude towards their job, they may or may not contribute to a few people accidentally getting themselves a contract. Whatever you do, though, don't warn visitors away from the carnival - the ringmaster hates losing business like that. ► 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. ► WILL O' WISPS: The ringmaster's will o' wisps have gotten free, and she's asked that everyone keep and eye out and help her reclaim them regardless of their official jobs. Wisps are small creatures that burn both hot and cold and comes in a few different variations of the same basic theme. Handling them physically (or psionically, or magically, for that matter) is difficult due to their near intangible nature. Touching and being around them can result in confusion and a sensation similar to being comfortably drunk. ► 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! ► RIDDLE GAME: For a bit of fun, the ringmaster has left a variety of locked chests around the worker areas of the carnival, each with instructions and a riddle written on their lids. The chest will accept three guesses from each worker before refusing to respond to them any further. If you guess the right answer, the chest will open and you will be rewarded with some manner of fun magical knick knack. If you've run out of guesses, maybe you can conspire with someone else and promise to split the prize? ► CAPTURE THE... EGG?: The Ringmaster likes to keep things exciting for her employees, and this time she's devices a game that mixes an Easter egg hunt with capture the flag. She's hidden various metallic "eggs" around the carnival that chime like bells when people get near, and divided participants into three teams (red, blue, yellow of course.) The carnival has been divided into three zones, and the objective is to gather as many eggs as possible for your team (three points for gold, two for silver, one for copper.) However, when you are in a zone that doesn't belong to your team, if they can snatch off your team flag they can take you to "jail" and confiscate any eggs you may be holding for their team. When in doubt, bullshit the rules! This is a prompt, after all. ► 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

Doll // Black Butler

[steadydollypegs]

[Mirror Maze]

[After everything, it seems fitting that the next thing she knows is the lights and sounds of a carnival. It was the only place that she'd found comfort-- and even after everything that she'd found out after the fact, it's still true. So when she's greeted by organ grinders and flashing electric lights instead of angels with harps and chorus, it's not a disappointment. It's just the next thing.]

[Doll wanders around the grounds, looking for something-- someone, really. Several of them. They had to be there, after all, there's no reason they wouldn't unless... unless Smile had lied to her.]

[Panic gripped her for a moment and she turned suddenly into one of the attractions-- a Mirror Maze. Best to comb the entire carnival until she found them, after all, no stone unturned, all that. So she wanders through, looking at her own reflection nervously. Sometimes a flash of orange sends her running smack into one of the walls, or she turns around happily to find the glimpse of a large man standing behind her was her eyes playing tricks on her. The glimpses start to become less of a figment of her imagination the longer she walks with her hands against the walls. Coming in here was a mistake, something is very wrong, the mirrors aren't just mirrors.]

[And that thought is made certain when she turns a corner and her reflection is still her-- but in her performance costume. The reflection smiles, cold.]

If you're in heaven, where's your other eye, precious Dolly?

[She buries her eyes in her elbow, and starts feeling along the walls again with one hand. What she can't see won't hurt her, can it? This isn't right, this isn't where she should be--]

Help!! Help, somebody get me out!


[Trying to Leaf]

[Where is she? What had that devil and his master done to her?]

[Doll tears away from the carnival at full-tilt, into the woods just beyond some of the tents. Anything to be away from that empty shell of what was supposed to be a comfort at the end. She follows a path that leads further back, running to put distance between herself at the carnival, only to come back on it minutes later. The path must have looped back--]

[She goes back the way she came, going off the path a few minutes in and through the trees. It's dark and she's almost tripped several times, but she's determined. Until she hears the music again.]

[No-- how? She's not giving up yet though, even if it's dark and the woods are strange, she's going to leave. She has to leave. No part of this is right with her.]

[On her sixth try, she's out of breath and leaning against a tree while taking in the lights and music beckoning her back.]

He's damned me. [Doll sits down hard on the ground. He was her friend, and he killed her family and sent her to hell. Why?]

YELLS (trying to leaf)

[pipers_son]

[If he isn't tired as Cinderella after her stepfamily has come back boozed up and rowdy.]

[Not that he's anywhere near pretty enough as a fairy tale princess, he muses, and he stretches his good arm out in front of him with the fingers spread out. Not flesh, not anymore, but wood, gnarled like it grew right out of him instead of smoothly polished like a normal prosthetic. Well, that's true anyway.]

[Can wood even feel tired? Joker is pretty sure it can, because he's exhausted with everything he's had to deal with lately. Taking on Wardrobe Manager duties along his usual Stage ones, some of his performers going missing after that mess in the Matrix, the attack, the Ringmaster calling all of the supervisors, learning magic... For just a little while, he needs to relax away from the carnival, which is why he's tucked himself away in the tree branches just outside of the carnival. Close enough to rush back in if there's an emergency, but still not where most will bother to go.]

[Far down below on the forest floor, he hears the sound of someone running, and sighs. There's always at least one person who tries this, at just about every stop. Well, they'll learn eventually. Or maybe they won't, that's happened too. Either way, he guesses he should play the role of a responsible adult, shouldn't he? Rolling his neck, he adjusts himself away from the trunk and starts to balance himself on the branch he's been sprawled across-]

[A voice wafts up, tugging against every single bit of him.]

[Joker freezes, and feels even his very heart stop.]

Doll?

[Out of his mouth before he can stop himself, voice a little strangled from surprise and half a dozen other emotions he doesn't think he could name in the moment.]

ohai nii-san 83

[steadydollypegs]

[Running around the carnival hell-bent on finding one of her family has put them right in the front of her mind, so Doll can't miss the voice that comes down out of the tree branches. She stands up and whirls around, looking for him, leaning back and forth in case he's hiding behind a tree-- and eventually she looks up. It had come from above her.]

[God she's relieved to see him. Her face crumples and tears start streaming down her face.] Joker!

[Even if this is another trick, she doesn't care if she ends up looking like a fool. If that's actually Joker, she's going to him. Doll scans the tree trunk briefly and takes a running leap up it-- she's going to climb if he doesn't come down to her.]

his flustered screeching will carry on for months

[pipers_son]

[Oh hell, he hadn’t meant to do that, and, hastily, his mind rushes through what he’s going to do. Every bit of him suddenly feels- foreign, out of place, in such a way that he hasn’t felt in a while now. He’d thought he’d gotten used to the changes of his body until they were just another mundane annoyance, but now, with the idea of facing one of his family again… What is he supposed to say? How can he face her looking like this? Should he even go down there-]

[Except then she’s trying to make a leap for the tree and WELL. There’s his choice made for him.]

Doll, hey now- hold on, I’m coming!

[Biting back a swear under his breath, he stretches out his wings and leaps down with them spread out. A year is a good amount of practice, and it’s child’s play, now, to just glide down smoothly back onto the forest floor.]

[Usually, he’s good at hiding his emotions. He’s had years of practice, putting on a smiling face- for the crowds, for what people wanted to see, for his family. Even when he’s worried about something, he tries for more thoughtful or serious than concern. When you’re the one leading everyone, their eyes on you become all the more heavy. Now, however, now he’s just… too tired for his usual flawless acts, too worn down. His brows are furrowed together as he awkwardly stands before her, forcing his hand to stay where it is instead of reaching up to touch the empty sleeve billowing around from his left shoulder.]

[He doesn’t know what to say.]

It had to be the cinnamon bun, didn't it? (AND I'M SORRY I HAVE LIKE ZERO ICONS)

[steadydollypegs]

[That makes two of them. It isn't strange that Joker is leaping down from the tree, but the wings-- they make her gasp and take a few steps back. What if this was just like those mirrors? What if he'd sounded like Joker, but in reality she's being tormented again with the voice of her dear brother?]

[She can't deny that even with the wings, the horns, everything, he still looks like Joker. Makes faces like Joker. He'd never be speechless like this, but maybe it's because his body is doing a lot of talking right now. Doll's eye darts around, trying to take everything in, trying to figure out what's going on. Only two options seem plausible--]

Did he bring you here too? Or-- [She huffs a little awed laugh.] --did they make an angel of you? [It's a far cry from halos and white robes, but obviously no one had seen an angel before. It was all speculation in paintings and drawings, who said they couldn't be black-winged with horns?]

he technically did a contract with her in mind first too.... sob....

[pipers_son]

[Before he can stop himself, half spurred on by nervous adrenaline, he barks out a laugh. Now isn’t that a joke- him, of all people, an angel.]
[...But he can tell who she means by ‘him’, and doesn’t that just twist his heart?]

Ha no- not an angel. It’s just-

[A whistle of a breath scrapes inbetween his teeth as he fumbles for the words. Well. He guesses the explanation, in the end, is simple.]

Ya remember Mrs. Plundell? Lady who used ta come by for a spell, teach us our numbers and things like that? And she’d always warn us not ta go runnin’ off inta that forest that was nearby, or else the faerie queen would whisk us away? Well, ha…

[He adjusts himself, spreading his hand out with a helpless grin.]

Turns out I didn’t run into a queen, but…

Joker should be glad, clearly this place is WAY better than where she was at the end. 83

[steadydollypegs]

[Joker may have reservations about his character, but they're something Doll will never have about her big brother. He's always looking out for all of them, taking care of them, doing what he believes is best for them, saved them and brought them together. Where would she be without him? If anyone was going to take her to the afterlife, to join the rest of her family, it should be Joker.]

[She remembers Mrs. Plundell and her times tables and how Dagger never paid attention or tried to hide when she came over. Doll had liked the numbers, and she'd liked wondering what it would be like to be whisked away by a faerie queen.]

[Clearly it's like this-- you end up with wings and horns and different eyes, taking a load off in tree branches. Doll's eyebrows come together, trying to make sense of how Joker meeting a faerie connects to her dying and both of them ending up here. It doesn't seem to come together.]

But you were whisked away? [Doll tilts her head up at Joker and comes closer. He seems tense, is he going to let her near him?] How?

honestly, he can't even deny that bit

[pipers_son]

Y’know… I rightly ain’t sure myself sometimes, when I look back on it.
[Of course, it doesn’t help that when he’d stumbled upon the carnival for the first time, he’d been in… not the best of states. Head full of smoke, blood making his left side slick, mind not sure how he would survive when the only thing outside would likely still be that beast and its master since he’d taken off after them since there was only once exit…]

[Except then-]

I’d just opened a door in the manor and, next thing I know, I’m coming through a forest and upon a carnival. [He laughs, bright and cheery, hiding the truth beneath it.] Thought I was dreamin’ at first!

[Thought it was death throes, at first, and he didn’t stop thinking it for a couple of stops, if he’s honest.]

Got a little worried when I first got roped inta it all, but y’know what all the stories say about faeries and time… And anyway, that’s how I got here. I suppose I should ask how ya got here, but…

[Becoming a little more somber, he scratches the back of his neck and glances away.]

...I think I got a good guess on that.

[steadydollypegs]

[Is he lying to her? Did Smile lie to her? Who lied?]

[Logic says she should trust the one who cares about her, looked after her, raised her-- and question the word of a boy she'd just met who lied to them all right out of the gate. But he'd seemed so tired, so resigned when he announced he'd killed everyone she loved. She had to wonder what the point of lying to her right then would be. Joker... he could be lying because he doesn't know she'd run into Smile and Black after the fact. He could be looking after her now, so she wouldn't be upset.]

[Well, too late for that. She'd already been plenty upset.]

[Maybe it's her turn to look after him, here. She might have given it away too soon, but maybe...]

What, you mean...? No, no! [She waves her hands as if that would make Joker forget all her talk of being damned and angels and whatnot.] I was waiting for you all to come back, and I fell asleep. When I woke up I was here and I wondered... if something had happened. I was right scared when everybody up and left, you know.

[pipers_son]

[Does their Doll really go to sleep dreaming of angels and demons…? After the things he’s seen? It doesn’t taste right, seems to exact, but… Joker realizes he’s almost scared to ask what the truth is. He knows it’s better to know than to be ignorant, but, god, if he isn’t tired of the painful truth. Got sick of it when Doc showed his true face, wanted to vomit when the Ringmaster told him one of his deals couldn’t be done because there weren’t kids anymore…]

[He’s going to have to learn it eventually. Soon, if he’s honest. But just… not now.]

[So there’s a pause, a short gap as he takes that in, and then Joker is shaking his head and holding his hand up with a laugh.]

No, no, I mean- It’s, ha, it’s sorta my fault that yer here. See… I might’ve made a deal. Ta get all our family outta England, safe and sound, away from the Yard and everythin' else.

[Not a lie.]

[steadydollypegs]

Your fault? [Doll looks back at the carnival, back at Joker, and tilts her head skeptically.] Aside from the funny mirrors and all this runnin' 'round I just did trying to leave, it doesn't seem too bad a place.

Better now that I know you're here. [And isn't that the truth? Doll could be anywhere at all-- the circus or in the gutter-- as long as she had her family with her. Anything could be weathered.] But if you made a deal for all of us, where are they?

[pipers_son]

Well…. I’m still working through my part of the deal… And ta be honest, I wasn’t expectin’ anyone ta show up until i was completely done with it.

[He thought he’d go years without seeing his family, more than he’s already had to deal with as it is. To already have brought one of his family here…]

I guess the owner of this place had somethin’ in mind.

[And boy isn’t he not pleased about it, although he has to reluctantly admit this might have been for the best.]

I guess because one of my first deals was makin’ sure ya would get out of England first.

[steadydollypegs]

Me first? [Somehow she's not surprised, but she does feel guilty. Why is she always the one being protected at everybody else's expense? She's not any better than Beast or Dagger or Jumbo... they're all important.]

Well, maybe now that there're two of us here, we can get the rest of them back even quicker-like!

leaves n stuff

[faking]

Now, you oughtn't go and blame others for your own misfortunes. [But it's gently spoken, and almost like a joke. Alois peeks out from behind one of the trees nearer to the forest's edge; his fingers curl around its trunk, and otherwise only his face is showing itself. That face is aglow—literally, he has sparse patchworks of glowing spots, not to mention the crystalline growths that dot his face here and there. One underneath his eye, a little along his jaw, for example. They're more common across the rest of his body, so he glimmers only faintly, for now...

Other than the bits of jewel work, he's also wearing a wan sort of smile. Peering down at her, he looks like some son of the fair folk, ready to play a joke. Instead of outright mocking her, though, he says, with levity,] Only one who can damn you is you. You've got to look after your own soul, you know? Well, but, here you are.

[steadydollypegs]

[Doll scrambles to her feet, startled because she'd been almost sure she was alone. Though the glowing face with crystals growing out of it doesn't go a long way to calm her nerves-- this is some black magic, other-worldly stuff, and she's not so sure she can feel completely comfortable around that with what she'd just seen a man in a suit do to her.]

[Still... the boy (?) talking to her does make her curious. Doll tilts her head and takes a tentative step towards him. Circular talking aside--]

Who're you?

Trying to Leaf

[dorkypantsuit]

Who's damned what now?

[He's leaning against a tree nearby watching her idly. If she thinks this is hell she might very well think he's a demon considering the odd color of his skin, eyes, and horns, but at least he seems friendly enough.]

[steadydollypegs]

[She definitely does think this is hell, and horns-with-strange-eyes doesn't do much to dissuade her from that opinion. Doll shifts away from him cautiously, though who could blame her after her last encounter with Black, but doesn't go immediately running away screaming.]

Who're you?

[dorkytracksuit]

[As panicky as she is he doesn't come closer. He really doesn't want to scare her.]

The Psionic. Who are you?

[steadydollypegs]

...The Psychic? [She's not sure she heard that right, but that's a word she knows that's close.]

The name's Doll. Do you know why I'm just runnin' in circles? Or where I am?

[Please don't say hell. Please don't say hell.]

[dorkypantsuit]

[Eh, close enough. Doll, he's heard of a human named Doll, before, but he also knows three Johns, so he shoves the reminder away for now.]

You're running in circles because magic, and you're at a carnival.

[So helpful this guy.]

[steadydollypegs]

[Yeah no kidding. Doll wrinkles her nose at the answer, she's not completely blind after all.] What kinda magic makes you run in circles? Seems like a waste'a magic.

What kinda carnival is this where you just can't leave, though?

[dorkypantsuit]

A magic one!

[He is a delight and a treasure to all.]

If you can't leave it means you took something without paying.

[steadydollypegs]

[...yeeeeah, real sweet. Doll lets him know exactly how she feels about him sprinkling everything with magic with a flat look. She's not going to pursue this line of questioning-- or at least a line that always ends with 'Magic!!"]

Oi, I didn't steal nothin'! [Not that she hadn't ever stolen anything before, but she'd had an honest job at the circus. Once they had that, she imagined Joker wouldn't like it very much if she started pinching things.] If somebody got me pegged for somethin', it's a frame-up is what it is!

[dorkypantsuit]

[He laughs, not because he doesn't believe her, but simply because of how emphatically she denies it.]

Are you sure? Did you pay for your entrance? Did you eat the food? Did you sneak a peak at the big top?

[steadydollypegs]

...pay for entrance?

[Clearly this is the issue. Her circus hadn't worked like that, people came in and then they paid to see the acts and such. What was she supposed to do anyway? Ignore the carnival right in her path when she'd just found herself there after death?]

Nobody said nothin' 'bout payin' for entry. [She sounds half-dubious, half nervous.]