⇨ 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

[pipers_son]

[All he’s ever done in the world, he’s done for his family. Even when it had meant wading into a river of blood up to his throat, the blood of the god damn innocent, he’d done it, because clearly the rest of the world wouldn’t care, and he was the only one who could. Sometimes that was taking Baron Kelvin’s abuse as the sole target, the sole source of responsibility, and sometimes that was conducting a sick show where children died. Either way, it was all so his fellow siblings from the streets wouldn’t suffer.]

[Doll suffering now goes against everything he’s tried to do, and, when he breathes in, it feels like his very lungs are rattling. He doesn’t want her here…. But he doesn’t want to break her heart. Not anymore than it’s already been broken with the kind of things they’ve had to do.]

….Make a deal with her ta learn some fae magic. Somethin’ ta protect ya somehow, or get ya out of a tight spot. Promise ta make that yer first contract before anythin’ else.

[steadydollypegs]

[She doesn't know what she's going to do if Joker pushes her away and tells her to go somewhere else and wait. By herself. Without him. Doll starts to wonder if she has it in her to disobey him, go off to find whoever will take her under this 'contract' whether Joker gives her his blessing or not. But Joker was their leader, their big brother, and the one they all followed because they knew he had their best interests at heart. But what was she supposed to do when she knew he was hurting himself for her? Just watch him do it?]

[Fortunately, she doesn't have to contemplate that for too long. He says something that isn't 'No, you have to go', and for a moment she's thrilled. Doll looks up at Joker, smiling through the tears that were threatening to end up rubbed into Joker's shirt-- but then she parses what he says.]

But... what about everybody else?

[pipers_son]

[Ready for it, he meets her teary eyes with a weary grin of his own.]

What do ya think I’ve been doin’ here? Like I said- I already got a deal that they’ll be safe. Now I just gotta work on gettin’ everyone outta England. It’ll take a while even if we’re both here, so just… protect yerself first.

[steadydollypegs]

What do I think you've been doin' here? Dealin' with gettin' me here, f'r starters... [She squishes her face into Joker's chest again, mumbling about how dumb her wonderful brother is. At least he seems to have seen reason this time, and Doll can be happy that he's letting her stay.]

Alright then, I promise I'll take care of me-- if it'll make y'feel better Joker.

[pipers_son]

It’ll be a bleedin’ load off my shoulders, not lyin’.

[Something is better than nothing and, well, he guesses if she has to be here… Better where he can keep an eye on her. He lets out a breath.]

Then… let’s get ya back inside, I guess. And ya can talk with the Ringmaster.

[steadydollypegs]

[She can't be uncompromising on this, probably. Doll respects Joker, loves him without question, and knows he just wants what's best for their family. It's probably because of that that she can't just nod along and do what he says, ironically enough.]

[She doesn't believe that loving Joker and refusing to do what he says have to be mutually exclusive, especially when his own safety and maybe mental-wellbeing is at stake. But at the same time, she can't pretend that Joker's motivations aren't the same as hers. She can't believe that Joker caring about her and wanting her far, far away doesn't make any sense-- because it probably makes perfect sense. Joker was always the smart one, after all, but she might have the biggest heart and the will to believe that things would work out in the end no matter what. Even after everything that had happened with Smile and Black, apparently...]

[But she's not going to think too hard about that. Joker needs to see her safe and smiling, not contemplating if she really can stay optimistic when she's facing the realities of betrayal and lies while walking into something completely unknown. She won't let him regret giving her his, admittedly, begrudging blessing to stay. Doll reaches out to take his hand.] You'll come with me, right?