ringleaders: (Default)
Lost Carnival Mods ([personal profile] ringleaders) wrote in [community profile] livinglot2017-02-03 01:17 pm
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⇨ TEST DRIVE MEME #4

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. More roles that currently need filling are listed here!

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!
cellphoneangel: (Trickster doesn't like pretty boy angels)

Bring me alllll the CR. Poor Jimmy with Cas around.

[personal profile] cellphoneangel 2017-02-16 07:54 am (UTC)(link)
[Castiel did not look at it as Maybe Theft. He looked at it more as going to get things he was told to without any sort of conflict. It keeps everyone happy, and life rolls along contentedly. The morals humans hold often didn't figure into the thoughts of angels, even one as 'odd' as Castiel.]

[Another honey roasted peanut is crunched as he watches this man. Any social norms being violated is beyond him. Cas has a habit of booping people on the nose when he's trying to make a point or making them play board games. Castiel's scent might have been an odd one. Isn't as if things like him are often walking the Earth, at least not in his world. Jimmy's is probably long gone since Jimmy had ascended to Heaven back when Lucifer had blown Castiel's vessel apart. Never firebomb the Devil's big brother.]


Do I? Why is that? I don't think I look like many people unless you mean Emmanuel Allen, and that's still me. I just wasn't me. Got lost for awhile. [But it's the sniffing that comes back to Cas.] I met a tribe that believed natural honey is good for a cold. You sound as if you have one. Who did you think I was?
betheman: (oh god what)

AW YESSS

[personal profile] betheman 2017-02-16 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[To be fair to Castiel, some of Gongenzaka's morals were a little too awkwardly 'lawful-good' even for humans.

Gongenzaka immediately shakes his head at 'Emmanuel'-certainly not, that is...certainly not it. And as for honey-
] AUH- No, that is fine. [There is an awkward flick of the ears, as he turns his gaze.] ...That is...an unfortunate habit of mine, I apologize. [For sniffing. Very sorry. Dog thing.]

Ah...you look considerably like Jimmy, I must say...he is one of the cooks here, he arrived some number of weeks ago.
cellphoneangel: (Condolences)

[personal profile] cellphoneangel 2017-02-17 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
You don't like honey or are you afraid of it being - oh, that's right. Hasn't happened here.

[He cuts himself off there. Places and times grew cloudy after a few years or seconds depending on what thoughts Castiel had on his mind at the time. Questions linger that he could ask of this man but none of them are really important yet. Castiel liked to get to know people before picked them for the Twister Tourney or for a midnight acquisition. He might be considering if he can change his scent to provide more entertainment for this poor sniffly fellow.]

[The name stops him, Castiel looking off to the side and back in the habit of someone who isn't sure they like the subject.]


There are many Jimmys in the world, and I might look like some of them in this body, but I doubt I do outside it. I'm taller. [As in Chrysler Building tall.] The only Jimmy I know I look like is Jimmy Novak, my vessel.

[It may be abrupt to a human, but Cas finally gives him a game smile.] I am Castiel.
betheman: (or maybe not your call)

it occurs to me that my longest running vet here has a freaking demon on her and now i'm Excited-

[personal profile] betheman 2017-02-18 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[WHAT HASN'T HAPPENED...

...He's afraid to ask, honestly. He manages to keep himself from doing so, if only to squint over the meaning of his next words.
] Your...

[He very abruptly takes a very stern expression that possibly explains why he was given a Patrol role, despite all the mental points to his actual age. He may look older than 14, but he is, at the end of the day, 14 after all.

And he is also one who cares a Lot about the ones close to him.
] ...When you say 'vessel' then, under what circumstances..?

...What are you?

[He's Japanese, Cas-they aren't quite so canny on 'iel -> angel' as you can guess.]
cellphoneangel: (I can use 'insouciant')

I should be able to get my app in tonight

[personal profile] cellphoneangel 2017-02-20 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
[Fear or not doesn't occur much to Castiel. There are reasons he's a failure when it comes to dealing with others not used to his quirks on the whole.]

[The change in Gongenzaka's stance and face isn't lost on the angel but it doesn't impact him much either. He doesn't even get that the human is trying to be stern. To an angel, that looks a lot like constipation or trying to remember if he left the stove on.]


Vessel. The physical body I or any angel or demon uses while on Earth. [Explanations with Castiel tend to be blunt and delivered in the usual monotone as if this should be known already or unexceptional information.] Jimmy Novak and his line are my true vessels. You knew of him before I needed him?

[The fact that none of that is comforting is lost on Cas, but he does add helpfully:] I'm an angel.
otoko: (HRMMNN =3=)

AWWW YESSS

[personal profile] otoko 2017-02-20 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
[Hopefully it is the stove option that Castiel is reminded of, because the other one is just unpleasant. The expression quickly begins to sink into confusion as it is-with Gongenzaka taking in the information, processing it, and overall attempting to think about why both demons and angels need vessels, rather than just demons.

Eventually, he manages to just answer the question he can answer at all.
] ....I, the man Gongenzaka, would not know. I met him here; he is a friend of myself, and of Sherlock as well.

[...Angel is only somewhat comforting, but all the same.] ...Does he know you are here? [he finds himself asking. That, at the least, seems to be the most important matter.]
cellphoneangel: (you didn't and I can't take that chance)

[personal profile] cellphoneangel 2017-02-20 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
[Humans have a lot of unpleasant to them if one asks Castiel. Functions are just part of it. Then again, angels are pretty damn ugly in their own ways. He gives Gongenzaka time to go through whatever his thoughts are, Castiel instead opting to give the sky a quick glance.]

The Man Gongenzaka, [he repeats thoughtfully, eyes drawn back to him with a share of curiosity in them but not much more. In Heaven, names like 'Sam' and 'Dean' weren't exactly common. For all Cas knows, 'The Man Gongenzaka' is normal.] Jimmy Novak is here?

[Now even he's confused.] Jimmy Novak is here without my presence within him? Do I understand you right? [That shouldn't have happened. Ever. He was in Jimmy right now, although Jimmy's soul was in Heaven. He'd get the Sherlock bit after he figures this out.] Have his eyes ever turned black?
Edited (i can html. I swear.) 2017-02-20 05:44 (UTC)
betheman: (or maybe not your call)

[personal profile] betheman 2017-02-20 05:51 am (UTC)(link)
Auh-

Th... 'I, the Man', is merely a translation of how I was taught to address myself, [Gongenzaka coughs awkwardly. It's....become an unfortunate fact of life, that Literally Everyone doesn't know this. He's become used to correcting people rather than biting their head off for it, thankfully. The other awkward bit is explaining that it's an excessively humble and archaic phrase....as opposed to the self-centered title it now sounds like. Erp.] My name is Gongenzaka Noboru.

[As it is. He nods.] Indeed he is! He has been here for some time, in fact! And-

[...............Uh.] ....They have not. Though, a few of the changes he has taken are...goat-like, perhaps? [...Does that help anything? It probably doesn't help anything.] ...The Ringmaster seems capable of travelling through numerous points in time...so it does not seem entirely unlikely that she could have brought us through a place accessible to him, if that would typically be impossible...

[He. He thinks?? He's trying not to put too much thought into it, lest all of the paradoxes scramble his brain.]
cellphoneangel: (little nerdy dude with wings)

[personal profile] cellphoneangel 2017-02-20 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
What else would you be? [See reason #2533 that Cas finds humans odd.] Werewolves, vampires and the other sorts wouldn't bother to identify themselves. Demons don't need to and wouldn't, Gongenzaka Noboru.

[Cas had begun a little confused and now really is. Jimmy being present as well as himself is an oddity given that he's still in Jimmy's body, but stranger has happened. The idea that Jimmy could be in danger or used isn't one that sits well with Cas. But he is a warrior and it wouldn't be the first time his vessel has come under threat.]

[But - the Ringmaster did draw him out of Purgatory. He will have to wait and see.]
I will check on him then. [For Cas, it's that simple. He will check on Jimmy, determine if it's a demon or some other creature pretending. A to B is the shortest route and the one the angel takes.]

Who is this Sherlock?
betheman: (n o)

[personal profile] betheman 2017-02-20 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I-It is not a matter of 'what' in the literal sense, I assure you..! The word 'man', it carries meaning of honor, and spirit, not to mention of equality and... [ He sighs, giving up for the moment. And he grimaces at the word 'vampires'.] ...At this point in time, a vampire would not need to identify themselves... ...I, the man Gongenzaka, know that scent quite well...

[But as it is. The main concern is with Jimmy, for now, and Gongenzaka nods.] ...I, the man Gongenzaka, trust that you will handle such a meeting with delicacy. ...There is likely a reason he has not mentioned you in the past, after all...

[As for Sherlock.] Sherlock Holmes is the one with whom I share my trailer. He is an Englishman, and something of an obsessor of mystery.

...He gets bored quite easily. [Too Easily.]