Welcome to Ryslig's test drive meme! If you're considering apping here, this is where you can try your characters out in the game's setting. A few things to note:
Lots of people have asked good questions on the FAQ, so do take a look.
You can only app ONE character per round so choose wisely.
Test drive meme threads can be used for your roleplay sample!
NEW! Players with characters already in the game can earn up to a maximum of 3 coins by replying to potential character threads! You will need to have your normal 20 comment AC in the game. You cannot use this to go over the bonus 10 coins per month total, but you can use it if you are missing some threads to reach that coin total. Same rules as normal bonuses apply.
Sample scenarios:
SCENARIO ONE: So you've just arrived, fresh out of the hospital, and already the natives are trying to get on your good side. Offers of food, shelter and other luxuries in return for hoping you don't eat them. They even have some helpful pamphlets to share with you. "How To Deal With Changes", "Alternatives to Human Flesh", "What to Expect When You're Expecting (to turn into a monster)" are all great pamphlets. There's even some detailing certain monsters, and the changes they go through.
Among these however, are some... not so helpful ones. "Bunnyipyips And You", "Axe Thief Axehounds," and "So you're becoming a Fur Bearing Trout" among others.
SCENARIO TWO: You've become hopelessly lost in Lager Woods. Paths don't seem to lead where you remember them leading, and you feel as if you're going around in circles. Childlike giggling can be heard from no direction in particular. Suddenly, you stumble upon another character, who seems to be just as lost as you! Perhaps you can find a way out together.
SCENARIO THREE: You've heard about the fog, but you've never seen it before. Now, the mist surrounds you. Barely able to see before you, you need to get home - and fast. It's far too dangerous in this situation.
SCENARIO FOUR: The time has come and you've found yourself becoming a monster. Is the change instant, or gradual? Are you familiar enough with monsters to know what's happening, or is it a complete shock? NOTE: Feel free to pick any monster type for this prompt, but note that you may not get the same one in game.
There was a lot about the man in front of Naveen that was interesting, but his somewhat scarred face was probably the least interesting thing about him.
For one thing, Vengarl was nine feet tall - an absolute behemoth of a man, clad in a combination of dirty furs and plate-mail. The helmet on his head is red and rusted, and modeled after a some manner of ferocious, open-mouthed beast. Lastly there is a thick, healed-over scar along the entirety of his neck.
He doesn't seem insulted or amused by the statement, however. He just looks down upon the smaller, well-dressed stranger with a blank look on his face, considering the question thoroughly.
"It's been ages since I've had a drink as well," he says, finally. It's true that his mouth was a little dry, and it occurs to him that he can actually do something about it, now that he has his body again. "Come. We'll find a pub, then."
He gestures Naveen to follow him, although if he were to be honest he doesn't know where one would even find a pub in this place.
The man himself was overwhelming, to say the least. A more easily flustered man might have been staggered by the sheer size of him, but Naveen only smiled with genuine appreciation. Any man willing to accompany a stranger on a journey to find drink was a man Naveen felt worthy of his time and interest.
"You have a very assertive style, my friend!" Bopping along beside him with a bounce in his step, they made a very bizarre picture. "Tell me, have you just come from some sort of masquerade? Your outfit, it is... very elaborate, no?"
"No." For a short while, that answer is all he gives. He hadn't come from a masquerade, after all, and his own story isn't really something he wants to elaborate on without a few drinks in him. Besides, he likes the quiet. After a few moments, however, he speaks again. "I come from a place not so different than this one, if all this talk of monsters is to be believed."
As he speaks, Vengarl doesn't bother looking at his companion at all. His eyes are trained on either side of the street, looking for the bar that they've set out to find. He absently passes Naveen one of the pamphlets he's been handed about werewolf transformations.
"Where do you hail from, that you can afford to wear such fancy clothes?"
He's speaking of the clothing's quality, of course, but also of the fact that Naveen can apparently wear them without dirtying them up with a day's labor, or fearing the teeth of some creature.
"These? Pah! Hardly worth the fuss." Still, it was with considerable vanity that he straightened his tie. "I am Prince Naveen, next in line for the throne in Maldonia, jewel of the Southern Seas. And I assure you, my royal attire is far more striking!"
Rounding the nearest corner, Naveen elbowed Vengarl in the side conspiratorially.
"But the monsters, that is far more interesting," Naveen chuckled. If the talk of monsters and the threat of transformation bothered him, he did an admirable job of shrugging that off. "I have heard tell of them, as well. How do you feel about these intriguing rumors, my talkative friend?"
He quirks his eyebrow at Naveen's title, but says nothing. He'd pegged this guy for a noble, but royalty was a bit surprising.
"I've seen strange things in my life, Highness." He's been strange things too, but the middle of the street isn't the place to talk about that, if people are really changing into monsters all the time. The title comes almost on instinct - he may not look it, but Vengarl was a knight once. Even if his kingdom has been lost, a respect for royalty has been ingrained into him. "It would not surprise me to find some truth to them. Be wary in this place, Prince."
As they round another corner, the larger man spots the bar. He nudges Naveen a bit harder than he intended to (he's a large guy, after all) and points to the watering hole with a grunt, and walks in.
The ease with which Vengarl addressed him made Naveen notice it even less than he would normally. So often were titles thrown at him, it was far more noticeable when someone referred to him without praising his royal eminence along the way.
"You do not say, my friend." Curious, indeed. Naveen tapped a finger to his chin, thoughtful. "But I am sure we will be safe from the ensnaring grasp of this place, provided we do not enter any shadowy tents. Now--"
The nudge sent Naveen stumbling, but he recovered quickly and with a broad grin. "Achidanza! Lead the way, ... your name, my friend, I have been remiss in not asking for it!"
"Vengarl," he replies. It's actually the first time in a long time that he's not ashamed to give someone else his name. He isn't some sorry creature, stranded on the woods as a shadow of his former self. No, here, Vengarl was whole. "Formerly Knight Vengarl, of Forossa."
He enters the bar - not going so far as to hold the door open for the wayward prince, but he slows his pace enough for Naveen to catch up. "You sound as if you know a thing or two as well, Highness. What was that of shadows and tents?"
"Vengarl." Naveen repeats, rolling it around curiously on his tongue. His accent butchers the pronunciation, turning it into more of a guttural noise than a name. "And a knight to boot, faldi faldonza. I have never heard of this place. Forossa, you said? You will have to spin me yarns from your native land over a drink!"
Entering the pub, Naveen looked right at home despite their shared displacement. Finding a spot at the bar, it takes him the space of ordering the both of them a drink before addressing Vengarl's question.
"Ah, well, prior to arriving in this strange place, I found myself in the tent of a very charismatic gentleman. I'm not entirely sure how, but I found myself changed into a fragee by my fortune's end."
"Former knight," the larger man corrects. If he were still a knight, he would have introduced himself as one. "Forossa no longer exists as a nation. I do not wish to speak of it."
There's no sadness or anguish to his tone, despite his somber words. Many things have happened since Forossa fell to its neighboring countries, and Vengarl has had a long time to come to terms with it. Still, it isn't exactly chit-chat material, especially when then there are clearly more pressing matters to discuss - like their sudden an inexplicable displacement.
The sellsword accepts the drink with a nod, and downs the entire thing at once. It's been years since he's had anything to drink, and so he's going to enjoy this one as much as he can. He almost chokes on it, however, when Naveen says he had been changed into a frog.
Vengarl's eyebrows shoot up, and he looks curiously at the man. He's heard tales of a Rat King, but a Frog Prince? That's a new one. Nevertheless, he accepts it as truth. It isn't as if he's in any position to judge, after all.
"Let me guess: You became human again when you arrived in this place."
Vengarl's taciturn nature was of no surprise to Naveen at this point. The man cut a certain image, and far be it from him to poke at slumbering memories. It was with an impressed laugh that he watched the knight down his drink, merely sipping at his. It was not a race, after all.
Besides, if the issue of payment presented himself, Naveen wished to savor this small luxury. "You speak as if a man of experience, Vengarl." Another sip, fixing him with a curious grin.
"Should I be assuming that you were similarly..." Naveen bent his hand back and forth, searching for the word, "Afflicted?"
"No. Nothing quite like that at all," he says after he finishes whatever was left of his drink, and mutters for the bartender to bring him a water. He's thirsty, alright? Priorities. After obtaining his water, he glances down at Naveen and continues.
"Someone cut my head off." He casually takes a drink from his water. Even if he'd hesitate to say it in the middle of a street, it isn't like it's a secret. It was, up until this point, pretty much his entire existence. "Didn't kill me. My head and body got separated, and I spent a lot of time in the quiet."
He takes another sip of his waters, enjoying the coolness as it went down his parched throat. He was enjoying even having a throat, if he's being honest with himself.
"Eventually, something brought be here, to this place. Whole once more."
To say Vengarl has Naveen's undivided attention was an understatement. He was rapt, staring with keen interest and a keener expression. Caught somewhere between shock and an awed smile, he leaned forward to inspect the knight's throat.
"Didn't... didn't kill you, faldi faldonza. You are more of a wonder than I took you for, my friend!" He leaned back again, expression baffled and pleased all at once. A good ally this man would be, no question. Any man who could survive decapitation was bound to be useful. "Perhaps it is for some greater purpose that we have been summoned here, no? That is to say, in our fleshy forms."
"A wonder?" Vengarl almost laughs at that, and pulls at the furs around his throat, giving Naveen a better look at the new scar around his neck. It's a new scar - undoubtedly the result of reuniting his head with his body. "An oddity, perhaps."
"I envy you your optimism, Highness, but I have been a monster before. Whatever this 'greater purpose' is, I wish to have no part in it." He takes another sip from his water, although he's already almost finished with it as well. "They should have left me where they found me."
"A wonder, an oddity, it is same thing, no?" Naveen had little patience for solemnity, and seeing that he'd taken a liking to this dour knight, he felt obligated to flush such thoughts out of the man. They filled a man up with nothing but hesitations and doubts! Something Naveen learned impeded both dancing and living in equal measure.
"I must disagree with you on that point, my friend. For if they were to have left you rotting, headless, in some dark and dank forest or swamp or what have you, why. I would have never been sharing a drink with you in this... quaint establishment!" With that, he pushed his drink against Vengarl's water, beaming. "Cheers!"
"Technically I was more bodiless than headless," Vengarl corrects, clinking his own glass against Naveen's. It's odd to have a drinking companion, particularly such a lively one, after so many years of silence.
"Twas not so bad, really. I liked the quiet of the woods." Silence is something that's going to be in short supply in this place, considering his present company. Not that it bothers Vengarl much - the one thing he had missed in his solitude was the joys of conversation. "You are not bad company, Highness, but I would sooner go back to the peace than become some mindless beast again. Creatures like that are made only to cause suffering, and that is a life I gave up long ago." He takes another sip of water, finishing off his glass again and motioning for the bartender to refill it.
"Then again, perhaps I am putting more weight into this than need be. It could just be a local superstition, after all."
"Bodiless, headless, it is like glass half full, half empty, no?" Naveen held up his own cloudy glass as if to illustrate the principle. Then again, his glass was much closer to empty than full. Still, despite his jest, he was clearly listening. This Vengarl fellow had value yet, Naveen was sure of it. And in more ways than just a stoic drinking companion.
"Is it fearsome beasts we will become, do you think?" Naveen tried to imagine it. "Or perhaps peaceful ones?"
Vengarl grunts. They're very different afflictions, in his experience. A body without a mind is a brutal thing - constantly acting on instinct, fight-or-flight in full effect. There's no control there, it's a terrifying experience.
Being a bodiless head is the exact opposite. Impotent introspection becomes one's entire existence. It's a very calm and a very solemn life. He doesn't say anything, though. No use on debating the philosophies of decapitation with someone who, in all likelihood, would never experience it.
"The fact that the locals use the word monster does not bode well for us." He clears his throat for a moment, and then glances down at the smaller, better-dressed man. "Then again, you are apparently more experienced in these things. What do you think, Highness?"
The smaller, better dressed man in question scoffed good naturedly at the suggestion. Him, an expert! Though, he supposed, there was quite a bit of hands on experience in his life recently.
If you could call a bullfrog fearsome, that is. Something told him his large and stoic new comrade would not be too intimidated by such a tale.
"I think it would take very strong magic to turn you and I into anything unbefitting our rakish good looks and charms." Naveen threw a wink in Vangarl's direction. Worrying about stuff that might happen in the future wasn't his style -- that was for the servants to do, in his experience!
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graveyardsmash2015-01-18 12:24 am
1.
For one thing, Vengarl was nine feet tall - an absolute behemoth of a man, clad in a combination of dirty furs and plate-mail. The helmet on his head is red and rusted, and modeled after a some manner of ferocious, open-mouthed beast. Lastly there is a thick, healed-over scar along the entirety of his neck.
He doesn't seem insulted or amused by the statement, however. He just looks down upon the smaller, well-dressed stranger with a blank look on his face, considering the question thoroughly.
"It's been ages since I've had a drink as well," he says, finally. It's true that his mouth was a little dry, and it occurs to him that he can actually do something about it, now that he has his body again. "Come. We'll find a pub, then."
He gestures Naveen to follow him, although if he were to be honest he doesn't know where one would even find a pub in this place.
no subject
"You have a very assertive style, my friend!" Bopping along beside him with a bounce in his step, they made a very bizarre picture. "Tell me, have you just come from some sort of masquerade? Your outfit, it is... very elaborate, no?"
no subject
As he speaks, Vengarl doesn't bother looking at his companion at all. His eyes are trained on either side of the street, looking for the bar that they've set out to find. He absently passes Naveen one of the pamphlets he's been handed about werewolf transformations.
"Where do you hail from, that you can afford to wear such fancy clothes?"
He's speaking of the clothing's quality, of course, but also of the fact that Naveen can apparently wear them without dirtying them up with a day's labor, or fearing the teeth of some creature.
no subject
Rounding the nearest corner, Naveen elbowed Vengarl in the side conspiratorially.
"But the monsters, that is far more interesting," Naveen chuckled. If the talk of monsters and the threat of transformation bothered him, he did an admirable job of shrugging that off. "I have heard tell of them, as well. How do you feel about these intriguing rumors, my talkative friend?"
no subject
"I've seen strange things in my life, Highness." He's been strange things too, but the middle of the street isn't the place to talk about that, if people are really changing into monsters all the time. The title comes almost on instinct - he may not look it, but Vengarl was a knight once. Even if his kingdom has been lost, a respect for royalty has been ingrained into him. "It would not surprise me to find some truth to them. Be wary in this place, Prince."
As they round another corner, the larger man spots the bar. He nudges Naveen a bit harder than he intended to (he's a large guy, after all) and points to the watering hole with a grunt, and walks in.
no subject
"You do not say, my friend." Curious, indeed. Naveen tapped a finger to his chin, thoughtful. "But I am sure we will be safe from the ensnaring grasp of this place, provided we do not enter any shadowy tents. Now--"
The nudge sent Naveen stumbling, but he recovered quickly and with a broad grin. "Achidanza! Lead the way, ... your name, my friend, I have been remiss in not asking for it!"
no subject
He enters the bar - not going so far as to hold the door open for the wayward prince, but he slows his pace enough for Naveen to catch up. "You sound as if you know a thing or two as well, Highness. What was that of shadows and tents?"
no subject
Entering the pub, Naveen looked right at home despite their shared displacement. Finding a spot at the bar, it takes him the space of ordering the both of them a drink before addressing Vengarl's question.
"Ah, well, prior to arriving in this strange place, I found myself in the tent of a very charismatic gentleman. I'm not entirely sure how, but I found myself changed into a fragee by my fortune's end."
no subject
There's no sadness or anguish to his tone, despite his somber words. Many things have happened since Forossa fell to its neighboring countries, and Vengarl has had a long time to come to terms with it. Still, it isn't exactly chit-chat material, especially when then there are clearly more pressing matters to discuss - like their sudden an inexplicable displacement.
The sellsword accepts the drink with a nod, and downs the entire thing at once. It's been years since he's had anything to drink, and so he's going to enjoy this one as much as he can. He almost chokes on it, however, when Naveen says he had been changed into a frog.
Vengarl's eyebrows shoot up, and he looks curiously at the man. He's heard tales of a Rat King, but a Frog Prince? That's a new one. Nevertheless, he accepts it as truth. It isn't as if he's in any position to judge, after all.
"Let me guess: You became human again when you arrived in this place."
no subject
Besides, if the issue of payment presented himself, Naveen wished to savor this small luxury. "You speak as if a man of experience, Vengarl." Another sip, fixing him with a curious grin.
"Should I be assuming that you were similarly..." Naveen bent his hand back and forth, searching for the word, "Afflicted?"
no subject
"Someone cut my head off." He casually takes a drink from his water. Even if he'd hesitate to say it in the middle of a street, it isn't like it's a secret. It was, up until this point, pretty much his entire existence. "Didn't kill me. My head and body got separated, and I spent a lot of time in the quiet."
He takes another sip of his waters, enjoying the coolness as it went down his parched throat. He was enjoying even having a throat, if he's being honest with himself.
"Eventually, something brought be here, to this place. Whole once more."
no subject
"Didn't... didn't kill you, faldi faldonza. You are more of a wonder than I took you for, my friend!" He leaned back again, expression baffled and pleased all at once. A good ally this man would be, no question. Any man who could survive decapitation was bound to be useful. "Perhaps it is for some greater purpose that we have been summoned here, no? That is to say, in our fleshy forms."
no subject
"I envy you your optimism, Highness, but I have been a monster before. Whatever this 'greater purpose' is, I wish to have no part in it." He takes another sip from his water, although he's already almost finished with it as well. "They should have left me where they found me."
no subject
"I must disagree with you on that point, my friend. For if they were to have left you rotting, headless, in some dark and dank forest or swamp or what have you, why. I would have never been sharing a drink with you in this... quaint establishment!" With that, he pushed his drink against Vengarl's water, beaming. "Cheers!"
no subject
"Twas not so bad, really. I liked the quiet of the woods." Silence is something that's going to be in short supply in this place, considering his present company. Not that it bothers Vengarl much - the one thing he had missed in his solitude was the joys of conversation. "You are not bad company, Highness, but I would sooner go back to the peace than become some mindless beast again. Creatures like that are made only to cause suffering, and that is a life I gave up long ago." He takes another sip of water, finishing off his glass again and motioning for the bartender to refill it.
"Then again, perhaps I am putting more weight into this than need be. It could just be a local superstition, after all."
He sort of doubts it, though.
no subject
"Is it fearsome beasts we will become, do you think?" Naveen tried to imagine it. "Or perhaps peaceful ones?"
no subject
Being a bodiless head is the exact opposite. Impotent introspection becomes one's entire existence. It's a very calm and a very solemn life. He doesn't say anything, though. No use on debating the philosophies of decapitation with someone who, in all likelihood, would never experience it.
"The fact that the locals use the word monster does not bode well for us." He clears his throat for a moment, and then glances down at the smaller, better-dressed man. "Then again, you are apparently more experienced in these things. What do you think, Highness?"
no subject
If you could call a bullfrog fearsome, that is. Something told him his large and stoic new comrade would not be too intimidated by such a tale.
"I think it would take very strong magic to turn you and I into anything unbefitting our rakish good looks and charms." Naveen threw a wink in Vangarl's direction. Worrying about stuff that might happen in the future wasn't his style -- that was for the servants to do, in his experience!