TEST DRIVE: NOVMEMEBER (get it because it's a meme)

[rysligmods]

TEST DRIVE

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:

• You can only app ONE character per round so choose wisely.
• We now have a Quick Game Facts that simplifies the basic information about the game. Good if you want to see what the game is at a glance!
• Ryslig's FAQ is located here, so please take a look if you have questions.
• The reserve date is 11/27.
• Test drive meme threads can be used for your roleplay sample!
• Players with characters already in the game can earn up to a maximum of 6 coins by replying to potential character threads! You cannot use this to go over the bonus 20 coins per month total, but you can use it 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. Some of these seem to have been passed down from one monster to the next.

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. Sometimes they have marks on them from previous people who had them saying they are lies, or pointing out good "jokes."

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. Or maybe they want you for lunch...

SCENARIO THREE: 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.

SCENARIO FOUR:The claws, the fangs, the pangs of hunger - horrible as they all are, it's manageable given enough time and perseverance. Local monster hunters, though, not so much.

Maybe it started with a few wayward glances on the outskirts of town, critical stares and disapproving whispers, or just the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever it was, deserved or entirely unprovoked, you're being hunted: a handful of aggressive, well-armed humans doggedly chase your trail throughout city streets and out into the open, and if you're not careful (if you don't find help soon) you might wind up as the next trophy kill claim on one of those hunter's walls.

Comments

one

[crowedthedead]

[Soeki can almost be mistaken for another newcomer during the day. He's pretty human looking, for the most part, until you start seeing the little details - the bright golden eyes that would be unnatural on almost any being, the small, black claws on his hands, the tiny fangs of his canines, and the sheer scruffiness of him. But for anyone actually looking, those traits are fairly obvious, and he's not entirely surprised when he's stopped by someone carrying a stack of pamphlets.]

Sure, why the hell not. Fire away.

Incarceron | Incarceron/Sapphique

[wallaroundtheworld]

SCENARIO TWO >> FILE NOT FOUND

[ Considering his apparent illiteracy, Incarceron had taken to more...direct methods for gathering information. More specifically, he had decided to head into the woods, find one of the local monsters, and just watch. What better way to determine how much he needed to prepare for?

However, this particular forest may have been a bad choice. He was still unused to not being able to literally see everything, even more unused to having to navigate and get from point A to B by moving a body, and the faint laughter bouncing around only disoriented him more.

Still, he was determined to find his own answers. So he kept walking. And walking.

Until he nearly collided with a stranger, barely visible between how dark it was and the strange shadows cast by the trees and underbrush, and stopped up short. He hesitates briefly, craning his neck to see if he can identify this individual more clearly. ]

Are you human?

SCENARIO THREE >> FAERIE

Well, that's new.

[ Incarceron was standing outside an empty phone booth, observing himself with keen interest. More specifically, he was examining the two long, slender appendages that were situated just a few inches above his eyebrows. He hadn't noticed the emergence of these, or even the presence, really, until he'd suddenly had a new source of sensory input wake him up this morning. He reached up to touch one, feeling it through the antennae as though it were a hot piece of metal. Despite himself, he jumped at the reaction, hastily pulling his hand away as the odd whisker-like structures lay flat against the top of his head. ]

And where did this come from?

[ Another change he hadn't even noticed. His eyes had turned to a mesmerizing silver tint, with no trace of pupils or irises, just a pair of almost crystalline metallic globes. That, and the points that seemed to be developing on his ears. It looked like the change was finally starting.

Quietly he was thankful that thus far it hadn't hurt, completely oblivious to both the anxious stares of passersby and the spot of red blossoming on the front of his shirt.

Perhaps someone ought to point that out... ]

WILDCARD >> Whatever floats your boat!

If none of these work, start something new!

[fearward]

[It's been a long time since they've seen each other. Anduin's taller now, his hair long and drawn back in a thick ponytail. His clothes are much the same--he still looks like he's always dressed for a political summit.

He massages his leg with one hand, frowning, looking away.]

I can't call the Light.

[headlining]

You do? They are quite a pain...especially when you waste time and effort and all it gets you is a hysterical person who thought they saw ghosts in their basement. And true, true! That's what editing is for.

[Investigating first, writing later. No need to create drafts when you haven't gotten all the facts yet.]

What, so somebody decided to trim the mountain? What did the mountain ever do to them? Be an eyesore?

[He chuckles, the mental image of somebody taking a giant pair of shears to chop off the head of the mountain a little too amusing not to react to. The last statement makes him raise an eyebrow, glancing at the moving tail. Well, honestly, it wasn't like he didn't make the correlation before.]

Count your lucky stars. They could've tossed you in a labyrinth for the irony of it.

4.

[acroname]

[Curie had, fortunately, taken to slithering a lot faster than most. She had already made the transition from a spherical body hovering around on a single thruster to a humanoid one walking around on two legs. She had even transitioned from synthetic legs made of carbon fibers and plastics to actual human ones, with muscles and flesh, when she had been brought to this place. So Curie was... at least somewhat accustomed to these drastic changes. And, really, at the end of the day locomotion is locomotion, is it not? One only needs to figure out which muscles to move, and then kep using them until you are where you want to be.

Her own hair, sadly, had not been as lucky as Aria's crest. It had all fallen out when her changes had started a few days ago. That, combined with the smooth white scales (only occasionally marred by a rust colored splotch in the odd places around her body) made her cut a somewhat more inhuman form than most Nagas. She and Aria are kindred spirits in that way.]

Are you in need of some assistance?

[She asks in a thick, french accent. It's not really much of a question, however. More of a statement; here way of saying "Yes, you probably do need assistance, and I will be the one to provide it."

She doesn't wait for an answer, just moves to her fellow Naga's side and brandished a moderately large hunting knife at their opponents. ]

[wayleadsontoway]

[Chris is still getting used to the wide variety of monsters on the Peninsula. Still, help is help, and he's not going to turn down the lemur??? He looks like a lemur??? Guy.

He laughs at the question, though it's not really a healthy laugh. It's now of those manic-on-the-brink-of-panicking laughs. ]

I might just be the worst climber in the history of climbing, but if it's a way out, I'll take it.

[aslyfox]

Ah. People who come to this peninsula, over time, turn into the monsters you may see on some of those writings you have.

[ At least the brochures are useful in telling the readers what their futures may look like. ]

Once, I was a sword. Then I woke up here on a mountain as a human. Now I am a beast, of sorts.

[ Kogi wiggles his ears. He's trying to stay a little optimistic. ]

[buildingcastles]

Rude.

[Christian at least has the good sense to whisper that from behind one of the black fuzzy ears he's using as cover. It's not his fault that he's small, damn it! He certainly didn't ask to be bug-sized either (except he totally shrunk down for safety, but never mind that).

He can't really protest further, though. Brother Bear looks pretty impressive when he charges toward the hunter and his gun, roaring and looking meaner than the whole group of hunters now. They weren't ready for a big guy like him. Maybe they could take him. Since they are armed, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility. But these hunters seem to think twice about the situation and opt for retreat, not knowing how many more unexpected monster friends might turn up. Once they are out of sight, Christian returns to his normal human size.]

My big, fuzzy hero. People in town sure have mood swings.

[Yup. He's talking to a bear now.]

4 (harpy)

[wallaroundtheworld]

[ He certainly hadn't expected to encounter another monster around here, let alone one with such a unique means of locomotion. The sounds of humans crashing through the underbrush tell him why she's so distressed, but she seems capable enough... ]

You can't?

[ He tilts his head, a gesture accentuated by that weirdly long swan neck. ]

Why not?

[ Incarceron is definitely not the ideal one to ask for help, especially if there's a chance of a physical fight. Those hunters certainly are noisy, though. And they're getting closer. Still, it looks like he's going to require a little more persuasion than that, especially since it seems that he's much more curious about Tanyuu's physicality than he is concerned for her well-being. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[She doesn't respond for another moment, listening as the hunters move away. She doesn't think they're smart or organized enough for an intentional ruse, but that doesn't mean they couldn't double back when they realize they've lost their prey. When things go quiet, she steps back, giving him space to breathe.]

Are you okay? [She gives him a weighing look. At least he wasn't shot. That would have been immediately evident. She doesn't acknowledge his thank you. She's still not sure how you're supposed to respond to that sort of thing.] What happened?

2!

[wayleadsontoway]

Chris's natural instinct is to freeze at any an all sudden movements. Well...not so much natural as it is horrifically learned. So when Alex trips into him, he goes stock still, not moving a muscle.

...Until he realises this is just a guy and though he's not especially safe here, this guy probably isn't any threat to him whatsoever. He exhales, dropping his shoulders, raising a hand both in greeting and apology.

"Hey, no worries, dude. Same for me," he shifts his head to gesture to the woods around them. "This place is a maze. Been stuck here for hours. Probably? Feels like hours, anyway."

[annotations]

[And just like that, for less than a second, the two of them are united in a flash of mental kinship: why couldn't it have been Koichi. Fortunately for Rohan's IQ it passes, to be replaced by a faintly withering look on his part. Okuyasu's not worth the energy it would take for any more of a reaction, never mind the energy it would take to put him right.

The question, though, is a fair one, and he pauses to give it real thought.] The last thing I remember from home is going to bed. I woke up in the hospital as well.

[What he's leaving out is the confusion, in between, of water rushing into his eyes and nose and ears and throat, like an icy fist in his chest. His mouth curls in displeasure.]

I was told they found us in the water, but it doesn't make any sense. We should barely be able to walk, never mind leave hospital. [He's researched the effects of drowning on the body before, and they don't paint a pretty picture. He doesn't expect Okuyasu of all people to give him an answer, but he needs to say it to someone.]

[tinypebble]

[ Couldn't he have been just a regular dog? Like, he could be having a dream where there's no one else but him and animals. That would be a great dream. ]

That doesn't even make any sense. Swords aren't alive.

[littlestvaulthunter]

scenario one
[The little girl that comes stumbling out of the hospital, seems far more interested in her own limbs and form that she does by the surroundings. In fact, she doesn't seem to have noticed she's anywhere different to where she was.]

Well, that was unexpected! [She knew her upgrades would change her body, but not this dramatically! Wiggling her fingers and looking down at her feet, Gortys slaps her hands on her thighs in genuine joy and continues to stumble forward. She's spending so much time looking down at herself, she doesn't notice as she walks straight into your side, which sends her reeling backwards--still a little unsure on her feet.]

--Woah, hey! Hi!

scenario two
[She hadn't meant to get lost, but without her GPS or access to any of her software thanks to her latest upgrades it had sort of happened by accident. By this time she certainly knows she's not on any part of Pandora that's stored in her memory banks, and she's certainly not where she remembers being last. Maybe part of her data was corrupted in the transfer to the new body?]

Loader Bot! Rhys! Fionnaa! [She calls out into woods, glancing around when she hears the children laughing, head tilting at the noise.]

Well, somebody is having a fun game of hide and go seek! Maybe if I find you, you can help me! Oh! This is so exciting!

[wayleadsontoway]

[There she is. He exhales, and steps a little close to her, offering her a reassuring smile even if he;s not feeling it. Anything to ease her panic. ]

Hey. [Gently, calmly. ] Listen, can you run? If you can stick to the shadows and move fast, I might be able to distract them so you can get away. We can get you outta here.

[He doesn't have to ask who is following her, what's going on. He can hear them, and they're gaining. ]

[fourthscribe]

[Tanyuu's head jerks up when she hears Haru fall to the ground, her heart feeling like it will beat right out of her chest. She stares in shock for a few moments before she tries to get upright again.]

I-I'm sorry, I just...I think I need a little--

[Something catches her attention from the corner of her eye, and she flings her upper half to the side with another bell-like cry seeing her bloody and mutilated legs. She...might need a little help here.]

[raidraptors]

[She's pretty fast to be back to business... not a bad thing in this dimension, not in Shun's eyes.

He studies her for a moment; he could probably take one of the bodies if he wanted to, regardless of what she demands – he is much further along with his transformation, comfortable with his changes... but there is no need for that, depending on the kind of information she asks for, so...]

Fair enough.

[Ask away, Rin.]

[tony_redgrave]

Hah, you're telling me. All the calls I was getting for a coroner? Who knows what the hell that was all about.

[He's already several steps up from your average tabloid at the very least. Even if Keats does report on unusual subjects. Boy, the stories Dante could tell him from back home.]

I'm not sure... [He trails off there, temporarily lost in thought. Brow creasing.] But I remember the fog came in thick that day. Crawling up the mountain, like it was strangling it... [He shakes himself, then shoots a cocky grin back over at Keats.] Never mind any of that. You're probably hungry, yeah?

[That's where his priorities always were right off the bat anyway. Lunch. He barks a laugh at the labyrinth comment.]

They could, but I think they knew they'd be in more danger there than me. I don't get lost anymore you see. [He taps the side of his head then gives a shrug, turning on a hoof to start padding off somewhere.] Come on, before the crowd shows up again. Unless you wanna deal with the heckling some more.

[sunflowerfields]

It's really just one big island, to be honest. There's a couple of smaller ones off the coast, but I've never been there before.

Technology? Well we did just finish putting up the new water wheel for the mill recently. It's so much faster than the old one!

[You appear to have a certified bumpkin on your hands, Ruri.]

[rosswood]

"Same here." No way of knowing how long it's been, and he knows better than to trust his perception of time when entire days have slipped by in the past without his knowing. Let's just skip right over the part where this is pretty much the norm for Alex, which might explain why his jimmies have remained largely unrustled.

The whole pathetic situation they're both in isn't something he's super about dwelling on, so when he sees the guy's supplies he quickly shifts tack. Color him interested.

"You got a laptop?" Alex sounds impressed. Probably because he's having those pesky memory problems where he's not one hundred percent on how he got here...?

He'll sort it out later. This guy's got a laptop, and that's gotta mean GPS, method of contact, something - anything.

[crowedthedead]

[Don't think he didn't hear that. He totally did with his sensitive bear ears. Luckily, he's too busy roaring at the hunters, and honestly, it feels kind of good. Like a big ole snarly fuck you to Ryslig in general. He only stops when the hunters turn tail and run, and then he flops down where he is, all several hundred pounds of him, letting out a noise like a huff.

Changing hurts like a motherfucker. That doesn't seem to go away the more he does it. Golden eyes, eerily aware and intelligent for a bear's face, watch Christian as he brings himself back up to size, and he covers his snout with one paw.] Yeah, well, the more people get eaten, the less I think the townspeople like us. You just got lucky and got some who had the gumption to do something about it.

You owe me a new shirt, bee tee dubs. [Have you ever heard a bear say bee tee dubs? Now you have.]

gently stacks a wildcard riffing off four on your pile of tags; hope this is cool

[makehistoria]

[Wherever Sans is on the city streets, if he's paying attention to his surroundings, maybe he'll start hearing footsteps. They're light, like that of a child - or something larger, but half floating...? - and fast-paced, not quite running but at minimum a brisk walk.]

[Stocke ducks around the corner, and the shade's eyes widen marginally as he sees Sans. Whether the former skeleton's looking monstrous again (and Stocke doesn't want to lead monster hunters onto another monster) or still stuck as a newly-minted human (with Stocke immediately assuming he's one of those hunters), the shade skids to a stop. This is a dead end. He spins around - halfway, one eye on Sans, one back the way he came.]

[He's looked mostly human himself up until now, if, you know... weirdly grayscale, and with blankly glowing eyes. But that appearance jitters and melts, and suddenly there's something rather less so in front of Sans. It's just in time for a duo of humans to follow, one slung practically to his ears with silver, the other dressed in black but with small bulges speaking to hidden weaponry; for some reason, both of them are holding straight up medieval-style torches instead of flashlights. The first is also tossing a bottle in one hand, gearing up to throw.]

[Stocke, in return, makes a soft static-like hissing noise - it doesn't seem to be coming from any sort of mouth. And - whoa. Well, that's certainly a lot of spindly extra arms he's shapeshifting.]

[It's nothing but a bluff - most of them aren't even solid. But the shade's not going to say that.]

tags in solely because i miss u and ur rose also 111111

[ramified]

[ Congratulations, Rose, you've found a helpful fairy-troll! ...Well, she's usually a fairy-troll, but it seems she's just a troll at the moment??? Or she's still grey and has horns, since the quick facts say that's legit. Lucy is winging this, don't judge.

As is typical for her, Aradia grins widely, although not entirely crazily at the moment. ]

I do! I saw one around the corner over there...I'll show you where! Although are you quite certain that a Fur-Bearing Trout isn't a thing? I assumed it was some sort of human creature!

[ it sounded like a legit human thing???? weird as fuck = doubtless a legit human thing ]

Aaron Burr | Hamilton

[rhymeswithsir]

two
[This had not been, if he has to be honest with himself, one of the best ideas. The plan had been to travel from Vandare to Bavan, and then on to Kulen from there. He'd heard that the Bavan was where all the action was, which meant it was somewhere worth investigating. In any event, it was in his best interest to get a lay of the land, from a source that he could truly trust. (Meaning: himself.)

It was a little too soon to start trusting those machines rattling through the streets of Vandare. He'd been able to find someone willing to loan him a horse (it seemed a little bit odd how accommodating the local population was, if they knew you were a transplant. Aaron had been sure to capitalize on that.)

Halfway through his journey, he'd been driven off the road by...if he was remembering correctly, the pamphlets that had been shoved into his hands when arrived called it a "naga". And okay, maybe it hadn't been hostile, but he wasn't exactly going to stay and find out. A detour seemed like the much safer option.

Until he ended up lost in a forest. Being haunted by giggling children. Seemed like a much less solid plan, then. Leading his horse on foot, now, he catches a glimpse of a figure. He gets close enough to ascertain that they look human (though there's always the chance he might be fooled) before he calls out.]

Excuse me! Would you mind offering me some assistance?

[Or, conversely, maybe the figure isn't human at all, in which case he's going to try to walk away without being noticed. Try being the most operative word there.]

four (arachne)
[He's a soldier. That means that danger isn't exactly new to him. Being hunted down? Yeah, he's been through that with the Redcoats. Gone through that, survived that.

There's a difference here. A not exactly insignificant difference. That difference is that now he's being hunted for something he had no control over, something he couldn't take back if he wanted to. And he really wanted to. Deeply wanted to, believe him. It doesn't seem fair, but then again when has life really ever worked out for him anyway? So yeah, now he's being hunted because he just so happens to have the lower body of a spider, all long brown legs. It's still new, this part, and running is...hard. So is balancing.

These men and women are deeply set in their beliefs about monsters and, alright, they've earned them, admittedly. That doesn't mean that he can't try to change them. The thing about Aaron Burr is, he'd rather not fight, if he doesn't have to. And he'd like to not keep running.

Which is why he's standing in the middle of a narrow street, facing off against his pursuers. If facing off is really the right word for it, when what's he's really doing is trying to talk them down, in a reasonable tone.]

Look, it doesn't have to be like this, does it? I'm positive that we can come to some other arrangement. You really shouldn't be so hasty.

[There's a good chance this isn't going to go down particularly well, no matter how smooth Burr thinks he is (or actually is).]

I literally said "WHAT" out loud when I saw Rebirth? I love you??? (also 2)

[conspirators]

[Mantis is no monster, not really. Especially not here without his powers. Still, his gas mask might be too strange for Mao considering where he comes from. A breath hisses out from the filter as he looks at the tiny boy in front of him where he stands against a tree nearby. It's not like he was lurking around or anything, he was mostly getting away from the crowds of the city. The point was that he may be threatening anyway, even with his lazy posture. He watches Mao wander around for a while, the orange lenses of his mask glinting in the light a little bit when he tilts his head to look down at him when he gets closer. He wonders if Mao even notices him before he speaks and waves. What a guy.]

Don't know the way out, do you?

[Déjà vu for a RPG character, surely. It wasn't like Mantis would know about that though, especially when he's not able to read Mao's thoughts. Human interaction... Hm. Harder than he thought! He really had no experience with this so he'd have to try a little more.]

Makes you wonder who comes up with this stuff.