JANUARY TEST DRIVE 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 01/29.
• 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

[godshand]

Ah...

[Now she actually feels bad. Whatever this monster...person was, she sounded ashamed of it. Of herself. The way her gaze dips downward (and Tifa watches the dip of antlers follow, bright in the moonlight, like bones picked clean), the way her shoulders slump, the spikes along them forming unnatural peaks. Nibel she thinks. This looked like a winter monster, a thing found in ice and snow. She seems young, and Tifa recalls too, that whatever she's seeing now, this creature -- person -- was human.

Once.

...She rubs at her arm.] Hey, um...listen. I'm sorry. I really am. That's no way to start a conversation. It was rude of me. [...] Can we start over? My name's Tifa. Tifa Lockhart. What's yours?

[selfbegot]

It's not your fault. I'd be scared too.

[ but she tries a smile at tifa's words anyway, soft and more than a little regretful. this really hasn't gone well for either side, has it? but... that's to be expected in this place. the conversation they're having now is all she can ask for. ]

I'm Madoka Kaname. You can just call me Madoka, though. [ she steps a bit closer, just out of the darkness of the forest. one distorted hand reaches up, rubbing nervously at an elbow before dropping back to her side, and this close it's clear that two large, feathered wings are sprouting from her back. ] It's, um... it's nice to meet you, even if this isn't the best place for it.

[godshand]

[Oh man, those teeth...

But Tifa is good at this: the pretending. Pretending to be brave when she scared to death, pretending to be happy when she's sad. So she smiles back, and there's no sign she might have been frightened at all. She's good at this too: the danger is gone for now, so she focuses on Madoka's comfort instead. It was easier than thinking about how uncomfortable she was.]

It's nice to meet you too, Madoka. [Her smile falters, briefly, at the sight of wings. It causes a slip in her composure, a resurfacing of an old, ugly memory. Then the smile is back. Brighter now, as if to make up for the lack of it earlier.] If you can believe it, I met one of my best friends in a forest. Though...it would be nice to figure out how to get back...

[She taps her foot, a finger to her chin. Thoughtful.] Do you know what the laughter is about?

[selfbegot]

[ this is... well, it's not normal, not by a long shot. but at least they're starting to tread on familiar ground again. madoka becomes more and more animated as she talks, and even if she's still hesitant in her actions it's clear she's bought into tifa's pretenses. ]

Ah, really? Probably a little less creepy than this one, ehehe... [ but tifa's smiling at her, and madoka makes an extra effort to smile back through closed lips. ] I'm not really sure! It's only the humans that hear it, though... especially when they get lost.

[ madoka looks back behind her, ears perking as she listens intently. after a moment, she tilts her head back to tifa. ]

...I could lead you out? If that's okay, I mean...

[godshand]

Only a little. [Said with wry humor.

Laughter only humans could hear, huh? ... It was a good thing she hadn't followed it, then.]

I think I could use the help. If it were a mountain, I'd be set, but it looks like I'm not much of a forest navigator. Thank you.

[selfbegot]

Oh, do you normally live near a mountain? [ it's an attempt at keeping conversation light as she makes her way out, hooves gingerly treading through the terrain as she retraces her path. ] We don't really have many of those around here - I mean, there's a few, but you really have to take a long ride to get there. Is it cold back home for you?

[godshand]

I did. A long time ago. [A slight shrug. She seems disinclined to elaborate.] It's not cold where I live now -- not often -- but in Nibelheim we had cold winters. The mountain was always dangerous, but during the winter even the natives would keep away from it.

The city I live in now isn't quite so scary. There aren't any mountains for miles.

[A pause. She follows behind, footsteps light and careful.] How about you?

[selfbegot]

[ she follows the movement of tifa's shoulders in her peripheral vision, picking up on the intended message immediately. she can worry about why tifa wouldn't want to talk about it another time - people have their own reasons, right?

she gently moves branches out of the way, ducking any time her antlers might get caught up in the foliage, and keeps the conversation going. ] Back home... it can get really cold! But there aren't really any mountains that close. It's too big of a city for that, you know? Skyscrapers, and buildings...

[ she smiles, remembering the place fondly even after a year and a half. ]

It's all so pretty at night. You'd love it, I think.

[godshand]

A city, huh? Filled with lights at night, I bet. [A flash of memory, of a younger Cloud sweeping his arms out atop Nibelheim's old well and regaling her with dreams of Midgar. How different it had been, when she'd gotten there proper, and been buried under the city instead.

...]

I'm sure I would. [She ducks under a low hanging tree branch herself as they move. She is sure Madoka can move much faster than this, if her legs are any indication, but she isn't. How thoughtful.

How fast can she run, Tifa wonders? (It's probably a bad idea to think about that.)]

Hey, if you don't mind my asking...how long have you been away from home?

[selfbegot]

All over! I'm not sure it even really gets dark back in Mitakihara.

[ how long has she been away? well, it's an easy enough question to answer. especially since she was just thinking about it, too... ]

Just under a year and a half. [ it's a long time - far longer than she'd have thought possible before she came here. but given the way she showed up, well... at this point, she's just trying to stay grateful where she can. it's a year and a half she shouldn't have had to begin with, after all. ] ...it feels a lot longer, sometimes.

[godshand]

[A year and a half? Tifa almost stops in her tracks. That's the long haul. Not just a fever dream to wake up from, but a lifetime's worth of nightmares. A year away from home, away from her bar, away from Marlene and Denzel. From Cloud. And to be here, to change into something, something terrible...

Things had only just gotten better. They had finally gotten another chance.

Her pace slows, a little, and without realizing, her hand moves to rest over the ribbon wrapped around her forearm. It's a cold comfort. She's not even sure that she would know what to do here, with this. There are no words for this, nothing to soften the blow.]

...and the changes. [She's a little quieter now, the superficial warmth dropping out of her tone to make way for something else.] They happen to everyone? No exceptions?

[selfbegot]

[ madoka doesn't have to turn back to hear the change in tifa's pace - her ears are more than sensitive enough to pick up on any differences these days. so she adjusts her pace accordingly, only speaking up when tifa's asked her whole question. ]

Mm. Everyone. [ there's no small amount of sadness in her voice - less pity and more commiserating sympathy. ] But... some people get luckier than others, you know? Sometimes the changes come easy. Sometimes, you don't even look much different than you used to.

[ she stops for a moment - turns to face tifa. ]

Sorry, sorry. I know that doesn't mean much right now. None of this... is really nice to hear. But it's better to know, I think.

[ she didn't really get that opportunity. ]

[godshand]

[Sometimes the changes come easy. She thinks about Vincent, the way his body twisted and rippled outside of his control, half-mad with pain, with bloodlust. How quiet he was normally, and so sad.

A shudder rolls over her shoulders. She can not imagine living like that all the time. Like having a roommate in your head that you couldn't get rid of. She imagines wings splitting from her shoulderblades in a bloody shower, imagines muscles and tendons snapping into all directions, the skin desperately stretching to accommodate the new bones her new body would give her. To look at her face reflected in a mirror or a pool of water and seeing someone else. Something new, something hungry.

A hard swallow. She rubs at her arms. She doesn't want to upset Madoka; she was being so kind.]

It's not the best news I've ever heard. [A weak laugh.] ...But I guess it isn't the worst, either. [She feels like she should apologize to this girl, for what she must have been through, but it won't do any good, will it? The damage was done. The fire had been set, and all was left now was picking up pieces.

Tifa knows how that is.]

Thank you, Madoka. I think it would be worse, if I was getting the news from someone who wasn't so nice.

[selfbegot]

[ she smiles at the other girl, soft and more than a bit sad. not the worst she's ever heard? she hopes that's not true, for tifa's sake. but... maybe having bad things in her past can help with the initial shock. ]

Thank you. [ she turns back to the trail, taking a few steps down a short dip in the path. ] I don't really know if "nice" is the right way to do this anymore. But... either way, I'm glad if it helps.

[ another few steps of silence. she pushes a branch up and above her antlers, careful not to get the two locked up. ]

Have you figured out where you're staying, yet?