graveyardsmash | TEST DRIVE MEME

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test drive

TEST DRIVE MEME

TEST DRIVE MEME: SEPTEMBER

Welcome to the Ryslig Test Drive Meme! Below are a few prompts to get you started, but you may make up any prompt you desire! Please take a look at the navigation page for rules, setting information, and links to reserves and apps. Have fun!

SCENARIO ONE

You wake up on the beach thoroughly drenched with your mouth full of sand. The salt water causes various cuts and scrapes on your skin to sting and the sand isn't helping. The air is slightly humid, ruining any feeling of refreshment you might have gotten from your dip in the ocean. There are lights in the distance but the unfriendly scent of gunpowder fills the air. If you're lucky, you're alone. If not, you might find yourself staring up into a pair of monstrous eyes or down the barrel of a local's shotgun.

SCENARIO TWO

So you've just arrived, and already SOME 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." Then there's the people who aren't happy to see you at all. Glares and silent, judging stares if you're lucky. Torches and pitchforks attempting to drive you out of the town if you're not. You may need a friend to help you.

SCENARIO THREE

"Seek us out," the voice whispers in your head, and before you have time to question it you've found yourself in someplace entirely alien. Maybe it's the Fog God's ghostly town of Dyster, where exultant followers dance around bonfires and sing their praises to the skies above. Maybe it's the Fourth God's arcade, with small robots wheeling about amidst the lights and colors of old pinball machines. Only one thing is certain: you are not alone, in this sacred place.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[For Samhaine, losing his mask isn't quite the same sort of problem as it would be for any old Puppet. How could it be when you don't have a face to hide? His is his face, so to have lost it would be to no longer exist. A man without a face. Nothing. At least, that's what Samhaine would be saying if he could speak.

The moment he'd woken up on that sand, covered in wounds that shouldn't even be able to exist, he hadn't gotten up. Because not only is his mask missing, but his sword is too. He can't hear it singing, and when he moves to reach into his chest, his hand finds strange, fleshy resistance. Ribs beneath fingers that aren't jointed right, as well as a thudding heartbeat that pounds in his ears and doesn't even sound like his own.

But that isn't why, when Siouxsie finally gets her bearings and can sort of see, she'll spot a man sitting in the sand not all that far away from her. It's because when he'd reached for his face...there was something there. And now, in a fit of confusion and desperation, he's left sitting there with his head buried in his hands, as if they'll hide whatever this is from the rest of the world.

He'll probably just sit here forever if he's allowed, honestly.]

[Yeah, no. If he thought he could get away with just sitting in the sand like some guy having a mental breakdown, he'd be absolutely wrong - Siouxsie's adrenaline rush from waking up in pain and maskless is enough for her not to notice her own form yet, covered in far too much squish with a rushing sound in her ears that's unrecognizable, but the moment she sees Samhaine?
She's doing her best to run to him. ... Though it's more of a panicked stumble, thanks to wearing geta in the sand.

Just because he's human now, doesn't mean she doesn't recognize him.]

Hey, No Face! You aren't dead, are you -

[She slows to a stop when she's gotten close, just now noticing something's truly wrong with her friend.
Not emotionally, no - though he's probably panicking on the inside - but physically.
Limbs far too thick to be that of a Puppet, skin a strange, peachy color instead of the normal Puppet white... even his clothing and hair look just strange compared to what it would look like back home in their constructed world. None of it's... stiff looking. His hair is clinging to him like seaweed, his shirt wrinkled from the water and bent to his form, all of it looking far more free flowing than it should.

Maybe... it's not Samhaine? But the clothes... and the hair. It all looks just like him...
Siouxsie had been standing there for a moment as she inspected him, but after that, she kneels in front of him in the sand - trying to look at his mask to see if he's alright.
Who cares if he can see her face? At this point, what Puppet man hasn't?]

... Hey. Are you okay, No Face? Are you hurt?

[Just like Siouxsie, there's an odd, warm concern in her voice that no other Puppet shares. ... Even though she's still calling him "No Face".]

[Samhaine recognizes Siouxsie's voice right away, but for some reason he doesn't look up. He just presses his hands harder to his face, completely covering it with both (quite large, for a human) palms. Despite his unusually squishy appearance, his clothing is reminiscent of the way he'd appeared before. He's even wearing geta still that somehow didn't get ripped off by slogging through the sand or something similar.

His hair fans out over his hands as he curls in closer towards himself, taking in long, rattling gasps of air. And it isn't until he hears Siouxsie just in front of him that he speaks...and it doesn't sound like Samhaine at all.

Well, it does. But it's just...one voice. One single, soft, low voice.]

Sixousie...look away.

[... Okay. What the fuck. The voice she's used to hearing from him is low, of course, but... changes in intonation and feeling as he speaks, distorted like that of Cerealis or The Body, but much warmer than they could ever sound.

This isn't that voice. This is the voice of a weak man who's scared of what's happening... none of the strength she's used to hearing from the Marionette.]

I'm not gonna look away just because you tell me to, moron. You know I can handle whatever you're hiding!
Just let me see, already.

[Can she try to pull one of those hands away? Because something's apparently wrong with his... faceless region, and it's upsetting him.
Which means it's upsetting her.]

[He doesn't want to, but he knows that Siouxsie is going to see whether he likes it or not. He can only resist her pulling on his hand for a moment before she succeeds in pulling it away, even though that half of his face is still mostly obscured by his hair. But it's still not enough to hide what he was trying to keep hidden, unable to comprehend or understand it.

A face. A face staring back at Siouxsie with dark, terrified eyes that hold expression that Samhaine never had before. Weirdly, he's pretty similar to the structure of the mask he wore, except it's far less gaunt and haunting. He looks like a normal young man, by and large, and it's...

...weird. It's very weird.]

[It's...

Really weird. And it's not something she'd ever pictured hidden behind his hands as she'd tried to pull them away.
From what she remembers being told, he'd never had a face before. Born completely without one.
And yet... here one is, looking right back into her own. Looking at her with feeling, with more life to it than his mask had ever shown.
Not only that, but...

This is the only time she's ever seen another Puppet's face.

Siouxsie kinda can't help the look of spellbound curiosity she's got, almost - almost - reaching out to touch his cheek... before thinking better of it and pulling back her hand, remembering the way he'd reacted to nearly everything she'd done before.
Not really something Samhaine's okay with.

But she still really wants to. Really wants to.]

... You've got a face. When did that happen?
You can't just suddenly grow a whole face, can you?

[Even though she's trying to sound distant and sarcastic as usual, it's hard to hide the touch of actual shock in her tone.]

I don't know.

[Your guess is really as good as his, Siouxsie, because Samhaine has nothing. Absolutely nothing. He wants nothing more than to hide behind his hands again, but now that Siouxsie has seen him he just feels weirdly exposed. Not like he's concerned the devil will kill him or anything...he just doesn't like having a face where he shouldn't, that's all.

He pulls away from Siouxsie just a fraction, his heels digging furrows into the sand as he does.]

I don't......understand...

[He has a mouth, actually moving to form the words as he speaks. He's blinking, breathing, talking. And where anyone else would think that is just- well- normal, Samhaine is finding it to be the exact opposite.]

...

[Yeah, Siouxsie can see this is just too much for him. He's never experienced everything having a face entails, and it's overwhelming him.
So she brings her hands up, palms out toward him.]

Stay here for a bit, got it?

[... And then she stands, brushing the sand off her striped leggings before wandering off along the beach, silver eyes scanning the beach - her own masklessness seemingly forgotten for the time being.]

[No worries there because Samhaine is not interested in moving, much less getting up. He watches Siouxsie through his one visible, trembling eye until she's turned away, freeing him up to cover his face again.

Samhaine's not here, he's in No Face town.]

[Her poor pet samurai. Don't worry, good ol' Siouxsie's here for you!
It doesn't take too long for her to return, though - a familiar, white something in her hands as she lowers herself to her knees in front of Samhaine once more.]

Move your hands.

[... It's an order. As usual.]

[It's with much reluctance that Samhaine moves his hands, not really wanting anyone else who might be around to see his face. At least Siouxsie is the only other person he's actually run into out here so far.]

[Well then, he's gonna get a treat - because once he uncovers his face for Siouxsie to see, she immediately covers it right back up.

With a mask.

It's wet and smells like the sea, lined with sand, and the eyeholes aren't the shape he's used to... but it's a mask.]

-- There. That's better.
Now you'll stop moping around like a sadsack, right?

[...oh.

Samhaine pauses for a moment, lifting his hands again so he can trace his fingers along the mask's surface. It's certainly not his mask, but any mask right now is better than none. It's clear that it's done wonders to calm him down near immediately given the way his shoulders finally sag into something resembling his usual posture.]

A mask...?

[He's just now noticing that Siouxsie isn't wearing a mask, either?

What's going on?]

Yeah. A mask.

[She stands up after saying that, brushing her knees clean again, before offering her hand to help him up.]

You're not comfortable without one, right?
If I'm gonna wander around some town I've never seen before, I want you there with me - and that's not gonna happen if you're just gonna sit in the sand and mope.
You're supposed to be my bodyguard, remember?

[It's true, she's still maskless herself. Not a thing covering her face, yet she's talking like it's no longer bothering her at all.
The shape of that mask might seem a little strange, though - a ridge that goes across the middle of the face, only broken by the bridge of the nose... no carved mouth or anything. So that must be painted on.]

[It takes the former Marionette a moment to take Siouxsie's offered hand, and even longer still to slowly pull himself up to his feet. It doesn't take him long to realize whose mask he's wearing, though.

He wants to ask if it's okay, but he...doesn't want to take it back off, either. So to avoid that possibility, he just nods his head slightly.]

Thank you.

[Well, of course it's okay - she's a Puppet! She wouldn't do something she didn't want to.
And that includes letting him wear her mask.

... Of course, though, going maskless means Samhaine gets to see her full reactions - which includes a smile at his thanks.]

Yeah, whatever. That's what friends are supposed to do.
Let's just get moving already!

[Moving, which includes not letting go of his hand, apparently. He gets to be pulled along like a poor babysitter as she drags him toward the lights of town.]

[Ah...well, if anything had to be happening right now, he's glad it's this and not something worse. It's a distraction from the fact of his face, at any rate. The mask does calm him down enough to be able to follow and actually get a good look at where they are...and it's not home.

It's not home by a long shot.]

I don't...remember how I got here.

[That's not a good basis though since Samhaine isn't known for having the best memory about things.]

Yeah - well, you don't remember a lot of things, No Face.

[Yep. Good job with the whole amnesiac thing, Samhaine. At least she sounds amused?
But she does look over her shoulder at him for a moment as they walk.]

... But I don't remember anything about a surprise trip, either.
I'd say, y'know, maybe we've been kidnapped - lots of guys try to do that to me, right? But...
Why would they just throw us to the side?

[After offering that confusing and possibly upsetting possibility, she looks straight ahead once more.]

If it's because they think I'm not worth a high ransom, I'll be seriously annoyed.
Like, I'm worth at least a sweet million! Don't you think?

[Siouxsie that is not encouraging at all. He also isn't sure what to say to that, so he defaults to nothing at first as they head away from the sand and water, his eyes continuing to scan their surroundings for any hints of some familiarity, only to come up with a whole lot of...nothing, really.]

No. We would have known if we were kidnapped. Something else has happened.

[Could a kidnapper give him a face? He doesn't think so.]

Avoiding the question? Really? You could just say you think I'm cheap, you know.

[Said with a huff. C'mon, No Face, be honest with her!
But at that, she shrugs.]

So, what do you think it is? Ghosts? Demons?

Something powerful. Something strong enough to alter the very fabric of the universe.

[Strong enough to give him a whole face, at least. So probably demons.]

So, because they were strong enough to give you a face, they're strong enough to alter the fabric of the universe.
Alright, sure. That makes sense.

[She's being sarcastic. Noticeably.
And she's about to say something else, when she... suddenly slows to a stop, looking at the street ahead of them - finally in town and off the beach.

... There's so many people.]

H-hey, uh...
How about you take the lead from here, No Face?

[Well duh. How else would they be able to make him have a face out of nowhere? You don't just...do that without a whole lot of power to back it up.

...oh. That is a lot of people though, isn't it? And a lot of. Um.

Are those people...?]

...look.

[He points in some direction for Siouxsie to see, and just as he does, a demon strolls from behind a building. Wings, horns, hooves and all.]

[Well fuck. Just the sight of something with wings and horns makes her immediately leap behind him, peering over his shoulder at the demon like it's going to walk right up to them and eat their soul, right then and there.]

Jesus - w-what the hell is that?
What's it doing just... walking around a town like this!?

... Can w-we, uh... take another road or - or something?

[No Monsters. No thank you.
She doesn't want to deal with any other Monsters after Cerealis's face being two inches from her own, or being carried around in a cage by The Wasp Woman. ... And after everything about The Body.]

[There is no other road. And unfortunately for both of them, trying to go the way they came isn't going to happen, either. Samhaine moves to turn, but the second he does he's very nearly running into a Naga slithering past. It's a constant barrage of noise, the creature's very hair being made up of snakes that hiss and stare at Samhaine as she passes them by.

It takes him a moment to even think of a response, because now it's plain that they're not just faced with a single monster.

There are monsters everywhere.]

I...I do not have my sword. I cannot fight them.

A

(slams hands on table) SAMHAINE SAMHAINE SAMHAINE

HE'S HERE, SORT OF

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