TEST DRIVE MEME

[rysligmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

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: The State of the Game Discussion produced a lot of great suggestions and we now have a post for Plot Suggestions and Monster Questions. The NETWORK VOTE results are in and PRIVATE MESSAGING will be added some time in November. 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. Reserve and application dates have been announced. Test drive meme threads can be used for your roleplay sample! Sample scenarios: SCENARIO ONE: You've just been released from the hospital in Vandare and no one really seems to know what to do with you. The locals offer polite advice but don't seem to want to spend a lot of time with you. You and the other new arrivals stick out like sore thumbs, so perhaps one will spot you wandering about town. 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: 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.

Comments

two!

[theotherpromise]

[Even with Roxas's slightly more recent trips to the outskirts of the woods, he can't escape the chill of hearing the laughing children within the forest, some of them playing as if by a record, never in one place. For now, however, his attention was centered on someone else--or a someone turning into a something, which isn't unheard of for the continent of Ryslig. At least where he's visited.

He's met too many of these strays--or maybe they had always been in Vandare or Bavan, and he simply hadn't met them yet? Regardless, they were either coaxed by the mayor or other villagers to come into the forest this late, and they shouldn't be here. Even with his wings, Roxas was risking getting lost, and the further into night they delve, the harder it would be to find a way out. He's just not very good at finding openings for approaching people.

But she's still scratching. Roxas has had firsthand experience of how bad scratching can affect the transformation process. She can't keep doing this to herself. So without seeing an opening, Roxas creates one.

With shorts and a shirt tailored for his wings, Roxas settles on a low branch, though still a few feet from the ground. Gripping another branch, he raises the other one out in front of him, showing his empty palm. Roxas, a full harpy by this point, folds his wings and rests on barn owl legs; his claws are long and sharp, but there's not much he can do to keep them from looking lethal. His canines poke sharpy in his mouth, and his eyes are a pale, nearly glowing yellow. Despite his horrible outward appearance, he's trying to do her a favor.]

Listen--you have to stop scratching it.

[drowns]

[Her nails by now look as if they've been filed to careful, precise needle points. Were her vision better (and that was odd, it was as if she wasn't wearing her glasses, and she's sure that she is but everything is so blurry, indistinct. Her head hurts) she might know that they're wet with blood. But the pain of the injuries is muddled and indistinct. The need for water overtakes everything, she's so, so thirsty...

The flap of wings is heard even from a distance. It's almost too loud, in fact: she's heard every snapping branch and fluttering leaf since she's been here. Whatever it is, it sounds heavy. Big. She glances up when Roxas lands, and if she had the strength to scream in surprise, she would. As it is though, she only stares, frozen in place, wide-eyed.

It (he?) was talking to her. Mitsuki's hands stop moving: her fingers twitch once, twice, then clench into fists.]

Wha — who...who are you? [Her voice is low and gravely, and it cracks when she speaks. What was he would have been the more accurate turn of phrase (she thinks), but even like this, politeness overrides everything else.]

[theotherpromise]

[He can see those clenched fists, with smears of blood over her fingers. He closes his hand halfway, turning it to gesture to himself.]

I went through the same thing you did. [Because he has to be all mysterious about it. He looks over his shoulder as his wings unfurl some, to show her.] Except I got these from the places I itched from. When I scratched, it just made everything hurt more.

[He had a nasty experience trying to scratch and pull the roots of the feathers that were growing. He doesn't want anyone else going through that. He looks back at her, brows furrowed. He's speaking calmly, but she doesn't look at all as placid.]

You can't scratch it. Things'll just get worse, or your scratches could get infected. It's not a good idea to be out in the forest this late either.

[drowns]

[In response, she pulls her hands closer to her. The itching is infuriating, frustrating, but worse than that is the distinct feeling that her skin is changing. That something is growing under it, some cancerous thing that she has to dig out. But she has to control herself, at least long enough to listen.]

This... [This transformation.] It happened to you too? What is this place? [It's harder to talk now, and she wants to follow his advice and leave, but...]

I-I think I'm lost, and I'm so thirsty...I just need a little water. [She had come out here hoping to summon it, to no avail.]

[theotherpromise]

[That's the sort of thing Walter would say before they realized exactly what was happening to him. Alarmed and alert, Roxas's pupils wax and wane as they fix on the grooves on her arms. He's too far to see it, but he swears that he sees-]

Hang on. [He can't let her be alarmed. His wings unfold some by impulse, but he lowers himself from the branch rather than leaping from it. He doesn't want to scare her any more than necessary. His steps to her are slow and careful. He shows her his empty hands. ...Again, he's got claws, but that's beside the point.]

Show me your arm. [Her bloody, flaky arm, if she pleases. Roxas feels his stomach churn, but not exactly in disgust. But also not because there was human flesh and blood in front of him, even if she's changing now, even if he's only realizing how long it's been since he's had-

She's changing and she needs help. Roxas needs to remember that. As a precaution, he bars himself from going any further than ten feet near her. She can show her his arm there. He won't touch her.]

[drowns]

[She keeps her eyes on him. He'd been helpful, or at least she thought so, but his appearance...those claws alone looked like they could tear her apart.

If he does, she thinks, she'll fight him, she'll do what she needs to do...the thoughts are disjointed, lacking focus. She's not used to this either, feeling directionless, and she's certainly not used to feeling violent.

Relax, some part of her thinks, calm down! He's only trying to help. Surely, he must be. He's keeping at a distance...was he afraid of frightening her, she wondered? Not that it made much difference. She would be terrified with or without his presence.

Slowly, in flinching movements, she holds out her arm. Her hand is trembling.]

[theotherpromise]

[Roxas swallows thickly, watching her raise her arm, forcing himself to look past the rivulets of blood and onto the patches of silvery skin beneath her arm.

Scales. She might be human, but she's changing into something like Walter. He looks at her other arm, biting his cheek enough to draw a little metallic taste as he tries not to think about the ripped flesh. More scales. She's changing--and really quickly. He breathes in deeply, and his chest expands to show it; his lungs have gotten bigger since he's changed.]

I think I know what's going on with you. [He looks back at her, but he's taking a step back, towards the tree again.] I don't know if it'll all happen at once, but we've gotta get you to some water, now. [If her legs decide to fuse, Roxas has no idea what he'll do.] I know where there's some water nearby, but... you've gotta promise me something before I take you there.

[drowns]

[She had to get to water, he said. Not to drink but to immerse herself in it...was that it? It sounded strange to her, but at the same time it seemed to make sense. She would do anything to get rid of the dry, scratchy feeling. It was as if she would crumble to sand if she moved too much.

There is always a part of her that is mistrustful of strangers, and this stranger had feathered wings and talons, sharp teeth. But the need to not be alone overrides her fear for the moment, and she nods.]

A...all right. What is it?

[theotherpromise]

[How does he ask this of her without freaking her out more, potentially? He opts to be as vague as possible about it and just hope that she won't ask questions. He briefly glances downward.]

Just don't get any closer to me than this. [He gestures to the space between them. He can already smell her blood and flaking flesh; his stomach quietly gurgles empty air, reminding him of how hungry he is. But she's not going to be human for very long. He can last. With that, he turns around and leaps back onto the tree branch.]

Follow me. [He's not giving her room to ask why, and it's obvious he feels guilty about it. He doesn't like being dishonest. It's not like him at all. But he has to help her. So he'll take his small leaps through the trees, making a circle around her but still in her vision, heading to a small freshwater stream he knew he could find with precise maneuvering...]

[drowns]

[It's an unusual request, but not one that creates immediate suspicion. By now, she has to reluctantly concede that she needs the help more than anything else at the moment. She nods.] Ah...um, alright. I won't. [He's a blurry shape from where she's sitting — frustrated, she removes her glasses to rub at her eyes...

And he's clear. Everything is. She blinks once, twice...as if to knock herself out of a daze, but this doesn't change. The glasses stay clenched in one of her fists; she doesn't have the heart to throw them away.

Her own movement is sluggish, halting. She follows him through the trees on foot, leaning against tree trunks when she can, stopping to rest, to breathe. It's hard to, for some reason.

The laughter that had startled her so bubbles up in odd intervals. No matter how far they move, it stays at a distance.]

[theotherpromise]

[Roxas lets her take her time; when she needs to stop and take air, or if she needs more time to lean against a branch or trunk, he holds his breath and ignores the salt and metal smell of blood seeping in. His hunger wouldn't get the best of him. He just needed to get her to that body of water as soon as possible. But would she make it there? She seemed exhausted already, despite the stream not being too far of a walk. At least from what feather-light-boned, agile Roxas seemed to remember. (Meanwhile, he's learned to tune out the faraway giggles, though when he does notice them, they are still as bone-chilling as he remembers.)

The freshwater stream he finds is just wide enough to fit someone a little more than her size, just shallow enough to cover her if she lies horizonally. (But does she want to touch the murky, mossy bottom of the stream, teeming with tadpoles and other smaller fish?) He points to it and looks down to her.]

The water's over here! This should even take us to the lake if we follow it the right way.

[drowns]

[Her breathing is labored by now. She remembers, suddenly, at running for gym class. Ishikawa! the instructor would shout, Go! and she'd run, as fast as she could, but the further she got, the more her lungs would burn. By the time the race was over, she would be tired, cheeks flushed, her throat burning.

This is worse. To her, Roxas's light-footed, agile movement through the trees is almost too fast. It's her new eyesight that keeps her from panicking. No matter how fast he moves or how far he goes...

Well, it's like she can see for miles, all of a sudden. The stream's sluggish movement hits her first: the sound of it, of water. And there's the smell of it too: dewy and earthy. No matter how it looks, she's grateful to know it's nearby. She stumbles forward into it, pressing her face first into the stream, then gathering handfuls of water to run along her painfully dry arms. The effect is almost immediate: the itching slows, ceases, and she can breathe again.

She crawls into the water, and already she's moving faster. When she flips onto her back to stare up at him, she looks so grateful that she's almost in tears.]

Thank...thank you. Thank you so much. [...] A lake? I want to go.

[theotherpromise]

[Her reaction isn't altogether surprising; she was turning into something like a fish, just like Walter. At least she seems relieved--and some of that blood can finally be washed off of her. She was still human, for now, and so Roxas only had to wait until she had fully transformed until he could approach her without fear, if they happened to meet again. He stays in his tree, braced against its trunk and squatting on his legs as she seems to heal inside of the water. She has no idea what's happening to her, does she? When she looks back at him, Roxas might seem a little sad, brows creased and mouth pulled to a small frown.]

We've just gotta follow this. [He gestures to the river itself, already stepping towards the other branches of the trees nearby. His wings unfold themselves. Can she maybe travel faster in the water, like his friend? The water's bound to get less shallow the further they go along.] I can go with you.