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

[formulaforachoice]

"I don't know. Maybe. Did you have cuts and scratches when they pulled you out of the ocean?" With any other person he wouldn't have thought twice about asking that question, but given that it was Seren of all people, there just seemed something odd about asking about the ocean in any respect.

There shouldn't have been, but there was.

[philosphers_snark]

"Yeah...yeah, I was," he said slowly, then rubbed his hand over his face. "I was more confused as to what I was doin' in the water in this form, but no one's tellin' me anything." He paused, bringing his hand away from his face to stare up at Lenus.

"Are you tellin' me they pulled you outta the water too? That's how you got here?"

[formulaforachoice]

Lenus nodded. "Yeah. That's what I was told when I woke up. This," he gestured to himself, "happened about a month later. Some kind of god 'marking' us or 'poisoning' us or something like that."

He sat down beside a tree, scowling down at the ground. "It's different for each person, what happens to them. There are some things that group together, though--different" he hesitated, and the word came out a little more choked than he would have liked in the end "creatures."

[philosphers_snark]

He heard the strain in his voice and felt an answering painful squeeze in his chest. Was he alone here, then? "...where's Meroe?" Seren asked after a moment, dreading the answer. "Why ain't she here with you?"

[formulaforachoice]

"I don't know. Maybe back at home. Hopefully back at home." His fingers dug into the earth again. How long had she been left alone? Was she even still alive? His chest felt as though it was about to burst in half.

[philosphers_snark]

Seren closed his eyes, his jaw tightening as he digested this information. So much of this didn't make any sense -- no, scratch that. None of this made any sense. The only thing that seemed to feel right at all was that they were together now.

He stood up after a moment and crossed over to where Lenus sat, sitting down in front of him. "Lenus, what's the last thing you remember before waking up here?" he asked, trying to make eye contact and hold it.

[formulaforachoice]

It would be a difficult task. Lenus was determined to keep his gaze on the earth below. If he pretended enough, maybe he'd convince himself that Seren was just a hallucination he was having.

"I don't know... You and Elodie had just shown up. Elodie was getting ready to head back to Crosswick."

[philosphers_snark]

Seren grew very quiet and still. At the end of a long pause, he asked, his voice low and hoarse, "...you don't remember the Corinth? Or coming to Heraclion after me?"

[formulaforachoice]

Lenus lifted his head, if only for a moment. "The... 'Corinth?'" he repeated. "No, I don't. What are you talking about?"

[philosphers_snark]

For the briefest second, Seren looked positively heartbroken. Anguish made his faintly luminous eyes all the more brighter, but then he quickly looked away, his bangs hiding that vulnerable gaze.

"Never mind," he said, his voice light and carefully unconcerned. "In the grand scheme of weirdness goin' on here, it don't even register." He cleared his throat and looked back at Lenus, his expression controlled into his usual effortless confidence.

"So you and me are stuck here, and there's a good chance I'll be goin' through all kinds of transformations. Good thing whatever brought us here forgot an important bit of information."

[formulaforachoice]

"That none of us want to be here or want to be whatever it has in mind for us?" Lenus suggested, arching an eyebrow. He shrugged. "Maybe you'll be lucky and you'll just go back to being mer."

[philosphers_snark]

"No," Seren said, getting to his feet and grinning crookedly down at Lenus. "There ain't a problem that I won't solve, and there ain't an obstacle you and I can't overcome if we're together."

He held out his good hand to Lenus. "Two greatest alchemists in Janus, right?"

[formulaforachoice]

Lenus looked up at him and finally the smallest of smiles appeared. "Two of the best alchemists," he agreed, and started to reach out to pull himself up, but dropped his hand, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Um... You sure you'd be able to pull me up?" What with the added muscle and weight of stones on his back. "I'll push myself to my feet and shake your hand after."

[philosphers_snark]

He flexed, his grin sardonic. "You kiddin' me? Look at all this raw masculine strength. So what if you've put on some pounds and rocks? Don't get cocky, kid." While he was still waiting for the growth spurt his guardian was sure would be coming at any moment, he'd already started to put on a little more muscle on his otherwise scrawny frame. Alas, not in any noticeable way.

Before Lenus could take away his hand completely, Seren reached out and grabbed it, pulling back to haul him up with a grunt.

[formulaforachoice]

Lenus let out a cry of surprise, stumbling forward and just barely managing not to topple over entirely. He gave Seren a look. "Warn me before you do that. I've got enough problems without getting a mouthful of dirt." He rubbed at an eye with the heel of his palm, breathing slowly and trying to force the hot irritation in him away. Seren was just being himself. No need to get mad.

"Anyway, I'll try and get you out of these woods. Unless you want to hear whatever it is around here laugh at us forever."

[philosphers_snark]

"On the list of things I want outta life, that ranks somewhere between gettin' my balls twisted off and makin' out with Elodie," Seren grumbled, peering up at the trees. "What is that stupid laughin' anyway?"

[formulaforachoice]

"I don't know." He gestured for Seren to follow him. "It might just be one giant illusion. I got trapped in one the first time I went into this forest. There were mines too, with people who had been burnt head to toe. They were dead, I think, but kept bringing up gold."

He shook his head, but didn't shudder. "Apparently people go missing in here a lot."

[philosphers_snark]

He followed eagerly enough, getting distracted by watching light glint off the crystals apparently embedded in Lenus. It was tempting to reach out and try to tug one out, but he could feel the tension radiating off Lenus. There was an air of twitchiness around him that he'd never seen before.

"You mentioned people are grouping together," he said as he walked. "That mean you made some friends here? Maybe friends who look like you?"

[formulaforachoice]

"Not people," he explained, "more like changes. Some are group together like wings and scales or wings and feline attributes, or people becoming plants. Most people stick either to Bavan or Vandare. I think I've made some friends, though."

He shrugged, feeling more and more self-conscious the longer Seren kept his eyes on him. Was he staring? Lenus felt like he was staring. "Only a couple I've seen that look like I do, though. And there's some variation happening, too."

[philosphers_snark]

"Variation...so it really don't seem to follow any pattern," he said quietly, rubbing his chin and frowning. "Normally I'd assume the changes are based on the biological material the magic or potion has to work with from the start, but I'm gettin' the feeling that ain't the case."

[formulaforachoice]

Lenus shook his head. "I've been recording as many changes that people have been going through as I can and trying to find patterns, but mostly it just predicts what people might be becoming. Most of our ideas for causes are pure theory, though there are people in Bavan who took samples to see if they can figure it out." It would help a lot more if he had more names for what it was they were becoming, too. But that would probably have to wait until whatever it was was complete--gods forbid it should ever happen.

"Most people think its the fog and a 'fog god' that's related to it. Whatever it is, the people who weren't brought here like we are aren't changing into anything, so I'd assume that they're immune to it."

[philosphers_snark]

"Fog god," Seren repeated with a derisive snort. "Anytime someone don't understand somethin', it's always gotta be some god." He shook his head. "Nah, there's an explanation for all of this, and I aim to find it."

He was quiet, looking up from the path to Lenus's back, then added softly, "...you ain't alone now."

[formulaforachoice]

Lenus stopped mid-step, but it was only for half a second or two, and he was walking again. "I did meet some people you know. I'm not that hopeless."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And I can't exactly be happy that you're here, you know." He glanced at Seren over his shoulder. "It hurts. I don't know if it will for you, but when it happens, it hurts."

[philosphers_snark]

His stomach felt like lead and he wasn't sure why. "...like I ain't used to pain?" he muttered. "If it happens before we can fix this, then it'll happen. I'll handle it. There's no point in bemoanin' reality, and I'm not about to bitch about the facts just 'cause of what might happen."

[formulaforachoice]

"Yeah, might..." The way he spoke, he didn't seem to believe it, but then he frowned at his own words. "I still think it can be reversed, you know. It's just... It's not going to be a simple solution. There's no magic here, not like we know it. People can't use it until after they change."

His lips drew tight a moment--as tight as they could around his lower fangs. "Otherwise I would have had at least a few prototype cures made by now."