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

[tacklepounce]

[ Having decided that she probably won't freak him out by proximity alone, Nepeta scoots a little closer in the grass. She nods, expression perfectly earnest. ]

The rocks-- [ She makes a face, twists so the gemstones in her shoulders catch the light, ] hurt a lot coming in. The fur was mostly itchy.

[ That was maybe worse. For her it was bloody, and gunky, and-- bad. ]

But it stops really soon, I purromise. I mean promise, so you know I'm serious!

[pinevestigator]

Mmm...that's like...these.

[He says quietly, pointing at his antlers. Deep beneath his matted hair, down in the roots, he can still feel blood drying from where they've rather violently forced their way out.]

I'm not really...used to having antlers. So...

[He rolls his shoulders in a bit of a shrug, letting his arms fall to his sides. He's dimly aware of his tail that keeps flicking back and forth, sweeping over his hooves and brushing the dead leaves across the forest floor.]

[tacklepounce]

From a troll purrspective, you'd look weird without them. [ She talks even as her eyes track the flicking of his tail. ] But I've had horns since I hatched. Humans are still new to me!

[ And, as if she hasn't just said anything remotely strange: ] I bet they'll be fun when they stop hurting.

[pinevestigator]

[Everything Nepeta does say is strange, but...well, she's a troll, right? And apparently was one before she even showed up here, so it makes sense that she'd be saying things that were a little weird. And she doesn't seem to be afraid of him, or trying to attack him, regardless of what he is...and somehow, that helps to calm Dipper's nerves.]

You think so? I don't....really know what I'm going to do with them.

[He sure can't wear his hat anymore, that's for certain.]

[tacklepounce]

[ Psh. Psh. He's not thinking outside the box!! ]

I could make you a cute hat! [ Yes this is definitely the #1 perk to becoming a horrifying monster, duh. ] You can cut holes in animal pelt so they stick out the top. It makes mine look like kitty ears.

[ She pauses, considering. ]

And you can fight with them? If someone pounced at you, you could poke them pretty hard.

[pinevestigator]

Ahh....uh...well, I...I guess I could.

[He laughs weakly, rubbing the back of his furred neck. His claws catch in the mane of hair there, and he quickly pulls back.]

I hope that doesn't happen, though.

[Dipper does look up at the hat on her head, though, as if he's noticing it for the first time. He sure would have a lot of animal pelts for her to use, if she'd gotten to him sooner.]

You...you made that yourself?

[tacklepounce]

Hehe, you'll be fine. [ Cheerfully dismissive. He's so nice! Trolls are, on the whole, a lot more eager for a fight. ] You can stick with me!

[ She's pretty much his height. She laughs like the tween girl she is. Truly a threatening duo. ]

That's right. I was a very fierce huntress, back home.

[ It's said as playfully as the puns, but had the saltwater and transformation not wrecked most of her outfit, she'd be wearing the same beast's paws and tail. The hat looks blue-grey in the forest gloom, but it's actually... a pretty alarming color for fur to be, knowing that it's natural. ]

My name's Nepeta, by the way.

[pinevestigator]

You...you want me to stay with you?

[He says that with a note of surprise in his tone, even though Nepeta has already shown that she's not really bothered by him at all.

It is pretty alarming, but then again Dipper has seen a lot of alarming things. He's more curious than anything as to what that animal might have been when it was still alive, and not currently residing as a hat atop Nepeta's head.]

Oh...my name's Dipper.

[tacklepounce]

If you want! [ Is she too weird? He can't possibly think he's too scary for her, he's... kind of adorable. And Nepeta doesn't hold with the "strong fighters only!!" attitude of jerks. ]

I don't have many friends from home-- two, and they're both a little grumpy. [ She hesitates. No, okay, that's too big an understatement even for her. ] Really grumpy. So it's nice to meet you!

[pinevestigator]

[At that, the boy smiles. Genuinely smiles, to the point where he has to stop to keep from poking himself with his longer fangs.]

You too, Nepeta.

[Dipper sits up a bit straighter with a grunt, starting to grow stiff from sitting.]

I hope you're...right about the hurting stopping, t-though....it's...really something.

[tacklepounce]

[ She smiles in return, brightens to see him sitting upright. He still hurts, she can tell, but it's more comfortable to witness when he's not so obviously twisted up with it. ]

Sorry I can't help. I had my... boyfriend? [ Yuck, no. Translation is hard. ] I don't know your word for it-- we look out for each other, like your sister?

[ Do humans not have a word for emotional anchor, charge, and soulmate smashed together? It's inconvenient and silly, she has no idea how Earth romance works when they only care about the kind with kissing-- ]

You just have to wait through it. Like growing pains all at once.

[pinevestigator]

[If it helps, Dipper is the literal worst at anything with romance. He seems to get the gist, if nothing else.]

Y-yeah, no kidding...

[And that was putting it lightly..]

But...it's fine. You....being here at all? ...that helps.

[tacklepounce]

[ Now she ducks her head, embarrassed and pleased. ]

I won't go anywhere! [ Equius stayed, for her. Someone needs to stay with him, even if it's not the same.

She sits criss-cross in the dirt and dead leaves, finds one to start picking a neat little hole into. Her claws are small and dark, not done growing. ] It's nice when it stops hurting. All your senses get sharper-- which is good, beclaws human night vision is really bad! [ yep we're back to the puns. ] Exploring at night is more fun, you can be sneakier.

[pinevestigator]

I bet. I...I can actually see a little better, now that you mention it. ...Hear better, too.

[The pain had been distracting him from the majority of his growing senses- the sense of smell being the strongest so far, not helping his hunger out all that much- but now that he took a moment to pay attention, he noticed that he could see better through the gloom.]

[tacklepounce]

See? [ She smiles again, with a little flash of fangs. ] It's not that bad! This place is really big, it'd be no fun to run around if you couldn't see in the dark.

[ Exploration of spooky, monster-ridden wilderness: a shared hobby. ]

[pinevestigator]

Yeah...I guess that's true.

[He'd explored this forest already, and had gotten terribly lost. Maybe now he'll have a better chance at not losing his way quite so badly.]

[tacklepounce]

Yeah! [ He doesn't seem extra scared, at least; that's good! She crinkles her nose at him, considering. ]

Do... you live out here? [ It's not a weird question when she's used to living in a cave. ] Or back in the town? I could help you get back so nothing big or mean gives you a hard time!

[ Of course she knows the way. She's a master tracker, duh, what could go wrong. ]

[pinevestigator]

Well....I was staying in an abandoned house, near town. Once....all this started...

[He glances back down at himself; at his exposed ribcage.]

I ran away, into the forest here.

[tacklepounce]

[ Was. ] Are you not going back?

[ She sees the long wet lines of his ribs. The undead weren't common in her area, at home, but it was still a fact of life, and...

It's creepy that he's so normal (too nice, helpless; cute) when he looks like a dead thing, but it doesn't gross her out. Too many years of killing, cleaning prey. She shifts closer in the dead leaves, within an arm's length, and then fidgets. ]

Do you want me to look? [ Even if the wounds are a weird, wrong kind. ]

[pinevestigator]

...I don't know.

[Dipper then notices her staring at his chest, and he has to resist the urge to move his arms up to hide the bones. Every now and then the wind will blow and send a strange chill through his already cold body, a hollow sound issuing from the gaps in the ribs.

He glances back up at Nepeta without moving his head, his ears falling back.]

You....you can....if you want.

[tacklepounce]

[ It's a weird sound. Curiosity has always been her most dangerous flaw.

Trolls don't do gentleness and fussing, not as a platonic thing, not lightly. But Nepeta's always been cavalier about personal space, and she can't not pity him just a little, all small and sad with droopy ears. She's not being weird! He's human and adorable and making adorable human friends is her goal.

Humans help each other all the time, right? So it's no big deal when she scoots closer, hunches low like him so she can squint at his bare ribs. It's a moment before she reaches out, and with the tips of her small dark claws, nudges his arm away so she can get a better look. Her touch is cooler than a human's, but warmer than the forest air. She wrinkles her nose at his exposed insides. ]

Wow. [ It's soft, fascinated: wowww. She looks back up at him and smiles small, all pointy teeth. ]

Gross! Hehe. It's kind of cool.

[pinevestigator]

[Dipper hadn't noticed until a a little sharp pain started nagging at his mouth that he'd been biting his lip with teeth a bit sharper than he's used to. It's both to help keep still and to keep the bit of a smile from overtaking his expression as she looks up at him like that. It's hard not to, really.]

Heh...yeah? I don't...smell too bad, do I?

[Not that he's cared before, mister I-don't-bathe.]

[tacklepounce]

[ She actually laughs, a bit rougher and more real than the spooky-forest-children sound. ]

Haha, no, you're fine! [ He's dead, not rotted (much), and a lifetime of killing her own food has prepared her for that. Dipper smells like mammal and semi-fresh gore, but that's familiar; it'd take worse to turn her stomach. And when her own protector-protected dork-- her moirail-- is the biggest, sweatiest asshole of a thirteen-year-old the world has ever known, it's not like unwashed-boy stink would dissuade her.

She grew up half-feral, anyway, her bathing habits probably resemble his. ]

[pinevestigator]

Good.

[Dipper seems a lot more relaxed now than he was when she first showed up, and he's not whining from the pain. It hasn't entirely subsided, but rather retreated into a dull throb that he can still feel in his head and throughout his body. It's not a good feeling, but it's better than feeling like his head was going to split down the middle at any minute.]

I'm surprised I'm....still....all one piece, you know? .....uh. ...considering.

[tacklepounce]

Yeah. [ She looks him over, thoughtful. Now that his personal space has been sacrificed, the odds of her moving outside arm's reach are nope. Death-smell or no. ]

I wonder what water would do if you went in it? You might smell kind of gross if it keeps... [ rotting ] doing this. Maybe you could scrub off the dead bits.

[ Wow that's an appalling thought, thanks, Nepeta. But some parts of him are clearly falling apart more than others, it makes sense in her head! ]

Do humans usually have undead?