TEST DRIVE MEME

[ryslighelpers]

TEST DRIVE MEME: JANUARY

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.

Comments

[shinebrightlike]

... We'll both have to make sure to have a nice long bath once we're safe. We don't want sand and salt getting in any of those cuts. It's bad enough now, isn't it?

[ Just... keep talking about safety. About the eventuality, not the possibility, of a safe place. The less they think about the dark and the unfamiliar shoreline, the better.

At least, that's what Dia wants. But then a gunshot rings out through the darkness -- distant, but close enough to crack through the quiet and she freezes, her grip on Ruby's hand tightening to the point of pain. ]

... stay very quiet for a moment.

[ganbarruby]

[WELL so much for just holding her hand.

Dia's going to be presented with the problem of Ruby suddenly darting behind her with her hand still held, both trying to hide and keep hold of her sister at the same time. No worries about her being quiet, she's turned hiding in plain sight into an art form.]

[twomeals]

Scottish? [???]

Umm, they're horses, right? That live in water.

[unehelichkind]

Scottish is people and things and stuff coming from Scotland.

Yeah, they are.

[shinebrightlike]

[ ... well. Really, that's to be expected.

And it's preferred, if Dia's honest. If Ruby's at her back then she has nothing to fear from someone who might pick a fight with Dia. And it might give her an extra few seconds to run, if need be.

She hates that this... wherever they are has unnerved her enough into thinking it's a possibility.

She squeezes Ruby's hand tight, keeping her ears pricked for anything that might suggest someone's approaching them. But the echoes die out and there isn't another shot following. Whatever they were aiming for... either they hit it, or it was too late to take another shot.

She swallows hard and then mutters in a soft but urgent voice. ]

Ruby. I think it'd be best if we moved as fast as we can.

[arpeggriko]

Fog God?

[Okay, this is turning into a lot of echoing words, but Riko can't really help herself. It just sounds so...absurd that she doesn't really have anything better to say about it.]

This place...claims to be a whole different world? How is that possible?

[nandemonai]

It can't be possible. [Maki's not going to believe it until she has actual proof. though... she's never heard of Ryslig before, and she's done a bit of traveling.

she reads a bit more, eyes quickly scanning over the text until she comes to something that makes her pause. she reads it a second time, then a third time, then gulps and reads it out loud]

"Now that you're here, you will begin to change into a monster..." [no way. this pamphlet is full of nonsense! but then... why does Maki feel scared by those words? she thinks about the crowd with the gun, and how they had said they found a monster]

[ganbarruby]

[Ruby nods quickly. If she wasn't shaking from the cold before, she's definitely shaking thanks to fear now. She doesn't care who's doing the shooting or what the reason is, she just wants to be anywhere but here.

Lead the way, Dia. Your sister will be adhered to your side like superglue wherever you go.]

[arpeggriko]

[...]

That...surely isn't meant literally.

Right?

[shinebrightlike]

[ She doesn't bother with words now -- she just hurries across the sand with Ruby as quick as she dares. Every now and then her feet catch on an unruly bit of driftwood and she staggers but refuses to let herself trip. She doesn't dare risk going down when she's trying to guide Ruby along.

The lights are close enough to form the vague outline of a town when Dia speaks up again. It's nowhere she recognizes but... maybe, just maybe... ]

That... doesn't look like Numazu to you, does it?

[ please say yes. ]

[nandemonai]

It can't be.

[Maki moves to toss the pamphlet into the nearest trashcan, but then thinks better of it. even amid the nonsense, there was some useful information in it]

Maybe we should... try talking to someone.

[bindweed]

You should have. [No, that's rude. She eyes the surrounding beach.] You got distracted though, didn't you?

[bindweed]

Have you seen some of the locals?

[The monsters. Have you seen the monsters, girl?]

[tinypebble]

Of course it isn't, they mess with your head until you forget who you are so they can put fake memories in it.

[unehelichkind]

That's mean. Did that happen to you?

[ Going by implications? ]

[tinypebble]

What tipped you off?

[ Rude. ]

Most of my life. I didn't know who I really was until I came here and they couldn't feed me drugs anymore.

[unehelichkind]

[ Ed doesn't really mind rude. ]

Just a guess.

That sucks. I mean, that they did that. It's good that they're unable to continue.

[shinebrightlike]

[ Dia opens her mouth -- and then closes it again, pursing her lips so tight they look like they might disappear. ]

... Of course. Of course I have. But I-- I am very clearly not one of them!

[ and then, a little desperately: ]

Aren't I?!

[ganbarruby]

[She wants to Dia, she really wants to...]

I...I don't recognize it, onee-chan.

[bindweed]

[The woman's expression softens just the tiniest bit.]

I know. [Is that actual sympathy?] Yes, you're not a monster and neither am I. I've heard that all newcomers start like this. It's not a comforting thought but we have to keep a level head about it.

[shinebrightlike]

How can I keep a level head about... all of this?!

[ She finally tosses those flyers on the floor and looks very much like she'd like to follow through and stomp on them. But she doesn't. All Dia does is gaze down at them with a listless expression like she doesn't know what to do with herself. ]

It's-- why? Why bring us here, just for all this?

[shinebrightlike]

... Alright.

[ It's not alright, really and Dia isn't trying to pretend it is but... that's not Ruby's fault. ]

We should go and introduce ourselves and see if we can find somewhere to stay.

[ ... despite saying this, she doesn't make a move to actually start heading to the town again. ]

[tinypebble]

Yeah. Whatever, it's not like that solves all my problems.

[unehelichkind]

I didn't think so, but at least it solves that one?

[tinypebble]

I've got a thousand more though, but I guess.