graveyardsmash | TEST DRIVE MEME

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TEST DRIVE MEME

TEST DRIVE MEME: MAY

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 of the natives are trying to get on your good side with 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? Feel free to pick any monster type for this prompt, but note that you may not get the same one in game.

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You did sell it to Chester, but he turned himself in to the police after he sawed Maggie in half. And I don't mean a magic trick--he really sawed her in half! We saw her guts spill out all over the stage--

[And while there was no love lost between Ima and Maggie--hell, Desiree was spot-on when she said the bitch had it coming--that had been a truly horrifying sight to behold, far worse than what the group of them had done to Stanley the con artist.

She works to catch her breath again, hand on her chest. She doesn't miss the way Elsa's trying to turn Ima's own pain into pity for herself, perhaps even expecting Ima to stop the accusations and reassure her. No, I know you'd never do that, Miss Elsa, I'm sorry; is that what her former boss expects? Well not this time. Ima is dead. The whole family is likely dead. She's going to tread carefully here but she's not going to shelter Elsa's feelings either.]

I don't think you expected him to harm us, but he did and that's the truth. It was a massacre. I don't why I'm the only one who ended up here afterwards, but that's how it is.

[The worst part of all this is that Ima doesn't truly hate Elsa. No matter what the other woman did to Ethel, to Paul, to anyone else, she was also the first person in the world to see any value at all in Ima's existence, to look at her and not react with disgust. "You have a pretty face," she'd said. She'd called her figure glorious. That's not something the freak show fat lady can forget or shake off, despite having been swept up by the mob seeking vengeance for the bearded lady.]

Edited 2017-05-16 06:32 (UTC)

[Elsa's brows knit in concern and alarm at the volley of bizarre claims. She has no memory of these events, and while she is certainly preparing to sell the show to Chester, as Ima says, it hasn't transpired just yet. Maggie was alive and well, last she knew, well... perhaps not well, or highly regarded after coming clean about what she and her partner's game was, but certainly her pert little ass had not parted ways with her upper body. Painted blue eyes flick back and forth as she considers and weighs her freak's words carefully, considering all of their implications and possible motives.]

My sweet Ima. You wouldn't lie to me; this I know. I am certain that there is no deception in your heart, and you believe these things. As far as I know, though... they have not come to pass. I do not know if that relieves you, or adds to the emotional burden you are carrying, but... be at ease, my child. No one will hurt you while Elsa Mars is here.

[And she does mean that. She offers Ima an overbright smile that is an attempt at encouragement.]

Perhaps you will feel better after a hearty dinner. Would you join me? I hate to think of this stress causing you to lose even an ounce of weight.

[Looks like they really did get yanked here from different times. Unless Elsa's maintaining a ruse, of course, and she very well could be--just look at how she'd led up to Stanley's torture, with the party and the big show about a special present...Elsa could very well be planning to isolate Ima before confronting her about the murder plot. Maybe she even intends to hurt her in retaliation.

There's this saying about being 'of two minds' about something, but right now Ima's definitely feeling more than two. She's still wary, but she wants to believe Elsa's telling the truth about not letting anyone hurt her. She almost feels guilty over the attempt to avenge Ethel despite knowing Elsa is more than capable of killing again.

In the end...she decides to take her chances. Ima isn't vain, but she's desperate for validation and encouragement, and Elsa can provide that like no one else the big girl's ever met. And she's hungry. It has nothing to do with her immense appetite, either--she's had nothing but half a sandwich all day, and even that much is due to the kindness of a random stranger. Anyone would be famished in these circumstances, not just Ima.]

...I don't have any money.

[In other words, if Elsa's low on cash this meal simply isn't going to happen. Ima's idea of a 'hearty dinner' will be very taxing on her boss's wallet.

...Former boss. She really needs to watch that.]

Edited 2017-05-17 22:42 (UTC)

[Elsa can be cruel and conniving, vicious, with a smile like the edge of the knife that lodged in Paul's bowel and Ethel's skull. But there's another side to the woman, the one that seems beyond the opportunistic gleam that lights up her blue eyes when she sees a prospect. It's the part of her that is so very hungry for love, and in those cases, she lets her soul become a mirror. It used to shine foremost on that warm, sweet innocent, Ma Petite, but it has glanced on others. Most of the performers in her Cabinet of Curiosities have felt it at some time or another, which is why it has taken this long for them to turn on her. There have been quarrels and ripples of unrest before, of course, but in every case before Ima's last reckoning, their loyalty to the ringleader had managed to soothe troubled waters enough to proceed on functionally good terms.

In so many words... it's not so strange that Ima wants to proceed that way, now.

Elsa presses a nail against her lower lip, giving Ima a slight smile.]

You will be glad to know that I have wasted no time. It happens that I've managed to work something out with an innkeeper who is very afraid of the local freaks. He's offered me room and board for the small price of agreeing not to eat him at any point in the future. He will surely not turn away a member of my family.

[Ima purses her lips in consideration. She's not so sure she likes the idea of getting free food as a result of someone fearing her. Just the idea of people looking at her and thinking she might eat them feels...well, nasty. Slimy is a fairly apt description. Normal human beings fearing that someone like Elsa (or another equally normal-sized person) might eat them carries fewer depressing assumptions than fearing the same from Ima.

Ultimately it comes down to not having any other choice. She can't allow herself to starve on the streets. Besides, Elsa called her family. That's reassuring, as unsure as she is about her standing with the other woman--so she gives Elsa a hesitant little half-smile.]

I guess it's worth a shot--though he might change his mind once he gets a look at me.

Edited 2017-05-18 00:11 (UTC)

[Elsa purses her lips and shakes her head briskly. When she has decided to go after what she wants, it's unusual that anything can stand in her way. Someone turning away a member of her show (past and future, of course she plans to get Ima working for her in this world just as in the last) is simply unacceptable.]

Schatzi. I will sweet talk him if that seems as though it might be a problem. And it should not; I met his wife, and she, too, is a woman of some girth. He will understand that you will be need true feeding, and that we are both too new to this land to be making our own way.

[She hums softly to herself.]

Fortunately, Ima, you have the talent to do that before long. I believe we can help each other in this way.

[It's true that Ima has genuine talent, and god is it satisfying to hear that acknowledged. She doesn't just sit on stage, passively displaying her corpulence; she's both a gifted singer and more than capable of accompanying her own vocals on the guitar, though she most often ended up serving as Elsa's backup accompaniment in the past. As did all the musically-inclined freaks. People came in droves to see the human oddities, but those oddities themselves knew very well that there was only one true headliner.]

You really think so? I can't picture a freak show gathering much traction here, what with monsters being everywhere and all.

[Elsa acknowledges the talent of others fairly, so long as it does not eclipse her own, and she has a way of shrewdly seeing what will flatter the fragile ego of a freak to the point of melting them like the butter Ima spreads generously on her pancakes. There's one true headliner, but without other content, Elsa is just a collapsing star in powder blue, sing-shouting her plea for love into a restlessly indifferent crowd.]

Of course I think so. Even here, there is a market for the strange and unusual. There is always demand. It is all about presentation. Entertainment! Showmanship! That is a freak show, more than any number of mutations or deformities.

[She exhales a breath of smoke in a satisfied giggle.]

Besides. Even here, there is probably some gargoyle with a clubbed foot, or an angel with a forked tongue and a demon tail. Picture it.

I'm trying to.

[Elsa a way of making anything seem possible; it's why Ima had joined up with her in the first place. Yet Ima can't help but harbor doubts about a Ryslig freak show's potential success. An angel with a demon tail only counts for so much when both demons and angels are walking around in public every day. Who would pay for a show they could get for free just by people-watching? Ima's no businesswoman but she is practical enough to see the snags in this plan.

Ima sighs; she's resigned to the scheme for the time being. She pushes herself off the bench into a standing position and attempts to smooth the front of her white dress. Elsa's a good three inches taller, so she still has to look up slightly to meet her (former!) boss's eyes.]

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Hm.

[Elsa's expression grows slightly tighter and more pinched as she takes a drag on her cigarette. She can sense when someone is skeptical, and even more when they are trying not to appear as such just to appease her. She's very shrewd, both as a businesswoman and as a people-reader. She knows everyone's gooey center very nearly innately, regardless of how gooey they happen to be on the outside.]

I think we will see a great many things, my darling. Some of them may not be well-suited to billing. Others? I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised at what people will pay good money to gawk at. These people... they fear the monsters, nein? They keep their distance even when they see them on the street. They don't get close enough to get a good look. To many of them, a guarantee of safety while they satisfy their curiosity would be a big enough draw.

[She laughs as a sudden, bawdy notion occurs to her.]

Ha! You could charge for a waist-down exhibition alone and people would pay. Humans will always have certain appetites and curiosities.

[The only way to describe the emotion crossing Ima's face is scandalized. If people want to do a nude show that's fine--Desiree had always knocked it out of the park with her topless act--but Ima sure as hell isn't taking part. Her face goes beet-red, the color not merely creeping into her round cheeks but rapidly flooding them.]

I'm not going to expose myself! God, can you even imagine?

[She's not easily embarrassed (and even that is putting it lightly), but going naked from the waist-down would do it for sure. Her fellow freaks seeing her naked is one thing, as is a partner seeing her undressed for sex--if someone wants to sleep with her then they obviously genuinely enjoy her figure. But normal people getting a look at her exposed belly and thighs...she can take the average stares and comments but even Ima Wiggles has her limits.]

Edited 2017-05-18 21:19 (UTC)

[Elsa hasn't blushed in years regarding this topic. She smirks coyly at Ima's clear discomfort.]

Goodness. With so much of you to keep covered, I would think that your modesty would struggle to keep up! Rest easy my dear, I am merely spitballing ideas here. Thinking of paying customers who might like to see naga cock, or a harpy's cherry pie up close. There are plenty of opportunities for those savvy enough to take notice.

[She quirks a brow as something else occurs to her.]

More opportunities than even I might care to exploit, but that only makes me wonder who is. My monsters were never prostitutes but certainly, for some? There is appeal.

[Ima isn't exactly modest; it would be a real stretch to call her such when she'll freely expose her bust to flirtatious carnies. She simply doesn't want to deal with that level of heckling from the 'normal' population. Maybe it's Elsa's normality (her wooden legs remain a secret, of course) that keeps her from understanding where Ima's coming from.

...Still. Ima can't pretend she doesn't enjoy the way Elsa's chosen to spin her words. There's a whole lot of her and that's precisely how she likes it.]

If you dip your toe into that pool, you can count me out. I'm not sleeping with anyone who doesn't care about me.

[Right now, she's not going to think too deeply into the nature of what she and Jimmy had. Maggie Esmerelda's mockery still stings, and she wants to believe she'd meant something to him--something more than a fuck-pillow for him to drown his sorrows in.]

[Elsa is well aware of the power and freedom that comes with being able to make one's own choices. She's no stranger to making the decision to sell her body and her more sordid skills, after all, even if she tends to keep her own past in that regard fairly discreet.]

This is all, at this point, a tremendous "if", Ima. Who can tell where it might go, in the end? If you ask me, riches and applause await both of us, and we only have to heed the call.

[For Elsa, after all, applause is really synonymous with caring and love.]

Edited 2017-05-23 19:20 (UTC)

[Ima's only interested in "riches" insofar as they can cover her living expenses. As Barbara, she led a life of luxury and found it deeply unsatisfying. Elsa can aim for higher living (and may she truly enjoy it once she gets there), but Ima will always choose to be among friends, no matter where that might take her.]

I'd settle for a place to sleep and a basic job right now.

[Well-to-do young ladies don't seek careers, of course, that's for women of lower class--meaning the only job Ima's had in her entire life was her spot in the freak show. So what the hell is she going to do here? She hasn't been trained in any easily marketable trade and she can't spend hours at a time on her feet. Still, she's not going to kick back and expect strangers to pay her way. She'll figure something out, surely...]

Edited 2017-05-25 20:12 (UTC)

[Wealth is all well and good, but as far as Elsa is concerned, it's not worth it to have money unless one's name and face are known to admiring throngs of fans. Being among friends is important as well, of course... so long as they are safely outside the edges of the spotlight that Elsa covets for herself.]

"Settle." I despise that word. It doesn't even pretend to be fulfilled, like "content." It says that you have made the easier choice, and allowed yourself to become unhappy.

[Her manicured hands press into Ima's broad shoulders.]

I would never want "settling" for any of my children.

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