TEST DRIVE MEME

[ryslighelpers]

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.

Comments

[gourmandized]

[Ima still isn't sure how much she can trust him, but she is a young adult and the thought that she might have a place to stay...well, it's a small comfort despite the possibility that it's all a part of a ruse.]

What are the accommodations like at your hostel?

[She's no stranger to living in shoddier lodgings despite having been raised in wealth, so she's not asking to see if the place he's offering is luxurious enough for her tastes. In fact, she couldn't give less of a damn about those kinds of frivolities; if she never has to hear the term "summer home" again she can die happy. Well, die a second time, at any rate.]

You know--the room size, the furniture...

[No, she's just worried about the practical geometry. Better to find out now and avoid any potential humiliation.]

[idunnosurfing]

[She seems to be relaxing a little, and overall, Percy feels that's a good thing--it means he's not completely screwing this conversation up, anyway.]

We're in a building that used to be a hotel. It was the site of a massacre before I got here, so a lot of people avoid it, although I'm pretty sure it's just the building being old and settling. If we are haunted, our ghosts are really polite.

[He offers her a slightly wider, warmer smile, and leans back on his hands.]

Right now, it's just me and two others in the penthouse suite, which takes up the entire top floor. It's the swanky part of the hotel, so the furniture is also swanky and most of it's pretty big to fit with the size of the rooms, but I wouldn't mind if you wanted to replace any of it.

[gourmandized]

I'm not looking to replace anything functional.

[Functional in a way that meets her needs, she means, and oh goodness gracious she's already half moved-in in her imagination. Cut that out, girl. Last thing she needs is to jump the gun and get in way over her head yet again.]

If I were to move in, that is.

[There. She's successfully covered for herself. Very smooth, Ima.]

[idunnosurfing]

[That earns her a grin, still friendly and trying for non-threatening--they haven't even exchanged names, and yet sonehow Percy already wants to gather the girl under the span of his wings and shield her from the horror of the peninsula. He stays where he is on the ground, though, legs casually crossed.]

I mean, I know a fair amount about accessibility issues--I guess I'm technically disabled, although you wouldn't know looking at me, since it's a problem with the wiring in my brain.

[There's no reason to lie to her, and maybe having something like common ground will help.]

The point is, I like working with my hands, and I've helped make spaces accessible before. I'd want you to be comfortable and safe--the place is named aftet the Greek goddess of hearth and home, so I try to live by those principles and create a safe harbor in the chaos.

[After a brief pause, he adds:]

By the way, I'm Percy. Sorry; I completely forgot to introduce myself.

[gourmandized]

[Of all the things someone could suggest about her, Ima wouldn't have expected that, and a little of her shock shows through.]

I wouldn't call myself disabled. Most of my friends are, but--

[It's not that she takes it as an insult. Far from it! It's just that with friends like Paul the Illustrated Seal and Legless Suzi, and Pepper and Salty the pinheads, she doesn't feel she has a right to that descriptor.]

I'm just fat.

[Especially given the divide between "born" and "made" freaks. Ima knows where she sits in that little hierarchy, and it's certainly not at the top. Suzi, with her spinal disorder, and Paul with his seal-like arms, the two of them were 'born freaks'. Ima is a 'made freak'. In other words, she wouldn't even be freak if she hadn't made herself the way she is.

But it seems as though it's time for introductions...]

Anyway: I'm Ima. Ima Wiggles.

[Even as a second-class freak, she's far happier as Ima Wiggles than she ever was as Barbara. She's proudly left her old name behind. And because she's proud of where she's at:]

I used to be the fat lady in Fraulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities.

[She reaches her hand out hoping to shake his, and now it's clear why she can't see herself as disabled. Not when she's around people with far more severe disadvantages. Not that any of them let that hold them back.]

You know, a freak show. One of the last in the country, as a matter of fact.

[idunnosurfing]

What--oh, gods, I'm sorry. [Percy replays what he said, and his ears turn slightly warmer when he realizes how it sounded.] I didn't mean to assume you are, that's just the context in which I've rearranged furniture so someone had more room--I had friends and classmates who used wheelchairs. Usually, I try not to put that label on people who haven't already put it on themselves.

[The girl--Ima--yanks him out of his self-conscious rambling by extending her hand, and some of the tension he hadn't realized he'd held onto releases in a rush of air. At least, for the moment, she believes he's not going to try to kill her, and with that piece in place the rest of it doesn't seem nearly as daunting.]

Uh, anyway. I'm sorry about the circumstances, but it's nice to meet you. [He leans forward and extends his own hand to shake hers, careful not to stab her accidentally with his talons.] I've never met anyone who was in a freak show before. Did they--you know, did they treat you okay?

[What little he knows about the ones in his American history is probably sensationalized and less than totally accurate, but he can't help but imagine abuse and jeering--whether from whoever hired her or the audience, but then again, maybe it's not that much worse than how the 'freaks' would have been treated outside the show, either.]

[gourmandized]

[She appreciates the care he takes not to poke her with those talons. As for the questions about the show, she gives a shrug. For the most part her new life was good for her.]

Mostly. I signed on to get away from my parents, especially my mother. She'd started telling people I was knocked up because it was less shameful than having a fat pig for a daughter, but the other freaks were good to me. I had friends.

[She says all this so matter-of-factly that some might find it shocking. Ima is mostly gentle towards others, but when it comes to herself she doesn't mince words. Why should she couch her story in sugarcoated terms? It's not like she's ashamed of who she is--she's always left that to her family.]

Normal people have always stared and laughed at me, anyway. I liked making them pay for the privilege.

[idunnosurfing]

Seriously? Yikes. [Percy can't help his eyes widening in disbelief--obviously, he knows that not everyone got as lucky with their mom as he did, but the image of any mother insulting their child just rings in his head as wrong.

He puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently before returning itto his lap.]

That's awful. Your mother's supposed to be the person who protects you from all that, not the one who's dishing it out. I'm happy for you, though--it's kinda badass, actually, getting out and finding your own family.

[It reminds him, to a degree, of the way he'd felt when he got back to camp for the first time after a year away--all of the tension from pretending all year in front of 'normal' people melting into oblivion as he stepped back into what had become his home.

He flashes her a grin.] Getting paid for it's even better.

[gourmandized]

That's high society for you: everyone's fake, gossipy, and way too obsessed with appearances. As far as she's concerned I'm just one big embarrassment.

[A small scoff, as if to say 'but what can you do about it'.]

My parents shipped me from New York down to this clinic in Florida and wouldn't let me come home 'til I'd "fixed myself." That's where Elsa found me. She asked me to come work for her and I never looked back.

[idunnosurfing]

Eugh.

[Percy grimaces, although something in him perks up a little when he hears the words New York; it's been so long since he's been there that he's starting to lose the shape of the skyline.

He distracts himself with what she's saying, instead.]

I've never--I mean, like I said, my damage is mostly in my head, so it's not immediately visible, and I only went to Florida the one time to save my best friend from getting married--uh, really long story.

[He smiles sheepishly at her, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck.]

But anyway. I do know what it's like to have people whispering about you behind your back. Staring at you in the halls and stuff--'ooh, look, it's Percy, that boy with the behavioral problems; I heard he blew up a school bus, oh my god, he looked at me, do you think he'll come blow up my car?'

For the record, it was an accident. I wouldn't have tried to shoot the cannon if I'd realized it wasn't just a replica.

[gourmandized]

[Her eyes go wide.]

You blew up a school bus!

[She doesn't doubt his claim, it's just...a very colorful picture for sure. He seems so unassuming! Or human-him would, anyway, if the mental image she has is accurate.]

How did you get your hands on a cannon to begin with?

[idunnosurfing]

[Her reaction makes him laugh--not meanly; more from surprise than anything, and the fact that the reality, while more fantastical, is a lot less hardcore.]

It's not like I set out to or anything. My class went to Saratoga Battlefield when I was ten, and I was messing around with one of the revolutionary war cannons and hit the windshield. It didn't actually blow up, and nobody got hurt, but they still expelled me for it.

[He shrugs.]

The fact that it was a military school, and that the one I went to directly after that was a private school for troubled kids, fueled the rumor mill. I even overheard once that I hotwired the bus and drove it over the battlefield and into the Hudson.

[gourmandized]

[When he'd first said he'd blown it up with a cannon Ima had assumed explosives must have also come into play, but apparently 'blown up' was a bit of an exaggeration. Still, taking a cannonball to a schoolbus....]

Why on earth would they keep the cannons loaded? [It sounds like gross negligence. Who lets kids play around with loaded weapons of war, honestly? Something was bound to happen...]

Still. [She tries (and fails) to hold back a laugh.] I would've claimed that last version as the truth if I'd been in your shoes. If people are going to talk behind your back anyway they should tell the most impressive version of the story, don't you think?

[idunnosurfing]

[Although he appreciates that she tried, Percy's mostly just glad he can make Ima laugh--if she has to be here, at least she doesn't have to spend the whole time agonizing. She seems sweet, almost innocent in a way, and he finds himself wanting to preserve that as much as he can.

He shoots her a grin back.] Honestly, I don't think I could have kept up a straight face. I was still too short to reach the pedals when I heard that rumor for the first time. I did occasionally tell people I wrestled with bears, but that was under the assumption they'd know I was just being an ass.

[The first part is a little more complicated--so far, Ima at least seems to be accepting the way he looks now, and back home isn't that much different--they even have harpies. He leans his elbow on the back of the bench and turns to face her, feathers folded in.]

About the cannons--it may have been me. Or, the kind of...[He trails off. Not people, but 'monsters' isn't really accurate anymore either, at least in the current context.

He frowns, sifting through his mental vocabulary until he finds a word that fits.] I attract chaos, basically. It has to do with my parentage, which--well, let me ask first. Do you know anything about ancient Greek mythology? The Olympian gods.