graveyardsmash | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He raises his brow. "So ye were a field animal?"

It's no crazier than 'I was an android' in his mind. And since one can be, well.

"How did a rat get a magic book?"

"I- I was a field mouse."

It certainly wasn't much different than seeing a lot of awful monsters.

"I don't know, the rats never told me just about what they learned from Nimh. They also had a magic stone."

Beat.

"It saved my family."

A field mouse certainly isn’t much different from monsters. Although a field mouse that, from the sound of it anyway, was sapient before being brought here and rats possessing magic is something of a wonder.

“How did a magic stone save your family?”

"I'm not entirely sure how. Our home was sinking into the mud, and Justin was fighting-" She shook her head. There was no way to explain this, that she was aware of. "It helped me lift our home out of the pit and kept my children from drowning."

"Well, suppose the 'how' doesn't matter so much."

Although it is hard for him to imagine ordinary rats and mice with magic stones. But he also has very little imagination.

"Was Justin one of the rats?"

"He was, yes." She nodded softly. Humans- if this man had always been human- typically didn't care much for rats, in about the same way she didn't care for fleas. It made her wonder just a bit how much of a reaction from him it would get. But then again, she didn't have much of an imagination either. "Have you always been human?"

"Aye, always have been." He gives a low chuckle. "I never expected to not be, quite honestly."

He studies her for a moment.

"I had no idea rats and mice had complex lives. I just... sort of thought you went along."

"Well, humans never paid us much mind." She shakes her head. "Unless we were in their homes, or anywhere in their way. There was a moving day every spring, when we all had to clear out our homes and move because the tractor would be coming to tear up the earth, so farmer Fitzgibbon could start planting."

The woman is very small, around 5'3", with a very conservative look to her. She wears a slightly ragged red cape and the brownish-tan lace-up collared shirt and khakis she'd woken here with. "I suppose they saw us about the same way we saw fleas."

"Aye, that's most likely."

He'd never known anyone who really cared for mice in their home. And them seeing fleas the way humans look at vermin in general makes sense. Even if he supposes he'll have to stop thinking of mice as vermin if there are humanized mice here.

Same as he's having to change his views of vampires. Although that's proving to be a slow thing, even for him.

"Why stay in the garden if you had to move every year?"

It's not very surprising. The humans didn't pay the mice much mind, and the field animals returned the sentiment. It was just that if the farmer did decide to pay attention, it was much more dangerous.

"After the harvest season ended, usually there were places leftover for families to move into, and lots of food. It's where my husband and I first started our family."

Mice didn't live a terribly long time, compared to humans. By the time one spring became another, a field mouse that lived in the wild had gone through almost their entire life. If she had been home much longer, her children likely would have had to rely on each other for continued survival. But such was life.

"Ah, I see."

That made perfect sense to him.

"Are your children grown?"

"No, they're still young." She shook her head a bit. The other mice, if they were gracious enough, could help take care of the kids. Not much different than her own childhood, to be fair. "but... I think they'll be alright."

“Children are oft more resourceful than we give them credit for.”

If they have to be separated from her, at least it’s that she is in Ryslig and not the children.

"I think my eldest two could handle themselves very well. But my youngest son- Timmy- he's recovering from a terrible bout of pnuemonia still."

She had nearly forgotten, in all of this whirlwind. Without her there he might go outside, catch his death of cold again... and all her hard work would have been for nothing. The younger woman froze, a striking look of fear suddenly on her face.

He's a little surprised. He'd never thought mice could get pneumonia.

"There'll be water if god wills it."

That's the problem when someone sees ka, and the force of White vs Red, in everything: everything can be put to that. Every victory, ever defeat. It doesn't mean you don't still try your damnedest, but sometimes things are just going to be.

"And if your elder children are capable of taking care of themselves, they ought to be able to look after Timmy."

Not the most comforting thought. Elizabeth Brisby may be meek, but she isn't particular keen on just accepting fate. Things happen for a reason, but they can be changed. She knows that from experiences.

"I hope so. But Timmy- he's so strong willed. Just like his brother. I can only hope for the best."

"If he's strong willed, then he won't die without you there to watch over him."

And he knows a bit about being strong willed.

TEST DRIVE MEME

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