Test drive meme: November

[ryslighelpers]

TEST DRIVE MEME: NOVEMBER

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 is making all the cuts and scrapes on your skin 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 on the more informative end of the scale. 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 readers saying they're lies, or pointing out good "jokes."

Then there are 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

[polkayoureyesout]

[More weird.]

You just got here and you think you're dead? I have to ask, does your world have monsters?

<3!

[pocketspa]

[Yeah, see, people tend to ask you things in a monster world when someone's strolling around with a literal bag over their head. Doesn't make you look sneaky when these monster-fearing folk roll up at all. Taako just raises an eyebrow, trying to get a read on this guy or if he's about to take him for a fuckin' ride.]

Passable? My dude, anyone should be hype as fuck to see me. I mean look at me, my guy. Really look.

[He's just gonna get a little up close and personal to that face now, hoping for a peek under that bag to some kind of face.]

Why aren't you there if it's so great, huh?

I MEAN YOU JUST DID I GUESS

[pocketspa]

[His chest is rising and falling with breath as he keeps himself crouched, shot lined up as his eyes flick between this guy and her. There's something... off about her. Something wrong. But he can't perfectly place that right now, not when they're in danger, and especially not when Lucretia suddenly has qualms about murder. Like, okay, most of the IPRE has more than him, but this guy was shooting at them. If he has to burn this cycle by immediately going off the grid that's just where we're at this time.

He doesn't move, though, and retrains the gun at this guy's chest.]

Okay. Here's how we're gonna do this. My girl here is gonna let you go when I say. And when she does, you're gonna turn around and leave. This is mine now, and I will not shoot you, as I have shown in goodwill that I already could have by now, as long as you don't try some bullshit to either of us. If you do, I think you know how this thing works plenty well, and you know what kinda damage I can do. Blink twice if you get that.

[He does, and Taako waits for that confirmation before looking to Lucretia, raising and lowering his eyebrows.]

Go on. I think he gets his shit.

[pocketspa]

Oh, a date?

[He raises an eyebrow, bringing a hand to his cheek and tilting his head like he was looking at something adorable. Who the fuck was it out here pretending to be him hard enough that even Lup was fooled? He has just as many questions as Fran does here, though he isn't quite vocalizing those yet.]

Wow fam, sounds like you might've met a fake out there. Doesn't that seem fishy, showin' up, making promises, and then disappearing? Identity theft is no joke y'know, especially when you're as popular of a guy as me.

[A wink, maybe admitting who he is without saying there, but at least that was on purpose.]

But uh, if he's got some unclaimed stuff I'd be happy to take that off your hands so it don't clutter up the place.

:3 ♡

[fightorflug]

[In response to Taako getting up close and personal, Flug just leans further and further out of reach, like some kind of apprehensive limbo champion. Flug can only forlornly stares in lieu of a response. What is he looking for exactly? Should anyone 'be hype as fuck' to see that guy? Yes?? No?? What does he say!?]

"I-- I simply have no time to waste on things like eating."

[So there!]

"You-- you had your question and I answered it."

[antivillainy]

I'm totally capable of remembering my own death, thank you! Jeeeez. Ever been stabbed before? It's not something you just forget.

[She sounds so very put-upon as she tries, in vain, to brush the wet sand from her clothes. As if the questions Birdbrain here is asking her are difficult to answer or deeply personal, when in reality they're neither.]

Monsters? I suppose that depends on what you think qualifies as a monster, now, doesn't it?

[polkayoureyesout]

No, but I've been shot. I was wearing a bulletproof vest though.

[Bonding. He scratches the backs of one of his legs with a foot.]

I guess some people here do think they're dead back home.

And...generally animal-like people who didn't start out as animals. Or corpses or robots.

[hantale]

[An eyebrow raises, challenging that confidence with a smirk.]

I don't know, this place is... weird, to say the least. Perhaps you just don't remember being here before, mister Taako~

I know, why don't YOU be the judge of that... Hold on a tic-

[He twists and turns, shuffling through the light bag he kept on his back and pulling out the network device all monsters got. A bit of clicking, a bit of focused searching, and BOOOM. There it is, a log of his conversation with the previous Taako, as well as the image he attached... Sure do look the same, after all.

He spins the device, showing it off to the other elf.]

Looks just like you, right?

[thetuskathand]

"Oh, so are you familiar with half-orcs then? To some degree, anyway? Elves are at least in the same ballpark." He pauses awkwardly for a moment.

"Also, uh.
Who might you be..?"

Hozuki | Hozuki's Coolheadedness

[hellsrighthand]

1 | A Washed Up Official

[There, laying on the beach, dressed in a now ruined black and red yukata lies a man of some sort. The pointed ears and horn on his head mark his inhuman nature. He feels like shit, and he's just waking up, a truly fearsome combination for this demon.

His eyes begin to clear, head lifting to glare up at the form standing before him with sharp eyes and a clearly displeased scowl, revealing his fanged mouth and red-lined eyes. Whoever it is, they're on the grumpy end of his temper right now, and have only a few seconds to explain themselves.]

2 | The Less Than Friendly Locals

[Confident steps carry Hozuki throughout the town, his resting scowl expression scaring off most of the locals from approaching him alone. He does, however, collect a couple of the more informative looking pamphlets, reading them as he walks. Werewolves, kelpies, trolls, and vampires... Yes, all very well known monsters made up in the mundane world. It seems this place he's arrived in is quite fascinated with them, how curious.

If the pamphlets are to be believed, he'll turn into a monster himself, in a months time. Wouldn't that be ironic, a demon turning into a mundane monster? Though it's quite convincing, there's even a few monsters (actual ones!) hanging about nearby.

He needs some questions answered, which is likely how you find him standing before you, short brows furrowed despite his passive tone.]

Pardon me, is this some sort of local festival or celebration?

[soft_focus]

"I keep saying that, but people keep saying that bringing them here was good enough..." Coming here might be great and all, but there's that thing about broken clocks, so...

"Mnh! That's good..!" she cheers, before swallowing and looking to the side. "...Mnnh, especially since, I'm not very good at this..."

What's 'this'? It's a mystery.

[doctorize]

Indeed! [Just gonna ignore that first part of what you said, pal--] There are only a few of us here that work as doctors, or even as inventors, so I must say that I'm very happy that I have been given the chance to meet you here.

[whiteofcrime]

The magician cocks his head and, of course, asks--

"Not very good at what?"

CATS OUTTA THE BAG

[scholiast]

(Is it so sudden! Murder isn't always the best solution, not when you could, like, use your words. Something that Lucretia has apparently boxed Taako into doing, because he immediately launches into a big fuck off speech. She's so proud of him. She loosens her grip around their attacker's neck by careful degrees just in case, but the fight has well and truly gone out of him. Maybe he's realised that the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous, that he's trying to take on a sixty-year old woman and an elf who probably weighs around a hundred and thirty pounds soaking wet.

Either way, once Lucretia's arm is down by her side, he scoots.

In the interim Lucretia relaxes, her shoulders dropping; she pinches the bridge of her nose.)

Okay. That was a little too buck wild for my tastes; what happened? Why did he go for you like that?

(read: what did you do)

[junosteel]

[His fur bristles even more when Yang goes back to stroking his hand. It feels nice, yes, but also

help]

I meant literally, not--I mean, you're going to turn into a monster eventually. Physically. Fun, I know. I can't help you about the other thing.

[He's getting the sneaking suspicion that maybe this person isn't of reputable moral standing if she's going on about being told she'll go to hell or being called a monster.]

Just a question, um--who, uh, exactly are you?

[He doesn't just mean her name, but....]

[polkayoureyesout]

"Not in-person no." He peers up at the guy as if studying an interesting specimen.

"Waldo Butters." He reaches out a talon for a handshake, thinks better of it and almost withdraws it before realizing that would be rude.

[hypnagogical]

[Bill can't help himself -- seeing someone else mirror his enthusiasm makes him frown. He was hoping to catch her off guard, maybe have a little fun before playing the concerned ally. Ah well. Can't win 'em all.

He regains his smile.]

Call it a hunch!

[He slides around her, taking her in with unbridled curiosity.]

You're right, by the way! I'm amazing at parties! Name's Bill! What's yours?

[antivillainy]

Nope! [She means "nope" in regards to his question about her world having monsters--and she's so excited just to be able to say no (which has nothing to do with the question; she just likes saying it) that she blurts out the word with a big ol' grin on her face.] Nothing like that. [A shrug that seems to say "you know how it is."] All our monsters are of the human persuasion.

[People who've committed monstrous acts, in other words. People like Yang's not-so-dearly departed Daddy, who's currently moldering in the ground where he belongs. If there is a hell, she hopes he's burning there as she speaks.]

[antivillainy]

[If Bill wants to get a rise out of someone, Yang is a poor choice of target...if he limits himself to jumpscares like that, anyway. If he wants to spook her, he'll have to hit her where it really hurts and put someone she deeply cares about in immediate mortal peril. And when that happens she tends to get stabby.

But right now, without that condition to trigger her, she's absolutely loving it. She graces Bill with an exuberant smile.]

Oh, you can call me Yang. Just about everyone does.

[antivillainy]

I'm Mr. Yang. [She bats her eyelashes at him in a way that's intended to be playfully flirtatious, but probably comes across more as creepy than anything.] But you can just call me Yang.

[Is she actually flirting with him, or is she just trying to unnerve the poor guy who was kind enough to come to her aid? Yang sure as hell isn't telling. In either case, it's more fun to let him sweat it out.]

Now. Tell me all about this whole monster deal. I am just dying to know more.

Malik Ishtar || Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

[dedoublement]

O N E; Beach

Monster, huh?

[ The words are barely a whisper above the waves crashing on the shore of the beach, the water washing away the blood staining the sand at the young boy's feet. Malik can feel his body shaking, hands balled into fists at his side, but against the freezing cold he's nowhere near dressed for or due to the blood dripping down from his hands, he's not sure.

Everything happened so fast.

What had woken him hadn't been the pain throughout his body, nor the near-freezing water biting all around him. Those things were trivial in comparison to the sound of a gun being cocked right by his head. His reflexes had kicked in before he gave himself time to stop and think, he was in pain, he was in unfamiliar surroundings and he was in danger, and those were the only things processing as he twisted out of the way, snatched a particularly sharp shell or rock fragment, whatever it may have been, and embedded it in the stranger's juggler.

It was only when wide, terrified eyes were staring up at him as warm blood spilled over his freezing skin that he registered what had just happened, what he'd done, and the fact that the looming threat that had been about to shoot him was an elderly farmer of some sort, no harm to anyone, just an old fool with an old gun. ]

"M-Mon..ster..."

[ The old man's last words, choked around mouthfuls of his own blood, were what finally snapped Malik out of it and had him let go of the body, and stare silently as the man bled out and died at his feet, shotgun laying now harmless at his side. The waves were still coming in, lapping at the body, taking away from the scene, so Malik did what seemed like the best course of action, and picked up the old man's body to throw further out into the waves. Maybe it'll wash up somewhere down the shore, where someone can find it long after he's away from the area.

Which leaves Malik to where he now stands, overlooking cresting waves and making a pretty sore sight. Just a teenage boy in a sleeveless hoodie, khol eyeliner smudged and covered in sand and blood, shivering, sore, cut up and wondering what the hell is going on. ]


T W O; Village

[ As it turns out, people don't appreciate someone killing an old man who'd been sent out on guard patrol. The town Malik had found his way to hadn't exactly been the most welcoming, not with the blood on his hands and the fact that the man they had sent off in that direction hadn't returned when this new kid showed up. But despite the glares and the hissed curses as he passed, he thought it odd most people seemed more inclined to be nice to him rather than have him lynched for his crimes. They could do it, easily, he was in no condition to be fighting anyone beyond a panicked fight or flight instinct, but he wasn't about to tell them that.

So for the moment, there's a young boy who while he looks pretty miserable, he's settled in like a king or a foreign prince, bundled in as many pillows, blankets and quilts as he could get the townspeople to come off of without feeling like too much of a dick about it and glowering at anything that passes him by. As if purple eyes and blond hair sticking out of a pile of blankets is in any way threatening whatsoever. The locals seem to think so at least, and that's all that matters for the time being while he tries to decide if he really wants to read these pamphlets they keep shoving around him or not. There's a pile of them next to his blanket nest that's settled next to a fire, but getting them would require getting out, and no, he's good for now thanks. ]


T H R E E; Wildcard

[ Malik is not even remotely dressed for any of this bullshit, feel free to encounter or accost him anywhere with anything you can think of. Even if it's just to admire the fact that this teenage pretty boy is walking around wearing over thirty pounds in solid gold jewelry at least. ]

ONE...SORT OF??

[noasark]

[Noa isn't nearly aware of the events that lead to Malik being covered in blood at the beach of Vandare. He's too busy dealing with everything else- organizing the volunteers from the lab, making sure the cannisters of hot chocolate to dispense are ready, plus blankets and similar for the obvious moment where people poorly dressed arrive...

And speaking of that, it is a teenage boy poorly dressed and covered with sand, frost, and blood, that he finds.

Noa isn't the most friendly of first- or second- encounters of course. No larger than any other cheetah would be, the fact that he has massive scarlet and gold wings folded at his sides (a blend, Malik may perhaps catch- a blend of Osiris the Sky Dragon...and the Winged Dragon of Ra), and a very, very long tail ended in barbs and thorns is enough to make the cat a threatening sight.

...The mop of green hair and the face that could easily be a younger Kaiba...well. Maybe not threatening in that case, but regardless.

Noa doesn't like to waste time.] Hnnn....well aren't you the unfortunate one, [He remarks- his voice echoing between adult and child, wisps of fog curling at his feet from beneath the 'cat coat' he has on.]

...How well can you walk?

[dedoublement]

[ The creature that approaches him reminds him of a Duel Monster if anything, one clearly pandering to Kaiba himself in some way or another while also mocking everything about him and his beliefs regarding everything Egyptian being nonsense. Something maybe Isis would have had a hand in making, or at the very least approved of.

And perhaps it's those thoughts and that comparison that has it so he's not even remotely concerned when this strange creature approaches him, unlike the fight or flight reflex that caused the death of the old farmer. Then again, he had felt it from the farmer, that murderous intent, laced with fear he hadn't noticed at the time, while this stranger offered no more ill will about his approach than any other animal or person passing by.

The voice is unexpected and has him wondering just what the hell he's gotten himself into, but it's also mildly insulting to insinuate he'd be unable to handle himself just because his appearance is a bit haggard at the moment. ]

It takes more than a few scrapes to incapacitate me, I'm fine.

[ He pauses, considering, weighing his options and the likelihood he's ended up ass backward in some strange experiment by assholes with too much time on their hands-but it's odd and odd enough to be familiar so he has to ask. ]

Kaiba?

[ Not the dragon-fucker, but maybe someone related to him somehow. Or at least familiar with the name if he's a computer program. ]

[noasark]

....

..Heh- [Well, that certainly draws pause. His tail stops its idle sway, eyebrows raised but slightly as he slowly determines which point to response to first.

...

He'll stick with Business.] ...Hn. It's not the cuts- you would have washed ashore, in what is northern european winter weather. Early, grant you, [He admits with a shrug, or as best as a cat can do,] but wintery weather all the same. I have volunteers with hot drinks and blankets, as well as doctors, up ahead for that.

New arrivals are...at least somewhat predictable, in terms of the 'when', [He 'explains' slightly. ...Also.]

...As for 'Kaiba'.... [He wrinkles his large, absolutely cat-like nose.] ...I sincerely hope you're not another person thinking of a certain 'Kaiba Corporation' CEO....

[junosteel]

[yeah he's pretty creeped out right now and boy howdy that hand isn't going anywhere huh. he's just gonna. stay like this because it's not like he has a choice, anyways. he coughs, his whiskers twitching in discomfort.]

You treat every detective you meet like this? [Despite the joke, there's definitely a note of discomfort in his voice. Congratulations!]

Uh, monsters. Yeah. Some asshole people call the Fog God brought us here, yadda yadda, everyone who comes here eventually turns into a monster of some sort. You could probably learn a lot more by reading those weird pamphlets people give out whenever new people appear on the peninsula.