JANUARY/FEBRUARY TEST DRIVE

[ryslighelpers]

TDM: JANUARY/FEBRUARY

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

Bethan Costigan | OC

[throughavisordarkly]

[1 - Arrival]
[It's not the first time she's woken up not knowing where she is. It's not even the first time she's woken up on a beach not knowing where she is, although most of the time they've been New York beaches, which makes this one look surprisingly clean. What is different is just how much she hurts. Normally, she wouldn't be so scraped up. Normally, the scrapes would have healed, and the headache would have passed, and she would be thoroughly awake as soon as she opened her eyes.]

[That's not happening. Given her superhuman resilience and healing, that can only mean one thing: something really, really bad happened last night.]

[She's swaying a little as she pushes herself to her feet, shaking water and sand out of her long, blonde ponytail. All right, Bethan. Where the hell are you this time? she thinks, with more exasperation than fear, and looks this way and that, her eyes narrowed. There, in the distance - way further than they should be, this is definitely not New York City - there are the lights of a town. Well, that's a start.]

[She stoops to pick up her waterlogged helmet, emptying seawater out of it and tucking it under her arm, and sets out towards the lights, still unsteady on her feet, but with a hard, determined look on her face. If she sees anyone else along the way, she'll hesitate a moment, but then turn towards them and whistle through her teeth.]

Hey! Where's that? [And she points to the town with a gloved hand.]


[2 - A Softer World]
[Oh, she does not like this town. She likes to be anonymous, to be ignored when she chooses, to make her own way in the world. She might not be New York born, but there's a reason she lives there. Here, though...]

[Everywhere she turns, there's someone trying to talk to her, to welcome her, to push pamphlets into her hands. It's like this entire town is full of Jehovah's Witnesses. She doesn't even look at the pamphlets she's given before balling them up and throwing them in the nearest bin with a look of mounting anger. It isn't long before she's had more than she can bear, and the next person - human or monster - to approach her will find her wheeling on them, teeth bared like an animal, grey eyes flashing with anger.]

I swear, if you give me one more fucking leaflet, I'm gonna shove it so far down your throat you'll shit papier-mache for a week!

[She sounds like she might actually mean it, too.]


[3 - A Harder Soul]
[It's almost a relief to realise not everyone is happy to see her. She doesn't know how to deal with people talking to her, smiling at her, trying to be nice to her. People glowering and trying to be subtle about following her... that's much easier.]

[She pretends not to see the three men on her tail, but angles herself for back alleys and isolated places even more than before. Please, she thinks grimly, please just try it. After all this day's had to offer, she could use a fight. What's more, she's confident about her ability to win it. She's been stalking the streets of New York for three years as the Bandit, masked by her leathers and her motorcycle helmet; she's fought plenty of armed men bigger and heftier than these three, and taken them down. She's got this.]

[What she hasn't reckoned with, of course, is that the Bandit has superpowers. Bethan, right now, is just a young woman - a young woman with a lot of fighting experience and the muscle to show for it, but just a normal young woman nonetheless, as she finds out to her cost when one of them pulls a knife. Her still-damp leather jacket absorbs some of the impact, but even so, she stumbles back as blood begins to flow, her eyes wide with surprise. She expected it to hurt. She didn't expect it to go that deep.]

How the fuck did you...

[She's angry, and she's not done fighting yet, but this has caught her off-balance and cost her any slim advantage her fighting prowess might have given her. It's not even the pain, or the bleeding, that slows her. It's sheer shock.]

[In the moment she lets her guard drop, and the three men take advantage of it, moving in to press home an attack. She won't thank you for it, but if anyone's passing, now might be the time to help.]


[4 - The Bandit]
[She's normal. For the first time in almost twenty years, Bethan is normal. No fast healing, no supernatural resilience, and most likely no resistance to other powers, either. That's... a lot to deal with.]

[So she doesn't deal with it. She's really good at not dealing with things.]

[The Bandit might have superpowers, but that doesn't mean she can't be the Bandit without them. Sure, it's more dangerous, but it's not like she expected to live to a ripe old age anyway. Sure, she doesn't know this town or its monstrous inhabitants well enough for a battle plan, but that doesn't mean justice can't be served. And she's still got her helmet, her motorcycle leathers. That seems like some kind of sign.]

[Midnight finds her perched on a Bavan roof, a dark shape in black leathers and a helmet with a tinted visor. Freerunning is a lot harder with a badly-patched stab wound, but it's not impossible, and she's always been good at climbing. And she likes rooftops - not just for the vantage point they offer, but because up here, the air feels cleaner, easier to breathe, without walls pressing in.]

[She crouches on the slates like a gargoyle, leaning over the gutter and watching the street below. Waiting. Listening.]

[Maybe you find her up there. Or maybe you're out hunting when a black-clad figure drops, with a small cry of pain, from a windowsill overhead, landing with fists clenched between you and your prey. Bulked out by the too-big leathers, and standing almost six foot in her boots, the Bandit looks like a muscular man - and, if the saltwater hadn't damaged the voice transformer taped to the inside of her helmet, would sound like one, too. As it is, the voice that comes from the dark visor is just a little muffled.]

I don't know how to call 911 here, so you should probably back off before you need an ambulance.


[Wildcard!]
[[If you have any other ideas for threads, throw them at me here, or hit me up at jormandugr!]]

lmk if this isn't okay! <3

[extinctionagent]

[Looks like masks are currently trending around these parts.

The Bandit is laying in wait for the next predator to catch her eye, perched on a rooftop and watching the world down below, when a smooth, sonorous voice drawls out from behind her.]

Guess we all gotta make our own fun somehow, don't we?

[Even without his powers, Higgs has always had light footsteps, the result of a Bad childhood, and climbing up onto rooftops is easy after living for years as a porter, traversing mountaintops to deliver packages to those cut off from the network. He's on the same rooftop as the young woman, just off to the side with one leg dangling off of the roof, casually placed, like he's been there for ages.

And just the same as her, he's hiding his identity, wearing a mask. A set of them, one that covers the whole of his head, and then a half mask, all golden and grinning, a skeleton's smile. His hood is pulled up and shadowing everything but that grin.

He makes a vague, half-gesture towards the ground below.]

Expectin' some excitement?

It's fine! :D

[throughavisordarkly]

[There are a lot of things Bethan doesn't like. Small spaces, crowded rooms, being touched, talking about feelings...]

[Being taken by surprise is damn near the top of the list.]

[She's glad for the mirrored visor that hides her face - hides the flash of fury and unease in her expression. It means that she can pretend not to be surprised, assuming he hasn't seen the sudden tension that pulls tight against her shoulders as she turns her head, slowly, to look at him.]

Who the fuck are you?

[extinctionagent]

[One of the many benefits to hiding your face. Whether the man caught her tension or not goes unspoken. It would be rude to bring it up now, wouldn't it?

Remaining perched where he is, the man swings an arm out wide and then bring it back to his chest, bowing his head. His casual tone is unwavering.]

The name's Higgs. You'll have to forgive me if I've startled you, darlin'. Just was real curious to see what you were up to.

[throughavisordarkly]

Call me "darling" again, see what happens.

[Under the helmet, her face has settled from shock back into a scowl, and one gloved hand clenches into a fist against the roof tiles.]

And it's none of your business. If you want to hang out on rooftops, go find your own.

3

[hevenly]

[ Angela has been robbed. Of her strength, her ability to fly, and of her weapons. She is not happy about it. But, that does not mean she is not still a warrior. She can fight, and she will, rather than accept the information about her fate here which has been given to her.

She leaps down into the alley from a rooftop, a whirlwind of gold armor and red hair. She's aimed her jump to land on top of one of the men cornering the young woman--the one with the knife. She tackles him to the ground, wrapping a strand of ribbon around his neck to choke him. He struggles, but Angela has the upper hand in both size and technique.

She kicks the knife out of his hand and it skitters across the alleyway towards the young woman it had just stabbed. ]

Can you fight? Because now would be a good time.

[throughavisordarkly]

[Can she fight? Even shocked and wounded, Bethan bristles at the question.]

Thanks for the advice. [Her voice is thick with sarcasm.] Never would've thought of that.

[When it comes to technique, she's a lot less elegant than Angela. Less of a warrior, and - despite her relatively skinny frame - more of a brawler. With one hand over the bleeding wound in her side, she launches herself full-force at one of the remaining attackers, headbutting him in the face hard enough that his nose lets out an undeniable crunch. Now it's the men who are off-balance, and Bethan, fuelled by a rush of anger at having her skills called into question, makes short work of her opponent - a knee in the groin, an elbow in the throat, and he's down, groaning through the bloody mash of his nose.]

[Bethan stumbles back, breathing heavily, and stoops to pick up the knife, eyes on the remaining attacker.]

Don't talk down to me, okay?

[hevenly]

[ Good, so the girl can fight. Her style is wild like a berserker, but then... Angela recognizes such passion. It is only through centuries of training that her own fighting style became more polished and refined. She still lets out a guttural yell as she picks her quarry up and throws him to the ground, untangling her ribbon from around his neck once it becomes clear he is unconscious.

Angela stands, stepping behind the remaining man to flank him. No matter which way he turns, he will find a pissed off woman more than ready to give him hell.

To the girl, Angela asks, ] Why were these men attacking you? [ A cooler headed person might have thought to ask that before joining the fray, but Angela has never been described as cool headed. ]

1.

[hantale]

[ Fran's figure might look enticingly normal in the fog, but the closer she gets the more those monstrous features reveal themselves. Curled sheeps horns on the side of their head contrasted sharp black wings with streaks of white patterns along the primaries and secondaries.

Closer, and their pale blue skin and vertical pupils might also be more apparent, scanning over her ragged form. But, there's a smile on the kelpie's lips, hanging several feet back as if too shy to come any closer. ]

There?... That'll be Vandare. Are you alright?

[ Fran's tone is soft, comforting despite having just met. It's that time of the month, it seems. ]

[throughavisordarkly]

[What the fuck is that? Bethan narrows her eyes at the strange figure in the fog, her fingers tensing against the helmet she carries. She stops a few feet away, tense and uncertain, eyes fixed now unblinkingly on this... person? creature? Whatever it is.]

[Whatever it is, she doesn't like its tone. It sounds pitying. Bethan does not like pity.]

I'm fine.

Am I dreaming right now?

[Wow, Bethan. Way to jump straight to the cliches.]

[hantale]

[ Hmm- They blink, adjusting a bit to help them seem a bit more certain. It is pity, but she'll find out why eventually. ]

I'm afraid not.

You're in a place called Ryslig, far from wherever your home or world is...

[ Probably, at least. ]

3

[ultradad]

[Oggie is still not used to having lost his strength. He's spent too much time being the pinnacle of living beings along with Maxim and Dimo and the rest of the jagers, but now he's alone and human. What he can do is still kick the shit out of humans though, and it looks like that's what he's about to do.]

[There's a spare brick or two here and Oggie comes up on the thugs quietly, smashing it into the back of one man's head. Right, he's got two more to handle then, immediately turning on him.]

Vell, hyu guys ain't got a lot on hyu schedule if all hyu wanna do is harass vimmin in alleys!

[throughavisordarkly]

[Well, fuck. Now she's injured and embarrassed. She was hoping to at least get out of this with some pride intact - but no, now she's not even the one who gets to take these guys out.]

[Wiping her bloody hand on her jacket, Bethan curses under her breath and jumps back into the fray, tackling one man from behind as he turns to face the new threat. Her arm locks around his throat, and over his shoulder, she glares at the intruder.]

I got this. Keep walking.

[She very clearly does not got this, she's bleeding all over the guy she's chokeholding.]

[ultradad]

Hey, hy likes a good fight too! May as vell share, if dese guys vant to.

[He's smiling so big, letting her snag and headlock one of the other two standing men, grabbing one by the sleeve and yanking him close before just... kangaroo kicking the guy in the ribs.]

2

[darthprepboy]

[He watches her threaten the pamphlet hawker with almost amused appreciation, only cutting in after a moment or two.]

Hey, hey.

[His voice is soft and concerned.]

I know it's hard. And the pamphlets are annoying, but it's not these people's fault that their country's been taken over by an evil demon.

[throughavisordarkly]

[She looks at him with a mixture of disbelief and disgust, her lip curling.]

It's not their fault they're shoving paper at strangers instead of doing something useful? Yeah, real compelling argument you got there.

And demons are bullshit.

[darthprepboy]

You'd be surprised at how much paper can help sometimes...not this paper, clearly, though.

[He snorts at the pamphlet dismissively, then shrugs.]

Maybe they're bullshit, but the people seem to think some thing is responsible for all these monsters being in charge. For the transformations.

[At the last word his face shows real disgust.]

I'd be surprised if there weren't people doing real fighting against this. They just obviously have bad leadership.

4

[downdowndown]

[Daniel isn't at risk of being eaten, but he is at risk of getting mugged -- or worse. The awkward, unassuming way in which he holds himself has made him an obvious target for humans who hate monsters, but don't want to get their hands dirty by fighting the real deal.

"You were on the shore, right?" the man had asked him, and Daniel, unthinking, said yes. That was when the knife came out.

Right now, he's half-collapsed against a building, not in pain, but in fear, the raw, primal kind that drags him down to the ground and keeps him there. It's the same kind of fear a rabbit has. Play dead.

When he sees Bethan (the Bandit), the human recoils immediately, sticking the knife back into his jacket so quickly that he cuts himself on it.

"God! Fuck!"

The man raises one bleeding hand in surrender, still trying to re-sheath the knife.

'It was a misunderstanding! Just a misunderstanding!"]

[throughavisordarkly]

Wow. Grow some balls.

[She's given up on disguising her voice. With her voice transformer fried, it's not worth the hassle - she's not really a good enough actor to keep it up, anyway. She just lets herself sound like herself; a dry, disgusted scoff with an accent that's not quite from anywhere.]

[As for surrender, that's always been a tricky one for her, ethically. Part of her feels, quite strongly, that beating on someone who's not fighting back is a coward's game. Another part, just as strong, feels that someone shouldn't be able to sidestep consequences just by putting their hands up and saying sorry.]

[A third, less ethical part is just concerned with the fact that there's not much of a rush in defeating someone who's already defeated themselves.]

[In the end, she just sighs, rolling her shoulders back.]

Give me the knife, say sorry to whoever the fuck that is, and I don't have to introduce your head to the concrete. How's that sound? Oh, and if you tell me it's a misunderstanding again, I'm breaking your nose, got it?

[Please, please say no, random monster-hater. She didn't come out here to play mediator.]

[downdowndown]

[A woman? he thinks, but doesn't say. It's good that he doesn't say it for two reasons: one, someone who tells an armed man to "grow some balls" probably wouldn't appreciate his tone, and two, whenever he tries to speak in a state like this, it inevitably turns into something like "bluh bluh bluh."

The human, meanwhile, is weighing his options. He looks to Daniel, then the masked woman. Blood drips down onto the ground.

All at once, he turns to Daniel and spits, then starts to run in the opposite direction.]

4; yknow what, clearly she needs another superhero to clash with

[earrdrums]

[Hunting? Oh, no. Jiro doesn't hunt. She relies on friends and allies; she'd rather take as few lives as possible, share what she can.
This isn't hunting.

But chasing a local human down an alleyway, all of her Simulacrum cables lifted and her LEDs glowing frighteningly in the darkness, looking like she's ready to take them out?
Yes, absolutely.

And that's why she lets out a robotic sputter - something like a long record scratch, filtering out of the speaker on her throat - when Bethan lands in front of her, declaring things like that.
She stands up straight and gives her such an awful look, before leaning to look around her at the man pinned against the alley wall.

Who even IS this? Some kind of vigilante who thinks they're hot shit? Goddamn, no wonder vigilanteism is illegal back home --]

Speak for yourself!

[Okay, no, no, she shouldn't get mad - if this is someone who was doing Hero work back in their own world, they'll understand, right?
Jiro stands up even straighter - right and proper - and gives Bethan the smallest bow. Though she keeps her eyes locked on the others' visor.
The way she speaks just by its wording is very obviously rehearsed, though the computerized nature of it makes her sound like a customer service kiosk...]

This man just finished robbing a nearby convenience store at knifepoint.
I'm a trained Hero, so you don't need to worry; I plan to escort him personally to the proper authorities. The police station is two streets from here.
Please stand aside.

[Hi Bandit, meet Ryslig's very own Robocop.]

[throughavisordarkly]

[What the fuck does that mean? A trained hero? That's the dumbest thing she's ever heard from a glowing robot with a computer voice.]

[Which, in fairness, is not a long list, but still.]

[She lets out a sharp bark of a laugh, shaking her helmeted head.]

You think I'm that fucking stupid? Oh, sure, let me just trust Skynet with the criminal justice system.

You got any actual evidence?

3

[aquilasshadow]

[Altair went into the alley to get away from people. Instead he found someone in trouble. He let out a quiet sigh. This day kept getting better and better. He clutched his injured shoulder, a painful reminder that he was in no shape for another fight. But he couldn't just sit by, not when someone needed help. It was the least he could do after everything he'd done.

He grabbed a brick that was lying on the ground and snuck up behind the three men. He used the shadows to hide his approach. He appeared behind one the the men and bashed his head with the brick. His opponent crumpled to the ground. The other two whirled around to face the new threat. Altair expertly dodged their attacks and turned to Bethen.]

A little help would be nice.

[There was a pained edge to his voice. He was not up to fight three people right now.]

[throughavisordarkly]

Oh, fuck off!

[She means to just think it, but she's not too upset that it bursts out loud; he can fuck off with his bullshit, jumping in on her fight and then acting like she's not been doing anything. If he hears her say so, fine.]

[She's already moving into the fight, body-slamming the man with the knife from one side and bringing her knee up into his belly, but she hopes the newcomer can see that it's not because he asked her to.]

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

[Says the girl dripping blood on the sidewalk.]

[aquilasshadow]

[Altair's eyes narrowed. Really? That's the thanks he gets? He side stepped his attacker and grabbed his wrist, twisting it until he let go of the knife he was holding.]

Would a little thanks kill you!

[He spat out the last two words as he elbowed the man in the throat channeling all his frustration into his strike. A sudden wave of pain from his shoulder causes him to stagger back a few steps. He gritted his teeth and let out a few shaky breaths.]

Perhaps you should take your own advice. I'm not the one that got stabbed.