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

Re: 02

[hevenly]

[ Funnily enough, though she has only just arrived and is therefore untouched by any monster changes, Angela's own eyes are much the same-- stark white, no iris or pupil, with a slight glow and red markings surrounding them which could be a tattoo or makeup, could just be natural. Hard to say.

She regards him coolly, stepping over to join him in the shadows. ]

No. I must say my arrival was sorely lacking in exposition. [ She doesn't argue with him on the point of cannibalism needing humans, because he's right. Many planets, many races. One race eating another isn't cannibalism. If she were to eat a human, it wouldn't be...

...Let's not go there. ]

So this place is called Ryslig?

[pawntakesking]

The peninsula is. The town, in case you were wondering, is Bavan.

I suppose I should be the first to say that we're glad to have you. I'm happy to answer any questions you have. I imagine there are quite a few.

[hevenly]

I have heard of neither.

[ But that does not surprise her. It's a big universe, after all. ]

What power has sapped me of my abilities and robbed me of my weapons? I do not appreciate being left with no means to defend myself.

[ Not that she couldn't still fight hand to hand. Even without weapons, she is a formidable foe. ]

[pawntakesking]

It's a long story.

[Not really, but it's one that he feels a need to consider before telling. She sounds pretty hostile - unsurprisingly - and if he's going to sway her to the Fog's side, he's going to have to find a way to spin this first, crucial encounter with the concept.]

Would you like a cup of tea while we talk? I have a café near here, it might be more comfortable than talking out in the street.

[hevenly]

[ A cup of tea? Angela frowns. The offer seems genuine and coming from a place of kindness, but... ]

I have no means of paying for your tea. I would be in your debt.

[pawntakesking]

[Well, it's kind of nice to hear that someone has a sense of equivalent exchange around here. Still, Regulus shakes his head.]

Consider it a gift. Particularly since I'd quite like one myself.

One pot of tea is hardly likely to put me out of business.

[hevenly]

[ She eyes him warily. She does not accept gifts so lightly. She will have to remember to repay him at a later juncture. ]

Very well. One pot.

[ She needs information. And this is her best lead to get it for now. ]

[pawntakesking]

One pot.

[He smiles, though it doesn't touch anything but his mouth, and beckons her with him.]

If it makes you feel any better, I do have an ulterior motive. I'm hoping that if it's a good experience, you might come back when you're settled.

[Also, he's hoping to convert you to the Fog, but it seems a bit unhelpful to say that out loud.]

[hevenly]

[ One of those things will be a harder sell than the other. Angela comes from the Realms of gods. She is technically a goddess herself. She does not worship gods, let alone those who kidnap her and strip her of her innate abilities.

She follows him wherever he leads her, to this tea shop of his. Her countenance is still tense, wary. Edging on distrustful... But she has no allies in this strange land. For now, she has no choice but to trust the help that is offered to her. ]

I do not plan on staying in Ryslig long. I have important things to attend to elsewhere.

[ Like finding and reuniting with her beloved. As far as Angela's concerned, that's the most important task there could be. ]

[pawntakesking]

I understand.

[He holds the door of the Kit-TEA-Kat Café open for her, inviting her in. The café is at odds with his appearance: brightly-coloured, though dimly-lit, and full of cats and cat toys.]

[He follows her inside, gesturing for her to take a seat and starting towards the counter.]

But I'm afraid that you may find it harder than you anticipate. I don't quite understand how the magic that draws us here works, but I do know that nobody trying to leave has yet managed to replicate it.

What kind of tea would you like?

[hevenly]

[ Angela's first thought, upon entering the café, is that Sera would find it hilarious. But then, her first thought upon entering most situations is of Sera. That is what she has to get back to... Finding Sera and saving her from whatever trouble she's undoubtedly gotten herself into.

She folds her tall frame into a seat, startled somewhat when a small grey cat leaps up to sit by her and beg for pets. She places a tentative hand on the animal, giving it a look that is torn between amused and puzzled. ]

So it is magic at play, then? The enchanter must be strong, for no one to have countered them. How many have been drawn here, as you and I have?

[ As for tea preferences, there was a time when Angela wouldn't have had a preference. But then she spent seven years living in Brooklyn in the span of an instant. ]

...Something herbal, please. With lavender.