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

2

[broken_tool]

Perhaps it's the way he walks, or it's him whipping around that has the teenager moderately intrigued. Something about his body language causes Haku to push up from the place he had been sitting and slowly make his way over, nowhere near as tall as Giorno but his steps and stance very clearly thought through and purposeful.

"Is there something the matter? There is no one near here anymore other than myself." His voice is soft and warm, amused in some sense. Whether this is to get him off his guard or how he natural speaks is for him to decide. But he certainly looks out of place from the other people around, if his mannerisms and clothing are anything to go by. Something far better placed in a foreign film than a place like this.

"Once they shove those papers at you, they tend to disappear just as quickly as they came. Though it seems more that they either want to placate and bribe or simply try to run someone off for something they have not done. Or that is how I see it, anyway." Not that anyone particularly asked, but sometimes it's easier to simply speak your piece.

[giornata_gloriosa]

He looks to the person approaching him and blinks slightly, the other is... quite short, he knows he's a bit tall for his own age, but this person looks so much smaller than him, yet they acted mature. The outfit makes him think of those terrible movies he'd seen bits and pieces of, where a clearly European film studio tried to blend half of the Asian cultures together, to form a 'stereotypical' Orient.

"I just had an objection about the content here..." he explained, holding up the pamphlet in question. "Cats are not meant to be vegan and to do so to them is quite inhumane." He added, as if by explaining what about it was so bad to this person he could correct the whole thing. He knew things didn't fix that easily, but it didn't stop him from saying so.

Then he realizes how rude he just was. "Sorry, you are hardly the one who handed me this, I shouldn't be acting as if you don't know." He stated in a softer voice. Looking the other over again he could see a particularly damaged area on their clothes and it made him wonder, though he didn't want to say anything at the moment.

[broken_tool]

Perhaps he has an actual reason to be short, you don't know his age, Giorno. Or he could just be short because his genetics were just that awful, it's really all up in the air. But him being compared to someone far more mature and further in their years than he actually is would not be a new thing to him in the slightest. Nor would his clothing being odd be particularly bothersome. He'd already come to that conclusion seeing the people that were supposedly natives around here.

But he's letting Giorno get his little rant out of his system, slowly nodding in agreement. "If I may ask, what does that word mean, exactly?" Vegan isn't really a thing that exists in his world, as far as he's aware. And he would consider himself fairly well read and traveled at this point.

If he doesn't want to continue on that line, then that was also fine. As he's quickly waving that off with a small smile, there's not a lot that tends to bother him anymore. "Oh no, it is fine. Believe me, it is not the first time I have been at the brunt of someone's ire, nor will it be the last, I suspect." At least he seems relatively... interesting, unlike the rest of the people around here. Which is perhaps a good thing in Giorno's favor. "I take it you are new here like I am?"

[giornata_gloriosa]

"Oh, vegan is, a kind of diet. The idea is to not only remove 'living creatures' from your diet, but also things that come from them. Eggs and dairy are common ones. The idea being that the consumption of those encourages the mistreatment of the animals they come from. As if a few people stopping eating those would change such systems." He explains, shrugging a little. One person could do a lot in some situations, but often times those needed to be something that society as a whole needs, the one person will find support and it will grow from there on it's own.

He doesn't quite know how to respond to the idea of this person just... accepting the outpouring of frustration, though it would be a lie to say he didn't feel a bit guilty as a result. "I am new... I suppose it's good to know I'm not the only person who recently woke up to find themselves here." He admitts.

[broken_tool]

Removing living creatures from your diet? He's frowning at that whole mess and slowly shaking his head at the whole thing, it sounds absolutely ridiculous to him. It's not as if the animals are being mistreated, as far as he has seen. But this place does not seem to be the same as his own, so who knows when it comes to this place. "Such a thing is... a new concept to me. There is no question about these creatures being treated as well as anything or anyone else. And it seems a terrible idea to cut out things that are generally necessary to a normal diet..." Haku, no.

"I... have a question, however. Did you... die before you ended up here?" It sounds like a ridiculous question, but he needs to know for his own sanity and sake of mind. Was he brought back to life again for some unfathomable reason or is he actually dead for real this time?

[giornata_gloriosa]

"The idea isn't new to me, but I don't see it as very effective, or reasonable, really. It's just something some people do." he admits with a slight shrug before the question registers and he has to take a moment to stare.

Did he die before ending up here? Did he? He remembered the street, calling for everyone to stop... he had figured out what happened to Mista's gun... then he was going to check people, see if he could tell who had a second soul in their body. Mista had gotten difficult about it, so he'd started with Bucciarati... and then... He couldn't remember. He'd gotten close enough tot he other and then... he was waking up here. He could feel a cold sweat on his back and a slight tremble in his fingertips as he realized... he didn't have an answer to that.

"I... don't know." he admitted, voice smaller now, as he tried to figure it out. If it had happened fast enough, like he'd seen for others, he might not remember the moment, which could be doubly true when dealing with Diavolo. He could taste the tang of something metallic at the back of his throat, his body having a visceral fear reaction. "I couldn't say. I was doing something... something that could easily have gotten me killed, but I don't exactly remember dying." he offered, too distracted by the realization the question had spawned to even consider the meaning behind the other asking such a question.

[broken_tool]

"People have the luxury of being able to change their eating habits on a whim," he adds softly, though there's a hint of annoyance in his tone. There is just something about it that absolutely bothers him.

He's quiet as he watches him, looking for any signs or hints about how this should go. He doesn't know this person, after all, so it's better to get a read on him and if he needs to back off or keep pushing.

Until he's being told he doesn't know. How... odd. He's tilting his head to regard him for a moment or two longer, expression shifting into a frown. That doesn't help in the slightest, Giorno, which only ends with a sigh as he resigns himself to not knowing what is going on.

"I... am sorry for that question and if it seemed rather inappropriate. I just... needed to know, that is all." For what reason, he isn't going to give any details about if he doesn't need to.

[giornata_gloriosa]

He doesn't disagree with the notion, or at least he wouldn't, if he could focus on much more than the question from before. It was a question that made him genuinely wonder. He had no way to know his own fate, against an enemy like that... he wasn't invincible.

"N-no, it's alright I just, didn't realize that I didn't really know the answer to that until you asked." He says, letting out a heavy breath. "I had assumed because I felt pain, and could breathe, that I was alive, and that hadn't changed at any point." He admits, frowning softly.

"Oh, may I know your name?" he asks, cocking his head to the side just a little, offering a slight smile. "Mine is Giorno." He adds, not wanting to seem like he was going to be one-sided with it.

[broken_tool]

"Being able to feel pain and breathe does not necessarily mean you are not dead, an afterlife could be such a thing if you are not aware of it being such." He does have a point, even if it's one of the more roundabout ways of going about this whole mess in the first place.

Ah, his name. He's quiet as he watches him, a brow raised slightly as he catches it. Giorno... a strange name, but this man certainly looks foreign compared to the people he has seen before.

"Haku," he responds simply, though he's giving him a small bit of a bow in turn. It's just polite manners, after all, isn't it? "At least these are not the worst circumstances to meet under?"

[fighting_gold]

"I suppose. To be honest, I've never been dead before, so I wouldn't really know what to expect." He says, cocking his head to the side a little. Bucciarati hadn't talked much about anything to do with that kind of subject so he figured it wasn't open for discussion.

"Haku, it's nice to meet you." he says, nodding a bit. "I'd much rather meet a potential friend, than a likely enemy." he offers, wanting the other to understand his hope that they would be at least on good terms, if not friends, more so than anything else.

[broken_tool]

"It is... a rather strange feeling, to be perfectly honest with you. Though I would suppose it depends on just how you leave the mortal world." His wasn't entirely pleasant, either time. But that's just how it tends to be when you're a shinobi, especially if you aren't falling in line with the whole village thing.

Ah, being on good terms. That much he can understand and he's nodding in turn. "I would hope so as well. I have no intentions on harming anyone unless they wish to do harm to me first, though I would believe it far easier to not have to do such a thing here than it was back home." There are no other shinobis or villages as far as he's aware, which means no one knows who he is which only helps him in the long run.

[fighting_gold]

That was an interesting way to say that, and he found himself frowning softly. "You have experienced dying before?" He asks, finding that to be the easiest answer to what he's hearing from the other, head tilting softly to the side.

He nods slightly in agreement. "I have yet to see a reason to hurt others here, so I am happy to only fight if there is a need to protect myself or others, honestly. Fighting isn't something I enjoy myself." he states, feeling an agreeable similarity to Haku in that.

[broken_tool]

Ohhh boy. He's quiet at the question, not... too sure how to say it. Perhaps the truth is just the better option of all of it than pretending to do anything otherwise. "... Yes, twice, technically. Though the second was..." He's trailing off as he tries to figure a good way to say it. "I was brought back to the living world, yet still dead, manipulated to do the bidding of the person who had done so. I welcomed the second death." Good grief, Haku. A somber mood, certainly.

"There are ways around fighting, if you know how to knock someone out with a simple hit. But I would much prefer to not be in that situation to begin with."

[fighting_gold]

"Oh." He had asked and now he felt bad for asking, considering he realized just how insensitive a question it was. "I apologize, it must not have been easy. I do hope being here will be much kinder to yo." He states, offering a smile. "But I certainly trust you in terms of what it's like."

"Not fighting to start with does seem idea, that is certain." he said with a bit of a nod. "Though it is true, it could be avoidable, if you are good at such precise strikes.

[broken_tool]

Slowly he's letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, yes, hopefully this would be kinder to him. "I died protecting what was precious to me, it was... at least the way I would have preferred to go out." Had it hurt? Absolutely. But he'd done his job and with what he was told when he came back he had done what had needed to be done. He'd accomplished what had needed to be accomplished. And that was what had mattered, at the end of the day. "The same cannot happen here, at least not under the same circumstances, so I would think things would go better." No need to throw yourself in front of a metaphorical bullet here, yet.

"It is rather simple if you know anything about human anatomy, there are certain places you can hit and end a fight quickly." Sorry, Giorno, it's probably clear as day that this kid is nowhere near as innocent as he sounded before. Oops.

[fighting_gold]

"There is a lot of honor... in dying to protect something." He says, his mind drifting to his friends, people he cared about, who paid the ultimate price. "Doing what you think is the right thing... there is a kind of grace in dying for that." He nods at the idea of things going better here.

"I know the anatomy, I'm just not as sure on my own precision." he admits, with a slight shrug. He had already figured the other wasn't all that innocent, though the matter of fact way he stated that... seemed to imply more violence than he'd already figured.