graveyardsmash | JANUARY/FEBRUARY TEST DRIVE

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's not visible through the mirrored visor of her helmet, but Bethan smiles, sharp and vicious. She turns quickly, moving fast despite her heavy-looking boots, and gives chase.]

[She's slowed by her still-injured side, but she has long legs and good fitness, and she's always been good at pushing through pain. The man, and then the Bandit, disappear around the corner.]

[A few minutes later, she returns alone. There's a shiny, wet stain spreading on her black jacket, where her wound has reopened underneath the rip in the leather, but in the dim light it's probably not very noticeable. More noticeable is the smear of blood on her helmet, and on her gloved hands when she offers Daniel a hand up.]

You got a phone on you? Want to call the cops for me?

[He takes her hand, but his eyes are focused on the blood. On her gloves. On her helmet. And is that...? Does he detect a faint patch of wetness on her torso...?

Observant as ever, Daniel, says something inside his head, and his fingers shudder before reaffirming their grip. ]

I... I don't...

[He shakes his head, his eyes wide and distracted. ]

...know what that is.

[It makes him feel stupid, admitting that, and the shame is enough to temporarily cut through the adrenaline. But only temporarily. ]

Is the man all right?

[He only asks this because he's afraid to ask the real question: did you kill him? ]

[She grunts, yanking him up on his feet.]

All right's a relative term. You ask me, he wasn't all right to start with.

He's out cold and his face isn't gonna look right for a while. But he's alive. That's what you're asking, right?

[This isn't her first rodeo, and he isn't the first person too afraid to ask that question.]

You hurt?

[He knows the answer, but he aimlessly pats at himself anyway. Simply seeing the knife was enough to make him weak in the knees. In many ways, Daniel's mind is poorly constructed shack just waiting to fall in on itself.]

I'm fine.

[And then, because he'd rather not focus on how fine he is in spite of his all-too-recent position on the floor:]

Thank you for rescuing me.

[His words leave his lips before his brain processes them.]

He was a despicable man, wasn't he? I'm glad you taught him a lesson.

[She lets go of his hand the second he's back on his feet, and shakes her head.]

Up to him if he learns it, I guess. Speaking of lessons, you oughtta learn one. There's a lot of assholes around here, seems like.

I don't wanna have to rescue you again.

I didn't think they'd attack me before I transformed.

[He looks down at his hands as though gauging his humanity.]

It was stupid of me to travel without a weapon. [He places a special emphasis on that word, stupid, a bitter contrast to the rest of his tone.] I'll know better next time.

Really? You didn't think the people without claws and fangs might take a bit of pre-emptive action before you grew 'em?

[She sounds awfully scornful for someone who got stabbed by those people before she'd even been here a day.]

Brightly-lit streets. Lots of people. Someone who'll hear if you yell. That's your best bet.

[You know, all the things she studiously avoids at night.]

[Listen to her, Daniel, says the voice inside his head. His vision blurs around the edges, the street lamps (too distant to save him, stay where it's light) blurring into the buildings. She thinks she knows better than you.

Anger prickles in the back of his throat and curls around his head like a hood.

Crush her skull. Remind her where she stands.]

Yes, well --

[He swallows the anger in a quick gulp. Irritation rests in his breath instead, his shoulders tense, his brow tight. ]

I already said I made a mistake. There's no need to rub it in.

Oh, grow up. I'm not rubbing it in. I'm trying to help.

You seem jumpy enough I'm not sure anyone wants you to have a weapon, anyway.

[Calm down, he tells himself. It's not a voice -- it's just him, his own thoughts bobbing to the surface like a drowned man. He knows that she's right. A weapon would feel clumsy in his hands, and he doubts he'd be able to strike a man in the right places. ]

Brightly lit streets. People. I understand.

Edited 2020-01-24 12:38 (UTC)

Good.

[Her mirrored visor glints in the dim light as she looks him up and down again. Then she turns abruptly, starting over to the wall and looking up, ignoring him for now.]

[It's only when she's mentally mapped her route back up to the roof that she looks back over her shoulders at him.]

Anyway, you're welcome. Take care, I guess. Maybe run next time.

[The grunt of pain when she jumps up to grab the outcrop of brick is... it's quiet, and it's muffled by the helmet, but it's still audible.]

Wait!

[It's surprisingly commanding, a sharp stab in an otherwise quiet voice. He straightens his back, his lips twisting into a grimace, his arms twisting across his chest.]

You can't leave me alone with him. The police will need witnesses.

[What if the man is dead after all? What if they think he did it? ]

Besides, you're hurt. You won't get far.

Oh, fuck, no.

[She turns, though, letting go of her handhold and dropping back to street level.]

I don't do police. Dunno if you know this, but they tend not to like people doing their job for them. [Especially not when people's idea of 'doing their job' is aggravated assault and battery. That's not the point, though.] Weird, I know, but I kind of like not being in jail. If you don't want to get involved without witnesses, just send in an anonymous tip that there's some asshole bleeding in an alleyway. 'S what I usually do.

And what the hell makes you think I'm hurt?

[Gee, Bethan, could it be something to do with the blood oozing out from under your jacket?]

[It shouldn't surprise him, but hearing that language (from a woman, no less) gives him pause. He stumbles over his tongue before speaking. ]

But you did a good thing.

[He hears the naivety in his voice, and he knows instantly that she's right. That's just the world he wants to live in -- one in which good actions are rewarded, and bad actions are punished. ]

At least let me repay you for your kindness. Anyone could see that you're injured.

[His hands go to his jacket. He produces...

... is that a bottle of codeine? ]

Here. Take this. It'll dull the pain.

Edited 2020-02-03 15:37 (UTC)

[She reaches out one gloved hand, taking the bottle. Through the tinted, mirrored visor, she has to squint to see what it is.]

[When she does read it, she shakes her head, shoving it back at him.]

I'm good, thanks. That shit fucks with my head.

It's just a cut. I'm fine.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY TEST DRIVE

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cw: sexism, drug use

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