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

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima paused, as if waiting for something to happen -- though by now he really ought to have known better. The Fog God let no one keep their powers when they showed up. ]

No. Whatever world you were on before, it ain't this one. Every month, people fall outta the sky, or wash up on the beach, and the locals come buy with pamphlets to try and explain it all.

Doesn't work too well, but hey.

[toph_luck]

[ She does actually turn to him after that, staring... Well, not at him, but sortof in his general direction with disbelief. ]

What?!... That's. Not possible!

[ She's not trembling, you're trembling. Shut up. The next question is a dead obvious one. ]

How do I get back then? I was in the middle of something before I woke up here!

[ Namely, falling to her death. Maybe. ]

[justbeingknife]

I got bad news. It's gonna be a lot harder'n getting here in the first place.

[ Her eyes were... okay, apparently running into small blind girls was a pattern, hopefully this encounter would end with 100% less gunfire. ]

Somethin' called the Fog God brought ya here, and as far as I know, no one's been able to get all the way back to where they're from.

[toph_luck]

[ Flashbacks, flashbacks. It'll be fine, probably. Assuming Toph doesn't wander into trouble. ]

Fog God?... Am I in the spirit world or something?

[justbeingknife]

I've heard people say that's what this place is. But personally, I'm not convinced. For one thing, I'm not dead.

[ That was his story, and he was sticking to it. ]

Anyway, there're a couple of people working on a way to get back. But it turns out punchin' your way through to a whole other dimension ain't exactly a walk in the park.

[toph_luck]

You don't have to be to visit... Spirits can steal you away if they're strong enough.

[ He could also just be dead, they all could be. Who knows. ]

Punching?
Oh- if you just have to fight your way through,that's easy enough. Once I get my bending back we can kick our way free!

[ Dimension is a new one, she'll ask about that word later. ]

[justbeingknife]

[ A beat. ]

Uh. That'd be figurative punchin'. With physics and shit.

Anyway, now that you're here, I should probably mention that about half this town hates your guts.

[toph_luck]

Fists are physics...

[ She moves on, her point made. Supposedly. It's followed with an exhausted sigh. ]

That part I'm used to. You sure this isn't just fire nation territory?
What about the other half?

[justbeingknife]

Mm-hmm.

The other half thinks you're all right. It's a divide between north and south -- the north's a lot more suspicious of anyone who washes up. 'fact, most people just find the bus from Vandare to Bavan, since it's more friendly to newcomers.

[toph_luck]

Great... What's a bus?

[ More names she doesn't recognize and words that aren't familiar. Her fists clench, trying to figure out what to do. ]

Have you ever heard of the Earth Kingdom?... The Fire Nation?... Benders?
What is here?

[ She's trying not to get too frustrated, but she's running out of options. ]

[justbeingknife]

It's a... you know what a carriage is, right?

[ Sometimes, one had to get back to basics. When talking to French inspectors from before automobiles were invented, for instance. ]

It's kinda similar, only it holds more people, and there ain't any horses pulling it. Not literal ones, anyhow.

You're on a peninsula called Ryslig, in a coastal town called Vandare. There's a city called Bavan to the northwest. Those're the two biggest cities here.

There's no Earth Kingdom, or Fire Nation. Wherever ya were, it ain't where this is.

[toph_luck]

So... Kindof like a train?

[ They have trains and not busses, it's a weird world alright.

Upon hearing the same information for a second time, Toph lets out a frustrated groan. ]

Uuugh- Look, if you're trying to be helpful, it's not working very well!
All I know now is that there are two cities in some direction, in a place I've never heard of, and that half the people here already hate me.

[ She lets out a huff, hands trembling slightly as she turns away from him and starts walking. ]

Forget it, I'll figure something out myself.

[justbeingknife]

Sorry, but you're not givin' me a ton to work with here. I still don't know what a bender is.

[ How impatient, but if she was determined to do things by herself, it wouldn't be right to impede that. ]

I won't twist your arm or anythin', but you should probably at least try and get a laptop. It's a contraption people use to communicate long-distance around here, so you can use it to talk to other new arrivals.

[toph_luck]

[ She's normally not this bad, but, circumstances. Sorry Majima.

She stops, and takes a deep breath. ]

Benders can take one of the four elements and bend them, like shooting fire at you, or a giant rock. Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. But only one, unless you're the avatar. Sound familiar?

[ She has no idea what a laptop is, or why she'd want one, but it's something to work with at least, some sort of goal. She sounds a bit more focused when he gives her something to latch on to. ]

How do they work, and how do I get one?

[justbeingknife]

They're basically the size of a large book, and ya kind of unfold 'em to turn one on. It --

[ Oh. ]

Ya mean like Korra-han? She's got some element powers. Even calls herself an avatar. I always figured that was just a pen name, but...

[ That sounded like quite a coincidence, if it was one. ]

[toph_luck]

Turn them on? Like spinning it?

[ The phrase itself is completely foreign without electrical devices.

The name doesn't sound familiar, but the rest sounds about right. Different world, maybe a different avatar? ]

That... doesn't sound right. There should only be one Avatar... But if she's a bender, can I speak to her?

[ Maybe she can figure out why Toph can't bend! Then everything will be so much easier! ]

[justbeingknife]

I got no idea how you'd spin one of those things; seems like a good way to break it. They run on electricity? It's kinda hard to explain without one sittin' here.

I suspect she'd be just fine with that, but you'll need to get yourself to Bavan, where she runs Hestia's. It's a lodgin' house for newcomers, so two birds with one stone and all that.

Tell ya what. I can bring ya to the bus stop. It's a three hour ride if ya take that route, which is a lot faster'n walking. I didn't actually bring my laptop out here, or else I'd try to call her up on that.

[toph_luck]

What? You mean like lightening?

[ The tone in her voice suggests she's skeptical at best, but it's a good indication of exactly what level of technology she's used to.

She considers the offer of help for a moment, eventually nodding her head. ]

Sounds fine to me, lead the way, uhh.... buddy?

[ Right, they never did names. ]

[justbeingknife]

Yeah. Only with less power. It'd be a real problem if ya needed somethin' as strong as a lightning strike to power your electronics.

[ So he turned toward the bus stop. Honestly? Majima wasn't super fond of Vandare, anyway. ]

Majima. I've been here about a year; I was originally from a country called Japan.

[toph_luck]

Right...

[ She doesn't get it, yet at least. Maybe some day.

Still, she follows along, since trusting this random stranger was apparently her best option. Nothing wrong here. ]

Never heard of it. But I guess you already figured that, huh?
I'm Toph, by the way.

[ Who knows, maybe Korra mentioned her at some point. ]

sorry for the wait!

[justbeingknife]

It's pretty normal to me by now. I mean, half the people here're from places I've never heard of. Or they're from the past, or way off in the future when people're living on the moon or some shit.

And ya know what the explanation is? Magic.

[ He snorted, even though he was an actual magic werewolf? It was Fine. ]

All good, I've been busy with the app and uni starting!

[toph_luck]

Woah-... Different times as well? How does that-

[ She pauses, mostly because Majima beats her to the metaphorical punch. ]

Oh. Magic. Of course. You sure this isn't some spirit world?

[ The best part is, she's completely unaware of his monstrous features. Just a normal guy talking to her, it's fine. ]

[justbeingknife]

Why don't ya tell me more about this 'spirit world' deal? 'cause where I'm from, that just sounds like someplace dead people hang out.

[ And maybe understand better where Toph was coming from, because hell if he knew about the worlds of the unseen, except for what filtered down to the public consciousness through TV and movies.

Maybe she meant that spirit medium stuff, like Maya was talking about... ]

[toph_luck]

It's kindof like... Another version of our world- or my world. [ She has to correct herself. No clue where this is. ] It's where most of the immortal spirits live, or something. Only the avatar really deals with it, but I heard you can't bend in the spirit world, since your body's left behind.

[ It's... a rough estimate, at least of what she knows. This really is more Aang's thing, and boy does she wish he were here right now... ]

[justbeingknife]

In that case, I got even more doubts. Ya said the elements, right?

[ Majima put up a hand and allowed a few licks of flame to rise up over the backs of his fingers. The crackling and heat of the flame, at least, seemed real enough. ]

But there're monsters other'n me who can use magic. My body's right here.