graveyardsmash | JANUARY/FEBRUARY TEST DRIVE

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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

[That stumbling of his just gets her face to twist up even more, and she closes her locker - ending up shrinking away a bit as if she's trying to be less scary.
She doesn't know for sure if he's scared, but... she's so tired of being scary.]

It's just... this place. There's a god here that turns people into monsters after they've been here for a while.
Not the locals - the people who... come in here from other worlds.

But you don't need to worry about that yet, okay? You literally just got here; you need to be taken care of first.

[He's not scared of her- how could he be, after she saved him?- it's more that...he's never seen anything like what she is, and it's the implications of them that are scary. And it's only when she confirms his worst fears that he's left even more bewildered because...a place that turns people into monsters...

HOO BOY]

Well....okay, yeah. Okay. But after this is done I have a LOT of questions for you.

[Sorry Jiro you're going to have to field possibly a million of them.]

[Questions are fine! Questions she can handle. She'd much rather he have questions for her than any sort of fear -
It's just like with Kokichi, where it's not her he's afraid of, but she's so worried that it is...

But he nets himself one, curt nod, and she straightens back up again.]

Yeah, that's okay with me. First, we should get you somewhere warm. ... Probably get some food in you, too.

But first -

[She DOES still have that first aid kit. Though, with the dark of the night, she's gonna have to turn her screen back off...
Because the darkness switches on her low-light vision, like beams from a flashlight pouring out from somewhere behind the powerless screen.]

You look like you've got a few superficial cuts. I'll get some disinfectant and bandages on those, okay?
They're nothing to worry about, but doesn't hurt to make sure.

[Varian is very torn right now between wanting to prattle off questions about Jiro herself while also trying to be sensitive to her situation. She called herself a "monster", "simulacrum" specifically, so he like...figures she finds herself less fascinating than he does. It's difficult to hold his tongue, but he thinks about how he'd feel in that situation and it helps to keep him from saying anything he shouldn't.]

You don't really have to, I mean...they're not all that bad, but I won't stop you or anything. I've gotten way worse.

[Chemical burns, explosions, you name it. He's got more scars from them than someone his age should, rightfully.]

[It's kind of funny, considering she'd WAY prefer questions about herself, specifically, than questions about their shared situation.
She hates being the one to drop the news on someone... it's always so, so hard.

But she'll go about doing that - pulling out a gauze pad and disinfectant as well as a wash to make sure there's no dirt in his wounds, setting about cleaning them up for the time being.
Just to keep her hands free, of course, the lighter stuff is being handed off to her jacks, the thick cables unreeling from her earpieces and glowing the entire time.]

Worse injuries in the past don't get rid of the ones you've got now, right?
A chance of infection is a chance of infection, and beach sand is a breeding ground for some pretty nasty bacteria.

[And look, man, she works for the clinic... she's not gonna halfass a job just because it could've been worse!!]

[Varian is patient as she works on his various cuts, wincing a little now and then as the disinfectant stings when it goes over them. It's funny...he comes from a mid-century sort of world where the time period is questionable and technology is...well it's actually somewhat more advanced than you'd think, and there's also magic? But there aren't like, smartphones. It's one of those kinds of places. So the healthcare in Corona may be...questionable? Like surely they have hospitals and whatnot but it's also like...never ever touched on even once when the only thing that could save Rapunzel's mom was a magic flower so god only knows.

Still though, Varian gets it. The last thing you want is to catch something over being careless, after all...but the more Jiro takes advantage of her more robotic parts- like her locker chest or her jacks moving things around- it's harder and harder for him to just stand there quiet.

Until eventually...]

I...I'm sorry, but I have to ask- what alloy are you made of? At first I guessed copper primarily, but it seems like you're composed of much more than just that...steel? Iron? Or no, no- maybe some sort of reinforced carbon fiber?

[She's just putting one of the last few bandaids on a cut on his arm when he goes ahead and asks that, and it actually brings a little smile to her face.]

Honestly? I've got no idea. Even though I'm a machine, it's definitely not my forte, you know?
But if you can figure it out, I'd love to know. 'Cause it's pretty cool, right?

The most I know is the pins on my jacks are copper, for sure - that's what they were before I started turning into a Simulacrum, after all.

Are you kidding? Given the right equipment and some time and, uh...well, the permission to do some tests of course, I'd be able to tell you exactly what you're made of, easy.

[He's spent entire nights comparing different elements because he just finds it fun okay, he's that kind of kid.]

Ah-hah! So I was right about the copper, at least! And I'm pretty sure you're bound to have some...

[Wait. He pauses, blinking as he looks over at one of Jiro's jacks currently applying a bandage to one of the deeper cuts on his arm.]

I'm sorry, you said...before? You had them BEFORE?

[And now that smile just gets even bigger as she gives him a little nod.]

Yeah, before. Back in my world, it was normal for people to have all sorts of extra things, you know?
I had jacks like these [- Said while pointing to a pair, of course -] but they were part of my ears. All skin, no rubber, with just the copper pins at the ends.

I'm really happy I got to keep them. I guess that's... actually pretty rare around here, you know?
Most people lose that kinda stuff even before they start turning into anything.

So...even though you weren't mechanical or anything to start with, human beings from your world still have augmentations in some way?

[HE...still thinks Jiro is talking about robotics, so everybody just. Has something like her, not necessarily a new ability entirely.]

Fascinating...so what did these "jacks" of yours do before, exactly?

[That gets a little shake of her head "no".]

Not "augmentations"; they were natural, stuff we were born with. We call'em "Quirks".
I actually got mine from my mom.

[But honestly? She's glad someone took it to mean something scientific for once, instead of defaulting to "oh weird must be magic" like everyone else has!!!]

As for that, though... did you have audio equipment back in your world?
Stuff like microphones and stereos?

[.........robot mom......]

Audio equipment?

[Said with an air of "no", probably not

Like, if she told him it was magic he could believe it, but he DOESN'T LIKE MAGIC so no there's obviously a scientific explanation for it!!]

You mean like...something that can produce sound? I mean, I could probably make something like that, but I don't really know what a microphone OR a stereo is. Is it like a gramophone?

[... Give her a second, she's just gonna look off to the side and like, a thousand yards away.
It's not the first time she's had to explain this, but still.

Okay - back to Varian!]

They're like a more advanced gramophone. WAY more advanced. And I, uh...
I might have to give you a science lesson to explain how my jacks worked.

'S that cool?

Uh, yes? I don't think I'd have literally any other answer to something like that.

[PLEASE SHOW HIM YOUR WEIRD ROBOT PARTS]

Well, at least you're enthusiastic. Here -
Let's walk and talk, there's a place nearby I work at that sells some great food that I think you'll like.

[Said with a wave for him to follow, before turning and heading off! And once she's sure he's right behind her...]

So -
Soundwaves, right? Sound isn't just a thing like that on its own, it's a kind of energy that moves in waves; that's why it vibrates stuff once it's loud or deep enough.
Because it's an energy, you can convert it into other kinds of energy, too. Like heat, or electricity.

That's how more advanced audio tech works. You've got little wires that can carry electricity and something that can convert the vibrations from sound into electricity to send through the wires.
Like a needle in a gramophone, but instead of going to a diaphragm to send out a horn, it goes into a wire to send somewhere else.

You following so far?

[This must sound great to listen to, considering she's always singing.]

[It's more fascinating to listen to the way she talks than it is to hear the science. ...okay almost, science always wins out, but STILL. He does understand the general concept of sound even if this sort of thing isn't exactly his forte with machinery. How it works with more advanced tech is completely new to him, and the concept leaves him with one hand against his chin as he mulls over everything Jiro has told him so far.]

Electricity...yes of course! Why didn't I ever think of that! It seems so obvious now, using energy to create sound through wire transmission...

[Of course, their uses for electricity and where it all comes from are still a little fuzzy compared to other worlds but, details.]

So how could something like that work for you if you weren't...you know, mechanical from the start?

Natural wiring, obviously. Copper conducts electricity better than a lot of other metals, and it's something the body's pretty good at building up after a while.
Of course, that meant I had to eat a lotta stuff with copper in it, too. Take supplements sometimes...

[Thus is the life of a mutant type Quirk. Sometimes you just gotta eat weird shit to maintain it.]

But this is where it gets a little hairy. Like, my jacks worked as input - I could listen through'em, better than I could with my ears?

... But they worked as output, too.
I could carry my heartbeat out of'em, and mess with the frequency and volume however I wanted.

[And now she looks over her shoulder with a little smile.]

Have you ever seen someone destroy something with one really loud sound?

Wow.

[That's all pretty complicated...but also amazing at the same time. Like?? What kind of world is Jiro FROM exactly where this sort of thing is just...a thing? Rapunzel only has her magic hair thanks to the power of the sundrop, so it's not like people are just...born like this, where Varian is from. And sure there are wizards and warlocks and whatever, but this is different.

This is SCIENCE.]

I can't say I've ever seen something like that, but I'd love to see it. I can imagine something like a dragon would have the capacity to maybe do that, but...probably not to the point of being able to destroy things with sound alone.

[Cause avalanches and shit though, yeah that's doable.]

[For a split second that smile of hers turns up - looking almost proud - and she looks ahead of her as she walks again.
They're getting close to Nai'a, so she oughtta keep an eye on where they're going.]

Earphone Jack - my Quirk - was even more powerful than that, too.
After all, it's not like I just blasted sound at stuff until it broke... I mean, I could, but with the way I usually used it, it was a lot more targeted.
So imagine something like...

Destroying a boulder with a sound you can't even hear, 'cause it's all being pumped into the rock itself.

But alongside special gear I had made, I could even do stuff like break up huge paths of dirt and stone under peoples' feet.
Not only that, but since sound's an energy... I could take out robots - automatons, I mean - with just one, good blast.

Disrupts their insides, you know? Really messes stuff up in there.

Sooo what you're telling me is that you were ridiculously strong before you got here.

[He raises a brow at Jiro's detailed explanation of how conveniently her Quirk used to be able to destroy things with sound, leading him to wonder just what she did with that sort of power...especially if it's capable of upheaving earth or destroying the delicate inner workings of machines.]

And now they've turned you into a robot, which means you could theoretically conquered the world if you wanted to.

Theoretically? Probably, I guess.
My Quirk was strong enough that I could kill pretty easily with it if I wanted to.

[Here? She actually turns around to face him as they talk and walk, walking backward as she continues.]

... But back home, everyone had some kinda power or ability they could use that dangerously. You know? Lots of people out there doing crimes and hurting people just 'cause their Quirks were strong enough for that.
So there were people who became protectors to snuff that out where they can. We call them "Heroes".

And I'm a Hero in training.

[Surely he can see where she's going with that.]

[He can! Which means sheeee's NOT a Villain.

Not that he thought that, of course. He super...didn't think that at all.]

That's pretty noble of you, I gotta say. I mean I get where you're coming from though- if you've got a talent or a skill that you could be using to help people, then...why wouldn't you, right? By like, you know...saving them with your "Quirk"s or...I dunno.....building them something....

[Like a hot water system that nearly blew up his entire village nbd]

[Aaaand now her smile is right back on her face.]

So that's why you're so into science, huh? Some kinda inventor?
You'll fit right into this place, no problem.

[Turning back around! They've hit Nai'a anyway, so it's time to get him some food - starting with dragging him over to a booth she likes.]

Yeah! I'm an Alchemist primarily, but also an inventor! Where I'm from, a lot of the world runs on magic, which you know...that's fine and all, but science is where the real magic happens.

Easily explained, quickly replicatable, and- woah-!

[He trails off when Jiro suddenly grabs him and drags him inside, prompting him to shut up for a second as he gets a feel for the place. It seems so...how does he put it.]

This place, it's uh...I mean not this place in particular necessarily, but I guess all of this...area is kindof............dark?

Dark?

[Her head tilts a bit, jacks quirking a little to match, before she looks around them...
And then back at Varian, himself.]

What do you mean?

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