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

[She seems to almost study him for a moment, staring at him hard...
But seems to find that acceptable, chilling out a bit as she brings a hand up to rest her chin on.]

You'll find that's the case here, too, as much as I hate to say it. Weird incidences happen here all the time... most of them can be traced back to magic.

Here's hoping you'll end up a Simulacrum like me; being a robot is way easier to understand than half the crap you'll see running around.

Ahah! A Simulacrum, yeah...ahh...

[As cool as that sounds, it's clear he's still now...100% sold on the whole idea of transforming into something at all, much less a mechanical version of himself.]

I guess I'll uh...I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, right?

[If he turns into a Goblin though, from what she's saying, he might actually sream.]

These changes, they...do they happen soon?

[Her look shifts sympathetic, but at least she shakes her head "no".]

Luckily, nah. Here - lemme order us some food first, then we can get into the nitty-gritty...
It's always easier to stomach if you've got something warm in you, if you ask me.

[Give her just a moment - she's gonna hail one of the not-mermaids over to order them some food.
Sure hope he likes seafood!

But it's still probably not a good sign that they'll be here long enough to eat a meal while she explains.]

[Varian doesn't tend to be too picky about what he eats- you learn to like what you get, living out on a farm and all- so having seafood is actually kindof fancier than the things he's used to eating. Corona is surrounded by water so they often have a lot of fish dishes there, so when he does visit the castle he gets to have it, but only really then.

He's mostly quiet initially as Jiro starts to explain the whole deal about monsters, interjecting here and there to ask a question but mostly letting her do the talking since she knows more than he would about everything...]

So this is...pretty serious, isn't it.

[Jiro spins one of her glowing fingertips around the rim of her drink - just a cup of black tea that she's had to sip as slowly as possible - staring down at it with a somewhat grim demeanor.
She really hates having to explain that.]

Yeah. It really is.
No one's sure if there's any way to stop it, either... we just have to have faith in the researchers we've got, and they've been at it for years.

[...

Varian is silent for a long moment then, looking down at the bar between them as he mulls that over. The fact that researchers have been trying to reverse this for years, it's just...]

...I bet I could figure something out. Not to discredit the current researchers, but...if I could spend some time running some tests and gathering information, there has to be something I can do to stop this.

I mean... you might have knowledge they don't, it's true. I think all the researchers we've got are from worlds like mine -
Ones without any magic.

So they've been going hard on the science side of it.

Not that I'm saying you should start dealing with the magic side - but you'd probably know how science reacts to it more than they would, right?

[She can't imagine he wouldn't, really. Alchemy is just... science-magic after all, isn't it?]

I've spent months testing different compounds on magical substances. Usually with...varying results.

[He's a bit more. Careful about doing that, these days. But there are no black rocks here, so it should be okay...]

I can't promise anything, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and not at least try.

[- She points at him suddenly, her expression stern, yet... turned up in a little bit of a smile.]

That. I like that.
Do you know how many people here just gave up after being here for a couple of months?
Like, not to knock'em or anything, but there are a ton of people willing to go the whole way and settle down, get married - if it weren't for the fact that the Fog god messed with that, too, they'd probably be having kids like they're gonna be here the rest of their lives.

Plenty of people are looking for ways out, or ways to reverse the monster transformations, or any of that, but they're not getting any support.
I wanna try and change that... and I'm glad to hear you're willing to throw your hat in the ring, too.

[Varian's brows shoot up with marked surprise at Jiro's encouragement, as if he 100% expected her to say something else. It actually takes him a moment to reply, his mouth working slowly for a second.]

W...wait, you...you all would be...okay with that? You're not gonna be like "Varian it's too dangerous" or "Varian this is more complicated than any of us understand so you shouldn't meddle"?

[And that just gets a little shake of her head.]

The way I see it, any good person who thinks they can help a situation is gonna wanna meddle in things.
'Cause for some people, it's just second nature to wanna help, right?
Even if people tell you no.

I'm pretty sure that kinda instinct is what makes a good Hero, too... I'm not about to turn away someone who's got that kinda instinct.

[She's saying this so, so calmly... despite the fact that she has the instincts of a Hero.]

...boy. Sure would be nice to be called that for a change.

[He says that in a mumbled undertone to himself before he looks back up, the grim expression he'd had before turning to something much more determined.]

Then that's what I'm going to do. As long as I'm still here, I won't stop looking for a cure. No matter how much time it takes, or how many times I fail at it.

That's what I like to hear.

[His grim expression is being bounced right back with a smile - something tough but encouraging, like she knows he can do it.]

And in a month from now... what would you say to me testing your abilities, once you've got'em?
'Cause you may as well use the powers you get when you have them, right?
And my agency's always looking for members.

[Okay now he's even MORE shocked, what is happening.]

H-hang on, I mean! I'm flattered, really, but it's not like...I'm that kind of hero or anything like that...I mean I can build things, that's one thing, but I'm not really that much in a fight.

[She gives him one, almost blase little half-shrug. The kind that says "whatever floats your boat".]

Hero work's way more than fighting... but it's just an offer.
Don't stress over it or anything.

But...
I could use more contacts when it comes to building things, too.

Now if it's specifically a builder you need, then I can work with that.

[He has no idea what sorts of gadgets a hero might need, but. If he can build a bazooka he can make pretty much anything she or anyone else at her agency may want.]

JANUARY/FEBRUARY TEST DRIVE

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