TEST DRIVE MEME: JULY / AUGUST

[ryslighelpers]

TDM: JULY / AUGUST

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

[ikonsuit]

( That was before spending a month alone in monster world with no idea if he'd ever see his family again. Self-isolation is different. He's been known to disappear for weeks, months, at a time while out living the life of the villain known as Deathstroke. But that was his choice, the ball was always in his court. He always could, and did, return to his family in the end and he always knew where to find them. Powerlessness is foreign, in more ways than one. [Even in Arkham he knew how to escape.] It's not just the lack of physical ability, but Ryslig is a place where Slade has no control over the things that happen in his life, a far reach for a man who's lived in a space where he exerted absolute control over everything.

It still isn't enough for a complete change of heart. He's still, distant, cold, but not he's not a psychopath [he won't let himself be compared to any of the real lunatics in the world]. Tough love is for when your kid needs an ass-kicking for writing on the walls, not when they tell you there's a chance for permanent injury. He's taking it seriously because he can't afford not to. Not when Joey is the only one he has.

So he's being nice. Or at least his version of it, which means not levying Joey with insults at the first opportunity and trying just a little harder to meet his eye when he talks.

He shouldn't expect this to be a regular thing. Soon the novelty of having his kid returned to him will wear off and Slade will go back to regarding him from afar, only reaching out when he needs him or, worse, not reaching out to him at all. )

What are you gonna do, torch the place? Throw a party? ... Not a safe-house, anyhow. Just a place the locals gave me in exchange for not grinding their bones to dust, or whatever it is the monsters do around here. ( No, Joey knowing where he lives is probably one of his last concerns right now. He hasn't made enough enemies in Ryslig just yet to be sleeping with one eye open, and he's been good about keeping his aliases in line. He'll see how long that lasts.

He's already walking, not planning on saying much else until they arrive. Any questions Joey might ask get flat answers or no answers at all. It helps that from the beach to town isn't terribly far. Makes this mostly silent stroll a little more bearable. )

Do what you have to do. ( It's an invitation to anything he needs. Shower, bed, food. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the space is plain and sparse. No decorations, only the essentials. A calendar with dates on the wall - the date of his arrival, the date of his transformations, and his kids' birthdays, all three, because calendars feel empty without those added. The most basic of oatmeal and bran cereal is in the cabinets. ) ...Gonna head back out.

( Giving him a place to rest is one thing. Sharing that space is above Slade's paygrade, not mention his emotional bandwidth. )

[tellessultan]

[Joey raises his brows at the whole "grind their bones to dust" comment, but decides to put a tab on that for later. He can grill his old man about all his monster-related questions when he's not freezing his ass off in a paper-thin v-neck and a pair of form-fitting jeans that are gonna be an absolute bitch to get out of now that they're soaking wet and plastered to his skin.]

[Seriously, it's not a great time. Moving around helps a little - it gets his blood pumping, warms him up enough that he's able to make it to Pop's place without shivering like a leaf. Make no mistake, he's still freezing his pretty blond head off, just not to the point where he can't pretend otherwise. He wouldn't have bothered with the pretense if he was in the company of anyone else, but this is Pop - he's already worried the poor bastard enough for one lifetime, he doesn't need to be adding more fuel to the fire, even if it's just a few drops.]

[Hence why he doesn't make an immediate b-line for the shower as soon as he sets foot in the door - he doesn't wanna seem desperate, like he's so bad off that he can't handle being cold for a little while longer. Just enough to take a quick look around, at least, which Joey does if only because being invited to his dad's place is a novelty he feels he should savor while he can, even if there's really not much to take in.]

[He makes a circuit around the front room, taking stock of this that and the other until Pop suddenly announces that he's leaving, which - yeah, he should have seen that coming. Joey waves his first two fingers away from his forehead, snapping a short goodbye salute before raising both hands to give his old man a quick warning.]

/Gonna use all your hot water and steal some of your clothes, sorry/not-sorry/

[ikonsuit]

( He repeats that last sign, a fist at his chest in a circular motion followed by a thumb plucked forward from beneath his chin and another rounded motion of his closed fist. Sorry, not sorry is lost on him. )

Are you sorry or aren't you?

( Old Man Wilson does not have time to figure out you and your young people slang. Not that it matters. Water is water. Hot water is nothing, especially if it means his son's teeth will stop chattering. The clothes matter even less. They might not fit right, but now isn't the time to take Joey on a shopping spree - he'd be more likely to tell his son to earn his own money and shop on his own, even here. Never say he's never done anything for his kids. He'd do a lot, but most of it is better left unspoken. At least for Slade's sake. )

...Gonna keep looking for your sister. Maybe Wintergreen or Adeline showed up this time around, too.

( It's not like him to announce his plans, but of course there are a few underlying motives. Creating distance between himself in Joey is a main one. It might seem counter-intuitive to some, but keeping away from one of the few people in the world that he cares about makes perfect sense to a man who's been doing it for decades. At least this way, he's not completely disappearing the way he normally does. He's giving a trace, in case Joseph really needs him, or if he wants to ask more questions for Slade to give meaningful half-answers to.

Nephilim don't need to sleep, something he's coming to terms with more and more with each that passes. Once he leaves Joe to his own devices, he doesn't return, even when morning breaks.

If there's one thing that Slade is, it's dedicated. Dedicated to what is where the issues come in.

Combing the beach for clues [and turning up none] gives his night more purpose than just about anything else since arriving here. )