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

Stan Pines | Gravity Falls

[renametoken]

( 1. arrival )
[ Waking up somewhere he doesn't recognize? Not a unique experience. Waking up on the beach? Not the most unusual thing, considering last he remembers he was on a boat. Waking up alone, with empty pockets, covered in bites and scratches, somewhere that doesn't look or feel like it's anywhere near where he last recalls being?

That's finally alarming enough to be unusual... once he finishes hacking up sand and saltwater and, somehow, a bit a seaweed, at least. But once he's on his feet and has taken stock of his unfamiliar surroundings and frustrating lack of personal belongings unease and anger both settle in. A quick survey shows no sign of Ford, nor any hint that Ford might even be nearby, which is enough to make Stan want to wade back into the ocean and pick another fight with that kraken.

For once common sense sort of wins out. Rather than going for a swim, Stan decides he'll make more progress yelling at the first person he sees. ]

Hey. Hey, you! Come here!

[ ... he's trying, alright? ]

( 2. pamphlets )
[ Informational pamphlets? Pfft, who needs 'em?

... So Stan would like to think, but a pamphlet once saved his life from a horrific half-woman half-spider monster intent on eating him, so maybe he should give them shot when it seems like he's extremely far from home. He instantly finds a reason to regret that decision. These things are full of the sort of crap he used to hawk at the Mystery Shack. Apparently he'll be a monster soon, and he'd better be careful, and other such nonsense. He knows a con when he sees one, and he's just waiting for someone to pop out and try to convince him that there's a cure for the low low cost of everything he owns.

And speaking of cons, Stan's managed to get a hold of a handful of these pamphlets, and he hasn't missed that other people seem interested in them. The second he spies someone nearby that seems interested in the ones he's collected... ]

Pamphlets are twenty bucks a read, fifty if you wanna keep one. I can give you two reads for forty, or two to keep for seventy-five.

[ There's gotta be someone here desperate enough to take up his offer. ]

( 3. angry mob )
[ This is hardly the first time Stan has been run out of town by an angry mob, but this might be the first and only time he hasn't done anything to deserve it. It's kind of nostalgic in a way, running for his life, but he'd at least like to know what prompted it. He doesn't think people were that mad about the pamphlets.

Regardless, even though it's been years Stan's 'get the hell out of dodge' instincts are as sharp as ever. It only takes a few sharp turns to break the mob's line of sight, and from there it's easy to duck into an alleyway, then press himself into a recessed doorway until the crowd passes.

He's not alone, though, something he only becomes aware of once he's pretty sure he's no longer at risk of being found. Stan gives a start, then slides a wary eye towards the alleyway's other occupant. He should probably say something, huh? ]

You, uh... You hide from angry mobs here often?

3

[terribibble]

[There's a lot about the other man in this alley to take in. The most immediate and alarming thing is probably the lack of legs and the fact that in their place is a giant, brightly-striped snake tail. The second and probably equally alarming thing is the incredibly loud shirt he's wearing. The third is that the face is probably a little... familiar? The fact that Fiddleford has grown a beard in the four years since he arrived might help with connecting the dots, though it's much better maintained on this timeline.

Speaking of timelines, this Stan doesn't look like he's a half-rotted corpse, so it's likely he's new. Will he even recognize Fiddleford at all? He's so unclear on how well they knew each other in the future, if they knew each other at all, and diving right in at the jump seems like a bad idea. That's an awful lot to dump on someone on top of the usual Ryslig welcome wagon. Instead he takes a very measured drag from what looks like a hand-rolled cigarette. Some of the smoke emerges from the gills on either side of his throat when he exhales.

He is at this point the definition of 'a lot to unpack'.]

... Naw. I just come out here to smoke. Not polite to do it inside.

[He used to chew, but now that he's got fangs designed to shed he's had to swap. Chewing tobacco is all fine and dandy until you chew with a little too much enthusiasm, pop out a fang and wind up sounding like a kid who just got braces for a couple weeks while a new one comes in.]

They might swing back around, though. You're welcome to come in and wait it out.

[renametoken]

[ Fiddleford is the first naga Stan has bumped into since arriving, but hardly the first monster - and even if he were Stan punched a kraken in the face, like, yesterday. Earlier today? Recently.

The point is, the snake half isn't the most alarming thing about Fiddleford, no matter how brightly colored or poorly matched to his shirt it might be. No, Stan's more concerned by the fact that Fiddleford is familiar without being totally recognizable - by voice more than looks, though there's something about his face that tugs at Stan's memory, too. Almost-but-not-entirely knowing who someone is rarely works out in Stan's favor, especially not when the not-quite-stranger is being suspiciously friendly. ]

Uh...

[ Stan leaves one hand free to gesture and very casually shoves the other in his pocket - which only reminds him that his brass knuckles aren't actually there anymore, which almost has him scowling. ]

This isn't some thinly veiled attempt to lure me inside so you can unhinge your jaw and eat me, is it? Cause if so you've really gotta work on your approach - and I gotta warn you, I probably won't taste very good.

[terribibble]

[You know what. That's a fair concern. Fiddleford thinks about it while he exhales another long plume of smoke. Probably best to just be honest: what little he knows about Stan gives him the impression Stan can smell bullshit pretty easy, and anyway Fiddleford's never been good at lying.]

If I were goin' to unhinge my jaw and eat you I'd do it out here. My workshop's in there and I try not to get blood all over it when I can help it. Not to mention it'd be awful stupid of me to move you closer to the blowtorches and handsaws before gettin' you mad at me.

Don't blame you for not takin' a snake's word on things, but I'm bein' straight with you here.

[renametoken]

[ Fiddleford's not wrong about the bullshit detector. Stan has no reason to believe Fiddleford's being honest, but he doesn't think he's lying, either. And while there's a little gray area in between the two where the best not-technically-lies happen, Fiddleford doesn't seem invested enough in getting Stan inside for eating him (or other such bodily harm) to be the real goal.

That does make a certain other facet of this situation more concerning than it already was, though. And while he could try to figure it out subtly... ]

Right, make sense. Hey, have we met before?

[ ... better to just ask outright, especially because the possibility of putting an extra door between himself and the angry mob is very appealing. He just hopes he never robbed this guy at some point. ]

[terribibble]

[Ah. Alright. He wondered if there'd be enough of the old him left to recognize. Granted he doesn't really know the extent to which he looks, uh, different in Stan's time. He knows it was bad. He never asked for details on how bad. He'd maybe be a little more impressed at being recognized if he had.]

Depends on how many hairs you want to split about the definition of 'met'.

[That's not helpful, probably.]

You've met me, I think. Timeline-wise I haven't met you -- or I did and I forgot. Can't ever rule that out.

[He's not even going to touch on 'but I knew a different version of you and he bit off part of my tail once and it was a whole thing'. Baby steps. Baby slithers? At any rate he's got to deal with this Stanley first. Get the big stuff out of the way and then deal with sifting through the incidentals.]

I'm the Fiddleford McGucket that wound up here instead of the dump. Got the better deal out of the two of us, I think.

[renametoken]

[ It's not until Fiddleford actually says his name that the penny drops, but once it does the recognition is instantaneous. ]

That's-- you're that crazy old coot that turned my house into a giant robot!

[ Ford's house, technically, and it might be more pertinent to indicate Fiddleford as Ford's friend, but that's what Stan remembers him for most. ]

And now you've... turned yourself into a snake? A robot snake?

[ And made himself younger, though Stan's caught that some timeline nonsense might be involved. He's more willing to accept that than he might have been otherwise, since the kids had mentioned something about time travel during his 'scrapbook therapy'. Though hadn't Fiddleford's name come up in relation to that memory gun thing, too...? ]

1

[alchemistake]

[Varian is as much of a person as he isn't, considering the fact he's in that awkward middle stage of changes right now. His skin has started to turn a blueish-green in places, his ears twice as long as they used to be. He's got the wings, fangs, and claws, but now he's started to grow spikes in various places too. It's like the Fog God wants him to never be able to wear clothing right again.

But as he's making his way from the beach back to Bavan after scanning it for the potential of stray parts washed ashore that he could "borrow", he's stopped by a voice hailing him from near the surf. He's legitimately shocked that a human, probably a new arrival no less, is calling him over instead of...he doesn't know, running and screaming.

But it probably helps that Varian is small for a monster, coming in at a whopping 4'5". He's four years older than Stan's niece and nephew, yet like this it would be easy to mistake him for their age. But sure, he'll come over, eyeing Stan with a raised brow as the raccoon on his shoulder sniffs the air curiously in his direction.]

Yeees, can I help you?

[renametoken]

[ Stan's eyesight isn't the greatest even with his glasses on - and even if it was, between the general weirdness of Gravity Falls and the more acute weirdness he's witnessed both before and after leaving, Varian isn't the strangest thing he's seen. That he's not immediately attacking to trying to eat him puts him head and shoulders over most critters Stan's run into.

Besides, he's tiny. It's not wrong to assume that Stan will take him as being close to Dipper and Mabel's age, because that's exactly what he does. Which is why, once he get close enough that it's obvious that the monster bits are a part of him and not his clothing, Stan's thought process goes from demanding help... ]

Yeesh, kid, what happened to you?

[ ... to being kind of but not actually being concerned. If there are strange monster kids roaming around this place he'd better confirm that's normal and not some sort of curse he needs to watch out for. ]

[alchemistake]

If nobody's explained it to you yet...it's a long story.

[Varian sighs, rolling his eyes up to the sky. It's not towards Stan though, which is maybe obvious...it's at the situation, this Peninsula. The Fog God, if she happens to be watching.]

The bottom line is I arrived here the same as you, and I wasn't a monster then, either.

[renametoken]

[ Ugh, really? Stan looks incredibly exasperated by that revelation... and at the same time, not the least bit surprised. He hasn't entirely settled on believing Varian just yet (he's clearly a monster, but he might be lying about having been human) but he's not ready to dismiss him out of hand either. ]

So you're... what, cursed or something?

[ Sounds contrived, but that might explain why he can't find Ford. He's probably off somewhere hassling werewolves for interviews and blood samples. ]

[alchemistake]

[Varian makes a face. Would that be the right term?]

More or less? The...entity that causes everyone to turn into a monster like this calls herself the Fog God. So.

[Stan can take that how he will.]

Most of us do consider it to be a curse, one way or another. Aaand...it's not really something you can avoid. Once you're here it's basically already too late.

[renametoken]

[ Oh no, what? 'Cursed' was just some dumb guess to fish for information; he wasn't supposed to be right! Especially if not some sort of stupid god is involved. He's had enough dealings with 'higher' beings, thanks. ]

What, like some kinda 'abandoned hope all ye who enter here' deal?

[ He's had signs like that above a few Mystery Shack exhibits, but he's never managed to curse anyone. (He thinks.) ]

... where is 'here', anyway?

1

[pendulumentertainment]

[Yuya flinched at the sound of someone yelling, not that he was afraid or anything, he just... Didn't expect it. He had come to the beach to get away and just think. Well so much for that.

The boy is hesitant at first but heads on over... To see a man drenched in sea water.]

Er, hello? Do you need something?

[He looks genuinely worried for the old man, but it also seems like he's thinking about other things at the same time. Having not changed yet, he looks... Pretty normal. What stands out the most is probably his green and red hair... But that's natural for Yu-Gi-Oh! Protags, right?]

[renametoken]

[ Geez, another kid? Another one with weird hair, no less. Is there some sort of daycare for burgeoning punks nearby or something...? Still, while Stan's demeanor doesn't actually soften the bossy edge to his gruff tone fades ever so slightly. ]

Yeah, I'm looking for someone. Looks just like me, but with dumb sideburns and no hat. Seen him?

[ Hopefully the answer is 'yes', but Stan knows better than to expect anything but a 'no'. ]

[pendulumentertainment]

[Yuya blinked and tilted his head in thought.]

No... Can't say I have. I mean, it's the first time I've seen anyone like you so, I'd assume no?

[His sentence circles and he restates the same fact... Not that he notices.]

[renametoken]

Great.

[ Stan takes the talking in circles thing in stride. He might have experience dealing with kids with poor communication skills. ]

Where the heck are we, anyway? Doesn't feel cold enough to be too far north...

[ Which is worrying, because 'too far north' is right where he wants to be. ]

[pendulumentertainment]

[Oh! he knew this one!]

Ryslig! It's like another dimension... I think, to be honest I'm pretty new here myself, but from what Tsukikage said. It's like... A god... Takes you? and brings you here...

[Yuya's face flashes with a painful look for a moment, before he composed himself. He couldn't bring himself to share arguably the most important part.]

Er, anyways, there's a town near by I can take you to if you want. Though I don't know my way around it too well yet.

[renametoken]

[ For a moment Stan just looks gobsmacked, though the expression quickly morphs into irritation, which is reflected in his tone with he finally bursts out with: ]

You've got to be kidding me! Another dimension?!

[ He doesn't actually sound surprised by this, just extremely aggravated. ]

What, I guess next you're gonna tell me this 'god' doesn't let anyone back out, either?

2

[ghostharasser]

[The most surprising and impressive aspect of this entire ordeal is the fact that Dipper has not worked himself into some kind of screaming panic, though he thought very hard about it.]

[Waking up on the shore alone and in that disheveled state rather than waking up on the bus after deciding to take a short nap was enough to test his calm. Instead he spent several minutes trying to figure out if he was dreaming, kidnapped, or kidnapped while dreaming which is unfortunately something he has a protocol for. Thanks Bill. Not entirely ruling out anything just yet, and after spending roughly an hour combing the beaches for his sister, he makes his way to town.]

[Surely he isn’t here alone, right? His sister wouldn’t have just wandered off without him, right? She could be in danger, they could all be in danger, and he has no idea where they are. Bad. Bad, bad, bad.]

[And then he caught the sound of a dirty grifter, hollering about selling pamphlets. The absolute cascade of relief he feels in recognizing a voice is enough to take the air out of his lungs. It isn’t enough to keep him from running over to him, pushing through the crowd just so he can walk riiiight up behind him and—]

Really, Grunkle Stan?

[Stan, even he has a pocket full of free pamphlets, and he’s been here for like. Five minutes!]

[renametoken]

Gah!

[ Someone suddenly addressing him by name, from behind him, in a city that's still strange to him, is enough to make Stan jump and send his pile of potential profits fluttering to the ground.

But he doesn't actually care, because when he whirls around and drops his gaze (way) down that's all it takes to confirm that, yes, that really is his nephew. ]

Kid? What are you doing here?!

[ Him showing up? Whatever. He and Ford were off hunting anomalies and there's no reason they might not have encountered one the 'dimensional rift' variety. But Dipper (and Mabel, where is she?) are supposed to be safe at home in boring old Piedmont, California. ]

[ghostharasser]

[Dipper watches all the pamphlets scatter and decides sneaking up on Stan for levity was justified.]

I don’t know! What are you doing here?! I thought you and Grunkle Ford were out treasure hunting.

[Dipper takes a second to look around and notes the absence of One (1) Grunkle Ford. No Ford and no Mabel. Dipper is trying not to immediately implode his nerves but he can’t say he likes the look of any of this so far.]

You- uh. You know what’s going on here, right?

[renametoken]

Yeah, the kind of treasure hunting that could conceivably, maybe, end up with us falling through a rift into some sort of stupid monster dimension. You're supposed to be in California.

[ To Stan, it makes perfect sense that he might be here, and no sense at all that Dipper somehow is, too. As for 'what's going on'... ]

Apparently we're all supposed to start turning into monsters, and the locals aren't gonna be happy about it. Dunno if it's true, but I heard the news from a kid with wings.

[ So, you know, he's not as ready to dismiss it as he might have been before. ]

[ghostharasser]

[Honestly, it makes perfect sense for Stan to end up here, Dipper agrees! If he and Ford are getting up to shit, then one of them falling through a rift isn’t that weird.]

I was on the bus! I think I fell asleep, and when I woke up I was laying on the beach.

[So at least both their stories corroborate. But then, of course, Stan brings up the cursed elephant in the room. Dipper, in his state of dismissing anything as a potential dream, came across a few monsters and then decided not to think too hard about it just yet. When he was handed the pamphlets he skimmed them, nodded, and decided he would panic about them later. All he cared about was finding his sister.]

[Stan was not his sister, but Stan was Important Family and so it was time for him to go from zero-to-sixty in the overthink department effective immediately.]

W-What!? Like the pamphlets say?! Grunkle Stan, we have to get out of here! What if we’re turning into monsters right now?! Oh no—

[Dipper looks down at a particularly gross looking scrape on his leg and gasps a little too dramatically.]

We’re too late!

[It’s just seaweed.]

[renametoken]

Yeah, this is what I was afraid of.

[ Stan makes absolutely no effort to calm down Dipper as he starts to spiral into anxiety and terror, waiting for natural lull in the rambling before he finally cuts in. ]

Kid, it's seaweed.

[ Stan pauses, plucks the seaweed off of him, and peers at it for a moment. ]

Normal seaweed. Not even the flesh-eating kind.

[ According to Ford, that's something they'll have to look out for. But even though it's safe, it's still gross. Stan tosses the seaweed aside and wipes his hand off on his jacket. ]

Listen, this place is pretty weird. Maybe they're telling the truth about the monster thing. Or, maybe it's a lie to trick people into paying for miracle cures they don't actually need.

The point is, whatever's actually going on, it'll be easier to deal with once we find your sister and my brother. Got it?

[ That Dipper hasn't found Ford or Mabel yet isn't something he feels the need to confirm. Neither of them would have let Dipper out of sight if he'd met them. ]