TDM: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

[ryslighelpers]

TDM: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

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 in a dark ditch, the sky cloudy overhead. Dirt cakes into your cuts and scrapes. The air is clammy and damp, and it smells like rain.

You’re in a grave. And when you sit up to inspect the tombstone marking your spot, it has your name on it. Maybe the graves next to you have the names of familiar friends, family, acquaintances. Not all of them are open like yours are. RIP.

There’s a light dancing in the distance, and you hear the jingle-jangle of heavy keys, or worse still, the gravekeeper’s massive pitchfork or shovel. If you're lucky, you can sneak out beyond his notice, and get out alone. If not - you might find yourself on the wrong end of a shovel’s swing, or worse yet, tripping headfirst in front of a pair of monstrous eyes.

SCENARIO TWO

So you've just arrived, and you’re surrounded by an incredibly odd group of natives. Some of them wear elaborate headdresses that resemble a deer, or a horse with seaweed instead of a mane, or a ferocious cat. All of them are covered in tattoos and piercings, and their clothing mirrors their ‘beast’ of choice, from snakeskin boots for the snake-people to cowhide and leathers for the minotaurs, manticore-kin, or kelpie-kin. These people introduce themselves as members of the scouting team for the Tågevalgten, and they’re here to help you settle in! They load you onto a rickety old bus and take you into Town.

The Town is called Rota, according to the rusted road-sign. And the central lodge is all decked out and ready to go for a reception, Children of the Fog welcome. There are food and drink aplenty, mostly meat-heavy, and if you ask them where the meat came from… Well! Maybe you shouldn’t ask.

The Tågevalgten gladly share helpful pamphlets for you. “Embrace Your Fog-Given Gifts,” they proclaim. Most of them are fashioned to sound like self-help with a religious bent favoring a divine entity called the Fog God: “Monster Types And YOU: What Fits Your Personality? Take Our 99% Accurate Quiz Inside!”, “Shed Your Human Skin And Thrive,” “Be Uniquely You And Uniquely Free,” “What to Expect When You're Expecting (to turn into a monster).” There's even some thick books carefully cataloguing certain monsters and the changes they might go through. Some of these seem to have been passed down from one monster to the next.

After awhile, it’s clear that the Tågevalgten are a bit too friendly and enthralled with buttering you up. In fact, it’s clear that they don’t want you to leave their fold, happy to keep you strapped together with a kumbaya around the campfire. They might not let you go until you take a bite of their Soylent Green or accept a group hunting trip with other newbies, and so on and so on. There’s always some excuse.

Maybe someone else can help you out of these uncomfortable pickles and get you away from here.

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? Does it fit you, or does it feel incongruous with your nature? Feel free to pick any monster type for this prompt, but note that you may not get the same one in game.

Comments

[english_rose]

I expect the same place you have, [Erina motions to the hole beside Vanessa.]

Though admittedly I was several rows down and back, Ms. Ives. [She can see no ring on her finger, so perhaps... that is the correct form of address.] And forgive my introduction, titles mean very little here and it is by force of habit I introduce myself so.

[Erina looks down the way, where the sound of metal on metal clinks and lights distantly twinkle.]

Do you have some place to go, Ms. Ives? My husband might be surprised, but I expect he will welcome you.

[Erina, he'll be surprised to see you.]

[scorpiorum]

[Vanessa does not turn her gaze away from Erina, even as Erina looks towards the sound. It's distant enough that it's far from being Vanessa's immediate concern. She also offers no correction on the form of address, lending credence to Erina's assumption that she is not married.]

That is very kind of you, but I would not wish to impose...

[Even if this woman speaks the truth when speaking of a similar experience, Vanessa remains cautious. Accepting such an offer so blindly seems unwise.]

[english_rose]

It would be no imposition, I assure you. Simply a place to stay that isn't the street or one of those terrible hovels they call apartments.

[She has Opinions on the state of how they let monsters live, apparently.]

I suspect to get out of here, we must also get past that.

cw: abusive psychiatric treatments

[scorpiorum]

[Considering her time at the asylum in which she was left isolated and shivering from her recent bout of hydrotherapy in a locked and small padded room where the morning was night was morning, Vanessa would not be one to complain much about living arrangements. But she recognizes that her opinion is a unique one, and she trusts that these apartments must leave something to be desired for the average person even if they were preferred to the streets themselves. But where she chooses ultimately to stay could likely be determined at another time.]

[Slowly, she trusts enough to take her gaze off Erina and turns in the direction of the metallic clanging.]

Do you know the way?

[english_rose]

I believe so, but it's through him and I, for one, do not have the ability to do so martially. We may be best off choosing the long way around him and pray he does not turn 'round.

[The lights were starting to get closer, much to her dismay.]

And wish to be swift about it.

[scorpiorum]

[Vanessa manages to not pull a face at the mention of prayer nor makes any mention of its futility.]

Lead the way, Mrs. Joestar.

[For now, Vanessa is willing to place her well-being in Erina's hands. She seems to know far more about their situation than Vanessa does; so, she is likely far better off doing as much rather than trying to manage it on her own.]

[Despite her attire, Vanessa does well in keeping up with Erina and moving quietly. It is not unfamiliar for Vanessa to be moving about as both prey and predator in the night.]

Stop, [Vanessa whispers harshly, pulling Erina back behind some statuary. The progress of the light's movements and the steady sound of metal has changed. The light stops, but there is a frenetic sound now of movement that soon follows it. A sickening thud followed by a thump echoes throughout the graveyard. It would appear that someone was not as lucky as the two of them have been so far. Vanessa tightens her grip on Erina's arm in case she has any foolish notions of trying to help.]

[english_rose]

[As if self-fulling Vanessa's prophecy, Erina does nearly run out to help the fallen person, stopped only by the grip on her arm. She's a nurse; nurses save, it's their chosen duty.]

[But it's also Ryslig; she has to keep her head on her shoulders or it's apt to fall into one of those graves. That would not help herself, her new companion or her husband....]

[If he's still there and not in one of the many graves. Or worse, on an exploding ship.]

I know, [she mouths. She lets the tension between them slacken as she keeps her place behind the statuary. Erina reminds herself to say a prayer for the poor soul, before they find themselves in an endless cycle of death.]

[Once the sound of struggling is replaced by the gravedigger's clinking of keys and scrape of metal, she glances around the marble to see if their escape is possible.

That poor soul. I can see a gate down the way, and to the left. I think we might be able to hurry before it notices us. Perhaps we can find a way to close the gate tight enough that he can't get through, but someone else can squeeze through?

[scorpiorum]

[Vanessa stares hard at the ground at the distant sounds of the struggle. It's dark enough in the shadow of the statuary that it's entirely possible Erina is not able to see Vanessa's expression, but if she is able, she should not expect to find much that would give away what she thinks of what is transpiring. Vanessa is not entirely heartless. She is not without pity for the poor creature that is being terrorized and assaulted before the gravedigger carries on his way. But there is also a degree to which it is simple fact: not all shall survive the cruelties of the world.]

[She looks up once the sound of his movements resume and Erina makes her suggestion.]

So long as the gate will not alert him. But I imagine a gate shall not hold such a creature.

[english_rose]

Not for long, no, but even a few minutes would be long enough.

[Erina looks around the plinth and nods slowly to herself.]

He'll be far enough away in just a few minutes for us to carry on. Do you think we can wait that long?

[scorpiorum]

[Vanessa doesn't answer immediately, contemplating the question.]

We won't know until we try, [she says. There's too much uncertainty and too much beyond their control to provide another, more certain answer.]

[english_rose]

Quite.

[Erina steadies her breath and grounds herself, waiting for the moment they are clear to run. It comes just a few, heart-squeezing moments later and she harshly whispers, "Go!" before taking off down the path herself. She did have to say that at least it was easy to run hell-for-leather towards a goal, blocking out all other sight and sound except the measure of her breath and the frenetic pounding of her heart.

Still, she makes the mistake to looking behind her, past Vanessa. The grave keeper is significantly slow on the turn around, but he has turned around.]

Hurry! Hurry!