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

[ibalsamina]

“Beauty has a way of revealing itself to those willing to search for it,” Lusamine replies serenely. “Perhaps all you need is to broaden your perspective… or a piece of home to help get you through all of these changes.”

She continues to smile patiently—even with clear interest—as the stranger goes on to supply her with more confusing words.

“And what is in ‘worms’?”

[starfleetashell]

Mariner tries really hard not to roll her eyes at the whole 'beauty is all around us' speech, and actually succeeds. "My perspective is plenty broad, thanks. My whole job is having a broad perspective."

The question knocks her for a little bit of a loop, though. "Uhh..." She wiggles her fingers. "Worms. You know, wiggly little invertebrates, live in the dirt, eat the dirt, good for composting, that kind of thing?"

[ibalsamina]

Lusamine opts not to acknowledge the retort, focusing instead on the answer to her question, which seems to have her a bit taken aback in turn. She watches Mariner’s hands with a slight frown.

“I’m afraid I don’t… It’s an animal?”

The word for it—worms—is turned over once more in her mind. In her time spent in this world, however brief it had been, she had gathered that the local wildlife often shared certain similarities with the Pokémon she was familiar with. This one, even only by name, eventually brings to mind Wurmple, another invertebrate that could at least be called wiggly—although it generally ate sap, not dirt.

Lusamine had decided against eating any Pokémon products herself many years ago, but the idea of hot Wurmple strikes her as particularly unappetizing. She pushes the thought aside.

“Regardless, if the species doesn’t live in this world, that would certainly explain why you are having such difficulty finding your gagh. Even so… Perhaps you could find an equivalent.”