graveyardsmash | TDM: JANUARY/FEBRUARY

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 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

You've stumbled your way out of the graveyard, and you're promptly besieged by the overwhelming sights and sounds of the city. Cars honk at you to get out of the street, and strangers try not to look in your direction for too long. They see your dirty clothes and scraped faces, and pretend to busy themselves with something else. Rarely, a look of pity is cast your way.

But some people try to reach out. Enterprising citizens and those that hope to curry favor with the newcomers pass out new clothes and bundles of food, asking if you have a place to stay the night, wondering about the details of the world you came from. Some are even handing out pamphlets which vary in how helpful they are--"What To Expect When You're Expecting (To Turn Into A Monster)", "Wolpertinger: Fact or Fiction?", "100% ACCURATE MONSTER QUIZ ASSESSMENT: GUARANTEED TO PREDICT YOUR MONSTER!", and "Ryslig Law In A Nutshell".

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? 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ She wants to defend the NPC. Surely he was trying to help. Sure. Ly. ...The words spoken in his defence already sound defeated. ] But we don't have any money.

[ This does not help the guy's case at all. Normally there'd be another attempt to rally again to protect the man's honor - but the question is enough of a curveball to make her eyes dart to Anywhere Else. Eventually they rest on her own uniform. Everything stings. Her collar is pulled back slightly to glance down, and even Muriel can get the glimpse of dark scars around her neck.

And she looks entirely unsurprised. There's a laugh here, lilting and nervous and entirely forced. ] Probably. It'd be a miracle if I lived, at least. But we're both still here.

[ So everything's fine. Totes. ]

[As she's examining herself, he shifts uncomfortably. He's not sorry for asking so much as that he feels it's the wrong question to have asked. It's not the sort of question people ask. When he shifts, the sound of chain links bumping together clinks in the space between them.]

[We're both still here draws a mirthless smile out of him, a thin, barely perceptible twist of his lips.]

Scars don't mean you're dead.

[And being alive isn't anything close to a miracle. He's covered in scars on every visible inch of his body, and he shouldn't be. That's just how it is.]

Do you want to be here? [Ryslig seems to suck, so far.]

[ Metal rattles and she looks back up. That expression... she doesn't know what to do with it. Yuuna was so much better with people. Hinata too. There's an undercurrent to his words she can feel, like scythes on bare skin, just like the first time. And just like the first time, Wakaba doesn't have the words to help.

Stuff the regret down with all the others. It's fine. She'll just keep being herself. ]

I set myself on fire, so...

[ Followed by the single most embarrassed half-shrug a person has ever done. #JustSuicidalThings. Yet there's not a single ounce of regret to be found there, nor in the immediately follow-up. ] But that's not important. Whether it's Ryslig or not: every person has a right to be somewhere. I want to be there.

[The look he gives her is the kind of look you give somebody on the bus when they suddenly start speaking ancient Sumerian at their own reflection in the window. Like she's crazy. Which obviously she is. Something about what she's saying rattles around in his head like it's been shaken loose. It's wrong.]

[In some way other than the obvious, that is.]

If you want to be somewhere, then don't do that.

[Don't set yourself on fucking fire. God!]

[ Yeah. Yeah, that's about the look she expected. Still stings though. ] I know that! [ aaaaasdkfjasf

Okay. No. Stop. Okay. A breath in to gather the internal noise, and a breath out to dispel it. Find that inner peace again. Breathe in. And just like that, the rest of the words come out focused and certain; unwavering. ]

I did it for my Somewhere. And I think everyone has the right to create and protect a place they belong. What about you? Do you want to be here?

[ Paired with an expression that promises, if he acts like a butt, she will absolutely bruise his shin. ~~Slightly.~~ ]

[Does he believe that? No, not really. Or maybe, he doesn't think that what people have the right to do or not do really matters. The people who have rights are the people who have power to enforce them. Everyone else doesn't get a say, and thinking about things any differently is pointless.]

[He can tell that saying as much won't get him anywhere, though. One look at her face makes that clear. So he shifts his weight, the sound of metal against metal coming through muffled again, and glances off at nothing much.]

Can a person be a Somewhere?

[Asra. Asra used to be. Or maybe the apprentice. He doesn't think anyone is really his. He certainly doesn't have a Somewhere. Not anymore. He doesn't even remember it. So many of them don't remember what matters.]

Yes.

[ It's not even a question. Even now, looking at those terrible tourist handouts, all she wants is one of them here. Even just one would make it bearable.

But there are only five ghosts and one asshole. It's her, she's the asshole. ] ...I don't have any right to talk. Forget what I've said.

[Good to know. He nods, thinking about it. Then there are one or two people he has to keep alive if he wants a Somewhere. Except they're not here, and so this whole thing is a moot point.]

[His attention snaps to her, though, at the sudden change in attitude. Brow furrowing, he leans forward a little, staring at her like she's a puzzle to be solved.]

Why not?

[She was so sure of herself a moment ago. What changed? Why was she so certain if she doesn't really believe it? She hasn't exactly been kind to him, but she hasn't been cruel, either. So what part of this was real, or something she really believes?]

[ Keep your friends alive, says town failure who got her friends killed. For all her morals and effort for so many years, the only thing to show for it are corpses. It's almost funny.

As for the sudoku Muriel's suffering over, her expression is still Exhausted (Extremely Derogatory), but the spine behind it is still like staring at a brick wall. Even in this, the Belief is still there ]

I know nothing about your life, so I have no right to lecture you. Simple as that.

[ Obvi. ]

TDM: JANUARY/FEBRUARY

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cw suicidal ideation if you squint

throws positivity in his face

wakaba ur fumbling

she's bad and people get vored for it, what else is new

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