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graveyardsmash2022-01-14 03:47 pm
ryslighelpers) wrote in graveyardsmash2022-01-14 03:47 pm
Entry tags:
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.
no subject
[ Why had he followed her? His track record with teenage girls thus far has been absolutely horrendous. Should have left well enough alone, he is not the kind of person who should be on the Ryslig Welcome Committee. He's only been here for a month and a half, he doesn't even have all the information. What's he supposed to tell this kid? Enjoy your stay, try not to get eaten by a monster before it's your turn to change into one?
He spots the paper she's holding and yanks it out of her hands. ]
This one's the worst, don't bother.
[ With that, he stands back up, straightens his spine and looks down at her sitting there sadly on the ground. Can he just leave her like this, wouldn't that be cruel? What would Bucciarati do in this situation? He's really not prepared for this in the slightest. Groaning, he begins unwinding the scarf that's wrapped around his neck and tugs it out from his jacket, awkwardly holding it out towards her. ]
Listen, if you have questions I can do my best to answer them, like I said I just got here. [ a pause, as he thinks it over. ] But I'm not doing it out here. It's fucking cold.
no subject
Right- Hey!
[She tried to reach for the paper the man had snatched from her hand, though that just ended with her uselessly waving her hand in the air. Goosebumps immediately broke out on her arm as a cold wind blew through the alley, and she pulled her arm back, holding it close to her chest so she could avoid the cold some. Shit weather for a shit day, what a combination.]
[She pouts slightly, arms crossing and glancing down, not quite deciding if she was being petulant or just frustrated. She looked up again at the sight of a scars in her peripheral, now surprise on her face rather than teenage petulance. She looked back and forth between the man and the scarf being held out towards her.]
Th.. Thanks.
[He wasn't weird - okay, he was weird but not like a bad weird! She could deal with normal weird. And she liked to think her gut feelings were pretty accurate when it came to gauging if other people were trouble, and she wasn't getting any hostile vibes from this guy. She took the scarf, pushing herself off the ground as she put it on, patting the dust off her back and thighs. She just made another face at the dirt and grime now covering her hands again though.]
My name's Rosa, by the way.
[She knew she should be worried that she was following some random stranger about a town she'd never been in before, but at this point she'd take anyone to show her the ropes in this exceptionally strange place.]
no subject
Abbacchio. C'mon, let's get the hell out of here.
[ It's cold and the only thing he can really think of doing is the exact same thing Bucciarati did for him when he first arrived, and that's to get her a hot drink. So he begins striding out of the alley, long legs carrying him at a pace that is probably hard to match.
With some adjustment he makes his steps smaller, easier to keep up with and begins searching for some sort of café or coffee shop. Bavan is better than Kulen – marginally – so finding somewhere he's less likely to be glared at the entire time he's there for daring step foot in the premises shouldn't be too much of a struggle. ]
Stay close. If you get lost, I'm not running around looking for you.
[ He doesn't want to, but if she did get lost he would. He's simply trying to limit the possibility with his warning. She doesn't need to know. ]
no subject
[Now that she was standing she realised just how tall was, shocked to find herself having to take three steps for every one he took, which had her practically jogging to keep up. Even when he did slow down to accommodate her shorter legs, she still ended up in a really weird half-power walk. At least she was getting her cardio in.]
So… What is this place? I don’t remember hearing about anywhere like this in geography, let alone a place where people turn into, well, monsters. And you said people arrive here, you mean they crawl out of graves like I did? Or, uh… parasite shenanigans like you apparently did?
[She noted some of the nasty looks they got by some of the locals they passed, though quickly realised most of them were towards Abbacchio (though she still got her fair share) for some reason. Was it because of the claws? The horns? If all new people really turned into monsters wouldn’t the locals be more used to them, if there were really so many that there were pamphlets all around the place?]
[She still took the chance to stick her tongue out at the people who sent them particularly dirty looks though.]
no subject
[ He places a hand on her shoulder, not roughly, just enough to keep her moving along and stop her from sticking her tongue out at random people. They don't need to draw more attention to themselves. ]
The locals here, they don't like us very much for… Reasons. [ Most people don't appreciate being eaten, as it turns out. ] There's an entity here: the fog. She calls herself a god – which is a load of shit if you ask me – whatever she is though, she is powerful. She's the one who brings people here and she's the one who turns us into monsters.
[ There's anger in his voice as he spits out the last word – he's new here, far less monster than many others. Still thinks of himself as human for better or worse. As they keep walking, he turns into a smaller side street, less people, smaller establishments. ]
This way, keep up.
no subject
Well maybe people should learn not to stare at others, what are they, twelve?
[She muttered to more herself than she spoke to Abbacchio, but stopped pouting when he began talking about some fog person calling herself a god. Wack. She hummed in thought as she thought what he said over, tilting her head slightly.]
[She hadn't had time to really process a lot, but now that she was walking and not lost - okay, she was technically still lost, but at least she had direction now - she could actually think about stuff without being constantly on the verge of a sensory overload. She recognized that accent, even it took her a metric eternity to put two and two together.
You're Italian, aren't you?
no subject
… They're just people. Leave them be.
[ Drawing to a stop outside a small café that appears to be mostly empty from the outside. He glances over his shoulder towards her at the question, brows furrowing together imperceptibly. ] Yes, [ he pushes the door, holding it open for her and gestures inside with a small nod of his head. ]
Go on in and sit.
[ And please don't cause a scene. ]
no subject
[She muttered with another pout, kicking a conveniently placed pebble, managing to kick it straight into a trashcan, giving a mini fist-pump. It’s the little victories, truly.]
[She looked at him when he nodded her towards the mostly-empty café, glancing inside to get a lay of the land as it were before going inside.]
I’ll be on my best behaviour. Probably.
[She said to Abbacchio with a not-so-innocent smile before entering the doorway, conspicuously trying to make her way to a nearby open table, suddenly painfully aware she still had mud and muck stuck to her clothes, skin and hair. She wondered if they had a gym she could borrow the showers of somewhere in the city.]
[She looked around the place, taking in the sights, her gaze occasionally (and briefly) lingering on the other patrons, wondering to herself if any of them were also like Abbacchio - turning into monsters. Hm, she supposed she was like him too now if she really was going to turn into a monster. Now there’s food for thought.]
no subject
As she makes her way inside and settles herself down at a table, Abbacchio follows her in and orders at the counter stiffly. The girl behind the cash register doesn't seem perturbed by their presence, if anything she just seems bored, not that he can blame her. He probably should have asked Rosa what she wanted before ordering, but it's too late for that now.
After paying up he joins Rosa at the table she'd chosen, places two cups down and slides the larger of the two over to her. ]
Hope you don't mind cappuccino.
[ He makes no comment on whether or not the quality of it meets his standards while he drinks his own black coffee. Though the circumstances are different, and the location isn't the same he can't help feeling a sense of déjà vu. ]
no subject
[She pulled her cup closer after he placed it in front of her, though immediately dumped the little packet of sugar that came with the cup into it. One thing he mentioned played at her mind as she put a spoonful of the froth into her mouth, incisors giving a dull clack against the metal of the spoon.]
Any 'powers' you have are lost when you come here, right? Then... hm.
[She furrowed her eyebrows, quickly looking around, and occasionally glancing past Abbacchio to the doorway, expecting a ghost to show up. She hadn't seen any since she arrived, but she could have simply tuned them out in the flurry of activity that was her stumbling her way into town. If this ghost-seeing thing was a power, then they would be gone now, rather than stick around because it's a brain thing after all. Right?]
no subject
Right. A lot of the people who end up here all come from different places – so if you were able to do magic or, I don't know… summon things [ his expression sours slightly at this ] you can say goodbye to 'em.
[ Claws tap along the side of the coffee cup as he watches her for a moment. ]
As I said, I arrived here recently, so any questions you have – I can only do my best to answer. Once you're warmed up some though, it'll probably be easier to get you to someone who actually has experience helping new arrivals.