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

Her expression scrunched up and Zeki had a 'fuck you too, tiny shit man,' loaded and ready on the tip of her tongue when the boy invited? her over? Her face didn't change or move except for her eyes flicking up to the antennae and then back to his face.

She raised an eyebrow.

Tapped the side of her glass.

And abruptly stood up to join the boy at his table.

Once seated, Zeki eyed the map, tilting her head owlishly at it. Ahh. A visitor's guide. Finally. And who sponsored this one? A lighthouse?

"Are you gonna try to sell me a chartered Halloweentown cruise or something? 'Cause I'll be up front: I only pick up city maps for the free ice cream at Wendy's coupon."

He snickered. "This is a little bit beyond Halloweentown. No costumes, for one." Horatio flapped one moth wing in her direction, a silent invitation to touch it if she was really all that curious.

"But if you need some coupons or other resources, that I can do. My name's Horatio, and I work for a group called the Lighthouse that helps new people like yourself. I've been here for a little over a year, now, and when I showed up, I was in the same boat as you. No idea what was going on, or how I got here, or what to do." He paused, then grinned at her brightly. "I was also just as much of a smart-ass. So you've got that going for you."

Zeki wasn't joking. She genuinely hoped this kid was some kind of tour guide violating child labor laws. She was curious, but didn't reach out to touch the preferred wing. Instead, her face blanched and her pupils dilated. And as he talked, her eyes stayed on that wing. And the antennae. And any other little details that just Weren't Quite Right.

Fuck.

She put her elbows on the table and her fingertips to her temples. "So this is what it's like to have a stroke." She closed her eyes. "I'm not being a smartass, Horatio with the Lighthouse. I'm concerned that I'm losing touch with reality - again - or that I'm in Jersey City, which I'd honestly take right about -" Her eyes snapped open. "Horatio? Wait..." A weird grin. "Any relation to any fictional British naval officers?"

That earned her another genuine laugh, since he'd read the fiction in question, albeit a long time ago. "No relation, no. It's actually a name I took after I started living here. Beats what my father actually called me, and we'll leave it at that."

He paused. If she was concerned that she was losing touch with reality, and she already had some issues with that ... he was going to have to tread carefully. Thankfully, he'd talked Klaus out of some bad trips, and even more recently talked Ash Williams down from a full blown panic attack. Most of his friends had issues with reality and simulations after experiences in either their own lives, or with the Fourth God's dealings. So he knew how to handle this, at least from a starting point.

"It's not Jersey City - it's a peninsula, called Bavan." He slid the map over to her, turning it around so she could take a look. "We're here. Since you're a reader ... think of it this way. Someone's pulled you through the wardrobe, but instead of Narnia, you're here. Because that's ... basically the gist of it, honestly. The same concept. Someone needed help fixing this world, but the people already in it weren't good enough. So they reached out for us."

She was about to tell him, 'thanks but what if I just watched them?' when he said something entirely unexpected and entirely unwanted.

"Wait, wh- but...tsdj'so is Bergen Neck."

When Horatio turned the map around so she could see it better, Zeki felt her heart sink with each passing moment she spent studying it. It looked nothing like any parts of the mid-Atlantic coast she might be familiar with. She looked around again, looked at the unfamiliar architecture, the strange clothes, the alien faces... Then she felt something unwelcome: a stinging tightness in her throat and hot prickling behind her eyes.

Don't do it. Don't you fucking cry in front of some little teen baby. I don't care if he's an urban legend alien mothman, don't you do it.

DON'T YOU-

"Fi-" A steadying exhale. "Fix? the world? I can't fix myself, what am I supposed to do about the world?"

She sucked in as deep a breath as she could and tried to let it out without shuddering too much. Her vision was blurry.

"I can't - I can't stay here, it's been hours already, I have to feed my cat, I have to call my mom, I told her I would, I promised. Fuh...fuck..."

TDM: JANUARY/FEBRUARY

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