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

[He sighs, then shrugs.]

I... think so? The teeth were a bit annoying when they first came in--I was lisping for a whole day. But, you know, it could be worse. I could be slimy.

[He thoroughly neglects to mention how painful some of this was. No need to trouble her further in an already troubling place. It's pretty obvious, though, in the lines of his face, that this hasn't been a gentle transformation.

He peers closely at her, hoping she looks well.]

You could be slimy.

[To be fair, she doesn't know all the different monster types. She has seen slimes before, and it didn't look like that would be pleasant.

If Bruno takes a closer look at her, he'll see that despite looking like a giant cat, she looks healthy. But there's something in her eyes that looks... a little depressed.]

Mom's not going to recognize me.

[He chortles,] Maybe it's a good thing you still have your glasses, they're pretty unique. They just might stop her thinking you were eaten by a giant cat who stole your identity.

[Terrible Bruno joke, check. He sobers a little, and carefully curls an arm around her.]

I thinks she will, though. She knows your heart, and that hasn't changed.

Thanks, Tio.

[She appreciates the comfort, really. She leans into him, her throat making a soft, rumbling noise that only a cat could make.]

We're going to have a lot of explaining to do when we go back... well, hopefully we don't have to go back like this.

[D'aww.]

[softly,]Just puttin' down some truth, kid.

[The purring piques his curiosity but that's derailed by the thought of everyone else's reactions to their coming home a cat and a rat. He chortles fondly.]

I don't think we'd get a word in edgewise! Just never-ending questions you could hear all the way at the other end of the village.

[Mirabel doesn't even seem to notice that she's purring.]

We wouldn't, that's for sure. I can already hear Isabela... I guess they would just have to get used to it.

[One good thing about these claws (besides being really useful for untying knots--no, don't ask why he's got so much recent experience with that) is that they're really good for grooming other people. He gently slips his fingers through her hair, easing apart a few tangles. A thoroughly rodentian thing to do.]

It would certainly blow your Abuela's mind.

[She lets him work - honestly her hair is kind of a mess. Mostly due to the bad day she's had today, which she hasn't really talked about. But her day's getting better, now that she's here and talking about home. She gives a little laugh at the mention of Abuela, trying to imagine the family's reaction.]

I'mmm... not sure if she'd be able to handle something like that. I can only imagine the look on her face...

[In a passable impersonation of Abuela,]'Ay, Mirabel what have you gotten yourself into, now?' she'd say.

[He continues with his grooming. True, Mirabel's hair is usually a bit unco-operative, but this seems different.]

You okay, kid? You seem a bit... thrown around.

[It's very tangled. If Bruno looks closer, her fur is a bit scuffed as well.]

Oh, that's right! I was being followed by someone. [Unknown to her, it's a monster poacher.] He was pretty creepy? Anyway, I ended up falling into a tunnel. It took so long to get out.

[He should be shocked at her having been stalked like that, but it happens to all of them on such a regular basis that all he can do is sigh sadly. There isn't much he can do to protect her, though he wishes with all his might that there was. More often than not, he needs just as much protecting if he can't flee.

Instead, he concentrates on the tangles and the scuffs and the dirt, hoping to at least provide some comfort.]

Thank goodness you got out all right. I'm so sorry this is happening to you.

It's okay, Tio. Like I said, it was just a bad day.

[It'd be less okay if she knew that monster poachers were a thing. She just thinks he was a creepy dude following her - which he was.]

I don't know what he was following me for, but I think I lost him.

[Of course she'd say it was okay. He'd probably say the same thing if it happened to him, so he doesn't press for detail.]

Yeah. You're here and in one piece and that's what matters. [He means it, too. Take what victories you can in a place like this.]

Maybe I'm just a paranoid old man, but I can't think of any way that any of us being followed could be for any kind of good. [And how many more times can you cram the word 'any' into a single sentence, Bruno?]

TDM: JANUARY/FEBRUARY

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schmaltz alert!

I'm loving it

<3

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