TDM: JANUARY/FEBRUARY

[ryslighelpers]

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.

Comments

[ephemeralflow]

Oh! So you noticed.

[This kid is sharp, Timekeeper likes that. Her grin widens ever so slightly as she clasps her hands together, not seeming to notice now as a few of her pamphlets flutter away into the street.]

Hmm. Indeed, I could see, visit, influence all timelines. Though now, I see that perhaps that was limited only to the timelines of my own worlds! I must see what others are like, if my powers return. Or if this place yields the proper parts to build a new time travel device. My goodness, it's been a while since I've done that, hasn't it!

[fractalcourage]

[Indeed he did notice. There's not much that slips Alphinaud's notice, at least in most cases...he likes to think he's gotten better at keeping his wits about him, at the very least. But Timekeeper here doesn't seem dangerous, at least not on the surface. Just...eccentric, perhaps.

But then she goes into further explanation, about how she has the ability to see, visit, influence timelines, and now he begins to hold himself a bit more carefully. Very few can harness power such as that, and she doesn't immediately strike him as some sort of all powerful omniscient god or anything...

Then again, that isn't to say that things like this don't simply work differently on other planes. That's something he has to remember to consider as well.]

By the Twelve...you've actually constructed a device that allows you to pass through the fabric of time itself?

[And she just says it like she's talking about her daily coffee in the morning.]

I can't imagine the amount of aether...no, it's inconceviable. Your world simply must operate on different rules to Eorzea.

[ephemeralflow]

Well, I imagine so. You were not a cookie, after all!

[That much, she could tell by his earlier reaction - and she'd wager it's also the case for most folks where he's from. Most people she's spoken to here, no matter the world they're from, have been thrown off by the cookie thing, in fact. It's been very entertaining, really. To think, the most basic and boring truth of her world, so worthy of such confusion and astonishment!]

"Aether" is a form of power, then? Or a name given to a natural force? Magic itself, perhaps?

[The time travel stuff isn't important. It's mundane to her, really. Let's talk about things she doesn't know backwards, tilted, and upside down! She can't even remember the last time she needed to ask an actual question that wasn't her trying to lead Croissant Cookie's oblivious lump of head dough to an obvious conclusion!]

[fractalcourage]

[Oh don't you worry Timekeeper, we'll get back to that point eventually...as well as a few other points. There's a lot for Alphinaud to wrap his head around here, so it's best to take this one piece at a time, he thinks.

He at least feels less like he's floundering upon being asked about something he knows quite a lot about. He inclines his head slightly, his expression serious.]

It is precisely that and much more. Aether is not just the magic of our world, but the source of life itself. Each indivual man or beast whom draws breath is comprised of Aether. Meaning, if any sort of disruption were to occur...it could have castrophic consequences. And has.

[ephemeralflow]

Oho - fascinating! And can you tell if such a thing holds true here, as well? Is this aether a universal constant that your world has merely discovered and named, or are these timelines truly fundamentally alien to each other, I wonder?

[She's pacing as she speaks now, more pamphlets fluttering away to become obnoxious amounts of litter, especially since she's also gesturing with enthusiasm in between tapping a gloved finger to her chin. With how sharply she's turning, a couple of pamphlets even end up stuck in her wildly curly hair.]

[fractalcourage]

I couldn't rightly say. I haven't been here long enough to do the proper research required, but...just from what I have been able to observe so far, I don't doubt that what we know as Aether and what this realm calls "magic" may be two separate concepts.

[But he could also be completely wrong in thinking that. He imagines though that if Aether were as important of a structure here as it is back in Eorzea...he would have come across something signifying it to be so, like an Aetheryte.

Meanwhile, he's just...going to lean over and pick up one of those scattered pamphlets as it gets caught on the toe of his boot, frowning slightly. Timekeeper sure seems to be taking the situation in stride, delighting in the discovery of it all more than allowing the circumstances themselves to be a stressor.]