graveyardsmash | TDM: MARCH/APRIL

TDM: MARCH/APRIL

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

Souda just happens to be passing by, lugging what appears to be a car bumper over his shoulder, taking advantage of the fog to get things done on the streets during the day. He catches what Jet's saying just as he passes the guy, and offers,

"Gambling? Dude, there's a Casino down the way called the Lucky 38," with a friendly little tone that probably sounds pretty strange considering Souda is actually the size and shape of a theme park mascot right now. He's still shorter than Jet, of course, but he barely looks real, with his gatorlike body decked in blue coveralls and good ol' dragon face. Still, he talks to Jet as if he barely remembers he's actually kind of freaky.

"You can pick up a job pretty easy too, if ya keep asking around..."

Jet's reasoning for asking as much is pretty simple. One, it could endear him to other newcomers who don't want to acknowledge this monster crap any more than he does, and two, casinos were usually where people went to get loose - at least with their money, if not their mouths, thanks to the copious amounts of alcohol that tended to get pumped through those places. He was expecting to find some real answers there, not whatever practiced presentation this pamphlet bullshit clearly was.

He definitely wasn't expecting to be confronted with one of the 'monsters' right off the bat. Jet nearly drops his stupid pamphlet upon seeing Souda, stepping back in what he's going to pretend was in deference to that bumper that's being swung around on the shoulder. He's been bounty hunting for years, intergalactically, so he's seen some pretty weird shit, just... There's a pink fucking dinosaur right there, using its mouth and everything to make words. Well at least now Jet can scratch off the possibility he's making up any of this shit in his own head thanks to some sort of concussive trauma, because this is definitely not something he'd believe of his imagination. He swallows the expletive-riddled first draft he has to offer this creature, barely.

"Thanks..." What the hell are you supposed to be? "Need any help there?" He'd been looking for some answers - maybe he shouldn't look a gift-~~horse~~dragon in the mouth when it presents itself to him in a passably friendly manner.

"Oh? Yeah, nah, I got it," grins the gargoyle, his tongue sticking out between his front teeth, "I'm headed back to my garage, is all. You— but you're a new guy here, right? You don't look like you're..."

Souda trails off as he looks Jet up and down, taking note of his arm. A passerby dodges and groans in complaint as Souda stops being so careful with that car bumper to lean in for a closer look at Jet's arm. Souda's eyes practically sparkle.

"Oh, dude, is that fully mechanical? That's some real</> future tech! You've gotta be a new drop-in— oh man, that's sick as shit! Is it carbon-fiber? It's gotta be, right?"

...Looks like this guy at least has an interest Jet can exploit for more info.

[ ooc; -- or only wanted to do them in TDM. I'm not sure what would be more fun: being forced to work through things now or handing Spike a ticking time-bomb. ]

Eugh. To Jet, there's something uncanny about the other, this paradox of cutesy and disturbing. Maybe Kimmie would eat this guy up - he looks like some morning cartoon character come to life. Souda saves him from any further reflecting on his daughter by getting up in Jet's business. Instinctively, he puts up the hand on the arm of interest to signal a 'that's close enough' boundary, revealing a bit of the prosthetic's ability to articulate its fingers.

"Watch where you're swinging' that thing." He scolds, gruffly, unable to help himself. Now as for the arm, it's not an uncommon thing for him to have people asking after it. Depending on his mood, Jet tends to tell these people to get lost or, the classic, that it's his arm. But yes, he is indeed seeing opportunity in exploiting someone's objectifying some quality of his.

The fact this guy is calling it 'future tech' is really dating Souda as some yokel in Jet's mind, but he'll definitely take it over having the outdated model being called a clunker or something similar. "That obvious I'm new, huh?" He confirms and encourages more details on Souda identifying him as a newbie. "Finding a greaser who could help me do some maintenance on it's on the agenda too, if you know anybody."

He's guessing he might have found the aforementioned grease-monkey, but maybe Dino here just collects parts.

[OOC: see i'm also having trouble deciding because both are good. Ideally if Spike wants to not ruin things, he should handle them all immediately, but we'll just have to see how self-sabotaging he is won't we??? bUT whichever you wanna do most for the TDM is fine, i'm sure it'll end up turning out way different and still fun in game, too.]

Souda seems to take the boundary well, pulling back easily— but in such a strangely reptilian way, clicking from his throat as the scales on his tail slide through the dirt behind him.

"Well ain't I just the greaser you're lookin' for?" croaks Souda, adjusting to hold that bumper better as instructed, crossing it over in front of him to rest in his elbows, and then reaching out his hand as if to shake.

"I'm Kazuichi Souda, the ultimate mechanic— but, uh, you can just call me Souda, if you want," he says, and then looks down at his own hand— all at once he seems to recall that oh, yes, he is still a monster, and pulls his hand back before Jet can grab it.

"U-uh, I did learn all my machine smarts before the whole gargoyle thing, though, I promise."

TDM: MARCH/APRIL

wheezes i'll... probably still tag you with Spike but first

feel free to make your own prompt with spike cuz ~the drama~ or I can

OH I W I L L. your canonpoint is from end of series or is it earlier?

I was thinking end of, but deff wanted to run that by you in case you don't want breakup feels

no subject