graveyardsmash | TDM: JULY/AUGUST

TDM: JULY/AUGUST

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

[... Yes, she's absolutely messed this up, hasn't she? She let her excitement get the best of her, and look what happened. Her eyes close for a moment as she tries to scrape up more composure.]

Do you not like patty-cake? I'm so sorry. I thought everyone likes that game. [She raises a hand to her head, running a hand through her hair.] ... Shows what I know about humans, doesn't it?

Do I look like a fucking toddler to you?

[A nicer person might lay off, now it's clear that the other woman is aware she's overstepped. Unfortunately, Bethan can be accused of many things, but niceness isn't one.]

Have you ever met a human?

Oh, yes! I've lived on the same planet as humans for thousands of years. But they've always been so... strange to me. I've watched your species grow and change and... What you enjoy one day will be something you hate a decade later. And then possibly, you'll enjoy it again another decade later. Who knows?

[Flatly:] Thousands. Of years.

[It's not impossible, given everything she's seen in Ryslig. Hell, Angela had been around for all of history, as well, and it's not like Bethan still questions whether that was true.]

[The difference being, Angela didn't seem like she was born yesterday.]

[Bethan sighs, raking both hands back through her muddy, tangled mat of hair.]

And nobody ever told you to fuck off and not jump people before?

[Give her a moment, she needs to sort through about 4000 years of memories.]

Not in those words, no. And some humans were very happy to be jumped by me. It's so hard to judge the entirety of the species based on the reactions of the few, don't you agree?

I dunno. I'm judging your species pretty hard, and I don't even know what it is.

[That's the rudest possible way to phrase the question If you're not human, what are you?, a question that's already pretty rude to start with.]

[Rose is still mostly unfazed by the attitude, at least on the outside. Is she really being judged? No, right??? Humans were always the species she relied on not to judge.]

I'm a Gem! A Rose Quartz Gem, to be precise. [Her hand moves as if to gesture to her belly, but then she remembers the gem isn't there anymore. She tilts her head a bit.] ... Well, I was a Gem.

Sure.

Why the fuck not, I guess? Let's just have rocks in here, too. It's not like shit can get much more fucked.

...You're not actually a rock, though, right? That's just some sort of title or some shit?

Ah, well, no. It's not just a title. I suppose humans may also see us as "aliens". [Air quotes included.] My species originated from the Gem homeworld. We're fully sentient inorganic beings.

Huh.

[Part of her is still calling bullshit on this. Another part - the part that's got way too used to Ryslig logic - is just about prepared to accept it.]

[Both parts have the same question, though:] The fuck were you doing on Earth?

TDM: JULY/AUGUST

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