graveyardsmash | TDM: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Entry tags:

test drive

TDM: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

TDM: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

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

(CW: Human remains)

When you awaken, you are hit with an immediate feeling of motion. A bobbing, if you will, or perhaps more of a rocking. You take a deep breath through your nose and take note of salt, along with the pungent scent of rotting wood. Creaking sounds echo all around you. Sitting up, you find yourself locking eyes with a skull.

An entire human skeleton is positioned across from you, resting limply against a pillar. Surveying the rest of your surroundings, you soon realize that you're below deck on an old, dilapidated ship. A ship that's on the move. The crew must have suffered a terrible fate, strewn as they all are across the floor. With their ripped poofy shirts, sheathed cutlasses and jaunty feathered hats, they seem to scream one word at you. "Pirates". ...Ooh, is that an abandoned bottle of rum? And a treasure chest? Surely they won't mind if you help yourself. They're dead, after all!

Once you've ascended the creaky steps, you find yourself on the deck of this vast, once proud vessel. A tattered Jolly Roger flaps overhead. Thick fog obscures most of the ocean surrounding you, but what's that straight ahead? Land ho! The ship's about to make port, and a crowd of curious onlookers has already gathered on the docks to stare up at this spooky new arrival. They appear apprehensive, perhaps even fearful, as if they haven't seen a ship come in for a long time. Will they hold you accountable for what happened to the skeleton crew? Will they praise you for 'ridding' them of pirates and allow you to keep the booty? There's no way to know just yet. Perhaps you'd best hide and find a way to disembark without being seen. Or perhaps there's someone else to be found here on this ship who suffered the same fate; someone who has a better idea of what to do.

SCENARIO TWO

You've stumbled your way into a city, and you're promptly besieged by the overwhelming sights and sounds. 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 lost expression and your clothes- so different from their own- 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. A hefty laptop may be handed to you, with words of a ‘network’ used for communication. Wonder what that’s about? Then there’s the very confusing pamphlet stuffed within: "What To Expect When You're Expecting (To Turn Into A Monster)”. They may direct you to an organisation known as the Lighthouse, their members most prominently found at the 38-8 apartments and the Lighthouse Church. Or perhaps, if you're injured, they'll refer you to the Crowe Clinic instead. Unfortunately, the directions you're given are so very complicated that you lose your way in the streets after two left turns, a right and a left at the soup kitchen.

Take care when asking for more help. 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

Now that you've found a moment of peace, you open up the mysterious device that's been handed to you. Perhaps you'll recognize it as some sort of laptop, albeit an old and clunky one. Or perhaps you'll be astounded by this curious feat of technology, which is unlike anything you've ever seen before. Regardless, the moment the lid is propped open to reveal the screen and the keyboard within, you gain your first glimpse of the network.

Perhaps you'll want to choose a username and write your very first message, posing the pressing question that's on your mind at this very moment. The lettered buttons click and clack awkwardly beneath your fingertips as you type.

However, you may instead want to respond to today's most popular message.

WELCOME TO RSDOS.
PRESS F1 TO COMPOSE POST.

*** TODAY’S TOP POST ***

018.07.154.55 <JUSTSOMEGUY> Let's play Two Truths, One Lie! It's real easy! You just post three statements about yourself, and the rest of us have to guess the lie. It'll be fun! And you get to be a liar liar without your pants catching fire for a bit.

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

OOC NOTE: Emporio is going to be played as being Post-Series; as a default, I will be avoiding spoilers for Stone Ocean in any tags, with spoilers here referring to everything beyond the 'Savage Garden' Arc. If you prefer no direct references to canon at all, please make note in your tag!

{COME SAIL AWAY - STYX}

[When he wakes, he doesn't expect to. Something about the last time he closed his eyes said that it wouldn't be so instant- that he wouldn't be waking for anything less than a blink, anything less than what it took for the sun to rise again.

Yet a blink is all it takes.

The young boy of 4'7'' groans, his eyes yet closed and shadowed by the cap on his head. The cleats of his shoes scrape the wood with the kind of force unfamiliar to him, as if their metal were more real than anything he ever interacted with.

He opens his eyes and screams.]

H- HHAHHH-!

[Stumbles back, a clattering echoing through the wood, as he screams again-] HHAHHHH-! AAAAHH-!!

[Stumbling feet carry him cacaphonously through the rocking ship, and his hands scrabble at wood planks until he's breathing in the scent of tangy salty air with more clarity than he is old wood and damp.

Emporio labors for breath, both from fear and from exhertion as well. His curled hair is brushed by wind and yet around him it couldn't feel more dead- now that he can see the rest of this ship in fact, that's all he can see, not a single other soul with him. It's something out of a cheap horror movie, something from a half-hearted film set made real. Too real, even.

(Since when were pirates actually like the pirates on the screen?)

And he's alone.

(Just like before.)

The ship is coming to port. As the boy slowly catches his breath and looks to the side, that's the first thing he realizes.

The ship is coming to port.

...

Backing away from the rail, all he can think is how much he wants to disappear.]

{SIGNS - 5MEB}

[He couldn't stay on the ship, and if he were honest with himself he didn't want to either. Even if it were somewhere to possibly hide and be safe, the sheer amount of dressed bones staring vacantly upward with empty 'eyes' was just too much.

But there are so many people here that it's absurd.

(It's not as if he hasn't been in a crowd before. Sort of, at least. He just...kept to himself. Avoided real notice, as best he could.)

(He was always good at that.)

Clutching his arms for warmth in the crisp autumn air of a country far cooler than his home, Emporio can't help but look as lost as he feels though. No cars have honked at him- he knows what a city is enough to keep to the side walk and avoid bumping into others. In fact, dressed in his baseball clothes as he is, it seems that no one has looked to him as if he's 'new'- not since he's made his way far enough from the docks at least.

But it's just all so much. There's not a single familiar face or sight, there's not a single thing here he truly knows. The boy stifles a sniff as wide eyes look around a hair away from what could well be tears, and-]

Oh dear- have you lost your way boy?

[He's been noticed now.

(Sort of.)]

I....I...

I know it's scary knowing what those....people are, [the woman before him continues, concern etched into every wrinkle on her aged face.] But we'll just find your parents and get you home before then alright? ...Now, that uniform...I haven't been keeping up with the local teams...but I can see someone is a baseball player~

[How does he get out of this?]

{THIS IS A LIE - THE CURE}

UN: SPEAKING.IN.TONGUES

I slept in a piano.

I've never seen snow.

I have three sisters.

{WOLVES WITHOUT TEETH - OFAM - CW: BODY HORROR-ELONGATION}

[Somehow, he kind of thought it wouldn't happen.

Which is stupid of course. Everyone else had it happen. Everyone he's managed to brave speaking to, and knowing, and being known by, has had this happen.

(He hasn't let anyone close enough- hasn't let himself close enough, to stay though. There's no one here now. There's no one from home, from the only home he had if it could be called that, and it makes everything feel that much more hollow.)

(He can't get that close again.)

The fog is thicker now, and that's the only warning he gets.] MnhNNMM-

[It's not even that painful, when he thinks about it. It hurts, but it doesn't hurt the same way other things have. He stumbles but all he can think is 'I've felt worse', even as tears start spilling down his face, and even as his head starts to throb with agony. It's not his head changing though- something else is afoot, perhaps literally so. He struggles for footing, the cleats catching the ground as his feet push away at the shoe- as they snap, the sound echoing coldly in his ears, and become too long to remain inside it.]

MNH-AUGH- Th...They're growing..!?

[Despite his exclaimation that's not quite it. Growing, certainly, but not proportionally. It's the same for his arms after all- fingers, as well- the pain hits his back hard enough that he bites through his lip and falls with a crack, stars in his eyes whilst he stumbles. To say it's like being on fire isn't right- this is something different. Something colder, something more numb than that. Something-]

Hhhahhh-hh....haahhhhh-hh...

[....

....It's over...]

Mgk...gh...

[He tries to stand- stumbling just a little, half falling against the wall. His feet barely hold him upright, shoes hanging on only because of the tight lacing that went down to the toe, and meanwhile the rest of his uniform is tight and stretched in ways he never expected to ever worry about. Emporio looks to his hand-]

HA-H..!

[And immediately falls backward, crashing against the dumpster and scrambling against it on instinct.

It's not yellow exactly, but...it...

....

Oh no.] ....I can't fit in that tunnel anymore...

[There's a reason this is important- the question is if the budding kelpie would be willing to share why with whoever likely heard that while coming to check on that sound just now.]

[Now this isn't what the blue-and-purple manticore scented earlier, just before the dreaded fog rolled in, but it is human—

—or was human. Apparently.

Big emphasis on "was".

That is one freakish-looking....

Uh. What is that thing supposed to be? Something to be careful with? Possibly.

The thing looks like it could really put the hurt on someone, and that's before it eats somebody.

At any rate, a gigantic manticore with three rows of teeth [to say nothing of what else the fog did to him ~~oh boy~~] is probably not the kind of thing a kelpie might want to see about now.]

[Eugh. At least no one heard him complaining out loud. Maybe. Hopefully? With a groan Emporio tries to stand from his earlier fright, but it seems that's just in time for a certain giant cat-beast to come around the corner.

Technically, logically, he knows the chances of a monster hurting a fellow monster is slim. That's what he definitely is, just look at him. Stretched out like an elastic, sickly yellow in a way that practically matches his hair.

But he's also unable to keep from looking at...

Those. The teeth- sharp, definitely dangerous, definitely something that could easily take his arm off, or-]

Uhhh....

[It occurs to him he's currently backed into a corner- alley wall at one side, dumpster on the other, great blue-and-purple manticore to the front.

Emporio swallows, nervous.] H...hey...

[...He can...get out of this, probably. ...No sharp teeth of his own, or claws, or...anything but...

Probably..?]

[Just how many teeth does one person even need, I ask you. Apparently, that many.

And it's not exactly winning him friends right about now.

Keldor eyes the weird yellow thing. Which seems to be eying him with fear.

Understandable fear. From the sounds he'd heard, what just happened two minutes ago was the worst unexpected surprise anyone could ever get. Watching your own body—the one you've always had and maybe either liked or disliked—just mutate like that...

Anyways, yeah. It's never fun for anyone. He knows that. He'd been in a similar situation not long ago and was pelted by everything within reach of the panicked locals. Including the kitchen sink ~~yes; really~~.

His heart goes out to whoever this thing is. Was. Is.

Oh fuck! Whatever!

Yeah. I don't know what you're expecting from a monster, but...]

The first time is always rough.

[...was sympathy one of those things?]

Edited 2022-09-10 07:05 (UTC)

[It's just so many teeth. Imagine the floss bills.

Truly, if Emporio could see himself in a mirror, he'd be recoiling at that as well. Half of why he can keep even this calm is that he can only see so much. Everything is left to the imagination, but nothing else feels so off, so wrong, that he can think to be repulsed. He can focus on what's around him.

At least a little, anyway.

It's the reason he can, instead of remaining paralyzed, look to Keldor with brief confusion.

The....first? Time?] You...

...W...wait...this happened to you before? [he can't help but ask, even as he watches the other with a wary eye.] ...Before coming here?

Emporio Alniño | JJBA: Stone Ocean

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3 | < MrsUniverse >

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<heysherry>

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<JOJO>

signs

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come sail away

CW: STONE OCEAN SPOILERS (MOST RECENT EPISODES)

continuing CW: STONE OCEAN SPOILERS (MOST RECENT EPISODES)

un: wishywashy

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un: c

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