TDM: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

[ryslighelpers]

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.

Comments

[hopesong]

[She wastes no time in taking the seat once it's offered, brushing her tail aside so it's slightly more comfortable to sit with as she places an order with the waitress. Not without thanking her for the kindness, of course, but Kate can't help but feel like it might also be out of fear that the woman offered drinks on the house than through any goodwill alone. It's possible, but she's also been offered free things in the past in return for not killing anyone.

(She wouldn't. She hasn't yet.)]

I'll leave her a tip, it just doesn't sit right with me gettin' all this free stuff. [Kate says in a slightly hushed tone, but she's still all smiles. Best to play polite and respectful now, in case of things later.] But you can start askin' away, and I'll do my best to answer them with what I know here. It's been almost a year since I arrived, after all.

[findingtruth]

[Nancy has yet to come to a conclusion like that. For now, she assumes the woman is just being nice, just trying to make a tough, potentially frightening situation less difficult. She hasn't gathered enough information to understand that it's likely a survival tactic, a silent plea to spare her life, but soon she will. Soon she'll understand, and she'll feel terribly for people like the waitress, who are just trying to exist in an incredibly dangerous world.]

Yeah... [It doesn't feel right to her either. Although Nancy doesn't have Solars, as soon as she does, she's going to return and pay the woman back.]

Almost... a year? [Nancy blinks, and she feels her heart sink in her chest. A year. She... can't be here for a year. There's still so much she has to do and many people to protect. She breathes, straightens her back a little, and tries to stifle her emotions for now. She has to remain professional, has to keep herself calm.]

Okay. You've got experience here. That's... helpful. [She pauses, idly twirling her pen between two fingers. She seems to be thinking about something, disappearing into her thoughts. Those three words keep circling in her mind: almost a year. This period of quiet contemplation doesn't last for long, though, and she shakes her head, smiling at the werewolf.]

But before we start, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Nancy. And you're...?

[hopesong]

Kate. Kate Denson. A pleasure to meet you, Nancy. [Ms. Wheeler, teasingly, back in the fog, but this isn't here, and Nancy much like Steve, much like Ash, doesn't know her in even the slightest.

But she likes to think, she knows the signs of Nancy bottling her emotions, likely surprise, maybe fear at this point. Kate doesn't blame her. "Almost a year" is a long time, and back in the fog she'd been rightfully pissed and shocked upon learning how long some of the other survivors had been trapped.]

Ask whatever you'd like, an' I'll answer to the best of my knowledge. An' don't worry about holdin' back. I've done my fair share of interviews back home.