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

It doesn't take long for him to find Akechi- even though his new senses are, well, new, he still remembers all the sensory information he's consciously and subconsciously gathered all his life. So he simply puts his new nose to the earth and tracks, barely even aware of what he's doing. His mind is a fog of pain and new sensations, so he just follows instinct.

Soon he finds the fledgling nymph, looming over him, now yellow eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

He can barely see right now, at the mercy of any angry townspeople or random monster that might want a kill for their god or whatever else their stupidity demanded. So when the towering form appears in his view part of him just accepts it; maybe death would hurt a lot less than this.

As his greenish eyes start to adjust, however, the towering form doesn't seem to want him harm. In fact it seems more curious and perhaps protecting him in some way. Which could only mean Kurusu.

There's a laugh that escapes his lips. The same pathetic, desperate one when he'd faced off against his rival in Shido's Palace.

"So in the end you failed to stop it," he begins, as something begins to pull against his shirt's fabric behind his back. "Just like you failed to stop Maruki."

It's a cruel retort but he just feels incredibly angry right now and Akira just happens to be besides him.

The pushing almost causes him to choke, too caught in his prideful ways, or perhaps ignoring the warning, he had kept on his clothing. Thankfully whatever had been working at his back pierces out of like wooden stakes, the sound of the fabric tearing before vine-like tentacles erupt from his back and almost slither along the floor, protecting him from harm.

It feels a little better, at least, as his mind panics and tries to adjust to each new sentation and feeling. He also feels disgisted as the vines remind him of Maruki in a way and the ones of Azathoth.

The beast growls softly, annoyed at Akechi's mocking and on guard against the vines. He never saw Maruki's persona, but he got deep enough into the Palace to remember the tree. If Akechi starts smelling of apple he might just lose his mind. As if he hasn't already...

But growling is all he does. Ever since he discovered Akira's shame that was all he did at worse. Because deep down he knew Akechi of any form had the right to demean him for this.

"I didn't fail." He snaps, reaching out like he's about to grab Goro's neck- instead he just tears the shirt collar with his new claws so he doesn't almost strangle again under more growth.

"You-"

He meant to continue the taunting, to gaude a reaction but was caught off-guard when Akira moves closer about to strangle him, and in the breif moment worries that his rival is about to kill him. The vines on his back move upright in a single moment, aimed at Akira and ready to turn the creature into a shish kabob. Fear and dread fill him, making him suddenly realize that he doesn't want to die after all - but also a slight buzz at his rival's action even if it turns out it was just to help him.

Bleeding heart Ren or Akira, it didn't really matter. Putting the world on their shoulders no matter what the situation. Maybe that's why there's a tiny but of jealousy from the other Goro, even if he is now a slave. Because Akira thought his life was that important. It's a cruel thought, but on par even for him. His mind tries to go elsewhere, as he realizes that they might be for the first time as powerful as each other. No special persona. No special friends. No special destiny.

The very idea thrills him.

As the the tendrils don't see Akira as a threat anymore, they seem to continue what he started, and neatly tear off what remains of his shirt. Akira would see the drastic changes he was undergoing then, the skin on his chest turning green, pieces of white bark visible as his skin was being pushed back into a protective wooden ribcage, a single Black Rose Aeonium blooming over his heart. The same whitish wood bark forming spikes on his elbows.

It was a lot easier to withstand now, and he could feel the power from whatever he was turning into much like when he had awakened his Personas. It tore at his legs and feet elongading them, maybe a subcuncious desire for the both of them to be as tall as each other.

"As I was saying," he finally says, breaking the silence "You can argue all you want. But maybe like back home, you wanted THIS to happen."

He watches the changes with open fascination. If he had his powers he would at least try and heal the damage as it happens, but as he is he's helpless to do much. Even his knowledge of first aid is pointless in how fast things are happening. His own changes were fast, likely because they would happen again and again with every moonrise. If they were slow he would quickly go insane.

His eyes fall on the dark not!flower on Akechi's chest and settle there as he speaks.

"... maybe I did." He rasps out, his maw of teeth and muzzle making his already low voice even more rumbling. His tongue darts out and swipes over his tongue in what he doesn't realize is a canine nervous twitch. "Believe whatever you want."

There's still the sound of cracking of bone as he looks down, noticing that his feet have become what he first thinks are earthworms, then realizes are actually roots. He concentrates enough to regain control of them and they fold into a shape more akin to human feet.

"It really is facinating," he replies, either commenting on his new control or a answer to Akira. If the other would look up from his not!flower, he'd notice Akechi grinning at him, some of his teeth having become pointy. The unhinged look that was chaos incarnate. "I had my morbid facination wondering what the process would be like, of course."

True, it had started out painful, at least for him, but now that it was becoming more pleasent with each new sensation, he was, quite literally, becoming intoxicated by it. His hair blossomed into a crown of various flowers that could cause pain and confusion. Beautiful, but untouchable, a reflection of Akechi, in a way.

With most of his changes done, it opened up his own twisted imagination. Imagining the damage he could cause with the petals of his crown. Imagining his father being strangled by the roots on his back as Akechi watched triumphant the snuffing of his life and then tossing him into the dirt.

It really wasn't healthy, but that's who he was.

He didn't want to feel helpless and the last month here amoung the townspeople had made him realize how feeble the human form was, with no Personas at his beck and call.

Which brings him back to Akira.

"You might not be Ren, but you must have promised the other me a duel as well." He sniffs the air and stretches his new arms, admiring how much farther he could reach. There was something there too, a call to go into the forests they were warned about. Somehow he knew he'd have no trouble there. "Don't think I've forgotten."

But first, something else which they'd need addressed tonight, or at least for Akechi. Maybe it was due to the slow, deliberate change, but much of his energy had been spent.

"In the meantime, I'm afraid I'm quite famished." He grinned again, with all the horrible implications that came with it. "I suppose you can either join me or try to stop me. Either way...it will be entertaining."

Oh, he hasn't forgotten. Even in the altered world the glove still sat in his pocket. His clothing had been destroyed when he transformed, but he assumes it's still with his tattered leavings back where he was staying. And the implication is clear: Akechi wants a fight- no personas or wild card skills between them, just the brutal new bodies they have been given.

He shivers at the thrill of it, his mouth filling with saliva... something that he wishes didn't linger when Akechi mentions 'eating'. He stiffens, eyes narrowing.

"No hesitation? I guess I'm not surprised."

"Are you really that surprised? We truely are Apex Predators now. We should act like it."

Well when you put it that way, all sins would be forgiven, right? Or maybe he enjoyed this more for the implications...Ren had been such a perfect person despite it all, a true hero of justice unlike him. This Akira was flawed. It made Akechi, in his twisted sense of logic, appriciate him. Because like him he made some terrible and stupid mistakes. It made dragging him in this hell even more enjoyable.

"We could start with a deer in the forest. Maybe a hunter if we're lucky."

Wow. No hesitation. The vines on his back move behind him almost like a cape as he stand more upright, weighing his new form.

Akechi's casual tone makes his fur bristle... but is he really wrong? When he transformed he had felt it too: a wild, feral thrill that sent him charging out into the night in search of a challenge. Howling his yipping call for anyone to hear and try something. He straightens up as much as possible, though his new long quadruped arms make his normal slouch even more pronounced. Like this is easier to see his new body, and it's clear he's no big bad or noble wolf. His torso lean to the point of starvation, a rangy beast lurking on the edges of society, covered in jet black fur. Something rabid and hungry.

Coyotes are traditionally Tricksters too, after all.

"I'm not eating anyone... but I'm not letting you go alone either." Said while drool is pooling in his jaws and making his teeth shiny. His body is more honest than his words.

"Always putting others before yourself." He can see the other's body betraying him anyway.

The new form fits Akira. Akechi won't tell him aloud of course, far be it for him to offer compliments.

He moves a little closer, finally testing his legs. It's not as bad as he had expected and he steps out of the small cabin into the fog with a grin.

"You're the werewolf. Smell anything interesting?"

He knows Akechi is forcing him to participate- making him complicit. It's that or leave. No keeping his hands clean, it seems. Still, he's sure if they DO find a hu- another person he can keep Akechi at bay.

He has to.

Having already tracked Akechi he knows he can probably find someone if he tried, instead he lifts his muzzle up and breathes deep. He's never smelled a deer before, so he doesn't know what he's searching for. So instead he just lets the cool night air roll over his tongue and tries to find anything that doesn't smell of plants and dirt.

"Nothing specific but..." he looks out towards the woods, his tail wagging slightly.

Edited 2022-09-24 23:45 (UTC)

Having an accomplice in his schemes is certainly something Akechi has wanted for a long time. Even if it wasn't tonight, it would happen one way or another...he had a month to catch up and read all he could find. Many heroes had tried and failed. Best to accept it, revel in the new power.

He places a hand on one of the trees, listening to the air around him as well. So many little things he had never noticed before.

"Well then, lead the way."

The trees in front of them parted slightly, inviting them in. The point of no return.

The trees seeming to bend to Akechi's will makes him shiver slightly, his ears perking forward and his yellow eyes gleaming. He's reminded of their duel- or, well his and that Akechi's duel. He wonders how similar that fight went with 'Ren'. Was he stronger or weaker than Akira? Maybe he will take that chance to fight this Akechi- if just to compare. His tail wags a bit more.

"Don't think I don't realize what you're doing." Even said, he still walks forward regardless. He is no coward, regardless of what Akechi claimed his choice had been.

"I'd be incredibly disappointed if you hadn't, Joker."

While not the trickster like the other, Akechi did take a little after Loki, after all.

"Don't worry, our new deal here still stands. For all intents and purposes, we are working together until we figure a way out of this world."

That being said, would he really want to leave?

"I think there's a woodland creature nearby. Do you want to be a good boy and fetch? Haha, I'm kidding of course."

Wow.

His lip curls in a snarl and he flips Akechi off.

"Ha ha. Don't forget what dogs do to trees."

"Would you really lower yourself to such petty instincts, Kurusu?"

He can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it.

"I'd kill you for that anyway. Did you know you can't truely die in this world?"

"I can't tell if that makes you happy that you can kill me over and over or pissed it won't stick."

"A little of both, I suppose...but mostly it means when we fight again, we won't need to hold back and worry about that."

Not that it changed anything back then either, but it seems to satify Akechi's current bloodlust.

"Are you hesitating?" Now he'll just taint him into going.

No need to hold back, huh? The idea of killing Akechi makes his belly roll unpleasantly. Even after everything- after all, he had sacrificed everything to keep the bastard alive. A selfish wish that his new instincts only heighten. They have a deal. They are, for good or ill (mostly ill) now a pair. A set.

And even before his change he hated being alone.

Though he wouldn't mind being alone right NOW, considering Akechi is being an insufferable prick. His new body, lacking his years of practice hiding his emotions, again betrays him as his ruff rises in bristling annoyance.

"Shut up, Crow."

He hits all fours again, snuffling the earth for scent. He'll find some big game and shove Akechi's nose in it. And HOPEFULLY that will be enough to discourage his own personal serial killer from taking back up the habit for at least one night.

A few more sniffs and he catches scent of something: sweat. He tenses, body statue-still as he stares out into the woods.

It is ridiculously easy to read him now. Of course Akechi will somehow weaponize it, if just to be an asshole.

But it was a dangerous game they played, and even Akechi knew it. He wouldn't go as far as to completely alienate Akira to the point where he'd call it off, as even someone like Akechi craved companionship.

"Seems like you found something." He hadn't sensed anything yet himself, his senses far more dull that a werewolf's...well, werecoyote. But he could probably keep up with him if he took off.

"Let's begin the mission."

And like how they both started using the code names, that phrase is enough to settle fully into infiltration mode. Into Joker's skin, where anything is permitted. The animal now clawing at his soul really is just Arsene in a new disguise, using Akira's own voice to state his deepest desires.

'Run wild to your heart's content!'

And he does, bolting into the trees. If Akechi thinks he can keep up he's certainly free to try.

He won't. He might be faster than a human, but he's far slower than a werewolf.

That's alright, now that the forest is much easier to follow. It's like being suddenly able to notice the subtle differences between each tree and grass. He'll follow the footsteps at his own pace, letting Joker take the lead, idly wondering if he should change his call name.

But most of all, reveling in this new power, watching how nature itself moved to his whim, getting more hungry by each passing minute.

He listened in silence, running behind him, waiting for a signal.

Akechi isn't the only one reveling tonight, as Akira finds himself getting more and more swept up in the hunt. Normally he'd be stealthier, more controlled. This is unknown territory and he's s newborn in this world. But instead he finds himself doing what he does once he's overpowered all the Shadows in the area- running bold and recklessly. Maybe that's why his human brain doesn't get the chance to warn him the closer he gets to the scent source. Remind him that while many animals sweat only a few do to the point of it being a reek. And only one that he would so easily recognize the smell of with only his old senses to guide him.

And why he does what he always did when attacking something so much weaker than him in the Metaverse- dashing by so fast it's only a flash of steel-now-claws and a splash of ichor.

Akechi can likely feel the disturbance in the forest around them, but even if he can't he can hear Akira soft distressed sounds as he catches up.

"Fuck, fuck no I wasn't going to-"

Well, that sure is a body at his feet. Not dead, but bleeding heavily from the werewolf's attack. Not a hunter like mentioned before, but from their clothes and the budding goat horns from their head likely a fellow fledgling monster who was much further behind in their transformation and also wandered out into the wilderness to fulfil some impuse.

It takes a few minutes for the nymph to catch up, and smell the blood on the ground. At first, wondering if Akira had done something so stupid as to harm himself, but then quickly realizing it wasn't that at all, just a fellow 'buddying' monster who had not been as fortunate under Joker's fang and claw.

He looked over at Akira panicking, swearing like Akechi had never heard him. He remembered, briefly, what it was like the first time he had realized he had murdered someone, even if not directly. Funny, then, that that particular murder was also the only one he regretted doing; Wakaba Isshiki. It got much easier after that - each one a new excuse why it had to be done, a way to pave for his twisted justice, culminating to attempting to killing the man, well, werecoyote who stood before him.

They could easily to wait until the creature bled out. But Akechi, ever insightful, had already mentioned about how death in this world wasn't exactly permanent for monsters. Moreover, if the stranger got a good look at either of them, he might retaliate later. Best to think of it as a lesson in being more prepared when they came back to life.

Predator and Prey. Nature didn't really know cruelty. Simply the law of the strongest. And right now, two were better than one.

The attack was instant as the vines on his back shoot upwards and aimed at head, piercing in one lethal strike until the movement of their body stopped.

"I would have said something before attacking, but I'd rather they not know my voice."

The vines move behind him again, dripping with blood. He could smell it, tantalizing him. Him, who had run a food blog and visited nearly every nook and cranny in Tokyo in search of the most amazing foods - this was making him salivate like he was about to be served a ten course gourmet meal. It disgusted him as much as he wanted to just dig in. So he attempted to make this a little easier for them both, in his own twisted way.

"This might actually be a boon in disguise...I know for a fact from my notes that monsters can eat each other and gain substance much like eating a human. Moreover, the victim will simply come back as if nothing happened. In a way, it's a rather guiltless crime, don't you think?"

Edited 2022-09-25 23:43 (UTC)

He watches Akechi finish the job with a glazed kind of detachment- the poor guy was doomed anyway, of course. There was no undoing what he did. And Akechi was right, he would revive, if what they have been told is true.

He still feels sick, but he visibly starts putting himself back together.

"Doubt it. But if you're going to do it... just do it and get it done."

A twisted part of him is a little curious how a tree eats a dude.

no subject

Since this is not canon I'm gonna assume Goro found out The Secret (tm)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject