TDM: APRIL/MAY

[ryslighelpers]

TDM: APRIL/MAY

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 from a deep and dreamless sleep to find yourself lying among the ruins of a burnt-out, empty town. Your head aches and your limbs are stiff. The ground here is scrubby with half-grown plants and barren stone, and while there are a few buildings - most notably the large, empty hunting lodge at the center of the town - there is no sign of life.

Almost no sign. Wander around, and you may start to spot others like you, lost among the bones of empty buildings and abandoned firepits. Perhaps you’ll enter the lodge, which is still more or less whole, and find the bloodstains on the wooden walls, the meat hooks waiting empty in the kitchen. Perhaps you’ll discover, among the empty huts, graffiti scrawled in rusty red: TAGE LIVES.

Perhaps, out of the corner of your eye, you might see a flicker of movement; a figure that looks almost, but not quite, human. These figures will not attack you–in fact, if you approach or call out to them, they will quickly flee, vanishing into the ruins–but they watch you from afar, and you can’t quite shake the sense that they’re waiting for something.

Maybe you shouldn’t hang around to find out what.

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> I'm booored. Who wants to play Twenty Questions? It's like… You choose a thing, right? And say you're ready to play, I suppose. And then someone else will ask you twenty yes/no questions to try and guess what the thing is! It HAS to be questions that can be answered with "yes" or "no". Entertain me, network friends!

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

[zoomingupthathill]

[ A conversation with this guy is like a rollercoaster where she can't see any of the drops coming. There's no anticipatory excitement, just the drop again and again. One minute he's making puns, the next he's dropping this stuff?

Max summons up all the unaffected disinterest she can, consciously rolling in her surprised and somewhat hurt expression. ]

You know what, it's- [ Hell, what does she say? Is there anything? ] You can. There's, like, help organizations. And, free apartments and...I can point you in their direction.

[ Interpret it literally. Put what he said before in a box in the back of your mind, to not open again. ]

[oversleep]

<sub>[ She was a little rude at first, but she's making it up right now by not only leaving him (her harsh judgement of him is another story, but fortunately, Sunny lacks the social reading to know that he is being judged) but also helping him.

I want to stay with you.

Because it's true. He does. Something about her feels safe and it's quelling his anxiety to the point where he's almost stopped trembling at this point. But..

I'll be a burden.

So he doesn't ask. ]</sub>

... Okay.

[zoomingupthathill]

[ Max's self-control is getting a workout. She's not going to snap at the awkward boy who clearly doesn't know how to talk to people. That would be hypocritical, because she doesn't fucking know how to talk to people either.

Look at how all this has gone, after all.

Trying to make conversation doesn't work for her. She simply finishes wrapping his arms, with a small, definitive, ] Great.

[ Nothing else, as she tells herself not to feel guilty for basically saying she's going to wash her hands of him.

He'll be better off with someone else helping him, anyway. Max can barely help herself. ]

[oversleep]

_{[ Once everything is finished, something remarkable happens: Sunny's lips curve upwards in the faintest smile. Not like when he was daydreaming-- but he's directing it to Max. He's still shaking a little bit because he's nervous, but he manages to say something: ]}

... T.. Thank you.

_{[ and then just sHYLY LOOK AWAY..... ]}

[zoomingupthathill]

[ Aw, hey.

It's a hypocritical thought to have by far, but Max finds herself a little surprised that he really can smile. At least she's aware enough to feel guilty right after, the corners of her own lips quirking up momentarily. ]

Well, I did almost hit you, so it really is the least I can do. [ Is it...? Mmm...

Before she can regret it, Max straightens up. ] Get in. I can take you as far as the apartments. Crazy shit happens there, but they're completely free.

we can end here if you want!

[oversleep]

<sub>[ He really has no other choice but to listen to Max. He had bumped into Basil earlier, but.. something about Basil.. he felt like he shouldn't be around him. Max was intimidating at first, but it looks like she has good intent.

Carefully, Sunny slides off of the car and looks at her with a silent nod before getting in.

He'll save his nervous breakdown later when he's by himself. ]</sub>