graveyardsmash | TDM: JUNE/JULY

TDM: JUNE/JULY

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 awaken in a small room, shelves full of cleaning supplies lining the walls. A bucket stands in the corner with a mop balanced carefully inside. How you came to be in this broom closet of sorts, you have no idea. You sure feel sore and hungry, though. Disoriented, you stagger to your feet and reach for the door handle. It responds perfectly to your touch and a second later, you take your steps into freedom.

If you didn’t know better, you’d think you’d walked into 1980s America: neon clothing and chunky plastic jewelry flash eye-searingly in one display window, an advertisement for “The Invention that Broke the Sound Barrier: The All-New Walkman Portable Cassette Player!” fills another. Shops all around peddle fashion from the 1950s to the 1980s, along with electronics and toys. In the food court, with its cheap plastic seating, one will find fries, sodas and even festival-type goods like homemade pastries. Hotdog weenies roll smoothly on a grill. That food sure looks good right now, doesn't it? Unfortunately, the shopkeepers expect you to pay in a strange currency called “solars”. Will you pull an Aladdin and steal a loaf of bread, or will you attempt to appeal to the proprietors' pity?

Take care not to draw attention to yourself, though! Mannequins wearing a variety of 80s fashion patrol the hallways with twitchy, stiff movements. To those from more tech-savvy worlds, they may appear to be androids. Every so often, a very tinny, flat voice can be heard emitting from them–"SAFETY FIRST!" As you hurry away, their heads swivel around completely to continue tracking you, despite their lack of eyes.

And if you opted to steal? A good dozen of them will turn on you in an instant, hunting you down across the mall with far more speed than anyone would've expected them to employ. Maybe you can hide in that ballpit. Or the fountain. Or up the escalators, go go go!

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> Which is the better pet, a fur-bearing trout or a Kulen parasite? Or a timeloop groundhog? Ooh or maybe one of those fish with the big saw blades? C'mon, we've got so many cool animals here! Discuss!

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

i. are you on the square

[The closet is one thing. She's woken up way worse places than this closet. It's practically cushy.]

[The problem is what's outside the closet.]

[The 80s were a weird time for her. Big highs, big lows. The kind of shit she's looking at right now, these were lows. The colors make her wince, turning her head back towards the closet instinctively as though she's seriously considering going back in there and shutting the door. It's not not tempting. If she doesn't see neon ever again, it'll be too soon.]

[But one cannot live in a mall closet for fear of the neon outside. So, ultimately, she lets go of the doorknob and steps out into the wilds of the mall.]

[It doesn't take long to get the feel of the place. She doesn't bother asking for food for free. Instead, she walks the perimeter, getting a feel for what stores are available, who looks friendly versus not so much. There's this one place that looks more promising starting on her second lap around the mall: it's shift change, and the girl with a jaw set like rock in pure minimum-wage resentment is replaced by a kid who probably isn't legal working age, but what does she know about the rules in weird robot 80s throwback mall land, anyway? Doesn't matter. What matters is, he doesn't look fucking broken yet.]

[So Kris wanders into the toy store. Strolls up to the counter. Points at the pint-size guitar hanging on the wall behind the kid. Makes a proposition.]

I can't pay for that now. But if you let me borrow it for an hour, I'll get you double asking price. I won't leave your line of sight, even. Right outside there. [She thumbs over her shoulder.] C'mon, you know nothing else interesting is gonna happen today.

[And that's how Kris Pulaski ends up leaned against a glass display window, a teeny-tiny crap-ass guitar with a tinny ten-watt amp tucked against her. Before she taps the amp on, she tests and finds, inexplicably, that it's in tune. So, you know. Life is weird sometimes.]

[A few moments later, a power chord cuts the air, and the neutral mall music is summarily drowned out. Her leather jacket's scrunched up by her feet, waiting patiently. Toss a coin, why don't you?]

ii. are you on the level

[As it turns out, the mall was better than whatever's going on out here. Not the information overload, although it is ridiculously overwhelming. No, it's the looks that start getting to her almost immediately. There's an edge to them she can't put her finger on. She's used to living on the fringes, but this is something else entirely, and she hates not understanding. It's dangerous.]

[Somebody's a busybody, though, bustling up to her with an armful of pamphlets, and that relaxes her. There's always one person who wants to help-slash-wants a front-row seat to your problems.]

[With moderate grace, she takes the pamphlets one at a time, scanning them relatively quickly before tucking them under her arm. The longer she looks, the more puzzled her expression.]

Kind of improbable that none of these have an extra head, huh?

[This seems to stop the helpful citizen in their tracks. Noticing the silence after a moment, Kris looks up, blinking.]

. . . Well, it kind of is, isn't it? All this variety and only ever one head?

[ok lmao]

iii. are you ready to swear right here, right now—

[She probably shouldn't even bother. But sometimes, she's the one who just has to know. Sometimes she's the dipshit.]

<< doropesch >> saw blade fish? come on. know when to quit.

un: mindblown

There is an obsession with odd fauna here. Can't say I'm familiar with the saw blade fish but there's definitely an obsession with the possibility of a furred trout.

you'd think they'd be tired of weird animals by now but I guess people adapt to their situations in whatever way works

no idea how I'd react to living here my whole life. maybe I'd be making up animals with knives on them too

but I feel like if it really existed a lot of idiots would have them as pets and get their arms mangled. that's also very human

You'd be surprised at their capacity for strange animals. Apparently things like me running around aren't enough for them.

I wonder what cultural zeitgeist we'd experience if we turned them all to using their imaginations to create something.

You'd be surprised at the willingness of people here to touch something dangerous. I have had several try petting me without asking.

What? Can't believe a fish can saw through a block of wood? Sounds like a you problem to me.

TDM: JUNE/JULY

kris pulaski | we sold our souls

iii thank you square hammer will be in my head all day now

<doropesch> i do not apologize

<mindblown>

3 <Glazed Donut>