TDM: JUNE/JULY

[ryslighelpers]

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.

Comments

[oleaeuropaea]

Aw, you know how it is. [Vash's smile doesn't falter. Once more, his gaze settles on Vimes. Now that he's assured himself that he's not at risk from Knives, he can focus on the threat in front of him. He's almost certain that the man means well but... so did a lot of people on No Man's Land. That didn't make their bullets hurt any less, though.] We all have our ghosts, yeah?

[He dips his shoulder low, trying to cast off the hand clapped over him. He takes a single step back, then drops both hands into his pockets. He lifts up, bringing out the lining with him, showing that he's got nothing worth hiding. Then he shifts, showing off the holster strapped to his thigh, still missing its gun.

These are practiced motions, it would seem. He's done this before.]

I'm not here to cause trouble. Honest.

[burntcrunchybits]

[Ghosts, huh? Most of the time, Vimes manages to keep well clear of them, mainly by the simple approach of keeping the past thoroughly locked up. Some things are better left for dead, like an old watchman in a gutter.]

[But he's well aware that, sometimes, they come back up with a set of brass knuckles at the ready.]

Funny thing about trouble - it doesn't usually care if you're here for it, when it's here for you.

[The holster's an odd one. Guns, in the modern sense, haven't quite made it to the Disc (although gonnes are taking off in some parts of the city, much to Vimes' annoyance as a man who prefers the simple pleasures of a weighted truncheon), but it is immediately apparent that it's, well, a holster. It's for some kind of weapon. It's also empty. He's not entirely sure what to take from the message of I used to have a weapon, but I don't any more.]

And you look like a man who knows trouble. Am I wrong?

[oleaeuropaea]

[Vash flutters his lashes, as if somehow charm might get him out of this situation. A shrug is offered, little more than a casual roll of his broad shoulders. And despite the increased hostility, Vash hasn't once stopped smiling.]

It tends to find me more often than not. [He laughs like he's with a friend, rather than being busily questioned. If he's aware of the gravity of his situation, he says nothing of it.] But honest, sir, I'm new here. Haven't even had the time to sniff out any messes! You'd be better off asking around elsewhere.

[burntcrunchybits]

[Charm is maybe the one thing Vimes trusts less than innocence, and his scowl reflects that. That smile, too. That's the smile of someone who's been in this situation way too often. With every passing second, he's more sure that this is someone with something to hide.]

[Luckily for Vash, that's not actually a priority right now. After all, it's not like he can arrest him. He doesn't even know where the Watch is around here, or if citizen's arrest is an option.]

[Gods, he hates being a citizen.]

Uh-huh. And how come you're new here? Running from something?

[Or did you wake up with one foot in a mop bucket, too?]

[oleaeuropaea]

[Maybe it's a little meanspirited, laughing at the man like this. But in his defense, he's also laughing at himself. Nine times out of ten, that was exactly why Vash was a foreign face. Unfortunately for Vimes, though, in this case it's the furthest thing from the truth.]

Not quite! [Though there was some running involved, but only because he was hungry!] I just woke up here. No idea how it happened. I know it sounds weird and convenient, but I promise that's the truth!

[burntcrunchybits]

[Vimes grunts.]

[It's the best response he can come up with in the moment, is the thing. Under any other circumstance, he'd laugh right back, and probably follow it up with a clip around the ear for taking the piss with such a lazy lie, but...]

Funny thing, truth. Once in a while, it's pretty weird and convenient.

[That's the nearest thing you're getting to I believe you.]

But you think something followed you. [Not a question. He doesn't believe in questions, at a time like this.]