monsterooc | TDM #1;

TDM #1;

TEST DRIVE
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one; a rough morning

[The TDM will not be game canon, except for the very first part where characters awaken and interact with the nurse. The prompts will be the same every month in order to keep all the focus and attention on the events in the game itself!]

You wake up dazed and confused, laying on what appears to be a metal cot tucked in the corner of a room, a single window is beaming it's sunlight from the wall right beside you. The room is very small, with only the one bed walled off by curtains that drape from the middle of the room to separate it from the rest of the world. The air smells dusty, with a hint of something metallic that lingers in the back of your throat. You feel tired, and weak. Head dizzy, face warm, and you can't move any part of your body except for the eyes. Panic starts to set in, when you realize that no matter how hard you try to move a leg, or an arm, there's absolutely no response from your body whatsoever. But thankfully or not, you aren't left alone with that panic for long.

You can hear the sound of rifling through drawers. A pause. And then a soft, yet husky voice calls out to you from the other side of the curtain: "Hang on there sweetie, I'll be right with you."

Not a moment passes before a large, clawed hand reaches in through your curtain and grabs hold of the fabric. For a moment, your heart is caught in your throat. You try to get up, to run, but you couldn't get away in time even if you could move. In only seconds, the hand throws the fabric aside to reveal...

...an older looking woman, at least from the head to the middle of her torso. But what's connected to her torso is what startles you the most.

She has the tail of a snake, a corn snake with her colors bright and vibrant as the ones you've seen in pictures. Within her arms is a clipboard and pen, which she picks up and clicks to begin writing something down.

"Well hello there, dear. I'm Ms. Morgan and you're wondering why you can't move, right? That would be my fault, I'm afraid. Until I can get you checked out properly, I've paralyzed you so you don't freak out and make things worse for me."

She continues to write, until hitting the bottom of the page. From there she flips it over, and checks off a few more things.

"While I've got you here, I can at least tell you a little bit about what's going on. It's a long story, but within the last decade a deathly plague has been cropping up here and there. It'll get any critter, whether they're covered in fur or scales, and no one understands where it came from or how we can get rid of it. Our top brains tried and tried to find a way to help the ill, but every single time ended with a failure and another broken heart.

We've really done about everything we could think of, and we'd given up hope for a couple of years. But just recently there's been a breakthrough, and someone had the bright idea to mix foreign DNA with ours and see if any of it could make some kind of cure. I don't really get it, myself but I'm desperate enough to do anything."

Without warning, Ms. Morgan raises her gaze towards you and you're suddenly able to use your limbs again. Though, you feel like you've got pins and needles in every single inch of your body and it makes it a little hard to properly move anything at first.

"But that's where you come in. Before you woke up, I had injected you with a little bit of the plague, and a little bit of somethin' special to help your body acclimate to it better. Our uh.. "leader".. wants to observe your symptoms for a little while, so you're quarantined to this big building for now.

I wouldn't recommend trying to leave, anyway. It's so dang foggy outside that without a guide, you'll be wandering around for weeks."

The older woman then turns the clipboard to face you, and shoves it towards you with the pen. It's a stat page, by the looks of it. Things like your height, weight, and descriptors of what you look like. At the bottom of the page is a line for a signature.

"Now if you wouldn't mind... could you sign this paper? It won't matter much at the end of the day, since you don't really have a choice about something that already happened, but it shows us who is and isn't willing to participate in finding a cure. Aka: who is and isn't going to be a pain in the ass."

You can take the paper and sign it, or you may refuse. Either way, she'll take the clipboard back and start to usher you up from the bed and towards the door.

"I know all of this is a little overwhelming and unfair, but I'm going to warn you that if you start going on some rampage the moment you leave this room you're not going to like what'll happen to 'ya! You'll be thrown in detention for the smaller stuff, but if you do something real bad then you'll get expelled... which is just a fancy word around here for executed.

So be careful out there, sweetie. Don't get into any trouble."

As soon as you are out the door, you are met with about 30 other people standing in a crowd. You begin to scan their faces, one by one. They look about as confused as you do, and the closer you look the more you notice. A number, printed onto the skin of those standing around you. On his cheek, her neck, their arm...

....where's yours?

two; and there was only one bed

It's time to hit the sack after a long, confusing day and you've been given a number and a letter to find your assigned room. Lucky monsters will find themselves with their own room, a single bed that only has accommodations for one. The less lucky will find themselves with one roommate, two beds fit snugly inside. And the unluckiest will have to live in the bunk-bed rooms, which can have two to six bunks in one room. Each room has one bathroom attached, the bigger rooms with more beds will have two. Every room will have dressers and cabinets for storage and a closet to hang clothes.

You'll have to learn to live in peace and share with your roommates, otherwise snide comments and petty arguments are going to be pretty tough to avoid in such cramped rooms! You can always trade rooms if you make friends outside of your dorm, there's no rules about swapping or sleeping over as long as you get a decent amount of sleep every night.

If you're a little hungry, you can head over to the cafeteria to get yourself some grub. From raw meat, bags of blood, and piles of freshly cleaned bones to crisp vegetables and fruits, impossible meat in any form you can think of, and sweets upon sweets made with all sorts of ingredients to accommodate any diet. It's a buffet style room that's serve your own everything, there's even soft serve stations!

There's a curfew for when you're allowed to get yourself something to eat, and when you're supposed to be going to bed. However, if you stay up late the only punishment you'll be privy to is having to go to class with only an hour of sleep.

The curfew, for those curious, looks like this:

DINING HOURS - 6 AM to 10 PM
BEDTIME - 11 PM

three; something's changing

It's been about 3 days since you'd been pricked in the arm with that mysterious liquid, and it seemed like it was any normal shot you would have had to take before entering a new school. No side effects besides a little swelling, at the beginning. But after day three you begin to feel... strange. And you realize that this isn't any old injection.

Shivering, sweating, and a little headache begin to settle and not long after is when your body will begin to change. For some it's extremely painful, but for the lucky it almost seems to work like magic with no feeling to it whatsoever. It may lasts seconds, it may last days, but slowly and surely new limbs start to pop out of your body. Maybe you grow a foot or two in height, or shrink down to six inches tall? There's unfortunately no way to stop it from happening, but that's why you're all at this Academy! If you ever wondered why there were so many creatures that staffed the halls of this school... there's your answer.

They're here to teach you about your new anatomy, and if your changes are bringing you too much pain you can go to the Nurse's office and she can help you through them with painkillers, bandages, ice/heating pads, kisses on your booboos or just a place to take a nap for a few hours until it's all (hopefully) over.

Head on over to the Monster Page to see what monsters you can play around with! The Unlocked monsters will be available as the game progresses!

four; put to the test

In the early hours of a particularly foggy Monday, every student and teacher will hear the voice of what sounds to be six different people speaking at once, in the same tone and infliction in order to unify into one voice. It's unfamiliar, a voice belonging to someone you haven't yet seen. Not that it's known for sure, but it belongs to the Headmaster of Monster Heights. An Angel who views the new monsters as children, creatures they personally gave life to. Their tone gives off that vibe entirely, sounding amused and warm like a loving parent.

Good morning, new friends. It's been about... oh... two weeks, shall we say? Since you were scooped up from your little homes and brought into our loving arms? Two weeks since the beginning of new life, the beginning of new possibilities and yet some of you have really been causing such a ruckus. Arguing with teachers, refusing to cooperate, always wanting to leave and find your way home...

Their voice trails off, and they end with a weary sigh. They shift into a tone of empathy, but at the same time they sound... patronizing. And it's hard to tell if it's on purpose.

We get it. We really do. You don't understand this environment or the vision we have for you, and you would probably rather be somewhere familiar instead.

Trust us, our children. As would we. We only have the energy for plucking you out of your habitats, but we are working on a way to put you back in. It may take days... or months... but we will let you go back. One day.

In the meantime, we must begin your curriculum. And what better way to start than a fitness test? What can you do, now that you're different than before? And what will you improve after a year of learning, growing, and experiencing with your mentors?

We can't wait to see.

It's time for your first test! Every now and then, the students will be asked to perform a few physical tasks in order to see how well adjusted they become to their new bodies. There will be tests to see how high, far, and fast monsters are able to fly. How powerful their magic is. How well they're able to see in the dark, how fast they can run. All these and more will be held all around the Academy, and every time a student finishes a test they are given a "Good Job!" sticker to put somewhere on their body. Each color coded to which test was performed. If you gather all stickers, you may win a prize!*

*prizes vary from a plastic trophy to a foam #1 finger and many other novelty toys made for children who win competitions

**characters who become teachers may help with testing! but they also will be able to take the tests themselves and win prizes

five; a helping hand

Either you were asked to help out, were dragged along because you looked useful, or you asked directly yourself if you could help. There's a noticeable lack of teachers, janitors, cooks, and pretty much any other staff member you could think of so once the existing staff realized that some of the new arrivals fit the bill for what they needed they quickly sprang into getting all the helping hands they could.

You're brought to the faculty room, a large break room that's more like two rooms together, fitted with a conference table as well as a little lounge with two couches, a tv, and a water cooler with hot water options as well. There's a little kitchen that has a microwave, coffee and tea pots, sink, and a fridge. Luckily, the power will never go out in here as everything is powered with magic instead of actual electricity!

On the conference table, there's a large gift basket full of those edible fruit-on-a-stick bouquets with a 'Welcome, new faces!' note set neatly on the table in front of it. Some of the fruit kebabs are dipped in chocolate, some of them are plain!

Teachers are given an assigned classroom, a schedule, and a pamphlet that shows them generally what to expect as a teacher. They choose exactly what they want to teach, but there's usually an obvious reason why they were picked. Someone who arrives with a pair of wings might be asked to teach flying, for example.

There's uniforms for janitors and chefs, and the nurse's aids will be given their own personal first aid kids. Every job has their own little crash-course, and everyone with a job will be expected to still take classes about their new monster body parts and powers. They'll have to juggle their own schedules, picking times out of their jobs to take a class or two. They may also opt to take classes on their days off, as there are always classes being taught every day of the week.

code bases by tricklet

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1. Rude Awakening
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” It’s half a cry and half a shout. And it’s the only warning everyone gets before something unfortunate happens to the door. Namely that it gets ripped off its hinges by a gout of fire and violent, violet, energy. Then Shionne throws herself through the doorway along with the flames and the sparks.

…It’s already pretty clear that someone doesn’t appreciate waking up to a room full of medical equipment, needles, and feeling all the world like she’s a labrat. ~~Again.~~ One hopes that the perfectly nice cornsnake nurse was spared the worst of the fire and thorn-like sparks.

“S-stay… AWAY.” Shionne’s eyes are almost all pupils with little more than a thin ring of glowing blue surrounding them, and she doesn’t seem to even register the cinders nipping at her skin. Or the left over thorn-sparks jumping off her body, picking up on her agitation.

But she also seems to have burnt through whatever desperate energy she had before.

“I don’t… I’m NOT going to be your damn test subject.” She all but spits that out, while her thorns continue to spark. A bit of caution might be in order with approaching her.

2. Comfort Food
Sometime afterwards, and likely after receiving a very firm lecture (and/or detention) about not blowing doors off their hinges, AND making it clear to the faculty that touching her is a bad idea, Shionne is a degree calmer. At least she’s not going to set anything on fire again, anytime soon.

Instead, she’s made herself at home by raiding the cafeteria… And cooking a truly alarming number of pancakes, with just about every filling imaginable. Chocolate chips? Berries? Macaroni and cheese? All present and then some.

One would think she wouldn’t be able to eat all of those in one sitting, but she has an even larger than usual appetite. Still, she probably wouldn’t bristle if anyone sat across from her and also dug in.

“...At least the food is good.” Shionne admits to herself. Silver lining!

3. Turn And Face The Strange
(WARNING: Self Mutilation for this prompt, and this prompt only.)
Three days gone by. At least she hasn’t been poked or prodded any further… Though that relief only lasts until Shionne finds herself walking the school grounds. Something in her says she needs the fresh air, a walk near a fountain. She takes her lunch with her, and perches on the rim… And that’s when she catches her reflection, and sees the feathers/scales growing from her arms, and feels a strange biting sensation along her skin. Almost like her thorns have been turned inward.

Maybe it isn’t a surprise then, that she drops her lunch and starts clawing at her arms, trying to get whatever it is off.

“...What is this?” She just manages through gritted teeth.

4. Testing
…Oh. It’s very clear someone isn’t very happy about that message. That much is clear with the tenseness in Shionne’s shoulders; the new growths of scales/feathers give an odd rustling at that. And she keeps glaring up at the sky like she’s ready to personally pick a fight with it.

But at the same time… She’s also worried about the impact of her changes. And what they’ve done to her artes. So maybe a bit of testing is in order. There’s some convenient targets set up, both for trying her magic AND venting her frustration-

Even if there… Might be a small explosion that follows that first cast. Followed by a fire she’s rushing to put out with ANOTHER arte, this time water. At least her magic doesn’t seem too affected by any of this?

5. WILD CARD!
((Come at me, monster bros!))

((OOC: Brackets or prose in replies, I’m fine with either! Monster-wise, considering Valkyrie: Phoenix variant, Mermaid: Base Version, and Angel: Base Version for her! Also, Shionne is very much under the effect of the Curse of Thorns. Direct physical contact comes with free, involuntary, painful, and incapacitating energy shocks!))

Edited 2022-12-21 20:53 (UTC)

1. Rough Morning.

As a hard drinking musician, Kikuri is no stranger to waking up and feeling like absolute shit. Hell, it would be a strange change of pace for her to wake up feeling good, considering what an alcohol-induced blur last night was.

But the rest of this situation? The hospital bed, the snake-lady, the fact that she's apparently been injected with some kind of disease? That's far outside of her comfort zone. She gazes at the woman's snake-half with concern as she waves off the clip board.

"Sorry, but I'm probably gonna be a pain in the ass." That would be par for the course for her life, after all. Besides, she's way too sober to be making major life decisons - she's going to need at least 3 drinks before she starts signing inadvisable papers.

Not long after that, she's ushered outide the door. Her head is throbbing, and her guts feel like they're twisting themselves in knots - she's scared, and as hungover as she's ever been. In Kikuri's experience, there's only one solution to both of those conditions.

"Anybody got anything to drink?"

3. Something's Changing (Brownie)

"W-What the hell?!"

Kikuri is among the more fortunate of students, in one regard. Her transformation isn't especially painful. Her teeth are already pretty sharp, and the lengthening of her ears only feels like a strange tingle. It could be far, far worse in that regard.

However, that's where her good fortune stops. She's in the middle of the hallway when she trips over her own sandal - her feet suddenly too small to properly wear them. And by the time she starts to pick herself up, her body is even smaller - her jacket is practically draped over her, much too large.

"How the hell am I supposed to play bass like this?! I won't be able to hold it up!"

Wildcard.

((Have an idea? Hit me up!))

For-- for better or worse, Priyet had been ambling along not too far behind Kikuri right before the transformation had really kicked in. She's quiet, despite being so inhumanly tall, and...

Given that she's barely a teenager and they're in Monster Land currently, it doesn't occur to her that someone who's suddenly shrank might find a giant cat...beast terrifying. Even if said werebeast is just squatting beside her, big, fumbling paws trying to pick up the too-large jacket and sandals. She's trying to be helpful! She really is! She even offers reassurance, in a strange, warbly voice.

"Maybe they make basses that are smaller, here? ...Are you okay? If it's hard to walk on little legs, I can...I can carry you?"

Shionne Vymer Imeris Daymore | Tales of Arise | OTA

Kikuri Hiroi | Bocchi the Rock! | OTA

3

Something's Changing

3

monsterooc | TDM #1;

Priyet | Nier Re[in]carnation

roommates

awakening

put to test

Natsume Sakasaki || ensemble stars!!

no subject

ii!

1

01

Valery Legasov | Chernobyl |OTA

2

1. A Rough Morning

Lt. Col. John Sheppard | Stargate: Atlantis | OTA

3.

1!

Gideon Nav | Locked Tomb Series

III!

Ky Kiske | Guilty Gear | OTA!

C!

Emerick Jones | Cyberpunk RED

Gabi Braun | Attack on Titan