TEST DRIVE MEME 003

[happyheartsstaff]

HAPPY HEARTS HOTEL

You wake up in a padded box. It rocks, gently, as though suspended in mid-air. You begin to stir, confusion or distress pushing you to try to sit up — and then the air begins to smell sweet, and you fall back asleep.

You wake up in a padded box. For a moment, you are beatifically calm. You don't know how you got here, or why, but that isn't really all that important. You don't need to know where you are. You're just... here. And here is a wonderful place to be.

But there is a niggling suspicion growing in the back of your mind. A suspicion that here is not somewhere you wanted to be. That it is not where you're supposed to be. You remember... chasing a white rabbit (or was it a person)? A mirror? Bright light, and green ivy crawling over your skin... Before you can worry too much, the box jolts, and then settles, and after a long moment the walls fall from around you to reveal —

A hotel lobby?

"Welcome to the Happy Hearts Hotel and Casino," says an attendant behind a desk. "We're so pleased you could join us. We have your room keys and Empathies here, please make an orderly line and we'll hand them out once we've confirmed identities. After that, feel free to explore the hotel! We highly recommend starting with the casino. Everyone's a winner here in Happy Hearts!"

Is this normal? It doesn't feel normal. And hey — you could swear you had shoes before!

I. SHALL WE DANCE, SHALL WE FLY

Those of you hoping to make use of The Pool of Tears today are in for a disappointment — it appears to have been shut down for the day to make room for a special event! Dozens of small vehicles that resemble pink flamingos are parked along the grounds by the pool, and others are being flown above it with varying levels of skill.

People wearing name tags identifying them as guest instructors mingle around the parked vehicles to offer lessons on how to fly the flamingos. They'll also allow the flamingos to be checked out to be used for recreation, regardless of whether the person checking them out has had flying lessons or not.

Why is this taking place in the pool area and not outdoors, you may ask? Why, because a crash landing in water is so much softer on the bones than on solid land, of course.

Or perhaps you were hoping to spend some time at the Caucus-Race, making use of the hotel's private gym. It seems that, too, had been taken over for an event — dance lessons! There are more guest instructors there to lead dances of all kinds, from groups to couples to private instruction. Even if you didn't intend to partake of them when you came here, you may find yourself bustled away and facing your partner for the lesson before you know it.

Still another handful of guest instructors have set up in the Mad Tea-Party, offering a variety of art lessons — from paintings to drawing to pottery to glassblowing! Have a glass of wine, or something stronger, and try your hand at one! Anyone who chooses to do so will get to keep whatever masterpiece they produce.

II. WE TRADE IN FAVORS

The guest instructors aren't the only ones visiting the hotel today. It seems some traveling merchants have come to pitch their wares, and they've set up shop in the hotel lobby. There's display cases of delicately crafted jewelry, all manner of glassware, bolts of fabric, boxes of precious stones and crystal.

Why come to them when you can get what you need for free from the hotel's boutique? There's just no comparison when it comes to exquisite craftsmanship, of course, or the quality of their raw materials. But should you need a reason beyond that — there's something a little magical about their wares. This necklace is spelled to ward off evil, that circuit will grant clear thought, anything made from this bolt of cloth will always keep the wearer perfectly warm or cool, carrying that crystal will give a boost of healing or luck.

They deal only in trade. Teas, if you have them, will fetch the highest price and get you the most unique items. If you don't happen to have a tea, you're not out of luck — they will also accept favors. Perhaps they will ask you to convince someone else to make a purchase as well, perhaps they will send you on a hunt for a specific item. Perhaps they will ask you for something more intangible, like the shape of a smile or the salt of tears. Not your own, of course, you must inspire them in someone else. Hopefully there's someone nearby who can help you with that.

III. SECRET MESSAGES

By your second or third pass around the hotel, after all the visitors have left, you may notice something that looks a little out of place. A loose rock in the otherwise solid structures of the pool area, a shimmer of green tucked in among all the white abstract sculptures in a hallway, an odd knot in the wood of a bench or chair somewhere in the hotel.

No members of the staff seem to have noticed it so far, but for that to remain the case you'll have to work quickly — and work together. Maybe the rock is up too high for one person to reach, maybe the sculptures are too heavy for one person to move, maybe someone needs to stand guard or distract the hotel staff while the other pries out the wood knot.

All those who succeed in retrieving the piece of heavy green paper hidden away will find the same message: a drawing of a caterpillar, accompanied by a series of numbers and the words call a friend.

IV. WELCOME HOME

Maybe you just want to be alone — well, that's what you have your room key for! Oysters room on the second and third floors of the hotel, one to a room. You were assured your room would be exactly what you'd always wished for — and for some, that's right! It's exactly as you would have decorated it yourself. But for others, their rooms are totally wrong. A grizzled cowboy can't have a pink room! Hotel staff are firm, though: every room is exactly as its owner wants it to be. Search your feelings, Oyster. You know it to be true.

On each bed are the Oysters' personal effects, minus weapons, as well as a towel folded in the shape of a heart, and a single foil-wrapped chocolate. If eaten, the chocolate is delicious, and incites a feeling of tender warmth in Oysters — not lust, but a desire for closeness. Why spend time in your room, when you could go find a new friend in the casino?

Anyone who participates in the second prompt will receive an item with a minor enchantment of their choosing! For players apping in this round, you can include it in your list of items. Current players can reply to the second comment on this page to receive approval of their enchanted item. Please direct any questions to the first comment on this page, and happy playing, Oysters!

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© tessisamess

Comments

[billowing]

"If needed, I will take silks and make us clothes," he answers, definitively, as if learning to sew were something that he could just easily learn and be good enough to hand-sew an entire wedding ensemble by the time they are to be wed. With no instruction.

He'd also build Wei Ying a house this way, if he wanted, if he needed one. He'd get down in the dirt and make bricks by his own handiwork, lay them, plank wood for floors, build him a bed, make him a hearth, make him a place to call home.

He would do anything for Wei Ying, and he need only say the words.

[sadflutenoises]

"Ah, Lan Zhan can even sew, what other talents have you been hiding?" he says with no small amount of amazement. Wei Wuxian can do basic patchwork, thread a needle, mend a torn seam, but when it comes to clothing construction, he can't say he's taken the time to study it overly much. Especially not something so fiddly as wedding clothes.

He pulls back just enough to start undressing, handing Lan Zhan his outer robe, though not without a hint of disappointment. Wriggling to reach the zipper to free himself from the dress ends up being a bad idea though, and he gives a faintly pained hiss as he aggravates that obnoxiously cracked rib from their time outside. At least the bruises have mostly vanished.

"Lan Zhan, can you... the zipper is stuck."

[billowing]

"I will learn," he responds, because the truth is he only knows how to so insofar as sewing up wounds or something similar. He's not even sure he can mend cloth if it isn't directly on a seam, but he'll figure it out. He can use his existing clothes as a pattern, and work from there.

He slides his robe back on and yes, it does carry a faint scent of Wei Ying underneath the alcohol. He reaches around Wei Ying to gentle his rib, and with the other hand, tries to get the zipper. It takes, uh, it takes a little back and forth. It truly is a little bit stuck.

"Breathe in for me?" he asks, as he pulls up the zipper once to pull it back down, and finally gets it all in one go.

[sadflutenoises]

He would've loved to ask Shijie for advice, she was good at most anything she put her hands to, and he was sure she'd know how to help, but it's unfortunate that dream has ended, and he has to be happy with what time he'd been given. But Lan Zhan's certainty, his belief in his own abilities is admirable, and even drunk, he's not about to question it. Whatever the state of their robes, if Lan Zhan makes them, he'll wear them proudly.

At Lan Zhan's bidding, he stops wriggling, and takes a slow breath, wincing only a little as the zipper finally releases. He makes a face and pinches lightly at the now-bare skin of his stomach as if it's betrayed him, as though that's the real problem and not simply, that he'd try to wear a dress that wasn't at all made to fit him. After a moment, he drops it, hand hovering over the injured rib instead.

"Mm, so I'll paint the lanterns, and Lan Zhan will make the robes. What else, what else... invitations? Ah- I should probably write those..." he remembers well enough the abrupt and impersonal tone of the invitation Lan Zhan had sent out for his nephew's one-month celebration.

[billowing]

"Wei Ying, you will have to practice," he responds. His handwriting isn't bad or anything, but it certainly is sloppy and uncared-for, as if he has many other things he'd rather be doing than writing.

He will say nothing about those invitations or how it had taken him hours just to compose the words he wanted to say, having scrapped drafts before it, that were too personal, that had too much to say from him. He won't mention that he hesitated the once and made a mistake, but it had been the umpteenth draft and he felt guilty wasting another sheet.

He says nothing of this, but instead, helps Wei Ying get into his robes. "We will need decorations," he adds. They will probably want ones that are red and gold, any sort. Perhaps flowers, if they can find any.

[sadflutenoises]

If Wei Wuxian's face wasn't already terribly honest, drink only makes him more so, and he wrinkles his nose at the idea of doing anything that even resembles writing lines.

"Practice? You should know better than anyone that my writing will only get worse the longer I have to do it, not better," he puffs his cheeks, leaning heavily on his husband, arms wrapping lazily around his neck now that he's at least mostly dressed again.

Decorating does sound better though, much better than writing lines. And even if he's never thought of planning a wedding for himself, he and Shijie had imagined hers on plenty of occasions. He knew more or less how it should look, and whatever they were lacking, well, Wei Wuxian had always been good at improvising. How hard could it be to find red and gold decorations?

"Okay, deal, I can decorate!" he nods, already considering what he might try to gather.

[billowing]

Wei Ying being excited about doing something for the wedding tugs at Wangji's heartstrings, makes him glad that he's hearing this from Wei Ying while he's drunk and speaking honestly. He'd maybe had doubts that Wei Ying would want to marry him, to pledge his love for him, and even so, to then want to spend the rest of their lives together.

"Do you want to try on more clothes, Wei Ying?" he asks, wondering if he might be ready to go up and retire for the night instead, as it is getting quite late and he would miss having his blanket.

He wouldn't rush Wei Ying though, not for the topic of their wedding, anyway.

[sadflutenoises]

Does he? Wei Wuxian seems to consider it, but since Lan Zhan insisted so kindly to try making them himself, he doubts anything else will measure up.

"Just yours," he laughs slyly, sliding his arms under Lan Zhan's outer robe while he's still wearing it to try to snake them into the sleeves. It makes for an awkward tangle of limbs, but Wei Wuxian doesn't appear to mind in the slightest as he sends his husband a flirtatious smile.

"Unless there's anything else you're dying to see me in."

[billowing]

He does have one more thing he'd like to see Wei Ying in, so he backs up and takes his overcoat off again, throwing it over Wei Ying's shoulders. It looks good on him, all the white, reminds him of when he'd come to study at Cloud Recesses.

Truthfully, his favorite thing to see Wei Ying in is just his red under-robes, not because they're red but because they really bring out the warm color of his skin, brightening him up. And they really show off his tiny waist and cling to his back. Just a little... He only looks respectfully.

[sadflutenoises]

Wei Wuxian makes a pleased sound, wrapping the robe around himself with a bright smile and delighted laughter. He still can't imagine how Lan Zhan deals with so many layers, even in the heat of summer, but if he thinks about it, the only time he's really seen Lan Zhan sweat is when he's-

"Lan Zhan!" he blurts, before those thoughts can run too much further, though the blush on his skin is more than enough to tattle on him, "last chance. Anything else, hm? Or would you rather just see them on the floor instead?"

[billowing]

He notices the blush, but Wei Ying is drunk so he refuses to allow himself such thoughts. "Maybe some other time," he answers, pulling Wei Ying close and planting a kiss on his cheek.

There's a knock at the door as the store manager asks if they need help in a tone that suggests that she thinks she may need to interrupt something going on between them.

Lan Wangji feels enough shame to say back: "No, we are done."