TEST DRIVE MEME 001 (#2)

[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 for our grand opening gala. 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. THE CASINO FLOOR

As you pass through the entrance to the casino floor, an attendant passes you a small bag of chips. The casino is loud and bright and filled with games of every kind — you want to play poker? They've got a table for that. Sabacc? There's a table for that, too. Slots, pachinko, and bingo are just a few of the other games on offer. The attendant in the lobby wasn't lying, either — everyone who plays wins. Everyone, every time.

Servers wander the floor with trays of shotglasses full of multi-coloured liquids, offering them to every Oyster "Compliments of Her Royal Highness." If you're expecting alcohol, though, you'll be surprised — these drinks are teas made of the distilled emotions of every Oyster in the hotel. Each colour of tea corresponds to a different emotion, and as soon as you take a sip, you feel overcome with that emotion.

JOY — the distilled essence of happiness, this tea makes even the most rough and tumble of Oysters giddy with happiness — for a moment. The effect fades into a general sense of contentment and affability after a few seconds, and that itself fades away slowly over the course of twenty minutes.

ANGER — this tea, anger in liquid form, can make the most even-tempered of Oysters ready to absolutely blow a gasket. For twenty minutes, anyone who drinks this tea will find themselves much more easily annoyed, frustrated, and all around irritable and snappy.

SADNESS — distilled sadness is a potent tea, capable of turning a stoic, stalwart Oyster into a blubbering mess in moments. Events that may have previously only been a minor disappointment become the end of the world, every repressed unhappiness comes to the fore, and for twenty minutes, any Oyster who drinks a sadness tea can hardly keep themselves together.

II. MAKING WAVES

If gambling isn't to your interest, there are many other areas of the hotel to explore! For the moment, only The Pool Of Tears and the Pig & Pepper Buffet are available for Oysters to peruse, but the staff assure anyone who asks that the other facilities will be open by the next day. Unfortunately, that means no one can buy any swimsuits from This Elegant Thimble, but the staff aren't going to kick anyone out of the pool for jumping in in their clothes!

There are four main attractions to The Pool of Tears: the pool, the jacuzzi, the wave pool, and the lazy river. The water is always just the right temperature, clean and clear and refreshing. It feels as if the sun shines down from above you, warm and comforting. Scattered through the pool area are clusters of modern lounge chairs, just waiting for someone to come relax in them. The Pool is, in a word, serene.

But not for long. The waves generated by the wave pool begin to get choppier, and larger, until it becomes clear that the generator itself is malfunctioning — too late, however, to avoid the tsunami that crashes through the whole Pool and leaves it flooded. Thankfully, no water escapes into the rest of the hotel, and the hotel staff work quickly to rescue those trapped in the Pool and drain the flooding — but you better hope you can tread water until they get to you!

III. EAT ME, DRINK ME

The Pig & Pepper buffet serves lunch foods from across all different cultures, offering something for everyone, and some things you've never even heard of.

On offer with these lunchtime dishes are cookies and biscuits and scones of all kinds, held on tiered trays with signs that proclaim Eat Me! in delightfully whimsical calligraphy. Nearby, hotel staff man a small booth for doling out cups of fruit waters from large pitchers, which have Drink Me! painted playfully on their sides.

It takes a while to feel the effects — perhaps you've even left the Pig & Pepper by the time it happens — but those who eat the cookies and scones inevitably end up growing in size, whether a few inches or feet, and those who drank the fruity water similarly shrink. Eat enough and you might strain the ceiling; drink enough and you'll be the size of a thimble! It's not permanent — if no one else can help you figure out how to get back to normal, the staff certainly will — but it's definitely inconvenient!

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?

Welcome to the (second!) first TDM of Happy Hearts, a new panfandom roleplaying game here on DW! If you have any questions, please direct them to the first comment on this page. Happy playing, Oysters!

PREMISE RULES FAQ TAKEN RESERVES APPLICATION MOD CONTACT HIATUS & DROPS WORLD INFO NPCS CALENDAR AC REWARDS

© tessisamess

Comments

text ; un: lan.wangji

[inquiryguqin]

Wei Wuxian? Is that you?

Are you well?

text

[scaredofdogs]

Lan Zhan? Yeah it's me! I'm okay except I think I'm a little shorter then normal now.

[inquiryguqin]

I’m relieved. I just woke up.

They have tea here? You are short...?

[scaredofdogs]

It's not good, Lan Zhan. Don't drink it! It makes you act all strange. Even more strange then alcohol. And ever since I drank something the stuff around me gets getting bigger.

[inquiryguqin]

Okay I may had drink one and eaten something too because I didn’t have anything to eat since I woke up.

Where are you? Let me find you so we don’t get lost.

[scaredofdogs]

Big noisy room with lots of people.

[he is the most helpful.]

I think this is the lowest floor.

[inquiryguqin]

I am on my way.

Lan Wangji made his way to the main lobby of the hotel. He was greeted by one of the attendants. Was handed a bag of chips to play the games. Decline the tea drinks offered by the server.

He was the way Wei Wuxian remembers him. The same stoic Lan Zhan with a fixed marbled expression, wearing his snow-white robes and a headband tied around his head. Except he is much taller.

"Wei Ying? You're shorter. What happened?"

[scaredofdogs]

"Lan Zhan!" A very chibified Wei Wuxian runs over to Lan Wangji's legs. "I drank the tea and it happened! The food around here isn't safe."

So tall...He cranes his neck back to try and look up at Lan Wangji's face.

[inquiryguqin]

Lan Zhan bends his neck down and is horrified to see his friend and companion that he has known for many years has shrunk down to sizes, his robes are loose

"Wei Ying, what have you done? The food and drinks is the cause...?"

[scaredofdogs]

"I certainly didn't ask to be this size! All I did was drink something that was begging to be drunk! It even said 'drink me' on it. But I'll never drink something that has a sign ever again."

He's clearly pouting, "And I keep getting smaller!! Before you got here I could at least see over the games and now..."

And now the world has become very large. "What If I keep shrinking into nothingness?" He really doesn't want to die again.

[inquiryguqin]

"You drink just because it's only free." He sighed, and he bends down to kneel at his level because he is tall. With two fingers pressed against his neck to check his pulse. Hopefully, it wasn't anything he eats or drinks that are poison.

So far, so good. His friend doesn't seem to be in distress. In good health. He seems to be fine.

"Then stop eating the same thing and eat something else. Whatever you ate, it must be magical food. At the very least, let's find out where we are first."

Taking a look around, then back to his chibified friend. "Did you woke up here as well?"

[scaredofdogs]

"I don't want to eat anything..who knows what else could happen!" He could turn purple or something. But he can't argue..he did drink it because it was free.

He nods and clings to the front of Lan Wangji's robes once he kneels down. "I woke up in some weird egg thing with no shoes. Who takes a person's shoes??"

[inquiryguqin]

"We have to go and search for something else." Lan Wangji can hold off hunger and drink better. Seeing the attendants are looking just fine. "I think not everything is magical around here."

Calmly, "My shoes are gone too." Because right, what are shoes and socks anyway? So he is walking barefoot. It's not uncomfortable.

In the meanwhile, he kneels much lower and offers his hand for Wei Wuxian to hop on.

"Come on. I'll carry you."

[scaredofdogs]

How humiliating..but he does climb onto the hand. It's better then taking 1,000 tiny steps to Lan Wangji's one. He'd be exhausted before they ever found a cure.

One the scale of strange things to happen to him in his lifetimes..this ranks at the top. "I hope no one else we know sees me like this." Jiang Cheng would probably just step on him and be done with it...

[inquiryguqin]

This is the strangest thing that ever happened. Why Wei Wuxian is so small and tiny? He'll have to get to the bottom of this and figure out a cure for this enchantment.

He stroke through his hair with a fingertip, a gesture of comfort and safety. "I won't let anything to you. You're not in any pain, are you? Nothing is broken?"

It's really high up considering how tall Lan Wangji is, so it's best for Wei Wuxian to stay calm and don't panic when Lan Wangji stood up to his full height. From the height, it maybe very far down and if he isn't careful, it's a dangerous drop if he falls.

[scaredofdogs]

It's a good thing high places don't scare him but this is definitely unsettling. He sits down on that hand and probably is gripping a finger pretty hard. Don't look down...

It's an odd sensation to be petted but..he's kind of enjoying it. Write that one down as unusual things he likes. "Physically I feel fine. Nothing feels different at all. But the world is definitely a lot different when you are tiny."

[inquiryguqin]

"That's good." So he is fine, fine. Just very small. "Don't look down."

Slowly taking a pace, he makes sure Wei Wuxian grips one of his fingers with his tiny hands. If food and drink is the cause of his shrinking, then...

He asked one of the staff attendants for assistance. They smiled brightly. It seems the cure is simply the food and drinks itself. But the opposite type to make someone larger.

"Here, eat this. This should bring you back to your size." He offered a cookie. He broke it up into a small piece, small enough for Wei Wuxian to eat.

[scaredofdogs]

He stares at the cookie in distrust. "You really want to trust what they say? They are the ones that put us in this mess!" But he takes the piece of cookie that would be considered a crumb to most people.

"It's going to take a lot of cookie to get me back to normal.."

[inquiryguqin]

"I suppose they're magical cookies, but they said eating this will help you return back to your size."

It's pretty much the same type of cookies with the "Eat me" sign beside the "Drink me".

"Try it, and then we'll figure out where are we. Because I'm pretty sure we're not home anymore."

[scaredofdogs]

"Yeah definitely not..I'd rather go back to Yi City then deal with this." He chews on the crumb. At least it isn't a bad tasting cookie.

"You better not drop me if I start to get heavy." It's a long way down.

[inquiryguqin]

"Yes, Wei Ying I remember. Now please eat. If nothing works then..."

By omission, he doesn't want to lie that he has no idea what to do other than to study the magic of this world if they're going to stay for a while.

"I'll catch you if you fall. I will not drop you."

Which can be said it happened several times back home during the two lives of his best friend.

[scaredofdogs]

"It's going to work because I refuse to be this tiny forever!" He shoves the whole piece in his mouth and holds out his hand for another crumb as he munches.

He's thankful that the person he found was Lan Wangji. At least he doesn't have to deal with this alone.

[inquiryguqin]

Lan Wangji doesn't know what he'll do if Wei Wuxian is on his own and he is alone. Leave him alone long enough to stir trouble!

Wangji breaks out another small piece of cookie and presents it closely to him within reach, feeding him.

"Eat slowly."

Hopefully, it works and with enough eating, Wei Wuxian is slowly growing larger and bigger than the size of his hand.

[scaredofdogs]

"The faster I eat, the faster I get bigger." But he also doesn't want to choke so he at least takes this crumb a little slower.

As he's eating he looks at the hand he is sitting in, "I think it's working!" This is definitely encouraging. "One drink made me this small so hopefully one cookie takes it away."

Except his stomach is quite small right now so eating just that little bit of cookie is filling. He just has to take it slow until his stomach grows too.

[inquiryguqin]

"I'm glad. Then that means you have to eat more to grow."

It does indeed work. Wei Wuxian seems a bit bigger now, just the size of his entire palm of his hand that he can gently wrap his fingers around.

"Can you eat more or have enough? If you're full, I can save the cookie for later."