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

[billowing]

[ On the contrary, this garment is a nice fabric. It has texture to it which roughly resembles a brocade. It has a nice pattern. It reminds him slightly of Wei Ying's clothes with the spots on it that look like cow spots. It has ribbons that match his hair. It has a proper neckline and everything. And it looks like it was made with care. ]

Mm. Better.

[ But he won't mind if Wei Ying goes off to get a second opinion from a nice young shop girl. He really was always excessively flirtatious. He obviously had Lan Wangji assuming the incorrect things at the start as a result. ]

You need pants.

[ He says this, remembering their earlier conversation. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[Having been in Mo Xuanyu's body for so long he has kept most of his flirting to the male side of things, having to keep up appearances. But they aren't on their world and here people don't know of the other man's tendencies. For Wei Wuxian, the only man in his sights is Lan Wangji but he can't help but still let that flirt flag fly once in awhile. But not seeing any employees in the vicinity he keeps his attentions here.]

You did a good job with the shirt, let's see how you do with my lower body.

[Said perhaps a little coyly as he sidles up to Lan Wangji. He forgets that this particular Lan Wangji might not be used to his games while in this body. When he was still hopeful that the other didn't know who he was, he would often lay on him at night and mess with him, playing off the fact that this man's reputation proceeded him and that Lan Wangji had willingly taken him home regardless.]

[billowing]

[ Lan Wangji is, in fact, slightly confused about this sudden proximity, but he brushes it off as yet another odd quirk of Wei Ying's. He likes to flirt without meaning to flirt. He likes to be close, and yet as soon as Lan Wangji thinks of opening up and reciprocating his affections, he does something stupid like ask if Lan Wangji is interested in Mian Mian.

He tries his best to ignore this display of... this display, and he is very, very good at ignoring things. ]

Here.

[ He picks out a simple pair of black culottes and there wasn't an edit to this.... Obviously... he picks up a belt instead, which is a red ribbon, matching with the general aesthetic. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[Luckily Wei Wuxian is used to Lan Wangji ignoring his antics so he isn't bothered by it as he gets handed a pair of culottes and the ribbon. He nods in approval and this time he actually goes to dressing room to get changed.

While he is in there he also collects his clothing and puts them in a neater pile while also hanging up the two rejected shirts. Then once dressed he admire the look in the mirror. It's actually not a bad look and Wei Wuxian nods his approval before heading back out to show off his new wardrobe.]

Everything is so light and airy. [Not hard when used to wearing leather and layers.]

Does this look suit me, Lan Zhan? Should I wear it while I show you around the hotel?

[billowing]

If you wish.

[ Lan Wangji meanwhile goes back into the dressing room to put on his old clothes because he thinks they suit him better. This manner of dress is too breezy and light. It makes him feel uncomfortably exposed.

He is out quickly for the fact that his clothes take a long time to put on, since there are so many pieces. ]

How much is yours?

[ He rifles through for his money, intending to put both articles of clothing on his dime because he's sweet like that and he knows Wei Ying can't afford to bankroll himself. ]

[scaredofdogs]

Everything here is free, Lan Zhan. The hotel doesn't charge for anything.

[Which means Wei Wuxian is going into the dressing room that Lan Wangji just came out of and grabbing those clothes as well as his normal clothes and carrying all of it one of the people in charge.]

Food, drinks, games..use of the facilities. All of it is just given to us.

[billowing]

All of it?

[ That seems incredibly fishy, Wei Ying, how are you not seeing this. ]

We shouldn't accept.

[ No one just gives this all for free and expects nothing in return. Remember when the Wens offered to train everyone out of the goodness of their hearts? ]

[scaredofdogs]

[Wei Wuxian might not trust it but what choice does he have? It's not like he has any money anyway.]

If you don't accept it, then you're going to starve.

[He hands the clothes to the associate who agrees to have them sent to his room. He smiles at her cutely as he gives her his room number. Flirting at its finest as she giggles and takes the clothing away.

He then turns back to Lan Wangji.]

I know this isn't going to be easy for you, Lan Zhan..but a lot about this place doesn't make much sense.

[Two Lan Wangji's for instance. Greatest fantasy..or nightmare? Hard to say.]

[billowing]

[ Obviously a nightmare, as one of them is busy still trying to wrap his mind around the whole situation and slowly feeling like the more Wei Ying just accepts what's going on, the madder they've all become. ]

Try to explain.

[ He takes one of the bags to carry as they leave the store. He hopes that things start making a modicum more sense soon, or else he might start to lose some of the cool and calm he's reputed to always having. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[Wei Wuxian has spent three weeks dealing with various crazy effects and it no closer to understanding any of it. He hasn't given up, but he has decided that wasting energy trying to figure out the impossibility of it all is exactly what would drive him mad.]

What we've been able to figure out so far..is that the hotel is basically harnessing emotions..or studying them..or just runs on it. I'm not sure exactly what it wants with it. But the most it pushes us into impossible situations..the more emotions it can pull from us.

[He starts counting his misfortunes on his fingers.]

I've been shrunksmall, drank something that made me feel happiness, was blind in a hotel that was constantly changing, and most recently under a lust spell..

[billowing]

[ This is a lot. This has all happened in three weeks? ]

Wei Ying.

[ He has died before. That was his choice. Coming back -- coming back in someone else's body, was not. Being driven to madness, to hatred, was not. Even becoming happy, though it is usually a good thing, was not done by his choice.

Lan Wangji wishes, more than anything, to keep Wei Ying from harm. To keep him from this stupid hotel's tricks, dragging him along by his destiny, reminding him he is just a puppet as any of the puppets they had fought.

It was unjust. It was unfair! They had finally been freed - Lan Wangji, finally having secured a position of influence to tell everyone the truth, and then wait for their insidious social sphere to do all the gossiping for them as he took off to go join Wei Ying in an adventure that was finally just their own. No longer tied to their titles of Yiling Patriarch, or of Chief Cultivator, they were free to choose their own future.

He grits his teeth, and sharply inhales his anger, before letting it go. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[Wei Wuxian looks up at the other man. His life has never been easy and perhaps he has gotten used to always being pulled along as a piece of someone else's plan. The more he fights it, the deeper the hole he gets tossed into. But at least the hotel's tricks are temporary and he can shrug them off as soon as they are over. They aren't like the scars that were left on his soul after all the events of his previous life were played out.

He watches the very subtle expressions that pass over Lan Wangji's face. Even if the other doesn't realize it, Wei Wuxian has learned how to read him pretty well. But he isn't sure if the anger he sees is at the hotel or something else.

But during his time here he has figured out other things..about himself and about Lan Wangji. Even if this is a different one, the men are the same and he imagines so are their feelings towards him.]

Are you worried, Lan Zhan?

[Perhaps Wei Wuxian should be worried too. Without his dark cultivation methods..he is very much just a normal human in a weak body with no golden core. If the hotel were really dangerous there isn't a whole lot he could do. And even his emotions had always been something that got him in trouble. And maybe that is why the hotel has been so difficult on him. He makes for an easy target.]

[billowing]

[ Wangji means to forget about worldly matters, and Bichen to relinquish oneself of worldly goods. And yet, here he is, deeply concerned over their lives, their roles, their hopes squandered.

He supposes, he has not really been aptly named for at least the last few years. ]

Are you not?

[ But he continues on, walking with Wei Ying as they are wont to do. It shouldn't be so hard to show him everything about the hotel anyway, so he should at least try to remain calm through the tour. ]

[scaredofdogs]

I don't have to be worried when I'm by your side.

[Lan Wangji is a source of strength for him and as long as they are together they can take on anything. At least that is what Wei Wuxian believes and has for quite some time.}

We made a promise a long time ago to eliminate evil, protect the weak… and live without regret. I've not done too well with living without regret..but even in this place there will be evil and there will be weak. So I can't let my own worries or fears hold me back.

[Wei Wuxian smiles as he looks around at the hotel as they walk.]

This is just another stop in our journey.

[billowing]

[ Wei Ying has always been motivational, to Lan Wangji. Even when not meaning to, even when joking around. But in seriousness, it helps him to feel a bit better. Wei Ying has always thought of others before himself. It's one of those things Lan Wangji loves about him. No matter the trouble, no matter the personal injury, he helps those in need. And though he is by no means humble, for some reason, about his greatest of qualities, he is.

And there he goes again, smiling as if there isn't much to worry about at all.

Perhaps Lan Wangji ought to learn something from him, as he always had, and had always realized just two seconds too late.

And, honestly, if he has to be here, there is no one else he would rather at his side. ]

I could not forget our promise.

[ No matter the distance or time between them, he would remember those words Wei Ying said on that hill, right before Lan Wangji tried to draw a sword and caused him to stumble into Nie Huaisang's lantern.

At the memory, he looks over at Wei Ying, and also smiles. Sort of. You know how he smiles. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[He catches that smile and it makes his larger. Whenever he can make Lan Wangji smile it is almost like a victory of some kind.

Walking side by side..him in his new more modern look and Lan Wangji is the stark white of his mourning robes..it has to be quite the sight. Wei Wuxian's bare footed steps are light and energetic as every once in awhile he points out another of the hotel's locations.

But there is something that he still wonders about and has avoided asking, rather enjoying just forgetting about the differences for now. But he is curious and so he turn so he is walking backwards as he faces the other man.]

Am I a lot different from the Wei Wuxian that you know? I mean..besides the obvious..

[He points to his new face..although at this point it isn't really new to him but it is new to Lan Wangji. But he is curious about this other version of himself that exists ins some way..and apparently that got to keep his body. Kind of jealous about that part...]

[billowing]

[ He thinks about it. Really, thinks about it, compares the two of them. When he closes his eyes, he doesn't see Mo Xuanyu's body. When he looks over, he's still surprised a little to see it in place of Wei Ying's. So, with careful consideration, he says: ]

No.

You are always smiling.

You have the same mannerisms.

[ And the same way of speaking, the same cadences. Both heavily flirtatious, both full of energy and life and mirth, both beyond everything: kind. Moral. Motivated by what's fair and good and just. And, of course, beloved by Lan Wangji. Perhaps not just the one. If they are truly the same, then he would have both - all, if there were more - at his side, patiently waiting, dedicated. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[Relief washes over him as he settles back into step beside the other man. He doesn't know why that question is so important to him but it is. As if he is worried his presence by Lan Wangji's side would simply make the other upset because he is not the person he expects to be there.]

Then I guess you are stuck with me.

[But he's pretty sure the other doesn't mind that. Not that he would have simply left him if they were different but it does make it a little easier to know he can probably get away with the same things he always has.]

There it is! This is the exercise room I found when I was blind. Or..it found me might be more accurate since I couldn't see it and it moved right where I was going.

[He had been looking for the bar at the time...]

[billowing]

[ Lan Wangji mutters a curt "mm" in assent to Wei Ying's comment that they're stuck together. Of course they are. Across the universe or not, he is still Lan Wangji's greatest friend, still his soulmate. Having two of them, well.

Alright, maybe it wasn't his dream, one is definitely a handful and a half, but two is certainly better than none. Any would be better than none.

They approach the training room, and Lan Wangji is very confused at all this equipment. ]

This appears to be a dungeon.

[ These are obviously torture devices. He looks at an elliptical. Like. Wei Ying, what is happening? ]

[scaredofdogs]

Exactly what I thought! It looks even worse then I was thinking it would look when I was here last.

[He walks in and does a wide arc around what he assumes is the treadmill that tried to kill him.]

This thing..is not safe.

River said people use this stuff to get in shape because you can't go outside to exercise. There is also a pool towards the back that apparently you can use to swim laps.

[billowing]

What do you mean?

[ He eyes the treadmill suspiciously and then moves onto the Smith Machine next to it. Thankfully, there are pictures on the side depicting how one should use the machine to exercise. It's even colored in which parts of the body will be affected by such an exercise, and what position to take.

Lan Wangji gets under the Smith Machine bar and uses it to do a squat. Since there is absolutely no weight on the bar, it's dead easy, and he looks skeptically at it until he realizes what the random weights are for.

At least the machine is intuitive.

He does another squat, which is a little harder this time, but no one told him he had to do reps and sets, so. Yeah, he's not feeling this. ]

This is a child's toy.

[scaredofdogs]

Lan Zhan..you're also ridiculously strong so this stuff might not work for you.

[Wei Wuxian on the other hand would like to not feel embarrassed by how much weaker this body is so will be avoiding strength exercises. He sees a random ball laying in the middle of the floor and goes to pick it up, only to be shocked by how heavy it is when he lifts it up. His eyes widen and he resists the urge to just throw it back down. With some effort he carries it over and places it closer to the wall, making sure to avoid his bare feet when he lets it go.]

Maybe I'll sit in the pool.

[billowing]

[ He is not ridiculously strong, he is a moderate amount of strong!

But he supposes if Wei Ying can't pick up a ball, perhaps his new body is... not the strongest.

Lan Wangji, somehow understanding gym etiquette without understanding the gym, quickly reracks his weights and then goes over to attempt to help. ]

You won't swim?

[scaredofdogs]

I don't want to spend a lot of time in the pool if you want to explore some more.

[Plus he doesn't exactly have any under layers on for swimming in..]

Or do you plan on trying more of the equipment?

[billowing]

No.

[ Though, he does want to find a place to train still, so he keeps poking around the gym.

There's a closed-off area with punching bags against the walls, clearly meant to be hung off hooks on the ceiling, except that they're not hung up so that the floor can be clear. On the other side is a rack of yoga mats, and there's a whole wall of mirrors for some reason, as well as a bar. He walks in curious as to this setup, looks for a light and finds something that--

--Turns the room a soft red and starts playing bachata music? Not that Lan Wangji knows what the hell that is or what language this is even playing. He's somehow stumbled into the shared-space dance studio.

He immediately turns off the light and the music.

Because obviously, it's cursed. ]