funnyhearts | TEST DRIVE MEME 001 (#2)

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TEST DRIVE MEME 001 (#2)

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm worried you won't like it if I tell you what happened..but I think it's important that I know.

[He lifts a hand out of the water and looks at his wrist. His last night in their world had been a strange one and he's still trying to wrap his brain around it. From Lan Wangji's drunken escapades to the reactions of the disciples. All of it sent warnings off in his brain.]

It's the last thing that happened before I ended up here. We had just left Yi City and we stopped at an inn. All the disciples and Jin Ling were with us. You drank..and we were outside but I was trying to get you to come back inside and you tied my hands with your headband.

[He holds his wrists together, remembering how tight it was and how he had to pull at the knot with his teeth to get it to loosen after Lan wangji had gone to bed.]

But when the Lan disciples saw it they were...pretty surprised. And I mean I know it's important but I feel like there is something I'm missing.

[He drops his hands back into the water.] But if you tied your hand with the other me..in the cave that you went to. Then maybe I'm just overthinking things.

[ Lan Wangji's ears turn bright pink, so it's a good thing that Wei Ying can't see him from this angle.

He does, however, become extremely stiff. And move slightly further away. ]

--You let me drink?

[ Wei Ying, you know what happens when Lan Wangji drinks!! ]

I didn't let you do anything!! You just took it and drank it!! It's not like I could have stopped it!!

[He knew saying it was going to make things go badly but he had to know and the only thing that would make Lan Wangji do such a bold thing would be alcohol so leaving that part out would have been a bigger mistake.]

When you want to do something, Lan Zhan, it's not exactly easy to stop you..

[There is no one who knows Lan wangji's drunken antics better then Wei Wuxian. But when the man simply picks up the cup and downs it before he can say anything..well..what is he to do?]

I knew I shouldn't have said anything..forget it..

[And so he still doesn't have an answer. His shoulders droop.]

[ Lan Wangji tenses, and then tries to figure out how to explain this, and tries so, so hard to unclench. ]

I wrapped it around your wrist because there was an enchanted qin that would play chord assassination to anyone who was not a Lan.

Otherwise...

[ He looks away again. ]

You are not supposed to touch it.

[Now he is just going to whine because nothing likes to go his way.]

I didn't touch it!! I told you NOT to put it on my wrists and it was done anyway.

[He sinks down into the water so that it goes over his head and just lays on the bottom of the pool.]

Wei Ying!

[ He sits up and pulls Wei Ying out of the water. What an over-dramatic pair of them. ]

I was not supposed to do that.

I... apologize.

[ His ears turn red again and he looks away. ]

[He sucks in air after being pulled out of the water and looks over at Lan wangji. He notes the pink of the ears and lets out a huff of air.]

I'm not going to even tell you want you did after that.

[He still found it cute..but..this one probably doesn't want to hear about it.]

You aren't allowed to get drunk here..okay? I don't think I could handle it.

I will not.

[ And then a pause. ]

...What did I do?

[ Actually, he thinks he might know, and he steels himself for Wei Ying to call him a pervert or something. ]

[Wei Wuxian grins as he leans very close to Lan Wangji again.]

Do you really want to know~? It was really cute, Lan Zhan..

[How he has longed to be able to tell the other what his drunken escapades are like. If even he can spill just this one he feels like his soul might finally be freed from the plethora of secrets he has had to keep.]

I'm not sure you can handle it..

Was it so terrible, you cannot tell me?

[ He looks disappointed, and stares down in shame. Of course Wei Ying would try to be nice, call him cute, say these things, offer to make the blow easier... When obviously, obviously whatever had transpired was shameless. ]

I definitely didn't think it was terrible.

[What was terrible was what happened after..when Wei Wuxian kissed him and Lan wangji got surprised so badly and must have hated it so much he knocked himself out..that wasn't so cute.]

We played chase in the room. You were running around and I was supposed to catch you. And considering my hands were tied it wasn't really a fair match.

[He can't help but blush slightly as he remembers how adorable it was when Lan wangji hid behind the folding screen and peeked out. It was enough to melt his heart.]

You would hide and wait for me to try and get you before turning around and going the other way. But then you did let me catch you and I was supposed to punish you when I did.

[And now he should just...stop and let that story end.]

[ Oh. Well, so far, that wasn't so bad. They played childish games. That was nice! Not remotely terrible at all. Perhaps Wei Ying thought Lan Wangji would be embarrassed to be so immature, but it wasn't true. After all, he was drunk.

For some reason he gets a phantom sound memory of clucking, but that's random. He ignores it. ]

The punishment?

[knows nothing about chickens..there is no clucking..there is no chickens..]

Ah..ha..well..apparently you like to be licked, Lan Zhan.

[is he really going to tell this part? Yes..Yes he is..]

You see..I was talking too much and you put your hand over my mouth...so I licked it. And well..apparently you really wanted me to lick you again which is why you let me catch you.

[please don't hate him...please don't have him...]

[ He looks so betrayed.

He looks so shocked.

If he were anyone else, he would gasp. ]

I...

This is embarrassing.

I apologize.

[ He definitely thinks that Wei Ying is trying to hold this over him, explain that he's not the only one who gets uncomfortably close. ]

You don't have to apologize Lan Zhan!! Like I said..it was cute..

[One of many adorable Lan wangji moments that the man has no idea has occurred. It's a shame really but also..amusing because it's little memories that Wei Wuxian gets to hold onto that only he knows.]

I don't mean to embarrass you...It's really my fault. I've done some shameless things when you were drunk and I'm not proud of it. So really I'm the one who should apologize.

You did?

[ Surely not as shameless as that. But now he wonders. What on earth did they do while drunk? ]

No.

You are right. I will not drink, here.

[ This is just. Even worse than the whole kidnapping business. ]

Ah well..hopefully your Wei Wuxian is better behaved.

[He has to remember..he hasn't actually done those things with this Lan Wangji. he can only assume that the other version of himself is similar enough that this actions might have happened. So really he is apologizing for a just in case it happened...]

And you might be innocent of all of it! Don't be embarrassed about something that may not have happened for you..It's just really hard to remember that there are two of you!

[He's back tracking so fast..but he just wants to be able to forget he even brought it all up. And the last thing he wants to do is tell the man about the kiss.]

[ Wei Ying expecting Lan Wangji to forget anything? Damn, guy can literally quote something he said offhand sixteen years ago, this forgetting business is not happening. ]

I certainly hope I did not annoy Wei Ying.

[ He looks down again. ]

I know you took care of me, when drunk.

I try my best to keep you out of trouble.

[Whether it's constantly putting the man back in bed when he refuses to stay there, making sure he doesn't beat up Wen Ning on the street...Drunk Lan Zhan is a lot of work..]

But you do the same for me, don't you? Maybe not when I'm drunk..but all the time. Protecting me. So me protecting you while you are drunk is what I can do to pay that back.

[ He does do that, but he does that not out of obligation. It's because people treat Wei Ying unfairly. If he deserved it, Lan Wangji would not come to his rescue.

Okay, maybe that was a lie, but still.

What he says is: ]

Mn.

[ And then, very quietly: ]

You are only supposed to tie your headband to a very special person.

[OMG an answer. Having never expected to actually get one the question had since been forgotten. But then there it was..like a bright golden trophy being handed over.

His back straightens and the shock on his face is more because he was given an answer then what that answer actually was. But then it starts to sink in...

Very special person..

And his heart starts to pound a little faster as he feels his ears heat up. It is like the answer to the problem he has been struggling with for..weeks.]

So..you would tie up someone you care about?

[Said hesitantly..as if afraid of the answer. Just how deeply does the care go? Would you tie up a brother or a best friend? He is thankful the answer he received and holds back on all the others, not wanting to appear ungrateful for that small bit of precious information.]

[ How is he supposed to answer Wei Ying? He looks around slightly nervously, as if searching for a wall to bang his head against so he can exit this conversation.

No, it's fine, he looks at Wei Ying as if he is asking too many questions, because Wei Ying is always asking too many questions, and Lan Wangji does not like to give him answers.

Instead, he starts to stand up. Yeah, now would be a good time to stop talking and also not have Wei Ying so close to his person. Had he really tied him up with the headband? And did it really count to have done so to keep Wei Ying from being assassinated? ]

Ah! Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan! I'm sorry. I won't ask any more.

[He covers his mouth with his hand as if to prove his point, reaching out to grab the man's arm with the other. The response the other gives with his body is almost enough to answer him. The looking away, the sudden attempt at removing himself. Wei Wuxian is perceptive enough to know what his questions were ones he could probably answer on his own just based on that. He knew the man well enough at this point. Well not this man..but the one who shared everything except a few memories.

He won't ask any more about the headband, but the last thing he wants is for the other to suddenly be mad at him. So he will look at him with apologetic puppy dog eyes to make sure he knows that he promises not to ask any more. Keeping that hand planted firmly on his lips.]

[ He's in the middle of standing up out of the water, on one knee, and casts a glance at Wei Ying's puppy eyes.

That was a mistake. That was such a big mistake, he's such a goner.

How can he resist? This is unfair. He may not have Wei Ying's face, but he has all his mannerisms, his microexpressions, all the little subtle details about Wei Ying that make him so. Lan Wangji settles, seated in the pool. ]

We should see what else is different.

[ Comparing notes is an important task. Especially for a serious man like Lan Wangji. He wishes to know all. ]

[Victory! Knowing that he can't possibly talk about what might be different unless he talks, he lowers his hand. He knows it won't be easy to figure out what other differences there is but he is also rather curious about it.]

How should be figure that out? Maybe ask about certain points and see what we remember?

[That could make very a very emotional trip down memory lane and his memories are not always the clearest but he can do what he can.]

HAPPY HEARTS HOTEL

I. THE CASINO FLOOR

II. MAKING WAVES

III. EAT ME, DRINK ME

IV. WELCOME HOME

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