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

[scaredofdogs]

You don't have to worry about it usually. And if we can't..well..we will already be in the safety of a room! So if something happens we can just take care of it or let it wear off.

[billowing]

Fine.

[ He doesn't like the idea, but he feels safe, at least.

He follows after Wei Ying, wondering if perhaps his room will look like Lotus Pier. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[He leads them up the elevator and to his room, opening the door and revealing that it looks just like his bedroom at Lotus Pier used to, complete with the carvings on his headboard. It's warm and comfortable. He knows this room probably doesn't exist anymore back home and even if it does he isn't likely to ever be allowed back in it, so it's kind of nice being able to stay in it again.]

The fact the hotel knows us so well is a little creepy..but I guess I can't complain considering what they've given me.

[billowing]

[ He's never actually been inside this room before, even though he can place it immediately. He walks in and makes himself at home, studying the room, committing it to his vast memory.

He admires the carvings of the lotus motif everywhere, and feels like he can really see where Wei Ying's heart lies in this room. Somehow it feels private, like a secret. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[He walks over to see if he has any tea and finds that he does actually have what he needs to make it.]

We are in luck, looks like I have tea!

[There are modern appliances tucked in areas that make them hard to see so they don't disrupt the overall ambiance of the room. So he manages to start heating some water.]

Do you like my room?

[billowing]

Mm.

[ He likes it, because even though it looks to anyone else like any other room in Lotus Pier, to him he thinks it couldn't belong to Jiang Wanyin or Jiang Yanli. It could only belong to Wei Ying.

When he's done surveying, he takes a seat by the table. ]

[scaredofdogs]

[Once the water is heated up he brings everything over to the table, settling down at it.]

I don't even remember the last time I got to see this room. But I guess it's just important enough that the hotel picked it.

[billowing]

What else would it be?

[ Because he hasn't realized that the room chosen could be a reflection the hotel picks, and not just a place the character feels most at home. He assumes that the only other logical choice would be the Cloud Recesses, but Wei Ying has already voiced his opinion on living there. ]

[scaredofdogs]

Well..it could have been the last inn I stayed at before coming here if they go with last memories. Cloud Recesses since you whisked me away to there so that would be the next recent. Mo village could also be a possibility since that was the first thing I saw once I woke up..or even Burial Mounds. That would be the place I spent the most time after Lotus Pier.

[But none of those would have probably felt like a 'home' he could escape to if he got tired of the games of the hotel. So perhaps there is someone that actually wants them to have a comfortable place.]

[billowing]

The last place I was, was an inn on the roadside on my way to Yunmeng.

But they gave me Jingshi.

[ So, at least, they seem to be taking their feelings into account. ]

[scaredofdogs]

Then I guess we are both lucky that it wasn't our last place. Always coming back to a random inn room would be kind of sad. Doing so when traveling is nice, but that's because you know that it's temporary. That the next day you could be someplace new and eventually you will make it home. But with this place..and no idea when that time will be..coming back to the same place would be rather hard to handle.

[It feels a little odd being the one hosting the tea party but he does his job and prepping and pouring the tea for both of them.]

[billowing]

[ It does feel a little bit weird being the guest, even though he's done this before. But he's never been Wei Ying's guest before. ]

There is no open window, but they left me an incense burner. If I close my eyes, it is like home.

[scaredofdogs]

We can just keep hanging out in each of our rooms then. We can go from Cloud Recesses to Lotus Pier and pretend we are back home.

[He picks up his tea and takes a sip to test it.]

[billowing]

What about our traveling?

[ Traveling by day, going "home" at night?

It's not bad. ]

[scaredofdogs]

Right right! Our travels all around the hotel and all the new areas we have to discover! There is still so much to see..and then how nice it will be that we can come 'home' each night.

[billowing]

Mm.

[ He takes the tea, and drinks a little.

It is a nice thought, and it's not like they have anything better to do. ]

Tell me more about Lotus Pier.

[scaredofdogs]

Hmm..I don't really know what you don't already know! But..I hope when I take you there that I show you the tree that I climbed into when I got into a fight with Jiang Cheng. And all the places used to play. There is this pond that we used to sneak into and steal lotus seeds out of..and the owner would get so mad and chase us out of there. I could show you the pier that we would sit on during hot days and eat watermelon.

[And perhaps he already has shown him these places in his time..but for him, it was all the things he used to dream of showing Lan Wangji if he ever got the chance.]

I'd want to show you the ancestral hall..I want to be able to pay my respects...and show them that I actually got to bring you home to meet them. [His voice cracks slightly and he looks down and tries to find a new place in his memory he would show him.]

I guess I wouldn't have to show you my room at least! You've already seen it now.

[billowing]

[ He won't say that he's already seen all these places, because even before Wei Ying took him to the Ancestral Hall to bow to his parents and his sister, he had gone there in the interim of his death.

He had looked at all the trees and imagined little Wei Ying, cuts and scrapes on his shins, smile brighter than heaven. He had looked over the docks and imagined he and Jiang Cheng jumping in, and Yanli holding up her hands to shield from the splash of water.

And one day, he had gone to those ancestral halls and done a bow. He had asked after which neighbor owned those lotus pods and had stolen them anyway.

What he says is: ]

I'd like to see all of it with you.

[scaredofdogs]

[He sighs contently and rests his head on his hand.]

There is so much to look forward to!

[His heart feels warm as Lan Wangji agrees to go with him. He just wished he could believe he would actually get to do those things. Which makes him curious..]

In your time..does Jiang Cheng ever forgive me?

[billowing]

[ His expression darkens just a little bit. ]

I do not know.

[ He has already resolved not to tell Wei Ying about Jin Guangyao. He does not want to have to explain that to this one. ]

Wen Ning... was angry, that he stabbed you. And he asked Jiang Wanyin to pull Suibian from his scabbard.

[scaredofdogs]

[He sits up again as this story takes an interesting turn.]

Suibian..why does Wen Ning have suibian? Why would he ask that of Jiang Cheng?

[billowing]

[ Um, this is going to get awkward. ]

Wen Zhiliu destroyed Jiang Wanyin's golden core.

You... sacrificed yours for him.

[ Wait, why did this one choose to go into demonic cultivation then? ]

[scaredofdogs]

[His face pales and his eyes widen.]

H-How...how do you know that?

[that was the one thing he swore Wen Ning never to tell. The one thing he never wanted anyone to know. What could possibly have caused that secret to come out?]

[billowing]

[ Oh well, okay, that makes more sense. He's um.

Really not trying to tell him about Guanyin Temple, how is he going to explain this. ]

...Jiang Wanyin confronted you about it.

[scaredofdogs]

[He is not okay right now..that could not have gone well..he can still feel the sting of that purple whip on his back.]

A-ah..I'm sure that went really well..

[So not well..he can already see his face..]