July Test Drive Meme!

[reddosmod]

JULY 2022 TDM

Another month, another test drive meme! Our test drive memes are open to anyone interested - regardless of whether or not you join our game!

All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.

Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.

Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.

If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Colorful paper lanterns shaped like jellyfish lit up and hovering in the air. ]
[Image Two: A person with long hair wearing a crown dedicated with shells and rocks. ]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A GIF of waves breaking roughly out in the middle of the ocean. ]
[Image Two: Strong waves crashing into a lighthouse and rocks. ]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A large Ningen (a sea creature that is half human, half monster, and has no face except for a large slit for a mouth) towering over a deep sea diver. ]
[Image Two: A person standing out on the rocks with their arms out stretched as the tentacles of a large sea monster wave in the air above the ocean. ]

[NAVIGATION]

TDM Questions • Reserves • Taken • Applications • Full Navigation

[Jump to Comments]

STANDARD ARRIVAL

WHEN: August
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A

---

You're one of the lucky ones. Your journey is smooth sailing and you wind up exactly where you're supposed to: on the Farther Shores. You grow out of your squid body without a hitch, either with the help of another Sleeper or one of the Wakers, and you get to discover this new world. All new Sleepers might take some time to find their bearings. It might be tricky to remember how to use your body parts the way you're supposed to. You might stumble around the beach or forget how to talk - but don't worry! It'll come back to you sooner or later.

Hopefully, you've found something to wear, either in your Welcoming Bag or otherwise, and can start familiarizing yourself with your surroundings. Maybe you help some other squids out on the beach. Waking up sucks! You feel for the little guys. And hey, maybe you're hoping one of those squids is a good friend...Stranger things have happened.

SEASONAL DETAILS ON THE BOARDWALK
This month has an entire festival dedicated to Mariana. The people of Trench seem to be quite enamoured with her, despite her often cruel and unpredictable behaviors. The festival has gone all out with decorations. The boardwalk will be lined with lanterns in the shape of various sea creatures, such as jellyfish, dolphins, seahorses, and (of course) squids! These lanterns will be lit every night throughout the month and will burn through the night. They are bright beacons to a month that is otherwise becoming more and more gray and chilly as time passes.

The people of Trench are also decked out for the occasion. Blues and greens are the popular color choices for outfits, and many people will even decorate their hair with pieces from the ocean. Whether it's with full headpieces that are worthy enough for mermaids or just something as simple as weaving shells into a braid, everyone seems to have something on them that ties them to the sea. There are stalls set up to help newcomers (or oldies who just want to have some fun) decorate their hair as well and face paint for those who want to go the extra mile.

The festival comes with all sorts of celebrations that can be partaken in at absolutely no cost. There are food vendors, though they seem to be short on seafood this month. Likely it's due to the rough seas with waves so treacherous that not even the most skilled of sailors seems to be able to get out into them. They'll remark on how difficult is must have been to swim to shore in those awful waves. So instead of fish and shrimp, there are other sea-dedicated dishes: seaweed salad, noodle dishes made with seaweed broth, caramelized chicken in a fish and ginger sauce, etc. There are also ocean themed desserts, such as cupcakes with blue frosting shaped to look like a great wave. There are games such as dunk tanks, dart balloons, ring tosses, and other typical carnival entertainment. If you can think of it, it's probably there. At the end of the night, there's often a fireworks display over the rolling waves.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

rough seas and high winds

WHEN: Last Week of July, First Week of AugustT
WHERE: Beach and Nearby Oceans
CONTENT WARNINGS: Threat of drowning, severe weather phenomena, Environmental hazards, possible death

---

For some reason, Mariana is particularly wrathful even as the month begins. Even leaking into the end of the month of July, the sea begins to foam and rage in ways that are almost impossible to imagine. As you stare out int the beachheads, you may see vast waves and surf that would daunt the most professional of surfers. Water crashes into each other in colossal spouts. Waterspouts can be seen as storms occasionally buffet the coastline and just out into the ocean itself. However, the one thing about this chaotic energy is that it is just that, chaotic. One moment the sea may be calm, and the next it is a roiling, seething force out to destroy everyone.

This is, naturally, dangerous for those who are just hapless squids trying to reach shore. They may find themselves inexorably being flung towards sharp rocks and shoals, threatened with being dashed upon the stone near to the coast, or they may find themselves constantly swirling in eddies and whirlpools to the point of near exhaustion. However, they are not the only ones so threatened. Even those on the coast are in near constant danger of being washed right back out to see by an unexpected wave and sudden rip-tide. There are wood planks and other detritus to grab hold of, but it is very much a battle for one's life out there!

The sea's rage, the locals say, is because Mariana is particularly incensed over something that occurred. They do not know what exactly, but many have said that sleepers have felt a particular brunt of this ire lately. For now, it is a game of survival and a constant battle to bring people in safely.

Notes:
-Any natural weather occurrence is possible in the first week of August and last of July. Seemingly impossible combinations may occur (A waterspout in the middle of the eye of a hurricane, almost anything.
-These threats will be upon anyone who is not far enough inland to enjoy the festivities. The beach is not truly safe and sleepers are hustled inland quickly.
-Death is possible, though sleepers who die in the ocean find themselves returning very quickly as squids for some reason, within 24 hours, only to be threatened again before they eventually find shore.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

of monsters in the water

WHEN: Throughout August
WHERE: The coast and waterways
CONTENT WARNINGS: Monster Horror, Possibly Getting Eaten, Threat of bodily harm, Unnatural Physiology, Existential Dread

---

Something has been dredged up from the deep by the storms that rage. It is said that Mariana not only presides over the oceans, but also the most powerful monsters that dwell within the deep. Some of these, it is believed, may be the remains of Pthumerians whose minds and lives were lost during the hard times before, or the spawn of their mating with things other than humans. Whether these rumors are true, eldritch things have begun to emerge from the depths and darkness, things best left unseen.

Throughout the month of August, it is possible to encounter creatures that can only be described as monsters emerging from the water. With every passing storm, another emerges. Some are as large as small kaiju, while others are closer to human size, and each shares very little in common with the others, save for two particular details. The first of these is that they are all aquatic in nature and bear at least a passing similarity to sea monsters of ancient legend or particularly large and dangerous aquatic animals. Giant cuttlefish, Megalodons, Plesiosaurs, Octopi, Sea Cucumbers, Whales, or any of a number of other sea creatures appear to be their basis. The other similarity, however, is that all are hideously and grotesquely deformed. Tentacles, second rows of teeth, great clawed hands and feet enabling them to walk on dry ground, a thousand eyes all over the hump of a hunchback whale all shooting laser beams in the full moon, almost anything seems to be possible, though the changes are all chtonically horrendous in nature.

These creatures are violent, dangerous, and horrifying to behold. Just looking at them jars the mind and threatens to damage one's psyche while they try to understand what they are seeing. Bones are in seemingly impossible angles, bodies moving in ways that they shouldn't. Just looking at them can cause nausea, vertigo or mental breaks, though the danger does not stop there. They are agents of chaos, seeking to destroy mind or body, on a rampage whenever they reach ground, though they do not delve far into Trench beyond the waterways and beach, almost as if they are prevented by something. When one strays too close, an ominous light glows from the tops of the tallest spires in the city and they are inevitably repelled, but until they are killed or sent back to the deep from whence they came, they remain a threat outside of the city.

[JUMP TO TOP]

CODING

Comments

[opheliac]

(jinx was ready to be entertained; to be completely amused on what wild imaginary trip fantasy that vi might have been on to have her convinced that she is the victim here. but all of that comes to screeching halt when her sister says that name. the correct name. she was expecting her to call her "powder" like she had been since they reunited. but instead hearing that name flow through her lips; twirling in the wind softens everything for her.

her muscles stops tensing, the expression surprised but somewhat meek. the hard hold on her dolls too get some release. if those things were real, they probably would be thanking janna for hearing their prays and allowing them to breathe. almost everything else vi says after falls to deaf ears. jinx is way too wrapped up of her voice speaking her name.)

... Wha? Did you...— Did you just...

(she's afraid to finish that question because what if she was imagining it? what if it was a mistake and then her hopes get crushed again? because all jinx ever wanted was vi to just accept her as is. to welcome jinx with open arms and understand that the little girl is forever gone.)

(ooc: sounds like an oofie poofie of a time.)

[faceblocks]

[vi's expression softens only by degrees - she's not sure which thing caused such a marked change in her sister's demeanor - she hedges her bets on the name but only slightly. she knows all too well what a loose cannon jinx can be, and likely will be. and how fitting that she'd turned up when the sea had been roiling with chaos. (fitting too that silco had, as well, but right now he is an afterthought. it will not likely be that way for long.)]

Did I just what? It's okay, you can say it, ask it.

[(no?) thanks to the carved seahorse effigy in her pocket she's a fucking open book. really, her gaze says: come at me. say whatever you want. do whatever you want. i'm ready and i can take it.

she only hopes that she can.]

[opheliac]

(again, should...she? is this a trap where her heart gets smashed into a million shards? a twisted game to get to cry? surely, vi wouldn't be that cruel to say the name and then play off it was never uttered. there's a thump in her throat she can't seem to swallow -- her pinks nervously darts around them before hesitatingly peering over again. 'just ask. i can do that. right?'

noticing her lips are dry, she wets her lips before huffing out a tiny breath. and so her eyes locks with vi's; focus and intently:)

Jinx. Did you... call me "Jinx"?

('please don't let this be a trap. please to break me.' because how much more can an omen endure? how much of a misery and a tragedy must she take? is it's really against some sort of order to have little pleasures besides wrecking havoc? is it wrong for a bad luck to... have love or acceptance? )

[faceblocks]

I did.

[and when she asks this, her voice is gentle, almost hesitant. the last thing she wants is to make her sister feel rejected. especially not here - not in a place where things could be (might be?) different. good gods (and the pthumerians are not good, mostly) if she could muster up enough resolve to greet silco with bitter civility (yet civility all the same) then she could weather this storm. frankly, she's more scared of this right here than of that beach - of mariana's turbulent wrath, or the reckoning's misplaced violent justice. she would rather walk into that ocean ten times over than see hurt that she had caused reflected in her sister's (no longer blue) eyes.]

Do you want me to say it again?

[ home: they are high atop the cityscape - blue flaresmoke floating above them: (are you real?)

here: she has come from the beach through snow and ice to find her sister clutching a rose: (are you real?)

if she said it again ...would that make it real?]

[opheliac]

(can a heart swell up so large it can combust? or is it possible for a heart to grow wings and to take flight -- to finally breathe fresh air and not swallowing the air pollution? for a heart to see the sun and feel its rays and swoop down to the flowers and smell their fragrance? the grass, the dirt, the breeze -- is that... something for someone like her can finally experience? to witness? her world became so black that day and jinx thought she would never see those pinks, blues, greens, or purples ever again.

dull. everything had been so dull. but now everything is lighting up so quickly; colors so vibrantly she might need to squint until her eyes can adjust. her bottom lip is quivering; slight hyperventilating as the pink tears steadily make themselves known. )

('she's lying. she'll be with you a day before she realizes you aren't that girl anymore and turns her back on you'

that. that might be true, but. suddenly, the plushies are drop by their feet and with a whimper -- jinx practically throws herself at vi; clinging so desperately with her face buried deep in her chest. sorry, silco. but her words are so beautiful and lovely. how... how can he expect her to not listen when she loves her, too? when all she ever wanted was just to be accepted and here she is doing so? how can she turn away from that?)

[faceblocks]

[it can. maybe it has. time had managed to stop, and now violet is not sure if her heart has stopped too. it's a steady hammer, a blood pulse of (this is real) and if she could freeze this moment, she would, but she can't - that's not how her blood works, here - it's not how anything works here.

she is going to have to make things work. here.

it will be work.

and just like that she's hugging her sister - tightly - maybe a little too tightly (is there a too tight for jinx? she's so much less breakable on the outside) but it's fine because it's real, even if it's just for this moment. it won't be lost to the sea, to a haze of a memory or a blur of roses and snow - this is vi's face in hair that smells of seawater and paint and possibly imagined gunsmoke - hair that's now dampened by spilling tears.]

You've got this. We've got this.

[and her own words a knife pressed against her heavybeating heart, but if she means to do this, she's got to do it right, it has to be jinx's choice, and not hers:]

...if you want.

[opheliac]

(she wants to. more than anything but there's still so much hesitation. because what if she leaves her again? what if she doesn't like her after awhile? her heart truly can't bare any more hurtful things and then trying to grasp where they are and what's happening in this situation, it's becoming... a bit overwhelming for her. and if these bombs (ha) keep dropping on her like this and not let up, she's going to get overstimulated.

right now all she wants is her sister to hold her for a while and quiet everything until she is can get her bearings; her footing. but is trusting vi the correct choice to make? what if she runs into the enforcer again? will she be put aside or become secondary in her thoughts? think. think. focus.)

...

(but vi did call her "jinx". and to her, that means something. that she is willing to at least try and make an effort. so she... she should make an effort, too. it's only fair. she'll probably split up and call her "powder" sometimes but she'll be tolerate and understanding to an extent. as long as there is an attempt in trying -- jinx will let it slide and calmly correct her each time (even though that name gives her such a kneejerk reaction). exhaling out a breath, she lightly pulls away from their hug but still close. a sniffle and wiping her pink tear with her knuckle, her voice barely above a whisper:)

O-Okay. (a beat.) We... — We've got this.

[faceblocks]

[vi cannot begin to imagine what her sister (the person formerly known as powder - and still, in some measure a great unknown) might be thinking. she can try, and she does - but she comes up with a whole host of horrors, sadness - a black hole of a time when she hadn't been a fixture in jinx's life. she had still been powder then, hadn't she?

it's not my fault, pow pow, i was just a kid---

(you left her)

also, though: my fault, when i just lay out the facts, kid or not.

and even in her absence, she'd made more of a mark than she ever could have known - jinx had said it herself: (shadows in the streets, prickles on the back of my neck. your voice, pushing me.) she wonders, sometimes with no small dread, what that imagined voice had said. she will slightly release - with reluctance - the moment jinx pulls back, but she remains close, too. her own voice is soft, too, lowered to match her sister's, looking into eyes that leak pink-tinged tears.]

Let's ...get out of here. We can go back to the beach if you want. Just us. Watch the ocean flipping off this whole place and everyone in it.

[opheliac]

(that honestly sounds like a good idea although she is a bit... nervous to be alone with vi. whenever they tried to meet up before or they've been together like this, something awful happens right after. as expected for a "jinx" to do, really. and when they are alone, what... do they talk about? probably the situation, obviously, but it'll still be such an awkward conversation and jinx wonders if she is even mentally prepared for it.

still, she quietly nods before taking a full step back -- crouching down quickly to pick up her two plushies. again, she's going to need them for... wherever she is sleeping tonight. logically with vi, but again... it'll be awkward. maybe it'll be safe enough to sleep outside somewhere? surely, this place can't be that dangerous, right? either way, she adjusts the two dolls underneath her arms and wait for her big sister to lead the way.)

[faceblocks]

[vi will take jinx by the hand if she's able to manage both dolls - doesn't attempt to take a doll or force the issue - and if she can't do that she will walk at a slightly slowed pace, through as few groups as possible on a crowded boardwalk, snagging a bowl of noodles as she goes as she blinks back the tears. the vendor doesn't call out after her: she'll pay for it later, she always pays, and it's no longer the month of angry mobs, just an angry ocean.

she finds a spot not close, but not far, turning back every so often to make sure her sister's there - because she'd lost her on this beach, once, when it was cold and full of ice - and she doesn't trust it to not happen again. not yet. she'll cross that bridge if she comes to it, but just now she will cross the beach far enough from the shore they don't seem in immediate danger. it's perhaps not the safest place, but she guesses that her sister isn't always seeking safety. neither is she, sometimes, if she's honest, but maybe under all of it she is.

but even so, she moves toward some rocks and vaults up and over and - here's a place. it's high enough to withstand a small wave breaking, not too high to require too many leaps. it's not closed in, either - vi knows enough about being trapped in tight spot that she doesn't seek it out. she drags a palm across her nose, sniffling.

she'll sit first, but she won't speak first. well, maybe she'll have to, but vi will wait a while - giving jinx space to speak.]

[opheliac]

(when vi takes her by the hand, the first thing she might notice is that she is cold to touch. jinx isn't aware of it but since vi had been here and probably knows the ins and outs of how this new world works, it would mean that jinx has cold-blood flowing through her veins. and like her, she says nothing the whole way there and each time her big sister looks back -- jinx is looking everywhere else. she is trying to gather all that she can by their surroundings but it's a little impossible to make a note of everything when her mind is still on the fog side.

it frustrates her being so out of her element and already she is missing zaun. the city wasn't the best but at least she knew every little space and corner. but... at least she isn't facing this alone and that's the important part. if she had to be here alone, jinx would probably be reacting a little differently to the situation. possibly more violently because the situation didn't work in her favor. )

(still silent, jinx follows up until they reach the spot; sitting by her but not too close -- given themselves a gap. she places the dolls on the other side of her but takes one of them in her arms while pulling her legs up close to her chest, too. and now here they are. so... what do they do? jinx always imagined this moment for vi to accept her but she never thought about what would come after the fact. the silence is so thick and a little unbearable -- a defense mechanism is kicking in for her, too. every bit of her is screaming to just bail but she doesn't budge.)

(.......)

(she should say something. just... anything. anything at all. think, think, think.)

Uuhm... ― A-A... lobster lady helped me. It was really weird. She looked normal but had monster claws...

(and now thinking back at that, scorpia looked as if something she would make up whenever they would play their "name the bigger monster" game at night.)

[faceblocks]

[the way jinx folds into herself - closing her limbs in and holding onto the stuffed squid, her long silence now after her eyes had been everywhere but on vi's as she'd led her up here.

a tiny part of vi wants to bail, too. it's the part of her that had wanted to stay in the sea, to not ask the network if alayne were here, back before she knew alayne was called sansa, the part of her that says why bother instead of volunteering to help, the part afraid of answers and afraid of having to do the work.

again, she acknowledges to herself that this will be work. and at least half (likely more) is going to fall squarely on her shoulders.

which. is fine, she decides again. this is what she'd hoped for since the day she'd arrived - since before arriving - a chance to make things better. no, it's not a complete do-over, but who even gets those, anyway? no one. this is the best she will ever get, and it is in and of itself, maybe a godsend.

does she believe in gods? not really. but these pthumerians sure are ...something. mariana's maybe the one to come closest so far because she's the fucking ocean.

vi does not address any elephants in the room (beach?) just yet. she just follows where her sister goes. it will probably get awkward. it's gonna get real. that's fine, too.]

Lobster lady, huh? That's one thing I like about this place. A small things that reminds me of home. So many kinds of people that might look weird but mostly they're just trying to get by and figure all of this out, too.

Do you mean when you first washed up? I'm glad someone helped you. [a beat, as she looks down at her hands.] And I'm so sorry it wasn't me.

[vi may not have been the one to find jinx, but neither was silco, and that's worth a small smile. she is relieved it wasn't silco. ...but that's not all. buzzing around the edges of that relief is a bit of ...what she will later identify as empathy ??? and she will hit things about it.]

1/2

[opheliac]

It's — ('not okay. it should had been you. i was scared.' no, no, she can't do that. remember, be understanding and tolerable. with a breath, jinx tries again:) — It's okay.

(another deep breath leaves as she tries to find some way to lighten all this up. she can do that, right? just... imagine she's talking to "chuck" or whoever else. )

2/2

[opheliac]

(with her eyes shut to vision it, jinx throws her arms up wide like she's letting out an enormous stretch -- making an unnecessarily groan while doing so. and from then, she opens her eyes and leans back with her hands behind her -- smirking over to vi and then at the sky. )

But hey! — 'Least we can finally breathe out here, huh? Aaaaannd no moldy food. 'Less that's still a thing here. I had those meat things on a stick? Big favorite.

[faceblocks]

[if only vi could hear those thoughts. she can guess, and even suspect that that's not the whole truth. it's not hard to imagine how she could have been frightened - it wasn't always a pleasant or easy thing - and to have to go it alone? well...

...and then the switch flips and she's all big gestures and ...to be fair, what she says is true. it's just an abrupt shift - probably for the same reason vi shifts, deflects, avoids.]

The meat on a stick? Haven't had that yet, but it's just jumped to the top of the list. The noodles are pretty good, too, so I got you some on the way out---

---they're even better when they have fish. Honestly? Food here's great, no complaints. No mold, either. So uh, two points to Trench.

[sliiiides that carton of noodles over to jinx. no utensils oops, guess she'll have to eat it like a hooligan. what? you thought those were for vi? pffft. she's already eaten. twice.]

When I said I looked for you every day, I meant it. Found some little stick fireworks that fizzle and spark so I traded my blood for a whole bunch of them and [and she will pull one from her jacket pocket, stick it into the rocky surface in front of her.] lit one every time I did. Thought maybe your ...squid would wanna check it out and then I could tell where you were out there.

[opheliac]

(she will happily take that carton of noodles although when she goes on about the stick fireworks, it stops her from wanting to gorge it all down. her expression falls soften as it lies before her. jinx then wonders if vi had been lonely sitting out there every day on the beach for who knows how long.

the thought of her doing that makes her grip the carton firmly, not enough to break or cause any damage but hard enough still. it's so horribly touching that she can feel herself wanting to cry again. maybe she had it all wrong when she had said to her she would never love her like she use to. because this... this here is proving that she still does. and maybe it didn't seem so then because things were so messed up back home; a terrible mess. and maybe it somehow blinded all of this.)

(loosening her grip, jinx sets the noodles aside along with her plushies. again there's hesitation but not as strong like it was in the beginning. carefully, she shimmies over to vi to place her head against her arm -- eyes still on the stick firework)

... Well, it worked. Here I am.

[faceblocks]

[it's a fine line between moods and it likely will be for a long time. maybe always. she can live with that, she thinks.

the other options are ...less bearable.

and then the tilt of that head (boop) against her arm, both of them looking at the sparkler, which she will slowly reach forward to light. it's a little, hissing thing, like sparks from a tiny forge, a flickering gold that won't pop or boom - it will just do its thing until it sputters out eventually. it might last an hour: these are special. yeah, vi keeps a lighter in her kit for these - she's not a coldblood, so it's the easiest solution she can think of. (had her sister's hands been cold, as she'd led her here? yes, she remembers.)]

About time I got something fucking right. [but she smiles when she says it, a little smile, another swallow - that lump in her throat's back - had it ever left?] That's it, you're stuck with me now. Me and my fat hands.

[one of which comes to rest on jix's farthest shoulder, lightly. but if she isn't stuck, if she loses her again - on the one hand she thinks she can't bear it - but this is also why she's doing what she's doing, saying all the things she never had any chance - or the foresight - the time to sort through. not only saying the words, but following through. if she disappears on the beach, elsewhere, anywhere - they will have had this time. and it's more than she ever truly thought she'd get.]

[opheliac]

Yeah, well... try not to be a dud on my fun. Whoever looks at me funny, I'm blasting 'em.

(ah yes, there is this side of her, too. a side that's very unpredictable and untamable. unless you are silco, of course. he seems to be the only one thus far in her life that can set her straight if she goes just a little too far with things. is it nerve-wrecking or concern when she said this, her tone is cool and collected? possibly but shooting anyone or anything who make her feel a certain way is such of a norm for her. and surely, it'll be okay to do the same here. after all, she has a reputation to build if this is going to be new life.)

[faceblocks]

[the sound that comes out is a laughsnort in the wake of what had previously been diminishing sniffles.]

Might have to have some ground rules? And before you're like 'fuck the ground' and 'fuck the rules, too' I gotta say: they'll be a hell of a lot better than what might happen if these things [pointing at the ocean] come for ya.

They don't even have to be my ground rules either.

[have a look. a small huff. is it amusement or resignation who knows. it's both, jinx. both.]

You can't blast everyone.

[opheliac]

C'mooon, who said I was gonna blast "everyone"? — Juuuuust the ones that rub me the wrong way. And y'know, there's a thing where one can do both. I can just shoot whatever is out there and whoever piss me off.

(and despite vi giving her this look, her eyes trails over to the ocean -- lifting up her hand to form a gun with her fingers. quickly, she makes "pow" sounds to shoot down whatever the "things" vi is going on about. maybe there's a giant squid out there that swoops in and wanting dinner. wouldn't it be cool to climb on it and make it her slime-y pet?)

[faceblocks]

[vi will join in that gesture, she will shoot at the ocean with her fingers (no sound effects though) and she will laugh a little because she is reminded of john, the god-emperor who tried to smack down the literal ocean and that's why this is happening. and like ten people died. people killed their own crews. their friends. people came back wrong. people got stuck in other people's heads. it was a whole-ass mess.]

That's the thing about this place. Sometimes it likes to play tricks, and not always fun ones. "Whatever's out there" changes. Sometimes it's easy, like beasts. And then sometimes it's impossible, like the things that made us squids, brought us here. They're called Pthumerians. They're not gods, but they may as well be.

The ocean's one of 'em. Her name's Mariana.

[sigh]

If they start shooting back I guess I'm gonna have to fight 'em then.

[opheliac]

Pthumerians, huh...

(she lets herself roll off her tongue as she resumes to stare at the ocean; keeping her arm out straight but then finally dropping it and her "gun". finally, she glimpse over her sister and then re-wraps her arms around her knees in a hold.)

Got any idea what they wanna do with us or why they brought us here?

[faceblocks]

A lot of people talking a lot of stuff about that one. Probably some of it's total bullshit, but the one thing they mostly agree on is that it's a place for second chances. Maybe even more chances than that, if you can't stop fucking up.

[well, look at that - as the sparkler burns it changes color. this one's gone from gold to green.]

Yeah, this place has problems, but they're different problems. I guess it can be an escape if you're lucky enough.

[a shrug. had she been lucky when she'd been alone here? in a way, maybe, but viktor had found her almost as quickly as she'd found alayne sansa, and she'd never stopped thinking about powder. about jinx. about vander ...whose gauntlets those pthumerians had deposited in her "welcome" bag. some days it had felt like a welcome, and other days it had felt like a taunt.]

Maybe to learn the lesson of getting along and all hold hands and sing a song of friendship and the power of blood magic. [a look. a huff. an eyeroll.] Or maybe to fix Trench? [i mean. the pthumerians had the power to bring them here so why they didn't just fix it themselves? was A Question.] Shit, maybe it was just so you could stuff your face and win those dolls.

[me, though? well, it might be this. this here might just be worth all of it.]

Probably a lesson, though. [and off the cuff, because it's true:] Sometimes when I sit out here, I see a dragon flying.

[opheliac]

(as she listens to her sister attentively, her eyes return to the sparkler -- able to catch it changing colors. a second chance does sound nice in theory, in fact, might be for a lot of people here in trench. and it's something jinx is yearning for; to start over and forget about literally everything. but can a curse like her have such a thing? because it's only a matter of time that this new life of hers will be in shambles like the first, if not more so.

her expression saddens and her chin leans more over her knees. to have her sister like this is so beautiful and lovely -- something she will always seek for. but... in time, she'll have to run away again. when she will? jinx isn't sure but keeping her distance to prevent anymore harm seems like the option to make sure this life stays stable and not in shambles.)

... Don't think there's much of a lesson for me here. 'Less it's stop being ruining everything.

[faceblocks]

[there are so many things she could say to that. how 'stop ruining things' is probably half of everyone's deal here, maybe true, maybe bullshit. some days she thinks she's the one that ruined everything - tries to tread water under the weight of that truth, a shackle around her ankle dragging her under sometimes when she sleeps - when she's in a room and someone shuts the door unexpectedly - someone laughs - someone hands her four little blue eggs with an excited smile - she just feels guilty. she's already been marked by it - the reckoning's beast moon had writ a bright red c for coward on her cheek (for complicit, too) so yeah, maybe she ruins things too.

and then there's the other thing. ]

You know what? I ruined stuff, too. That doesn't mean I ruin everything I touch. You don't either. You were the best thing to happen to me out of anything since I got here. So if that's your idea of ruining? Give me what you've got left, I guess.

Maybe it's my lesson, too. To stop fucking things up. To just ...accept them and deal with them. And maybe me and my fat hands started to learn it when I put my boo-hoo problems down, put on my big-girl pants and picked up Silco's bag for him.

If I can do that?

[palming a tear out of her eye angrily - it has no right to - aw, fuck it. fine. fly free little tear.]