countryclub | July Test Drive Meme!

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meme: tdm

July Test Drive Meme!

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(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.)

[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.]

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. )

(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.

[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.

(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.

Edited 2022-08-15 06:02 (UTC)

[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.]

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.)

Edited 2022-08-15 20:13 (UTC)

[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.

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?)

[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.

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?

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.

(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.

[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.]

(jinx was already on her way to protest her words. because everyone looked up to her in the lanes. vi was the golden child and the one everyone wanted to be. and as for jinx? she always tagged so behind. it was hard to get recognition from mylo and claggor. ekko praised her but he always ended up surpassing her or did whatever it was better which led to jealousy. and of course there's vi but... felt like such a burden or she said the things she had said because that's what big siblings do.

and she opens her mouth to say something but immediately shuts it at the tear and the mention of silco.)

You... — You did that for him?

[those halcyon days of childhood stretching back and back and seemingly an aeon ago - a little closer in these moments just now before they're jerked away like the ocean's erratic crash - and what's close are all the days where vi didn't even want to be vi - there's no golden child in prison, but there is a lot of time to replay what you've already done and what you wouldn't do again, what you wished you'd done differently. but she'd imagined so many things - none of them matched what the reality was when she was finally out.

and she'd made a mess of it in some respects. jinx had been right. she was different. her years in stillwater hadn't preserved her like some sort of specimen in a jar - she'd fueled her own fire, her own perception of what had been and what was - and hadn't left much room for it to be derailed by how things had really gone down.

there were so many wildcards. she'd anticipated none of them.

she nods, slowly sliding her gaze toward her sister.]

Mostly I did it for you. But yeah.

[she'd hated doing it - but the idea of not doing it - of making things one iota more difficult for jinx should she show up again? nope. and making problems for silco? what would that do in the end anyway but make maybe worse problems for her. thinking like this? about the long game? is fucking hard. she's not used to it. it's so much easier to just come out swinging.]

(a small smile is in her face and her heart flutters just a bit. jinx is fully aware the conflict between the two of them; how they practically fought over her at her tea party. and that day was so hard because she loves them both dearly and to thought of choosing, deep down, she didn't really want to. she painted a world in her mind where the three of them could just live peacefully and happily together.

so to hear that she helped him when he washed up to the shore, it made her feel so warm inside. for the second time, jinx leans over and warps her arms around her sister into a hug.)

... Thank you. For doing that. I-In case he didn't say it, yet.

[the hug is unexpected. but it is not resisted, and not unwelcome - though vi lets out a little breath when jinx's arms close around her, and she can't stop her own from mirroring the gesture even if she'd wanted to. but she doesn't want to, and she's sick of the bullshit, sick of all the lying and all the half-truths that she'd just rather pour out her honesty here.

to be fair, the little seahorse in her pocket isn't making much difference now: all of this would have come out in the wash anyway. it's all she ever wanted to do.]

You're welcome.

[the small smile that had been on jinx's face? that's worth keeping what seems to be a fragile truce (??).]

He did say it. Kind of?

[this is better, though. this isn't full of possible doublespeak. the hint of a laugh in her voice as she speaks.]

He really wasn't happy to see me. He wanted it to be you, and no one else.

[it had been obvious. but the fact that it was vi? a stranger, any other sleeper would probably have been better.]

(that's... to be expected really. and all honesty, she feels rather guilt she couldn't be there when he needed her. jinx wonders if she disappointed him somehow by not being there in time. or for vi, too. but it's something she couldn't really help, right? or maybe she could and was just feeling selfish. other way, she feels terrible and while keeping her embrace onto her sister -- suddenly, jinx resorts back into a squid-form.

she flops immediately her lap and appearing rather distraught; tentacles raise up and down with a weird wheeze sound.)

[this: also unexpected. her own legs had reverted days before when she'd gone to investigate the lights beneath the sea ...but this is a whole squid where moments before she'd been hugging a girl. tentacles slipping from her shoulders and into her lap, this small sister-squid.

it's abrupt, and vi has a moment of inaction before scooping up the squidlet into her hands, trying to make a judgment call.

the first thing she tries is just stroking the creature, a gentle touch of finger against tentacle, trying to catch her gaze if she can. slipping her hands under to support jinx-the-squid, to hold a tentacle lightly enough that it can slip from her grasp if needed.]

O-oh! Oh, no. Okay. I can do this. What do you want? What do you need me to---

[can she even answer? vi isn't sure yet. she can see this squid is in distress, though, it's no less apparent now that jinx has shifted forms.]

(she is trying to answer but it only gives out more wheezing. but a tentacle curl around vi's wrist as the other brings to lightly tap on her hand. jinx is trying to consult her which is rather funny given she's the one that resorted back in this state and upset.

but the stroking is nice and soothing feeling thus her cries aren't as loud or in anguish. jinx wiggles in an attempt to be closer to vi for her own comfort and it's an very awkward moment as well just like with her swimming. she's not very good at being this.)

[the water's dangerous - it's rough in ways it's never been before - so the idea of going back in? that's her last option. but then a small tentacle grips here, another taps there - and she knows that jinx can hear her, even if she can't say it.

knows she's in there, too - she's never held another sleeper squid before - it's such a vulnerable state to be in, and she tries to tamp down the guilt that maybe she'd caused this - maybe it had been too upsetting - or maybe they were just too close to the ocean and it was that - or maybe it was nothing other than jinx being jinx: unpredictable.

so vi cradles the squid, as if she would a tiny person, a wounded animal - tentacles wrapping around her like a squiddy spidermonkey, which ...the moment she thinks of this she doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. so it's a bit of both as she attempts to gently and quickly descend to a lower ledge, one where the waves have kissed before, and leaving a small pool of water behind in a sunken surface. it's a small, shallow pool, but she doesn't know how long a squidself can breathe air before it needs water, so she wants to make sure both are at the ready.

and she does, stepping one foot in and then both feet - it's only waist deep, and not very wide, and she can only guess at what will soothe her sister's distress - though on some level, maybe the partial immersion in water will help the squid.]

It's either this or my bathtub, and it's a long way to carry you all the way back there. I ...would, though.

[she leans her head forward to rest against where she thinks jinx's forehead might be.]

(during the way, jinx squid hangs on to her sister until they finally earch this said shallow pool. and for some reason, she gets this overwhelming to just instantly jump in due to how alluring it looks to her. but she doesn't do it right away because her forehead is being busy being pressed against. this help sooth her nerves a little more until once ready, she slips into the water.

jinx squid sorta just sinks to the bottom for a moment; not at all moving but then strangely wiggle-swims over to vi's ankles. in time, she pokes her head out of the water just enough to see her clearly but still in the water enough. it looks as if she is waiting for vi to say something next or do something next.)

[it's less safe here, but she's not as concerned with that as maybe she should be - the sea had held itself back from killing her when she'd explored it, so. that can get in the bin for now as far as worries go.

she watches the squid slip beneath and wiggle along the bottom - not quite swimming, but managing to move along, to brush her tentacles against vi's ankles - which elongate just a little before they slacken and slip - before they're tentacles again as if they'd always been tentacles, and she leans into that - her own squid limbs reaching for her sister's - sort of ...petting her hand in comfort.]

It's okay. We can chill here for a while. Unless ...you want me to just go all in and swim around with you in there?

[she's never tried to make the switch purposefully, but she knows it's possible.]

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i read some deer country stuff last night & read turning back and forth to squid can happen lol

even if it couldn't ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN RP and i am down with this haha

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