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iyashikeimemes2025-07-01 12:01 am
iyashikeimods) wrote in iyashikeimemes2025-07-01 12:01 am
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Test Drive Meme 004
Test Drive Meme 004
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Cruising Through Trouble
At the stroke of midnight on the first day of July, just as it had begun.... The rains have stopped. The fog has cleared. The forced nightmares, the aches and pains, the paranoia, and the pressure that sat like a weight in your lungs and chest have all... ceased.
For a moment, the whole of Iyashikei seems to hold its breath, waiting to see if something is going to follow, if there is somehow yet another shoe waiting to drop... but... no. No, there is nothing that follows. The sky becomes clear. Rainbows streak across the sky every day. Heat rolls in with the summer season, helping dry up at least some of the water.
Iyahsikei is a flooded mess, from the Outer Rim to the Main Hub. Animals have escaped their pens, felled trees and leaves are blocking already burdened sewer drains. Those who went to the schools for shelter still need care. While restaurants and hotels are happily taking in anyone to feed for free or in need of a hot shower or bath, all of Iyashikei is here to help while everyone is getting back on their feet, but it doesn't change that serious damage has been done. Some people are falling asleep where they stand, finall free of the nightmares.
Now, more than ever, it's time to practice helping others. There will be teams created to do various jobs:
But even with all the effort everyone is putting in, it doesn't seem to be making a dent in the problem, and people are just exhausted after such a horrendous month.
The Council has no idea why the rainy season was as bad as it was. Not only does there need to be an investigation, but there needs to be a much more thorough clean-up, reconstruction of various homes, sewers, and buildings, and most of all, they need to make sure nothing like that happens again! To do THAT, they need to get everyone somewhere safe, somewhere people can relax and recuperate, and out of the way of all the magic and science about to happen.
Which is why all of Iyashikei is going to be evacuated. No exceptions, no excuses.
Of course, even evacuation is a bit different in Iyashikei. You and all of the Iyashikei denizens are being put on a luxury cruise liner to get to your destination.
No, you don't have a choice, even as a new arrival. Paperwork will have to wait, new arrival! Everyone will be ushered out of the city and the Farmlands. As you head towards the elevated docks on the edge of the Main Hub, you may start seeing some brooms with arms walking around Iyashikei with buckets, dustpans, and other clean-up and construction supplies. The especially keen may hear distant music coming from City Hall. The brooms can enter all the flooded areas without any issue, carrying out whatever task is asked of them.
As for the luxury cruise liner? After a quick safety drill about life jackets and muster stations, you can start enjoying a three-day cruise across calm waters!
There are all-you-can-eat buffets, fine dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner, trivia games, BINGO with prizes, dancing at the discos (or panicking, if you prefer), karaoke nights, line-dancing, pools to lounge in or by, spas where you can get massages or mud baths, or maybe you want to sit inside at a jazz bar and watch the water go by the windows while Iyashikei becomes smaller and smaller on the horizon. Those who may need medical attention will be attended to by the cruise ship's medical team.
There's just... one thing.
You see, with the need to get everyone safely out of the city, everyone is going to need to have a cabin-mate! The cruise ship IS huge, but so is Iyashikei's population. No private rooms here. You will be assigned a cabin and a random cabin-mate. Only married couples or those with a dependent get to share the same cabin. It's sure to be okay. Besides, it's only three days! Who can't get along for three days!? If there's REALLY an issue, you can always go to the guest services desk and they will re-room you with someone else.
Rites of Fire
Just where is the cruise ship taking you, anyway?
The ship will dock at a beautiful and lush volcanic tropical island. If you've ever wondered where the majority of the tropical fruit, chilis, and more exotic foods come from, then here is your answer. The air is warm, the sun is shining bright, and you will be shown to a cabin out on the water (all of them have modern plumbing) where you will be staying until the Council can figure out what is going on back in the Main Hub and Outer Rim. This time, there ARE private cabins for those in need of them, but you CAN expect roommates... again. At least this time you get to pick your roommate!
Welcome to Kai Island!
Home to a volcano goddess and her people. She heard of the storm that hit Iyashikei, and in the spirit of hospitality and helping, she has opened up her island for everyone to restore their health and revitalize their spirit.
Kai Island follows the same rules and ideas as Iyashikei does; people are here to help one another. You will be asked to do the same if you are able. You may be asked to help clean up the beaches and reefs, help out at local stores or the island hospital, especially with such a GIANT population burst coming in, helping with the local wildlife, or helping gather fruit and other tropical crops for the masses, or cooking them for the nightly Fire Rites!
But the locals also want you to relax and rejuvenate, especially after such a harrowing time you've endured.
There are all sorts of activities for you to try out. For the more adventurous, there is: kayaking, canoeing, hiking trails among all the flora to hidden waterfalls, snorkeling, surfing along the waves, horseback riding, tubing along rivers and in lagoons, exploring hidden caves along the shores, and ziplining among the trees. Just like in Iyashikei's forest and desert, Rangers are there to help guide, rescue, or educate those who might need it.
For those seeking more relaxation, there always seems to be a hammock somewhere nearby on the beach; you can grab a fruity drink to help beat the heat, partake in some yoga and meditation by the waves, enjoy the cafes and restaurants, or you can visit the community center to learn about the Kaian people and their goddess.
New arrivals will arrive in the temporary Welcome Chamber... er... Cave. There's still the Welcome Committee there to greet you, but you won't be able to fill out paperwork to return home until the ship takes all of you back to the actual Main Hub. There is no Council member you can talk to right now, either. They're all dealing with, well, everything going on in the Main Hub and Outer Rim. But do not fear! You are under the volcano goddess's protection while you are here as her guests.
Although that DOES mean you will be expected, just as the Kaian people are, to honor the volcano goddess for the bounty she provides to this island.
How, you may ask?
The volcano goddess loves a good show! After the sun sets, you will see all the locals head towards the beaches to gather in groups around bonfires and hold their nightly Fire Rites! There's lots of food served at these, so you're welcome to bring a dish to share or to sample something you've never tried before. Careful, this food tends towards spicy and flavorful.
The Fire Rites take all shapes and forms, however, the most common type of performance is people who dance with fire in some form or fashion. They twirl it, play with it, and dance with it. However, if you're worried about being singed, don't worry, it isn't just physical fire, there is the fire in the soul as well! Be it a poem of your own making, a song, a dance, a staged duel, or any sort of performance to show the fiery passion in your heart, will be more than enough for the volcano goddess to be appeased. And you will be expected to perform at some point during your stay.
The longer you hold off on performing, you will start to notice a tattoo forming on your palms, starting as an ember, and after every missed chance to perform, the ember grows into a flame, then it grows from your palms onto your hands. Another missed performance? And the fiery tattoo will crawl up your arms. The brighter and bigger the fire tattoo, the more and more compelled you will feel to perform until you give in to the Fire Rites.
Of course, if you need help, the Kaian locals are happy to give you a Starborn fruit. The Starborn fruit looks identical in almost every way to a Star fruit except that, at night, it glows. Should you bite into a Starborn Fruit, you will find that you begin singing about every strong emotion you feel, and nothing can stop you until the song is done or the feeling passes. Also, they're all over the island. Don't worry, the effects of a Starborn fruit are only for 24 hours unless you eat it every day.
Down Where It's Wetter
As your stay on Kai Island continues, more often than not, when you look out into the water, you may notice some very... VERY large fish tails breaching and then dipping back into the waves. Maybe during the day, you notice some people way out past the surf just bobbing along in the water.
Or maybe you're just a very forthright person and ask a Kaian local about it, and what is going on.
As it happens, there is a cenote on the island with a crystal clear pool inside it. Getting there is not exactly easy, but it's possible to get there after a few hours. You will need to go on quite a hike into the center of the island, past waterfalls and along steep stairs. Getting there by yourself is impossible, so a local will need to guide you. There's no reason to try and be sneaky about it, though; the Kaian are happy to share this aspect of their culture. So long as you're respectful to the cenote, the Kaian's will take anyone who wants to go. Once you get there, if you completely douse yourself in the water, then you'll get to enjoy a rather amazing bit of magic.
The water gathered there in that cenote will turn you into a merperson!
Now, after completely dousing yourself from head to toe, any time your feet are completely submerged in water up to your ankles, you will transform. The downside to the transformation is that you will end up with either one or all three side effects: having a tendency to hoard something, a love for singing out loud whenever the mood strikes you, or a sudden disinterest in other people's personal space by grabbing, holding onto, or hugging whomever is nearby.
The magic of the water will last for as long as you live on the island. If you're thinking you'll just swim back to Iyashikei, the magic fades away after five miles out from the island's coast.
Those Re-Quests to clean up the sea floor suddenly make a LOT more sense.
A Kindly Curious Question
There are several little beeps, or depending on whether you've begun customizing it, maybe a little song instead starts to play on your Glimmer. A little envelope notification appears and does a little wiggle. Should you open this, a cute little message appears:
Hello hello Iyashikei!
This is the monthly Kindness Curious Question (K.C.Q.)! What are your FAVORITE ways to relax? Answer honestly to get your sticker!
Answer honestly on the Glimmer and you'll get your K.C.Q. Digital Sticker! It will immediately go into your K.C.Q. digital sticker album folder on your Glimmer.
What's the point, you might ask? Well, when you open that sticker and press on it, the little sticker will prevent you from getting sunburnt!
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[Viktor shook his head with a soft, tired sigh.]
Get up before you strain your leg, please.
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There's more to tell you. But not now. This is... enough, for now. I hope it helps you understand why I am the way I am, a little better.
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...I can't make the definitive statement 'nothing you can tell me would make me angry'. I am sure something or other very likely will. And I am...a difficult person, when it comes to personal problems. But even if you utterly infuriate me, even if I might want space to myself for a time--I do not want you to think I will outright abandon you.
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Even if you need space, I trust you'll come back.
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[He glanced off to the side uneasily, weighing what he wanted to say--if he even really wanted to say it.]
You told me something I do not know, so I think it fair I do the same. Just...bear with me a moment, there is a point to the matter. [Another brief pause, thoughts carefully gathered and placed in order.]
When I was very young, my parents were artificers that worked out of a shop deep in the Fissures; further than you likely even realize the Undercity reaches, close to the mines on a thin and oft-overlooked path called Emberflit Alley.
[The truth of the matter was that Jayce had definitely been about that far down--whether the Viktor of that time realized it or not, where the commune had sprouted up like choking ivy was not nearly that far from the long-abandoned neighborhood where its Herald had once lived.]
They repaired and maintained broken mining tools and equipment, with the price a matter of favors and resources as often as it was monetary. Naturally it was difficult for us to get by--we managed, barely. I wondered, once, why they operated so unconventionally compared to most. Bartering is very common in the undercity, but rarely to that level. My mother explained it very simply: if a miner's equipment became nonfunctional and they could not afford to repair it, they would not be able to continue working and lose what little income they had. So my parents believed the easiest solution was to make sure they could maintain that stability, while also getting what we required in whatever form it could be offered in exchange. I remember she said...
[He faltered for just a second, looking out at the water with a distant, tired stare.]
'There is always the choice to be kind, Viktor. If we forget that, then the world will never get any better.'
[Letting out a quiet sigh, Viktor shook his head.]
And I am telling you this because...whatever else has happened, you still need my support, as your partner. I can not turn my back on that, or on anyone else in need of my help.
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So he listens, watching Viktor as he speaks. Afterwards, he offers a warm smile and reaches out to touch Viktor's arm.] Your mother sounds like a very wise woman.
You've never been anything but kind to me, Viktor. [True to a point. True for this Viktor, sitting here next to him.] I appreciate your kindness, more than I have words for.
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You are one of the only people that have ever been kind to me without having it rooted in some form or another of pity or derision. In several ways, you...are all I have. So I realize this may be hard to believe, knowing I have already done so once from your perspective--but I do not think I could truly abandon that. Even if I get so angry I can't stand it...I believe I will always come back before long.
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There is something about you that is... unquestionably and unbreakably entwined with me. Something inseparable. I know now what it's like to be without you and that's never something I want to feel again.
So thank you. For promising to come back.
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[He had no idea how literal that was. Attempting to lighten the heavy atmosphere, he continued:]
Well, that's fine. Just do not go out of your way to stress test my patience, yes?
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