iyashikeimemes | 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:

Debris Clean-Up Team: Exactly what it says, wearing safety vests and hard hats, you will go around where you can, where the flooding isn't too high, and collect trash, branches, pick up fallen items, and cleaning up anywhere and however you can.

Care and Comfort Team: There are hungry, tired, and injured people. They need food or medical attention, or maybe just a nice warm hug. So you will be tasked with doing just that, helping hand out or make food, or giving medical care (magical or scientific).

Search and Rescue Teams: The teams will be divided into two smaller teams. The Scouting Team, those who can look over large areas or detect lifeforms inside buildings and locations. The second team is the Rescue Team. After all, there are still residents and pets that are missing. The Rescue Team will go out where the waters are highest from scouting intel, and get any beings trapped in their homes or animals that have wandered too far from home to safer locations. It should be noted: The Council will only allow those who are physically or magically capable to be on the Rescue Team.

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!

                        < isopods >

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Gods, there's going to be an entire shoreline. Likely abundant plantlife, and Janna only knows what else. [Viktor pressed a hand to his head, suddenly looking overwhelmed.] It sounds...almost unthinkable.

We'll send Rio ahead of us. She'll smooth out the sand and snack on any plant life in our way. [He wraps his arm around Viktor's shoulder, pulling him into a gentle hug and kissing the top of his head like it might ward off the impending headache.]

Maybe there will be paths? Paved places. Surely we're not the only two people here who need help getting around.

It--it is not that, I am just...a little overwhelmed, maybe. I never so much as saw the ocean until I was a teenager, much less plants beyond what one would find around Piltover. The idea of an entire less populated island is...daunting, almost.

Oh! [He hadn't even considered that it was more of a cultural shock than a physical one. Piltover isn't exactly the most beachy place, and both Zaun and Piltover are busy, crowded cities.]

Too spread out, is that it?

It is an entirely new experience, Jayce--unprecedented, difficult in a way that can not be approached in a scientific manner.

[Viktor sighed in something like annoyance, leaning against his partner.]

...I suppose this is a feeling I would categorize as 'nervous anticipation'.

Believe it or not, that is an okay emotion to feel. As unpleasant as it might be, while it's happening. There are too many unknown variables. I understand that.

I find it irrational and annoying. A simple change of scenery should not cause this kind of unease, should it?

Of course it should. It's brand new to you, Viktor. To both of us. Unexplored territory. It just means you're human.

...How troublesome. But I guess it can not be helped.

Edited 2025-07-22 04:06 (UTC)

I know, I know. Having emotions is such a deep inconvenience. [It's said with a gently teasing tone, and Jayce tilts Viktor's face up to kiss the sweetly upturned tip of his nose.] I'd have them for you, if I could.

[Viktor frowned in a way almost reminiscent of an annoyed housecat, but the arm loosely around the other man's waist for support told a much less irritated story.]

I have enough emotional pitfalls with you around, I do not need something like this worsening it.

Am I a pitfall? [It was... affection that kept us together floats to the surface of his memories, and he holds Viktor a little tighter for it.]

No, I-...did not mean it like that-

[Viktor scowled at himself more than Jayce, making a quiet noise of wordless aggravation.]

...These things are difficult. Troubling. Emotion has always been something that conflicts with reason as well as necessity. I am more accustomed to simply keeping them to myself for safety's sake. The alternative is...unsettling.

In that case, I promise to keep them safe for you. You don't have to share them with everybody, if the idea of it is unsettling. [He rests his chin on Viktor's head, wishing a little that they were in bed and he could wrap more fully around him. Protect him]

... [Viktor let himself lean in a little closer, quiet as he let himself consider that.]

I am not accustomed to trusting anyone to that extent, not even you. I might detest that kind of...unchecked vulnerability.

It's difficult and it's frightening, I can understand that. I will try to keep understanding that.

I appreciate what you've shared so far? [It's a small offer, a little show of appreciation.] I love you is a pretty damned big one.

[Turning a pale shade of pink at that, he fumbled for a moment in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance.]

It's-...I just- [Was it really any wonder he'd eventually try to delete the concept of emotions from humanity, because gods knew he was bad with them.]

...maybe it is simply a matter of adjustment.

Maybe. You don't have to figure it out right now. Or any time soon, even. I can wait. I'm -- well. [He laughs a little, self deprecating.] I was going to say I'm patient, but we know that's a lie.

But either way, I'm willing to wait for you.

[Despite himself, Viktor laughed softly.]

I would dare call you the least patient man I know, if I did not also know myself. Even so, that is...reassuring.

I'd be satisfied with a tie. [He nuzzles contentedly into Viktor's hair, happy he got him to laugh.] We can go as slow as you need to.

Test Drive Meme 004

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