JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

JULY 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to July's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: DREAM HORROR.

All Test Drive Memes contain at least one clue to the Deerington's upcoming in-game events for the month! Keep your eyes peeled! But...not literally.

Characters may die during TDMs, but you do not need to count it towards a game-canonical death unless you want to. Consider it a freebie. All TDMs can be considered game canon as TDMs introduce minor aspects about the world of Deerington that can be revisited by characters later on in the game. You may also use TDMs for your application writing sample as well as AC.

CW: Violence, Freddie Kreuger references, fire, forced sleep with some drug-like references, stabbing, nightmares, monsters, possibility for extreme alcohol consumption, and lobster festivals
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Prompt Three
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN

It’s July and July in Maine means lobster! The Lobster Festival springs up seemingly overnight down near Koji Pond. In the morning, there’s a large parade that makes its way through town, starting from the top of East Main Street and all the way down through West Main St until they hit the festival. There are tents, a few rides, games, arts and crafts, and most importantly, food pretty much everywhere behind the hotel and you can help yourself to free ice cream at the ice cream shop! Lobster ice cream and Blueberry ice cream are pushed to the forefront, but you can get just about any flavor you could possibly dream of in the long run.

You can hear live music playing and a stage has been set up on the roof of the arcade. Live bands play everything from folk music to jazz to classic rock that you may or may not have heard in your lifetime. There’s a tent where local artists (including sleepers) are selling art, a craft tent where people are selling goods they’ve made such as pottery and homemade fudge, and a Do It Yourself tent where people are teaching you how to make your own buoy decoration for your front yard or how to weave your own baskets!

A seafood cooking contest is held for anyone who may want to show off their culinary skills. Any kind of seafood dishes are allowed, but they highly encourage showing your abilities to cook with lobster! Think you can beat the longstanding champions from Deerington? It’s pretty unlikely, especially since it looks like the townspeople keep trying to sabotage your meal as you’re making it. Did you mean to put in an entire half cup of salt to your stew? Oops. Guess you better figure out how to work with it anyway.

Across Koji Pond, there are floating crates set up for the great crate race! See if you can make it across the lake fastest – challenge a friend! These lobster crates wobble pretty heavily, but each runner is given a life vest for when they might inevitably fall in. Be careful if you do! Some of those strange looking fish in there definitely bite.

Each morning at the festival there will be an all you can eat blueberry pancake breakfast. Surprisingly, nothing drastic seems to happen, so have as many pancakes as your body can hold! They’re delicious, after all. Through the rest of the day, it’s easy to get your hands on lobster rolls of varying sizes, full steamed lobster meals (with corn on the cob and a buttered dinner roll), lobster salad, steamed mussels, scallops, haddock (baked or fried), fried clams, lobster stuffed risotto balls, blueberry cobbler, and strawberry shortcake are all available at any of the food stands. All the food seems perfectly safe. But you’re gonna need something to wash it down with…

The drink stand has a great deal to offer, but every drink seems to come with a particularly strange side effect to it. People who enjoy the hand crafted beers will find that it gets them drunk twice as fast and can even make people who would normally never drink completely wasted after just a glass or two. Every glass you have makes you thirstier than the last and it can be easy to want to reach for another beer to try and get yourself together. In fact, it’s particularly hard to reach for anything else. Urges to drink the beer will last for at least one full hour or can be cut short by being responsible and going to drink some water instead.

So maybe beer isn’t your thing; that’s okay! There’s also blueberry lemonade which will turn you the color of blueberries from head to toe! Fresh iced tea will make you feel particularly sarcastic, prone to mocking even your closest friends and gossiping with complete strangers about the things you may or may not have heard about the town. Got a juicy secret you were trying to keep for someone? Well, it’s out in the open now. Cream sodas will make you extremely cuddly, wanting to cozy up next to the closest person to you for a little while. The more you drink, the more touchy-feely you may get, so maybe try and stick to just one or two unless you’re looking for some afternoon delight. Hot tea will make you feel calm and relaxed to an extent you never have before. To the point where you might even want to just go lay down on one of the docks and take a quick catnap in the middle of the afternoon sun. Hopefully you wore sunscreen.

Effects from any drink will last for one to three hours or until you have some strawberry shortcake from one of the food vendors.

BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL

So maybe the lobster festival isn’t your thing or you got tired of all the crowds and wanted to go and do something else fun. Strangely enough, some of the fields out near the farmhouses apparently have a bunch of blueberry bushes that no one’s ever noticed before! They’re in full bloom and the berries look ripe for the picking. Perfectly round, juicy, warm from the sun – you could eat a whole handful of these and maybe never feel more satisfied. They’re deliciously sweet, perfect for pies and cobblers. And a whole basket seems to be reasonably priced, so why not go out and pick as many as you can!

The longer you’re out in the fields, the more you’ll start to feel a little groggy. It’s easy to shake off as just being from the sun at first and you might think about heading back, but something in you wants to keep picking. So you trudge in deeper into the fields, and that sleepy feeling becomes more and more difficult to ignore. Eventually, you might find that you’re ready to just lay down and take a nap in the shade of a particularly large blueberry bush. It seems like a good a spot as any – the ground is nice and soft. Just curl up for a little while and close your eyes. Even people who are normally not prone to sleeping will find that they are compelled and even capable of taking a quick nap in these fields.

Any dreams you may have while sleeping will feel more vivid than normal – to the point where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. Did you actually manage to find your way out of Deerington and back home? You can pinch yourself, but you won’t wake up, and it’ll hurt like a bitch, so it’s hard to be sure. Dreams seem to mostly be pleasant ones, but the occasional nightmare might find its way in to your otherwise restful sleep. Anyone who stumbles on you asleep in the fields might even hear you talking in your sleep, rambling out conversations and feelings you might normally have kept quiet. Got feelings for someone you were trying to bury? They might just hear you mutter them out loud if they’ve found you there in the dirt. Wanted to make sure no one in Deerington found out you had no home to go back to? That sucks, it sounds like you might have just spilled the beans without even knowing.

The real question is if the person who finds you will wake you up or just keep listening to find out more of your secrets without having to pry for them.

NINE, TEN, NEVER SLEEP AGAIN

It’s not just in the blueberry fields that sleepiness seems to be catching. Throughout Deerington, people seem to be having a harder and harder time staying awake for long stretches. The desire for a quick nap or even a long snooze becomes harder to fight as each day passes and you might find yourself nodding off in places you normally wouldn’t – behind the wheel of a car, in the middle of a store, at work… Hopefully no one gets too hurt or loses a job during these strange episodes.

Only unlike in the fields, when you do give in to sleep, the dreams you have are now far from pleasant. Nightmares are running amok in your mind, but that vivid realism? That inability to tell when you’re awake or asleep? That has definitely not changed. You might not have even realized you’ve fallen asleep at all – most of the scenery around you seems to be Deerington itself, but something just seems off. You don’t have time to think about it though because it’s then that things start to get scary. Whether it’s reliving your most traumatic experiences, running in to your worst enemies, or seeing monster of your own creation popping up and chasing you, danger and fear are permeating every corner of these dreams. Horror movie fans might find they’re being chased by Freddie Kreuger, hunted down by Jason, cornered by the aliens from Alien. Or maybe there are terrifying monsters from your own world that have started to come for you and are trying to tear you limb from limb. It feels impossible to outrun, and maybe in the end, you don’t. But if you die in your dreams, you don’t really die in real life, right? So you might just snap awake with a particularly frightening jolt.

You think when you wake up that everything is fine. That sense of fear is gone and you’re able to just breathe. But as you go about your day, you start to see images from your nightmares out of the corner of your eyes. Was that Freddie’s claws scratching against the blackboard? Did you just hear the strange clicking of alien feet against the tiles? You hope it’s in your imagination, but this is Deerington. When does anything ever stay normal?

The danger from your nightmares is definitely invading your personal space and it will try to kill you. Anyone else can see these images just as plain as day as you can and they are welcome to either sit and watch or help you fight. Whatever is trying to kill you will go down in the same manner it would have back home – that means that it could be as easy as a bullet between the eyes or it could be as complex as an intense ritual. Guess you’ll have to figure it out for yourself before it really does kill you.

Character Arrival

You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.

There is not a collective "all these characters showed up at the exact same moment" occurrence in Deerington. Since characters fall asleep, die, or pass out at various times throughout all their worlds, it wouldn't make too much sense if they arrived in game all at the exact same time. There should be some discrepancy between character arrival, whether by a couple minutes, hours, or even days up to a week.

The players are entirely in control of how/when they want to play their characters arriving in Deerington. For TDMs, you can play it like your character has just arrived and that can be maintained as your game canon, or you can wait until game events for that moment. Or you don't need to acknowledge it at all. The flexibility for character allows a bit more of an organic feel to the character arrival situation, so please play it to whatever feels right for you.

If you are interested in having an "arrival" introduction for one of your TDM prompts, you are more than welcome to explore that option.

Comments

kai parker | tvd

[hiyakai]

WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN

[ man, how exciting is this? he hasn't been to a festival in ages.

free food, fun drinks and even a cooking competition! it's a little quirky, but he likes quirky and he can make a mean lobster dish. plus, compared to where he was before, a small town with a strong appreciation for lobster really isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. even if it didn't have all the aforementioned goodies above, it has people and he has missed people. it's like a breath of fresh air, even if this place is supposedly some dream wonderland.

he'll take what he can get. just as long as he never has to listen to the spin doctors again.

unsurprisingly, kai is going to have his hands in everything the festival has to offer. from trying out the lobster ice cream to participating in the cooking contest, he is gonna be having a blast. (he may or may not be prepared to cheat a little with his magic if those townies decide to play dirty with him during the competition. it would only be fair.) feel free to approach or stop him for a chat anytime. just be warned, he is going to be very talkative. it has been a looong while since he last had a decent conversation. either way, he is going to be around enjoying unlimited blueberry pancakes and maybe giving that blueberry lemonade a taste.

boy, is he going to get a serious kick out of turning blue. ]

NINE, TEN, NEVER SLEEP AGAIN

[ okay, seriously not cool, deerington. he just started to like you and then you just had to start giving him nightmares about hell. it's a good thing that he knows this isn't actually hell because a) it has been destroyed and b) cade wouldn't be wasting his time murder stalking him like he is now. (and for the ones who do not know who cade is — first of all, lucky you and secondly, he's the devil. literally. at least in his verse.) although, he guess he could be wrong. maybe he is still in hell. maybe this is just a different kind of hell.

well, whatever. he isn't about this life either way, especially since the nightmares are beginning to manifest in the quasi-real world.

and when kai parker feels threatened, his favorite solution is to kill the thing that's interfering with his attempt at a sort of fresh start. the only problem here is that the only means of killing cade back home was to use a weapon forged from the guy's bones which he sadly doesn't have handy.

maybe he can try severing one of his arms and... stake him with his own arm bone. wouldn't that be hilarious? but until he figures out how to manage that, don't mind if he sticks his nose into other people's business because another possible solution is to pit two monsters against each other. kind of like freddy vs. jason. ]

WILDCARD IT

[ just give him whatever your heart desires. he's harmless. totally. :) ]

nine, ten, never sleep again

[obstruct]

( she has her own damn problems. don’t get involved, don’t get involved, don’t get—too late. apparently, she just can’t help herself. her nightmares generally consist of repeatedly losing people she cares about but this time it’s different. it’s more about good versus evil, light against dark, and the freaking original set of waste-of-space vampires—excluding kol, duh—and all the chaos they dredge up wherever they go. she’s metaphysically transported into a dream plane, billions of miles or realities from home ( or however you want to break it down ) and she still can’t escape the mikaelsons.

davina’s done hiding. she has put in enough hours in dark spaces, avoiding people, sheltered from the world that she’s not about to revert back to that. and she’s also not about to let that happen to anyone else, if she can help it.

so when she sees kai and the telltale signs that he’s evading something, possibly someone, she intervenes despite every precaution in her head telling her not to. this is a new town, a new start and she doesn't have to screw that up by meddling. her compassion convinces her otherwise. she doesn't see cade yet and that means she has no idea what's transpiring. ) Hey. Are you—? Is everything okay?

( people don't normally bolt into an area or a room like a bat out of hell and keep looking over their shoulder or around for exits. just a thought. )

[hiyakai]

[ she should have followed her own advice.

to each their own can be a very important life lesson. in his experience, whenever he genuinely tries to help someone, it blows up in his face. to the say the least, he isn't into doing that anymore — at least not without some kind of self-benefit in mind.

luckily for whoever this girl is, he happens to need help (or a possible sacrificial lamb to distract cade with while he figures out a plan on how to get rid of him). ]

You know, [ he sounds slightly out of breath as he gives another furtive glance back. ] I could be better. [ no harm in putting up a scared front, right? (honestly, he should really consider going into the entertainment industry one of these days. he seems to have a knack for it.) ] I don't know if this is just a me thing, but I feel like I'm Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street, except instead of being stalked by Freddy, I'm being stalked by the devil.

[ he would take freddy any day of the week. ]

But otherwise, I'm great.

[obstruct]

( her life experience, with very few exceptions, has shown her much of the same: people suck. humans, werewolves, vampires, hybrids, witches — nobody gets a pass. davina won’t live like klaus, killing without cause, stamping out betrayal before it’s born. she has to believe that there’s still good in the universe even if it sometimes feels like a war to uncover a sliver of it. the universe gave her marcel, kol, and josh. she hasn’t forgotten that with the same kind that gives, it takes away.

he hits the nail of her empathy right on the head and while she doesn’t immediately close any of the distance between them, she lowers her crossed arms. )

It’s not just you. ( she extends, not solely to placate him but whatever the rest of her relatable content is supposed to be meets a rough patch. sorry, did he say the devil? she takes a steadying breath and raises one palm in an okay, whoa buddy, you did not drop that at my feet gesture. ) I'm guessing you don't mean a guy in red body paint with plastic horns and a really cheesy pitchfork. ( it'd be a lot less scary that way. ) What does he want with you?

( his soul, obviously. that seems like where the dots come together based on what she knows about the devil. she's asking whether he pissed the devil off or it's completely unwarranted. )

[hiyakai]

[ the universe hasn't been so giving with him, so... he is on klaus' side. never met the guy, but it sounds like he has the right idea on how to approach life and all its fun, little obstacles — eliminate the threat before it eliminates you.

and okay, maybe he should be fairer here. not everyone is like the hypocritical, self-righteous scooby gang of mystic falls. maybe there are more forgiving people who are willing to give someone a second shot at redemption.

the only problem is that kai isn't looking for redemption. trying it once was enough to learn his lesson. now, all he wants to do is... well, avoid returning to that hellhole of a prison world. oh, and surviving knockoff cade. ]

No. No horns and no pitchfork. Not even a pointy red tail. I think I would like him better if he was Classic Devil. [ instead he is just scary and mega-powerful. ] It's... kind of a long story, but... I might have indirectly played a hand in his untimely demise at one point. It's all a bit of a blur if I'm gonna be honest. He doesn't seem like he is willing to listen though, so... what's after you? Can we Freddy vs Jason them? [ please say yes. ]

nine, ten, never sleep again

[bigbadrose]

[Well if he wants a monster... there's a bit of an unusual one in the form of a shiny pepper pot about 5 feet high with a whisk and a plunger for arms. Listen, that might not sound terribly menacing, but the blonde girl trying to negotiate with it, certainly sounds terrified enough.]

Just tell me what you've done with him!

[She's walking backwards, because the only thing worse than a caged dalek, is a caged Rose, and then third is a caged Doctor. Anyway, it's best to find escape routes, or help, or just make sure the dalek stays alone, but at continuous disadvantages, if Rose can actually find one.]

[The not-robot lights up and mechanically responds through a voice filter:]

EXTERMINATED!

No! [Rose's whole body trembles and she shakes her head vigorously.] That's not true! You couldn't have!!

Daleks reign supreme!

You wouldn't even exist without him! We both know it! That's why you're all just stuck in his universe, isn't it? Just tell me where he is!

Exterminated!!

[hiyakai]

[ oh, now what do we have here?

it looks like a girl being cornered by a little... home cleaning robot. neat-o. advancement in technology has been a real eye opener for him. he never got to explore the world of robotics as much as he would have liked. been a bit too busy with other things.

you know how life goes.

anyhoo, he wonders what's so scary about this thing because she looks terrified of it and... well, maybe it has something to do with it repeatedly screaming "EXTERMINATED" at her. did it kill her friend? ] Knock, knock. [ don't mind if he rapt his knuckles against its back to get its attention. ]

What are you supposed to be? [ he glances briefly over at the blonde with mild amusement. ] Are you like the household version of a multitool? Vacuum cleaner, heater, plunger and an Easy-Bake Oven all in one? Because I could sure use one of you. Although, I don't know how sanitary your whisk would be considering it's right next to your plunger. Whoever designed you really didn't think that one through, did they?

[bigbadrose]

DALEKS REIGN SUPREME! [It shrieks again.]

Be careful... [Coming from Rose.] I don't think it's a boggart you can just humiliate it into evaporatin', yeah? Daleks don't care about how they look, they're the ultimate tank of efficiency. The plunger is used to extrapolate data and the process will kill you, and the other arm shoots concentrated gamma rays...

[A slight hiccup as she's still trying to figure out how to fix the situation and not get the new person killed either.]

[hiyakai]

[ so, it's a dangerous home robot. got it. ]

Cool. [ if it can plunger and/or gamma ray someone to death, then maybe it can help him with his little cade problem. ] Do you think this... Dalek buddy of yours would mind meeting a friend of mine?

[ he seems relatively unfazed as he directs his next words at the portable lighthouse. ] Daleks reign supreme, right? Well, I happen to know a guy who claims he is way superior than you, which I personally disagree with. Think you'd be interested in, oh I don't know, teaching him a lesson?

[bigbadrose]

[Rose was about to explain that since they're genocidal to all existence that isn't daleks; yeah probably, so long as he did the cyberman thing of trying to compete with the dalek. Or work alongside it, really. Daleks don't assist. But the guy figures it out himself, so Rose just ducks sideways, trying to find a screwdriver she can later impede or unscrew eyestalk or etc.]

Who? Who? WHO?

[The dalek goes slightly haywire and starts shooting, which is what happens when they're excited.]

Calm down! Just go fight it!

Exterminate, exterminate!

[Basic hardware tools acquired, Rose stalks from a safer distance, still keeping a lot of room because she knows how fast those fuckers can turn and genocide. One alone.]

[hiyakai]

[ haha, perfect. the dalek seems excited which makes him excited. let's do this, little tin buddy. let's go fight the devil — or more realistically, he'll have the dalek fight cade and just popcorn.gif on the sidelines. ]

He's on his way. [ he wasted enough time chitchatting for cade to catch up and he will — in the next five minutes or so. ] You can't miss him. Good looking guy in a suit. Mega-powerful. Ruler of Hell, etcetera.

[ annnnd punctual as always, one menacing cade will be showing up. kai will be taking this opportune time to distance himself while the dalek becomes a soon-to-be distraction for him. he will be pulling rose with him since it's really no time to be a heroine right now. ]

Hi. I'm Kai, by the way. What's your name? [ let's go a safe distance to watch the fireworks, okay? okay. ]

[bigbadrose]

Rose. [A genuine smile, she's relieved for the rescue and even more for the quick thinking. She never even thought about positing daleks against Satan. That'd be one hell of a thing. Pun intended. She likes puns.]

Rose Tyler. I didn't know so many people here knew Satan so literally. Kind of weird, innit? You don't much expect him to have friends... But then I guess we're all just his enemies, yeah? Where'd ya meet 'im? Or should I say how?

[hiyakai]

[ the devil gets around. can't really ever escape him, it seems. ]

He doesn't. I think the closest thing he had to friends were his minions. [ a beat. ] And all the souls he'd tortured. [ stopping around a corner, he peeks out from behind the wall to see how the ensuing battle is going. ]

I was one of them. [ he hesitates for a moment. ] Got killed. Woke up in Hell. Fun. [ far from it. ] So, how did you meet Knockoff R2-D2 over there? Loud, zappy little guy, isn't he?

[bigbadrose]

You were tortured? [She just instantly gives him a hug, because Rose. Intellectually she knows that being a tortured soul in hell should in theory make him a pretty bad person who "deserved" it, but given Rose's personal vendetta with Satan and her own private tell the last few years, youd have a time convincing her. Besides, for all her fear of them killing tte Doctor, she'd still willingly hug a dalek. Rose Tyler.]

[She giggles at the nickname, and nods!]<

Yeah, my friend's mortal enemies with them. They murdered his whole people, his planet, he was the only survivor. First one I met, I accidentally healed, because they were torturing it.

[Her stomach feels sick.] Humans, I mean. There was this American bloke who said he owned the internet, and he collected everything to do with aliens, so he considered it his prize possession. Made the same mistake you did, almost everyone does. They're not robots. They're little octopus mutants that are trapped inside those tanks the minute they're created. Bred for war. I killed their Emperor, but...

[Facepalm.] I nearly destroyed the universe and myself in the process? So kinda not allowed to do that again.

The one I healed couldn't kill me. It took too much of me and I guess started fighting against its biology or programming. I convinced it to do something other than killing, but then it hated itself and didn't want to exist as the only one of its kind.

And my friend... [She kind of huddles into hugging herself.] I get scared he'll be like that some day. [A quiet near whisper.] Just give up the fight of living. He's so old, and so alone...

[And there was a great deal of heavy trauma in having found him dead repeatedly, even if she's trying to make sure that won't be what happens in his universe.]

[hiyakai]

[ wow. he was... not expecting that reaction. then again, he guess it's a normal response from a sympathetic person. there aren't a ton of those in mystic falls. when was the last time he had even received a hug from someone?

decades ago.

sooo, he doesn't know exactly how to react here. tensing up a little, his hands immediately flies up as she wraps her arms around him. ] Yep. Tortured. [ he settles for giving her a somewhat awkward pat on the back. ]

Wait, there is a little octopus mutant in there? [ man, he wants to see what it looks like! he has never met an alien before. oh, and he guess he should respond more empathetically here— ] I'm sorry you almost destroyed the universe. That must not have been fun. [ it sounds very fun. ] Sounds traumatizing.

[ a beat. ]

I'm sure your friend will be fine. Is he here too? [ good job, kai. ]

cooking mama

[magija]

[ she hadn’t intended to participate, but considering the town decided to toss in a festival right on her street, she figures it defeats remaining inside and merely listening in to all the frantic chatter. besides, the contest does present her with participating in something she’s actually good at, and it really becomes more of a means to distract herself with something comforting than to actually win.

at least, that was the intention at the start.

it’s no surprise that the townspeople would play tricks on them, but what she doesn’t expect is when she notices the man at the table beside her carefully moving his hands, an odd energy seemingly moving invisibly around him. is it ... magic?

unfortunately, the surprise of it distracts her for the span of a few seconds, more than enough to divert her eyes away from the ingredients she aims to use for her lobster bisque. of course, all the ingredients are exactly where they were, but — where are her knives for chopping them? she will find them, when she peeks up and sees them on the table beside her, a crease between her brows prompting her annoyance.

but if he’s going to play that game, so can she. she hopes he can handle some overcooked eggs, because when her fingers give a small curling wave, a subtle red glow drifts from them, floating across the way to notch up the heat of his stove. ]

[hiyakai]

[ in his defense, he didn't start it.

here he was, innocently prepping his lobster eggs benedict for a cooking contest that he joined on a whim when some asshole stole his lemons and another swiped his knife. sneaky, little bastards. since it looks like everyone is content with playing dirty here, who is he to really deny the subtle change in rules? if the natives want to bring cheating to the table, then so will he. it's much more fun this way anyhow.

unfortunately, he doesn't know which contestants actually have thieving hands, so the only thing he can do is borrow from the ones closest to him. he honestly would have returned the knife as soon as he was done with it, but... it looks like retaliation is already in progress.

he can feel it. something foreign, yet familiar. a quiet shift in the atmosphere — magic. his eyes dart down to the stove just in time to catch the last of a faint red streak. a small smile immediately transpires on his face as he glances over at the table next to him. a witch, maybe? he gives her a tiny wave while he turns the heat back down.

only one way to find out — good luck melting your butter, wanda. it has frozen solid. ]

[magija]

[ she doesn’t know how it started or whether what he does is purposeful to ruin her or simply retaliate against anyone who might be messing with his ingredients. all that she knows is what she witnesses and right now, that happens to be that man beside her is using some sort of magic to disrupt the process of her dish.

when she takes notice of the frozen butter, there’s a quiet frustration in the tight pressing of her lips, but she keeps the composure, chin raised as she peers over to the man beside her.

she won’t even attempt to sneak, won’t disguise it now as she twirls her fingers for more of that soft crimson light as she uses it to merely carry her frozen butter and exchange it with the warmer butter on his table.

two can play at this game, sir. ]

[hiyakai]

[ kai, on the other hand, is feeling way more amused than annoyed at the moment. honestly, he could care less about the contest now that it has been confirmed he isn't the only witch in this town. it's very exciting.

man, he loves witches.

her magic is so pretty and cool too. just like her. he has never seen anything like it before. it's red and mesmerizing, and he can feel the power.

UGH. the best.

anyhoo, the swapped butter is a nonissue for him. if he can freeze it, he can unfreeze it — just like how he can freeze the butter she took from him, so enjoy that. with a quiet murmur, he also (un)helpfully turns off her stove. (: ]

[magija]

[ she’s seen her a few witches here, along with some other magically-influenced personnel, but usually it’s under far better circumstances (or at least, aside from the time she and era literally fought with their magic while wanda was under some villainous influence, but that’s besides the point). she isn’t so set on winning, but she is incredibly stubborn about being messed with.

and maybe the fact that he looks so amused by the whole thing is only frustrating her a little more. because how dare he, he started this.

chewing at her lip, she stubbornly turns on her stove again, tossing the pan over it to place the frozen butter within, warming it the old fashioned way, since her magic isn’t necessarily about generating heat. still, she can toss a quick flick of a spell that punctures his sack of flour, forcing the white powder to explode up towards his face. ]

[hiyakai]

[ okay so— one second he is checking on his muffins and the next second, he is getting blasted with a faceful of flour. if she is expecting him to get mad, she'll be disappointed because laughter immediately erupts forth from him. he sounds so perfectly delighted. wiping away the powder from his eyes, he shakes his head as he lets out an audible whoo. he may as well become part of the dish at this point.

wetting a towel, he scrubs his face clean, taking the time to slyly issue another spell. a strong gust of wind is going to send some of the flour still spilling over the side of the counter flying towards her, knocking over a few of her ingredients in the process.

#nailedit ]

[magija]

[ how dare he.

she's innocently going about her business when he'd started this little game of his, and despite the retaliation, he's laughing, almost like he's thrilled she's actually fighting back. and perhaps, if that'd been it, she'd have stopped and carried on, maybe done her best to salvage whatever mess she'd ended up with, but — the boy is persistent.

because there's nothing natural about the wind that suddenly breezes through, not in the way that it so conveniently carries a batch of flour over to stain her own face and apron, or how it's heavy enough to actually knock a few items down.

when the seafood stock suddenly tips over, spilling all across the counter, she mutters a serbian swear, her eyes widening from the shock of it. though she manages to upright it to avoid full spillage, enough of it seems to have reached out to soak up beneath her vegetables, pool a mess beneath the bowls, and drip along onto the stove. with the latter, the heat mixes with the liquid enough to burn into a small fire, one that she has to quickly swipe a hand to cast off.

her heart pacing fast and her breath panting slight, she runs her tongue along her lip as she settles in her raised anger. lifting her hands, she curls her fingers for another spell, red light cascading over the spilled liquid from the counter, including whatever remains stocked in the container, before she lifts it all into the air, floating from nothing save for the magic she casts.

with a quick wave of her hands, she sends the floating seafood stock over to the man, drenching him in the liquid. satisfied with that final retaliation, she tugs her apron off, tossing it over the counter before she steps away to leave the staged kitchen with a scowl in his direction. ] Bon appétit.

[hiyakai]

[ o o p s

did he go too far with the wind? innocent mistake. he didn't expect it to knock the stock over too, but... it has sure riled her up, hasn't it? man, her magic is really mesmerizing to look at. so much so that he just has to give her the final hoorah because watching the red glow of her powers levitate the seafood stock is, well, kinda awesome. plus, he figures it will ease her anger towards him.

he was only having some fun!

anyhoo, he doesn't care about the cooking competition anymore, so as soon as she starts leaving the stage, he turns off his stove and follows after her. drying himself off with a towel, he hops off of the station, only slowing down once he has fully caught up with her. ] Hey! Wait a minute— [ he has a ridiculously friendly smile for a guy who'd just been drenched in seafood stock. ] Hi. Sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to make you mad. I was only having a little fun and I might have gotten carried away when I found out you can do magic like me. Except your magic is like way prettier in comparison. [ a beat. ] I'm Kai, by the way. What's your name?

[ "persistent" may as well be his middle name, wanda. he has no shame and he doesn't give up easily (: ]

[magija]

[ it’s not so much that she cared about the competition, not having had any real intention on trying to win in any case. maybe the frustration lies in that she merely wanted to do something normal, to not get so tangled in magic and be cast off again for drawing trouble. maybe it comes from the familiarity of knowing the kind of playfulness that can be taken too far for the purposes of annoying her, having had a brother who was prone to doing the very same thing.

whatever her reason, she certainly doesn’t expect to actually be followed, jolting in her step briefly when she hears him race up behind her before readjusting her pace again. ]

Haven’t had enough? [ but she lets him talk, even if her eyes remain focused forward, a sigh in her breath when he provides his explanation, causing her to slow down to a gradual stop before she finally turns to face him.

rather than answering his question, she raises a brow. ] You’re reckless with your magic. Do you always use it for pranks?

[hiyakai]

[ but magic is so great, wanda. why would you ever want to be normal?

kai spent most of his life deprived of the ability to perform magic, so he can't ever fathom wanting to distance himself from it. he was one of nature's rejects and his coven made sure he never forgot it. so no matter what anyone might think of him or his powers, he would never repress or sideline them in favor of the status quo, even if it means he'll once again be ostracized by another society.

it won't be anything new for him anyway. ]

I come in peace. [ he holds up both his hands in a gesture of good will, coming to a stop when she does. ] I'll be honest with you, [ he slips his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, hooking his thumbs over the edge. ] yooou're actually the first person I've ever pulled a prank on with my magic. [ he looks a bit sheepish as he gives a small shrug of his shoulder. ] Might be why I got a little carried away back there. [ he looks over at the ongoing contest. ]

I don't usually use it to mess with people, [ he holds up three fingers with his left hand, where a ring can be seen on his forefinger and pinky. ] Scout's honor. [ no, he typically uses it to harm and/or kill people. ] I just didn't think I would meet another witch here.