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chismosos2021-01-18 09:11 pm
historiadores) wrote in chismosos2021-01-18 09:11 pm
Entry tags:
test drive meme #2
TDM #2
NIGHTS
It’s late. Very late in Caona, and the driver refuses to let anyone inside his car. Carros públicos are the typical way to get around the city short of owning your own car. They take on several passengers, picking them up and dropping them off along a prescribed route. But after sundown it becomes a problem finding any willing to take on passengers. Needling, cajoling, even bribing fails. The driver, leaning against the car door, remains unmoved. The only way he is letting anyone in, in fact, is if they show him their navel.
Why? Because the dead lack navels, of course. No driver is going to let the dead in their car. Risk getting stiffed on the fare? In this economy?
What’s that? You can’t show your navel for reasons? Well, that sounds like a you problem, doesn’t it?
STARS
At first glance, there is nothing particularly beautiful about the bay, especially when enduring an assault by truly vicious mosquitoes. (Repellent is liberally applied, but the bloodthirsty creatures find a way.) It looks like any other on the island. Surrounded by mangroves, shallow close to the shore, then abruptly deepening as it stretches out to sea.
During a new moon, the waters in Turí are uniformly black…until they aren’t. Disturb the surface—with a boat, an oar, a stone, hands and feet—and the water acquires a ghostlike shimmer. The waves washing ashore leave behind constellations of stars that live and die in the blink of an eye. To dive in is what swimming in the night sky must be like: eyes open, it looks like floating in an arm of the Milky Way.
Stay a while and the color changes. There is no pattern to it, only the knowledge that different people paint the waters a different color. Legend says that lovers who swim together in the waters will know if they’re meant to be…
HUNT
In Santa Cecilia, the ranchers are organizing. Last night, six more animals were found dead—two cows, three sheep and a goat—all drained of their blood. The culprit’s name is known to all: el chupacabra. A beast of the hills. It had been many years since the last rash of attacks, and it had been hoped that the creature might finally be dead. No such luck.
Word spreads. The people gather in the ranch where three of the animals were slaughtered. Plans are made to flush the creature out of its hiding place and put an end to it before it can continue killing their livestock…or worse. No one saw the chupacabra. But what else could possibly have done this?
Whatever you choose to do, do it quick. The sun’s setting and these hills aren’t the safest place to be…
NAVIGATION • IC COMM • OOC COMM • MEME COMMWhy? Because the dead lack navels, of course. No driver is going to let the dead in their car. Risk getting stiffed on the fare? In this economy?
What’s that? You can’t show your navel for reasons? Well, that sounds like a you problem, doesn’t it?
STARS
During a new moon, the waters in Turí are uniformly black…until they aren’t. Disturb the surface—with a boat, an oar, a stone, hands and feet—and the water acquires a ghostlike shimmer. The waves washing ashore leave behind constellations of stars that live and die in the blink of an eye. To dive in is what swimming in the night sky must be like: eyes open, it looks like floating in an arm of the Milky Way.
Stay a while and the color changes. There is no pattern to it, only the knowledge that different people paint the waters a different color. Legend says that lovers who swim together in the waters will know if they’re meant to be…
HUNT
Word spreads. The people gather in the ranch where three of the animals were slaughtered. Plans are made to flush the creature out of its hiding place and put an end to it before it can continue killing their livestock…or worse. No one saw the chupacabra. But what else could possibly have done this?
Whatever you choose to do, do it quick. The sun’s setting and these hills aren’t the safest place to be…
no subject
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[Seriously??! YunXi took a rather shocked step back and one arm covered the front and neck of her dress defensively. She would have used both, but her left arm was still in a sling. The jolt of movement made her wince but she wasn't one to back down from expressing her outrage.]
Telling a young woman to show her body to you... and at such a place and hour?? How can you face your ancestors' memorials! I have a mind to turn you in for lecherous intent! Let me tell you that I am a properly married woman, not that you should ask an unmarried woman to undress for you either, but I'm very faithful to my husband and NOT interested in taking up any new trades for money!! You're lucky that I'm willing to leave it at lecturing you on improving your moral conduct!
[The poor driver was obviously rather flustered and attempting to give the petite young woman who was obviously not a native a fuller explanation, but YunXi's ability to steamroll was preventing that from happening. Even the tiny moment when she had to take a breath wouldn't be enough for the flustered and embarrassed driver to recover before she launched another round of scolding.]
Hunt
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[Most people would avoid the hills when warned there was a blood-sucking demonic creature roaming that area, but YunXi wasn't most people. She'd also noticed that the old goat that had been poisoned and left tied to a post near the hills had been completely untouched even though it had also died.]
I wonder if it's anything like you, Xiao Du? This chu-phe-ca-bha...
[YunXi had changed into a set of tunic and pants favored by local ranchers but had fully bound her hair into a bun to keep it out of the way. If anyone happened to be around to hear her walking down what was obviously a well-used cattle trail as the sun was starting to set might think she was talking to herself.]
(Alternatively...) Arrival
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[The last thing she remembered was drinking poison and stabbing herself in the heart. YunXi had thought the afterlife would be quieter than this but there was an annoyingly regular chirping sound along with a small whoosh of wind, under those two was the soft hum of voices.
Blood loss... Unknown poison... Weapon... Quarantine... YunXi could catch certain words more and more as she started regaining consciousness.]
Three poisons... [It was a weak whisper, but anyone close to the hospital bed would notice her lips moving at least. The doctors had been too worried about an Arrived's strange medical condition and had left her under the watchful eye of volunteer Arrived willing to help their own.] My blood is the guide. Needles... [Her right hand started moving around as if trying to find something along her left side.] My needles...