TEST DRIVE MEME #4

[sailmods]

1. you will survive being bested

[you wake up.

it doesn't matter where you were before. going to bed? dying? opening the door to face a great evil? same result. you wake up in a soft bed with starched sheets in a cool, darkened room, sunlight peeking out from behind thick curtains. maybe you're alone; maybe you aren't. maybe you immediately notice the folded paper on the bedside table near your head. if you don't, you better fix that real quick: you won't be able to even open the door before you read it.

the note itself is written in a neat hand on white card stock; there is a stylized logo of a ship with the words SERENA ETERNA printed underneath. the note reads as follows:

Dear Passenger(s),

As your cruise director, it is my great honor to welcome you aboard the Serena Eterna, your destination for fun and adventure! We know you could have chosen any cruise line for your vacation, and we're very grateful you chose ours! On behalf of the Captain, I would like to assure each and every passenger that will we do whatever it takes to fulfill all your needs and desires during your journey with us.

At your earliest possible convenience, please attend the mandatory lifeboat drill by the end of the day. I'm sure everyone is very eager to get started on all the fun and sun, but safety always comes first! You can find your life jacket in your cabin's closet; carry it to your assigned muster station on deck one, where I will take you through the drill. If you can't find me in the crowd, just look for the gal with the winning smile!

See You Real Soon!

Sincerely,
Gal Friday

you walk to deck one. you have no other choice: every time you try to step in a direction some unseen being considers "not towards deck one," you find your legs no longer move, staying stock still, frozen. whether compelled quickly by curiosity, or delayed by pure stubbornness, the result is the same, and you are left milling around with other similarly curious or stubborn people.

you see someone in uniform near the front of the crowd. she seems to be a gal, but is missing the winning smile, along with most of her other features. she seems to see you, though, rushing to your side and placing a lei around your neck with great formality. a voice, cheery but artificial, sees to come from nowhere and everywhere.]

Welcome! We're... I'm very glad to have you aboard!

[you touch the lei. rooster feathers, lotus seeds, and a carved circle of something white and hard, linked onto a silk string.

after the drill is completed, you are seemingly free to go. or, well, your legs work, now. and maybe that's as good as it's gonna get.]

2. think about how many times I have fallen

[for the most part, no one has given the elevators much thought. they've all done their job reliably and dutifully this entire time, never so much as being blocked off for maintenance.

until today, when the doors close behind you as you enter, and don't open again.

for the most part, that's all that happens. the doors can't be pried open, or broken with force or magic, and though the glass walls remain stubbornly shatterproof, you can look through them and try to get the attention of anyone outside. (Friday, down in the atrium, sees your desperately pounding fists and gives a wave, but does nothing else.) the elevators don't move... except, when they do. going up two or three stories, and then dropping, sometimes as many as five stories at a time, stopping just as suddenly.]

3. it was the easiest thing to do

["physically assaulting people is an easy way to get attention" was probably a very bad lesson for the neglected locations to have learned, but it they did it anyway.

this time, it's the sushi restaurant on the promenade, Mikabo. it turns out, the conveyor belt can go faster than one would assume. much faster, actually, with the apparently ability to stop on a dime. both of these factors have combined to create what is functionally a pitching machine, but for dragon rolls, wads of wasabi paste, and exceedingly sharp steak knives, all of which are being aimed at anyone foolish enough to walk by the doors of the restaurant without coming in.

its aim, at the very least, doesn't seem to be the best. for now. because it very much seems like it's getting better.]

Comments

i) aka time for CRYING and also timey wimey nonsense

[littlefairytale]

Ruby's on her way back from the sports deck—it's the best place on the ship to really train with Crescent Rose, the only place really since there's plenty of open space—when she bumps into someone. Which, well isn't that just kind of typical, huh? Being around this many new people, she's been awkwarding it up all over the place, it was about time she did something as silly as run into someone.

She doesn't look at who it is, at first. Just immediately starts awkwardly blabbing, waving her hands wildly, "No, no, it's fine, I wasn't looking either, clear... ly..."

And there it is. Ruby's eyes go wide, it'd be almost comical if it wasn't immediately followed by those same wide, silver eyes welling with tears.

"—Py-Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha could be forgiven for not recognising Ruby immediately. She's two inches taller than when they last saw each other alive, and two birthdays older. Her hair's changed, she's not even wearing any of her usual style of clothes—well, except the red skort, worn with a generic white tank top from Tommy Bahamas, but even that's less floofy than Pyrrha's used to.

But it's her. It's still her.

[pyrrhacvictor]

Green eyes lighten with recognition, just a little, confusion replacing some of the soul-deep, tired ache that has settled on Pyrrha. But, she doesn't let go of her elbow. If anything, her other hand simply moves to mirror the first.

"I... Ruby? Why are you..."

She has questions - a lot of questions - but they all catch in her throat, and they're all ones she's not sure she wants answered. The tears half-answer some of them for her, and for a moment she doesn't know what to do. Think, Pyrrha. What would Jaune do? What would Ruby's team do?

With a deep breath, holding back emotions of her own, Pyrrha hugs onto Ruby. It's awkward and maybe a little too tight, but she does it anyway. Ruby needs it. They both need it.

[littlefairytale]

That's all it takes to really set Ruby off, to have the welling tears spilling down her cheeks and her breathing starting to stutter—it isn't quite sobs, but it's a close thing. If Pyrrha's hold is too tight then Ruby's may as well be crushing, there's a certain clutching desperation to it, like she's scared that if she doesn't hold tight enough her friend's going to slip away and disappear.

"You were— I saw you— I didn't make it in— I can't believe it! I— I know this place is... this place is weird, but it's been— it's been over a year and— Gods, I'm not making any sense..."

Bone-deep guilt and relief are both swirling up inside her and Ruby doesn't know what to do with it, doesn't know what to do except cling and try to push the guilt down. (She didn't make it in time, she didn't get there fast enough, she didn't stop Cinder killing her, if she'd only been a few seconds earlier...)