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

[lenivy]

"That's pretty cool.." he comments appreciatively. "So like firecrackers, kinda?" It doesn't look like a firecracker in any way, but he woke up on a cruise ship, so who's he to question it.

Dylan holds out a hand in a wordless request to look at one.

[opheliac]

Bingo!

(happily, she moves on over and plants it in his hand for a closer look.)

You can keep that one if ya want. I like you so call it "welcome aboard" gift...! 'Sides, this ship gets crazy really fast and you never know when somethin' bad is gonna happen and you need to buy yourself some time.

[lenivy]

Dylan inspects it curiously, trying to figure out how it works, though it's not immediately obvious to him -- well, presumably the insides are just some combination of chemicals.

"Oh, uh. Thank you," he answers, surprised. Having some kind of defense actually makes him feel a little better. "Do you just like smash it?"

[opheliac]

Yep! Just toss it down or at someone and it'll do the trick. It'll activate once there's a lotta force to it. So if you're gonna throw it at someone, be sure you throw it hard.

[lenivy]

"Dope," he answers with a nod, pocketing it, then stooping to pick up the life jacket again. Having one hand is really inconvenient. And while there's a voice in his head that says it doesn't matter, this is just some elaborate hallucination (which he's still clinging to), he's been a camp counselor for two months and he can't just abandon his life jacket.

[opheliac]

(the elevator comes into a halt and the doors fling open swiftly. jinx wastes no time exiting out and guides him to the infirmary. and once inside, she skips on over to the hospital bed -- patting the mattress with her palm.)

Have a seat and let Doctor Jinx fix ya up!

[lenivy]

Dylan does as he's told - honestly, it's just nice to have someone giving him direction. Usually he's not so lost, but today he really appreciates it. (Even when he might complain about it.)

He dumps the life jacket, and takes off the lei as well. Then he holds out his injured arm, like a good boy at the doctor's office. "At least you didn't say nurse Jinx."

[opheliac]

Doctors are way cooler than nurses. But what do I know? Any kind of doc or nurses were hard to come by in Zaun.

(she should probably wash her hands and get gloves though. but first, jinx is going to take a closer look at his injured arm; eyes quinting.)

So obvious answer is, yeah, this hurts like hell but what level are ya in? Is it a "hurts but I can deal with it" or a "hurts that if anyone touches it, I'll scream"?

[lenivy]

"Uhh..." he answers, looking down at it. "It's actually... not that bad. I mean, I had some painkillers earlier, but. That's a few hours ago now." How many hours? Like, five? But that was before he woke up here, so, who knows. Kinda weird that it doesn't hurt more.

[opheliac]

Hmmm...hmmm, okay!

( she pulls back and with a spin, jinx makes her way to the sink to wash her hands and then after rummage in the cabinets for all that she needs. although, she should probably contact doctor watson for him much later so an expert can really get a look at him. but for now! she'll just give him a nice fresh bandage out of the goodness of her heart. ... until he owes her.

gloves now on and a roll of bandages in her hands, jinx heads back over to dylan.)

Alright, here goes.

(placing the roll beside him, she hunches over to gingerly peels off the old bandages off his "wrist".)

[lenivy]

She seems to know more or less what she's doing, so he's gonna trust her. He only makes a slight face as she starts carefully peeling off the bandages, but he doesn't flinch. It doesn't hurt too much.

The weird thing, which she probably notices before him, is... Well, it definitely doesn't seem to be bleeding. In fact, it's. Well, it's not healed, exactly. But it is kind of scarred over.

[opheliac]

(it is rather weird because she was expecting it to be very bloody to say the least but... none at all. the appearance doesn't phase her at all, either. she's seen and done worse to people when it comes to injuries and killings so her reaction is simply blinking with her head cock to the side.

carefully, she lifts his arm up just to be double sure there's no extra leakage coming from anywhere unknown before gently setting it back down.)

Alright. I'll let it air out for a few minutes. Let it the wound breathe then I'll wrap it back up. — Should probably look into cleanin' yourself up and new clothes. There's this new place called, uh, "Tommy Bahama"? It's got gross clothes but it's somethin'!!

[lenivy]

Dylan watches her, then curiously looks down at his hand as she speaks - or rather where his hand should've been. He only vaguely registers his recommendations at that point. (Something something clothes and -- ugh, Tommy Bahama.)

"...Huh," he comments, still looking at his wrist. "That's weird." He looks down at his right arm too, where the bite was. The wound there is completely gone. "Huh," he repeats.

[opheliac]

Aaarreee you okay?

(she begins to ponder for a moment. because what if, hypothetically, the captain snatched him up right after this horrific whatever happened to him? could it be possible he's still in distress? shock? he did mention he was on painkillers so it's quite probable he is highly under the influence of the said drug.

normally jinx wouldn't be the type to care but as she said before, she likes him. he's doesn't hate her immediately so that's always a big plus in her book.)

[lenivy]

"Huh?" he asks, looking up at her. "Oh, yeah, I just think I might be.. a bit too okay, you know?" He gives a shrug and then gestures a bit with his stumped wrist. "This thing kinda happened, like, a few hours ago."

...But also yes, he definitely has not fully processed what has happened to him. And he probably won't, for like a while. Especially if he keeps pretending this is a dream. (The longer it goes on, the less likely it seems.)


[ooc: PS I just apped Dylan]

[opheliac]

(a few hours ago. okay, so definitely her hypothesis is correct. maybe not immediate but definitely still in a state of shock. at least now she knows how to go on about this.)

Yeah, I get it.

(she doesn't truly but it's best to seem understanding despite not at all. to listen and to not speak so much. give him room to talk and express if need be. )

I'm gonna get a cloth or somethin' for you. Sit tight, alright?

(jinx then moves back to the main counter in search of something to at least have him to wipe the blood off his face.)

(ooc: yaaaaaaay! hopefully he can be jinx's gay guy friend. talk about cute boys and idk other things.)

[lenivy]

Just wait till she finds out his friend died in front of him like 15 minutes before he got here or something. Not that Dylan has any plans of bringing that up. He'd prefer not to think about it at all. Which is why he's clinging to distractions and company right now.

He also specifically meant physically okay. He's well aware he's not emotionally or mentally okay. It's daytime now, but he guesses the werewolf infection has been healing him even if he never had a chance to turn... Another frightening thought he doesn't want to grapple with right now.

He stays seated, but he does poke a little at his wrist where the wound should be. It still hurts, and it looks weird and gross, but it definitely doesn't look like it was just chopped off earlier that day.

"Wait, I don't have any money," he says, looking over at her. "...For the clothes," he adds after a second.


(ooc: yes!! do each other's nails. combine their powers of explosives and science nerdery. gay guy friend stuff.)

[opheliac]

(finding a rag, jinx goes to the sink to soak it before glancing over her shoulder.)

Oh! You don't gotta worry about that. Money is nonexistent here. You sorta just... go through the motions of "checking out" and then that's it.

(the whole checking out process is a little strange to her. because where she's from, there's no lines or registers. citizens wander through the marketplace, go to a booth, see what they're selling and either exchange it with gold or something valuable you have on your person.

and once she rings out the extra water out of the cloth, jinx cautiously makes her way back to dylan. another thing to note if someone is in state of shock, to approach carefully and slowly. in which she wished she knew that before hand but what's done is done. she extends the cloth out to him.)

Here ya go.

[lenivy]

Money is non-existent? Well, that's wild. Dylan's never had problems with money, so it's more of a point of interest than a major relief.

He does note that Jinx is behaving quite differently now than she did when they met. Which he appreciates, but at the same time it feels kind of weird, after having people running around with guns and whatnot all night.

"Thanks," he answers, accepting the cloth. He wipes away the remains of blood on his injured arm first, even if he doesn't think it's that necessary, if there's no wound to be infected. Then he wipes at his face and neck, to get the worst of it away.

"So, where exactly are you from?" he asks curiously. He wants distractions, and she said something about it being easy to get TNT where she was from.

[opheliac]

Zaun. It's an underground city from Piltover. It's the most amazing place in the world where the air filled with pollution, water might have some gross stuff in it, and you get to pick out the mold pieces from your meals. If ya want coins, you gotta either steal or trade up somethin'.

(her tone is obviously sarcastic because this amazing "city" sounds absolutely horrid. and it is -- well, it's in the progress of getting better.)

— A lotta times you get scammed or you gotta rough up a few people so you can live another day. The people are pretty colorful, though! A lotta gangs and kooky people in every corner. But 'least it never stays boring.

[lenivy]

Dylan stares at her as she describes it. That is miles away from his own experiences. Maybe not the pollution stuff, and... Well, there are definitely people who live like that in New York City. Definitely not him though.

"Wow," he answers, not entirely sure what to say. "That sucks, dude, I'm sorry."

[opheliac]

Don't sweat about it! My old man is workin' on improving my city so soon it won't be like that.

(getting tired of standing, jinx will now sit on the floor -- sitting cross legged with her hands in her lap.)

Whaaaaaat about you? Gimme the details of Dylan. — What else is there 'sides the fact he can fight off werewolves?

[lenivy]

"Uhhh," he answers, not sure even where to begin. "Well, first of all, saying I can fight them off might be a little strong," he answers, lifting his lack-of-hand. There was an incident with a blow torch, but mostly he's just been using his environment, no fighting involved.

"I dunno, I'm just a soon to be college student," he answers with a shrug. "Hopefully," he adds. "Been spending summer being a camp counselor for kids. The werewolf thing is a.. recent development. Like. Half a day kind of recent."

[opheliac]

(she listens to him attentively and not trying to interrupt. letting him have the floor may help him workout his own thoughts, feelings, and maybe ease off the shock he is in. although, jinx snorts a little when he mentions the camp counselor part.)

If only you had stopped by a month ago! We were havin' our lil' summer camp thing here. Had counselors and everything! I would had love for you to be my counselor for my cabin. — You seemed preettty chilled and funny.

[lenivy]

"I also have the best music," he answers with a grin.

At that comment he has a thought, and he pulls out his phone from his pocket. There's almost no battery left. More importantly, there's no bars. He's zero percent surprised.

"How do you even has summer camp on a cruise ship?" he asks suddenly, just realising.