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TEST DRIVE MEME #2
1. this hotel room got a lot of stuff
[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 aboard! We're so glad to have you!
[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. and a touch-tone phone
[chatterbox isn't exactly the most popular venue onboard. it probably has something to do with the distinct lack of open liquor bottles. so, nothing personal. except it seems that it's decided to take it that way, suddenly.
anyone enjoying the other amenities of deck five will feel the distinct sensation of being watched while they do so. the kind of feeling a prey animal gets while being stalked on the grasslands. something may slither by their foot, or past their elbow while they rest it on the bar, but nothing appears to be there when they look.
until there is.
a black electrical cord originating from somewhere will, first, wrap around their ankle, tugging in a very clear "follow" instruction. should this instruction be ignored, a second cord will wrap around their other ankle, and, once again, tug. should this clear final warning be ignored... well, now they're being dragged down the promenade, and that's really their own fault, isn't it. don't struggle. struggling means more cords show up. and none of them seem terribly aware that most species need to expand their lungs to live.
their final destination, no matter the journey, is chatterbox's main stage, where the karaoke machine awaits. the cords place a microphone in their hand; the mic's cords bind it tightly to their hand.
they don't have to pick a song. there isn't an actual gun to their head, in any literal sense. it's just, those cords really don't seem that interested in letting go until they do.
and if you were heading to chatterbox anyway? welcome to the weirdest goddamn karaoke night you've ever seen.]
3. and a bucket of ice (cw: cannibalism mention)
[no longer will scoops be bound by the shackles of only having 31 flavors. for this month, and this month only, a sign that very much looks like Friday hand-wrote it announces, they will have 32!
what is that mysterious 32nd flavor? it depends, really: the letters on the display case seem to shift and change with each new pair of eyes that fall upon them, with the contents changing along with it. someone from the capital wasteland might find some Nuka-Cola ™ branded ice cream. twilight town residents will be thrilled to find sea salt on the menu. and a frankly concerning amount of people bring out a flavor that only describes itself as "long pig." it's a weird off-white color. don't think about it too hard.]
no subject
"It's too sad of a story for today, I think," and how does one even begin to explain the Games to someone who's never hear of it? "But it has to do with a very brave girl named Katniss and a war." That's all that's worth sharing right now. She changes the subject. "What about... Connecticut? What's Connecticut like?" If there was any doubt that Effie was making the whole thing up, the way she says the state's name with odd inflection on the vowels makes it clear she's never heard of it before.
no subject
"I spent my life in New Haven, so I can speak more to that than the state at large," he says. "But New Haven is...it's always been a town on the brink of things. Wealthy neighborhoods and failed, crumbling factories only blocks apart. History, and poverty, and the new blood of immigration rubbing up against the kind of rock-ribbed Puritan tradition that's been there for centuries. It's a town that's everything, that wants to be everything, and never quite succeeds."
He can hear the affection and the bitterness commingling in his tone, realizing too late that he's started to ramble. He shakes his head, and smiles. "It's home."
no subject
But that all feels very far away now.
"Was it dangerous?" Places with that kind of wealth, in her experience, have the potential to very dangerous indeed.
no subject
"As for dangerous..." It's a question he's not sure how to answer. Lethe had worked with the New Haven police for years, the officers assigned as Centurion over the years taking on the job with no end of suspicion, but they never concerned themselves with petty thefts or ordinary assaults. Just the things that seemed unusual, the cases that carried some whiff of the supernatural--or that had come about as the direct result of a ritual gone wrong or a society overstepping its bounds. "It depends on the kind of danger you mean, I suppose. No city is entirely safe, but even the worst cities aren't entirely the hotbeds of crime the media makes them out to be."
no subject
"Not dangerous as in crime," she shakes her head and pauses, not sure at first how to explain. "The people in power. How do they keep that power? What happens if you displease them?" Sure, it's an odd question. But they're in an odd place.
no subject
He's caught up in that, which makes answering her question harder and easier all at once when it comes. "God, Effie, don't make me explain democracy," he says, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Not today." He realizes a beat later how dismissive it sounds. "Sorry, it's just...been a long few hours. I suppose you could say the same."
no subject
She waves a hand dismissively. "Say no more." He's right, it's been a long day. And truly no explanation is needed. Everyone knows what happens with democracy. "You're right. We should be more positive. I happen to be very good at that. For example: I haven't seen sun like this in weeks."
Effie nods encouragingly. "Your turn."
no subject
"I can sympathize with that," he says. "It was December when I...right before I arrived here, so this climate is a relief." He glances down at the sweater he's wearing, his pushed-up sleeves only doing so much to mitigate the warmth of the wool. "Even if I'm still a little overdressed for it."