TEST DRIVE MEME #5

[sailmods]

1. not subtle revealings

[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! 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. a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling

[the reflections are missing. all of them. in mirrors. in television screens. on the backs of spoons. nothing looks back at you.

then, figures do show up. not your own, like you'd expect. thin, wispy apparitions, people with pleading eyes and hands, reaching out to place their palms against the surface, from their own end. faces familiar and not, beckoning, mouthing words you just can't quite make out. help me, it might be. get me out, perhaps. just until you're close enough, until your skin warms the surface of whatever it is you're peering into. and then, those same hands wrap, all too real, burning-cold against your flesh, and pull, trying to drag you through the surface, making up for their lack of strength with desperation. any flesh unlucky enough to enter the reflection comes back bone-white and cold, all sensation dead, though it will fade within a few hours.

in retrospect, it looks a bit more like they were saying something different. something more like, better you than me. or maybe it's not even words at all. they look a bit more like they're laughing.]

3. complex mementos

[but, hey. sometimes changes are good! like, today, in Playback, there's a brand-new game available for all the children to play! it's an old-fashioned sort of claw machine, the type that's so large, a particularly dedicated kindergartner could wriggle their way inside. the prizes vary, and sit loose: bags of candy, stuffed toys, firearms, painfully early-00s electronics, actually that one just looks like a dead iguana, tiny ship-branded knickknacks... like all the other games in the arcade, the game starts up automatically upon being touched; lack of quarters shouldn't keep you from having fun! pro tip: they are loaded, and they will go off if you suck at claw games and let it fall.]

Comments

[opheliac]

Oh, you wanna 'em? Which one? Pow-Pow or Fishbones. If ya wanna meet Fishbones, forewarning: he's a real chatterbox. Get him started and he'll never shut his trap.

(she loves the rocket launcher, truly. but his morals and his wish for her wanting to do good deeds to grow tiring to listen. especially when they've been together for a small while now -- he should know what kind of person she is.)

[saltwaterlungs]

"Right," Darcy affirms, "and the thing-" were... tears a kind of water? Obviously, but did it count for the magic? Dimitri hadn't been confused at anything she'd said, so maybe it didn't count?

Darcy indicates for him to turn around for the couple of seconds it takes her to change shirts, then pats him on the shoulder and sits herself down where she usually holds court at the corner of the couch.

"Sooo..." a vague gesture. He can start wherever he cares to.

[prince_of_beasts]

"Wait, first -- " It's easy and tempting to seize on a practical question, and delay a conversation he really wishes he didn't have to have. But if they're going to have it, he wants Darcy to be able to choose honesty, too.

Assuming neither of them's been compelled to lie, which will just make things even more confusing.

"Tell me something we both know is true, and something false."

[saltwaterlungs]

Of course Dimitri had the same thought, and Darcy's just a little annoyed by his considerateness for the moment.

"Okay- I fence sabre and my favourite colour-" 'is pink', she thinks she says, actually saying- "used to be black, but it's blue since I started dating Undine. Your turn."

[dokkans]

Oh, how cute! You have pet names for them. Well... it sounds more fun, so introduce me to Fishbones! ♪

[ Get him started's interesting to hear, this she's gotta see. ]

[serialskiller]

"A setpiece, at least. It's physically present, though I'm not certain it can be said to be moving."

It shrugs. "Would you be more content with an actual ship and ocean?"

[serialskiller]

"Not from us, no." It steps away from the arcade machine, considering Bastion more thoroughly. "Things here suck, but if you need anything, let me know. Alright? If you see drones flying about the decks, they're mine."

[opheliac]

It's a long walk. Think you can keep up?

(with your fucking baby legs.)

[dokkans]

On a long walk? Honestly...

What kind of amateur do you take me for? You'll be lucky if I don't beat you to it.

[opheliac]

Eh heh heh! — Wanna make it a race?

(she bends forward to puddles bonnie's level with her hands on her hips; a cheshire cat grin. is jinx literally challenging a child to a game? yes, she is.)

From here to the elevator. Last one there gotta bring dinner to the other's cabin for the rest of the week. Deal?

[dokkans]

Awww, what? You're going to make the newbie carry your dinner? How cruel~! ♥

[ She complains, and yet she decides to reach out to lightly tap her nose. ]

You're on, Braid. Just don't complain when you lose.

[lightconductor]

"... it was. Of course you know that. I suppose that was his restaurant?"

It's a guess, but it seems a safe guess. Watson sighs, wishing desperately that Holmes, his Holmes, were here to help make sense of everything. "This feels like a terrible joke. What else can I ask you? Madame -- Doctor -- Joan, if you'll permit me the informality," because if you can't be on a first name basis with your alternate universe self, who can you be, "this goes far beyond mere coincidence, I am satisfied as to that. But I have no explanation, either."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// Can I see your drones? They're expecting something with a mostly autonomous mind and a personality like Mei's assistant Snowball, rather than a flying camera. In their world, it's a common term for mobile mechanical entities that specifically aren't operated remotely or on a simple predetermined program, but aren't sapient like omnics.

[formersurgeon]

"It was," she affirms with a small smile.

Joan wishes her Sherlock was here too. She knows she can do a good job figuring things out on her own, but when she works with Sherlock the two of them together are greater than the two of them apart.

And she misses her friend. Although John must miss his Sherlock so much more.

"You can call me Joan," she says, and smiles again in mild amusement. "No need for formalities between Watsons from different universes. And I'm not a doctor anymore." She sighs, eyes narrowed slightly in thought. "I don't have an explanation either. That said, I just got here. What's your experience here been like?"

[prince_of_beasts]

"Both true. Damn." Actually, the bit about Undine is both novel, and very endearing, but Dimitri's not going to comment on it. He sighs. "As for me ... I was born in Fhirdiad, and I love sewing."

Is he stalling? He's absolutely stalling.

[saltwaterlungs]

"True and a lie. So you're fine, I'll just try and keep my mouth shut."

Annoying, yes, but not insurmountable.

"Whenever you're ready."

[makesomedeals]

He hopes that fixes it because the other option is to bring Bastion to either Ekko or César and that would involve a lot of explanations and also asking for help/a favor. Two things he despises doing. Plus César might want to take the military Omnic apart to see how they work.

"Good. These strange beings in the mirrors are new, and I certainly hope not a permanent fixture." It's hard to preen and see if his suit is perfect down to the nearest micro-millimeter when there's a screaming ghost in the mirror trying to grab at him. "There's other ghosts, but they seem to serve the food and clean up after everyone, though they did throw plates at diners in the restaurants for a while. That was quite amusing."

Since he didn't have to go in any of the eating establishments and just got to watch from afar.

"Come, the ship is not that big, I can show you around."

[busball]

Klaus brightens a bit when he recognizes the song. Sure, that means he’ll have to try harder to sound wiser than he is, but he is nothing if not determined to sound wise and do little to nothing to understand this place. Not until Five shows up. Or Diego. Diego’s not really the smart one, but he might try to kill someone and that’s entertaining enough. As long as apocalypses and world-ending is off the table, he’s not stressing himself.

“The gal with a winning smile,” Klaus says with a laugh. “I guess it’s not PC to laugh at someone for not having a face, but…” He shrugs. “I’m pretty good at distractions if we need them. Also I can run pretty fast if necessary.” He wasn’t above stealing, so if the police don’t care, he definitely doesn’t. Unless he wants to fake arrest him in bed. That’s fine.

[dontcomeback]

Viggo hums thoughtfully and rubs his chin. It's hard to say. Though he wonders how much Gal actually knows or is capable of doing. She didn't exactly come across as particularly malevolent.

"Another thing to put on the list of mysteries, I suppose," he answers.

[dontcomeback]

Viggo's the sort of guy who would steal if the situation required it... but then he would make sure whatever was stolen was returned or reimbursed afterwards. All depending on circumstances, of course. Current circumstances being they're either in a dream/coma/afterlife, or they've been kidnapped. So either way it doesn't seem too important.

He glances back at Klaus as he offers his skills. He definitely seems like someone who'd be good at distractions. "Duly noted," he answers.

He just keeps leading the way, not offering up any more conversation or asking any more questions. It seems like Klaus is quite capable of carrying the conversation if he wants to.

[busball]

Klaus has far too much experience with both stealing and carrying conversations with people who don’t seem to be the super verbose sorts. He’s done it with Five, Diego, and even dick!Ben. Though Ben was just a hard ass with soft center. Clearly hadn’t been disappointed enough to give up on trying to impress Dad. Not that he could talk.

“I guess you’ve got plenty skills with the cop stuff, huh? How long have you been doing that?” Yes, he was just trying to find things to talk about.

He considers something for a brief moment, mind shifting entirely because he realizes he’s hungry and hasn’t eaten since all the terrible things started. “Do you think this place has waffles?” They wouldn’t be like Grace’s, but no one ever made them like your robot mom. It was probably because the smiley-face breakfasts were still sweet even when you got old and never came home except to steal from your dad occasionally.

[dontcomeback]

"A long time," he answers. It's well over 15 years now, but Viggo doesn't usually discuss his past with strangers. He often doesn't discuss his past with friends, for that matter. Depending on the subject. There's prickly things that most people know not to mention.

He looks back again at the second question. "You hungry?" he asks. Try as he might to resist it, there's always a little bit of a protective instinct. "I'm sure there's someplace that has food," he says, leading the way and getting into an elevator.

The way from the cabin to deck one hadn't really taken him past much beyond guest services and some gift shops, but he'd spotted a sign pointing towards more stores on the decks above. Now his legs work again, it's easy enough to make their way to deck five.

[busball]

Klaus shrugs. He’s also used to that. Ask questions, get vague answers. It’s fine. Even if it’s not very sociable of people.

“I mean, almost always, but there’s not a lot of time to get food when the world is ending for the third time in a row and you’re trying not to die or…you know…stuff like that.” He doesn’t go into a lot of detail, but who is surprised by the world ending?

“Maybe we can grab a bottle of something and then get food. And that way whatever potential emotional turmoil can be dealt with.” And he has a lot of emotional turmoil to deal with.

[formersurgeon]

"It's going to be a long list," Joan notes with rueful amusement. She picks up her coffee and takes a careful sip. "Mmm. At least the coffee is decent."

[dontcomeback]

Viggo narrows his eyes about Klaus talking about the world ending. He simultaneously thinks the guy definitely has something wrong with him, but is also reluctantly curious to actually hear whatever wild stuff he has to say.

He huffs a laugh at the idea that emotional turmoil can in any way be dealt with.

Once they're on the right deck, he's keeping an eye out for signs and such. There's a lot of stuff here, it looks like. The first bar they pass is some fancy cocktail bar, and Viggo heads inside. No one in sight. "Hello?" he calls out, just in case someone is in the back. When no one answers, he just goes and smoothly hops over the counter.