sail_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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.]

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Well, replacing their reflections with ghostly apparitions certainly is a new development. A terribly disturbing, unsettling one, and something that Skulduggery would rather not solve, for once. The best way to avoid getting involved, he figures, is to ignore every reflective surface until the situation rights itself, or until the ghosts figure out how to crawl out of their own volition.

Of course, the lack of reflection means that when Skulduggery approaches from behind, there's no way to tell that the following warning is coming from a six-foot skeleton in a suit. It's just friendly advice coming from a long-stay passenger. "I'd be careful not to get too close, if I were you."

"If Friday gets to you, some of the other passengers might also weird you out. I'm not saying you need a better poker face, but...you might need a better poker face."

After all, Skulduggery is a skeleton, and there's robots and Mizuki is a jellyfishboy...

Oh really? Yeesh. Well, looks like you made it out.

(after shoving all of her snacks in a bag, jinx follows behind her out of curiosity. chrissy seems really interested in these pills and she can't help but to wonder just what kind. it's probably something to get her mind all clouded up which jinx won't stop her from doing that. if she wishes to be high, that's her choice.

besides the drug jinx was injected with back home, her citizens used it for the same effect. to chase after a high but also to grow stronger, confident, and become a warrior. if... they don't get the variant that transforms them into a monster and get all deformed. anyhoo.)

So what's your name, Toots?

Eddie likes to think that he's seen enough weird shit in his short life that it's going to take a lot to surprise him. Finding himself on a cruise ship he doesn't remember knowing about is one thing that did surprise him. Now, all of this, is steadily headed in the same direction. So when he hears someone approaching, Eddie is willing to listen on the off-chance of them having some idea of how to deal with reflectionless mirrors and shit.

"What happens if you get too close?" It might seem like he's trying to be contrary, but he's genuinely curious. The figures inside the mirror really seem to want to come out, and Eddie can't imagine how that would be a good thing. He turns, prepared to repeat the question, and then his eyes go comically wide as he finally catches sight of his would-be savior. "Holy shit. You're a skeleton."

Yes, Eddie. He's probably already aware of that.

[Lucas rolls his shoulders, as if to brush the whole thing off but thinks better of it. Better to warn anyone else off so they don't get sucked in, too.]

I don't know if you've noticed the lack of reflections? I know it sounds crazy but something on the other side really is taking personal offense to anyone being nosy about it. Like me...I couldn't help it.

[He gestures to the obvious patch of dead-looking skin, but overall is nonchalant about the whole thing. Maybe too nonchalant.]

I think it'll be okay? It's where those spooks got a hold of me, but I'm not going to argue if you want to take a look!

[Progress is progress! he'll take it, after giving her a brief, firm handshake in return.]

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Maybe head out on deck where nothing too shiny is? Maybe a little sun on this might warm the skin back up!

[Lucas nods down the hall, where he's fairly sure there's a way up and out of here, but he's still getting his bearings.] So, uh...I'm pretty new around here and I guess people are from all over the place. Where are you from, huh?

"Listen, I work with spooks for a living but that doesn't ever mean it's not a little weird. Cut me some slack!"

Although Undine totally has Lucas dead to rights. He'll never win a poker tournament, that much is for certain.

Thankfully he does know how to reel it in. For the most part. Eventually he decides it's best to look where Friday's eyes should be and roll with it as best as he can. Friday doesn't seem to mind, after all!

Once the drill winds down, Lucas twirls his life vest around with a much more easy going grin than earlier. "So, that was sure somethin', huh? You like hanging around for drills or did I really look like that much of a fish out of water?"

[There it is again. Toots. She stares for a minute before laughing, shaking her head as if she can't believe someone that barely looks older than her is going to keep calling her Toots. But then again, she guesses she hasn't really introduced herself yet.]

I'm Chrissy.

[She glances down to the bag of snacks that the other girl is holding. Her stomach is growling a little, but she isn't sure she can stomach much right now. But it's good to know she can just go grab something from that store. Chrissy stops walking just long enough to glance back in the direction they had come from, so she can commit its location to memory.]

What's yours?

"Chrissy"? Hm... — How about "Skirts" instead?

(her attention then gears down to chrissy's outfit. jinx already knows so many blondes so calling her "blondie" is definitely out. jinx swirls the bag around which is probably something she shouldn't do because all the snacks can fall out of the bag but she doesn't truly care.)

The name's Jinx. Nice meetcha ya!

[There's just something about crossing paths with a literal skeleton that helps put a lot of other things into perspective. He's been on the fence about whether or not this place is even real practically since waking up here, and meeting Skullduggery certainly hadn't helped with that. Thinking about it critically, Eddie realizes that it makes just as much sense to believe that he's actually holed up somewhere, stoned out of his head on something or other as it does to believe that he's been kidnapped to some mindfuck cruise ship.

And honestly, he's not sure which alternative feels more appealing.

So when he catches movement out of the corner of his eye and turns to see what he's almost entirely sure is Chrissy Cunningham flailing around in front of a television, Eddie decides to throw caution to the wind. What's the worst that could happen, now?

He's mostly quiet as he approaches, and this feels so much like that day in the woods that it makes his heart clench. The way this maybe-Chrissy is behaving now, shoving at the TV and trying to get away is weird in a way that irritates him.

So he does the only thing he can think to do in what might be the shittiest coincidence in his life- he reaches out and sets a hand on her shoulder.]

Hey-

[Her reaction is about what he's expecting- ducking away and backing up. He can't really blame her. It's the question that has him frowning, though.]

Um, well I saw you freaking out?

[And maybe he might have seen what she was asking about if he wasn't too busy trying to decide if she was real or not.]

[She glances toward his hand that's in his pocket, wondering if the sun will be able to do anything to fix it. There's worry that maybe it won't. He seems nice and doesn't deserve something like that to happen to him. He's so nice that he's even showing an interest in where she's from. It's a question that makes Chrissy smile a little, shrugging her shoulders as if everything that's happening on this boat is perfectly casual and normal.]

Hawkins, Indiana.

[And now that they're walking back out toward the deck, Chrissy's feeling a renewed sense of hope. Maybe the sun will help his arm. And maybe it will help warm her over too.]

Thanks, by the way. For saving me.

[She doesn't even realize who it is at first. It's not until she really hears his voice that it dawns on her who he is. And at first, all she can do is stare up at him in confusion. Because up until this point, Chrissy's been working with the assumption that this is some kind of version of the afterlife. It's not what she thought it would be, but it's something.

And she thinks she's grateful for that. Or was, up until she was almost grabbed and pulled through a television set. But seeing Eddie here now makes her question everything all over again.]

Eddie? [Her voice is almost a squeak at first.] Eddie, oh my gosh.

[To see a familiar face is such a relief, even as something gnaws at her and tells her he doesn't deserve to be here.]

I guess this isn't any different from when you found me back home. [She had been freaking out that day in the forest, too. Chrissy still feels bad about that. She feels even worse that this feels identical to that day. It makes her heart sink, because she can't seem to stop from pulling her into her trauma. He's a nice guy. He doesn't deserve that.]

Sorry.

Skirts?

[She's laughing as she says it, voice full of disbelief.] Me?

[A hand presses to her chest, and she seems amused and touched that anyone would think to give her a nickname in the first place. Usually it's just Chris, and she's not really sure how she feels about that one these days.]

Okay, Jinx. You can call me that if you really want to. [There's a second or two of a pause before Chrissy moves right along.] How long have you been here anyway?

Five months and countin'!!

(she seems oddly cheerful to say that and she is. because unlike most people that are on the boat, her home life isn't exactly the happiness -- especially learning some new...things. jinx very much prefer this than home; often calls this her second life and a second shot of getting everything right.

jinx then stops twirling around the bag once they make it to the glass elevator. pressing the button, she waits for it come down.)

Oh, do you wanna follow me to the playback or you wanna just do whatever?

[It's rude to stare. Eddie knows that. But do the rules still apply in a hallucinaton? That's what this has to be, right? He'd witnessed her destruction that night in his trailer- even had a front row seat- and he'd been too paralyzed to even try to save her. And then he'd just left her there like a fucking coward. And yet, here she is, staring up at him like she doesn't quite recognize him.]

Hi. Yea, that's me. I'm here.

[It's hardly the most impressive thing he could have come up with, and frankly, Eddie is still not entirely sure where here is.

Real or not, it's still nice to see the face that's been haunting his dreams for what feels like years.]

Never did sell you that half-ounce.

[His voice is soft, thoughtful, though there's a hint of playfulness if she squints. Maybe it's for the best that she hadn't taken anything that day.

His eyes narrow a fraction when she speaks up again, though.]

Don't.

[Hearing her trying to apologize now is just too much.]

I should be the one apologizing to you.

[Five months??

In some ways, that seems like it's hardly any time at all. Five months is only a semester long. It's the football season or the basketball season. Fall cheer or spring cheer. That world is behind her now though, she realizes. She may still be wearing her cheerleading outfit, but she's never going back to Hawkins High to be head cheerleader ever again.

So in that aspect, five months also feels like forever. Five months is enough time to forget the sound of her mother's voice yelling in her ear, or to abandon the thought that maybe she has to be perfect all the time. Five months is enough time to reinvent yourself completely.

And in that moment, Chrissy thinks she understands exactly what Jinx had been talking about when she mentioned becoming something different. And she smiles when she gets it, hurrying her way over to the elevator to keep up.]

I'm not sure. What's the playback?

[There's something else on the tip of her tongue, and in the name of not bothering to try and seem so restrained she lets it spill out into the open.]

I'm pretty sure I'd follow you just about anywhere right now. So you lead, and I'll follow. Okay?

[The way he looks at her and says that gets her to frown. It starts slowly, her hint of a smile melting away into a sad look that dissolves into a deep look of discontent. The things she remembers experiencing before waking up here are awful. Terrifying.

That thing she faced was evil.

But Eddie's looking at her like maybe it's his fault somehow.]

I wish...

[Her voice is so soft that even she can barely hear it. Her hands tuck up further into the sleeves of her sweater, and she tries to speak again.]

I wish that you had sold it to me. Maybe then I wouldn't have been so scared.

[Because he was there, wasn't he? It was his uncle's trailer, he lived there. He was there with her, and she isn't sure what she subjected him to. But judging by his reaction, it must have been awful.]

But please, Eddie. Don't apologize. I can't remember what happened. Not completely. But I remember you were trying to help.

[And that's the important part. That he saw she was needing help at all. Not a single other person noticed.]

It's just a gaming place for us to hang out. But there's a spot just for us teens to lounge around and do a whole lotta nothin'.

(her words do tend to reach her ears and gives chrissy another look over. there's something about the way she formed her sentences just now that spark a devious smirk; exposing a little of her teeth. to anyone else, surely she meant for now just following along until one get their bearings down. but for jinx, she is taking what she said an entirely different direction.

she starts to think then. her father is(was?) a drug crime lord and along with her working for her father, he had a group. a group the followed his orders blindly, to do actions that needed to be done -- whether to hurt or kill. and now pondering, that is something jinx is lacking here. someone who will follow her lead and do as they are told. could chrissy be someone like that? most likely not but... it's still nice to fantasize over it. or perhaps, there's a way to make that fantasy to become a reality.)

(the elevator makes it to them and opens, jinx goes in first with a quiet hum and presses the number five. chrissy better hurry on in or she'll get left behind out there.)

[He really needs to stop staring. This isn't the first time he's seen her since that night- though it is the first time she's ever spoken to him. Typically, dream-Chrissy tends to just cycle through the things she'd said that day. This, though? This feels different.
Realer, somehow.]

Nah, you're too smart to get mixed up in that shit. I'm not sure if it would've helped anyway.

[How many times has he replayed that night in his head, wishing he'd been just a little bit smarter or braver or faster? He's honestly lost count at this point.]

What's the last thing you remember?

[With any luck, it won't be much. Eddie would give just about anything to not remember, but nothing has seemed to work so far.]

Wish I'd actually been able to help...

It's a good question. A great one, really, although Skulduggery is hesitant to get close enough to test any theories he might have. All he knows is that generally speaking, hands reaching out for you through dimly lit surfaces are rarely a good thing.

He's about to say as much when the other turns, and then he's half-prepared to grab him in case he goes stumbling back into the mirror. Thankfully, his reaction is more reasonable than others, and there's no screaming or flailing or anything of the sort.

"Ah, yes. That." As if being a skeleton is something he forgets about all the time. "I am. Although, technically, you are a skeleton, too. Just with more..." You know. "Stuff on it. You can call me Skulduggery."

[As good as it is to see a familiar face, and as much comfort as she's taking from Eddie being here? There's an element to this conversation that is putting her more and more on edge. He isn't talking to her like he witnessed something weird happening.

He's talking to her like she's a ghost. And she goes pale as she trembles a little, her mind trying to quickly work to process that. But nothing really drowns out the memory that his question brings forward, and she swallows roughly as it replays in her mind.]

He told me not to cry. And that my suffering was over.

[She had been so, so afraid. What comes after that is something she isn't entirely sure on, but she knows she's not ready to talk about it. ]

What do you wish you could have helped with?

[It's ever so timidly asked, like she's afraid of the answer. She thinks she knows. But she wants to hear him say it. She wants to hear him say that she's supposed to be dead.]

[Chrissy spares a final glance at the area behind them before she hurries on into the elevator. She knows where absolutely nothing is, but Jinx seems to. She's been here five months. And that's a pretty long time to be trapped on something with a clearly limited space. ]

How many other teenagers are there?

[Her arms fold over her chest as she leans against the side of the elevator, trying to figure out why a place like that would want to pull in any of them at all. But as confusing as that is, Chrissy also feels a sense of gratitude. She wouldn't be able to do much of anything at all if she wasn't here. And Jinx seems like someone that might be able to be her friend.

It's almost like a second chance. She's not under anyone's thumb here. And for the first time she can remember, Chrissy finds herself feeling free.]

Who knows...! There's a bunch of us here. 'Course, there are some adults too but they don't really stop me from doing whatever I want.

(she fishes in her bag to pull out a candy bar; unwrapping it before taking a bite.)

We also got robots and magic users with their sparkly glitter heebie jeepie stuff.

(the type of candy bar she has in her hand is the kind for sharing and if chrissy might be a potential lackey in the near future for her, jinx should probably try and build some trust bond going. so with her slender fingers, she breaks apart the chocolate and extends it out to her.)

— They're all alright, I guess. Buuuuuut they get a lil' annoying with their magic tricks, y'know?

"I'm considered property, not a person, where I'm from. I was created to be leased out by an insurance company, to ensure that property and people remained safe."

There's information it's leaving out, like the fact that it was a rogue who didn't need to obey orders years before arriving here at the ship.

"The PreservationAux survey team were my last client before I was brought here, a planetary survey team from a non-Corporate polity."

[How twisted is that, telling her that her suffering was over? What kills him the most is that she had been suffering and he hadn't even noticed. Sure, he'd known something was up, but he'd been too willing to take her words at face value. Maybe if he'd been less preoccupied by the fact that she was actually talking to him like someone she could stand to be around, he might have been able to do... something.

It's too late for that, now.]

Fuck. I'm sorry. I just thought you were on edge because of what we were doing.

[The question isn't one he wants to answer. Eddie shakes his head and squeezes his eyes shut, as though doing so will banish the memory from his brain. But he realizes he's being selfish. It's unfair to her to ďeny her the truth just because it's unpleasant.]

I wish I could have helped you! Like maybe if I'd have known it was more than just you worrying about being caught buying drugs- or being seen with the freak... I don't know. Maybe I could have done something.

[The words come out in a rush, as though the question flipped a switch, and now he just can't seem to shut up.]

But I didn't... and now you're gone. Because of me.

[That last part is quieter, just barely loud enough for her to hear. Eddie can't even bring himself to look at her now.]

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TEST DRIVE MEME #5

Permanent Reminder

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temporary feeling

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