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

[justneedsomehelp]

"The bathroom, huh." You sly dog, Steven.

He eyes Erik again briefly before his eyes dart to watch Steven making tea. "What do you mean by strange?"

Because honestly, he hasn't been paying close attention today. He's used to weird shit happening in mirrors anyway. "Did something happen to either of you?"

[configuration_birdwatcher]

They nod, and head indoors toward the elevators. Onwards to deck five! As far as Bastion can tell there's nothing unusual for a cruise ship about the atrium or the lounge as they pass through, except of course for the ghosts, and the mirrors from the other prompt. Regular cruise ship stuff.

One elevator ride later, Bastion and Erik find themselves on the promenade, and between the Sand Dollars cafe and the piano bar, there is a clothing store with a sign over the door that says Tommy Bahama. From the hallway outside it looks large, but not obviously too large.

[prefers_magneto]

"There were faces in the mirror. A lot of them. Some of them strange, some of them recognizable, from far in the past," Erik explains. He watches the dynamic between them, the uncanny resemblance. "Apparently, your... friend sees things in mirrors all the time."

[prefers_magneto]

Erik takes note of the other places they pass, but when they stop in front of Tommy Bahama, it has all of his attention.

"Anyone can go in there?"

[winepouring]

[ HE DEFINITELY DOESN'T LOOK THAT PETTY!! Why is he being bullied by a little girl?! His face is pained! ]

Well, no. If it were that easy, then how could everyone be trapped here in the first place...?

[ It was a joke, but it wasn't a very good one all things considered...

In truth, he hasn't actually been able to test the other extent of his abilities yet. There doesn't seem to be any sort of oppression of a domain, but that feels hard to believe. If his abilities aren't being oppressed, then why can't he reach anyone psychically?

As he thinks all that, he just looks momentarily thoughtful, and then just flicks his fan down, and up he goes! Into the air, with the wind billowing about his robes and his hair—but in a way that looks cool and elegant, not in a sleeves and hair slapping his face way. Shi Qingxuan has his own pride to maintain, after all!

He smiles to himself, rather pleased with this end result. ]

What would you like to see next?

[myagic]

You got me.

[His face would almost be funny, if her thoughts hadn't turned to home. Well--she sighs, and tries to put it out of her mind with a shrug. It doesn't matter anymore. It shouldn't. (But it still does.)

--Huh, she didn't exactly expect him to just fly like that. Rita blinks at him for a moment...]

...Is that all? Surely you're not planning to beat monsters by floating.

[Okay, maybe she is taking a little bit of satisfaction from goading him--but really, she can float, too! And she isn't the only one, either. It's not that impressive on its own-!]

[winepouring]

[ Ah... Shi Qingxuan's usual method of dealing with bad moods is to try to cheer up and dispel that earlier feeling, but Rita doesn't make that easy. Hmmm! ]

There aren't any monsters here, so we'll need to make do with other options! [ He sighs! Pouting behind his fan! (Even if his expression can't be seen from so high, at least it comes across in his voice!) He sends a breeze down to ruffle through her hair! ] I'm asking if there's anything you want to see, so why not just ask to see something interesting?

[myagic]

H--hey!

[What's with the hair-ruffling!! She's shooting him a suspicious look, even if he can't see it.]

Then let's see something interesting, already!

[Huff! Does he want a target? They're around the pool, so...]

Use the chairs as targets!

1 Not subtle

[konpeito_aji]

[The exclamation gets a completely skewed side glance from the samurai armor guy who clearly isn't super happy to be here, and more than a bit baffled why anyone would be.]

How so?

[Real question. He would like to latch onto anything that gives him some better grip of composure.]

[Or maybe just confirmation bias that she's completely insane (which would make him also, but that's fine. See again: confirmation bias.)]

[winepouring]

[ ...Is there any point in asking, "You want me to destroy the pool chairs??" when he can already guess the answer here? She already said property damage is fine... What a violent kid... ]

Breaking the pool chairs? That's no hard task.

[ If that's what she wants to see, then she'll have that! Still, Shi Qingxuan isn't going to let anyone get caught up in his spell. He searches across the pool to make sure there aren't any people to be caught in the crossfire, and then flicks two fingers over to send a couple chairs to the entryways to block anyone from entering the area unexpectedly. They hit the walls with a clattering crash, and then Shi Qingxuan looks down at Rita again to make sure she isn't in danger. Then... ]

Wind—

[ The wind around the two of them picks up as Shi Qingxuan lifts his fan. Now, he could just do this the way he would usually solve a situation like this and simply pick up the chairs and dump them in the ocean. That would be the fastest and easiest way, but won't that be boring? The violence-and-destruction-loving young miss will fall asleep! And then cry foul that he can't do anything noteworthy!! Not only will she be bored, but his poor face will suffer even more!

So, of course, he has to do something somewhat more interesting. It's not as pretty as a garden in bloom and a rain of blossoms, but he'll make it work!!

The wind blows across the deck and lifts the endless amounts of towels from the chairs, making the chairs themselves to rattle against the deck as their towels float up and flutter off overhead, dancing over to the edge of the ship like strange, overly large wings. They hang there, flapping in the circling wind, as Shi Qingxuan waves his fan a couple more times to bring the chairs up from the ground.

Over the whistle of the wind and flapping of the towels, a quiet, yet tense tune can be heard, with the beating of drums and cries of string instruments, with seemingly no source. If Shi Qingxuan is going to put on a show, then the show needs an appropriate accompanying soundtrack to set the mood! The tempo gradually picks up as the chairs are lifted together and then spun into a vortex of wind by the head of the pool. droplets of water sparkle in the sunlight as the chairs spin around, making the whole thing look rather pretty, Shi Qingxuan thinks. Metallic clang!s ring out as the pool chairs are smashed and crushed together, and it makes for a nice accompaniment to the music, he thinks. The screeching of metal bending and crack of plastic snapping increases as the chairs are gradually flattened and twisted together as the vortex grows higher and narrower.

Then, eventually, those sounds quiet, and the vortex shrinks to the ground, depositing the ruined chairs into a nice, soggy pile on the deck.

Around them, the towels that had been floating around them rush over to the pile and drape over it in a flurry to create...a colorful pile of towels! With some sharp-looking shapes poking out from underneath! The music quiets to a stop, and then, the intense wind dies down altogether.

The show is over! And now that it's over, Shi Qingxuan looks down at Rita expectantly, like a child hoping for a piece of candy. ]

So, what do you think? Did you like it?

[myagic]

[Rita watches, hands eventually clamping over her ears until the mini-typhoon calms back down.

--Well, if the whole idea was to prove that he can actually handle ghosts monsters, then...yeah. That. That'll do. But...like it? Hmm...]

...

.......Hmph. It was way too noisy.

[Okay fine it was. Kind of impressive!! But she's not going to outright say that now.]

[winepouring]

[ His face falls, but only slightly. Ha! His own brother would be more conservative with his praise than that!! She definitely liked it! ]

The beach chairs are made of metal, it can't be helped. It would have been quieter if the chairs weren't metal. I'll try silencing that part next time; it will be easier to enjoy the music that way.

[ He fans himself, wondering if that's enough to cheer her up... Oh, but she wanted to know more, right? He descends back the ground, landing lightly on his feet. His hair and clothes? Still immaculate. ]

So, is there anything else?

[tempingainteasy]

[April raises their fun little drink in a toast to the man in historical clothing.]

Because the weather is beautiful, the water is perfect, and the drinks are free!

[Is she wearing sunglasses? She must be, that's why it's hard to see her eyes. Anyway, she tilts her head such that her eyebrows arch over the shades hiding her eyes. Her voice is as smug as her smirk must be.]

Don't you think you deserve a break too?

Oda Nobunaga | Ikemen Sengoku | OTA

[konpeito_aji]

[ooc can do prose or bracket spam, I'll switch to whatever you use!]

[1: Not Subtle Revealings]

[Oda Nobunaga has been fending off assassination attempts while he slept since he was 13. His room, rather tenshu, has a collection of some 200 swords, and let's not get started on all the guns, traps, and the fact that it's at the top of a castle tower that would require getting through an army of defenses, and his best friend Hideyoshi who prowled not just for ninja, but also made a fun barrier between Nobunaga and candy. TL;DR him waking up someplace not Azuchi Castle, is enough to freak him out. And that's a huge understatement.]

[He handles it mostly well, which, if he has a roommate, they should be grateful for, because no one in any universe deserves to be woken up by a samurai conqueror going insane with a katana. And yes, he does sleep in armor and with swords and matchlock on him. Assassination attempts and all that, even with the castle.]

[He's not having a panic attack, yet? but that might only be because there's no one literally holding weapons at his throat. Again: yet.]

[Oh, a letter.]

[He reads it surprisingly quickly, makes a derisive noise in the back of his throat, and instantly goes to examine the... lifejacket?]

[But now he notices the hawk on top of the cupboard.] Haguro??? [Haguro is the name of the hawk and it just makes a grumpy squawk at him.] Yes, my thoughts exactly. [Oda doesn't speak hawk, no. In any case the hawk does come down to land on his shoulders, and his left arm does having his falconry gauntlet. But...]

[He shakes his head bewildered.] Let's go.

[He maintains some grace and elegance up to the door -- but then tries to go in the exact opposite direction. Of course.]

[He's RIGHT ON THE EDGE and trying to find anyway past the invisible barrier. He can't even reach for his katana to see if that can pass through, which again, everyone should be grateful for, actually. So he just bangs his head against it, trying to see if any part of his body can get further than the others. It's like a really really bad mime imitation. Extremely comical. Probably a bit pitiful. Made worse by the hawk that gets fed up with his trainer and tries to drag him however painfully by the claws in the right direction. Not that Oda seems to even notice, just growls irritably.] You try it! [Nothing doing. Haguro isn't stupid. When Oda does "give up," he all but runs the correct way to Deck 1 as if he had no intentions to do anything else all along.]

[He's mostly stoic, if a little scary(?) throughout the explanation, and when the lei goes on... that's when he freaks out. Just a little. It's not an explosion, but he definitely tries to take it off, and is clearly a million kinds of shook.]

What is this?!

[He's spent decades disproving magic, religion, and now this? REALLY THOUGH.]


2. Reflections

7 years bad luck for breaking mirrors is a European superstition, and even if had reached Japanese shores for the Fool Lord of Owari who lapped up all news of the outside world from the missionaries and rare traders who bothered to make the trip; he wouldn't have believed it anyway. Superstitions, magic, even religion, all were useless in the face of truth, and what could be proven, what could be physically done no matter whose beliefs it flew in the face of.

So...

Of course he tries to slice up the mirrors with their "fake"(? not likely...) ghosts and illusions. Of course.

His expression isn't even angry, defiant, or anything. As if he's completely detached from this emotionally. Someone should tell him the foolish dangers of his actions maybe... "Good riddance." Just an eyeroll.

[3. Candy though.]

[While everyone seems to be trying to get the guns... Nobunaga isn't. He already has a gun designed by his country's hidden genius (not himself: Akechi Mitsuhide) and updating it so he doesn't have to use "old fashioned" gunpowder, is the furthest from his mind. He's after the candy. Nobunaga 1000% has his priorities in the right place, okay. He is also somewhat more secretly after the electronics, because holy hell that's new! And yes, he's breezily getting along with the communicator, as if he's not from the 1500s, just a 2000s Japanese man who's really into authentic time-period cosplay. But still, unraveling the mysteries behind those electronics is 2nd place. Candy is first. Always.]

4. Wildcard

Speaking of electronics... Nobunaga is having a small field day with the camera function. Fantastic. More than everything else, that has sold him on the idea that it's real, and he's running around trying to snap pictures of everything and everything.

"Books!" Is he talking to you? Yes, it seems so. "You," you probably have a name, "Lead me to books." It's not a request.

At dinner... he isn't eating a proper meal at all. He's feeding the hawk on his shoulder meat like it's normal as hell (it isn't, not even for him), and his own plate... has nothing but desserts. Is he really a grown adult??? He's also completely childish about the lobster. "Sea bugs... disgusting." Yeah, he just said that. Grown adult. Although it doesn't look like he's hesitant to things that are foreign to him, if anything, like a child, he's more enthusiastic if they look new and crazy.

This also means you might catch him victoriously gloating as he noms on pocky wandering around sight-seeing. Enjoy that surreal image if you know your history enough and can identify the Oda mon emblem on his armor and cloak.

[konpeito_aji]

I can't.

[It's not that traveling the world by ship isn't what he desperately wants... that almost has him mentally cursing himself too, because if desires could make ambitions reality without the responsibilities...]

The Demon King must conquer all others first. [Something he's been telling himself practically for awhile now.]

[He does take off a gauntlet to wet a finger and test the wind though. As if tasting the sky and sea.] Do you know which ocean this is?

[myagic]

[H-huff it's not important whether she liked it or not!! Wait...music?]

Music...? Now that you mention it, I did hear something weird like that. Are you saying your magic was responsible for that, too?

[She isn't missing the way he looks totally immaculate despite all the roaring winds. This guy...is clearly vain about his appearance.]

[winepouring]

[ The whole production was put on so you would like it, Rita!! ]

That's right. [ No shame. ] Just breaking chairs isn't very exciting, so I added some music to set the mood a little bit and make it more exciting. It's a shame you couldn't hear it well.

[ He's a beautiful man, ok?? ]

1

[konpeito_aji]

[Nobunaga has a hawk on his shoulder, like it's completely normal, but Haguro wasn't given a lei.]

[The samurai looks like he wants to slice his own lei to shreds, but first things first:]

Hello. [He bows to the freaking raven. Everyone else he's going to want to decapitate, forget ALL manners. But a raven? Gets a formal super respectful bow. Clearly he likes birds more than humans.]

[He doesn't introduce himself though, manners only go so far. And Haguro goes to hopping up to his hair when he bows, not liking the sudden change in height, when he's already having a pretty awful morning being somewhere inside and without trees.]

Where are you from, lost soul? I take it you're not a seabird, anymore than Haguro. [That'd be the hawk. Yeah, he introduced the hawk before himself.]

Wildcard - At the Buffet

[serialskiller]

Look, look, Murderbot doesn't get to judge anyone for what's on their plate, when it's walking to a table with dinosaur chicken nuggets and a bowl of macaroni and cheese. It certainly looks like an adult, at well over six feet tall, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and cargo pants, built like a thread. But as it passes Nobunaga, it notices his plate, and the corner of its lips curl in a bit of a smirk.

"Have you found the ice cream parlor yet? If not, y'oughta go there next."

[konpeito_aji]

Yes good.

"What is... ice cream?"

He can tell it's probably cold, or at least in appearance/aesthetic, and probably with milk. But his time in Japan they don't even have cows yet. Yeah. The Mongols raise yaks. It's not really comparable. But he has been told a lot about Portuguese cuisine. Like cheese.

[serialskiller]

"It's sweet and cold and has fruit or other flavorings in it."

Which isn't a what is as much as a what's it like, but look, those are the important details.

"And there's toppings to put on it."

[konpeito_aji]

Well, he could infer that, but okay.

A solemn nod, a polite bow of his head. "I shall try this. Thank you."

He gestures with chopsticks so the other can sit opposite him. It's kind of less a suggestion, and more an order, but this is just habit from being a dictator 24/7 for the last few decades. At least he seemed truly grateful.

"Are those your favorites?" The mac and cheese, and dinosaur chicken nuggets. Nobunaga tried the mac & cheese day one. But he hasn't given himself enough stomach aches to learn to treat his body like his real age instead of just eating sugar and not much else. And Haguro (the hawk) preferred normal chicken without the processing.

[serialskiller]

Giving the rogue SecUnit an order like that isn't the way to accomplish anything. It's totally just going to keep standing by the table in the most awkward manner possible as it starts to eat its nuggets.

"Yeah. They're crunchy and salty and always the same every day. And I like the shapes, see? This one's meant to look like a pterodactyl."

[konpeito_aji]

"Always the same is a desired quality for you?" Ack. The very idea of that drives Nobunaga crazy. Salty and crunchy... no way! He'd rather stick with roasted fish for that.

The warlord-dictator tilts his head in confusion. Another completely foreign word! "What's a..." He closes his eyes thinking hard. "Terra-Duck-Till?" A... foreign bird? Like ostrich, but they could fly? A really big duck?

Oda doesn't care if the dude stays standing, so long as he humors Nobuanga's curiosity though. Eventually Oda might stand up, so that they are both being weirdos standing instead of sitting to eat, but for now, his curiosity is humored, he has sugar, and oh gosh LEARNING new things! He's ecstatic. It doesn't show that much yet. His guard is still nearly maxed out. Being kidnapped and in the middle of an unknown ocean will do that.

Books

[touchofcashmere]

Stede is busy reading a book himself. His Viking Vixen is the title and the cover is rather swoony with both hero and heroine that had hair nearly as big as they were- coupled with the inability to keep their clothes on. '

At the man's words, he sniffs and turns a page, not out of any stubbornness or pride, merely because he assumes the man is speaking to someone else. Why would anyone demand anything of him after all?