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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.]
no subject
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!
no subject
[ He'll crouch down near Lucas, leaning forward a tad to offer it a closer inspection. There's no other marks to suggest any damage done. He'll gingerly reach out to touch it with just his fingertips to see if it'll draw out an reaction. Hiyori notes the lack of any real sense of duress, as it tells him as much about the person before him as it does the injury he suffered. ]
No, not at all. I did notice the lack of reflections, and for a moment I had thought I had turned into a vampire! [ It's a little joke, ] But I didn't realize there was something within it... How frightening. Was it perhaps trying to pull you in? I've heard stories of creatures within mirrors that attempt to switch places with the residents of this one.
no subject
I can't feel a thing where the skin's gone white. [Lucas says like this is a normal occurrence and snort-laughs a moment later at the vampire comment.]
Oh, it was definitely trying to pull me in. I noticed...well, I'm not sure I'd call them spirits, but that's close enough. Instead of my reflection there were people staring back at me, they reached out a grabbed me. Twice! [He offers a lopsided grin next.] Had to test it, make sure my imagination wasn't getting away from me you know?
So this isn't the first time something like this has happened here? You must have been here awhile, huh?
no subject
[ He chides with all the patient concern of a doctor overseeing a patient with bad habits. Hiyori has seen too many in his time not to. There's no reaction, but the skin is deathly cold. It almost reminds him of frostbite, but there's no blackening of the skin or any ting else that suggests one that's heavily progressed. Is this boy human? He should probably ask about that as much as anything, as there's a high chance of the skin blistering as it warms up.
In the meantime, he answers his question, ]
I've been here for a spell, and as I understand it these oddities are common. It's a quirky little ship run by a pair of people with blotted out faces and a fair number of unusual circumstances... Incidentally, you'll want to take care to stay out of the rain. I hear that others have suffered from some side effects after being out in it.
[ It's all water, actually, and trace amounts of it at that, but the rain is the one that he chooses to note. ]
no subject
[He leans back fully against the wall to listen. Having already met Gal Friday he figures the Captain is other person this guy is talking about. he can help but shiver at the thought before settling back down.]
The rain? Like what kind of side effects are we talking about here?
no subject
Well, I do so appreciate the warning.
[ It's only fair, then, that he's offering his own. ]
From what I understand, it's something like a truth serum. Once the water touches your skin, you'll be compelled to speak in truth or lies for several minutes. The former is harmless enough so long as no one thinks to pry into personal details, and so long as it's not a lie it does seem to count. Lies are a bit trickier though, and I believe that should have the potential to lead to real harm when none can tell the difference.
[ How...? Well, plenty of ways. In a world where information is power and currency the truth can be dangerous to expose, but one only need skirt around or refuse to answer. Lies can be a fair bit trickier, particularly when most don't know how to navigate and utilize them properly. ]
no subject
And then the investigator part of his brain kicks back in. Curiosity getting the better of him.]
Has this been happening since you've been on the ship? Like are there any patterns to it, or just luck of the draw for h-two-oh-truth-or-dare?
no subject
Hm... I don't think anyone has been here long enough to pin down a definitive pattern. As far as I can tell the entire place was empty until just a few months ago, and people come and go with no discernible rhyme or reason. Isn't that interesting? Though I do worry for those who have left.
no subject
['Those who left.' Turn of phrase or does this guy mean it literally?]
Now, you don't mean people dying, right doc?
no subject
I believe there have been efforts, but our hosts are quite cagey about anything of actual significance. But I mean it quite literally. They simply vanish one day, as though they'd never been here at all. Even Miss Friday acts as though they were never here, although it may just be that her memory is especially poor.
[ Either poor by design or poor by tampering. The end result is the same. ]
Though we are floating in the ocean, so I suppose ridding oneself of them would be as simple as throwing them overboard... Ah, but I should truly hope that they're not so heartless.
no subject
Nawh, I mean I haven't met the Captain but Gal seemed alright. Aside from the whole face thing going on, that is.
Anyways, here's me running my mouth and jumping in the deep end without so much as a nice to meet you, what's your name? [He cracks a grin.] Unless you don't mind bein' called doc all the time.
no subject
I suppose you could if you wanted to, but I'm certain that you can do better than some variation of "hey you." My name is Sou Hiyori, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr...?
[ He holds out his hand for a shake. ]
no subject
Lucas Kovach. Nice to meet you, Sou. Wish the circumstances could have been better, but beggars can't be choosers, right?
no subject
[ fuss fuss... It's exactly what one would expect and perhaps even a touch overbearing, but he seems to mean well at least. Perhaps he catches it, because he clears his throat before adding, ]
The unfortunate circumstances aside, I hope we can get along.
no subject
[Can't be too sure. He figures Sou means well either way.]
I don't see why we wouldn't get along. You seem pretty cool, dude. [Or at least nice. That's all it takes, really.] Got any other advice for a newbie here?
no subject
I'm glad to hear it... Hm, let me think... [ He hums a few notes as he goes through what he knows. ] ... I believe anything else I could offer would be what you'd hear elsewhere. You should be careful of who you speak with, as I have heard that there's been a few incidents on the ship. I can't give any names, as I'm not certain of the details, but it's always best to be careful.
[ He thinks to stop there, but then snaps his fingers, suddenly remembering a far less grim reminder, ]
Oh, and if you're a smoker, make sure you stick to the smoking areas. It seems that Miss Friday will spray you with water like a misbehaving cat if you don't.
[ He's not kidding, being spritzed with a water bottle had made him feel like a cat scratching the furniture, but the act is harmless enough that he's able to speak of it in good humor. If not for the fact that it ruined a perfectly good cigarette, such dedication to the rules would even be charming. ]
no subject
[He has to laugh, picturing Gal squirting people like a cat. It would be the regular kind of funny if it wasn't for the strangeness of the circumstances.]
Sounds like you learned that one the hard way?
no subject
[ He gives a sheepish laugh. It has been rather embarrassing, especially when she seemed so unhappy about what to him seemed like a trivial matter. He does feel the need to gm defend himself a bit, however, ]
They didn't cover it in the rules, and until now cruise ships I've been on would prefer that you smoke outside... Ahaha, it is a bad habit though, I should have rid myself of it long ago, so perhaps I should thank her.
btw would you like to continue in-game or here? I have a post on the main comm for him!
Please don't tell me she gets that way about drinking? Otherwise I'm going to drown! [Okay, overselling that a bit. He doesn't drink to excess, usually, but waking up here sure makes the thought tempting to overdo it just once.]