sail_ooc | 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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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?

[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.

Huh, can't say I've heard of it. is that near Indianapolis? [The small talk is good. Normal. It does help settle his own nerves because even with an open mind it's hard to wrap it around the fact that people here come from all over.

At her next comment Lucas can only smile a touch wider, giving a sheepish little shrug.]

Yeah, of course. Not like I was just going to stand there and watch, right? [Plus it's nice to save someone alive, for a change. Not like back home.]

[Chrissy thinks back to those last minutes in Eddie Munson's trailer. Did he just stand there and watch? She can't really remember. What she does know is that this guy just said something that wraps around her like a warm blanket. He's kind, and that really goes far to make her feel a little more safe.]

I think most people probably would have.

[Just stood there and watched, she means. And by focusing on that aspect of the conversation, she forgets to answer his question about where Hawkins even is. She'll remember later and try to find him to tell him, but for now, she's choosing to focus on the fact that in her eyes, he's kind of a hero.]

You said you were pretty new around here, right? How long have you been here?

[They walk out onto the deck now, and Chrissy is momentarily distracted by being out in the fresh air. She definitely seems a little less stressed.]

Aw, shucks, hah. [Lucas raises his good hand over the name patch on his jacket, dutifully ignoring a bit of heat in his face as much as possible. It sure is nice to hear someone be grateful, genuinely. Amidst all the unsettling weirdness and feeling in over his head it's almost like a lifeline.]

Well, I think you're selling everyone else short. For me it's kind of part of the job. Back home, that is. [Chrissy's question throws him off his last question.]

Oh, dude, I just got here like today. Unless I'm dreaming, but the jury's still out on that. [He shrugs his shoulders, casting a hapless look in her direction.] What about you?

Me? I just got here today too.

[There's something they have in common, at least. It's enough to make her smile a little, even as she shrugs her shoulders the same as he's just done.

The fact of the matter is, he's said something that strikes her as curious and interesting. And she'd much rather talk about him than herself.]

What kind of job do you have back home? Is...is that okay to ask?

[Some people would tell her to mind her own business. But he doesn't seem like the type of guy to do that.]

Sure is a lot to take in at once, huh? [there's a weird sort of relief that he's not the only new person to this strange place, so her next question isn't really so surprising.]

Totally okay, I promise. [He wonders why she has to ask that but that's something to suss out over time, perhaps.]

I work for IOPSA, the International Office of Paranormal and Supernatural Affairs. We, uh...well if we're from the same place you might have heard of it, but if not then it's like a mish-mash of research and education and policing. We keep the peace between the regular world and the supernatural one, look into hauntings and that kind of stuff.

I do a lot of cold case work, too. Just got back to active duty full time and bam! Woke up here. The Captain's timing could have been better, honestly. [Lucas hazards a glance to catch her reaction. If this goes down well enough maybe she won't think the rest of it is weird, if she happens to ask.]

[Okay, so that's a lot to take in all at once.]

I don't think we're from the same place.

[She points out, indicating that she's never heard of IOPSA before. But that's okay. She's getting the idea that maybe the universe is a lot more expansive than she previously was taught. The idea is a little unsettling, but she tries to take it in stride.]

So you're like a ghost hunter?

[The question is asked almost hesitantly, as she fiddles with the edge of her sleeves. A lump forms in her throat right after and she swallows it, looking down and away from him. Maybe that's why he's able to see and talk to her, she thinks. What if she's one of the supernatural things he's trying to reach.]

Yeah, I kinda figured. Sorry for the info dump. [To be fair Lucas is still wrapping his brain around the whole other worlds concept too. Nothing to do but to roll with it, right?

At her next question he does notice the way she fidgets while speaking. Hmmm, the wheels in his head slowly turn.]

Not a ghost hunter, but I do talk to ghosts. Like to help them move on, if I can. I know that also sounds crazy, but...[SHRUG. It's the truth! He just hopes it doesn't chase her off for good.]

[It's in that moment that Chrissy stops walking, and looks all kinds of anxious.]

But what?

[She's half expecting him to come out and say she's a ghost and he's here to Ghostbust her or something. Or help her move on, maybe. But what she can't put her finger on is why she'd be here of all places. She's never been on a cruise before. Doesn't really have a thing for boats. It doesn't make any sense.]

[After a few steps Lucas stops too. He sweeps his arms out, gesturing to the boat around them.]

I mean, we're both here aren't we? As far as I know this is real. That's all I have to go on.

[He pauses, eyeing her curiously.] Sorry, like...I feel like this is upsetting you somehow. I can think of somethin' else to talk about?

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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