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]

Then I gotta have you meet Rin. He's a robot but get this — he looks completely human! Skin, hair, everythin'! There's another chick here that's the same, too.

( munching still, jinx pushes herself off the wall to glance down through the glass wall elevator. they still have a bit to go before they reach the playback floor.)

I would love to rip 'em apart to see what makes them all tick. Too bad I'll get all the whackos will be on my ass if I tried. Guess I'll just hafta deal with imaginin' it in my dreams.

[cheerleader]

[The idea of taking something apart just because you can, or because you're curious, unsettles Chrissy. She understands robots aren't human, but ones that look human were made for the purpose of being like a person. Weren't they?]

Why would you want to do something like that?

[As shy as she's sounded before, she definitely doesn't sound the same way now. She doesn't sound angry, either. But given that she feels like a person that someone ripped apart just to see what makes her tick, she's a little on edge when she expresses her curiosity.

But Jinx is the first person here that's close to her age and could be a friend. She doesn't want to entirely push her away, even if she's a little weirded out.]

[opheliac]

'Cuz they're are machines, silly? ― Psssh, duh!

(she quirks an eyebrow at her direction with a slight dumfounded look. it's completely natural for someone being curious and wanting to pry open an appliance to do a look over. jinx truly doesn't get why everyone gets so up and arms when it comes to that. chrissy definitely wasn't the first who acted so appalled.

the elevator finally dings then comes into a halt. with the doors slide open, jinx waltzes out proudly with a light skip and hum; spinning to face her.)

'Sides as an Engineer, it's kiiiiinda what I do. Build things, fiddles with stuff, modify, get all in there...!

[cheerleader]

[There's just something about the way Jinx looks at her then that makes her laugh. Maybe the whole wanting to rip into machines thing is weird and a little unsettling. But Jinx doesn't look like she's over eighteen, and she's saying she's an engineer. That's...pretty impressive.]

You're an engineer? Really? Could you show me how you do it?

[It could sound so ingenuine from someone else. But Chrissy's sincere and interested when she asks.]

Not now obviously. But later maybe? Please?

[Jinx is leading the way, even while she walks backward. And Chrissy follows after her without hesitation.]

[opheliac]

'Course I can! I'll let ya meet Pow-Pow and Fishbones. They're my pride and joy. Chompers is too but unforuntely, he is not with us.

(may he rest in peace back home. sitting there collecting dust and unable to explode buildings and people. such a sad fate her poor little explosive -- a fate worse than death, truly.

and then finally!! they make it to the playback, jinx swings the door open and the room is filled with arcade machines, a playground for smaller kids, a big screen TV, bean bag chairs, another room that leads to a dance club, and finally the teen hangout lounge. not stopping for anything, she sets the bag on the table and plops herself in one of the chairs -- propping her legs up on one of the foot stools.)

[cheerleader]

[Oh, she's completely taken with the machines. She's been in arcades before. But the machines in the ones back home aren't as advanced or flashy as the ones here. She follows along after Jinx, but definitely makes a note to come look at things here more closely later on.

Chrissy slides into one of the chairs at the opposite end as Jinx sits, and instantly taps her fingernails against the table.]

Are they robots?

[It seems like maybe they might be, given the other girl's fondness for machines and the robot talk before. What else would be named Pow-Pow and be someone's pride and joy?]

Because I think you might have a robot obsession.

[She's teasing, of course, her lips curling upward into an amused smirk.]

[opheliac]

Bzzzt! Wrong. But you were close. They are in the steel class, though. Pow-Pow and Fishbones are my weapons. I made 'em.

(once chrissy is all settled across from her, jinx opens up the bag to reveal more goodies. more chocolate, chips, and can soda drinks. she waves her hand as a gesture to a "help yourself" type of way and sways her feet from side to side.)

[cheerleader]

[There's a question on the tip of her tongue that she can't bring herself to ask. Why make weapons, she almost asks. But then she remembers there being mention of fighting or something violent back when they first spoke. So that's probably exactly why Jinx made herself weapons. The fact that she named them though, well, that makes her smile a little.

The spread that's laid out before her makes her hesitant, though. It's a lot of junk food, and it's been a while since she's helped herself to any of it. The only reason she reaches out to take more chocolate is because she doesn't want to be rude. That, and it is pretty delicious. She's missed chocolate, she realizes. ]

Oh yeah? Well, what kind of weapons are they?

[She can guess what Pow-Pow is. Maybe some kind of gun. But Fishbones is a mystery to her.]

[opheliac]

Weeeelllllll, Pow-Pow's my machine gun and Fishbones is my rocket launcher. But Fishbones is pretty useless since I don't have any rockets. All he does is yammer away in my ear how I should take responsibilities for my actions. — Lame, right?

(because what fun would things be if people were responsible and always followed the rules? the motto jinx always followed in her life is "rules were made to be broken". surely, chrissy would understand that, right? or if she is one of those goody-goody shoes like everyone here, maybe she can break that habit out of her.)