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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
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.]