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

ew gross get outta here...jk. not subtle revealings

[woocas]

[It's not hard to spot someone new on this boat. Even if this guy looks like he walked off the Matrix set there's still the obvious wandering around that Lucas doesn't miss.]

Hey, you looking for somethin' in particular, dude? [He calls out, approaching with a friendly grin.]

...I thought I saw you tagging other people!

[sixthdeadliest]

[Six turns to face the young man, raising a brow.]

Some way of contacting the mainland.

[He didn't sign up for this vacation. He wants off this boat.]

0:)

[woocas]

Yeah, I tried that. I hate to break it to you, but the only communication on this floating tin can are the cabin phones and you can only contact people if you know their room number.

[He shrugs haplessly.]

Captain seems to be kind of an interdimensional dick, to be honest.

Long time, no see.

[sixthdeadliest]

[So Breach on steroids...assuming she didn't somehow warp further due to those time portals she'd been "upgraded" with.]

Wonderful.

[And going to toss that plan onto the backburner.]

You said "interdimensional". Is there even a mainland here in the first place?

lmao yeah

[woocas]

If there is one, I have no idea where it is. Everyone's told me the ocean only goes out a little bit from the boat...

[Another shrug. His job is weird but all of this just takes the cake.]

You're taking this pretty well, though.

[sixthdeadliest]

I come from somewhere where every living thing can turn into a rampaging monster without any warning. I'm used to being kept on my toes.

[He raises a brow.]

I take it you've been here for a while now.

[woocas]

Okay, well...in context, yeah, this place probably isn't so weird.

[No that gets a laugh.]

Three days. I think. [Sleep deprivation makes it a little fuzzy.] At this point I figure I either accept certain things as true or drive myself batty. And it's a really short drive, so...

[sixthdeadliest]

It's still strange. [Just a more particular type of strange.]

Three days. [And yet you're strolling around so casually.]

[woocas]

Okay so where I come from doesn't have people turning into beasties at the drop of a hat, but we do have vampires and bigfoot and ghosts and stuff!

...so yeah, three days. [Defensive much, Lucas.]

[sixthdeadliest]

[And cue eyebrow.]

So this should be more of the same for you, shouldn't it?

[People trying to grab you through the mirrors sounds like a ghost thing.]

[woocas]

Okay bu hear me out...like, yeah it's a normal thing but it's still scary as fuck, my dude.

The moment it stops being scary is when I get myself killed. [He winces at that. It wasn't so long ago that this very scenario happened, actually.] Or worse.

[sixthdeadliest]

[Eyebrow arches higher. Do go on, you strange person.]

[woocas]

...What.

[Use your words, Agent Smith.]

[sixthdeadliest]

[Excuse you?]

You said there were worse things that being killed. I've heard death isn't permanent -- [Though that doesn't explain the ghosts.] -- so what on this ship is worse?

[woocas]

[You heard him.]

Dude, I literally just got here and already got pulled into a mirror by ghosts or something that made my arm go all dead on me. I don't want to know what would have happened if I had gotten pulled all the way in.

I'm sure there's all sorts of fucked things that can be done to us when permanent death's off the table...

[sixthdeadliest]

So you're speculating.

[Just dealing with the cold hard facts.]

If the mirror is broken, they can't grab you.

[Helping...?]

[woocas]

[Lucas puffs up but for a few moments his lips remain sealed.]

I can only go on second hand accounts right now because I've been here for like two days, man.

[He raises an eyebrow.] It's not just mirrors, anything reflective. You gonna smash up every shiny part of the ship?

[sixthdeadliest]

I know they fix themselves when we're not looking, so trying to smash them all would just be a waste of time and energy. I only smash them if I have to pass close to them for whatever reason.

[Get in the preemptive strike.]

[woocas]

...Right I forget about that. [Because it MAKES NO SENSE, but whatever. They're stuck on a cruise ship bound for god-knows-where, so why not have self fixing furniture.]

So are you like a Secret Service agent or something?

[sixthdeadliest]

[Finally, something they can agree on.]

I'd fall under the "or something" category.

[And that sure is a smirk.]

[woocas]

Dude, are you a spy!?

[He sure looks like one!]

[sixthdeadliest]

No. Former mercenary.

[Not a lie just not the whole truth.]

[woocas]

...Oh. Well those skills will unfortunately come in pretty handy around here, from what people have been telling me.

[Somehow that feels anticlimatic.]

But, you got a name? Otherwise I'm calling you Agent Smith. I'm Lucas by the by.

[Lucas the offers out his hand for a shake. f he was a dog his tail would be wagging. New friend? :D???]

[sixthdeadliest]

[Kid, you have no idea how much he's downplaying himself right now.]

Who is...? Never mind.

Six.

[And going to give the kid's hand a shake. Lots of callouses on that hand. Also if you try and pull anything, he can have you flipped and pinned down before you can blink.]

[woocas]

If you have to ask then never mind. [He's not explaining the Matrix right now! Plus Lucas isn't entirely sure if this guy has a normal sense of humor or not.]

Nice to meet you, Six. [Shaking the man's hand confirms that he's not kidding around. No way Lucas is dumb enough to make a remark about the name. He keeps the shake brief and professional.]

Like said I'm still pretty new here but if I can help you find something, let me know?