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

I am. [No way to hide that given, y'know, drones watching everybody.]

You've been watching this place for a while.

I have.

[It nods slightly.]

I feel better when I know what's going on, and when I can get to problems as soon as they start happening.

I wasn't in trouble yet you still thought to come to me when you didn't have to. Why?

[He's not sure if you're the type to go out of your way to help someone who looked lost or not.]

No, you're not in trouble. I haven't figured out if you are trouble yet.

[There's the faintest hint of humor there.]

But really, you seemed a bit uncomfortable with the drone, and I didn't want you to think someone's watching you just to be a nosy asshole. And Morse code is slow, even if it was effective in this case.

I'm not a fan of being spied on. [Thus his wariness.] And Morse code really isn't that difficult though very few people bother to learn it anymore.

I'm not spying, I don't give a fuck what you're doing unless something's going wrong and someone needs help.

Fair.

[Honestly, be glad he hadn't gone with gut instinct and destroyed a good chunk of your fleet.]

[Murderbot sends the drone back out across the Promenade, and lapses into what most people would probably consider an awkward silence. It, however, actually finds the taciturn, direct nature of Six somewhat...reassuring? Look, humans talk, a lot. They pry and poke and ask questions and sometimes it's nice when they just don't.]

Your drones see everything. Any particular threats to keep an eye out for?

[He's not expecting much but why not ask? If he's going to be stuck here, might as well get all the information he can to stay alive.]

There's people on the ship with weapons, and with the capacity to create them. Jinx has been experimenting with making bombs. Some of the pirate crew have swords, some other people have guns.

And the ship itself can be dangerous. Things start flying at people without warning.

We also had someone who was capable of throwing a temper tantrum that created a literal tempest on deck, that was an interesting time. She's not on board anymore, though.

Already seen the flying objects.

[Good thing he's used to catching knives flying at him. Thanks, Five.]

[Also he wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't realized he's currently armed to the teeth. Or it could be you just haven't said anything about it. Regardless, he'll keep it quiet unless you bring it up.]

Thanks for the intel.

[Oh, Murderbot's noticed, but Six is being polite and not threatening people at random. It finds itself inclined to place him in the same category as the man who was once Bucky Barnes--competent.]

You're welcome. Any other questions?

[Because Six hasn't gotten nosy yet, and that's rare, so it's pressing its luck. What questions he asks, if any, will be telling.]

[Six thinks for a moment.]

Any areas off-limits or that should be avoided?

[Honestly, Six isn't going to go prying into someone else's life without a solid reason for it. A waste of time and energy trying to keep track of everybody's personal details.]

Don't bother looking for kitchens. There are none. The food just appears. No, that's not comforting, but no one has been poisoned yet. The bridge is inaccessible; that's where the Captain stays, usually. Beyond that, nowhere is off limits. There is a brig and a morgue, neither of which tend to be of particular interest.

The engine room?

[If that's available to the public, it might not be a big deal with things repairing themselves the moment their backs are turned, but still odd.]

I haven't seen the engine room yet.

There's also no radar, sonar or comms. The captain's means of watching us does not rely on cameras; there is no wireless communication at all beside what we passengers brought with us. The machines in the casino work without any actual machinery inside them. They're hollow, when opened by force.

[You know, like a cyborg doing a smashy-smash.]

So it's equally possible there isn't an engine room to begin with.

Yes. Though you'll hear the engines and feel the ship move.

[It's all part of the experience, right?]

[Six nods his understanding.]

If I wanted to contact you later to exchange information, who should I ask for?

[Well, that's a polite way to phrase that question. And it decides to be a little more upfront than usual about its actual preferences.]

SecUnit. Though you may also hear people refer to me as Rin. And yourself?

[Not even a quizzical frown at that. Could be the guy's an android or it could just as easily be a title he primarily went by.]

Six.

Six. I’ll remember that. If you need anything, catch the attention of one of the drones and ask it.

[Content, it turns to just...walk away. Good talk.]

[Six nods and doesn't call out to SecUnit to bid him goodbye. The conversation is over, after all. What else needs to be said? (Honestly, it's weirdly comforting to not have to play into so many social niceties.)]

[Instead, Six starts off on his own to further explore. Might as well verify some of the intel he just got.]

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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