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

"That you're one of the people who cares about Rex. That you fight EVOs alongside Rex. No personal details or embarrassing secrets, if that's what you're worried about." There's always been a sense that the people who care for Rex had iced César out, and Johnny's priority is making sure no further emotional damage is dealt to his partner.

Oh yeah. A ton of misconceptions to correct. And not just about himself. (César, you are one of the smartest idiots Six knows.)

He blew out a soft sigh of frustration. Here we go...

"Based on our earlier conversation, it seems César has been under several very serious false impressions for quite some time now," Six said, trying to be diplomatic but probably not succeeding. "I'm not about to start singing the man's praises any time soon, but he's not as hated as he might have let on. Especially not by his brother."

There's a visible pause. Johnny needs a moment to do some deep social calculus.

"Have you corrected these false assumptions? That's. Something he's been carrying as a weight in his chest for months. No, longer. The man not only thought he was unloved, he thought he was unlovable, to a degree that was completely and utterly unbearable for him."

"We discussed it. Particularly after I pointed out that this was Rex we were dealing with." Six folded his hands behind his back. "It was...awkward."

Which was the nice way of saying that César burst into tears and Six had no clue what to do.

"I imagine so. You upended his worldview and reframed his self-image all at once." Johnny can just about guess about the crying. He's cried on César over similar sharp reframings like that, moments that made it clear he wasn't broken, just different.

"I am going to pull my phone out and text him now. Alright?" He doesn't wait for a response before grabbing his phone.

Six's fingers flexed. The man had threatened him, after all. He could still be going for a weapon.

It took effort to suppress the reflex to draw a magna blade and aim it at the man's throat.

And Johnny doesn't come up with a weapon, just his phone as he'd said. He holds the phone in one hand and hunts and pecks for letters with the other, still getting accustomed to the technology. It's not the shortest message.

Perhaps Six should send a message to César: "Train your partners to not make sudden movements around me since I always assume someone is armed. Mr. Summer almost lost his head."

Instead, he waited for Mr. Summer to finish with his message and potentially wait for the response.

Johnny does get some sort of response, one that he can't help but smile wryly over. Yeah, he's good at what he does.

"In any case, as much as a relief as you've brought him, I'm sorry that you have to be stuck on this hellship with us. How are you adjusting?"

"As well as I can given the circumstances."

He was made of pretty stern stuff after all. No EVO powers needed. Honestly, he was more annoyed at this entire situation than anything else.

"Helluva set of circumstances, though." He looks almost antsy. "I should probably go find César, though. If you'll excuse me?"

"Just another day at the office."

Six nodded his head to let the other man go. He needed a moment to relax the tension in his body from holding back that attack.

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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