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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.]
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[ With a bright, cute smile, she holds up a peace sign. ]
Special S-Class Darkhunter, Baby Bonnie Hood! Good to meet you, Miss Braid.
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Nice to meetcha, too! Don't know what a "darkhunter" is but it sounds deadly and I like deadly!! — It's about time we got someone around here that's not all stuffy.
(thus, she leads the way! it's another straight shot with other stores and what not but do de do, walking.)
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[ Not stuffy at all! As she skips a little coming out of the elevator. ]
Don't worry, though. I'm not boring, especially if there's someone around here who's just oh-so willing to talk about violence with a little girl right from the start.
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And this "vacation" isn't really all what it's cracked out to be. So forewarnin' on that!
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[ Though, that little word of warning throws her off a bit. ]
Mm? What's so bad about it?
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(she says this so nonchalantly but that's due to the fact she has said it so much and so many times, it's becoming a broken record for her.)
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[ She starts to go quiet, as if she's starting up the waterworks. With a nervous tilt to her voice-- ]
Does that mean... I'll have to kill you, Miss Braid?
[ Since the thought of her dying never even crossed her mind. ]
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Only if you want to. We can always be a team and make a deal to not kill each other. 'Less we get put in the room where we might gotta wail on each other.
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But, depending on what you're holding, I miiiiiight make an exception and work with you. Maybe!
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(and speeding up this, they make it to the theatre! pushing the double doors, jinx happily waltzes in the very big room filled with empty audience seating, balcony seating, and a big stage. humming along, she walks down the aisle then hops on the stage to dart off behind the large curtains.
she brings out two weapons: pow-pow - her machine gun and fishbones - her rocket launcher. )
Well! Heeere they are ♪...!
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Oh my gosh! They're so cute! This design, it looks like a minigun, ohhh I've always wanted one of those~! And this-- oh, this must be Fishbones, yes? He looks polite enough to me!
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(and then she moves the handle that's attached to his mouth to make it move. and as he "talks", a dopey voice follows. spoiler alert, she is making the voice.)
❝Oh! I try not to. It's very rude to do that, you know. But if people are mean, then I would have nooooo choice.❞
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Oh, I know, I knooow. Sometimes you just can't help it! We all lose our temper from time to time! Oh, if I pet your head, you won't bite me, right? Or is Miss Braid here going to have to save that part for later?
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Looks like he's squared away about it! Go on and pet him.
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[ She really just wanted to get a good feel for how well it's put together, lightly running her palm against Fishbones' "head". ]
Gosh, you two must have so much fun together.