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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.]
Re: Rinoa Heartilly | Final Fantasy VIII
Radley is so appalled by the guns that he doesn't even see the lizard at first. When Rinoa exclaims about it, he takes a closer look.
"... Seriously?! That's sick! Why would anyone want that as a prize?!"
Which is pretty par for the course here, it seems, but he's new.
no subject
Maybe it's a mercenary thing. She wouldn't know.
"You think someone actually put it in there? But that's..."
Sick. It's sick. Unless... well maybe some people are really passionate about taxidermy. Maybe it's, okay no. That's being too generous.
"Do you think we should get it out of there? I don't know where you'd bury a dead thing on a cruise ship.... but surely there's a better resting place than this somewhere around here."
Oh right. Climbing to her feet she dusts herself off absently before holding out a hand. "I'm Rinoa! Are you new too?"
Manners. Even in the face of a dead lizard. Manners are still important.
no subject
He's more worried about the guns, which definitely look real. But the lizard could certain spread disease, so it should be removed too.
He shakes her hand. "Yeah, I am. I'm Radley."
no subject
Better to be honest when you don't know something than to pretend you do only for it to blow up in your face later. No thanks.
Not again."Nice to meet you. Even if it's under... really weird circumstances." She gestures around them, before peering in at the dead iguana.
"You don't think moving it will break it, do you?"
Because that's disgusting.
no subject
He smiles a bit. "Same here." Most of the passengers seem really nice. That's definitely a plus about this.
His stomach turns at this question.
"... I guess that depends on how long it's been dead."
no subject
Her nose smooshes into the glass as she presses closer, going on tiptoe for that extra little leverage.
"It doesn't look smooshy or anything yet." Her smile is nervous, but she's trying to remain positive. Confident. "Guess we can only try? If it gets too bad. We can.. run and pretend this never happened?"
Only....
"Are you any good at these things?"
Does she have to do it?
no subject
Radley grabs the controls and tries to guide it to the lizard. It takes hold, but also grabs the the object next to it, which is one of the guns.
"Oh no..."
He can't let it drop now. Who knows what might happen. All he can do is try to bring both items over to the chute carefully ... so carefully....
"You'd better stand someplace where you won't get shot if something goes wrong...."
He breathes a sigh of relief when both things drop into the chute without incident.
no subject
Rinoa looks confused at first, before realizing he's talking about the gun.
"Isn't it just a model?"
But she does stand back, ever dutiful. Besides, that means he gets to be the one closest to the shoot when the dead iguana needs to be fished out. Only fair he deal with it, since he's closer!
When it doesn't go off, she nods, like she knew all along.
"See? Nothing to worry about."
Only now they're presented with a new problem.
"So.. what do we put it in and how do we get it out?"
Because she doesn't want to touch it. Gross.
no subject
He sighs, pondering the problem. "... I might still have a cleaning cloth from home in my pocket. I was wiping down the diner counter and then something distracted me."
He fishes in his pocket and finds it. "We're in business!"
Still grimacing, he picks up the iguana and wonders what to do with the gun.
no subject
Rinoa still looks doubtful, but in respect of his feelings she defers.
Once he's picked up the Iguana, she reaches in and fishes out the gun. Looking at it curiously for a few moments.
"It certainly looks like it could be real."
While she's not the most experienced with guns, she's been around them enough to know the basics. Which is why she checks to see if it's loaded. It's not. Satisfied with her inspection she simply shoves it in her pocket. Where else is she going to put it? At least it was a small one that'd fit. Not like Irvine's guns. Those would have been much more of an issue.
"Are you really okay with throwing that cloth overboard?" She looks at him, doubtful. It's still something from where he's from, isn't it? Though now it has dead iguana on it, so maybe that's for the best.
"Back outside to get rid of it?"
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He sighs. "I'm not, really, but I don't know what else to do. Yeah, let's go on deck."
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"We could look for another cloth? There's got to be some around here. A pillowcase maybe?" After all, a big place like this has to have spare linens, right? "I'm sure there's something in my cabin we could use."
She wouldn't want to throw away anything from home no matter how trivial, so she certainly doesn't mind helping him keep it.
no subject
He doesn't plan to look a lot, though. He wonders if there's even facilities to properly sterilize the cloth.