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

"Right? I figure it hasn't gone black or anything like that so it might be okay?" Maybe. Or maybe that's wishful thinking on his part. He's not too sure how to gauge the situation entirely but knows it's better not to panic.

Nodding along as she speaks Lucas scratches at his cheek, idly mulling over what she's saying. "Wait, wait, so you mean like two different flows of time or something? Ghosts are more my area of expertise, if I'm honest. I never did understand chronokinesis and that kind of thing."

Now that he's thinking about it, she seems pretty chill with the situation and that suggestion probably comes from some kind of experience. Consider his curiosity piqued!

"Ghosts are an area of expertise?" She's officially invested and sits down on the floor against the wall so she isn't standing over him.

"And yeah, that's exactly what I meant. Clara, by the way. You seem really calm for having a Halloween arm." Says the woman with the hand.

"You said others mentioned weird stuff was pretty normal. Does that mean you just showed too?"

"They sure are." He considers it a moment. Normally he tries to stay under the radar, so to speak, but again she is taking all of this in stride. No harm in trying? "Don't know if you have Mediums where you're from, but I'm one. Kinda hard not to be a ghost expert when you talk to them on the daily."

As she gets settled Lucas can't contain a grin and a very pointed look. "Lucas, it's nice to meet you, Clara. Something tells me you're used to dealing with this kind of stuff back home?"

And he follows that up with a nod and a chuckle, "Just a day or two ago is when I woke up here, so the ship wasted no time starting in on the weird shit."

Some people's eyes would narrow, she's sure - and once in her life she'd mentioned not believing in ghosts. But that was before, well, a lot. So instead, her eyes go wide and she leans in a little.

"I love weird shit," she admits right away. "But I have to admit, this is peak weird shit, even for me. I woke up here a couple days ago, too, met a couple others who got the same note and everything." Circling back, though:

"You're a medium, then. Very cool. Don't exist on my planet - well, I'm sure some do but there's so much fakery, wouldn't know where to find them. But other places, most places outside of Earth, really, are more open minded." She doesn't want to pry; if he seems open she'll definitely leap on asking the questions floating around in her head.

"I'm right there with you. There's the usual weird and then there's this," He splays his hands out, gesturing to the ship around them. "So you met Friday already. What did you think of her?"

What she says next gets a bright smile out of him, mixed with a shade of relief. It's a crap shoot back home how someone might react, even if it's not a huge secret. That doesn't seem to matter much here and he can't help but be excited as the implications of what she's saying sink in. He's as close to fan-boying as he can be without going overboard! "Sounds like you've been places, like other worlds? Are you an astronaut?"

Or an alien? That question gets bitten off before he blurts it out. Calling Max a robot taught him a very harrowing lesson...

"Yeah, not having a face is pretty freaky. I mean, she could be some sort of humanoid alien, but I honestly can't think of anywhere I've been that's got a civilization of people like her." Clara spent a lot of time in the TARDIS library before her travels without the Doctor, and she hasn't read about anything like Friday, either.

"Or she...could be a hyper-sentient robot. I dunno, can't exactly poke and prod her. Well, not now anyway."

His question makes her smile until her dimples pop. She'd had a traveling companion in Ashildr for a long, long time. But all things end, and Clara's always had fun meeting new people to go on adventures with her. She's no Doctor, but she did begin to understand why his favorite bit when meeting new people was this part.

"I'm a teacher but I think I might miss the mark on 'astronaut smart.' Not good enough at the maths part. Nah, I'm just a regular old space and time traveler. Only basic maths required. Except I do have a ship and it is missing. I'd really like to find it."

Edited 2022-08-02 16:16 (UTC)

"I doubt she'd let you, even if you asked," Although he can't swear that wouldn't be true. At mention of robot he grimaces, "Just be careful slinging that word around. Dude named Maximilien really does not appreciate the word, even if he's obviously a metal man. But the only kind we have back home are the robo-vacuums so what do I know?"

Sounds like Clara knows a lot and it's completely captured Lucas's attention. A teacher, a space and time traveler? She's so genuine and nonchalant that he doesn't doubt her for a second. just as he's going to ask her about space time adventures that last tidbit of information really grabs him.

"Wait, you have a space ship??"

"We're gonna have to circle back to the medium thing because if you're willing to share, I wanna know more," Clara tells him. "And I'll make sure not to bring up robots, thanks for the tip."

She does look partially worried thinking about the TARDIS. "Yeah, and I was in it, the engines shut down, and then I was just...here. No clue how or why, I can't remember. Has to be here somewhere, otherwise I dunno how I woke up already on board this one."

With one elbow resting on her knee she rests her chin in her hand. "If I find it, I'll take as many people home as want. That's if I find it and if I can even take off."

After a beat of quiet, she straightens her back. "Tell me something about being a medium? Never met one before and I don't think 'ship full of ghosts can be marked off the list."

"You bet," Lucas says, his smile warming through. he doesn't mind sharing, it's just most people mind listening in his experience. The edges of his smile fray a bit, seeing how she's fretting. The past few days he's been feeling the same, reeling as the world he's always known has been ripped away.

"It's okay, I have a similar experience. I was sitting at my desk sorting through paperwork and bam! Lights out. Woke up in one of the cabins here with a hole in my memory. Maybe your ship is here, but I'm wondering if this place is in-between planes or dimensions?" Any amount of shifting through his head turned up exactly nothing, much to his chagrin.

"Hah yeah, this is a new one on me. A literal ghost ship." He snorts. "I don't just talk to ghosts but I can take a peek in the past for clues, too. That makes me a Medium where I'm from. And the work is...it's tough, but it can bring people closure so I think that makes it worth it."

Clara has a soft spot for people who help and her features soften. "Can't imagine what it must be like. Then with a bunch of fakes taking advantage of people's grief, must be difficult to get taken seriously." She looks around. "Have a feeling that won't be a problem here."

She looks at her hand again, wiggling the fingers. "How long d'you think this'll last? Might have to get a glove or something if it's permanent."

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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