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

[ so if one dies, they possibly awaken at dawn… this was all very useful information for her, and she mentally files it away for later. ]

I’m glad your roommate is alright, but that must have been very difficult for you… sitting and waiting next to a corpse can’t have been easy. [ she can’t imagine it being an over-all pleasant experience in general. tear isn’t very good with feelings, though, so she hopes she’s approaching this sensitively enough. ]

Were they completely normal when they came back to life?

In the same condition he'd arrived to the ship in--the injuries that killed him were gone, but old war injuries from before were still there. So normal by his own standards.

[He's good to discuss this; he wouldn't have brought it up if it were a problem.]

[ she cups her chin in thought after hearing that, falling silent for just a moment. from the way he speaks, she assumes he's intentionally supplying her with all of this information -- because really, he'd shared far more than she'd been asking of him.

how kind. ]

... Interesting. Thank you for taking your time to answer my questions. I'm glad that I found someone that at least knew something about this place. [ and was cooperative. ] My name is Tear Grants by the way, but you can just call me Tear. I don't think I got your name?

[ not like she'd given him the chance to share it either, though. ]

Johnny Summer. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Grants.

[Honestly, he just doesn't see any value in hiding information--the only way they'll make it through is together, building shared insights into their situation and working from there.]

The pleasure is mine, Mister Summer. [ it was almost strange, to be referring to someone with such a simple title. up until recently she'd only ever spoken to Dukes and Lords, to Colonels and other soldiers. if she really stops to think about it, she hadn't been in the company of very many regular people all in all. ]

I'd also like to ask something else ... but does the word Auldrant mean any thing to you? [ she's hoping that it does. ] Sorry if that's a little far-fetched.

No, I'm afraid it doesn't. Something that anyone from your world would be familiar with, I take it?

[It seems an obvious shibboleth, and he hopes there's someone here who does recognize it. This place is better with someone who knows your circumstances, your understanding of the universe. He knows, he has exactly one, and though she's not someone he's very close with back home...it helps.]

From my world?

[ the shock of his statement breaks through her composure, and she briefly loses the confident edge to her voice. she had been asking to rule out possibilities, to gain a further understanding, but for something like that to be confirmed? facing it was a lot harsher than simply toying with the hypotheticals.

it takes her a moment to sort out her expression again, and she decides to unpack all of this later when she's able to be alone with her thoughts. for now, it was important to keep pressing for answers. ]

So ... what is your world called, then? I want to know if it's very different from my own.

[ a part of her still doesn't believe it, though ]

I come from a city-state called Gallery, on a planet known as Earth.

[He's not even aligned with most other earthlings, coming from an alternate history.]

[ she sighs. yep, totally different. she's never heard of either of those. ]

I'm guessing most people here are from entirely different worlds then. [ interesting, but strange. and a little alarming. ]

To be honest, this isn't the first time I was transported somewhere else.
Although back then it was just another location in the same world ... I suppose this isn't too different.

[ a pause ]

Is there anything on this ship that's similar to your world?

Well. I'm not the only person here from my world, so there's that. Crabb, she and I know one another in Gallery. I'm her landlord.

[And they're both part of a vigilante operation, but that's not the point.]

Also, most of the foods and liquors are familiar enough--in terms of ingredients, if not specific recipes.

I suppose that's a small comfort. What exactly is daily life like here, in your opinion?

[ if you die you're resurrected, people are apparently from different worlds, the crew are faceless creatures...
it seemed very much like a nightmare, or hostage situation. what's been keeping people here for so long? ]

We find our ways to occupy ourselves. Make friends, explore the ship, enjoy food, fall in love, sing karaoke.

It's fits and spurts of complete chaos, with time in between to lick our wounds, so to speak.

L-love...?? People are falling in love here? [ that definitely catches her off-guard -- and seems to strike a nerve, too.
she's rather mystified that he would even say it so casually too, let alone that people would just fall for strangers on a boat. ]

U-um ... what kind of chaos should I be expecting? [ totally not changing the topic ]

Battles to the death, strange magic effects on the ship. You've met the faceless dame already--you get used to her. Not the Captain, not as easily.

… Is the battle to the death among the passengers, or is it against something caused by the ‘strange magic’?

[ one is a lot easier to handle than the other ]

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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