TEST DRIVE MEME #5

[sailmods]

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.]

Comments

[firewalled]

[Rich yelps in pain, but bites down hard on his lip to muffle the sounds of it, not wanting to give the bastard any satisfaction. He struggles as much as he can in his position, still stubborn as ever, even if the man's words cut into his core.]

You... don't you fucking dare mess with him. If you take the deal, you wouldn't need to kill me, right? I'll back off.

[It's stupid for him to try to bargain when all the pieces are on Six's side of the board. There's nothing he can barter with, physically and mentally pinned like this.]

I... I'll stay away from you too, okay? Let's just... both end this. Don't hurt him, and we'll both stay out of your way. If he fucked with you so bad, you'd be better off that way, right?

[sixthdeadliest]

You offered yourself up as a trade, kid. That was stupid. I offered you an out before, but you didn't want to take it. Why would I take a lesser deal if you're giving me the opportunity to make him really hurt if it is the same César?

[He applies a bit more pressure, not enough to force the limb out of its socket just yet. If the kid keeps struggling, he'll do the job for Six.]

And what he stole from me had nothing to do with fighting. He used his machines. And unlucky for you, part of what he took was a good chunk of my sense of mercy. I've done horrible things, kid, but I was getting better until the César of my world stepped in.

This isn't a comic book or a video game. People don't heroically die and come back to life to be met with smiles and claps on the back. Even if somehow you were revived, you really think your friend could ever look you in the eye again?

[firewalled]

F-Fuck you... you're a monst-gah!

[Unfortunately for Rich, he does keep struggling, managing to twist himself in such a way that his arm finally dislocates. It brings tears to his eyes, a burning sensation searing through his arm, and God, he hopes he didn't open up any scars.]

I-I don't... I don't know what he did, but please! Just leave him alone!

[Like he has any say in what happens to him now. His intentions didn't matter. His stupid martyr complex did fuck all. All it's going to get him is a revival and... probably out of César's life for good.]

[sixthdeadliest]

[He's one of the Numbers, Rich. "Monster" was kind of a requirement of the job.]

Feel free to ask him.

[He releases the kid and starts walking away.]

We're done here.

[firewalled]

[And Rich collapses on the floor for the second time, but he's finally too hurt to push himself back up. He tries to brace himself, only to slip and bang his head against the floor. All he can do is watch the man walk away, disappearing down another corridor, leaving Rich to lick his wounds.

God, Watson is going to be pissed with him. He's not even going to think about César, or he'll start crying like a baby on the spot. He just props himself against a wall, fishes his phone out of his pocket, and starts the process of piecing himself together.]