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

The machines, the stores, the ship, Friday herself - everything in this reality except for the passengers.

[As for her next question... well, she wastes no time getting to the point. Natsuno respects that, and doesn't mind answering. The fact that he's a vampire is known only to few people, but most of his abilities are no longer a secret - not since he "won" battle royale by repeatedly regenerating from damage.]

I am quick, and pretty strong too.

[As long as he drinks blood, which is conveniently provided in the buffet. He'd never take it from passengers, but he needs every advantage he can get in this place and the blood is there whether he drinks it or not. Natsuno has no real fighting experience to back his enhanced abilities, but he prefers to keep his distance anyway.]

And I regenerate.

If that's the case it would be nice for the captain to make a way home for us, too. [ she's notably sarcastic -- and a little bitter, as she says it. there's a part of her beneath the stoic façade that's still a little angry about being here. ]

You can regenerate? Is it like healing? [ her head tips, eyes rounding in curiosity.
she can't imagine that someone could just ... heal without any kind of arte or concentrated ability. ]

I may not look it but I'm a melodist -- and healer, myself.

I guess you can call it self-healing. [He shrugs.] I don't control it - it's just how my body works.

[He can't explain it - all he know is that shiki blood is weird, almost alive.

No, he's way more interested in Tear's healing abilities, gazing at her intently.]

Melodist...? [He clearly doesn't know how one is SUPPOSED to look like.] Not sure what music has to do with healing, but - you'll be needed here.

Well, that’s convenient … [ If anything, it means she may not have to prioritize healing him —- if a situation ever came up, she supposes. Not that it would stop her from worrying about him. ]

Melodists can use specific songs to fight, or heal. However, I’m also capable of using artes for healing instead. Most of my abilities are for healing groups of people, rather than just one individual.

[ being needed makes her stop short, and she gets to the point: ]

Why would a healer be needed on this ship?

[The word artes catches his attention. He's only ever heard Jade and Rita use it to describe magic, and Tear doesn't seem to be wearing any blastia.

Asking for further details can wait, though. Natsuno isn't particularly invested in explaining the situation to newcomers, but since they're already speaking and Tear clearly wasn't told much yet, he might as well give the rundown. A fighter and a healer is a worthwhile ally.]

The captain brings passengers to fuel his "research" with our suffering. [His tone is calm, his expression stoic.] Some shore excursions get violent, and the captain revives the dead to go through it all over again next time. Even on the ship itself, people get into fights.

We have doctors onboard, but not magical healers. Healing groups is invaluable.

I see. It makes sense for excursions to be potentially dangerous.
I wish people wouldn’t fight each other on a ship, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen something like that.

[ or participated in it. just how many people did she and her group kill on the tartarus alone? ]

I’m glad to be of use, then. [ she smiles, just a bit: softening a little. ]

A friend of mine is also a healer, but specializes in curing ailments and increasing someone’s abilities.
If someone gets sick, I don’t have too many skills that can cure them…
but please come see me if something happens to you or anyone else on this ship.

[She's taking the news in stride, already thinking on how to deal with the situation. Natsuno has known this girl for a grand total of five minutes, but he can tell she'll be a worthwhile ally.]

I don't think anyone actually got sick yet, and I've been here for months. [No animals means no germs, right? Maybe the captain just thinks plagues are boring or something.] There's a pretty well-stocked infirmary, anyway.

[Which does nothing if you get murdered on an excursion or on the sports deck.]

But thanks. I'll keep that in mind. [And tell Clarke, because she gets injured approximately every two weeks.] It's Yuuki, by the way. Cabin 109.

Nice to meet you, I’m Tear. I … don’t think I’ve been assigned a cabin yet.

[ if its the one she’d woken up in, she hadn’t cared to remember the number —- her thoughts had been focused entirely on trying to escape, or to find answers. ]

I guess I should ask Friday about that, since I’ll be here for a while. [ and while they’re at it… ]

Where exactly is the infirmary? I’d like to see what they have in stock.

You were. It's the one you woke up here.

[But they all look the same, so she might as well ask Friday. Will probably make their faceless director's day...]

The infirmary is on deck zero. It restocks itself too, so you can take anything that seems useful.

[He own cabin contains multiple scalpels and enough morphine to sedate an elephant.]

How can it restock itself? [ she raises a brow at him ] Is is done by the captain's strange magic?

[ she takes a glance over at the claw machine again, and all the things inside of it.
one day, she'd like to try and understand a little more about the captain's ability to just create things ...

but for now -- ]

I guess I'll head to the infirmary then. That's probably a lot more important than any of the games here.
Thank you for answering my questions, Yuuki.

[ she turns to leave. although if he were to follow, she wouldn't be opposed to it either ]

TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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vampires might be too spoopy for her

if rita managed to befriend him...

maybe if he’d won her the plushie 👀 /hj!!

just smash the glass with the magic staff

🥺

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