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

[twelfthsong]

Clara.

[The 'because it's you', goes unsaid. Clara would know that despite the admonishment laced in his voice, there's a hint of affection.

But then he pauses, the levity leaving his tone as quickly as it comes and he grips her hand.]

Were you? Did you have to fight?

[makemeasong]

[ She realizes she didn't clarify that the killing is what she missed and she squeezes his hand tightly, shaking her head. ]

No, I wasn't here for that. Apparently, the things that happen aren't all bad; off the ship right now there's a whole...diner situation going on with classic cars.

[ Her hand's still in his, eyes not leaving his face. ] If we die here, we come back. Not in the regenerating kind of way. In a 'no one knows how it happens' sort of way. You just...do. But I've only heard about it.

[twelfthsong]

[The anxiety in his chest only unfurls slightly. The thought of Clara having to kill anyone fills him with a dread that he hasn't felt in a while. He's always tried to be the one to make the difficult choice for people knowing the kind of burdens taking a human life brings. As much as he's wanted rest, he can't help but think that he'd rather be here to protect her from those things as best he can.

His grip doesn't loosen and his gaze doesn't leave hers.]

Has anyone seen the bodies?

[makemeasong]

Apparently, Friday comes and collects everyone who died, and there's a morgue.

[ Clara keeps his hand in hers as long as he'll allow it. Her entire time on board so far she'd wondered what he would do, tried to be as curious and kind as he would. But there is nothing quite like the real thing and she tried once, to be him, and it didn't go over as great as she'd hoped.

But what's keeping her holding on is the fact that he knows her, he remembers her, and a part of her is afraid that if she lets go, it'll sever some sort of connection between them. ]

You better not ever forget me again, do you understand?

[twelfthsong]

We should go look at the morgue. Have you taken a look at it? Or is it locked like everything else in this floating prison?

[He isn't in a rush to let go of her hand. They're in an unfamiliar place with no sign of the TARDIS and faulty sonic tech. But it's not the only reason he doesn't want to let go. Clara is here. His Impossible Girl proving once again that she's capable of anything.]

I wouldn't dare, boss.

[makemeasong]

When I went exploring on my own it was unlocked, but I have no idea if I got lucky or not.

[ A thought occurs to her and for a second she has new hope. ]

Either of your sonics with you? Glasses might be more handy, but that's only if Friday lets them work, I guess.

[twelfthsong]

[He whips out both of the mentioned sonics, not being able to help the absolutely sour look on his face.] Nothing. Whatever this place it made sure to mess with the software for both of them. So we’re back to doing things the old fashioned way which I’ll admit I haven’t done in a while.

Lucky or not what did you find? Any clues? Anything out of the ordinary or unexplainable?

[makemeasong]

[ It feels like a relief to fall back into this, to move into 'The Doctor and Clara in the TARDIS' mode, regardless of whether or not their ships are with them. ]

No distress beacons in or out. The captain is a psychopath who orchestrates all of this but no one knows how. I was given a lei by Friday and met someone on board who thinks it's actually a device of some sort. That Friday's secretly trying to help us in her own way.

[ Clara sits back a little on the couch after getting all of that out in one go. ]

It's like people from every universe you can think of are here. I met a girl who can control water, someone who has wings, and more than one person part of a Starfleet or other space organization. There are people from alternate versions of Earth, even. So I'm pretty sure we have the biggest mystery we've ever faced on our hands.

[twelfthsong]

The leis as a device? [He raises an eyebrow and casts a glance down towards the garish thing around his neck.] That's a thought. Has anyone else explored it?

[He would have but with a fritzing Sonic Screwdriver and no other working equipment on board it's a tad more difficult than it normally would be for him. The Doctor seems to ponder it for a minute before tuning back into what Clara is explaining and she'd be able to tell that he's got that familiar, excited sparkle in them.]

Fascinating. It's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Maybe this place is just a pocket universe functioning on its own. Anyone from your Earth? [Honestly, save for the sick micro management element to this place, the Doctor is having a pretty good time with that prospect in mind.]

[makemeasong]

[ Reaching out with her free hand to touch his lei, she shakes her head before dropping her hand again. ] This is brand new information. Just found out and haven't had time to explore it yet.

[ Looking at their hands, she sighs and shakes her head, looking back up at the Doctor. ]

Everyone I've talked to has something happening I've definitely never heard of or seen. On one Earth, apparently, the US is so deep into technology that robots are pretty human. As an aside, there are robots here and they don't like being called that. It's offensive. Anyway, in another version, there's a virus that caused the entire population to have random mutations.