sail_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME #5

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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

[ Shi Qingxuan was already starting to piece through the wreckage of the machine, pulling away glass and twisted metal to start sorting through the prizes themselves. No, he doesn't know what a machine gun is, but it is rather cumbersome to add to the scrap heap. When she starts talking...

What in the world. Is she a kid or an auntie here?? This is too much!! ]

I say, Rita, you don't need to fret after me like a little child? Aren't you still young to be worrying over someone like me? [ Quarreling doesn't include teasing! ] You sound like my older brother!

[ Oh, there's that shriveled hand from earlier under the pinball machine! Now with something clutched in its fist...? (Was it forming a fist before?) ]

Hey, I'm not fretting, okay?!

[She's just...making sure!! She huffs at him and then looks back under the pinball machine--]

Ah-!

[She starts and leans back--that stupid gross hand!! But...why does it look different now...?

...Not that she's scared, but...if this guy is fine with putting a whole gross head in his sleeve...]

Hey, come over and grab this thing. Your arms are longer.

[ His teasing was successful!

He doesn't even get to enjoy that small victory, though, because immediately afterwards, she yelps again! ]

Did you find it already?

[ Was that a happy yelp?? No, definitely not... But Shi Qingxuan goes over anyway, crouching beside Rita and staring under the machine.

Is that...?

He frowns. ]

Do you think this one has it in its hand...?

[ He doesn't really...want to collect body parts... His pale face says as much. But even so, he does need to grab it...

First! He turns to look at Rita again. ] Okay, I'll take this one! You can look at the other capsules, then?

[ ...So the young miss doesn't have nightmares about floating heads and severed hands. Go, look away! ]

Not exactly...

[It looks like it's holding something, though, as he points out. They should...probably check to make sure it's not the capsule she was going for. Well, at least she can leave him to deal with it!

...But when she looks at him to answer...his complexion says he might not be perfectly okay with it.

...Eh, whatever! Surely it's not going to hurt him, and it's not like he's protesting! Rita nods like this isn't a nice convenient excuse.]

Okay, I'll look for others in case that's not the one. Since you've got that handled and all.

[He'll be perfectly fine, right? Rita will just move along to check some of the capsules that are up against the wall...]

[ Being the responsible adult is terrible! But, at least Rita is good at taking distractions! That makes it easier! ]

That's right! This task is in good hands, so you can be at ease!

[ Ha! Haha... How many body parts are in that machine and how many bodies are they from... Ah, he doesn't want to dwell on that! He just leans down and grabs that hand...

...it's almost a relief that it doesn't move when he takes hold of it, though the skin is rough and leathery and cold. It can't be really holding the hairpin's capsule, can it...?

Well, Shi Qingxuan goes ahead and stands up as he starts pulling the fingers loose, back to Rita still. ]

Have you found anything nice yet??

[ Or has the machine repaired itself already... ]

I wasn't worrying...

[Huff, he doesn't need to keep reassuring her! As he goes about it though, she's poking the capsules, rolling them to see what's inside. What a weird assortment of prizes...jewelry, iron nails, a beetle??]

I don't know about nice, exactly... It's like they just dumped whatever random garbage they found in here.

[Also, as Shi Qinxuan pries those fingers open, he might find...a glass eyeball. (It's probably glass, anyway...right?)]

You may be right...

[ He sighs! As he begins unraveling the fingers, there a shiny, clear eye begins to peek back at him, somehow still bright and gleaming and whole. It's too realistic to be fake, right...?

Aaaaand he carefully closes those fingers back around their missing eye, definitely not getting goosebumps all over! What kind of curse!! Ah, he definitely needs to do something about this!!

He tucks it away for future cleansing, and then spins himself back around. ]

Okay! [ He's good now! Probably. ] Unfortunately, your hairpin wasn't under there...

[ Three body parts are too many... He wants to finish this quest now! His hand forms a seal, and he swings it out, sending a breeze across the pile of prizes to scatter them into a less pile-like state. At least to make it easier to see the capsules' contents at a glance. ]

[He seems to have gone awfully silent over there, huh... Maybe he's having more trouble reaching under the pinball machine than she expected? But geez, she hadn't realized there were so many capsules in there, among all the non-capsuled prizes. This is going to be tougher than she though...

--Oh, he's finally done? Rita turns to him curiously.]

Hm, too bad...

[Where...is the hand... She's starting to eye his sleeves questioningly again, when--]

So you can use some magic?

[She blinks, thinking at first that it all just looks like more of a mess, but now that the capsules aren't buried, it might actually be helpful.]

That's right!

[ Shi Qingxuan already has Rita pinned as a more serious and industrious type, so his usual game of showing off his magic won't be as fun for her, but that doesn't mean he doesn't still enjoy doing it. He smiles brightly, forgetting all about dead body parts for a little bit, and that earlier excitement is back. ]

While you can use magic, the same is true for me. My specialty is wind magic. When we're done here, do you want to see? Even if the captain will forgive you, he might have it out for a newcomer causing trouble in his game room.

[ And there's already an unexpected amount of chaos here... ]

I keep telling you, you really don't need to worry about that. I blasted tons of stuff when I arrived.

[Look, she's reassuring him-!! That's reassuring, right??]

But I would like to see what you can do and hear how your magic functions. Let's just find what we're looking for first.

[ What a fiery personality... Shi Qingxuan thinks with a thin smile, already accepting that this is just the way Rita is. ]

How right you are... All right, now let's finish this up!

[ He claps his hands and crouches down again, seemingly devotedly looking for the correct capsule again. That beetle trapped in the capsule begins running around like a tiny hamster ball, skittering across the colorful carpet. There are other insects trapped inside, but they're not as lively. Shi Qingxuan is choosing to ignore that, along with the other questionable items like the tiny razor blades and bundles of knotted hair. ]

I say, how long have you been interested in magic? Have you been practicing for a long time?

[ He doesn't really need to ask; how could she create a spell like that without years of practice? Rather, he wants to make conversation, and magic seems to be her interest, and conversations are always the most fun when the other party is passionate about what they're talking about. ]

[Rita gives the skittering beetle-ball an unimpressed look--hey, bugs are something she isn't afraid of!--before acting likewise, ignoring the various other prizes in favour of checking the capsules.

Oh, this one's full of candy--she's going to pocket that while casually answering Shi Qingxuan.]

How long...hm. I've been interested in blastia about as long as I can remember. I received an official mage position about five...actually, six years ago now. [A beat later, she adds-] Oh, blastia are devices from my world that produce magic.

[Since she's gotten used to nobody knowing what they are here... Also, yeah, just casually dropping the different worlds bit, whether or not he's heard already...]

[ Shi Qingxuan doesn't see what was in the capsule, but he sees her pocketing it... Well, it must not be the hairpin, but whatever else she decides to take now is fair game, he supposes.

But all the rest of what she said...

He doesn't get it.

He gets the idea of an official mage position, maybe. Five or six years ago would have made her the ideal age to start cultivating, so that must have been when she started her studies. But the matter of blastia as a device that creates magic in her world is harder to rationalize.

He looks over his shoulder, tilting his head quizzically. ]

And what's your world—?

[ He asks as his hand blindly reaches for another capsule, and his fingers wrap around a sphere that's slimy and wet to the touch...

...and without a second thought, he flings whatever it was away across the room. ]

[...It's already a little tiring, if unsurprising, that he's confused. Rita found it a little hard to accept at first, even if she eventually had no choice but to admit it was the only way they could all have such disparate backgrounds and physical laws governing their homes.

Still...explaining it is kind of a pain. She'll give a try, though, turning to him to start-]

It's Terca--

--What...was that?

[Did he just whip something away???]

[ ...What's "Terca"? What word even starts with "Terca"?? Shi Qingxuan wonders this, but only a little bit because there's still a sticky film left on his fingertips from whatever he just touched. Which in hindsight probably wasn't another eyeball, but he can't help the shiver that had run up his spine at the sensation of that cold sliminess. ]

Ah! It was just some unpleasant, dirty thing, you don't need to worry about it...

[ What does he do about his poor hand, though?? He already wrapped those two body parts in the handkerchiefs he had, so what does he use now?? He's just kind of holding it there. ]

When you put it that way...I don't wanna know.

[Ugh. Gross!! And why is he standing awkwardly like that--wait, is the light reflecting off of something on his fingers??]

-Ew, gross! Get cleaned off-!

[She just lobs a...plush snake at his face because it looks like it could be used to wipe something off in a pinch.]

Hey—

[ Aaand Shi Qingxuan might be a god and even have decent reflexes, but he isn't expecting to get a stuffed animal tossed at his face!! It meets its mark, hitting Shi Qingxuan squarely in the face before flopping to the floor. ]

Rita! Why are you throwing things at me?? I haven't done anything wrong??

[ He is so upset! He doesn't even consider why the plush snake was tossed at his face. ]

[Why is he so upset with her over this all of a sudden-?! It's--okay it is kind of her fault that it hit his face, but still-!!]

W--why do you think?! To wipe off that--stuff, obviously!

But it wasn't on my face??

[ He picks it up and...starts awkwardly wiping his fingers. It's disgusting... This poor fluffy snake, he almost feels bad for wiping this mystery fluid on it... ]

Ah, never mind, never mind! Thank you for the little snake....

[ Wipe, wipe, and... ]

...doesn't it feel like a waste to dirty the poor thing like this?

Obviously.

[She gives him a quizzical and unimpressed look--of course it's not on his face; he was supposed to catch the snake! Well, anyway, he's using it now...

--And now he's feeling bad over this, too?!]

It's a toy. Don't tell me you want to hold a funeral for that, too.

[ He looks up at her again, hands settled over his lap. ]

Rita, that's not fair. How can you compare a toy like this to pieces of a human being? Mistreating the bodies of the deceased can lead to resentful energy, and isn't this ship already swimming in that? I don't make a hobby of performing those rites.

[Resentful--ohhh no nono, they are not talking about lingering resentment and stuff like that-!!]

Y-you're the one who--I'm not comparing anything! Just--forget the stupid toy, then! That's all it is!

[ Talk to the cultivator, get the cultivator take.

He feels a little bad for flustering her now...but really, that was too rude even for him! ]

Of course it's just a toy...

[ ...Now things feel a little awkward though. He sets the toy aside, but his movements are stiffer. Usually when these awkward situations happen, there's an easy excuse to draw away attention... Since there's not any readily available now, he'll have to make one up! ]

Oh! Say, since the prizes in this machine are so varied, do you think one of those blastia of yours might be here, too?

Edited (Typos........) 2022-08-26 02:28 (UTC)

[H-huff it's not like she was trying to be rude-! Maybe he's just too sensitive-!

...Pretty obvious and awkward topic change, huh... Rita wonders if he just really likes snakes or something like that, but...blastia, hm? Despite herself, she does scan the ground again for anything similar.]

Hmph... It's possible, I suppose. I don't really see any, though--most blastia models are on the larger side. Anyway, what kind of world did you come from?

[ If they're on the larger side, then where is the one she must have used? She's small, so it isn't as though there a lot of ways she can hold something too large without it being seen... And there were some larger prizes in the machine!

He wonders this, but then she manages to redirect his attention again. Quite breezily, he's choosing to forget the last five minutes. ]

Oh, the place I come from is much different from this.

I'm part of a temple, but I mostly work within the secular world, traveling and helping out when ghosts or demons start causing trouble for ordinary people and such. [ ?? His understanding of "world". ] Actually, maybe this isn't that different...

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