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

[myagic]

[...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???]

[winepouring]

[ ...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. ]

[myagic]

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.]

[winepouring]

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. ]

[myagic]

[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!

[winepouring]

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?

[myagic]

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.

[winepouring]

[ 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.

[myagic]

[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!

[winepouring]

[ 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?

[myagic]

[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?

[winepouring]

[ 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...

[myagic]

[Bodhi blastia don't exactly fall under the most category, being a bit more on the rare side compared to other types (though not anywhere near as scarce as barriers, of course), but she might now be keeping an eye out for those smaller types...just in case.

As he answers, she freezes for a split-second--then crosses her arms, because yes, despite all evidence to the contrary here, she's stubbornly refusing to agree that ghosts exist. Instead...she fixes him with an unimpressed and very judgy look. Someone who goes around solving supposedly-supernatural problems sure sounds like...]

...So you're a con artist? Appearances really are deceiving, huh. [And before he can interject, she's continuing right on-] Just so you know, I won't fall for those kinds of tricks!

[winepouring]

[ There is, at least, a ring pop among the capsules... That's close to a bodhi blastia, right?? Shi Qingxuan has no idea what blastia look like to begin with - if they're cloth, if they're metal, if they worn under or over clothing - so he focuses just on searching for anything kitty-shaped.

His reaction to suddenly being accused of a con artist though...is just a mild, tired smile. It's? Nice? That she doesn't think he looks like a con artist?? ]

I don't expect you to. There are a lot of con artists out there, so it's not wrong to be cautious of types that say they can make anything happen. [ Why deny the truth? ] Thankfully, you have your own skills, so there's no need to rely on someone like me to take care of creatures like that for you anyway, is there? You're perfectly capable on your own.

[ So he says. He knows how accusations like this work, and he also already knows she's a difficult type. Why bother fighting? ]

[myagic]

[Well...a ring pop is a kind of treasure in its own right... (or it would be if there wasn't like...24/7 access to sweets on this ship).

But anyway--so he isn't denying it! Rita puts her hands on her hips.]

Hmph, you've got that right! Any real monsters show up, and I'll blast them into oblivion!

[Not ghosts, though. Because they clearly don't exist. Ignore all the stuff that moves on its own here.]

[winepouring]

[ It's nice to see someone so confident! He can't dislike that, especially since she really doesn't seem weak... ]

Then that's all you need!

[ He claps his hands, as if settling the matter. ]

Oh, weren't you going to tell me about that world of yours? You said it was Terca?

[myagic]

[Hm...he's still pretty weird so far. She can't really figure him out.]

It's Terca Lumireis.

[...She is quite a bit more terse with him than earlier, though, because she doesn't feel like getting friendly if he's really a con artist!! So she doesn't elaborate at all beyond that...]

[winepouring]

[ Shi Qingxuan waits a moment for her to continue. She had been chatting with him so easily before! Now she's really giving him the cold shoulder!

Shi Qingxuan really hates being ignored, and he doesn't really like being misunderstood either. He had thought she wouldn't really think so badly of him, but... ]

...Say, you don't need to believe me or believe in the things I do, but do you need to give me a cold shoulder because of it? I haven't done anything wrong, so there's no need to treat me like this?

[myagic]

[She gives him a skeptical look--didn't they just talk about the reason?? He didn't even try to dispute the "con artist" thing!]

Because...you're a fraud, and I'm not interested in someone who uses magic for evil.

[She's not even trying to sound cool or anything; this is really how she feels!! Okay, mostly more about blastia-related magic, but still.]

[winepouring]

Huh?! Me?

[ He points at himself, as if unsure she's actually really talking about him. She's young, but how much of her imagination is she utilizing here?! ]

Fraud?? Evil?? Rita, what kinds of things are you imagining?? The Wind Master is a righteous— [ cultivator ] —god, there's nothing evil about my work or my path. If you're worried about those remains, those rites aren't secret, you can observe the rites yourself.

[ Because clearly, she now thinks he's an evil cultivator who uses resentful energy and human remains in his spells. ]

[myagic]

W...what, are you trying to say you're not a con artist all of a sudden?!

[It's possible he isn't, but...maybe he's just a really good liar-!]

--I'm not worried about those remains! All that stuff about--you know--that doesn't exist, okay?!

[???? Nailed her point clearly??]

[winepouring]

I didn't think it needed to be said...

[ He takes his folding fan out of his belt, tapping the guard against his head with a frown. ]

But, the "all that stuff" you mentioned, what is "all that stuff"?? You can't mean the resentful energy? Young miss, even without training, surely you must feel at least a little bit here. Even without feeling it, the evidence is clear as day, right before our eyes? You can't pass a window without seeing a little ghost trapped inside!

[ ???? ]

[myagic]

What kind of logic is that...?

[Either he is one or he isn't, and if he's not, wouldn't the normal thing be to try and make a case for himself?! But then he goes and continues talking about resentful energy and...ghosts-!! And Rita stiffly straightens up and takes half a step back.]

There's not--there's nothing like that! You're just seeing things!

[winepouring]

[ Because the innocent don't need to assert their innocence!! ...he doesn't say, because he's more concerned about Rita right now.

That poor hairpin, forgotten now, as Shi Qingxuan turns to look even more confused at Rita. ]

Are you feeling okay??

[ He reaches out to try to take hold of her wrist. ]

If you're not seeing them, that's not a bad thing necessarily, but since they are there, it's rather disconcerting that you can't see them at all.

[ They could grab her and hurt her!! ]

[myagic]

[But how can she knows he's innocent?! But also yeah, this is a more immediately pressing topic--she steps back from him, shaking her head.]

Y--you're the one seeing things! There's nothing to see! It's just--a trick of the captain's!

[You know. A trick. But one that's not actually there?!]