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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.]
ohh it really would...so many cheagle pics, and some tokunagas too ♥
[But she doesn't look very old...and Jade seems to lecture basically everyone around her age?! Clearly it has nothing to do with their levels of recklessness or responsibility...of course not...
Oh, well--more importantly, Tear now gets to share this cursed memory of Jade in short shorts, and Rita's all too delighted that the other girl agrees he looks abysmal, even if her glee fades when Tear asks about the location.]
It was--hm, the actual location isn't really... [Hmm...how to explain this...] It was in another dimension or something, separate from the ship. We go to those now and then, and it always forces weird outfits on us...
[Nailed it!!]
no subject
or knowing I might have to see the Colonel in more outfits like that one ...
[ she doesn't mean to roast jade specifically, of course: in reality, she wouldn't want to see any man over the age of like, 20 in short shorts, really. ]
Do we have to keep the outfits, or can we throw them away?
[ aka: please tell her he won't rotate those into his daily wear, thank you ]
no subject
So far, we're free to change into whatever we want...once we're back on the ship.
[So, yes, Jade was in short shorts for that entire week-long camping trip.]
But you've travelled with him before, so you already knows he always dresses like--what was it? Oh yeah, a boring dad.
[Natsuno's words, and Rita's inclined to agree.]
no subject
I guess that's one way to put it ... Not that my personal tastes are much better.
[ there were a lot of similarities that she and jade shared, aside from their hair style. perhaps it was a soldier thing? ]
There's actually a friend of the Colonel's that would give us ridiculous outfits to wear. Swimsuits included.
I think the worst were the Abyss Man costumes ... they were difficult to see in, so it wasn't ideal for fighting.
[ being able to just chat like this with a girl her age was nice!
she didn't even realize how much she'd missed it. ]
it's such a shame rita's canonpoint means she has hardly any canon costumes to talk about, alas
chatmake fun of Jade with Tear. She seemed like a pretty serious person at first, but clearly that's not all there is to her. (And Rita still misses Estelle, and the others, even after all this time...)]Oh? Well, if you want something flashier, I can help you choose. That reminds me-- [Irritation crosses her face now.] We went to all the trouble of picking out a few more interesting outfits for that Jade, and I haven't seen him wear a single one. He's so ungrateful!
[RUDE TBH...anyway... This is the first Rita's heard of Jade's costume-loving friend!]
They gave you costumes to fight in? Pretty weird... What's 'Abyss Man', anyway?
!!! i didnt realize she wasn't post-game !!! :o my illiteracy strikes again
[ he has worn unpleasant things before! don't lose hope rita!! ]
Yes ... for an Emperor he was very eccentric, but kind.
Abyss Man were characters in a popular hero show, or something like that.
The outfits were a present to us from His Majesty...
To be honest, I felt too bad to say no with how much effort he put into them.
[ she breathes a sigh and chances a glance behind herself, off down the corridor with the broken mirror. ]
If it's alright with you, Rita, could we continue talking about this somewhere else?
I don't know if there might be other monsters here.
[ also she forgot her knife on the floor. whoops. ]
nkansd I hadn't mentioned it at all yet but yes, she's from right before zaude |D
He's friends with the emperor? And one with weird hobbies at that, huh...
[Just imagining Jade in some weird hero outfit (that's probably nothing like the actual Abyss Man) is pretty amusing, though. Ahh, she already has some great material to get under his skin. But--oh yeah, she they've been just standing here for a little while now.]
Oh, right. Hmm...let's go out on deck, then.
[If there are any more g--monsters in the mirrors, they can just go somewhere without mirrors! Which might mean no clothes shopping with Tear until these...whatever-they-are take a hike.]
\o/ we can continue this elsewhere if u want for a september thread?
[ of course, she does too. not that she would brag about, or mention, it easily. ]
Sure. To be honest, if I'd known I would find myself here,
I would have brought more knives with me. I feel so unprepared...
[ she goes back to retrieve it, and stops to part the sections of her dress, tucking her weapon back into the holster on her thigh. ]
Will you lead the way? I haven't gotten around to remembering all of the directions yet.
I'm good either way! :>
[Since they're both apparently soldiers, and travelled together...
Once Tear returns with her knife, Rita nods and starts to lead her through the corridor towards the elevator.]
It's not like anyone could've expected they'd end up here... You can't be prepared for everything.
if we split it we can get points right (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑
military organizations from entirely different nations.
[ she hesitates. there was a lot of information that she could offer
to rita about her world and its politics, but tear isn't sure that
there would be a point to doing so. ]
I don't really know if it would interest you to explain in further detail, but
we only ended up traveling together because we shared a common goal.
At present, the organization I served are being reformed so I no longer serve it.
I was asked to be a representative for my home city instead.
[ it was a big change, and she still wasn't exactly used to being diplomatic.
by nature, tear was blunt so she isn't sure that she won't insult a politician accidentally one day. ]
What about you? I can't imagine regular civilians walk around knowing artes in many worlds.
How did you learn them?
bonus AC yes! I might put up an open post soon if you'd like to move it there or start a new thread!
[As they step into the elevator, Rita pushes the button for Deck Six.]
Oh yeah, "mage" doesn't mean anything to you, does it? Basically, I've studied magic about as long as I can remember, and I have an official position as a mage at a research institute for studying blastia. [She taps her choker.] They allow us to utilize magic. My world doesn't have "fonons" like yours.
sure !! ' v')o" either is ok with me. maybe they can look thru the gift shop or get snacks
So it's not just an accessory ... I thought if anything it could be a type of
capacity core, but you're saying this 'blastia' is what lets you use artes?
[ how strange ... ]
Does a blastia let you use any arte? Or are there some kind of limitations?
I'm not sure if the Colonel ever mentioned this, but there are a lot of limitations
to who can use what artes on Auldrant. Often, it has to do with the abilities you
happen to be born with.
[ honestly if they had had blastia, and just anybody could have become a fonist,
the wars would have likely been so much worse. ]
that would be cute!! ;v; realizing the event's this weekend though so I might wait til then :|a
Yeah, he told me about the different varieties of fonons corresponding to each element, and that people don't all have the same natural affinities for all of them.
People in my world don't have any natural ability to use magic, though. [Except Estelle, of course, but she's a very special case.] So we can only use artes through bodhi blastia like this one. Of course, just having a blastia doesn't mean anyone automatically knows what they're doing, and magic requires study.
[The elevator arrives, and Rita leads Tear out and towards the doors to the open pool deck.]