TEST DRIVE MEME #6

[sailmods]

1. took a time-traveling ride

[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 aboard! I'm so happy you could join us!

[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. so many dragons lurking out in the fog

[the cabins closest to the laundry room door will notice first. the steady hums and thuds of the machines, muffled by walls, are growing louder and louder, until it almost sounds like someone is bashing them against the wall. soapy water leaks from under the closed door, drips from the sides.

until someone is dumb enough to open it.

it’s a flash flood of detergent, a wave of foam and hot water feet high spilling forth and bringing down and along anything caught in its path. you’d think it would be a quick burst, that once whatever had built up in the room was released, the torrent would subside. but, it doesn’t. and a river of half-washed socks overtakes the hallways.]

3. I need protection from the things in my head

[The Infinite Tommy Bahama, everyone’s favorite destination for laid-back island sophistication, is a bit of an odd duck on the Promenade. and not just because it’s seemingly shoved between two extant locales, or because it’s a clothing store among bars and restaurants. for some reason, the unseen spirits that attend the other bars and shops, doing the routine duties necessary to keep such places running, seem to avoid this one, and it shows. clothes that are taken off the racks are not put back on again, leaving increasingly large piles of floral print and polyester blends in every aisle.

and that is where he is born.

there’s just so many piles. and they all look pretty much the same, each as tacky as the one next to it. it would be hard to notice that one has moved while your back was turned to it. difficult to realize that a singular pile has started stalking you through the stacks and racks. until it’s too late to turn back, until you’ve lost sight of the entrance, and the piles of discarded slacks and blazers seem to conglomerate into one massive beast, which rises from the polished wood floors and throws its weight upon its hapless victim.

the bahamanal strikes.]

Comments

[teethoftherisk]

[The manner doesn't matter to Siffleur. He wouldn't be able to understand it - just as he does not understand many of these things. Death as he knows it is often brutal, painful, and at the best of times, blessedly quick. At the worst, dreadfully slow.

But what doesn't happen is coming back to life. He sits up straighter and there's an expression on his face besides blankness. Were he in his other form, his ears would be perked forward. For now, he settles a finger against his chin, the corners of his mouth pulled slightly upwards.]

Huh.

[The fear of death is one that has hung over him most his life, as it hangs over all things who call the woods their home. So often, he has been forced to retreat, to give way to the bigger beasts, the more savage men, to give up comforts and territory and move on again. He fought when he had to, and sometimes when he didn't, but always he was forced to be aware of his own mortality.

Not here. And isn't that interesting.]

You said the Captain eats emotions? Does he give punishments to those who kill?

[ring_for_giles]

I... Don't know.

[ He's staring again, piercing eyes trying to see through skin and bone into the soul underneath. Trying to put together the pieces of what's starting to become a rather worrying puzzle.

Perhaps it's only a question to satisfy curiosity, and nothing else. Or maybe it's merely because accidents happen when you spend time as a big cat. Simple answers to the puzzle, ones Giles has to believe before his anxious mind runs away with the far less savoury options. Though he'll still pick his words carefully.

The rustling grows louder under his voice, and there's a slight chill in the air despite it being a closed environment. ]

He might.

So far as I know I've never met someone who's been on that side of things, though I doubt such a person would make it known. After all, we must all still live with eachother afterwards, and perhaps that's a punishment in and of itself.

[teethoftherisk]

[He nods, short and once. Yes, that would be the other side of this. Whoever you kill would return. It's better than staying dead, but people are ruled by emotions. Siffleur would like to believe he is better, but he knows he isn't. He is trapped between worlds and always will be.

There is something about the man's voice that gives pause. He is reminded of autumn frosts, how they creep in slowly but deadly. This man has manners and dresses like a soft creature, but he isn't. Fighting him would be dangerous.

But, if death means nothing here, then perhaps he will do it sometime. Not now though. This man has given Siffleur assistance, and he will repay that debt with mercy and restraint.]

You're right. Isolation is enough punishment to prevent that. If not, then the inconvenience that comes with it.

[Another plate of salmon comes by and he picks it off the belt, scooping it and the rice into his mouth to chew and swallow. The thrill of the hunt always tempts him, but he does feel very content to sit here and have food brought to him for now.]

Does the Captain seem well fed? Or ravenous?

[ring_for_giles]

[ That's a question Giles has to think about for a while, if only because it's not one he'd thought to ask himself. ]

Well fed I think.

[ He takes a plate for himself finally, picking delicately at it with chopsticks more than he is actually eating ]

Or I hope so, there's no telling what might happen if he's not.

[teethoftherisk]

[Siffleur lets out a soft huff, not quite a laugh but something in the neighbourhood of it. The man knows, but he's doing the things humans do where they pretend not to know an ugly truth. If the ship needs negative emotions to eat, then it will make more negative emotions, either directly or indirectly. He can think of a number of ways to do both very easily.

But again, the man has been helpful, so Siffleur will play his game. He will be polite and they will pretend the answer isn't obvious together.]

Worry when you cross that bridge.

[He turns more to the man and holds out a hand to shake, since anyone dressed the way the man is probably cares about being human. Siffleur's fingers are very long and his palm very wide, ancient scars from old knives and claws here and there on his hand.]

I'm Siffleur.

[ring_for_giles]

[ He nods ] Precisely.

[ He turns to Siffleur with a warm smile and shakes his hand just as warmly. His hands aren't exactly soft, but neither are they rough. A few callouses and the odd scar built up over a lifetime working, but gentle labour, nothing overly strenuous. Though that could just as easily be guessed from the way he dresses. ]

I go by Giles. It is a pleasure to meet you, Siffleur.

[teethoftherisk]

[Siffleur's handshake is firm, but not posturing - he has never quite grasped the desire of some men to crush another person's hand. So Giles is given a polite handshake, one that does not overly linger before Siffleur takes his hand back, and reaches for a plate of eel.

And he tries to smile. It's at least sincerely meant, even if the expression is clearly one he rarely makes and never quite got the knack of.]

Yes, it's been nice to meet you too. You're very helpful.

[He sets the eel beside Giles and gives it a nod.]

Try this one next. It's good.

[ring_for_giles]

I do what I can

[ It's said modestly, but it's true nonetheless. It gives him great satisfaction to help others, so he does what he can, and a new arrival is one of the easier things to help with. ]

Mm, this is good. You certainly know your fish.

[ He'll take a moment just to enjoy the eel, eyes closing to focus on the taste. Once he's had a moment though, the curiosity is back ]

If you don't mind my asking, what's the place you come from like?

[teethoftherisk]

[Siffleur nods - he does. He struggles with many things, but food is something he has always understood well, be it caught in the wild, or served in a restaurant. Meat is what he knows best.

Giles' question makes him stop and reflect. He has already lived between two worlds, but they were the same place, just two different ways of existing in it. How to understand where he came from against other places? He no longer knows what other people would consider 'normal'.]

I don't know what ordinary is to you, but it felt ordinary to me. Cities full of people. Wilderness full of animals. I lived in both but mostly in the wild. Mostly as an animal. The only person who was ever like me was my mother. Everything else stayed in one shape. I read stories about creatures like me, but not me - werewolves, skin changers, shapeshifters. Never could be sure if they were real. Never met anyone who could do magic. Lots of technology - cars, computers, cell phones, planes - but nothing felt impossible.

What was your place like?

[ring_for_giles]

[ Giles listens with keen interest, filing away information for later. It's always a little surprising how many people seem to come from worlds that are very similar. A few details are always different, and there are some noticeable outliers, but from across a vast multiverse a large portion seem to arrive from some version of earth, and a time that is somewhere in the late 20th to early 21st century.

He spends a moment deciding on his own answer, always hesitant to give away too much despite the necessity of secrecy not applying here as much as it had in his own world. ]

Similar enough to yours I think, a level of technology about on par with what the ship provides. Just with a little more magic, although that's not exactly the positive thing most would take it to be.

Most of the world believes magic to be something that only exists in fiction, and those of us who know the truth of the matter form secret societies in parallel to the mundane. For our own protection, as well as that of the general public.

[teethoftherisk]

That's smart. People frighten easily, imaginations run wild, they find a reason to kill. Never met another thing like me or my mother, but lots of humans said they had, brought out a trophy to show. It was always just an animal.

[Siffleur does not begrudge them for killing. That's what he does after all, and he knows the pleasure of tearing something apart. More than one of those would-be hunters became a meal for him, though he never needed to take a trophy. The taste of their flesh had been more than enough.

But he likes living, and so he had kept his true nature to himself and had taken pains to keep his hunting away from the places he lived in when he was shaped as a man, pretending to be one. His mother had taught him that lesson young. Keep secret, stay safe.

As he reaches for another plate, he pauses for a moment, letting the octopus roll by him. He's never told another person what he was before. Giles is the first to know what Siffleur is - but it's clear that Siffleur is not the first person to know what Giles is. Huh. He shakes his head slightly and picks up the next plate, bringing the crab to him.]

I don't have a society. Is it... different? Or the same as humans?

[ring_for_giles]

[ Giles has to spend a while thinking on that. How does one explain to someone, without being too long-winded, how Changeling societies work if they have not, and will not be a part of it? It's not something he's thought much on before ]

It is both very similar and markedly different in equal measure. We were all human once, so our ideas are shaped by the way human society functions, at the same time, however, we have existed outside of reality, and our time away shapes us just as much if not more than any humanity we once had.

We form collectives – Freeholds – in the places we gather, with monarchs that shift with the turning of the seasons to prevent any one of them from gaining too much power, and to fill a different role in our protection and way of life. It is a delicate balance to maintain, but worth it in the long run.

[teethoftherisk]

[The more Giles speaks, the more Siffleur's shoulders start to sink. If he was in his cougar form, his ears would have drooped as well. Giles did say it was very similar and markedly different, but it sounds mostly the same in all the ways he already hates, and different in ways that he doesn't care about.

He would have thought creatures like him would have something better. But maybe there's nothing better. It's either structures with monarchs and rules with checks and balances, or there's nothing at all, just the cold hard ground waiting to catch you.]

Hm.

[Siffleur looks Giles up and down, taking in his suit, thinking about his manners. He scratches at his ear a few times, thinking it over. This is the longest conversation he's had in probably two years. He's never had a conversation with someone like Giles before either. It's... hmm. Fine.

It's fine.]

You look like you were good at it. Were you?