TEST DRIVE MEME #7

[sailmods]

1. before she hung up, she said she was a skeleton

[there is no note in your cabin. no forces stall your legs if you decide to walk anywhere but the atrium. in fact, for the first time in hundreds of years, newly arrived passengers on the Serena Eterna are waking up with absolutely no guidance. nothing but your fellow passengers in the halls - or maybe in your bed.

perhaps you end up in the atrium eventually anyway. it is where guest services is, and where Gal Friday… actually hasn’t been in a few days. until today. and she is visibly frazzled, her hair uncoiffed, her suit rumpled, something a bit like a bruise blossoming down from her hairline and over her smooth features. more papers than ever cover her desk, and when she turns to face you, her voice is as cheerful as ever, but audibly strained.]

Welcome aboard the Serene Eterna! [a pause] You know how to work a life vest, right? Everyone knows that! You don’t need me to teach you that!

[a light bulb burns out behind her head.]

… I’ll get right on that!

[freedom includes the freedom to not know what the fuck is happening. maybe you should reflect on that.]

2. grandma went and can't stop screaming

[it’s something about the lighting fixtures, this month. has the Bellona always had a massive chandelier? maybe. who knows. don’t ask questions. either way, in the stillness of the night, or day, or late afternoon, there is a noise like a cord being cut, and the chandelier plunges into the audience below.

it hits nothing, of course. no one is ever in the theater. and that, perhaps, is what the trouble is.

so, the chandelier starts to… travel, one could say. it starts to hang in various rooms: the dining halls, the bars, the clubs… sometimes, if you’re out on the pool deck and suddenly realized you’re under a shadow, you can glance up and see it suspended 20 feet above your head, securely fastened to nothing in particular and yet remaining perfectly in place.

until it isn’t. until it falls, crystal shattering on whatever surface it lands on: floor, table, person… and, wherever the chandelier goes, a lilting childish voice follows it, singing without any obvious source.]

Ring-a-ring of roses, a pocket full of posies… ashes, ashes, we all…

3. jeff bezos murdered the infinite tommy bahama

[the lights of the Infinite Tommy Bahama go out three days into October.

barely an hour after its closure, the lights go on again, and a new banner is unfurled.



physically, it is the same store. you can even see the old signs hidden behind the new ones. however, long gone are the tropical prints and khaki dress shorts. now, one can purchase any number of officially licensed or legally distinct Halloween costumes, decorations, and various other haunted accoutrements, leading back as far as the eye can see, and then farther still. is that a Gal Friday mask? spooky! well, at least you’ll be good and ready for the Halloween party at the end of the month, which is absolutely just a normal party and in no way whatsoever anything even remotely resembling a trick. there are only treats at The Infinite Spirit Halloween!

note: bahamanuel is still here! somewhere! it kinda looks like dan bongino.]

Comments

[inhairently]

Oh. Shit.

[ God that's... Honestly? He hates it. He really fucking hates it.

But it's a good plan. He wouldn't be surprised if Mayfield was the one who volunteered to be bait. Hell, she probably insisted on it.

It's obviously not easy for Eddie to talk about, though, so Steve decides to drop it for now and reaches out to give him an awkward sort of pat on the back, careful not to jostle him too much.]

We don't have to talk about it, man. Let's focus on getting you fixed up first.

[ Right on cue, the elevator announces its arrival with a ding and the doors slide open. As they step inside, Steve tries to think back to what Clarke had been telling him by this point in his own arrival. Stuff about the Captain, he thinks. He's not quite ready to go there yet. ]

Hey, uh, [ is all he can think to say as the doors slide shut. Honestly he probably would've been better off just talking about the Captain than what he's about to say. ] I don't know how this place decides who to pull here. If you got picked because of me, I'm sorry. I didn't want anyone else to have to deal with this.

[ Which is kind of a lie, isn't it? There hasn't been a single night since he got here that he hasn't laid in bed wishing he could talk to anyone from home just one last time. And now Eddie's here, trapped like the rest of them. ]

one

[handmirrors]

Oh...!

[ Mikoto jumps back, the thump of her heels hitting the ground mingling with the sound of shattering glass and the subsequent clinking, raising her hands to cover her mouth with wide eyes as the chandelier crashes to the ground. She's not able to avoid all of the scattering pieces, and tiny flecks of glass brush against her tights, but the damage is light enough that she's able to each down to brush the tiny fragments off.

She nods out of habit as she examines the shattered remains before shaking her head at her own foolishness. She takes another small step back, the debris crunching under her heel. ]

Yes, thank you... I would have never expected it to come crashing down like that!

[ Life is always like that though, isn't it? ]

[bubblegumheart]

"He's nice." He was being nice to her, at least. He hadn't laughed at her or turned her away when she'd tracked him down that day. Hadn't looked at her like he thought she was just making things up for attention, either. Chrissy was grateful, honestly, even if he hadn't been able to help in the long run.

"He's not like what people say, you know." She'd been a little worried that he might turn out to be mean, or that she'd be afraid of him. But in the end, he'd turned out to be charming and funny enough to almost make her forget the reason she'd needed his help in the first place.

Chrissy's not even sure why she feels the need to defend Eddie to Steve. Sure, he'd been nice to her when she wasn't expecting it, and she'd thought they had a moment years ago in middle school, but it still doesn't explain the sudden urge to protect him. Maybe she feels like she owes him for trying to help when nobody else would. Maybe she's just looking for a distraction. Maybe it doesn't matter.

She looks up in time to frown at Steve's body language, and guesses that whatever's on his mind is a bit heavier than silly themed clothing and costumes. Still, she's not necessarily prepared for what he has to say. Chrissy's eyes widen as she whirls to face him.

"I never told anyone about that..." She hadn't told Eddie because she didn't want him to look at her the way Jason had when she'd tried bringing it up before. "Was it really happening to all of them?" It's not a comforting thought. She'd figured it was just her, but hearing that she wasn't even the only one just made her feel worse.

[bubblegumheart]

"I wasn't very good at it." To be fair, she'd been more interested in the bowling, and getting out of the house for a while. But there's something about the way he says it that makes her grin. "I'd really like to see!"

[decrypter]

Neither did I, the first time, but I think someone's in a mind to cause problems.

[she frowns, but breathes a sigh of relief. damage to things can be fixed. damage to people takes more time, and she's certain the mysterious culprit wants bloodshed.]

We may as well move - I can't help but think it's dangerous to remain around here, miss. Perhaps if we go somewhere chandeliers are not?

[a futile hope, but Helena can't read the metatext, and so she can retain her optimism that going outside will be glass free and immune to chaos.]

[thefreak]

As soon as Chrissy's hand touches his cheek, Eddie feels himself crumble. He can't hold it back anymore, everything that he's been feeling. It's almost as if Chrissy was a storm that broke through the dam keeping his feelings at bay. His eyes start to sting with tears and he can feel an intense mixture of emotions swell up from his chest until it burst out.

His legs give out, causing him collapse in a heap on the ground of the Spirit Halloween and he just cries. He cries for Chrissy, for Patrick, for Fred, for Max. For Dustin, and for Wayne. For everyone he left behind, everyone he may very well never see again.

And sure, the rest of the Party could have insisted that it wasn't his fault all this time, but there's something about hearing it from Chrissy that makes it land this time, that makes it stick.

"I'm sorry, I'm not usually --" he doesn't even know why he's apologizing, laughing at himself and trying to wipe the tears away. "Shit."

[bubblegumheart]

Chrissy can count on one hand the number of people she's seen crying. Eddie Munson is probably the last person she would have ever anticipated adding to that list. He'd always seemed so fearless when she'd seen him around at school, so seeing him like this now makes her want to cry, too.

She's always felt kind of awkward about other people crying because figuring out what to say to make someone feel better is difficult when you have no basis of comparison. Laura has never been the warmest person, so all Chrissy knows for certain is that she wants to do better than her mother.

So she sinks to her knees and slides her arms around him. She's quiet for a long moment, unsure of what to say and unwilling to interrupt him, because she knows better than anyone that sometimes you just need to get it out.

It's only when he seems to be calming down that she finds her words. "I already told you- none of that was your fault. You tried to help me when nobody else could, and that means a lot to me." And sure, she probably could have tried a little harder to tell somebody else, but at the time she'd just thought she was losing her mind. "You have no reason to apologize."

A Vassal's Duty Is Never Done

[glassaxolotl]

His Highness had escaped. That was the most important part. He'd made sure, if nothing else, that this was true.
Bloody and beaten, Dedue gasped for breath on the ground. The guards of Fhirdiad Castle had left him for dead. He wasn't sure whether or not they should have just finished the job.
Dedue felt his eyes get heavier and heavier. The fight to keep them open was becoming a Herculean task. Perhaps he didn't need to. He had done his duty. Yes. Perhaps, finally, he could sleep for a while...

- The Infinite Spirit Halloween -

When Dedue's eyes opened again, the world looked wrong. Surfaces were too flat, nothing like the stone of Faerghan architecture. The light came from strange directions, and it was not the right colors. And there was... clothing? The clothing was garish and disconcerting, even by Fodlan standards. He must have been having a nightmare. Though, if this was the case, why did everything still hurt like it was real?
*Where am I?* he tried to ask. But what came out of his mouth was just a small, pained exhale.

[saltwaterlungs]

There's a whistle from behind him a fair way, coming from a boyish teenage girl, rifling through some shirts with ribcages on them. She gives him a little up-nod.

"Hey- you don't want to go too much further in there. It goes on forever, you'll get lost. And probably eaten."

Re: A Vassal's Duty Is Never Done

[crushed_pearls]

Erin's been here more than she cares to willingly admit. After getting help pillaging material for her costume later she'd returned, now and again, to return to her efforts to actually see the clothing.

It still is not going well.

Her ears twitch when she hears the exhale. There's someone else here, where? Erin prowls that direction, keyed-up but very consciously keeping her hand away from the hilt of her saber.

When it turns out to be someone completely new she freezes, but the haze of gunpowder around her pops off in celebration.

How to...

(That animal is still here, Peters, get the fresh fish out of here).

Yeah, good point.

"Welcome aboard," Erin greets carefully. "You're gonna want to follow me without a lot of uh...sudden movements. Something lives here that knows not to fuck with me anymore but it doesn't know you at all."

[prince_of_beasts]

Patrolling the infinite Tommy Bahama Spirit Halloween feels even less helpful than usual. But then again, the Bahamanal is (probably) still a threat, and the store still a hazard for new arrivals -- which they're still getting -- so by the same token, it's nice to deal with something familiar --

That small sound shoots straight to the base of his spine, hits a scarred wound in his heart and tears it violently open before he even sees the body sprawled on the floor. He rounds the end of the aisle at a sprint -- "DEDUE?! What -- when -- you -- you're hurt! What happened? Was it the Bahamanal?"

Dimitri looks very different from the last time Dedue saw him, and absolutely absurd. Several months of sun exposure have managed to give him a few shades of tan; his hair's similarly a couple inches overgrown; he's wearing a floral-patterned button-up and cargo pants along with his armored boots and gloves -- but there's no mistaking that it's him.

[glassaxolotl]

The sudden sound of his own name sends a shock through his spine. He recognizes the voice instantaneously.
Dedue looks His Highness up and down, takes in the sight of his unfamiliar clothing, relative sanity, unharmed features, and the use of a word that he is fairly certain he has never heard His Highness use before (although His Highness and he do not share a first language, and while Dedue is fluent enough in the language of Fodlan to get by, there are still surprises here and there). Registering all of this, Dedue concludes that one of two things has happened.
"This is a dream," he observes, "Or I am dead." He can't think of any other possible explanation.

[glassaxolotl]

Dedue props himself up using one of the nearby shelves. He turns his head towards the source of the greeting. A figure in the distance. That's probably why she hasn't realized what kind of state he's in. He isn't sure his voice will carry that far.
"...Where am I?" he manages to rasp after a second attempt.

Re: A Vassal's Duty Is Never Done

[glassaxolotl]

Dedue flinches at the sudden gunpowder.
'This doesn't feel real,' he thinks to himself. He is not used to the casual manner this stranger is greeting him, and everything she is saying just raises more questions.
"A Crest Beast?" he guesses. He wants to ask her why she is helping him, but he knows better than to ask.

Re: A Vassal's Duty Is Never Done

[crushed_pearls]

Crest Beast eh? Something about the way the newcomer says that reminds her of Dimitri (and, well, the accent a bit even if it's definitely not the same) but that's a later question.

Erin's ears twitch when she hears motion from deeper amidst the racks of Halloween decorations.

"Probably not, if my guess is anywhere near accurate, but still." Erin jerks her head towards the entrance to the infinite store and starts moving that way; her steps are slow and heavy, boots making more noise against the floor than they strictly need to.

Oh right, her manners. "Erin Peters, only slightly less new here than you are. This store is...I'm gonna say a magical space. Head towards the back wall and you won't reach it; there's always just more store, and something lives here that likes to pick off the unwary. If you think of it as a starving bear you'll be close enough to understand my concern here."

[thefreak]

Yeah. Shit.

[ In retrospect, it was a solid plan. There were a lot of unknown factors, and it was very much a Hail Mary play, but they were running out of time. And Eddie still has no idea of the outcome. Maybe it's better off not knowing whether his death, his sacrifice would have made a difference.

He thinks again about matching scars and rolls his eyes. If only it were under better circumstances. ]

Yes please, I feel like Buckley's gonna appear any moment to freak out about rabies.

[ He smiles wryly as he follows Steve into the elevator. If he leans a little bit against Steve, well...it has been what feels like the longest day ever, so rest is definitely going to be on his to do list, as soon as he gets a clear bill of health. ]

Huh? [ Eddie turns to look at Steve with a strange look on his face. Because he's conflicted between being weirdly grateful that he got pulled into this mess and somewhat resentful that he couldn't just rest. But at least, if he's stuck here, he's got someone familiar on board. He can't help but wonder what it must have been like for Steve, all alone with no idea what had been going on in Hawkins without him. ]

Hey, man, don't. I'm sure it's not your fault. And either way, I'm like. Weirdly glad to see you again, so, there's that.

[saltwaterlungs]

Darcy draws a little closer, not moving too quickly so she doesn't spook the dude.

"Shit, right, she's not doing the- long story. Right now, a Spirit Halloween, which is like... A store that's just for a creepy autumn holiday we have here. If any of that makes sense. More generally? Welcome to the good ship Serena Eternia, you've been... kidnapped? Basically? There's no nice way to put it."

Darcy winces sympathetically.

[thefreak]

Eddie definitely doesn't expect Chrissy to stick around. Most of the people in his life with the exception of Wayne just didn't know what to do with Eddie when he experienced emotions. And he wouldn't have blamed Chrissy for not wanting to deal with it now, considering they barely know each other.

But fuck, she is sitting down next to him and he can't help but hug back, clinging for dear life. He's still going to feel compelled to apologize, at least for a little while longer until he can find it within himself to make peace with everything that happened to him. And it seemed like they were stuck on this ship for the foreseeable future, so she may end up seeing that resolution from him after all.

"Thank you. Anyone else would have walked away by now," he whispers, burying his head in her neck. Maybe he can hold onto her for a little while longer. At least until he composes himself.

[glassaxolotl]

"Kidnapped..." he echoes back.
A pause.
"How far from Fodlan am I?"
Does he even want to know?

[saltwaterlungs]

Blinks. Where has she heard that-

"Oh- it sounds like you're from the same place as Dimitri. About as far as you can get, I'm sorry, this is... far from everywhere."

Re: A Vassal's Duty Is Never Done

[glassaxolotl]

Dedue senses the urgency with which Erin scans the environment. Whatever is happening, conversation can wait.
Unsteadily he gets to his feet. He is hunched over and clutches the wall for support, but his 6'8 form still stands out.
He follows behind her, happy that her pace is slow enough for him to keep up.
"A bear I can understand," he responds. "Erin Peters," he nods, committing the name to memory. "My name is Dedue Molinaro."

[glassaxolotl]

"Di...?" His eyes go wide.
"His Highness is here? How did... When did he get here? Is he safe?" Despite his flat tone, there is a protective quality that suddenly flavors his words.

Re: A Vassal's Duty Is Never Done

[crushed_pearls]

"My pleasure. Do call me Erin. Once we get out of here we can get whatever wound's got you limping treated but I really do not wanna fight this thing again. If I have to light this store on fire a second time I'm gonna fucking lose it."

Erin turns when she gets to the entrance of the store, still on guard, and waves for Dedue to move past her; she's not gonna get close enough to touch him, not if he can walk on his own even a little, but it wouldn't do to just blithely stroll out and then hear the new guy getting eaten.

Oh. Now that she's getting a good look with the blindfold...

"My god, you're actually a few inches taller than me. Miracles do happen. I uh, hope you get on with short people 'cause you're gonna be meeting...a lot of them...here soon."

[saltwaterlungs]

"Safe as anyone can be here- and ehn- watch it with the 'his highness'. I know, but not everyone knows, and probably better to keep it that way."

Darcy draws a little closer still, "he got here... a couple of months ago, I think. Sorry- 'm Darcy, I've been here for... too long, so I'm sort of part of the welcome wagon."

...

"Figure of speech, to be clear," since now she knows this guy is presumably also medieval.

[prince_of_beasts]

"Neither dreaming nor dead, my friend. Let me help you up -- can you stand?"

He reaches for Dedue's hand with one of his, his shoulder with the other. Solid contact strikes him like lightning, makes his stomach lurch. He'd half believed this was one of his visions -- it fits the pattern, Dedue sprawled bloodied on the floor -- but no. No, this is real.

"You're here," Dimitri breathes. You're -- " His expression crumples. "Oh, Goddess, you're here. You're -- "

Before he can stop himself or even reconsider, he drags Dedue into a hug, as tight as he dares, burying his face against the side of Dedue's neck.

"I'm so sorry," he says, muffled.