sail_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME #7

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TEST DRIVE MEME #7

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Shit.

This is exactly what he'd been worrying about the entire goddamn time he's been here. He runs one hand through his hair as Eddie speaks, the other on his hip, and his mind races with other possibilities. If Eddie is dead, then who else? Is Dustin okay? Robin? Nance?

And what about Max?

When he'd learned that his presence here didn't mean he was no longer in Hawkins, that there was still a Steve there to carry on trying to stop Vecna, he'd felt no comfort and now he understands why. He can't help but think that maybe things could have been different had he been the one there instead.

But no. He was here on a fucking cruise ship from hell while his friends fought, and some of them died. ]

I'm sorry, [ is what he finally says. ] I should've been there. I could've helped, I —

[ What else can he say? ]

Godammit, [ probably isn't helpful, but he says it anyway. Then, again, for good measure: ] I'm sorry.

[ Well that isn't the reaction that he's expecting to get out of Steve. Sure, he recalls the guy more or less throwing himself into Lover's Lake so that nobody else would risk their lives but him. But Steve was there, had helped, this wasn't his fault, couldn't be his fault. ]

Hey, hey, don't do that. [ He takes a step forward, because even now he can't not invade Steve' personal bubble. Especially not now when he seems like he's collapsing in on himself with unhelpful spiraling thoughts of self blame. ] You were there, Harrington. I mean, shit, you were gonna Molotov the fuck out of that asshole, and we were kind of grasping at straws.

[ He reaches a hand out to place on Steve's shoulder, meant to ground him and keep him from continuing this train of thought. ] Besides, you told me I was supposed to get the hell out of there if something happened, and I didn't listen. I'm a stubborn idiot, as it turns out. I had just gotten so fucking tired of being known as the guy who runs away from everything.

[ Grasping at straws or not, it sounds like they had a hell of a plan. Still, his mind races through each and every horrible possibility. He wonders how much they ended up figuring out about Vecna, if it was enough. If anything they were trying to do even mattered in the end.

Eddie's hand on his shoulder slows those thoughts, brings him back to the here and now, and shit he never wanted to be the one to have to explain this place to anyone, but here he is. He wants to tell Eddie to stop being so hard on himself. Sometimes running really is the only thing you can do, but that can wait.

First — ]

Look, man, this is gonna sound crazy, okay? But I've been here for like a month. The last thing I remember in Hawkins is climbing through the gate at your place after Nance had her Vecna thing. Then, I dunno. Bam. I was here.

[ Well, that's not the explanation that Eddie expects to hear. Because that shouldn't be possible. How can Steve both exist here, and also have continued to exist in Hawkins?

And because Eddie's mind is filled with plots from various campaigns he has both run and played in, he can't help but wrack his brain for monsters, for Big Bad Evil Guys that would even have the capability of doing such a thing. Because clearly, the world runs in D&D metaphors. Well, if they could name a monster after Vecna, who's to say there isn't a monster for another eldritch horror out there? ]

Um. I hate to burst your bubble, Harrington, but you were most definitely back there. In Hawkins. Helping us. So unless the Steve that I -- unless that Steve is a doppelganger then that would mean you're the doppelganger and...

shit, I think I need to sit down for this one.

[ It's getting harder and harder to deny the "we're just copies and can't return home" theory at this rate. Steve isn't going to drop that particular bomb just yet. He hates this. A lot, actually. Now that he's being forced to examine the situation in this way — that Steve Harrington, the real Steve, still exists in Hawkins, and that he's something else entirely.

But he has time to think about that later. Right now his job is to help Eddie understand this place the best he can. He remembers too well what it was like when he'd shown up here, convinced he'd died, not sure where to go. Having someone reach out to help and explain things made all the difference. ]

Yeah. Like I said, crazy.

[ He brings a hand to Eddie's elbow, there to steady him just in case. ]

Just... take your time. It's a lot, I know. We can go somewhere quieter if you need to.

[ Eddie doesn't really want to think about that. This Steve feels so real, sounds exactly like the Steve he remembers. Right down to what little mannerisms Eddie has managed to pick up as very distinctly Steve.

And the connotations aren't exactly great for Eddie, either. Granted, he's pretty sure he's dead dead, has no home to return to, but that thought doesn't really comfort him at all.

He leans into the hand at his elbow and allows himself a moment, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out as a shaky sigh. ]

Yeah. I think that'd be a good idea.

[ The nearest quiet place he can think of is the stairwell. Not the coziest option but people rarely, if ever, use the stairs around here, so he leads Eddie there. ]

We can hang out here for a minute, [ he says, settling down to sit on the top step.

As he does, he's still reflecting on his arrival here and what people said or did to make it easier. To be honest, he'd been in such shock at first that any information fed to him had been met with a stunned mix of disbelief and acceptance. It was only after he'd been here for a few hours that the reality of everything started to hit him, and he hadn't handled it well.

But he'd also been on his own. It'll be different for Eddie.

As he reflects on that shit awful first day, he remembers that — oh shit oh yeah — he'd been hurt, and he'd needed medical attention for those stupid bat bites. ]

Wait, are you hurt? Should we go to the medbay?

[ Like, Eddie seems generally okay, at least physically, but so had Steve until he peeled away that makeshift bandage and took a good look at those bites. ]

[ Once they reach the stairs, Eddie gladly joins him at the top step, still just trying to take in everything that happened. He had accepted his death, had told Dustin he loved him, to look after the rest of Hellfire, only to wake up here.

It would probably have been less confusing if Steve weren't here, because finding out there's a possibility that one of these Steve's might not be real? Shit. He can't even comprehend that. Yet, at the same time, he is glad that there's someone familiar here, that he doesn't have to go through all of this on his own.

His thoughts are about to plummet again, when Steve brings up the fact that, oh yeah, he was just chewed apart by bats. He should probably get those looked at. ]

Yeah, I mean. It's weird, I remember being in agonizing pain, now I just feel kinda numb. Sooo medbay might not be a bad idea. [ He looks down at his shirt, which is in shambles, and stuck to his skin in places where the blood had started to congeal. It's going to be a mess to take care of, and he has a feeling he's going to lose the shirt in the process. ]

[ Maybe it's different if you die first, Steve thinks. He doesn't really know much about that. He's talked to one guy who said he died, who even seemed happy to be here, but he never said anything about what it was like when he arrived. He also knows Vance, but Vance is a ghost so... that's not really the same thing. At least, he doesn't think it is.

Jesus, he really feels like he's in over his head on this one. ]

Okay. [ He nods. ] Okay, yeah. There people here who know how to do all kinds of medical shit, so yeah. We can ask one for help.

[ P E R H A P S even handwave it. Who can say. The possibilities are endless.

He's heard stories before of people who got hurt playing sports or nearly drowned swimming or whatever and thought they were okay only to drop dead a few hours later. He hopes that's not what's going on with Eddie. Shock is bad, obviously. The shock of this place is even worse. Dying twice in as many hours would probably be... uh. Not great. For Eddie's general wellbeing. ]

How bad is it? [ Well that's a stupid fucking question, isn't it? Bad enough that Eddie died. ] Want me to take a look?

[ It's probably a good thing Steve is here, because he wouldn't have even though to seek medical help. He would have been wandering around aimlessly, perhaps not bleeding out per se, but definitely at risk of infection if he wasn't careful. He wrinkles his nose as he pokes at the area and seethes in pain. Okay, bad idea. ]

Yeah, that's, uh. Let's do that.

[ He rubs at his face with his hands, letting out a small grunt of frustration. ] If you want. They fuckin' got me good, those damn bats. [ And then, because his sense of humor has always been a little bit fucked up. ] But hey, think we're gonna have matching scars, at least.

[Steve lets out a brief, humorless chuckle. ]

Matching scars, huh? Vecna should really work on his souvenir selection. I'd rather have a t-shirt.

[ He looks at Eddie's shirt where it's stained and matted with blood, and he wonders if it's actually a good idea for him to touch it. He doesn't want to shift the fabric and cause more bleeding. Besides, it's not like he's earned a medical degree in his entire one month of being on this ship so what exactly can he do? ]

There's a girl here name Clarke. She helped me when I first showed up. [ He takes out his phone — it isn't advanced by modern standards, but it's pretty cool to someone from the 80s. ] We all get one of these. People call them phones but they're not really like phones, you can't talk on them. Just send little notes.

[ As he speaks, he types out a message. It's slow going, like watching someone's Gen X dad struggling to use a new iPhone — which, let's be fair, that's more or less what it is. ]

Anyway, [ he goes on as he types a letter, backspaces, types a letter, backspaces, misspells a word, backspaces, finally gets it right, etc ] Clarke is cool. You'll like her. I'll see if she can meet us there.

[ Even Eddie can't hold back a laugh at Steve's comment. It's a nice distraction from the nonstop hell he's been experiencing since the night of the big game.

The smile fades when Steve gets a better look at his current state. He knows it's bad, even if it doesn't feel it right now. He thinks it must be because he technically already died, but he doesn't really know how shit works around here. All he can hope is that this Clarke person can help save him from decaying or whatever zombie shit this is. ]

No shit. [ He watches Steve's painstaking attempts at typing out a message, a look of amusement on his face. Not that Eddie would probably be much better. It looks like there's a learning curve involved, and Eddie's much more used to writing messages out longhand. ]

Yeah? Well, if she can save any of my tats that haven't been gnawed off by bats -- [ He tries not let out a laugh at the fact that that rhymes ] -- then I'm definitely going to like her.

If anybody can, it's her. She said she was training to be her people's chief of medicine, or something. [ There may very well be people here who are way better equipped to heal wounds and save tattoos, maybe even people who can do it with ~magic~, but Steve hasn't met them. Or, if he has, he has no clue.

A few minutes tick by before he gets a message back, and he shoves his phone back in his pocket after reading it. ] She can meet us there. Are you good to move? We can wait if you need to rest longer.

Well, isn't it my lucky day then? [ Not that he's worried about rabies, although Robin's worries do kind of get stuck in your head after a while, especially with her bringing it up more than once.

While waiting for a message back, Eddie finds himself fiddling with the rings on his fingers, thankfully not losing a single when he wound up here. His hands always feel too bare without them, and without his guitar around, he knows he's going to go nuts without something to do with his hands. ] Yeah, no, we can move. I'm not, like. It aches and shit, but I can walk.

Okay. If you're sure. [ He's going to lead Eddie out of the stairwell and towards the elevators, then.

An unpleasant sense of nostalgia settles over him as they go, and he's reminded of his first day here. He and Clarke had walked the same path. He'd been bloody, filthy, fresh from the Upside Down, and confused as hell, just like Eddie. She'd explained this place as well as anyone could. Better than he can now, he thinks.

But he also thinks it might be selfish, putting off the whole explaining thing for as long as he can, even though he's telling himself it's for Eddie's sake. That it's kinder to give him some time to get his bearings before he hears what sort of awful place this is. Before he learns that they're trapped and there's nothing that they or anyone else can do about it.

He's quiet as he presses the button to call the elevator, quiet as they wait, but then something occurs to him and he can't believe he hasn't asked yet. He looks at Eddie suddenly, expression urgent and worried. ]

Shit, [ he breathes, ] Max. Did she — [ Did she make it? That's a grim way to word it, so he stops. Rephrases. ] Is she okay?

[ It still weirds Eddie out, the fact that Steve has been here for, what, a month? Despite the fact that Vecna's killings, for him, have only started maybe a few days ago. He doesn't really know what to make of that fact.

If anything, Eddie is almost grateful that he died. There's nothing left for him outside of this ship. If there's no hope of being able to go back and fix things?

And maybe, selfishly, Eddie likes the idea of being stuck on a cruise ship with Steve Harrington, the jock who turned out to be not quite the asshole that Eddie had always assumed he was. Poor Steve, if he thought Eddie's attempts at constantly pushing Steve's buttons, of tossing flirting words his way just to see Steve's reactions, were bad back in Hawkins, well --

well, that will all have to wait, because there are still more important matters to discuss. He grows somber as Steve asks about Max. ]

I couldn't tell you. Our plan. She was going to. [ He swallows thickly, unable to look at Steve as he waits impatiently in front of the elevator. ] Dustin and I were distraction, yeah? To get the bats away from the Creel house in the Upside Down. But we needed someone to lure Vecna there so he'd be defenseless. Someone we knew he cursed.

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. ]

Edited 2022-10-26 04:38 (UTC)

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.

[ Steve's (admittedly, already grim) expression falters at Eddie's mention of Robin. God, he really misses her. As much as he wishes he could talk to her even one last time, though, he would never want her here. It's too much for anyone, but Robin? She'd be dead of a heart attack within the first week.

Now, standing in this elevator with Eddie leaning on him, thinking about Robin, thinking about this ship, he just feels incredibly sad. It's a strange feeling. A kind of yearning for something he knows he'll never have again, even if he finds a way back to Hawkins. The need to be a normal goddamn teenager in a normal goddamn town. No monsters, no death, no weird ships captained by creepy kidnappers.

But normal just isn't in the cards for them. Maybe it never was.

He manages a lopsided smile when Eddie dismisses his apology and he almost manages a chuckle. ]

Weirdly glad, huh? [ he teases, and he'd have nudged Eddie in the ribs if the poor guy wasn't, you know, shredded by demobats. ] Couldn't be just glad? I guess I'll take it.

[ He pauses, then, ]

I'm weirdly glad to see you, too, dude.

[ Eddie feels a twinge of guilt when he notices Steve's reaction to his mention of Robin. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything, reminded him of Steve's apparent best friend. Which, that pair up never made a lick of sense until he started picking up on how they met each other. Still not too certain of the detail, but he knows it had something to do with the mall last summer.

He wants to reassure Steve, tell him it'll be okay, but he knows it won't. They seem like empty words. All he can do is place a shaky hand on Steve's shoulder for reassurance. Before scoffing at Steve in response to his use of the word weird. ]

Okay, fine. I am glad to see you. I meant weird in, like. The sense of this place is weird. And the last place I would've expected to run into you. And I'm just going to shut up now. [ He instinctively grabs at a piece of his hair and uses it to try and cover his face as he can feel his cheeks heat up a little bit. Dammit Harrington, he isn't even trying to be charming and still somehow Eddie finds himself being charmed. ]

It's cool, man. You're cool. I was just messing with you.

[ Eddie's reaction makes him feel some kinda way. A little nervous, which is weird. He brushes it off as stress thanks to everything going on, Eddie's sudden arrival, and all that.

But —

There was a time here, recently, when the ship docked at a beach and a game of never have I ever ensued. The topic of uhhhhhhh the attractiveness of Disney's Robin Hood may have come up (don't ask), and Steve feels compelled to react now how he did then: by bringing up girls. ]

Anyway yeah, like I said before, you'll really like Clarke. I think if Nance were here they'd be friends. Definitely.

[ When Steve brings up Clarke like that, Eddie feels himself just deflate. He knows he can't blame Steve, it's not his fault Eddie is. Well. Like this, but the reminder still hurts.

Of course, he has no idea what's going on in Steve's head either.

But also, Eddie did kind of try to push Steve back to Nancy as a means of deflection. If Steve's attention were on Nancy, maybe he wouldn't notice the way Eddie kind of couldn't take his eyes off Steve. Some damn good logic right there.

And now they're stuck on a boat together. Fantastic. ]

Yeah? I'm sure I will, then. If she's anything like Wheeler, she must be awesome.

[ Ah, Eddie, be grateful you don't know what's going on in Steve's head. It's a real mess in here.

The elevator stops on the correct floor and Steve leads Eddie towards the infirmary. It's not far. ]

Oh, yeah, I should warn you. She's apparently from the, uh. The future. [ He sounds conflicted, like he wants to imply that it's a stupid notion but knows he can't because he has to believe it's true. He's seen enough shit here to know it is true, actually, but it still feels nuts to say. Considering Eddie's technically from the future as well it can't really be all that nuts, though. Not really. ]

Like I'm talking the year twenty-one-something. [ He pulls the infirmary door open and gestures for Eddie to go in first. ] Time doesn't really make sense here. But I guess you probably picked up on that.

[ The look Steve gets from Eddie is not too dissimilar to the look he had when Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Max were trying to explain the Upside Down to him. Which, he will never get over, the fact that they had been dealing with this shit for years and Eddie had been none the wiser. ]

The future? Jesus. [ He follows Steve out of the elevator and towards the infirmary, his nerves starting to act up as the full implications start to set in. ] Are we talking, like, a future connected to ours? Or, like. Alternate universes? [ Henderson was more of the science nerd, but he's read enough science fiction to know what theories there are out there.

He's personally hoping it's an alternate universe kind of thing. He isn't sure he wants to know what happens to their world, knowing that he will never live to see it. ]

I have. Still fucking weird, that I've been harassing a Steve that's not you, by the way. [ And by harassing, he of course means flirting, but. Steve doesn't need to know that. ]

People talk about being from different worlds and stuff all the time, so — [ He shrugs. It's all been a lot to wrap his head around and he hasn't even bothered going into the deeper logistics of it all. ] Beats me, man.

[ He heads over to lean against the counter as they wait for Clarke, and he hopes she shows soon to save him from discussing this Other Steve. He doesn't like to think about it. The worst part, the most sickening part, is how he's pretty sure this means it's all true. They can't ever go home. This fucking boat is home now.

No more Nancy. No more Robin.

At least he has Eddie. He wouldn't wish this shithole on anyone but he can't deny how good it is to have someone familiar around. ]

I guess he's technically me. Or I'm him. Shit, I don't know. [ He sighs, rubbing at his chin as he thinks about Other Steve. ] If it makes you feel any better, I would've told you not to be a hero, too.

TEST DRIVE MEME #7

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yall go ahead now until steve needs to say or do anything!!

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