sail_ooc | 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

"I know of him." They weren't really friends so much as that their social circles overlapped at one point. She'd always figured he was too nice for the basketball team, though.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Vance fucking Hopper," she tells him, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile. "Chrissy Cunningham. What do you do around here?"

She hasn't really had much opportunity to look around just yet, so she's curious. It's pretty obvious that she has no idea what she's doing here.

"Nice to fucking meet you, too," he says, "There're a few bars, and they usually stop you from drinking if you're not old enough but right now no one's supervising."

Which means a lot of teens getting drunk.

"I like the arcade, too. You into games?"

"Kind of wish it was under less ridiculous circumstances, but I guess it could be worse." Chrissy doesn't want to think about how it could be worse. "How many is a few?" Is it necessary to have more than one?

Maybe it is. Drinking was never really her idea of a good time, but it's obvious that there are other people on board.

"I didn't really have a lot of time to play games before, but I don't have anything going on right now if you want to show me?"

"Shit, like...five? And most of them suck," he says, because he simply doesn't appreciate tacky cruise ship theming, "And fuck yeah, it's not that far if you wanna check it out."

And with that he starts leading the way to Playback.

"Are they all different?" Maybe they each have a specific theme or something. Or maybe there are just so many people that want to drink that they needed to add more. Anything is possible at this point. "Do you have a favorite?"

Maybe she'll find one that serves non-alcoholic drinks and that one will become her favorite. "Great!" A little too much enthusiasm for an arcade, perhaps, but Chrissy is honestly just grateful to be doing something that isn't standing around feeling bewildered.

It's easy enough to fall into step beside him, though she finds herself rushing a little to keep up.

"Yeah, they're different. I guess Rischie is the coolest. Don't go to Hurikane, I got shot with lightning for trying to steal some booze once."

Which is still very, very unfair. He's dead, let him have a damn drink.

When they get to Playback he immediately rushes toward the pinball machines. The other games are cool, too, especially the ones with fighting or shooting, but he always returns to his old favorite.

"Have you played before?"

Chrissy nods and commits the names to memory. It's on the tip of her tongue to point out that maybe trying to steal might have been the problem there, but she decides against it. It's not really her place to try and tell him what he should or shouldn't be doing, after all.

Maybe she'll ask him to show her where Rischie is later.

She can't help but smile as she follows him over to the pinball machines. The question earns him a nod. "I have, but it's been a while. My dad used to take us bowling when we were little and they had a game room with pinball and a couple other things," she tells him, trying not to let the disappointment seep into her voice.

"I bet no one at the bowling alley had skills like I do," he says, leaning up against one of the machines, "I'm pretty much a pro. You wanna see?"

"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!"

"Alright, watch and learn," he says, pulling back on the launcher to start a new game.

The game lights up, the ball is flung around, and Vance is completely in the zone (tongue poking out of the side of his mouth and everything).

"Okay!" There's not much else to do but watch after that, so she scoots in a little closer and stretches up to her full height to get a better look.

It's admittedly not the most exciting thing to witness, but he'd seemed really excited about it- and it's honestly still more entertaining to watch than the countless basketball games she's been to.

TEST DRIVE MEME #7

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject