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

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."

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."

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.

Maybe it's weird to stick around and try to help someone she's only spoken to a couple of times since middle school. And maybe he won't even want her to, but she can't bring herself to walk away when she feels partially responsible for him being upset in the first place.

So she stays- says nothing when he hugs her a little tighter than she's expecting. It's not so bad once the initial shock wears off. It hits her, as he gradually begins to calm down, that she can't even remember the last time someone held her. It's the dumbest thing to be worried about right now, all things considered.

"It's the least I could do," she tells him, thinking back to how much he'd done for her. Comparatively, sticking around to make sure he was okay seems pretty minor. "I couldn't just leave you like that."

Maybe this would be okay. Maybe they could find some peace in the horrible situation they were pulled into. Or maybe Eddie would self destruct, like he was want to do when forced into a corner.

Whatever happened from here on out, though, they didn't have the outside factors meddling. No restrictive parents, no social hierarchy. Maybe they could finally see what a friendship could have looked like without the pressures of everyone else bearing down on them.

"I appreciate it," he say finally, giving her one last squeeze before pulling back and sheepishly wiping away at his tears. "Guess there's no trying to pretend I'm mean and scary after that," he teases with a half-smile. "Guess we should, um. Actually try and find costumes while we're here, huh?"

It's a little hard to wrap her head around being here when she's supposed to be dead. It'd felt easier earlier, when she hadn't been certain, but there's a difference between assuming something to be true and actually having it confirmed.

It's ironic, too, to think about the number of times she'd wished for some nameless, faceless fairy tale savior to come and steal her away to someplace less terrible. Chrissy's old enough to realize that that isn't what this is, but it's still kind of amusing to think about.

"Feeling better now?" Better is relative, she realizes, but she also realizes that having a good cry is the only thing that helps, sometimes. She generally does feel better afterward, so she's hoping it's the same for him. "I don't know. You can be mean and scary and still need to cry it out sometimes." He's smiling at least, so that's a good sign, right? The question earns him a smile and a nod. "I guess we should!"

At least Chrissy isn't alone in that confusion. Even though Eddie had known about his own death (how could he not, when he remembers Henderson clutching him tightly as he let go?) it doesn't make it any easier to swallow.

On the one hand, he's grateful that he's not just gone gone. If Chrissy is here, then maybe other people he knows will be here? Which isn't as much of a comfort as he wants to believe, because this place doesn't feel like a heaven or an afterlife. There's a sinister aura, but maybe their being here, able to face this place together, will make them stronger in a way.

"Kind of. I'm sure I've still got more in me, but." He shrugs, wiping away the last remnants of his breakdown. He glances around the place, and points in the direction of what looks like some costume pieces more Eddie's style. "Guess I'll see you around, Cunningham." And with one last wink he lets his face and posture go neutral when he turns around and starts poking around for potential costume ideas.

As confusing as this place seems now, it does help to think that there are other people here in a similar position. Having Eddie and Steve here helps, too, even if they weren't exactly running in the same social circles at home. It's comforting, at least, to know that it's not just her and a boat full of strangers.

"I get it," she tells him. Sometimes it takes longer than others. There's not much else to say about it, and she doesn't want to make him feel bad about it so she figures the best thing to do is let it drop for now. If he ends up needing another cry later, well, that's none of her business.

Chrissy grins and waves when he speaks up again. "Yea. See you later, Eddie!" He's already moved on, but she still feels the need to say something. And now that she has, she can feel less guilty about immediately turning on her heel and stalking off to another part of the store in search of that perfect costume.

TEST DRIVE MEME #7

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

fin?

fin!