TEST DRIVE MEME #8

[sailmods]

1. but times have changed for sailors these days

[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. tried to amend my carnivorous habit

[the space inside John's where the piano normally sits is mysteriously vacant today. as a matter of fact, the entire piano bar is silent, without so much as a muzak-inspired interpretation of Uptown Girl to hum along to.

the piano itself seems to have disappeared... for the most part. unlucky, unsuspecting passengers who enter the cabin hallway, step out onto the lower decks, or find themselves in one of the other narrow corridors of the ship, may find themselves suddenly facing down a silent, unmoving grand piano. it takes up too much space to squeeze by comfortably...

and then, the cover lifts, exposing what looks to be... teeth?

yeah. yeah, those are its teeth. and it's coming right for you.]

3. that American creation on which I feed

[it had been a difficult October for bahamanuel, the bahamanal. its territory had changed utterly, becoming alien and strange. new predators were encroaching on its hunting grounds. its position in the natural order is under threat. and so, nature finds a way.

the old timers know to be wary of large piles of clothes, but even they won’t think to look twice at the tiny lumps of garish kids’ swimsuits and sundresses - until they feel something latch onto their leg, and then several more things, and anywhere from ten to twenty balled up clothes piles try to take down their prey.

the young must learn how to hunt, after all.]

Comments

[conjuredrabbit]

"Different worlds." He shivers just hearing that, looks past her to the door and then back again. "What's that mean? How does that work?"

[crushed_pearls]

"Buddy, if you figure that you, you tell me. I've been at this awhile but I'm not a theoretical witch, I'm a practical one." She sighs, shrugs. "But I'm telling you now so you can prepare to keep an open mind, y'know?"

[conjuredrabbit]

"My Freehold is allied with local mages, werewolves and even on speaking terms with more than one of the local hunters. Open mind, I can at least play by ear. Though I'm definitely going to be avoiding the werecougar because I know how that ends already."

[decrypter]

A response! She's delighted, and smiles for it, her own voice at a lower volume because this is a library after all.

"I thought I heard someone nearby and wanted to check - don't mind me, then. I'm just reading."

It is still some odd sound, the clawing and that breeze, but there are enough nonhuman people about that anything beyond pleasantries is simple rudeness. Her hands hold nothing but her book, and her attitude lacks any sharp edges. He's safe, if he chooses to simply sit and exist, because there's no reason for her to act out against a stranger.

[conjuredrabbit]

There's a small pause, as he realizes the book she's reading is titled in braille. "Ah, you can't see me, can you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm, ah, on the table to your left."

[decrypter]

"It's okay, you didn't startle me at all. I heard you coming nearer - that's why I thought to question. But you being on the table explains the direction of your voice, since I'm used to them coming from above me."

Only she gets to make the height jokes about herself. And only when proper.

[crushed_pearls]

"Eurgh, wizards." Erin shudders. "The wandslingers here ain't so bad but back at home? Miss me with that shit, I did my time."

Still. Speaks to a very vibrant and politically active Freehold. Maybe the transition here might not be so bad for Bunny.

"There's other Lost here, though you'll forgive me if I let them approach you instead of the reverse. They're private people; like yours, their Masks still work. I'm the only out Changeling aboard."

[conjuredrabbit]

"Sometimes I'll be like that, but right now...here, if you hold your hand out about six inches above the top of the table?"

So he can butt his bunny head against her palm and 'show' her what he is right now.

[conjuredrabbit]

"What will you be telling them about me being here?" His ears perk slightly, as he tries to suss out Erin's exact motives and intentions. While the Spring Court back home wasn't as catty as some he'd heard of, they were the court opposed to Autumn, and the one he understood the least, in theory.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin shrugs. "New Lost, seems American, comes from an established Freehold, kinda skittish. Not much else. Your business is your business. That said, mind your manners with the walking storm. He ain't from a Freehold, so he's not necessarily familiar with the niceties."

Sorry Okie but it's a fair warning.

Erin debates something internally, then decides against it. "They're good folks. Actually got another spooky boy."

[decrypter]

It's a good thing she met Ylva on the excursion, so people being animals isn't something to ponder over. Rather, when she obliges, and suddenly feels, a look of wonder and delight passes over her features. Oh. How wonderful.

"And that explains the other thing I was curious about. Well, there are no rules against rabbits in the library, I'm sure."

[conjuredrabbit]

"I could be a person again, if it would be better. I just..." A pause, as he sniffs at her fingers lightly. "Well. If you could take some time off from being a full human, wouldn't you, once in a while?"

[conjuredrabbit]

"Yes, American." He smiles slightly crookedly, thinking about the rest. Skittish? He's prey, he can hardly help that at this point. Spooky boy...well, he is Autumn, even if he's low-ranking.

"No one in charge among us?"

[crushed_pearls]

God. Well. Here we go.

"Not as of yet. Not enough of us to bother, and..."

Maybe they can avoid the elephant only Erin can see in this room. "How long you been running loose?"

[decrypter]

"...Actually, I think I might. It'd be nice to shake off the usual responsibilities for a bit...though I'm not sure what I'd be."

Perhaps a bat, like Ava had mentioned? Flying might be nice...but there also seems to be many benefits to being something land based. A cat can get spoiled, after all.

[conjuredrabbit]

“Just over two years. I do courier work on behalf of the hold. Never to the wolves, for obvious reasons, but all over town otherwise.”

It doesn’t feel like a long enough, especially now that the freedom is gone.

[conjuredrabbit]

“I didn’t choose this to be. It’s what I am. I can be other things, sometimes, but this fur feels like home, or as close to it as possible. I’m called Bunny, even when I’m up on two legs.”

Unspoken: even when on two legs, he is very much a prey beast.

[decohere]

"Despite the zodiac theming... no serial killers or even bears in the woods. I had an emergency bear drill and everything," Ava solemnly informs him of her totally legit safety protocols. And not the part where she had Sharky pretend to be a bear and attack Steven. Or the part where she kicked all the men out of her cabin. But she does tell him, "I even stole a canoe." Because who doesn't want their own little boat aboard a bigger boat?

She looks up hesitantly as Scott confirms that it's okay to think of them as friends, had halfway expected him to shut it down completely. Not that thought of him as a jerk, he'd been rather kind to her given the circumstances. But the concept of friends was still new enough that she didn't like to mistake Scott being a nice person for more than that. But she nods along to the plan to keep helping her, and still refrains from warning Scott of the future she's only heard about, knowing things don't go so well.

"You'll have tough competition," she warns instead, with a small smile. "My other friends are a magical skeleton, and a billionaire Omnic. Uh... a sophisticated metal android." Don't call him a robot. "They're not very popular." Because said skeleton just murdered a bunch of people with his evil shadow alter ego. Oh well. "But they're neat." She has absolutely no idea how they'd like him. She has other friends too, who probably would.

"No," she shakes her head in confirmation. "I... no. Never had any interest in that sort of thing," Ava admits quietly, never got out much to meet anyone and certainly not on a personal level. "Trusting somebody, especially enough to allow them to... touch you. I don't like to be compromised." Vulnerable. Back home she had far more to worry about, staying under the radar to ensure her continued freedom. And constant pain that sucked all the enjoyment out of most things. "He was born 60 years before me," she tells Scott. Mostly just to get his reaction. But it is true.

[decrypter]

"It's a pleasure to meet you then, Bunny. I'm called Helena."

A rather direct nickname, if it is one, but not all of them are lofty and obscure. And it may help him that there's not a drop of magic about her - ordinary as they come, really.

"Though I must warn you, if you're a fan of nonfiction, we've got a lack of it here."

[conjuredrabbit]

“Well, probably for the best. What’s the truth of history or science in one world isn’t guaranteed to be so in another, right?” He sounds amused by the very idea of non-fiction in a place like this. “Fiction is always real, even in the places it’s not true.”

[decrypter]

"The assertation of someone who might just be a writer themselves, unless I've really missed the mark."

Or you know, just steeped in magic, but why not?

[conjuredrabbit]

“Me? A writer? No, no, no. I’ve never really tried. Have a friend who’s written some, science fiction stuff. I don’t. I read a good bit, though. My boss owns a bookstore.”

Though he doesn’t work at the bookstore. It’s a different type of boss, via changeling court politics.

[decrypter]

"How wonderful. You'll like it here, then - there are books from any year your heart desires. Even ones you may not have lived yet, which is utterly fascinating to me, but it means the pool for what to peruse next gets even bigger. I'm at the point where I'll have to draw names from a hat to pick one to start with."

Every genre beckons, and there's hardly enough time in the day to read them all with care. But it's a sanctuary as much as it is a place on board, and some days the sheer variety is stunning.

[crushed_pearls]

"Important work. Surprised to see a witch doing it but I can't throw stones given the whole 'Spring warrior' bit." Has Erin caught some attitudes about the Courts from New Avalon's influential Winter? Yes, yes she has. "The news ain't all bad. The people here are kind, the food doesn't run out, we've got actual doctors aboard plural. And..."

Erin's voice goes wistful. "Their worlds are often wondrous too, in their own ways."

There's a pause. "What year is it for you?"

2. What's the Difference

[teethoftherisk]

While Siffleur is most comfortable in the clothing store, it lacks one thing essential (besides a lack of flesh-prey) and that's the sky. While he's aware that the sky is no more real than anything else, it feels real, and it helps his mind feel at ease. So, here he is, taking his walk up to the pool deck where he'll lie on a chair for a while and photosynthesize.

At least, that's the plan, right up until he's three steps out on the pool deck and his body comes to a complete standstill before his mind can catch up. It's been months now, months of people and the small clothing monsters and nothing else, and he holds himself like a statue, his breathing slow and shallow as his eyes fix on the rabbit sitting on the pool desk.

It's probably a person, probably a shapeshifter, probably fake. And yet, his mind screams at him, aching and starving for prey to chase, real prey, something small that's meant to run from him screaming and terrified. He stares at the rabbit, pupils tiny little pinpoints that can see nothing else.