sail_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME #8

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There is another tall figure in the infinite Tommy Bahama, although this one is seated on a wheelchair, with a cast on his left calf and bandaged cuts on his face.

Dedue quietly sorts through clothing in an effort to find something that is 1) in his size and 2) not entirely hideous.

In the middle of holding up a hanger in one hand to evaluate the floral pattern of a teal and orange button-down shirt, he sees a small pile of clothing rise up nearby out of the corner of his eye. He punches it and keeps examining the shirt.

The man, and his action, are enough to draw Yue Qingyuan's attention. Had whatever that small swaddled bundle of clothing entailed come to injury, he would have been on hand to take action, but it proves itself unnecessary given how deftly the healing man handled its... attack.

(There are endless strangenesses here. Possessed clothing creatures feels the least of it, though he wonders how and what they consume.)

"This Yue Qingyuan greets you," he says after gently leaping down from his perch on the rack, pointedly squashing another small clothing monster underfoot. It simply... smooshes. A twist of his ankle sends it flying back into the endless depths of the store. "If I'm not interrupting too rudely. If I am, I offer apologies for the inconvenience."

Said with genuine sincerity, and a bow of his head, hands raised before him and interlocked. Politeness first.

“You are not,” Dedue nods politely.
“I am Dedue Molinaro.”
He looks over to the pile of squashed clothing.
“I believe the Bahamanal has been breeding,” he says flatly.

A blink, with a casual glance down at the formerly twitching clothing pile.

"These creatures are called Bahamanal, then." Not a beast he's aware of, but to be surprised by that after the series of shocks ending up here incurred alone was premature and silly. He could be both, but not often, and mostly for certain persons.

Too much responsibility to be otherwise.

"Do they pose significant threat?" If their numbers swell to overwhelming, or if one beast alone is a problem. He doesn't know. Asking feels prudent.

“These small ones do not. There is a far larger one that is much stronger than these. We would need a team in order to combat it, rather than just two. I have not seen it since the small ones appeared, but I would not rule out the possibility of encountering it.”
He glances at Yue. “I am assuming you have battle experience?”

He nods his head once to the inquiry, tapping a finger to the hilt of the sword at his side. Sure, his robes are tattered and blood splattered, but it all looks old, at least.

(Since it happened before he woke up here, in what he presumes are the moments following his death or taken fleetingly before its certainty, it's old enough.)

"I've passing familiarity with battle, yes. This larger creature, what can you tell me of it?"

TEST DRIVE MEME #8

3

please forgive me, November swallowed me whole

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