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

[pissant]

He wouldn't get it anyway. He frowns and then plays with the feathers on the lei a bit. "Oh, shit! That's not what I meant by that! I meant like you know... blue drink vibes~." Great recovery Scott. This person's giving off some energy and he makes a mental note not to joke around here in a folder he'll call; 'I'd really rather not get punched over something I said today'.

At the mention of magic he pops a brow up and then offers a sort of lazy smile. "I mean technically I think that's the whole thing of lei right? Supposed to make you feel ways about stuff relating to islands? I dunno I never lived that Buffet lifestyle." No Cheeseburgers in paradise for Lang. He stares at the lei again, actively taking a look at it now more so the casual glance he'd offered it earlier. "What's so magic about this one? Aside from being the wrong material."

[saltwaterlungs]

This random stranger successfully razzed, Darcy huffs a weak laugh and dismounts from the roof, sliding down the wall and dismounting effortlessly, like she's cool but not putting too much effort into it. Then she leans against the wall with her arms folded, because the coolness she's radiating can't be measured by conventional science.

"No, like, I mean very literally that the lei is magic. Not bullshit magic experience magic. Actual magic. Welcome to the Serena Eternia, your nearest exits are nowhere, and I hope you don't mind getting your food served to you by ghosts, because if you do, you'd better get used to it fast."

An upnod towards the lei, "nobody really knows," unfolds one arm to do magic-y spirit-y fingers in his direction, "it's just important if something really bad happens."

[pissant]

Scott is mesmerized, but to be honest it doesn't take much to excite such a simple brain. If he tried to do such a thing he'd definitely crash land so her skills and somehow managing to dismount off her high perch with successful ease is awe-inspiring. He watches, cautiously, as the other approaches him. She doesn't seem threatening, and he is on some sort of weird cruise ship so how threatening could 'vacationers' be, but then she starts talking about ghosts and now he's thinking maybe there's something he's clearly missing. He's at least smart enough to pick that up.

"Ghosts? Like spooky murder ghosts? Or just like lost soul ghosts? Is this some sort of weird titanic or something?" It's the only frame of reference he has and to be honest he can't entirely remember what that boat looked like, he only saw the movie once. And you know the movies not a documentary...

He slaps his foot against the decking and seems convinced enough for now it's solid at least and keys back into the conversation about the time she's mentioning the 'really bad'. "Like what kind of really bad?"

[saltwaterlungs]

"See? Thank you, there's a difference between murder ghosts and sad lost soul ghosts," she gestures towards him as if he's just provided evidence in favour of an ongoing argument. Darcy will of course assume that he's a fellow expert in ghost busting hunting.

"These are sad lost soul ghosts. Not like a titanic thing in that they didn't all die at once- they're the previous passengers. The ones before us. The ship is also not a ghost."

Just had to... clarify that.

"I don't know, it's not like I've had to wear them before. Probably something super bad."

[pissant]

"Oh yeah. I mean, some ghosts are just chaos energy. I can get behind that." Says the chaotic good boy. He might not be a ghost hunter, or buster, but he has had some experience with ghosts... Or maybe not really. He was possessed once, but it wasn't really a ghost. Not traditionally and there was that one time he met a ghost, but it was not actually a ghost just a person who seemed like a ghost.

Okay so he has no real ghostly experience.

But he's open to it so that's at least a start. The concept isn't entirely lost on him. "It's good to know the ship is solid at least. I'm not really a big ship guy." He admits as he mulls over the concept of lost passengers. Oh lord please let him not die here and be some sort of ghost trapped in line for the buffet forever.

He doesn't like the answer; 'probably something super bad' but he also doesn't like this weird voodoo lei either. Hopefully this isn't a forever thing it seems like maybe not if this is the first time this strangers seeing them. He'll keep it on for now to avoid endless cosmic buffet lines. "So this is new to you then, this lei thing. But ghosts are not?"

[saltwaterlungs]

"I wasn't big on ships either, but this is sort of home now," she gestures around broadly, "not like we can go anywhere else."

The observation coaxes a small smile out of her, and she does a 'more or less' head-bob motion from side to side.

"Yeah, you got me. 'm Darcy, I see dead people."

[pissant]

"Darcy? Nice to meet you, I'm Scott." There's a frown at the affirmation of being trapped here. I mean you can't really escape those 'vibes' that this place has, can you? And the talk of Ghosts and such doesn't do much to avoid that conversation.

"I guess thats kinda how it goes. Have you been here a while then?"

[saltwaterlungs]

"Too fucking long," she confirms, "more than six months, by now. You're honestly taking this whole thing pretty well, most people kind of hit the 'there is no escape' or 'the ship is run by ghosts' thing and flip a little. Or I did, anyway. Are you from a weird w- that's going to mean absolutely nothing to you if you actually are from one, okay."

New approach.

"Is magic and shit real in your world?"

[pissant]

[[ooc; sorry for my slow ass!! we had no power for the last few days and i hate, hate, hate doing game tags via mobile! D;]]

"My life has been upheaved so many times... Between jail, and superhero-ing, and just my shit ass luck..." He just laughs and shrugs. You can get knocked around so much and be shocked by it so many times before you just become a little bit numb to it. Give him time, he'll certainly be annoyed by it, but shocked? Naw... Not Scott Lang, god bless his stoner attitude.

"Uh... I think so? Like I've never studied it or anything but guy I kinda, sorta, maybe, work with does it. Why is this supposed to be some magical sort of place?" He's more a man of science himself but that being said he's not entirely unopen to the idea of it, like some people might be.