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

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?"

“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.

"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?"

"Oh, see, I'm not a good witch, I'm a big ole scaredy cat. But the thing of it is, I'm fast as anything, can do polite, and most of all, I'm no kind of a threat. Mister Book, he scares folks. Me, I'm scared of folks. Harmless."

He chuckles, and then looks at her, a little confused by that last question. Scared further by its implications.

"It's 2019. Just turned, January."

"Ha! You're in my future, among other things. I'm shipping out from 2017, in a world where the Mask just -" Erin snaps her fingers, "blew out. Gone, kaput, every Lost revealed in an instant. Went better than you might expect. There's a lot of folks from different Earths and times hanging about the place, so uh. Get used to that one, it'll stop being surprising eventually."

No it won't.

"Wait. What? How?" Look, she can't just drop that lore and continue on like nothing, it's against the rules.

"Good question! My money is on someone finding a way to break our part of the pact that powered it but fuck if I know for sure. No one took credit. Might be those Dawn Court weirdos." Erin shrugs, a little helplessly. "Either way it's been out like a light for going on two years. We're public back on my Earth.'"

"Fuck. I can't even begin to imagine what that's meant for you." He shakes his head. "And here too, they know you for what you are. How's that go, most of the time?"

Deadpan: "If I had a nickel for every person who asked how my blindfold works I could buy a new reality for us all to live in."

Then, with significantly more pleasantness: "Other than that? Great, honestly. The folks here are curious and welcoming and to be honest we're not even in like, top five weirdness here. It helps that I don't eat people."

Bunny lets out a sound that's either a cough or a laugh or maybe a little of both. "That's good. I been et enough for a lifetime."

...just wait, Bunny. Just wait.

"You're ever in trouble, come find me. I didn't go to all this effort to become a heavy hitter just to sit on it, I've got your back long as you didn't start it."

"Does 'existing as a lagomorph' count as starting it?"

He gives her a wry look, and then quotes with the air of someone citing religious scripture: "All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed."

Erin smiles fondly. Maybe they'll get on fine.

There's the future to consider, of course. No way Giles doesn't warn the lad, but right now...

Right now there's no need.

"You'll do just fine, Bunny. Now! Anything I can do to welcome you aboard?"

“Uh. Ship layout, best place to run, anyone to steer clear of?” Information, that’s what he needs. Can’t plan anything without information.

A brief explanation of the ship's layout follows, here very much to include what areas are high traffic and when, and which are low.

"...Siffleur, the werecougar, he's a hunter at heart. I very much doubt he'll restrain himself. Most everyone else ought to be fine..."

(There's another.)

Ah. Yeah

"...Daisy. Yea high, blonde, Welsh, talons. Different sort of situation. She'll taste your fear but don't. Run. If you run she might chase you and that wouldn't be good for either of you, not even a little. Stand your ground and talk fast."

"Sounds like a Hunterheart I used to know back home. We had the most toxic of relationships." And yet, and yet he sounds just the tiniest bit like he misses her.

"Well don't fall in love either, she's strictly a lass's lass." It's a light tease, and quite fond. "As far as safety your cabin is best, talk to Palamedes Sextus about ghost wards. Bookish fellow, surprisingly funny, necromancer but not like Earth wizards. If you can't get to your cabin, try to find me, Ruby Rose, Darcy, or Peter Smith." Descriptions of them follow. "None will leave you in the lurch."

TEST DRIVE MEME #8

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