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

Dolce | Rune Factory 4 | OTA

[dolcedeleche]

1. Knitting during the Drill and after:

[Pico (the ghost/poltergeist normally attached to Dolce) had been begging to go on a cruise for whatever reason. Probably because she had some bizarre notion of what it'd be like with bikinis or whatever. Though Dolce hasn't the faintest idea how she got here. Either way, it was just a matter of time before the poltergeist got bored doing whatever else, and came to reattach herself. Dolce doesn't struggle with the drill, but whenever physically allowed, starts knitting. It's soothing. She stays wearing the lei, of course.] Good construction. Very elaborate.

[The lei.]

[She tilts her head at the nearest passenger, the pointed ears peeking out from the black silk top hat and long pink twintails.] Forgive this question, it may seem a bit rude, but are you a ghost? [She has a reason she's asking.]

2. Mimics have teeth:

[Mimics are the WORST! You get all excited thinking it's a treasure chest, and BAM! TEETH!]

[Dolce's healing magic is sort of useless for this.]

Return from whence you came! [She can still bonk it with her rod, but the biggest problem is she's not loud enough enough to scream. Usually she plays quiet in order to let the ghosts be heard. Oh the irony.] Help please. [It's so deadpan... She doesn't expect to be heard, but she's trying.]

3. Baby Bahamanuels:

[The children's clothes are SO CUTE. Dolce isn't inclined to switch out of her extremely fancy elegant gothic lolita style, but she has quite the eye for fashion, and typically makes smaller size designs for a certain poltergeist, so it's when she's looking at the piles, she gets bitten!]

Ow!

[Outside of Tommy Bahamas with a newly bandaged hand, Dolce has set up a sign and a table.]

Fair trade:
Offering: Clothing alterations and tailoring
Requesting: Guide through the store and monsters.
Can provide limited healing magic.
Need to keep certain item drops to make potions.
Ask Dolce for more details!

[And then a drawn-in picture of her bat-banded silk hat and a daisy. And back to knitting.]

4. Wildcard:

[Choose your own adventure!]

Katie "Pidge" Holt | Voltron: Legendary Defender

[pidgeypidge]

but times have changed for sailors these days

By the time she's made her way to deck one, Pidge's mood has gone from agitated to visibly confused. They were meant to be going home. This is not even close to what she was anticipating. The worst part of it all is that she can't remember coming here.

Friday, with her lack of face, is not even the weirdest thing she's seen in the last year. Still, Pidge isn't in the mood to deal with whatever this is right now.

"Yea, hey. Thanks. That's wonderful- but can you tell me how to get the hell out of here? I have more important things to do than... whatever this is."

She's put the life vest on over her paladin armor, at least, so she's trying? Barely? For a moment, it seems like that's all she's going to say, and then- "Hey. You haven't seen a big guy around? Yellow headband? Super nice?" Would he even be here? Would any of them?

tried to amend my carnivorous habit

Pidge is nosy by nature, so it's only natural that she ends up inside of John's. For a long moment, she just stands there gaping at the empty space. There's no music- there's no piano. It seems kind of lame, if she's being honest.

The last thing she's expecting is to have to square off with a piano in a narrow hallway. Pidge narrows her eyes, glances around in an attempt to spot a camera, or the person responsible- but then the cover lifts, displaying rows of teeth, and she's turning immediately to run back in the opposite direction. "Nope! Not dealing with this today."

that American creation on which I feed

Of all the things Pidge has seen and done, she's never had to worry about piles of clothing, which is why she's been ignoring them in favor of digging through a rack of Hawaiian shirts. It's not really her style, but she'd like to find something that isn't Matt's old stuff.

She's in the process of deciding between one with pineapples and one with seahorses when something latches onto her leg. With a yelp, she kicks out in an attempt to free herself.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Who is she yelling at? Pidge has no idea. She hadn't noticed anyone else when she'd come in, and her search now is proving fruitless. It's safe to assume she hasn't quite put it together yet.

choose your own

[Wildcard it up! She's nosy and could potentially be snooping around wherever passengers are allowed to be. I'm also rolling with post season 7 for a canon point, which only means anything if you've watched this dumb show.]

Wildcard

[serialskiller]

Occasionally over the couple of days Pidge has been on the ship, she's seen a tiny round drone dart past or hovering overhead. About a centimeter in diameter with a teensy propeller at the top, the drones seem to be patrolling around the public areas, watching everything.

Oh, look. Here one is now, wherever Pidge is. What do?

1. but times have changed for sailors these days

[angrycrabnoises]

Before Karkat would open his eyes, he is in a deep sleep. A rarity for someone with his level of chronic insomnia, but the dream bubbles the meteor would pass through from time to time do make the experience significantly more pleasant than the vast wall of writhing tentacles that would greet him normally.

This dream bubble feels significant to Karkat. He has finally said his piece to Terezi. Maybe put his foot in his mouth with her once again, but at least there’s some sense of closure there. Maybe she can finally forget him and move on. She’d be... better that way. And he has his meet-up with Meenah to look forward to. Things might not be great, but they are looking up.

So when he wakes up, not on the meteor, but on a massive ship?

Well, first he just assumes he’s still asleep. Then pinches himself to make sure. Hm, still here. Ok, fine, he slaps himself across the cheek.
Ouch.
So this is not a dream.

He gets up and tries the door. Locked. He rattles the doorknob. “STRIDER? STRIDER?! IF THIS IS SOME KIND OF SICK PRANK, IT IS NOT FUCKING FUNNY. OPEN UP.”
Nothing.

“I’M SURE YOU’RE ALL LAUGHING YOUR ASSES OFF OUT THERE,” he tries again. “YES, I KNOW, MY MISERY IS THE EPITOME OF ENTERTAINMENT COMPARED TO WHATEVER VAPID BULLSHIT YOU WOULD OTHERWISE BE DOING. WRITING OUTDATED RAPS ABOUT SOME HUMAN THAT IS NO LONGER PRESIDENT, MAYBE. I DON’T REALLY CARE WHAT YOU DO. I WILL LISTEN TO A THOUSAND OF YOUR MOST HEINOUS WORKS IF YOU OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT FUCKING NOW.”

He’s starting to panic. He can feel himself hyperventilating. He shoves the door. Nothing. He kicks the door. Nothing.

“OF FUCKING COURSE!” he shouts and turns away from the door. “ALMOST TWO SWEEPS ON AN INTERDIMENSIONAL, TIME-TRANSGRESSIVE MISSION TO SAVE MULTIPLE UNIVERSES, AND I STARVE TO DEATH TRAPPED IN A TINY ROOM BECAUSE OF A LOCKED DOOR. THIS IS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. WHY ON ALTERNIA DID I EVER EXPECT ANYTHING ELSE?!”

During his dramatic, teary-eyed flailing, he knocks a piece of paper off the table. He pauses mid-mental-breakdown to read it.

“...WHAT THE FUCK,” he mumbles under his breath. Probably still loud enough to be heard a mile away. Karkat has a very powerful diaphragm.

A bit shocked by the surrealness of this experience (though honestly not TOO shocked because, with the direction his life has taken in general, he isn’t that unused to the multiverse giving him personally a giant middle finger), he grabs the stupid life vest and is finally able to leave the room.

He tries to walk in different directions and realizes he can’t. Fine, that might as well happen. A woman with no mouth puts a fucking necklace on him. That might as well happen too.

For someone as verbose as Karkat normally is, he stands in stunned silence during the drill. He isn’t even paying attention. He’s just mentally considering which specific acts he must have committed in his past life to generate the kind of punishment he has to endure on a daily basis.

2

[busball]

Klaus is just wandering by when he hears a casual help please. They peek inside of John's expecting something a lot different than the piano attacking someone. What the actual hell? He does not have a weapon for this but he can at least like...levitate.

But first! Time to play Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park. "OVER HERE!" Cause yeah. just make a murderous piano come for you. It's the logical thing to do. So when it turns, they're definitely hoping this doesn't actually end poorly for them.

[uncodlyawwesome]

So, yeah, obviously, Eridan hears the shouting waaaaaaaaay before he ever sees Karkat. That's kind of how it is with him -- always yelling, always shouting, unable to clam up even when it's obvious that he's so far outta his goddamn depth he might as well be deep sea diving with a snorkel.

Normally, he'd just say as much. Shout back at the top of his considerable expanding and collapsing blah blah system, kar you don't knoww wwhat you're evven talkin' about, shut the fuck up, bet you havven't evven mustered yet, you leiless bastard!

Instead, he, uh. He lurks. Like some kinda predatory shark, swimming through Karkat's wake to avoid detection from a smaller, less knowledgeable and stupidly loud fish. A bahanamal, maybe, if he's feeling generous enough to compare that literal sack of polyester to his own formidable stalking capabilities.

All of this to say, by the time Karkat is done with the muster drill, staring gobsmacked at the faceless broad, Eridan has found a casual, slightly out-of-the-way spot to loiter. His figure isn't as imposing without his cape -- but it's downright fuckin' gutted by the fact that he's wearing a Tommy Bahama button-up over his traditional (if suspiciously cropped) shirt. Yes, the one with the long sleeves.

He thinks he's being very subtle. As usual, he is his own most unreliable narrator.

[angrycrabnoises]

When the drill is done and Karkat has regained control of his movements again, he groans and turns... and freezes in place.

No. Fuck no. Of all the frothing jackasses he could run into, why did it have to be this one?

Karkat has half a mind to just nope right off the ship. It would probably be significantly more tolerable than having a single conversation with this pretentious idiot.

Instead, he just says, “ERIDAN I CAN FUCKING SEE YOU OVER THERE.”

[dolcedeleche]

"Oh good, distract it," still deadpan, but Dolce smacks its back with her rod. "Where's Margaret when you need someone who speaks its language?" The language of pianos. Well, it probably wouldn't work, but it's a good try. Maybe she can try tangling some knitting in its wires.

"Do you have any magic, weapons, or are you just playing by ear?" Get it? PLAYING BY EAR?! Actually please don't notice it, she'd be so embarrassed.

[uncodlyawwesome]

Eridan winces, 60% mortification and 40% at just the sheer fuckin' volume of Karkat's voice. It's been just long enough that he'd almost forgotten how goddamn shrill this unbearable motherfucker is! But not nearly long enough for him to forget the last time he actually saw Karkat. It was... well, right about when he got brutally bisected by the fashion hag.

(For reasons that are! Absolutely! Not relevant here!)

He immediately regains (some) of his composure, throwing a hand up to lean against the wall as if he expected to be caught out. He did not. He didn't even expect to be noticed, to be honest!

What does a guy say when confronted by (the doomed copy of) a close personal friend who you closely and personally ruined the life of?

"H-Hey."

Nailed it.

Ken Ichijouji | Digimon

[darkseed]

1. Arrival

[The last thing he remembers is running through the halls of his fortress, chasing down the insects who dared to call themselves DigiDestined. Kimeramon's horrible cries echo across the stone. Despite their unearthly sound, they fill Ken's heart with pride.

He really should-- 

The memory ends there, then he's suddenly waking up in bed. At first, he thinks he must be in Tamachi, that the Digital World has somehow rejected him and spat him back out into his bedroom. It would be absurd, of course, for the Digital World to reject its one true god but maybe he hadn't entirely beaten it into submission.

Once his eyes focus and he pulls himself to his feet, he immediately sees that he is still dressed in his Emperor's garb. Not Tamachi, then. Probably still the Digital World.

A piece of paper catches his eye. He snatches it up and reads it. He reads it again. He reads it a third time. No, it still doesn't make sense. A cruise ship? How? Well, there is only one way to find out.

He stalks out the door.

It doesn't take long for him to find the crowd and get swept along. Everything around him certainly looks like a cruise ship. He's never been on a cruise before, granted, but he's seen pictures. 

He feels the droning safety drill pass through one ear and out the other. Why all of this. How? Where is his fortress? His empire?

He doesn't snap back to himself until someone puts a lei around his neck. Startled, he jumps to the side and crashes into the nearest person, whom he immediately snarls at.]

Fool! Why don't you watch where I'm going!?

2. You better C sharp or you'll B flat

[It is later, when Ken is exploring, that he stumbles across a lonely hallway with an even lonelier looking grand piano squatting in the center. 

He's slight lad for his age, but he doubts even he would be able to squeeze past it.]

Hey!

[He twists around in place and calls out to anyone close enough to hear.]

Whose piano is this!?

[With his back turned, he doesn't see the piano bare teeth at him.]

3. Wildcard

[At various points in time, Ken can be found on the deck, arms crossed, staring out at sea. One gets the impression that if he were old enough he'd be glowering at the waves over a glass of wine. Instead, he just projects a sense of imperious scorn.]

[angrycrabnoises]

Yep. Eridan looks about as smooth as he remembers. (Which is to say, not at all).

Karkat gives an exasperated sigh and puts a finger to his temple. “OKAY, LET’S JUST IGNORE FOR A SECOND THE FACT THAT YOU WERE APPARENTLY STALKING ME WHILE I WAS VERY DEEP IN THE MIDST OF A VERY PERSONAL AND COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED PSYCHOLOGICAL BREAKDOWN.”

He looks at Eridan. “WHICH VERSION ARE YOU? BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN ABOUT TEN MILLION ERIDANS AT THIS POINT, ALL FROM DIFFERENT TIMELINES WITH VARIOUS LEVELS OF SUCKING. AM I TALKING TO A SMART, NICE ERIDAN WHO DID NOT DECIDE TO ATTACK HIS OWN FRIENDS? PLEASE LET ME BE TALKING TO ONE OF THOSE.”

He notices the yellow of Eridan’s eyes and can see that he’s not dead. The Eridan from his timeline is very much dead. (Or, can he even say that’s his timeline anymore? Is he now in a doomed timeline? He isn’t happy about that thought).

[busball]

Klaus isn't sure if this is just how she talks or like...if she's being sarcastic. It's hard to be entirely certain of anything, but there's a whole piano attacking them. "You know someone that speaks piano?" Sure, that shouldn't be so surprising, but hey...he also hasn't considered that pianos are like...living things.

"Me? Oh, I'm just winging it. Anything can be a weapon if you think hard enough." Says the person that threw Halloween decor at people during a fight just recently. "Could use a bat right about now, but I don't think this place has those." A beat. "Maybe if we get a sturdy enough stool or bottle of alcohol, this will go easier. My only other option is to grab you and levitate us out of the way. And then hope it can't jump."

[dolcedeleche]

Klaus you need more self-confidence. Dolce just always speaks like this, and she needs her ghost interpreter to soften her verbal blows.

"Wouldn't the bat just attack you?" Dolce debates taking the bat off her hat, but this is a long way to go for a pun, and not really worth it.

"Levitate? Oh. You're a ghost too? Okay. If it tries to jump, I'll just kick it, okay?"

[busball]

“No. It’s like…a baseball bat? Blunt object? Is everything coming to life?” Because that’s just confusing. Almost as confusing as the bat comment?? Did she mean a bat bat?

Klaus laughs a little at the assumption because that’s just…that’s just funny right now. “No. I’m just me. I used to see ghosts, but not anymore.” A beat. “Except that kid Vance. He’s a ghost and way too young to be, but whatever.” He’s gonna run over a little closer to her before levitating and holding his hands out to her. “Might as well grab on now, yeah?”

[dolcedeleche]

She did mean an animal bat, but she knew he meant the weapon bat. Dolce still has no excuse for this next pun. "Shouldn't you be wearing stripes then?" An extremely esoteric meta pun that no one but Pico would get, and even Pico would cringe at? Yes, perfect. All during the battle, because there is no time better ever.

Dolce takes his hands readily, actually surprised that he could see ghosts. Even more by: "How did you stop? Pico only seems to be about six, but she's actually 1200. It's rude to ask a lady's age, even of ghosts though." Irrelevant until she finds the little hellion poltergeist, but usually talking about her is a good way to lure Pico out of hiding.

[busball]

"Stripes?" Yeah, He doesn't get it. Oh well.

He lifts up, some, willing himself to go a little further up in the air. "My dad built a machine to reset the world. When my sister pushed the button to reset it...boom. No powers. Just human, possibly part alien people with no powers." They sigh a little. "So you see ghosts, too? Huh. There's a lot of dead people...No wait. People with death powers. Powers involving the dead." Yes. That's...very good.

"Oh the ship in general."

[dolcedeleche]

Somehow she's heard of weirder ways, but Dolce just sighs. "I guess I can't do that." Not that Pico would let her. "Are they all Earthmates? I've never met someone else who could see ghosts before. Except Pico, but she doesn't count, because she's only visible because of me, usually." Dolce has been carried this way by Pico, who, despite being a tiny tiny six year old poltergeist, is phenomenally strong of course. So Dolce doesn't think twice about it, until the piano looks at them with a salivating tongue.

"Eek." Deadpan. "Stop peeking up my dress. You won't find anything interesting."

If that didn't lure Pico out, nothing would!

[busball]

"Most people can't," he allows. Not everyone is their dad. So that's just one of those things. "Um. I dunno? I haven't asked. I think the one lady is?" What was her name again? Did she give him her name? Why can't they remember this? "Huh. I mean, I guess ghosts could be visible to others? Like psychics? But I dunno.

Klaus glances down. "This is...actually one of the weirdest days of my life, which is saying something because...I've had so many weird days."

[dolcedeleche]

"So you're not an Earthmate."

Dolce smiles softly to herself at Klaus' comment. "I'm not surprised. This is the weirdest day I've ever had too, and my best friend is a dragon. Never lost my ability to see ghosts though. Don't know what I'd do if I did. So you can just levitate now as a weird recompense or something?"

[busball]

"Oh. I mean, I'm from Earth? But I wouldn't call myself an Earthmate? Mostly cause I don't really understand what an Earthmate means?" Like is that just what some people call people from Earth? Is it like...you're mated to the Earth? Is the Earth a person that people fuck? Like...there are a lot of questions they have no answers to.

"Your best friend is a fucking dragon?" That earns a sigh. "I want a dragon for a best friend. No fair." This is tying back into that one conversation they had with Klaus about what someone would choose to look like if they had that kind of magic. "Oh. I dunno. I just got it recently. But I've been working on it every day since then. It was a lot easier when I was high, which is weirdly not the same for any other power I've ever had."

[dolcedeleche]

"Earthmates are people with extremely strong magic that lets them seen runeys and cultivate them via planting, harvesting, and they're extra sturdy, and capable of high level magic that no one else can do." Nothing that exciting Klaus.

"Ventuswill of the Divine Wind. She says even she can't see ghosts, but she might be lying. Hard to say. Do you have a ghost best friend? Or did, I should say?"

Another quiet smile to herself. "Well, I suppose it would be easier from high places." GET IT? She's having too much fun with all these puns to be honest. "Have you tried from an airship yet?"

[busball]

"Oh. Yeah. I don't think I'd call myself that. I don't have like...magic. Just super powers. Or I had them anyway." Only does levitating count as a superpower? It feels pretty basic.

"I couldn't tell you about that." At the question about a ghost best friend, though, they grow a touch more still, the expression on their face a little more sad. "My brother Ben." He looks off to the side. "But he sacrificed himself to save Viktor from...destroying the world and causing another apocalypse, so..." He's gone for good now. No more Ben. Ava's sort of taking over for Ben's duties of slap fights and getting into pointless arguments, though.

They pull themselves out of their thoughts long enough to smile, a very small laugh escaping. "Mmm. Something like that." From an airship? "No. There's no airships here...or back home. I mean, there's...uh...what are those things called again?" He gestures vaguely. "The balloons that they use for sports games?" He means blimps.

Max Brinly || The Quarry || OTA

[sonofabinky]

( ooc: if your character can smell/sense nonhumans, then it's worth peeking at Max's info. )

1. but times have changed for sailors these days

[ Max wakes up covered in pungent blood for uh, the third time in three months? So that's a thing that sucks.

He also wakes up in a bed, and though the bed now smells really, really bad (see: blood, above), it has covers and a soft mattress, and isn't in a prison cell, soooo... ]

Huh. Upgraded to first class.

Uuuhh... Laura?

[ Laura is not there. ]

Uh... shit.

[ Oooookay. Time to figure out where he is, then. Judging by the porthole and the view beyond it, a boat?? Max isn't sure how to square this with the treehouse where he uh... went away, but if the plan went perfectly, then he didn't hurt anyone, and Laura succeeded, and she's safe around here somewhere. So in the absence of other evidence, he's going to... hope that everything went perfectly, and the boat thing is some kind of ad-lib?

Yeah. Let's go with that.

He finds the cabin's bathroom before he finds the note, and... you know what. There's a shower here. And there's morning light streaming in from outside, meaning he probably isn't in danger. Probably. Well, maybe the normal kind, but at least not the somebody's-sudden-death kind.

Anyway. Max climbs into the tub, and takes the nicest shower he's had in two months.

-

All this to say: one of the newcomers standing there stunned post-drill is dressed in ill-fitting beach clothes that he found in a wardrobe (sorry, uh, if those were anyone's), and he smells like shower gel, and his red hair is still damp. And he feels absolutely baffled and vaguely, deeply freaked.

If you're nearby, he'll turn to you, wearing a lei round his neck and an out-of-his-depth expression on his face. ]

Hey, uh........

What just happened?


2. tried to amend my carnivorous habit

Aaaaaahhh!!

[ Enjoying a nice meal in the buffet or perhaps one of the restaurants? Not any more you're not, because a young man in too-small Tommy Bahamas has just burst in through the door in a panic.

When he spots somebody in here, he kind of jogs in place for a second, not wanting to stop but not wanting to go without warning them either. His flip-flops lasted for roughly three seconds after he started running, and now his bare feet smack on the floor. ]

Look out, man! There's a freaking piano!

[ This explains everything.

And then it bursts in behind him, three times as wide as the door and taking chunks of the wall with it, snapping its sharp teeth. ]


Wildcard

[ Max will be poking around the ship with the attitude of a very confused and lost puppy. If he sees someone human, or apparently human, he'll pause, and then give them a confused and lost wave. If he sees someone obviously nonhuman, he will gawk like an idiot. Feel free to wildcard in and encounter him wherever! ]

01.

[opheliac]

(for the sake of this, i am going to pretend jinx here is all well and better and not sick due to last month's shenanigans. and she is also not a newcomer in fact, she's been on this hell boat since the beginning. but this doesn't mean she won't pretend to stand around among the new folks as if she is one. why? boredom and pranking is fun.

with her hands on her hips, jinx sees max turning her way to ask his question. a trickery smile is on her as she cocks her head to the side.)

Hm? What happened? — Oh y'know, this and that. Here and there.

(this elaborates nothing.)

[sonofabinky]

Well yeah, I guess, but... specifically? You did see the whole...

[ This girl must have seen Gal Friday's smooth blank face. Right? Max feels crazy just saying it out loud, but he definitely saw that. ]

Face... off?