TEST DRIVE MEME #10

[sailmods]

a. that's where we both belong

[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.]

b. and there's plenty of that down by the sea

[it’s strange to think about, isn’t it? how all those new passengers, the ones grumbling or shouting their way through the forced muster drill, have absolutely no idea what happened just last month. no idea about the labyrinth. no concept of why anyone around them would be a bit more hesitant around shadows.

they’ll learn.

sometimes a shadow is darker than it’s supposed to be. very rarely does anything come of that; just a vague sense that someone is watching you, and little more. sometimes, though, the shadows move. sometimes they grab at your ankles as you walk. sometimes they give you a shove as you go down the stairs. sometimes they pull your hair, or pinch your arm.

sometimes you feel something sharp cut into your lower leg.

that’s not a shadow, though. that’s a fiddler crab. you see the crab, sometimes. the cut isn’t from its claws, which don’t look very intimating; it’s not a very large crab. the cut is from the large kitchen knife crudely taped onto its back. it’s probably fine. it's not chasing you. there isn't evil in its heart. probably.]

c. think I'll go back to the Keys

[one day, in the atrium, two pedestals suddenly appear. on each is a large button: one green, and one blue. pressing the blue button gives you a little treat, popping out of thin air next to you. pressing the green button sends a small electric shock through your body. weird, but, hey, pretty avoidable, right?

except, it seems to be spreading. to every other button on board.

in the elevator. on the soda machine. the arcade. your phone. the bell on Friday’s desk.]

Comments

[treadwater]

"He might argue the technicality, that so often we torture ourselves and one another, instead of him taking a direct hand in the matter."

But Undine pauses after saying it, giving Edgar a long, quiet look. "I'm sorry that you've ended up here."

[treadwater]

She doesn't answer absolutely immediately, pursing her lips.

"Not really. But I thought it was necessary, at the time."

C

[decohere]

[a glimmer catches her eye, and Ava swims closer to investigate the golden string.

she gives it a playful tug-tug, figuring whoever is at the other end must be bored.]

[thismaskismybadge]

"It's not the—" Her lips press together as she bites her words back. Not the same. She doesn't know what the worlds of the other teens Undine mentions might be like, even if hearing about Undine's and Shouji's already make her feel irrationally alone. "Maybe— maybe you're right. I don't know. I've only met some of you. But I just— don't want everyone to know that I'm not just Gwen."

(Does she? Doesn't she want people to know all of her for once?)

"Not right now."

[treadwater]

"I'm not going to tell anyone, don't worry. But." There's a hint of sly playfulness. "I reserve my right to a told-you-so."

[thismaskismybadge]

In a way, the way Gwen looks during all of this is like a mask has dropped. What's hard to tell, though, is if all that's been revealed is... just another mask.

The corner of her mouth pulls up in an approximation of amusement. "Yeah, sure. If I earn an 'I told you so', lay it on me."

She doesn't sound like she thinks it's likely, but...

[decrypter]

"Disc, perhaps."

She's picked up one, to feel the weight and shape of it with her own hands.

"And the puck..."

She slides it across the table, forward and back, gently. Her face is intense in its concentration, trying to memorize.

[dupli_arms]

He chuckles quietly. "Darcy would give me hell just for having it to begin with, probably." They remind him so much of one of his friends from home that he could fully imagine what they might say.

[businessorlibation]

“He didn’t save a city. No, he did almost exactly the opposite: put a city in the hands of a despot by dying an untimely death as a figurehead. A degrading reminder, indeed.”

Johnny still isn’t entirely sure who had the statue commissioned, or if it was a mockery the ship inflicted wholly on its own. It doesn’t matter, truly. Occasionally, he’s been known to drape it in toilet paper or purple lingerie. As you do!

[treadwater]

“No. They wouldn’t. I’m pretty sure they’ve always been cool with other people exploring their presentation and expression. And from what I saw, they’re getting better with that for themself, too.”

There is a world of context here, isn’t there?

[dupli_arms]

"Okay, you've got a point." He leans his side against the counter with his main arms crossed. "Do they even make lacquers strong enough to withstand combat training?"

[treadwater]

“Standard polishes, not so much. UV gel polishes and acrylics? Those can be weapons in their own right.”

Though very few magical girls do their nails because transformation sequences often change nails in their own right. (See Sailor Moon)

[dupli_arms]

"This stuff's more complicated than I thought." All he ever learned was the cheaper stuff in the little bottles that tended to start flaking after a few days, but he was assured that the chipped polish was a decent aesthetic too.

[treadwater]

“This is hardly complicated. I haven’t even used the word ‘monomer’ yet.” There’s a wry humor under those words. She passes him his boba and sets out a plate of pastries to share.

[dupli_arms]

She's teasing him now, and he wrinkles his nose as he laughs once more. He picks up a pastry and bites into it with a generated mouth, speaking up with the main one so that he's not talking with his mouth full.

"More complicated than I initially the even without going into the chemistry of it, considering my exposure's been pretty limited."

[treadwater]

She can’t help but notice the choice to eat using a side-mouth, watching for a moment and ruminating. But to ask would be rude, right? He’s made his disinterest in sharing clear, by wearing a mask.

“I think that’s a little true about a lot of things. That there’s layers the layman isn’t able to conceive of, let alone grasp. I feel that way about sports, for example.”

[dupli_arms]

He's so used to that scrutiny that he can move right past it, the same way that he does most things that aren't asked outright.

Shouji makes a thoughtfulness sound and nods some in acknowledgement. "Definitely true of most things, but also I think people tend to overcomplicate things like sports on purpose."

[treadwater]

“Oh? Unfold that thought a little for me, I know very little about sports.” And she’s curious about what’s so complicated, anyhow.

[professionalriot]

"Ash Cromwell. New guy. Ghosts don't serve drinks where I'm from." He moves from the bar to a seat across from her. Much better then a barstool.

"Ah. So the ship is really the one in charge." Which made no sense but there it was. Ashley doesn't notice the way she sniffs him out but he knows that look. She reminds him of his Alpha. Small in stature but fierce. Not to be underestimated. After taking another drink he gives her a pointed look and lets just his eyes change. They look a lot like hers, golden wolf's eyes.

[professionalriot]

"What kind of clients? What do you do stranger?" Ashley didn't have comfort shows. He has--had-- music and his computer and he has neither here.

"I don't bite. You can sit down." That wasn't entirely true. He bites if and when he needs to. On a ship he can't get off of with a bunch of strangers, that wasn't likely to happen. Ash didn't need enemies on day one.

[hadnoright]

Theeere it is. Daisy snorts. "Our 'ghosts' back home mostly attack people." And whether the manifestations of the Entities they call ghosts are really ghosts is... debatable. "So. What're you, then? You don't smell like any of the other shifters."

No beating around the bush, she's not the type.

[lordoftheozarks]

"Better that we both have a means than not," he answers. Humans? Well, they just hope for the best, don't they?

"Thank you. I may come join you after a while." He resists mentioning that he is most certainly going to make his next stop the kitchen. Don't want to look over eager. "You've been extremely pleasant company. But don't let me keep you now."

He offers his hand out to Wayne as he says, "It's been a distinct pleasure. Thank you very much for your help."

[professionalriot]

"Where is back home for you?" From what he has picked up so far it was just a matter of where but when. Ashley moves in his chair and bends over so he can take his shoes off. He hates shoes and they have been on for way too long.

"We're called Garou. Werewolves." Though he wasn't a fan of that terminology. It was just what was familiar to most and made the conversation easier. Not that he had this conversation frequently. What he is has always been a carefully guarded secret, he just doesn't see the point in trying to hide it here. "I have four other forms I can take."

[yournewsidekick]

"I dunno," she says with a shrug. "That's why I wanna look around."

She casts a glance up at the highest part of the ship she can see from this vantage point.

"It's gotta have some good stuff, though, right? A ship this big and fancy has to have fancy people on it."

CW: unsanitary mention, also Sols I should pun-ish you for not adding a tag

[blindwatchersees]

"Ah, but what led to his immortalization doesn't really matter, does it? Mighty or meek, all those engraved in stone or wrought in metal share equally in the fate of being shat upon by pigeons for centuries, or however long it takes for the inglorious effigy to come crashing down. A truly noble fate, to be sure- remembered by generations for being covered in bird crap!"