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sailmods ([personal profile] sailmods) wrote in [community profile] sail_ooc2023-05-23 12:55 am
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TEST DRIVE MEME #10



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.]
moonlesstides: (Dissatisfied)

[personal profile] moonlesstides 2023-07-24 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
Grace nods. She does actually understand that this time. However...

~...My former employment would, unfortunately, have placed us at odds. But it has not followed me here. The hunter Siffleur - his assistance is to this end. I. Would prefer, if to hunt was my choice, and not something I must do. But I do not know.~

There's something so very fragile in her words and on her face right now.
saltwaterlungs: (Black Sea)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, it is good. Really good, um-"

But it doesn't fucking explain how Undine is here if that's true!!!

"Also I'm tran- I mean- not like- I'm still Darcy, I just use he or they or whatever now," he'll get there, "so that's. Happening for me."
treadwater: (~ shock)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 07:14 am (UTC)(link)
“Oh! Okay. Um, good to know. That’s…huh. I’m glad you told me.”

She gives him a slow look-over, as if expecting him to be different than she remembers in other ways.

“You look pretty good.”
treadwater: (Default)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 07:15 am (UTC)(link)
“Before, when I was on the ship, I wanted my former employment to end, too. I didn’t want to have to be someone who was about fighting monsters.”

Undine glances down at her drink quietly.

“We get choices, here.”
saltwaterlungs: (Weddell Sea)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Thanks," and a hand goes to his shaved head so it doesn't fidget with his tie as to draw attention to it. He's not wearing her friendship bracelet.

"Look I- there's a lot to catch you up on, you should- you should get yourself boba first."
treadwater: (~ oh no)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
“Do you want some too? It’s just as easy to make two as it is to make one.” Stepping behind the counter, there’s a look around and then a bit of a sigh. “How long has Bash been gone?”

It’s the state of the espresso machine. She can tell he’s not loving it every day.
crushed_pearls: (Default)

[personal profile] crushed_pearls 2023-07-24 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Elevator then, it's as private as we'll get with that picture joint being a thing."

Which, speak of the devil. Erin pushes the call button, and tips Undine a sideways smile. "But, lass? I'm afraid you've got a ticket for that ride either way. Being in the business of protecting people...it's been a good change for me. If you're dead set on it though you'll need to meet my roommate Helena, she's organizing for emergency preparedness. Blind lass, short, uses a gorgeous cane, very cute taste in clothes. Can't miss her."
saltwaterlungs: (Brood)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
"A couple of months. Izzy, too. Bunch of people. It's been like... six months, since you disappeared."

But he nods in confirmation, "you remember my order?"
moonlesstides: (Rare Smile)

[personal profile] moonlesstides 2023-07-24 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
~And discoveries! Lessons! Friends! Friends have been delightful. The people here have been so kind that sometimes it doesn't feel real.~
treadwater: (~ ponder)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
“Green tea, no sugar. You just like your leaf juice.”

It’s weird. Everything is weird. But honestly, Undine seems stable, all things considered. There could be awkward energy, but she’s had time…and things with Heartful Punch at home, which like. Again, she’s never going to see Kokoro on the ship, but her heart holds a fullness from what happened back there.
Edited 2023-07-24 07:49 (UTC)
treadwater: (* undertow)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
It is probably weird to be right in the middle of a transformation sequence in a tight elevator space. And it is definitely wet.

And Undine’s costume seems to have changed a little, at the shoulders and on the boots. Small adjustments; character growth.
treadwater: (~ no worries)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 07:50 am (UTC)(link)
“Yeah? Yeah. That’s a little bit how it is here. Even people who you don’t expect to have anything in common with might become friends for you, someday.”

A pause.

“You should try drinking the boba.”
saltwaterlungs: (Black Sea)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 07:52 am (UTC)(link)
"I kind of like the bitterness."

It's absurdly surreal to watch Undine again, going through the motions of making boba as if nothing has happened. No time has passed. When Darcy asks, it's a question so reflexive from being burned into his brain through repetition that he's probably been asking it in his sleep.

"Why didn't you tell me that you'd given up your powers?"
treadwater: (~ thinking)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
“Let me preface this with the fact that they’re back now. But. I thought you would hate me for it. For giving up on protecting people and being one of the strong people who could help others in a crisis. Who had to help others in every crisis. I was scared that you’d be mad when you found out.”

She’s a little scared Darcy will still be mad now, which is why her being ‘normal’ again comes up front.
moonlesstides: (Default)

[personal profile] moonlesstides 2023-07-24 07:56 am (UTC)(link)
Poor choice of words Undine. Grace leans over and just takes a big sip of Undine's drink. If she breathed she'd be choking on pearls right now; as it stands she's lightly slapping at her own neck to try and force them down.

~This seems strangely hazardous to mortal things.~
treadwater: (~ hehe)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 08:04 am (UTC)(link)
“Okay, but you were warned! You saw me blow one onto your puddle!”

Like, it was more warning than Tayrey and Lucius got.
saltwaterlungs: (Caspian Sea)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
"I was madder that you didn't tell me. Yeah, I was upset, but I got over myself. If you hadn't come back now, then you would've died and just never..."

Darcy huffs.

"I can be mad and still care about you. It's your fucking choice anyway."
treadwater: (~ hiding)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 08:16 am (UTC)(link)
“You’re right. I should have told you. I should have found a way to be able to talk to you. I was…really overwhelmed back then. And I know things aren’t going to get any easier here and now.”

A pause to get her own caramel milk tea going as well.

“I suppose on some level I felt like I couldn’t keep up and I wanted to give up trying. But I didn’t want you to feel like any of it was on you, because it wasn’t.”
saltwaterlungs: (Default)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
"It... just sucked, to hear you were happy about it, and I wasn't there for it, that's all."

...

"Are you going to ask Friday to turn them off again?"
treadwater: (~ under pressure)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
“It didn’t really work out for me last time, did it?”

She knows correlation doesn’t equal causation, but still, burning all the way out so soon after? Okay, no, she’s not sure that’s how that worked, but still!
saltwaterlungs: (Coral Sea)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 08:35 am (UTC)(link)
A shrug.

"Some things are more important than... I just mean, if it's still what you want, and all."
treadwater: (~ apologetic)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 08:37 am (UTC)(link)
There’s a bit of a smile as Undine puts Darcy’s drink on the counter.

“Thank you for being supportive of me.”
saltwaterlungs: (Black Sea)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
"I did a kind of dogshit job of it last time. I've been trying to do better."

Darcy takes it, and- yeah this is infinitely better than buffet green tea packets with ice.

"Apparently I have some issues, so."
treadwater: (~ defensive)

[personal profile] treadwater 2023-07-24 08:47 am (UTC)(link)
“Name me one person on this ship who doesn’t have issues. Anyone who thinks they don’t is compensating something awful.”

She’s including herself in there.

“But I’m glad you’re working on it. It’s been what, almost eight months. A lot can change in that time.”
saltwaterlungs: (I would literally rather be anywhere els)

[personal profile] saltwaterlungs 2023-07-24 08:50 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah."

There's really no way around this, and Darcy just sort of tries to blurt it out at once like a word brick-

"Ihaveanewgirlfriendactually."