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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.]
Prudence | Oxventure
[Not only had Prudence not booked a cabin on a fancy cruise ship, she hadn't been anywhere near the sea. She also hadn't jumped into any chasms that might have led to the sea, she hadn't touched any magical objects that might have teleported her to the sea, and she hadn't heard the voice of the Wizard Binbag spouting nonsense that she had ignored but which might have contained key facts about her next sea-faring adventure. No, this is a mystery.
Prudence stays in her cabin for a long time. Her hope is that by the time she leaves, oops, she'll have missed the stupid lifeboat drill with the stupid bright jackets.
No such luck. It seems like she's just on schedule. She takes off her lei and examines it.]
That's real bone. What is this, some kind of seafaring magic cult? I didn't sign up for this, or fill out an expression of interest form, or however creepy cults do their recruiting now.
[Shadows and Crabs]
[Prudence is talking to the shadows in a corner of the stairwell.]
That's twice you've pinched me! I know it's you. You think you're so innocent, lurking there, but I know better. Yes!
[This could go on for some time, if not for the fact that she spots a crab with a knife taped to it back. Her eyes glint with a dark delight, and she immediately gives chase. Lead her to your evil owner, crab!
It doesn't work. Instead, find Prudence around the ship, trying to lure out the knife-crab with assorted bits of meat.]
You should be my pet. We'd make a great team. I'll distract my enemies, and you slash them with the knife! [The crab doesn't seem interested. The tiefling keeps trying.]
[Buttons]
[Prudence lurks near the buttons, waiting for someone else to pass by and stare at them. Some innocent.]
I wonder what they do! Want to try it? I'll push one, you take the other.
[She knows very well. She always positions herself nearest to the blue button. This hasn't gotten old yet.]
Arrival
[Or a whole ‘nother isekai deal for him, but that’s only theory for the moment. And isn’t that just a kidnapping with extra steps, anyway? It’s fascinating to him that he arrived in his ‘character skin’ here, instead of returning to his human self or becoming something fitting to this world.]
no subject
The kidnapping is made more interesting by the faceless woman. Did you see her? Maybe she's the one we have to kill to take control of this fancy boat.
[Prudence's proposed solutions to most problems involve violence.]
no subject
[There's a mental note being made about Prudence defaulting to violence. Someday, that might be useful. He doesn't think that's today, though.]
Buttons
Oh, for sure! [he makes a wobbly gesture with his hand.] But, uh, just FYI, there's a 50-50 chance one of these buttons does something terrible. That's, like, statistics and shit.
Shadows and crabs
I doubt the crab is seeking any alliances. I could be wrong, but... [She shrugs.] If it's something to do with whoever's hiding in the shadows, it seems unlikely.
[A beat.] You're new here. Hello. I'm Maeve.
Arrival
[That's his reasoning anyway.] This is rooster, lotus, and genuine silk. Too rich for cults, and I don't know about you, but I wouldn't normally be easy to kidnap.
[He... bites the bone to try to discern any lingering flavor, vampire fangs springing out of nowhere without warning, but the bone is too worn and washed for him to identify human vs. pig or even lizard or anything else at this rate. Not bird, not whale. Fish? Probably mammal. And not petrified/historic.]
[The vampire's fangs shrink back, and he just shrugs.] It reminds me of my research of voodoo and certain islanders, but those are protective. If it's not bothering you, [He gestures a hand to her general demonic appearance, since he has no idea the rules of her people or how such charms might affect them, but he surmises, probably about as much as stereotypical vampire repellants work on him (which is not at all)] I'd hang onto it. It might be a clue. Or key.
[And the faceless lady is off. Well whatever.]
I'm Arthur! [Offers her a handshake, hoping her culture doesn't take that as offensive.] Nice to meet you lass! First kidnapping? [Since she spoke cult recruitments. Who knows?]