sail_ooc | 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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The first thing Zero thinks upon opening her eye: Why am I alive again?

The second thing she thinks upon reading the letter: What the fuck is a 'cruise line'?

Suffice to say that for better or worse, this isn't quite the strangest thing to have ever happened to her. She tries her damnedest to avoid going to deck one, both disinterested in attending and spiteful at the idea of being forced to do anything anyone tells her to do. For all her stubborn will though, there's no avoiding the inevitability of heading for the lifeboat drill. If anyone happens to hear a woman cussing up a storm on the way to the deck...

Well, it's easy enough to see just who's unintentionally living up the "at sea" life by swearing like a sailor.]

Well I'm not happy to join your fucking bullshit. [Zero tears the lei off her neck, chucking it overboard behind her and straight into the ocean.] Save your garbage for someone else.

[There's a woman in white chasing down a crab. Or to be more specific, chasing down the knife strapped to the crab's back.

Does Zero really need a weapon on a cruise ship like this? Honestly, her guess is yes. These shadows have been damn annoying, always disappearing or fading away before she can sock it with her fist. She's no slouch when it comes to fisticuffs, but whatever the hell is going on here is probably weird enough where it wouldn't hurt to have a blade of some kind.

Now if only she could get her hands on it.]

Get BACK here you little fucker—!! [Please don't ask how a tiny little crab manages to scuttle away from her grasp every time.]

[Wildcard me, baybee.]

Yeah!!

[ There's a swarm of a few thousand ants near Zero, in a tight circle that's rather too big for the pair of deck chairs under which it's attempting to shelter. A lei rests on top of the swarm, held by hundreds of adorable little jaws.

Every single ant is talking in unison.

(They look around quickly to make sure Friday, who seems nice, is out of earshot.) ]

Who'd join your freaking bullshit!!

[ The lei gets flung a couple inches into the air, and comes down dramatically on another part of the swarm, which doesn't make quite the same statement that Zero's fling did. But to be honest, Victor doesn't sound actually mad: he sounds like he's joining a cheer at a football game. ]

[ First, it's the foul language that grabs Fio's attention. ~~Her poor ears...~~ Then it's her appearance that surprises her. This woman seems rather familiar, as if from a dream that experienced long before she became a passenger aboard the ship. Strange to find her alone. There was a young dragon too in that vision, who seemed to always be in this woman's company. But he's clearly nowhere in sight.

She frowns as she watches as the lei sail over the rails and out into the ocean. Surely some kind soul will be able to fetch it later! ]

Um... ma'am? [ Usually, these kinds of people are the ones that Fio steers clear from. She approaches cautiously, with a levitating stuffed teddy bear in tow. ] I don't think you should've thrown that away. It's not garbage.

Whoaaa there, my sweet hunny! What's all this about?

[ he calls out to her from a distance, not wanting to get in the way of her ~~anger~~ squabble with the crab. initially, he'd been drawn this way by the all the commotion and swearing -- but, man, was this girl a beauty. all legs and long, white hair ... he could stare at her for hours. ]

It didn't hurt you, did it? Y'know, I can't stand to see such a beautiful woman hurt by an ugly little thing like that. Is there anything I can do to help?

[ was she trying to take its knife? he has no clue! but he's not about to offer her the one strapped to his waist either. ]

[The lei goes flying and Yufei's eyes follow it the whole time, he almost resists but right as it's about to disappear from view he gives chase, scrambling over the railing and all six feet of grown man disappears over the side of the boat.

A few moments and then he's clambering back up onto the deck holding the lei in one hand and ungracefully falling onto the ground.]

Nearby her, a gray-skinned 14 year old boy winces. “UH, YEAH, YOU’RE PROBABLY GONNA REGRET HAVING DONE THAT LATER,” he says. His voice is naturally at a loud volume, and his tone has a gravelly quality to it.

“APPARENTLY THOSE THINGS WERE REAKLY USEFUL IN GETTING OUT OF A MALEVOLENT DEITY’S CHILDTIME MIND LABYRINTH. THOUGH ADMITTEDLY, IF I HADN’T KEPT IT IN MY INVENTORY, I PROBABLY WOULD’VE THROWN IT OFF THE SHIP AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TOO.”

TEST DRIVE MEME #10

zero | drakengard 3

a.

dito voice: hey z!!!! also a

b !!

A

a.