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

[crushed_pearls]

"Yeah, it's rough," says the reckless friend who's constantly worrying all her loved ones. "...Kinda struggling to imagine the opposite of a gangster. Like. No way you're a suburban housewife right??"

[dupli_arms]

"High school student training to be a hero." Which to anyone not intimately familiar with a world like his is probably a wild statement.

Local Woman So Fucking Tired Of Every World Having Child Soldiers

[crushed_pearls]

"...When you say hero..."

Shhh it's fine..........

[dupli_arms]

That hesitation speaks volumes...

"Volunteering our abilities to defend the helpless from others that might try to hurt them, with official mentorship and training programs that we sign up for per region."

[crushed_pearls]

There is an extremely long and wordless sound of exhausted frustration. Erin can't even be surprised any more about all these god damn child soldiers but she sure is gonna note that if she ends up in this kid's Japan she's gonna start killing adults until a survivor correctly guesses what her grievance is.

[dupli_arms]

That is a very good way to get dogpiled by licensed heroes, Erin...

"That's...not what you wanted to hear. I apologize." He bows politely, unsure what else to do. He won't sit and justify it to her if she's already so distressed by it. It would require a lot more information than he's comfortable offering a stranger.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin waves the apology off. "You didn't do anything wrong, youngblood, it's just a painfully familiar story. I picked up my first sword at fifteen, and a lot of the teenagers and young adults on this damn ship are in similar positions. My little sister here, Ruby, fucking...also fifteen when they had her fighting literal soulless monsters that exist only to kill. Getting confirmation that the multiverse is full of failed adults is fucking exhausting."

[dupli_arms]

He listens quietly, his arms coming to cross with the spares slack at his sides. "You're building an assumption of how my world operates based on examples from outside contexts. You're not wrong that there are a lot of adults that aren't able or aren't willing to protect us, but it doesn't seem fair to infer "child soldier" from hearing that I chose to train my Quirk into something that could be useful."

As a demonstration of sorts, the ends of his tendrils lift, and split, and split again, each one becoming an ear or an eye, one of them a mouth that speaks more clearly than the main one behind the mask.

"I'm not a soulless monster, and neither of my friends, and the villains that we fight aren't either."

[crushed_pearls]

"...One, my apologies for any insinuation made about your nature, two, that's the coolest shit I've seen in months." Erin drifts closer, completely fascinated. "Listen...I'm touchy about...kids shouldn't have to pick up the sword. But if you wanna tell me what's up, I'll listen. I really will."

[dupli_arms]

At the admission of touchiness, he relents immediately, though he keeps a couple of eyes and a mouth toward her. "I apologize," he says once more, using that mouth rather than the main one for sake of clarity. "It's true that some of us don't really have an option, but I would have chosen for myself to go into this field for personal reasons. I want to use the shape I was born with to help people and the academy was the best way I had to do that."

[crushed_pearls]

"Is it...just combat?" She's trying to ask as delicately as she possibly can. "Like, looking at you my first thought is you'd be a godsend for finding avalanche victims, and while that work is hardly safe..."

[dupli_arms]

"I can fight, but I vastly prefer support or reconnaissance. I can surveil a wide area, and protect those that need it." He raises an arm as he says it to show the webbing between each of his limbs. "It's what I'm best at."

[crushed_pearls]

"Badass," Erin says with all signs of absolute enthusiasm. "You're in a bit of good company here as far as that goes. If you catch a tall guy with owl wings around he's got, well, owl hearing, which he can't turn off. He is in fact probably hearing me suggest that you meet him right now. He's Phil, really chill guy. The tailor you're lookin' for is Okie, about yea high, younger fella, deeply hilarious."

[dupli_arms]

He's known winged heroes in his time, so seeing Phil would probably actually be comforting. "Phil, Okie," he repeats, committing the names to memory. "I appreciate the help. This has kind of been a learning curve and there's still a lot that doesn't make any sense to me. Anything to make it easier would be good."

[crushed_pearls]

"...Well, since you're here, give a listen to the deeper reaches of the store. You're looking for a great deal of moving cloth; let me know when you hear it."

Beat.

"Or if it's close."

[dupli_arms]

That is...baffling, and concerning, but as soon as the suggestion is made, the blunted tentacles morph and extend until he's got half a dozen ears periscoped up and fanned out, though after only moments all of them are honed in to one direction. They can't necessarily see it from where they are, but he can tell that whatever it is she's having look out for, it's on the move.

"So...what is that?"

[crushed_pearls]

"That's Bahamanuel, it and its young live here. They're aggressive, predatory, and they do attack people. They will hunt you down and eat you, though they prefer ambush tactics when possible. Be careful around piles of clothing." Erin hums thoughtfully. "My friend Siffleur lives in here too, he's a man who's also a mountain lion and might in fact be listening now. He's chill, and generally will only hunt people who sign up for his death games, but, y'know, exercise reasonable caution."

[teethoftherisk]

"I am refraining from hunting the new arrivals these days." Siffleur calls out to Erin and the stranger because yes, he has been listening. He pokes his head around from behind one of the displays of mannequins frozen playing beach volleyball. The cougar takes in the various ears on the ends of the tentacles and quietly congratulates himself for making the choice a while ago not to attack, since this isn't someone he's going to easily be sneaking up on - if at all.

[dupli_arms]

Every ear turns toward the...cougar? Yes, that really is a cougar that's talking to them. Well, it isn't the oddest thing he's ever encountered, considering his...y'know. Everything. A few of those ears turn into eyes, though only one remains focused on Siffleur while the rest turn back in the direction of the bahaminal.

"I'd rather not be hunted, thank you," he replies as politely as he can, bowing in the direction of the big cat watching his appendages.

[teethoftherisk]

He chuckles a little and inclines his head back towards the man with many ears. "Of course. If you change your mind, I'm sure you can find me."

And with that, he slips back into the displays, letting Erin and her new friend enjoy some peace and quiet.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin waves as Siffleur leaves and gives him a bit to get some distance before turning back to Shouji. "So yeah that's Siffleur, friend of mine, has the most fascinating conversations. He won't always be comfortable by human standards but he'll never double deal you or hedge his answers."

[dupli_arms]

He straightens up again, relaxing a touch though he does still keep an ear out for the monster in case it changes direction. "He seems decent, if you think so highly of him."

[crushed_pearls]

"I mean, don't let me oversell the man. He's an admitted cannibal in every technical sense of the word who kills for fun. But, and this is key, he's also a man of honor and knows how to get on in the context of the new society he's in. Which you are now also in." Erin flashes half a smile at Shouji, a little guilty, a little mischievous. "It's not like there's anywhere for us to go, so. Monsters like me and Siffleur gotta get along, and humans gotta learn to extend us half a chance. If y'follow?"

[dupli_arms]

Well, any solid ground he thought he'd gained here has just evaporated under him. That's....hm. Morals conflicting. It's already been agreed that he wouldn't be hunted, but his assumption in the moment was that it meant 'for sport', not 'for food', and he's wondering now if he's going to have to explain to someone that in spite of appearances, he is not going to taste like octopus.

"If...If he's not doing anything wrong, and not hurting anybody, and he's not targeting me, I... I guess there's not a lot I can do about that anyway."

[crushed_pearls]

"It's a lot to take in," Erin says softly. It's not a question. "But we're all in the same situation here. Not like we can kick people out. Hell, can't even kill 'em, they come back. So...we learn to get on."