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

"Chuck," he says, and holds his hand out to shake. For a total nerd, he looks like he's been through the wringer lately. This is a guy who's just come out of a fight, and looks like he's come off worse.

"So do you have any idea what's up with these leis? They don't seem particularly...usual."

"Nice to meet you, Chuck."

Clarissa glances down at the lei and grabs it to examine it more closely. It's a very odd lei.

"Hmm. I've never seen a lei made with bones before. It almost seems more like a...talisman of some kind. Maybe protective?" She shrugs, then gives him a big smile. "I'm excited to just kinda vibe though."

Escaping her fate might be easier than she thought.

"Vibe...is that like 'chill'? Because I am down to chill, honestly, I'm down to chill harder than I ever have in my life." He rubs a feather between his fingers thoughtfully. "Because I need a vacation like crazy."

Clarissa looks him up and down. He does look a little bedraggled.

"Yes, 'vibe' is like 'chill'. And while I'm not sure about missing classes, I'm pretty happy to just...do nothing for a bit."

Chuck needs a little downtime, even without the whole...Thing...with Shaw and the Ring and the Intersect and his dad and, and, and...

...honestly, he's needed a vacation since the day Bryce Larkin lied about finding stolen tests under his bed. That's eight, count 'em, eight years of the poor man not having a stress-free day.

"What're you studying?"

"Oh." He's the second to ask her that, "I haven't...I was thinking Political Science and Business."

Not exactly a lie, but it wasn't what she planned to do with her life. It was just a path to money and also interesting.

"Ah, social sciences," he says, and scratches his head. "I'm a hard sciences guy myself. Engineering. Computer science. That kind of thing. So, uh, can't say I'd be a whole lot of help there." He shrugs. He knows political science, sort of, but the information's not exactly at his own beck and call.

"People are interesting! I like people. And well, with people you can change things that technology can't. We will always need people."

Not that she cares about making the world better, because she doesn't. She just wants to make her world better.

"Yeah," Chuck says with some chagrin, "technology definitely can't replace people. Not that some guys aren't trying." He'd say this to a rando at the Nerd Herd desk and he'd say it to Beckman herself: computers aren't magic. Human and machine complement each other.

His dad knew that pretty well.

He clears his throat, not wanting to dwell on that. "God, I hope things are okay back home. Because things were a little bit of a tire fire when I was beamed up to the USS Whatever-this-boat-is-called."

"Oh, dear, well. I suppose there's really no way to know."

She bites her lip.

"I think it's called the Serena Eterna. Serene Eternity I guess."

Which is kinda a creepy name.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound unsettling. If the Captain was trying to go for more 'spa-day' than 'peace-of-the-grave', I think he needs to go back to the drawing board. 'Serene Eternity' sounds like what you'd call a boat full of dead people if you wanted to be smug about it."

Pause.

"So, we're not dead, right? Because I can't be dead, I've got way too much to do."

"I'm pretty sure we are alive? I don't feel dead."

Gods, this got morbid fast.

"Not that I know what that feels like."

"No, I'm...pretty sure I don't know what that feels like, either." He rubs the side of his head where Shaw beaned him with the store display. "Pretty sure you don't still feel like you fell down a flight of stairs when you're dead, so let's be optimistic and err on the side of being alive. Where there's life, there's hope, right?"

"Yes! Life means there is hope. Always."

The bright smile is back and she shakes her head a little in a weird happy dance.

"Think of the opportunities we might have here though. No real life responsibilities means we might be able to just...do what we want!"

Like not lose sight of her future.

"No responsibilities..."

It sounds too good to be true, and for a second, Chuck lets himself believe it. No responsibilities. No saving the world. No being shot at. No installs. No Buy More. No Jeff and Lester.

"I try not to be a cynical guy, really, but my gut's telling me there's no such thing as a free lunch." Not even the endless buffet they were talking about. Focus, Bartowski.

No. Chuck is right. Nothing good is going to come of this place. But she can be optimistic. Try to find her footing in this new world. And so far everyone has been nice. The other shoe will drop eventually, but for now.

"I'm sure there isn't, but I've been on my own for a long time. There are nice people here and a distinct lack of ulterior motives on the part of people I have spoken with."

There's the intelligence peaking through.

I've been on my own for a long time. That sticks.

"Like, on your own on your own? 'Cause if it's a lack of parents thing, I get that, oh man, do I ever get that, but not even friends or siblings? Man, I have my big sister Ellie to thank for growing up to become even a halfway functional human being."

Then he cracks a smile. "Nobody's shot at us yet, so this is one of the warmer welcomes I've gotten."

"Oh, of course I have friends. I have charisma in spades." She laughs, "But no parents. Ran away from the home a few years back. Got into Columbia on my own merit. Won a few chess championships before that."

Practically a prodigy and certainly not shy to admit it.

"But I mean, as for land of opportunity? This might be an okay one."

TEST DRIVE MEME #10

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