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

"Two...one..."

Erin's first Stone-powered kick buckles the door on its hinges, quite on purpose; if she just kicks it in, Max might see Erik at some point. The idea is to make him sit the table.

He just needs to know he's not safe.

Fuck. Fuck! Fuck this bitch! Fuck this ship! Fuck everyone aboard it! The door starts to buckle and he has one insane flash of an idea to try and hold it in place. But this absurd! All of it!

"All right! I yield."

There's a heavy sigh from just outside the door. "You really are a stubborn one, aren't you? Listen. I'm gonna tell you something you ought to know already. Maybe you would have taken it more seriously from another vampire, but a competent threat can't be a fucking empty one. You make a threat because you would rather not resort to violence but - and this is key - you can and you will. The faster you start thinking of me as in your weight class, the better your life will be. So. Let's. Talk."

"You have killed me fives times now," yes, he's been keeping count, "I am aware that you are a threat to me."

He rolls his eyes and steps back into the room with a sweep of his hand. "Won't you come in?"

Erin opens the door. The poor hinges make an ungodly sound when she does, and again after she steps in and closes it.

She looks pleased.

"So. Terms are on the table. Max is not your property here, not anyone's property for any reason. I'm not going to sit by and watch him backslide into his old hurts if I can do anything about it, which I realize is fucking rich coming from a confessed slavecatcher. Maybe if you start doing better that can change, but here, now? If I catch you speaking to him there will be no end to my cruelty, and I'll also call for backup."

She's the only one who looks pleased. He looks like a cornered ally cat with his hackles up.

"And what if he approaches me? He will. The moment he knows I'm here. Disowning him will not be enough to deter him."

"Feel free to tell him the price of peace. If he's mad at me for my choices, well, I made 'em. But you're a fucking adult, you can figure it out - especially since you're the one who took his chance to be an independent adult from Max in the first place." Erin stretches her wings, and then smooths them down. "Fucking somehow you've been preventing a vampire civil war this whole time. Use that well-learned politesse, Erik. Or are you going to tell me to my face that your success is just luck?"

His eyes flash with fury. How dare she? Luck? Luck?! He's worked too hard and faced too much to have his accomplishments reduced to mere luck.

He's quietly seething, but doesn't dignify that insult with a response. Instead, "And when he comes to you angry at what you've done, asking to have your price lifted, who will be responsible for making his choices for him then? I suppose you will blame that on me as well."

"Oh no. I called my shot after he said he didn't want you hurt if you ever came here, I'll take the heat." Erin flashes a sharp grin. "He knows I've got beef with you. I know you'd have never taken me seriously without a show of force. Am I wrong?"

"You already knew he would have a problem with this, and still you proceeded to torture me for half a month?"

She's right. They both know it. But he's never going to say it out loud.

"There are more people here than Max that I need you to take me seriously about," Erin says in a low voice. "So. Break into my cabin and all deals are off. I find out you've got Max in pet mode again, all deals are off. And god help you if you hurt any of the kids."

Beat.

"...Exceptions for self defense on that last one, some of 'em hit as hard as I do."

"I intend to break into no one's cabin." Now. "What do you take me for? A common thief?" He actually sounds offended.

"Nor do I have any plans or desire to attack anyone here, least of all children. But if I am attacked, I will defend myself with or without your blessing. All I have done here, thus far, is defend myself."

"I recognize that and respect it. Sounds like we're agreed, but I want to hear your vow out loud, vampire lord."

Dare Erin hope he actually has standards?

"Some might say I am being made to enter a contract under duress and as such it should not be considered valid."

"Some would say this is the way of things between monsters." Erin's unperturbed, though she makes a mental note to be ready for Ari to also have objections. "You shed the cloak of the law when you became a lord. You can't simply don it again now all of a sudden. If you're still sore about this in a year and a day, we'll talk wergild for the wrong I've done you."

"We vampires have our own laws. Don't you?" Not that he's going to be able to quote any vampire law that says this isn't perfectly reasonable.

"I don't want compensation. I want to see Max."

"Earn it. Your vow. You've got forty seconds."

He huffs a frustrated, defeated sound. "I vow not to make Max my slave. I vow not to break into any cabins or harm anyone aboard this ship without a justifiable cause."

"Close enough." Erin sighs, and sticks her hands in her pockets. "...This community might be good for you, if you let it. This round of extreme measures was a message. Round two will be for real. Keep that in mind, and enjoy the muster drill."

Erin goes to leave, but pauses at the door as a thought occurs to her. "Ah, one more thing. A gentleman of your clear taste in fashion might be inclined to throw away the gift Ms. Friday gives you. Understand that this is a sincere warning and not a threat: it's rather a matter of life or death that you keep it, and keep it safe. Ideally, even wear it all the time."

"I'm sure this community may be good for you, but I do not plan to stay around long enough to become a lifelong member of it." Spoken like a man who has not learned his lesson yet.

"I will take your warning under advisement. Goodbye."

TEST DRIVE MEME #10

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