sail_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME #10

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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.]

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[She could say something like an incredibly sarcastic no, really?, but, well--he's already trying to grab for the critter with his bare hands, which...]

Wha--wait, be-

[Careful doesn't quite make it out, because he sure is already getting stabbed in the hand by then. Ody scuttles off and Rita mostly ignores him (she'll text Clarke when she thinks about it; she's not chasing it down herself, no thank you!), turning instead to Voyager. If her hands weren't occupied with holding the box, they would definitely be on her hips about now.]

Geez, don't you think? You should be careful, idiot! Ugh... How deep did it go?

[Well. This has gone terribly! Truly a disaster in every way!

Being called an idiot is never fun, but it's a lump that feels rather earned at present with everything considered, and Voyager takes the scolding with dejection as he watches Ody escape to seek out more unwitting stab victims. Rita's question does bring his attention back around to her after a moment; he blinks up at her, and then down to his hand, features scrunching up a bit.]

How deep? Um...I'm not sure...it, stings, a lot...

[Getting jabbed by a knife really is like getting jabbed with a very big thorn, isn't it? Pain is still a rather newer experience than not for him when it happens...but he tries to keep a composed face about it. His eyes are only a little watery! It's fine! (Honestly, over half of it might still be some shame about the crab fiasco anyhow...)

He's been instinctively cradling the stabbed hand to his chest, but now Voyager very gingerly opens his fingers to stare uncertainly at his injured palm, before holding it out for Rita to have a look. It's a moderate cut, there, blood welling up and pooling a bit...]

[She sighs in exasperation--of course it's going to sting when he gets jabbed with a knife! And now he looks about ready to cry, just staring at it... Looks like there's no helping it, then... With another sigh, Rita steps forward, gives the injury a cursory glance--yeah, it sure is bleeding, like any cut will--and motions with her head towards the cabin hallways.]

Alright, come on, follow me.

--Oh, you're not gonna die or anything.

[You know, in case he was worried. Anyway, she needs to deposit this box and then take him down to the infirmary, she supposes...]

O-Oh...okay. That's, good...

[He might not have actually been too worried about outright dying, admittedly, but the reassurance is appreciated all the same! Off-hand as it might be. Carefully drawing his hand back to his chest for the interim, Voyager trails after Rita like a lost duckling as she starts towards the cabin halls, unsure what she's planning on doing next but opting to follow her as told all the same.]

I really am sorry, about your box, miss...and, the crab getting away too. I was going to put it back in the ocean... [Voyager sighs, audibly still fairly remorseful about this entire sequence of events so far.] Do you think, we'll be able to find it again...?

[She shrugs when it comes to the box, but it's his next comment that gets her whirling around again.]

You what?! Don't drop him in the water; it's not a proper ocean with food, or a bottom, or anything! He needs to go back in his tank--let someone else handle that.

[They're at least close enough to her cabin now that she can open the door as she lectures him, unceremoniously shoving the box inside before shutting it once again, and waving to Voyager.]

Now keep following me. The infirmary's on the bottom deck.

[So far Rita's had several different reasons in rapid succession in this meeting, to whirl at him in affront--but this reason here is a pretty surprising one! Voyager blinks in great surprise as she scolds the idea of putting the crab in the ocean from several angles, before topping off the statement with tossing her box right into her room, and then...]

'Infirmary'...oh, that's a place where injuries get fixed, right? Bottom deck...okay...

[Time to take up the lost duckling mantle yet again, in trailing after Rita in this new direction! But now, at least, the stinging in his palm is briefly almost forgotten, with these brand new revelations afoot?]

Wait, but...so, that crab belongs to somebody here? Like a pet?

Hm, more or less.

[She affirms his infirmary description as they go, satisfied that he's trailing along. She sure thinks this kid seems spacey enough to get lost easily... Anyway, she chooses the stairs since it's not that far, and it's not like his feet are injured. And as for that second question...]

Yeah. He did. I guess he still kind of does, but I'm not sure whose cabin he's in anymore... Hmm, what was his name again...?

[The crab, that is, because even she's not heartless enough to immediately scrub Palamedes from her memory!!]

He's got, a different owner now than he did before?

[The past-tense Rita uses does have him wondering now. Voyager supposes pets would change hands in this way sometimes...rather the same way Servants 'change hands' with Masters oftentimes, don't they? Or something like that, anyway. He wonders what happened to the first owner of that crab...maybe it was something that's made it so mad now...?

Rita gravitates for the stairs, and he readily follows suit. Absentmindedly, Voyager ends up doing a very floaty sort of hop from the top step down to the first landing instead of actually walking down the stairs like a normal person, which means that for a brief moment he draws ahead of Rita in this way. But he does stop a few seconds to wait for her to catch up, before he continues moving! Still thinking about knife crabs...]

I guess a pet crab would have a pet name.... [!! Maybe he can help her remember?!] Was it 'Crabby'? Or maybe 'Clawy'? Oh--or 'Snippy'!

[You know, with all the snipping it's been doing recently!!]

Yeah. His old one's...gone now. That happens.

[If she tries to just be factual and casual about it, she won't have to feel bad, right? (It doesn't work.)]

It wasn't anything uncreative like--hey, be careful!

[The admonishment comes out of her mouth before she can help herself, as he suddenly springs ahead of her, but--huh, he did not obey gravity the way a regular kid should. Her cheeks flush, but she carries right on.]

--Don't go doing anything weird until we at least wrap that up, got it?

[Maybe keeping it factual and casual doesn't help Rita to feel any less bad about it, but it does manage to keep Voyager from being overly sad on this past crab-owner's behalf too. Between this, and Natsuno mentioning the Dioscuri having left as well...it's sounding like it must be a trend around here. He still wonders where exactly it is that these people have all gone...

But so far, there have been enough distractions that Voyager's had no chance to thoroughly pursue this line of questioning, and this moment now is no exception. Rita admonishes his little jump with clear surprise, and Voyager stops short, blinking but letting her catch up properly. At least this means he doesn't really register that 'uncreative' remark...even if he thinks those were all perfectly nice crab nicknames!]

Oh...sorry...I didn't think it would be weird...but, I'm being careful! [He tucks his injured hand more securely to his chest in emphasis, fingers curled to keep the bleeding from going everywhere. Though that's already slowed considerably, and he'd even almost forgotten about the stinging for a moment, getting caught up in crab nicknanes. (It does still sting a bit, though...)] It's just, stairs...they're kind of a hassle, aren't they...?

[All the little steps lined up the way they are. Sometimes they're fun to try out, but sometimes they're rather tedious as well, to a floating sort of person with short legs like himself. Still, since jumping seems to bother Rita a bit, Voyager will attempt taking the next set of stairs the normal way. Carefully, slowly, a step at a time...!]

A hassle? I guess if you just go around ignoring gravity, sure...

[The look she gives is still a somewhat skeptical one...but they descend the stairs without any further flights of fancy on the kid's part to soon reach the bottom deck. Or maybe not that soon, considering how slowly he's going now...but they do make it! Rita leads him around the elevator, then points at the three doors and gives him her best detailed tour explanation for each one:]

That's the jail. That's the morgue. And this is the infirmary.

[Yeah. Yeah, that's it. She heads for the infirmary door, because that's the only important one right now.]

[It's a somewhat snailish journey, yes, but they do make it to the bottom deck eventually!! Voyager's speed is finally picking back up once they're upon solid not-stairs floor once more; he follows dutifully after Rita still, watching raptly as she points out the array of three doors and the function of each.

Which. Admittedly. Maybe isn't the most detailed tour explanation that's ever been done, yeah....his head for locations is excellent, of course, and so Voyager will at least have all these areas promptly and clearly committed to memory. That sparse explanation, though...]

Hmmm... [He's still following her to the infirmary door, but Voyager's glance still can't help but turn to linger at the other two. He knows what a 'jail' is, by past osmosis; he knows they're stepping into the infirmary right now too, to mend an injury. But...] What's a "morgue"?

[A very normal question that surely ought to have a very normal answer, right!!]

You...don't know, huh... Guess you're a pretty sheltered kid.

[Which means she has to explain it as they step into the infirmary, and she doesn't come here often enough to know where everything is, so...

As she starts rummaging through drawers and cabinets, she answers distractedly-]

It's where dead bodies are stored before burial. [Does Terca Lumireis even have morgues??] Normally...actually, I guess it's the same here, but they're only temporarily dead, so they're not buried... Ah, here we go.

[She finds a roll of gauze, which is good enough, and points to a chair.]

Sit down there.

Well...it's turning out, there's a lot, that wasn't recorded. That I still don't know about...

[They enter the infirmary, but Voyager halts just inside the door, content to stand there and watch closely as Rita starts browsing for supplies until he's given further instructions. Besides, there's her explanation too...about morgues, and what they're for. He tilts his head slightly as he absorbs it, the expression on his features more pensive than anything.]

Right, because, I guess dead bodies can't move anymore. [--Oh, instructions have arrived! Voyager drifts over to the indicated chair and hops up into it, eyeing the gauze curiously as he extends his injured hand out to Rita. But after a moment he's blinking up at her too, the first thought tangent reaching a bit of a roadblock to understanding:] Huh, but, "temporarily dead"? ...So, they're only dead for a short time?

[Here, finally, a frown.]

That doesn't make sense. I'm pretty sure..."death" isn't a short time thing, right?

[She gives him a peculiar glance, because "recorded" is an odd way to put it, almost like he's only ever learned from books before... But anyway, finding the bandages ends up taking precedence. And...explaining the whole death thing here, which is never fun, and she has no idea how this kid is going to react...]

Yeah, that's how it is normally.

[She eyes Voyager's hand, unwinds a bit of gauze and...hmm...she's never done this before, but it can't be that hard, right? It's just to stop the bleeding, since infection apparently doesn't happen here (except for that one weird flu that went around??), so she just needs to make sure there's pressure. Okay then. She holds the free end of the gauze against Voyager's palm and starts winding the roll around and around, a little clumsily...]

...But get used to nothing around here working the way things normally do. Everyone comes back to life after one day. [Since she doesn't yet know about the 3-day process it now is.]

[Hm. Hm. Voyager is visibly absorbing this explanation very carefully. But after another moment or two of absolutely silent thought, the conclusion he ends up drawing about this in the end is a very firm one:] Then, it's using the wrong word, isn't it? That doesn't sound like a 'death'. That sounds like it should be something else.

[After everything he's learned and gathered so far, about--

Ah, the gauze goes on a little tight, doesn't it? Not that Rita's actually even doing anything particularly excessive at the moment, aside from being clumsy about the wrapping. But, the reaction almost a strangely delayed one, Voyager's jolting a bit in his seat, fingertips curling slightly as his focus snaps back down to his hand.]

--Oh, this stings a little! [He almost sounds more surprised than particularly distressed about this.] But, it's going to help...?

Uh-huh? [In contrast to Voyager's firm declaration, Rita's tone is fairly flippant.] And what would you call a process that leaves a corpse without a soul?

[--It's the weirdly delayed flinch that makes Rita give him a questioning look, because now of all times, when she's halfway through wrapping it? This is seriously the spaciest kid she's ever seen!]

Well--what do you expect? I can't just heal it with magic, so this is how it has to be! Besides, the pressure's what'll stop the bleeding.

[A few more loops, and then...oh, good, there's scissors nearby she can use. It's probably good infection's not normally a worry here, since Rita puts the gauze roll between her lips to free up her hand to cut the strip free. Then the ends get tied together, and...]

There, all done.

[...It's messy, and some of the loops are actually loose instead of tight, but...it should still work!!]

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TEST DRIVE MEME #10

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his nickname sense is adorable...

he's trying his best!! 'stabby' was also gonna be somewhere in there smh

stabby crabby ody...

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