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

Undine Wells | Sleepless Domain

[treadwater]

1. There's a girl just down the aisle [Arrival]
Waking up in the bed of a cabin on a ship is unfamiliar and familiar. Like remembering a dream she once had. Like waking up in that dream and remembering what a nightmare it actually was. And when she rolls over and sees the customary letter from Friday, Undine doesn't bother to hold it in.

She screams, shrill and full of horror and frustration. She's back here, on the Serena Eterna, again. And she's back at the beginning, about to be forced into a muster drill. It's almost too much to bear.

Sorry, Phil.

2. Oh to turn and see her smile [The Promenade]
Look, if you want to catch the vibe of the ship in a given period of time, the Promenade is where you go to do so. Undine is definitely making a visit to Sand Dollars for boba (and perhaps to see if she can make any new passengers choke on tapioca), the Drunken Sailor for lunch, and then she's off to explore both the new cheese shop and the bowling alley, neither of which were there before.

3. You can hear the words she wrote [The Pool]
Look. Regardless of what else is going on, Undine is going to spend some time out on a flamingo pool floatie, in sunglasses and a bikini, dissociating to hell and back now that she's back here. Find her, join her, have at.

4. As you read the hidden note [Wildcard]
Don't ask, just hit me. I can take it.

1. There's a girl just down the aisle [Arrival]

[crushed_pearls]

Erin knows that voice. It's been haunting her nightmares and her self-recriminations, floating through her memories every time she goes to the memorial to put a new cup of boba tea there. Undine's voice wakes her from a dead sleep - it's okay, she'd be up soon anyway, early riser and all that - and sends her out of her room in just her shorts & tank top, what passes for pajamas for Erin these days.

Blame the early morning for Erin smacking into the door of Undine's new cabin.

"Undine?" Erin calls through it.

(Peters. Remember Blackbeard?)

Shit. Fuck. Right. This might not be our - but -

"Undine Wells?" Erin adds by way of clarification, entirely failing to keep the hope out of her voice.

[treadwater]

"It's me, it's me. Give me a moment, I'm not answering the door yet because I don't think I'll be able to come back in once I'm out. You know how the muster drill...you know."

There's barely hidden panic behind the words, because Erin's voice confirms it. More than just confirms, really. It's real, she's here, she's back.

[crushed_pearls]

Through shaky breaths entirely too full of conflicting emotions: "O-okay. Try not to freak out when you see me, I've got. Huge bird wings now. I-if you want me to walk with you I can go get dressed real quick, won't take but a minute, just..."

She can't finish that thought.

2. Oh to turn and see her smile [The Promenade]

[moonlesstides]

Undine, meet Grace.

Grace has come to Sand Dollars for tea, but the spirit of curiosity overtook her after her second cup, and now there is a strange sight just off the center of the cafe. Grace floats on her knees, surrounded by cups of steaming tea, with a line of her thick clinging puddles leading from her to the nearest wall. When Undine walks in, Grace is in the midst of slowly pouring tea into a puddle with an intent expression.

The tea is just kinda...vanishing. It doesn't spread out or mix into the puddle the way it ought to with water, even though it is definitely actually water. The brown discoloration simply drops down, like some current is sucking it under, but it doesn't come out the bottom or spill all over the floor either.

Grace takes a sip of a new cup before doing it again.

[treadwater]

Undine acquires a boba before addressing the matter of Grace at all. And how it is addressed is thus: sucking a tapioca pearl into her straw and shooting it into the puddle with a breath like a blow dart.

[moonlesstides]

Grace startles, looking up at Undine, and then immediately back to the puddle. The pearl sinks, and then just vanishes, exactly as the tea does.

Her face returns to this new person, curious and delighted. ~Again!~

[saltwaterlungs]

Undine does not receive any greeting or preamble before being all-but tackled into a hug where she stands in Sand Dollars. Sorry.

"Undine?!?"

[treadwater]

And Undine, in turn, clings.

"Darcy!"

2

[littlefairytale]

Every now and then, Ruby still pops into Sand Dollars to get caramel milk tea boba, both because she likes it and because she's a sentimental soul. Blake's old bow is even tied with the bow itself on the side of her head, which might be reminiscent of a certain someone, a certain someone who she definitely doesn't expect to actually see in Sand Dollars.

If she'd already ordered, she'd have dropped her cup. As it is, she freezes in place and stares at Undine with wide, wide eyes and her mouth flapping just a little like a fish. "—Undine?"

[treadwater]

"Um, hey. Guess the ship missed me or something?"

Okay, no, she's not as happy as she's pretending to be back, but she is happy to see Ruby.

3

[thismaskismybadge]

Oh, someone else is out here. That settles Gwen's internal debate about if she actually swims, or just climbs up next to the screen when no one can see how she manages it. So she throws the cover-up she had over her one-piece onto a nearby pool bed, ties her hair up and sits on the edge of the pool to slide in.

"Hey, uh. Fun floatie choice."

[treadwater]

"Oh! Hey, thanks." More teenagers, awesome. "Aaare you new here, or have you been around for a bit?"

4. As you read the hidden note | Laundry Day

[seethesun]

At the appointed time, the door does not open. Instead a cloud of purple light appears in the laundry room; approximately one second later, Eleanor emerges from it, scattering the light with a sunny smile. She's dressed in her usual layers, Tommy Bahama's more neutral colors stacked on top of each other to cover as much skin as she can.

She's gotta be dying in this heat.

"Abracadabra?" Eleanor offers by way of greeting, tipping Undine a little wave.

[treadwater]

"I'm guessing you're Eleanor." There's a small teenager with impossibly blue hair sitting on top of the washing machine, waiting!

2. Oh to turn and see her smile

[blacksludgeaffair]

Undine's exploration through the bowling alley and cheese shop is accompanied by a strange oddness. Glimpses of motion, particularly inky shadows, the feeling of being watched. Slowly, however, this eldritch stalker hides itself less and less, and she'll see more and more of the viscous black puddle behind her, never closer than fifteen feet away.

[treadwater]

Undine, finally recognizing that she's once again being stalked by an entity comprised of viscous dark liquid, finally stops in the entryway of the Tommy Bahama. "Don't come and closer or I'll transform and fight you! I am not going to be bullied by goop again!"

Oh to turn and see her smile

[bubblegumheart]

What are the odds of Chrissy glancing up at the right time to notice Undine letting herself into the bowling alley? Apparently, very high today! She finds herself staring for a moment, both because she's trying to place a name to the face and because she's pretty sure it's been a little while since she's seen her.

Ultimately, she's drawing a blank. Should the other girl happen to notice the gawking, she'll smile sheepishly and wave.

[treadwater]

Undine smiles back, meanders over casually. Because look, teenagers oughta get to hang out together, right?

"Hi, I'm back."

As if you can just say something like that, here. And can't she? Ruby and Erin reacted to her return with full reactions (if complicated, because being here isn't necessarily a Good Thing).

quelle fromage

[hate_gettin_older]

She'll find someone new in the cheese shop, examining the assortment of gift baskets and shaking his head in bemusement.

[treadwater]

Undine watches for a few minutes before she clears her throat.

"Would you be willing to pass me that wheel of brie on the shelf to your left? I'm not sure I can reach it myself. I sort of want to do a baked brie, now that we have a kitchen."

1

[dupli_arms]

Shouji is awake at the time when most new arrivals and revivals are generally rousing, keeping to his personal schedule near obsessively. Whatever else the others around here may be accustomed to though, he generally doesn't hear a shriek first thing in the morning. It puts him on high alert immediately, and he picks up speed to go and investigate with an ear out to catch any further sounds.

When he arrives at the cabin he skids to a halt, a hand on the door handle and his weight braced to attempt to break down if need be.

"Can you hear me?" he calls through the locked door, "are you hurt?"

[treadwater]

"No, I'm not...I'm not hurt. I'm on the ship, that's...fuck...give me a moment, please. Please. I..." There's a bit of a sniffle. She's trying very hard not to start crying or anything.

playback.

[decrypter]

If Undine's come in to check on her old DDR scores, there's a decidedly different style of music coming from one side of the place, where the dancing happens, and a single passenger who's dancing just for herself. Though she has to keep the cane in hand, knowing there isn't anyone else allows her to be freer, happier about it. To some, it might be very old fashioned, but she has no such restrictions, and does a spin, causing her to laugh.

Another soul would be welcomed, actually.

[treadwater]

Undine slips closer, leaning against a nearby arcade cabinet to watch, and applauds quietly at the end of the song.

"You're good at that!"