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

[saltwaterlungs]

"Yeah, it is good. Really good, um-"

But it doesn't fucking explain how Undine is here if that's true!!!

"Also I'm tran- I mean- not like- I'm still Darcy, I just use he or they or whatever now," he'll get there, "so that's. Happening for me."

[treadwater]

“Oh! Okay. Um, good to know. That’s…huh. I’m glad you told me.”

She gives him a slow look-over, as if expecting him to be different than she remembers in other ways.

“You look pretty good.”

[saltwaterlungs]

"Thanks," and a hand goes to his shaved head so it doesn't fidget with his tie as to draw attention to it. He's not wearing her friendship bracelet.

"Look I- there's a lot to catch you up on, you should- you should get yourself boba first."

[treadwater]

“Do you want some too? It’s just as easy to make two as it is to make one.” Stepping behind the counter, there’s a look around and then a bit of a sigh. “How long has Bash been gone?”

It’s the state of the espresso machine. She can tell he’s not loving it every day.

[saltwaterlungs]

"A couple of months. Izzy, too. Bunch of people. It's been like... six months, since you disappeared."

But he nods in confirmation, "you remember my order?"

[treadwater]

“Green tea, no sugar. You just like your leaf juice.”

It’s weird. Everything is weird. But honestly, Undine seems stable, all things considered. There could be awkward energy, but she’s had time…and things with Heartful Punch at home, which like. Again, she’s never going to see Kokoro on the ship, but her heart holds a fullness from what happened back there.

[saltwaterlungs]

"I kind of like the bitterness."

It's absurdly surreal to watch Undine again, going through the motions of making boba as if nothing has happened. No time has passed. When Darcy asks, it's a question so reflexive from being burned into his brain through repetition that he's probably been asking it in his sleep.

"Why didn't you tell me that you'd given up your powers?"

[treadwater]

“Let me preface this with the fact that they’re back now. But. I thought you would hate me for it. For giving up on protecting people and being one of the strong people who could help others in a crisis. Who had to help others in every crisis. I was scared that you’d be mad when you found out.”

She’s a little scared Darcy will still be mad now, which is why her being ‘normal’ again comes up front.

[saltwaterlungs]

"I was madder that you didn't tell me. Yeah, I was upset, but I got over myself. If you hadn't come back now, then you would've died and just never..."

Darcy huffs.

"I can be mad and still care about you. It's your fucking choice anyway."

[treadwater]

“You’re right. I should have told you. I should have found a way to be able to talk to you. I was…really overwhelmed back then. And I know things aren’t going to get any easier here and now.”

A pause to get her own caramel milk tea going as well.

“I suppose on some level I felt like I couldn’t keep up and I wanted to give up trying. But I didn’t want you to feel like any of it was on you, because it wasn’t.”

[saltwaterlungs]

"It... just sucked, to hear you were happy about it, and I wasn't there for it, that's all."

...

"Are you going to ask Friday to turn them off again?"

[treadwater]

“It didn’t really work out for me last time, did it?”

She knows correlation doesn’t equal causation, but still, burning all the way out so soon after? Okay, no, she’s not sure that’s how that worked, but still!

[saltwaterlungs]

A shrug.

"Some things are more important than... I just mean, if it's still what you want, and all."

[treadwater]

There’s a bit of a smile as Undine puts Darcy’s drink on the counter.

“Thank you for being supportive of me.”

[saltwaterlungs]

"I did a kind of dogshit job of it last time. I've been trying to do better."

Darcy takes it, and- yeah this is infinitely better than buffet green tea packets with ice.

"Apparently I have some issues, so."

[treadwater]

“Name me one person on this ship who doesn’t have issues. Anyone who thinks they don’t is compensating something awful.”

She’s including herself in there.

“But I’m glad you’re working on it. It’s been what, almost eight months. A lot can change in that time.”

[saltwaterlungs]

"Yeah."

There's really no way around this, and Darcy just sort of tries to blurt it out at once like a word brick-

"Ihaveanewgirlfriendactually."

[treadwater]

“Oh.” Blink. Blink-blink. And then Undine smiles easily. “What’s her name? Is she cute? How did you meet? How long have you been dating?”

[saltwaterlungs]

"Helena, obviously because I have good taste, in the morgue, and... not long. Last month. She's... a spitfire. Gentle but stubborn. And she was the person to tell me that I can take things in the worst possible way all the time, so."

Thank Helena for the fact he's even mature enough to have this conversation, now.

[treadwater]

“That’s really great.” Undine grins. “Kokoro and I kissed, in my world. I…was there before coming back here. Don’t ask me how that works or anything.”

It’s the opposite of Blackbeard losing his memories of the ship when he returned, in some ways.

“Anyway, we’re officially a team, back home.”

[saltwaterlungs]

"Timeline whoopsie-daisy," Darcy nods, "it happens. Congrats, ehn?"

Because if Undine can be cool about Helena, Darcy can be cool about Kokoro.

[treadwater]

“It’s…I don’t like being away from her here, now. But I also still would rather she not end up here, dealing with the torments.”

A pause. Undine finishes her drink and takes a sip.

“So. What are the chances we can be friends, this time?”

[saltwaterlungs]

"Yeah, I get you."

A shrug.

"Pretty good, I think. So long as you don't just... stop talking to me again."

[treadwater]

"I'm not planning to. I need all the help I can get, getting back up to speed here. And you're pretty awesome, you know."

[saltwaterlungs]

One of Darcy's hands goes to the counter, and he sucks in a breath through his teeth, because like a bullet embedded in his leg he's learned to live with the grief and move past it and now that wound has torn itself open all over. Darcy isn't in the habit of tearing people he cares about into shreds anymore, so that's the main reason what he says is-

"You understand why I have a hard time believing that, right?" and not 'you broke my fucking heart well before you died, and you made think it was all my fault, so no I don't know I'm pretty awesome, Undine'.