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

“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.”

"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."

“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?”

"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.

“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.”

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

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

“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?”

"Yeah, I get you."

A shrug.

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

"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."

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'.

There’s a moment of silence, watching Darcy’s hand instead of his face, and she considers reaching out, to make a connection by touch, but thinks better of it.

But she nods slightly. “Right, I…I understand.”

Quiet, for a few moments, as the most startling change to Darcy reveals itself.

He's thinking about what to say instead of just saying it.

"I only stopped wearing your bracelet last month. I carried you with me for seven months after you died, Undine. And that whole time I was trying to work out how I managed to fuck up that badly, what I did to make you just shut me out, what the fuck was wrong with me. I know it's been barely any time for you, that's how this shit works, but- it passed for me, Dine. I carried that. I don't know because you didn't fucking tell me. You didn't tell me that you didn't hate me, you didn't tell me that you still thought I was cool, or that I was okay to be in the same space as you, you didn't tell me anything. You effectively died before you died. And then you actually died, and it wasn't even you deliberately not fucking talking to me anymore- you were just gone. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't take you up on your offer to start dating again if that's what it would've taken, but- I can't do that again. You have to fucking tell me. I can't do that- bullshit not-talking thing we used to do. That includes if you're mad at me. I can't take silence anymore."

That is a lot of words. She blinks a couple times, and then holds up a hand with one finger raised like she’s requesting a moment.

“I swear I’m not being silent at you right now, I just. Don’t know what to say, and I’m sorry for that. Okay?”

It is a solid minute later that she has words. “I did have time pass in my world, actually. And I’m that time, I…made some decisions about trying to learn how to speak up, instead of drowning. Which probably sounds a little bit like bullshit to you, coming on the tail of everything. But. I’m not asking you to date me. I’m asking you to let me show you I am not going to freeze you out again.”

"That's-" but Darcy lets her finish, gritting his teeth, trying not to snap a quick response again.

"It doesn't sound like bullshit. I'm glad, I'm genuinely glad that's a thing you decided to do, and I wasn't- I wasn't accusing you of wanting to date me again. I'm just... I'm trying to be better about actually talking about my shit. It's been a lot to carry. It's hurt. It's just... hurt."

“I’m sorry. I am sorry that I hurt you, Darcy. I want you to know I’ll be trying actively not to hurt you again.”

She can’t promise never to hurt him again, but she can be active in her efforts to do better.

"No, it's hurt. Losing you would've hurt even if we had been talking. I don't..."

God, he's making a fucking dog's breakfast of this.

"Can we just... try again from foundations? You don't have to like, apologise forever and I don't have to keep holding onto something I already let go of."

“Right, if you think so. I’d like it, to be able to start again. I kinda want to figure out how to be your friend, again.”

She sounds hopeful, now.

Clean slate. No expectations. As if Undine had just showed up at the ship fresh. Darcy opens his mouth to say something else before a realisation hits her-

"Oh shit that's right- Ava and Peter are getting married."

"Oh! Wow, that's...I mean, it's good, I'm glad. They belong together. I'm happy for them." A tiny pause. "Do...do you think if I offered to do Ava's hair for the wedding, she'd let me?"

"Certain," Darcy agrees with a nod.

"It's not just me that's missed you, ehn? She'll be happy to see you."

TEST DRIVE MEME #10

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