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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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"I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that, she's missed you too," not that they've... talked, really, but she thinks that's a fair guess. "Gods, okay, you didn't ask about Erin so either you believe her power to be just that unstoppable or you've seen her, did she fill you in on like, the big stuff?"
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Undine shakes her head wryly.
“She hit the highlights.”
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"Really? The ship can't tell you've done that before? It's not like it's changed in the last half a year..." or that doing the muster drills means anything at all, looking at you, sinking ship excursion...
Instead of finally moving to a chair across from Undine, or something, when Ruby reluctantly pulls back the rest of the way she just... plops onto the floor by her.
"It's been a chaotic few months, but I guess that's no surprise around here... not all bad, but, you know." Good news, good news, what good news does she have... "...I finally stopped being blind to how gay I am?"
...yeah sure.
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Undine lets out a warm laugh.
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Ruby's face crinkles up with her own laughter. "What's queer about a three dollar bill—? Okay but literally all of you knew before I did, it's embarrassing, my excuses for the denial don't even make sense, it's so stupid— but I got there!"
And beyond but give her a second to get to that.
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"Just the little bit I deserve," Ruby says with a mock-sage nod. She laughs again, tucking her hair behind her ear for something to do with her hands as she gets all embarrassed of her own accord, now. "I actually uh— there's this girl who arrived a bit after you disappeared, Eleanor? She's— kind of a lot, sometimes, but actually really sweet, and— um. Yeah, we're a? Thing? As of like, last month."
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Undine grins broadly, clearly happy for Ruby.
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"You know, I don't know if anyone has?" There's been plenty of people reminding her that they can come to them if something goes wrong, but... "She's like, over a foot taller than both of us, you might have to stand on something for the full effect."
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Ruby folds at the waist as she's giggling. "Well now you have to, I don't think it can be anything less!"
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(Vox, this is your cue to wildcard.)
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Ruby fishes her phone out of her skirt to, after also getting some kind of time from Undine, quickly send Eleanor a text—that goes something along the lines of hey Eleanor a friend of mine just arrived and wants to meet you in the laundry room, yes this is random, just trust me she's cool then puts it away again.
"Appointment set!" Because she can't imagine Eleanor not taking that admittedly very random invitation. She leans back on her hands, laughter thinning but grin still on her face. "Brother's I've missed you. I know I said that already but—"
It's... nice, laughing together again, over some silly scheme of sorts.