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

"Many. There often wasn't anything else to do, especially when I was being transported between clients. It's my favorite serial."

So really, it still watching it on the ship is like going back to your old comfort show.

"What kind of clients? What do you do stranger?" Ashley didn't have comfort shows. He has--had-- music and his computer and he has neither here.

"I don't bite. You can sit down." That wasn't entirely true. He bites if and when he needs to. On a ship he can't get off of with a bunch of strangers, that wasn't likely to happen. Ash didn't need enemies on day one.

"Thank you for your permission." There's a certain humor to those words, but not the kind of humor that brings people together. The other kind, humor that's sharp and a tad acerbic. But it does move to take a seat.

"I'm a SecUnit, a security cyborg-construct. I was built to be leased out by an insurance company to protect assets. So between jobs, I'd spend a lot of time in cargo bays and transit cases. I wasn't meant to be able to download serials, but I also wasn't meant to have a personality or anything."

"Shit, didn't mean for it to sound like that." Ash wanted him to sit so they could talk. He felt weird talking to his back.

But it wasn't something he would dwell on. A cyborg. Who was sentient to some degree. The technology nerd was fascinated and it was written all over his face. Ash looked at him with wide, excited eyes. "That is fucking cool. Not the part where you were kept in cases...but what you are. What do you mean by cyborg construct? Not completely cybernetic?"

"I mean that I was created with 30% cloned human parts, 70% machinery, and installed with a governor module upon manufacture that would prevent me from disobeying orders, talking back, or otherwise failing to be a perfectly compliant machine. So fucking cool."

Read: a sentient slave, built to obey.

Even though Security is sitting, it's still not making eye contact properly. Sure, it faces Ash, vaguely, but it watches his hands, glances at the screen, does anything but look at his eyes.

Well, shit. That was a very different set of circumstances. Which immediately made Ashley feel bad for being excited. He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. Foot meet mouth, again.

"I'm...sorry." He said sincerely. Ashley didn't think he was frequently wrong but when he was, he was quick to admit it. "Not even a little bit cool."

There were a lot of other questions he wanted to ask but thought it was probably best to shut up. He had probably been drinking too much. Not a good excuse and he didn't want to offer that as one, it was weak. Instead he stood up.

"Look, I put my foot in my mouth on a good day and...today has not been a good day. So, best thing for me to do is go sleep it off. I'm sure I'll see you around."

Ashley gave a wave of his hand and headed for his room.

Security frowns after Ash. "Everyone puts their foot in their mouth. I think people just don't want to consider what other people are capable of, in terms of being fucking assholes. You haven't been especially bad."

He stops walking and huffs out a breath that makes is cheeks puff out. Turning back he watches it for a minute. "I'm aware of how big of assholes people can be. Just kinda hoped by the time we got to creating something as fantastic as cybernetic life that is sentient...people would be better. As much as we advance technology? People just keep getting worse."

What the fuck was he doing protecting humanity if they weren't going to make any progress? Why was that the hill he was going to be forced to die on? It made Ash feel not just sad but angry. There were moments where he wasn't exactly thrilled about the sacred duty he had been given. Right now was one of those moments. Create life just to enslave it?

He had no idea what else to say so he just blurted out, "I like your fucking sweater."

"Thanks, it makes me feel fucking adorable. Also looks great on Helena when she borrows it from me. It's like a fucking tent on her."

...this is how communication works, isn't it?

"My governor module is disabled now, and anyone who even gets the idea to wipe my memory banks or try to control me is going to have to get past a pretty crew of people who for some fucking reason have decided to care about this dangerous piece of heavy machinery."

"Well," He gestures in a flustered way and snorts out a breath. "You look kind of adorable." Yeah. He should absolutely be sent to his room now. Ash rakes a hand over his head making a mess of his hair.

Ash smiles in a knowing way, sad at the same time. That's familiar. Finding the right people. Family. And now he's here without them. "You found your people. Nothing feels quite like that."

"Give the people on this ship time. They'll find you, too."

That is a threat.

"Do you need help back to your cabin? I can carry you."

His whole face lights up as he laughs. Ashley shakes his head.

"You can only carry me if you're going to stay and cuddle."

Before that could be taken seriously he adds, "I'm good. I can walk. Thanks for the offer though, appreciate it."

The funny thing is, Security is pretty cuddly, with the people who it considers crew. But Ash isn't nearly on that list yet.

"Then get home safely, okay?"

"I will, thanks." He takes a few steps away and stops. Turning back he adds, "I'm Ash. See you around."

Edited 2023-08-05 18:30 (UTC)

TEST DRIVE MEME #10

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