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

[teethoftherisk]

"It's fifty-fifty these days. Used to go months in one body, then the other. Now I change daily, depending on what's easiest for where I'm going." Especially now that it doesn't refresh itself on the daily. He keeps pushing the wall, pausing to give her time to finish tossing out the rest of the clothes and rack before he pushes the wall into place. "I'm almost always a cougar in here, then about half and half out there. Eating's easier with thumbs, since the buffets got lots of spoons and ladles."

[angelofthenight]

"So you do like your animal form better?" Yes, she understands that hands with thumbs are pragmatically useful in the same way being able to go about business during the daylight was for her, but she'd never say she liked that better.

She's now completely enclosed in her little nest. And that means she needs to test that she can get back out of it. Gliding isn't an option in this store with stagnant air, but she can jump rather high. She squats down and focuses all her strength into her legs, then, in one graceful bound, she leaps right up over the wall and lands with a heavy thud on the outside.

"Yes. I think this will do well for my purposes."

[teethoftherisk]

"Yes. I am much happier on the ship than I was in my world because I can go around as a cougar whenever I like, and still talk to people." It's made all the difference in the end. He's human often enough, but he likes that if he can't stand the idea of being outside his most comfortable skin, he can simply remain a cougar and exist like this anywhere he wants to.

As soon as she's finished testing that she can get in and out, and that it suits her needs, he changes back, ripping skin and cloth, and leaving the discarded remains on the floor while his fur fluffs out. He gives Demona a nod. "Good. I will keep an eye out today, and any other day that you sleep here. If you need to know anything, I can usually be found here. It has been good to meet you."

[angelofthenight]

"Then I am happy for you as well." So, that does lead her to believe there is some magic concerning how language is understood here. Interesting. And very convenient.

"Thank you. It has been good to meet you, as well. Should you need any help I can provide, I will gladly come to your aid."