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

Bash St. Expedit | demigod OC (Scion TTRPG)

[midnightroads]

I have never known a silence like the one fallen here [Arrival]
There is no pointed loud declaration of Bash's return. He quietly slinks up the path to the muster station, not saying anyone until he's gotten his spiel and has a lei in hand again. Bone pendant and all. There's a voice in the back of his mind that tells him to lick it again, and he seems to consider it, before slipping the lei back into his pocket. He's here again, here again.

He's here alone. The ship phone doesn't show a response when he tries to text Jeff. He tries all the cabin numbers, in case Jeff's been reassigned, and then accepts it for what it is. Solo cruising.


Never watched my future darken in a single tear [Sand Dollars]
The smell of coffee doesn't usually extend far past the door of the little cafe, but right now, there's something like a heavy miasma settling around the middle of the Promenade, like someone has decided to brew everything, all at once, or a little of each coffee blend on hand, like some mad coffee alchemist. It's not an unpleasant smell, but it's strong and it's thick.

Perhaps someone should check what's going on?


I know we want this to go easy by being somebody's fault [Calgona]
It is time to paint one's nails black and do an oatmeal face mask. Though, of course, if you want another color on your nails, Bash would be glad to help. Still. Look, self-care is important and he's here to indulge, and to tempt everyone else to indulge too. So there.


But we've gone long enough to know this isn't what we want [Wildcard]
Fuck me up babes.

Sand Dollars

[theweakhavepurpose]

Much like a cartoon wolf floating above the ground following the scent of a pie on a window, Pratt is all but gliding towards the smell of all the coffee.

"Holy shit what are you making..." He basically stumbles into the shop fiending for coffee so, so bad, not recognizing the dark shape in there. Not yet anyway.

[midnightroads]

"A mess, but I'll pour you a cup, too, if you ask nicely." The voice and its accent might be the tip-off. Or the comfort the dark shape has behind the counter. Or maybe Pratt doesn't recognize him until eye-contact is made, with a crooked smile.

Paint. His. Toes.

[professionalriot]

He's not really here to paint his toes. Ash is here because the chairs for getting pedicures in have those basins that are basically hot tubs for your feet. If that's not magic he doesn't know what is.

...does he know how to work anything in the spa? Absolutely not. Plopping down on one of the chairs he starts to investigate how this thing works.

[midnightroads]

Bash spends a moment watching Ash fiddle with the chair before clearing his throat to declare his presence. Because that's sure a specimen there. Strong, handsome. And clearly confident in his masculinity, not getting weird about being in a spa.

For his own part, Bash is surrounded by the smells of tobacco and coffee, and the shadows in the room seem to lean toward him like certain flowers lean toward the sun. It just...happens.

Sand Dollars

[crushed_pearls]

"Ava what in Christ's homemade tits are you -"

Erin stops short mid joke. Her expression is shock, and awe, and then immediate anger and relief at the same time - "Bash you mother fucker!" She jumps the space between door and counter, wings beating furiously. "Matron fornicator! Thou defiler of wet nurses! Bon vivant of vodka aunts HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FUCKING BACK?"

[midnightroads]

"Now look here, you blind whore of Babylon! You fornicated matron! You Medusa-curled daughter of titans!" He lets out a warm chuckle, stepping out from behind the counter. "About fourteen hours or so. And no, Jeff's not here--just me. Sorry, someone decided the hippie/goth meta was too powerful and nerfed our asses."

second option.

[abhorrently]

The scent is out of place, and it's what draws her into the doorway of the place. Stronger and stronger, like someone wants to decipher the very essence of the drink, and for the sake of her own curiosity, Fever follows. No sounds of crashing or smashing, so someone isn't breaking the place up, which would be a bit of a shame.

The gentleman at the source of it all, unfamiliar, but he seems busy. Which means she's going to peer around the counter, no shame or hesitation.

[midnightroads]

"How do you take yours, sweetheart?" The question's addressed to her, clearly, between tweaking knobs, dials, hissing sounds coming from the steam wand. The man with the long curly hair gives her a direct, almost daring look.

Calgona

[takethatnature]

Wilson isn't here for a manicure; he's here because there's a fresh batch of spa supplies and he wants to take the nail polish remover and use it for science. But there's a guy in the spa already using the nail stuff. Is that Klaus? No, it's the other guy who looks like Klaus but slightly different. It's been almost six months since he had that combination of thoughts, and he's not sure if he's seen the nail polish guy any more recently than that or not.

He realises he's been standing there for an awkwardly long time. "Are you going to be here for a while?"

[midnightroads]

"I mean, probably. Do you want me to do yours, too?" Bash's smile comes easy (like Klaus's), and he holds up a bottle of a metallic brown a few shades un-red enough not to be a copper.

Arrival

[mistertwister]

Okie was going to get a glimpse of the new passengers on a whim, plain and simple, when he spots someone that makes him freeze. He knew people could come back, Undine was his roommate for god's sake, but that couldn't be, could it? He's seeing paper stars.

"Bash?"

[midnightroads]

"Hey, look, it's my favorite stormcloud." Bash may not be happy to be here, but he gives Okie a sincere, warm, bright smile, lifting an arm as if to offer 'come here and get your hug, kid'.

Sand Dollars

[hate_gettin_older]

There's a longish, bony, deeply wrinkled nose poking into the coffeeshop, with a face behind it in the usual manner. The wrinkling, it is apparent, is not due to age or skin damage but due to an expression of extreme dubiousness combined with a strong reaction to a strong smell.

"Something break in here?"

[midnightroads]

"Naw. Not yet, at least. I'm overworking the machines a little, might be. You wanna cup?" There's a certain laziness to Bash's mode of speech, words treated with as little regard as the espresso machine.

Sand Dollars

[ablativeholopleather]

Now, Wayne has smelled coffee before. He's familiar with it. He even enjoys it, though it tends to make him jittery. But he's pretty sure he's never smelled so much of it all at once, and it makes him think that maybe something has cone off the rails either down in the kitchens, or else at the coffee place, and so he ends up going to investigate.

And seeing a face he hasn't in months.

"Heeey, it's good-at-colors-and-caffiene guy," he quips, and his smile is broader than Bash is likely to have ever seen before. He also looks much more tired, but such is life around here.

[midnightroads]

"Hey, it's the bananahead!" He means it fondly, really. "Want a cup, sweetheart?"

Calgona

[dupli_arms]

Shouji is down here to use the gym more often than not, usually alone, sometimes with someone to spot or to spot him in turn. He's caught off-guard to actually see the spa portion being used for actual spa-type thing. For a moment he merely observes the unfamiliar man, though a small quirk of a smile comes with the smell of mild acetone. His nails hadn't been painted since Undine did them for him, and he remembers telling her about one of his best friends and how Tokoyami favored his particular shade of black. It's close to that that Bash is applying, actually, and Shouji can't help stepping a bit closer to see if there might be another bottle around for him to use. His plan for the morning is derailed; he's been hit in the nostalgia, what can he say?

"Pardon me, is that the only black we have?"

[midnightroads]

"There's a like glittery metallic black on the wall, but this is the only solid black. Why, you wanna go goth too?"

Bash notices the mask, and then gives an up-down look to the rest of Shouji before smiling and kicking out the chair across from him gently.

Sand Dollars

[pineapplesalmon]

César is going for a pick me up. There'd be a line here about him working through something all night, but he has husbands now to keep him on schedule. He just needs coffee.

His eyebrows are already up by the time he's walking into Sand Dollars and confirming what his nose already knew. "... that's a lot of coffee." A beat. "Bash?"

[midnightroads]

“Hey, you.” Bash lifts a hand in a loose wave that encompasses ‘yeah it’s me’ and ‘c’mon in’ and ‘nothing ever really changes and you can feel depressed about this or you can feel warmth and right now I’m feeling both at full volume’.

Arrival

[busball]

Klaus squints for a moment as he sees someone familiar step onto the deck. They haven't seen Jeff in a while still, so they frown a little. Not that they're upset to see Bash, but they know that it's hard to be somewhere without the person you care about.

"Hey." It's soft, but they given him a small smile. "Fancy seeing you around here again."

[midnightroads]

“Oh good. People are still going to think I’m the discount store version of you.” There’s a bit of a chuckle, one arm raising to invite Klaus in for a hug if he wants it.

[saltwaterlungs]

Halloween. Or, rather, All Souls Eve. Darcy's at the sports deck memorial with a dumb supper for the dead, a human skull, and a crudely handmade figurine of St Expedite. Just Catholic Things. Would be a pity if he was disturbed.

[midnightroads]

Well. If there's a dumb supper, it'd be rude to speak up as one settles nearby, dressed all in black, hair loose and curly, the scent of tobacco and coffee heralding his arrival. The shadows deepen, curve toward him like heliotrope turning toward the sun.