sail_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

1. now it's fun to wake up in a strange chateau

[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! We're so glad to have you!

[you touch the lei. rooster feathers, lotus seeds, and a carved circle of something white and hard, linked onto a silk string.]

2. messing with my mind was fun at the time

[freshly lei'd, your legs are forced to lead out onto the deck and towards your muster station. the same woman is there, carrying a clipboard. this time, she introduces herself as Gal Friday, the cruise director, before immediately going into the muster drill spiel. it is very boring, and you are not allowed to move, except when you are required to show you know how to put your life vest on. you could try to not do this, but Friday will move to stand in front of you very closely and just. look in your direction until such a time that you decide to do it. and I'm sure your fellow passengers want you to just get on with it, too.

but, once it ends? she reiterates her desire to welcome you aboard. and, then, you're free.

well, free to move about the ship at your own leisure, of course. which is a kind of free, and probably the best one you can hope for. you could try to escape, maybe, if you have the means to; Friday certainly won't be one to stop you. that's what the barrier is for, after all.

but, wouldn't you much rather have fun?

the buffet is full. the pool is open. the casino jingles and chimes.

welcome aboard.]

3. lots of mystery in the history of the devils I knew

[you were never alone.

a few days have passed since you first arrived on the Serena Eterna. perhaps you've made yourself a little routine, and settled in a bit. or maybe you haven't done that at all. either way, you're here, and it looks like somebody is pretty pissed off about it.

it starts small. sometimes nearby plates skid off tables, or a pool chair upends while you're walking next to it. and sometimes that chair is aimed right at your head. objects are moving with quickly increasing frequency, and a wide variety of styles: some are dropped, or pushed, and others and others are tossed, but a few of the items are thrown, with great force and odd accuracy. if Friday is around during the lighter moments, she simply titters and cleans up whatever mess is made. if a pot of soup sails off the buffet line and nearly drenches you in boiling minestrone, she simply walks away.

and then there's the voices. hundreds, maybe thousands, calling out. not all are intelligible English, but you seem to understand them anyway. some sound scared, or angry. some are screams, others whispers. some sound entirely strange, while others are achingly familiar. and they're all saying the same exact thing:

Get Out.]

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"Neither have I."

Cruises are probably all well and fine, but the prospect isn't nearly as exciting when compared to flying around in a giant mechanical lion.

"I'm not sure what this is yet. Why hadn't you left your building?"

"It's not very decent of a fellow to go bursting into people's rooms, pulling a gun on them."

He can't help but notice how different that gun looks from his very-early-1900s revolver, though. And while he's clearly handled his weapon before (no innuendo intended), he's less sure of himself than the asset is. He doesn't do this on a daily basis; it's probably just carried for protection, perhaps even intimidation more than actual fights.

"Blackmail."

He doesn't elaborate, instead glancing around the deck, as if figuring out where to go next.

"Walk with me? I want to see more of this place."

[He's no expert in women's clothing, but it's apparent enough that her dress is definitely a little dated, and not like what everyone else is wearing.]

It's okay. The strap's twisted around and a bit of it is stuck in the clip. [He's just explaining it to her before he goes for it, because it needs a bit of a firm tug to get loosened, and she looks bewildered enough as it is.]

You used to sail a lot? [He tries to be delicate about it because he could simply just break the clasp by closing his hand over it or pulling too hard. Although he's not much of a small talk person himself, he's been through this waking up somewhere new with no memory of how he got there covered in blood and the smell of smoke in his hair rigmarole before. Maybe a bit of small talk might put her a little more at ease.]

"Johnny Summer. I'm from Gallery." He says that with the same confidence someone might say I'm from New York or I'm from Paris, like clearly everyone ought to know where Gallery is.

He hasn't realized he's from an alternate history, compared to most Earths, yet.

"Our lovely ship is haunted."

And Sakura says it so simply, like she's not just at risk as he is when the ghosts start acting out. She's heard familiar voices all day, and she's getting sick of playing "dodge the porcelain", personally- but the chair is new. Tense, Sakura keeps an eye out for the next projectile.

"I can see the ones responsible, sort of. How far from a door are we?"

"You pulled the gun first," he says, voice flat but a little distracted. It's not his fault Johnny is just slower on the draw than his unwanted visitor.

Johnny is the only one in here. But he heard him. Heard him. "I heard someone in here," he says quietly.

"Ooohh right, that place where they take your photos next to the slot machines?" Constantine wrongly assumes Johnny Summer is a staff member who works as part of the photography crew.

"Well me name's Constantine. Also a John. I'm an exorcist, demonologist and... occasional fiddler in the dark arts. Not too interested in having me photo taken, ta. But you can tell your boss I'll look into this matter for 'im, free of charge, if he'll let me stay a wee while."

[ The man next to him looked wildly out of place in the context of a cruise ship. No Hawaiian shirts or floral sundresses to be found here; Zouichi was dressed in back from the neck down in some sort of cyberpunk body armor. There was a futuristic gun strapped to his side, another to his back. He looked like a refugee from a cosplay contest.

But he did turn obligingly towards Levi when addressed. ]

I was in the middle of a mission. [ aka option 2. ] But this shouldn't be possible, even if --

[ He frowned at the bright orange life preserver in his hand, then over the railing at the water beyond. ]

...Is this a fucking joke? The only place I've seen a ship like this is in a museum.

"There's no one in here but me." His voice is flat, and he doesn't lower his gun. "And I wasn't even reading aloud."

There's the tiniest of glances at his book and the sad realization that he lost his place when he cast it aside to grab the revolver. He'll have to figure out where he was again.

[ For the record, Giselle was not caught unawares. She allowed this man to knock her over so as not to tip off other passengers regarding her ... unusual life circumstances. She was not, by any means, staring into the corner the coconut flew in from, searching for the shape of a spectral hand.

Anyway, she and Constantine seem to have the same idea about respectable distances at approximately the same time. Giselle shuffles back, awkward for a moment, before rising fluidly to her feet and smoothing down her (black, of course) dress. ]

A cause for celebration, I'm sure.

[ Her accent is vaguely French, her tone specifically mordant. ]

"No, no, not the photo gallery--I'm a passenger here. The Independent City of Gallery. In Europe?"

Clearly, clearly you ought to have heart of it, Constantine. He's almost offended. And then he's befuddled, as he catches up to the rest of what he said. "Exorcist? Demonologist? What, are you some charlatan who'll 'purify' old buildings to milk grannies out of their pensions?"

That- sure is a man who just burst into the laundry room. And with that wild look, however composed he's trying to be, it's clear to see: this place is getting to him. Sakura stares for a moment, half-caught in the jolt from his sudden appearance, and then tries to recompose herself.

"... I doubt you're here to do your laundry. So... did you need something?" she asks coolly, hands in her lap as the current load tumbles, tumbles, tumbles on.

[The photo of... his face... is terrifying. He's not allowed to be caught on film. He's a ghost. He shouldn't exist. No one can see these. He covers the screen with his own unsmiling face on it with both hands. He knows it's futile because it's in a goddamn computer and you can just flip to it on another screen, but-- but the other option is to smash the screen.

Which, again, not going to help because it's just a screen. He has no idea what to do to fix this.

The teenage girl's question makes him pause, hands still covering the monitor, feeling ridiculous and still kind of terrified, honestly.]

I wasn't there. I didn't. I don't understand how these got here.

[Nell tries to stand as still as she can to the tugging, if anything, she's trying to not get in the way of the aid he's giving her. She gives a light laugh and shakes her head.] Not at all, really...

[A small smile, pained, tugs at her lips.] My husband and I had... Had moved out to LA recently, we made plans to go on some tours but... [A small shrug.] Life had different plans. [Eleanor looks out at the water for a moment, wondering how long they'd already been sailing since there's no sight of land whatsoever.

But then she turns her gaze back and up towards him.] So what about you? Do you sail? Or is it more normal for you to rescue people from the thing meant to save them? [Her tone is light, to make fun of her own foolery, aka do you rescue the damsels in distress often?]

[ After the last drone of the muster drill ended, they were apparently free to go. People were starting to shuffle off, which meant that if Zouichi wanted to talk to someone who wasn't... well, part of whatever was going on with the ship, he'd better act fast.

So he turned toward one of the other passengers, ship-issued smartphone gingerly in hand. ]

Excuse me. Would you be willing to help me with an experiment?

[ His tone was polite, but a little on edge. Perhaps for good reason! ]

[ A lounge chair sailed through the air, end over end; Zouichi sidestepped before it could bean him and batted irritably at the tableware hurling itself off a nearby table to clatter about his arms and shoulders. ]

Look, I'm not here to fight you.

[ In fact, he was being unusually patient with this poltergeist nonsense -- like maybe whatever angry presence was in the room might be reasoned with. Maybe. Who knew?

In any case, it was the emotion in those voices he was responding to. Surprisingly human, to his ear. ]

You hear them, too, right? Some of them sound frightened.

Yeah, he can see that. But he heard it, and he... had to check. Even though it's probably just his broken brain.

He's-- he's frustrated. And unhappy. He makes a sound like a growl in the back of his throat and starts to back out again. The gun doesn't come down until Johnny's does, though.

"I fucked me way across Europe. Never 'eard of 'Gallery'. What country's it in?" Unless Constantine's misheard and he'd said Galilee or something similar. Israel's sort of Europe.

"Well what do you think threw the coconut? An invisible granny with a big pension account?"

I don't talk to strange adults, woof!

[ A strangely dressed boy slowly lowers a large cat shaped cushion he'd been using to block the flying cutlery to peer over at "Ebalon". ]

Even if I trusted you mister, you sound mad, meow! I don't think I wannya!

He stops at the sight of... no Alexander Pierce. Because that sure is the voice he'd just heard ordering him to get out. He wasn't sure whether he was jumping in out of panic to obey, or whether he was jumping in to pull a gun and blow his handler's brains out.

All there is, is a girl with her laundry. "I heard."

He stops, doesn't finish his sentence, looks around helplessly at the otherwise empty room. She didn't hear it, or she wouldn't be looking at him like that. So it's just not real. Right?

( on the list of strange and bewildering and slightly alarming things clarke's seen in her life, this... certainly ranks. pale, naked, sick man with an improperly affixed life jacket is definitely somewhere on that list, just not exactly grabbing the top spot. waking up in the depths of a boat when she should be dead isn't even making the top three, but the slowly realized reality is absolutely front and foremost in her mind. what why how, a mantra on repeat and clarke sits up, reads her own letter, begrudgingly takes the life vest and falls into the flow of people making their way to lifeboat training.

only stopping when confronted with aforementioned strange, bewildering, and slightly alarming things. but hey, nothing like the sudden urge to help someone to snap you out of a confusion stupor, right? everyone functions better with a decisive action in mind. )

Okay. ( she was going to be a doctor once upon a time. the base knowledge is still there. ) Okay. Deep breaths until we get outside.

( there are exactly zero crackers in her pockets, so they're going to have to make due. she's got a hand on the strangers elbow, and makes to drag him in a beeline towards the steps out onto the first hint of fresh air she comes by. )

( that- is not what she expected. it wasn't like she thought anyone would have answers, but it didn't hurt to ask. trying to obscure them, however... she thinks, for a moment- it's not unusual to not want your photo taken. she wasn't fond of it herself. the current situation is incredibly stressful, too. so she nods, and looks at another photo. neither of them, but the white-haired man she'd seen in passing is there. interesting. )

I wasn't either. Not that I remember. But... these say otherwise. I don't like it either.

Mhm...strange big sis is asking if I know anything, meow?

[ Gin blinks, looking this way and that. Is he supposed to know? He's been wandering around looking for his friends...but this strange older girl looks as lost as him. ]

Mraaah, you're standing funny, woof! Are you okay, big sis!? I'll help you!

I see. [He thinks to inquire further, if nothing else to make conversation with a stranger - that's what 'recovery' and 'integrating into civilian life' is supposed to look like, right? Being 'friendly'? - but maybe not here. And maybe she didn't want to talk about it. Life had different plans for him too, but he isn't willing to shed too much light on that with anyone.]

I haven't really sailed. But I do try rescuing from time to time. [He flashes a small, tight-lipped smile at her. Finally, he's able to open the clip, and he gingerly slides a couple of fingers under the shoulders of the vest and lift it to help her get out of it.]

Doesn't always go so well though. And uh... I'm not sure if we're the ones that need rescuing out of this boat right now. The cruise director's a little. [What would be the best word for it?] ...strange.

He decides he's only going to be confused about one thing at a time, and right now, the fact that someone can 'fuck he way across Europe' and never even hear of Gallery is it.

"Gallery's an independent city-state. It was founded after the Platinum Wars--it's between France, Italy and Switzerland. How have you not heard of it?"

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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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devils i knew.

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devils i knew

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devils i knew.

ii

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Kanoe Zouichi | Biomega

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iii

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strange chateau

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