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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.]
I
...Wait, did you say exciting? Hey, are you working with whoever's behind this or something?!
no subject
though he's also quick to shake his head, his hair drifting in front of his face as he does so. ]
No, I'm not. I've never been on a ship like this before!
[ and then robin hums. ]
If it's not exciting, what is it?
no subject
[The irritation vanishes from her face and voice as she's struck with a sense of déjà vu--between the pink hair and the sometimes-questionably-placed enthusiasm, this guy could practically be Estelle's brother.]
How about weird, for starters? I sure as hell didn't get on any ship like this, and it doesn't look like I'm the only one.
[Rita sweeps a hands to gesture vaguely at the other passengers, many of whom look pretty confused, angry, or even both.]
But who kidnaps a bunch of people and then runs a safety drill of all things? It doesn't make any sense!
no subject
[ he taps his chin with one finger and continues to scan their surroundings with eyes that go up and down and all around. ]
You're right. It doesn't make sense! So let's try to make it make sense. Maybe it's because we're being kidnapped but not in a bad way.
[ you know, the good kind of kidnapping??? ]
They don't want us to get hurt while we're on this trip.
no subject
There's no good kind of kidnapping, you know! Kidnappers usually don't have your best interests in mind.
[She ends up frowning as it brings her right back to some of the odd details.]
Besides, it wasn't even like a kidnapping; I was just--here all of a sudden. You don't remember anyone grabbing you or anything, do you?
no subject
just. maybe not in this case. maybe! ]
No. I woke up in my room. I was just leaving the café for the day, and...
[ and then he was on a boat. ]
... were you grabbed?
no subject
Either way, she sighs.]
No, it was about the same for me. I was just on my way to the edge of town, but then the whole city was just...replaced by this boat. And they kind of interrupted something important!
[And now she's irritated again. And...a little worried. At least she figured out something to keep her friend safe, but there was still more to do...]
no subject
[ and he feels a little bad for making it sound like rainbows and sunshine when his situation is clearly very different than hers? still though, it's hard for him to not feel optimistic despite it all.
why?
because he hasn't been smacked around by weird possessed things yet. ]
I'm sorry.
[ wait. ]
A city... replaced by a boat. That sounds like magic.
no subject
[She says it like it's a fact--but doesn't dispute the existence of magic at all.]
Hmm...maybe...we're missing the memory of exactly what happened...
[Thinking out loud more than anything.]
no subject
[ a moment as he processes this possibility... ]
That'd be pretty incredible! And a little scary too, especially if we can't remember how it happened.
no subject
But we need more data first...
By the way, which town were you in? Were you in the capital too?
[She means Zaphias, of course, but at the moment, she has no reason to specify the name; she assumes he would know.]
no subject
[ a city, not a town! a minor correction in the scheme of things. that being said, he tilts his head. ]
Where are you from...?
no subject
[She assumes it must be some tiny place out in the middle of nowhere.]
I'm from Aspio, but as I mentioned, I was in Zaphias before all this.
no subject
I've never heard of those places.
[ and then robin snaps his fingers. ]
I understand! We're from different worlds, aren't we?
no subject
[He gets an very dubious look now as she puts her hands on her hips.]
Look, I don't know how you've never heard of them, but how the hell do you jump to that conclusion?!
no subject
This all reminds me of uh... a story. Or fable.
[ a very weird one, but it certainly sounds more like fiction than reality. ]
Besides, I don't know what's easier to think. There's a lot that doesn't make sense.
no subject
And even if there's a lot that doesn't make sense right now, that's only because we don't have enough information. Once we do, there'll be a reasonable explanation behind all this.
[Yes. It has to be this way. Rita's insistence is not at all denial!]