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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.]
no subject
[Rita is completely, utterly oblivious to any hint of anger--or even the fact that she's currently clutching a person's hands, really. She doesn't really answer his question, just studies his hands intently, but she isn't able to sense his magic.
Finally, she actually looks at his face, but-]
Hey! Whatever you were doing, do it again!
[-it's just to bark an order at him. She has zero shame when it comes to being bossy.]
no subject
Ebalon would rub his temples if he had access to his hands right now. He does not. There are two reasonable courses of action to getting out of this: Pushing a kid off of him, which is moderately fucked-up to do especially because he doesn't want to make any enemies here, or alternatively just giving in and showing her the magic he was testing out.
She strikes him as the scholarly type sort of like himself, so he's quick to let the magic wreathe around his hands again — the right hand swirls with white-coloured ribbons of energy, while the left carries a denser, black-coloured magic that creeps between his fingertips like a snake.]
I was simply testing to see if my magic still worked after arriving here. None of this will hurt you, if that's a concern at all.
[Something about this young lady's energy says that it's absolutely not.]
no subject
I was right... That's not a blastia formula at all... Is it even using aer? Are these both light and dark elements? I've never seen anyone use them at the same time!
[She's mostly thinking out loud at first, but by the end, she's looking up at his face again, expecting some kind of answer.
And still not letting go of his hands.]
no subject
When their eyes meet again, he looks almost like he's struggling for a response. Blastia? Aer? These are things he does not know.]
"Light and dark", yes, you would be semi-correct in that. More accurately, they are the two types of moon magic, though their appearances are quite vague and I cannot fault you for being unable to pick apart nuances.
[It's also daytime, and Ebalon's magic is more powerful within the moonlight proper for reasons that are probably obvious.]
Unfortunately, the terms "blastia formula" and "aer" are unfamiliar to me. Could we strike a deal? Information for information?
no subject
Deal!
[There's zero hesitation in her agreement.]
Oh--who are you, again?
[Not that she ever asked for his name to begin with, but now she deems him interesting enough to ask.]
no subject
[He pauses for a half-second there before adding,]
The title is due to my status. I am considered a master of moon magic where I come from, you see. When I promise information, I do not do so lightly, given the prestigious title.
[Ebalon offers a slight smile. Polite, formal. Nothing entirely friendly, like all of his interactions are measured carefully before he even allows an expression to form on his features.]
What is your name, now?
no subject
Hmm... Is that so?
[She says it matter-of-factly; since both he and his magic are unknown to her, she can't yet judge how impressive his title is to her. But she isn't dismissive, either. If he is a master, this could be a rare opportunity to learn.
Continuing in the exact same tone, she introduces herself.]
Rita Mordio. Genius mage.
[(An observer might think they were rather similar despite the very different temperaments.)]
no subject
So, a question for a question, information for information. While the magic swirls in his hands still, he fixes Rita with a curious glance.]
Would you mind explaining to me the terms "blastia formula" and "aer"? Afterwards, I don't mind showing you or telling you whatever information you seek.
no subject
Finally she lets go of his hands.]
Alright. How you don't know about them is beyond me, but-
[Her hand makes a sweeping gesture at their general surroundings.]
Even though you can't see it, aer is everywhere. In the atmosphere, the ground, even living organisms--but it's also separate from matter. It can take on the attributes of different elements--fire, water, and so on--and it plays a role in all the world's natural processes, from weather to plant growth.
Blastia are devices that can control and process this aer for various functions. Mine lets me use magic.
[She helpfully taps her blastia, which she wears as a choker; it's gold and set with a small red gem. The gem gives off a very faint light, and if he can sense magic, he might be able to feel some dwelling there. (There's also the rather disturbing fact she recently learned about the cores being ground up crystallized souls........)]
no subject
Where I come from, the term "aer" would refer to the El. Each person is made up of raw El energy, as is the rest of the world at large, and our main elements include Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Sun, and the Moon, the latter of the list being my specialty in particular. Huhu... the El maintains life over all things, and should it become unbalanced at all, catastrophe would surely follow.
[He's leaving out bits and pieces there. That's the general gist of it, though.]
Blastia... such a device is unnecessary for Elrians, who have natural affinity for casting magic, though it sounds a bit like an arcane focus — a staff or wand, for example. That sort of thing would be useful for Debrians, people who cannot use magic in any way. When I was enrolled in Seven Tower, a mage's college of sorts, such devices were often manufactured by the students, though I don't believe any of them passed preliminary testing. Inventing is not quite my area of expertise either.
[But, hm, yes, that choker of hers certainly feels magical. The design is ingenious — something wearable and easy to carry, something more difficult to steal than say, a crystal ball or some other held object. Yes, the mages of Seven Tower would have clamored to have something like this.]
no subject
[She listens raptly, tapping her chin and humming in deep thought. But she also frowns, as some of the details bother her.]
I'd say we were talking about the exact same things, just with different terminology. But...
[Even the "catastrophe" he mentions is just like the warnings of a calamity occurring should the aer go out of balance. Even the mention of people who could use magic naturally, just like her friend.]
But you weren't using a formula at all, not even an innate one. And there's no way some other mage facility like that would exist without me hearing about it.
[--Probably.]
...Where is this Tower, anyway? Is it hidden somewhere?