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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
You're still way too calm!
[...Clearly. Okay, she's not exactly blaming him anymore, but she's still a little too stubborn to stop grilling him just yet.
Oh, and the stolen fork--after hovering in the air for a while--launches itself towards Natsuno.]
no subject
Then the fork flies right at him, and Natsuno's way too calm demeanor finally cracks.]
Crap - !
[He brings his hands up to protect his face and ducks. The fork scratches the top of his head and gets stuck in the wall behind him.
A moment later, the invisible force starts dragging the fork across the wall.
O... U...]
no subject
W...What...why is it writing on the wall?! How?!
[At least his reaction makes her fully believe that he's just as lost as her?]
no subject
[Natsuno steps away from the wall, staring at the fork. He runs a hand through his hair, his mouth twisting as he feels the scratch already fading. Dammit, now he's unnerved AND embarrassed.
He faced supernatural horrors before, but at least vampires have the decency to have a body.]
Let's get out of here.
["Here" being the area. That's what this ghost thing wants, right? And it's clearly not interested in saying much else.]
no subject
[She glances sidelong at him as if she's not the one who's been doing more yelling between the two of them.
It's...it's not like this is the same as that totally-not-a-ghost ship she encountered before. There has to be an explanation!
Think logically... The fork is metal, so...]
--Magnetism! It has to be that! Someone's using a magnet!
[...Even if the positioning of the fork doesn't quite line up with that theory...]
no subject
Doesn't explain the other stuff that's been flying around. Like chairs and plates.
no subject
[But she's learned by now that not everyone's magic requires a formula.]
I mean, levitation isn't complicated. You just need to apply the right amount of upward lift for the mass you're targeting-
[Yes, she's sort of launching into a magic science lecture here, but at least her confidence is returning?]
no subject
Look - [he cuts into the lecture] I don't know anything about magic formulas, but do we really need the technical details? If it is magic, shouldn't we figure out who's doing it and why? There are voices, too - that's not levitation.
no subject
[Even if he's right, she's a tad miffed that she was interrupted. But--fine, she supposes that's not the most important thing right now.]
If only there was a formula, it'd be easy to trace the source...
Anyway, whoever's doing it must be hiding nearby, so what are you waiting for?
[She points at him again. Clearly it's his job to start looking!
...Although the ghosts might be displeased about being ignored, since there's now several dozen sets of cutlery clattering together in midair.]
no subject
After a moment though, he turns around to survey the buffet, giving the hovering cuttlery his best unimpressed glare. Just you try!!]
If they're nearby, we should try the kitchens first.
[Yes, "we". Now where are those kitchens? Natsuno takes a few experimental steps until a chair topples over in his path.]
Maybe this way.
[His logic being that the source is where the unseen force doesn't want then to go.
He glances back at Rita, raising an eyebrow. Well, are you coming?]
no subject
be afraidhold back.The cutlery clamors all the more...menacingly? Or loudly, anyway--while the chair spins like a top. Rita scowls at the noise.]
Oh, I've had enough of this! Hey--you!
[She addresses Natsuno again instead of asking for his name like a normal person.]
You handle the chair; I'll get rid of these!
[She assumes he can probably do something about it, anyway. Meanwhile, she flips open the textbook she always carries around, and...a large, striped cat paw stretches from the pages and swipes the cutlery out of the air. Totally normal.]
Hah! That'll teach them to think they can mess with me!
no subject
Any questions can wait for later, though. Natsuno has no magic nor any flashy abilities unless he consumes blood. He is, however, spitefully stubborn and cares little for his bodily safety.
Stomping the chair into splinters may not be as elegant as Rita's method, but it is efficient.]
Right. Anything else in this book of yours?
no subject
That wasn't part of the book; the book itself just has the right level of conductance to coalesce the aer into an effective tangible shape--that attack was a custom one by yours truly, by the way--but to answer what you're really asking, of course I can cast spells, too.
[
natsuno i am so sorry for your lots here]Anyway, should we move on?
no subject
Her personality isn't exactly endearing, but neither is Natsuno's. What's important is that she seems like acceptable company for investigating creepy mysteries on a haunted ship.]
Yeah.
[But if there's a back door to the kitchens, it sure is well hidden.]
I wonder how anything gets done here. You can't break into the crew cabins or the bridge, but at least they're there. I didn't see any other service doors.
[Or, y'know. Any crew except that Friday... woman (??)]
no subject
Hmm...if I had to guess, I'd say a lot of it's probably automated. This ship is pretty technology advanced from the looks of things, so it's likely a lot of the basic functions are automatic. Maybe even more than just the basic ones.
The food must get filled at the buffet now and then, so maybe you'd see where they come from then.
[She hasn't spent enough time in the restaurants to see how the food goes right through the walls. If she sees that, she might go back to freaking out...]
no subject
[He looks at the now-still cutlery.]
Is there a spell - [He can barely believe he's saying these words, what is his life anymore] you can on these things, to track where they're taking them?
no subject
A tracking spell...hmm...
...I don't have one right know, but I could put together a formula. It would just take some time to develop. Of course, since it's me, a couple of hours should be sufficient.
If we can't find the jerk behind all this, it's not a bad backup plan.