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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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[ He was about a half-second away from calling her Miss Mordio but Yuri's been telling him to be less formal and also his main concern right now is getting away from whatever clearly doesn't want them in here.
This is a managed, strategic retreat, thank you. Flynn is absolutely not scurrying out of here after Rita in fear. He makes sure to keep his shoulders straight and his stride even and confident, just so anyone watching has it very clear. Not afraid, definitely in control of this situation.
Which is why he doesn't speed up at all when another tray comes flying at his back like a parting shot. Sure, now he's at Rita's side instead of behind her, sure his hand is on his sword, that's. Normal and fine. ]
I wonder if there's someone we can talk to about all this turbulence. It must be causing problems elsewhere on the ship. Perhaps we're simply... speeding to our destination.
[ Which is where, Flynn? Where are they going? How did he end up here, and more importantly how does he leave? ]
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O-of course. If we go outside, we'll see that it's just from the bad weather.
[Or maybe they should. Stay inside because clearly that's their answer already.
Or maybe it doesn't matter either way, because Rita freezes when the doors ahead of them start rattling.]
Just...the turbulence...that's all it is...
[But she's not moving to open them.]
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[ There are only so many things one can do with fear. Giving in is always an option. They could stay in here, wait for someone to come and rescue them, barricade themselves under a table in the meantime.
Obviously, that is not actually an option. Flynn is an Imperial Knight.
The other choice, naturally, is facing up to it, staring your fear straight in the teeth and hardening yourself against it, doing the thing that makes your bones feel weak and cold despite how little you want to do it. Choosing that again and again is what got Flynn to where he is, and he isn't going to let Rita down by failing now.
Squaring his shoulders, he marches up to the doors, skirting ahead of Rita as he does like a human shield. Sure, he doesn't have his armor, and sure, he looks much smaller and less like a tank without it, but—well, needs must. Flynn's jaw is set. ]
Well, we certainly can't stay in here, and since it's only turbulence—
[ He reaches for the handle of the door. It rattles harder.
Just as his hand lands, the whole thing slams open, hard enough that it knocks him in the forehead even as he jumps back out of the way. Flynn lets out a pained yelp and grabs onto the edge of it, holding it open. ]
Rita! Go! I'll be right behind you!
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Until Flynn does the knightly thing and opens them up himself. Of course, since they're just doors!]
R-right--don't let that...draft blow another door at you!
[Of course, that's all it was. Naturally. Rita walks very quickly but does not run (because she's not scared!!) through the doors.]
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The door hangs there, innocuous.
Another tray flings itself onto the ground with a clatter, and Flynn shoves the door closed all at once, trying to calm his hammering heart. ]
Well.
[ A beat, into the tense silence. Flynn swallows. ]
This is, I think, an even more clear sign that we need to get off this ship. I don't suppose you've been able to figure out why we're here and how we got here? Or, more importantly, how we leave?
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And it's nice and quiet, finally.]
Do you think we'd still be here if I knew how to leave? Apparently there's some kind of barrier around the ship--some people tried swimming, and they didn't get very far. So some kind of magic has to be involved, but...it's different than ours.
[By now, she's encountered at least one person who didn't use any kind of formula, as far as she could tell.
And at least thinking about this is a much better focus than--whatever was going on a few minutes ago.]
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He bites at his own lip, glancing around the hallway. It's quiet, and there's nothing actively being thrown at them, which is.... a nice change.
He really had been hungry, but it can wait. If there really is a barrier, that makes this entire situation precisely as malicious as he'd been privately thinking. ]
Then we're trapped here. Against our will, and for an unknown purpose.
[ Finally, a little bit of emotion is in his voice, something over than his calm politeness. Flynn is tense. ]
There's something else. Did you notice the sky?
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[She gives him a skeptical reply--it's hard not to get a look at the sky on the deck where the buffet is--and says, flatly-]
What's there to notice about it?
[It's blue. There's a few clouds. It's totally normal, unless he spotted something she missed.]
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It's... fine. Blue. Unless the Adephagos somehow disappeared overnight, I don't see how that's possible. Unless you were somehow able to stop it...?
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[She knows it's the calamity they found out about in Myorzo, but she doesn't understand what he means, exactly--which spikes her annoyance.]
What do you mean, disappear overnight? Or about stopping it? As long as we find a way to keep the aer from going too far out of balance, it shouldn't even appear in the first place!
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But it... already has. Alexei's actions at Zaude caused it. I'm admittedly fuzzier on the details than I wish I was, but I'm sure that's why it's appeared. Reappeared.
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[Boy, this missing memory thing sure is a pain; she understands right away, and Rita's no longer annoyed with Flynn--but she sure is angry at Alexei.
Not to mention Yuri for leaving out this little detail. Rita starts going into full rant mode at Flynn because, well, he's the one here.]
And Yuri, too! Why the hell didn't he tell me?! That's kind of important to know!
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Flynn would never have called him an idiot, and the wound of his betrayal and his death is still a fresh one, and somehow, somehow that helps.
Just a little.
Although he can't dwell on it under the force of Rita's anger. All he can really do is wince slightly and listen to her. ]
Yuri does have a tendency to leave out the important details, but in this case, I'm not sure he knew. Are... you saying you don't remember any of this?
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No. Whatever they did they that made us forget how we got here, I don't even remember leaving for Zaude now.
[That's her best explanation, anyway--and it's a situation that still sucks, because so far those "memories" aren't returning, and it's possible they never will. She'll have to ask Flynn exactly what he remembers doing last, once she calms down a bit more.]
At this rate, if I want to remember blasting that jerk Alexei, I'd have to figure out how to revive him first!
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Attempting to bring your memories back does seem like the easier option. Let's try that first. There was nothing like peace or joy in Commandant Alexei's death, but... he is gone, and there is a small amount of justice in that.
[ Even if Yuri nearly died too. Did die, as far as Flynn is aware. Even if he unleashed a massive evil they have no idea how to fight, even if the world is spiralling into chaos and Flynn lies awake at night wondering how they're going to get out of it and whether there was anything else he could have done if only he'd noticed earlier.
Even with all that.
Flynn swallows, aims for a steadier smile. ]
I promise you that we will do everything in our power to get your memories back and get ourselves off this floating prison.
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It's annoying. But she can deal with it.
She takes a breath, lets out a sigh. Decides that if no statue of Alexei exists, she'll build one herself when they get back and then take great satisfaction in smashing it to pieces.
With that very important goal in mind, she focuses more on the current state of things--and is a little taken aback by Flynn's declaration. He really is as serious as ever, but it's awkward now to have him being all serious about her memories.]
Well--of course we'll figure it out.
[Mildly embarrassed, but otherwise a lot calmer than moments before, she tries to casually wave it off.]
Anyway, if I can't remember it myself, then I want to hear more. You said Alexei caused the Adephagos to appear, but how? The aer wasn't that far out of balance yet.
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[ No bragging from Flynn, who mostly just listens to what Witcher has to tell him about aer and artes and accepts them as truth. He's no blastia expert, and most of the information on the Adephagos he learned was secondhand, scraps pulled from Yuri and the brief summary they'd given him as they headed into Baction.
He knows enough to know how troubling it is, though, and how much danger their world is really in. ]
It seems that Zaude was a blastia all along. A massive one, with an equally-massive and powerful core. Its purpose was to hold the Adephagos back and keep it locked away. Alexei thought it was a weapon he could use, and activated it.
...he was wrong.
[ And so was Flynn, he doesn't quite say, but there's a heaviness to his words all the same. He is entirely too aware of his own mistakes, knows very well that if not for his own blind obedience, Alexei might never have gotten that far, and perhaps Terca Lumireis wouldn't be on the verge of ruin. ]
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[What the hell was the point of sacrificing all those Children of the Full Moon, then? And about Estelle supposedly causing calamity--the calamity was already there.]
Oh, those idiots... And how the hell could Alexei have been so stupid?! He went and screwed everything up, and now we have to clean up his stupid mess!
[Yeah, she's not quite done insulting Alexei, sorry Flynn. But she's probably got it out of her system...for now.]
Hey, you said the Adephagos was...in the sky or something, right? The record we saw in Myorzo showed this...giant creature, like, eating the whole planet, and it just...didn't seem like something of that scale could be real.
[And she knows ancient murals and reliefs aren't always meant to be taken literally, but if this one was accurate...]
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Was, Flynn reminds himself, looking out at calm blue water and fluffy clouds scudding across the horizon, rather than at Rita. Her anger is justified and too-much all at once. Guilt and worry gnaw holes in the lining of his stomach. Flynn swallows. His voice is steady. It doesn't feel like it should be, but training will do that for you.
He clutches white-knuckled at the rail in front of them. ]
It is... beyond the scale of comprehension.
[ Big words from Flynn, who tackles massive structural problems every day. ]
Every day, the sky grows darker. Monsters and people alike are on-edge, and the monsters seem to be experiencing echoes of what they did in Zaphias. You can look up anywhere in the world and see it, turning the sky purple. We should be able to see it here.
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And it's easy to understand why--if the Adephagos is truly that massive, surely no normal weapon or spell would work on it. Even the ancients--even after sacrificing the Children of the Full Moon--didn't actually defeat it despite their far more advanced technology.
When he says people are "on edge", she bets that's an understatement. That thing could destroy their entire world, can apparently be seen from anywhere, but then-]
But if that's the case, then--then we should be able to see it from here, shouldn't we?!
[She doesn't exactly intend to shout at him, but it's just that--as time goes by, everything seems to make even less sense.]
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[ The words fall to the uncaring sea, sparkling in afternoon sunlight. The sky is clear. It will haunt him for days after this. ]
It makes no sense that the sky should look like it does, or that no one here remembers the sky being that way. Even Yuri doesn't remember, though given his fall, I suppose that makes sense. But you didn't fall. You were working on the problem.
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Hey, what are you talking about? What do you mean, he fell? From where?!
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From the top of Zaude.
[ A miracle, really, that he manages to keep his voice somewhat even, that he says the words at all even though his heart crowds thickly into his throat, thinking about it. ]
That's what we all assumed. Zaude's core fell on top of Alexei. It was massive, and in the chaos—Yuri was close to him—either he was crushed by the core or he.
[ Flynn has to swallow around the tightness of those words, try again. ]
He fell. He remembers falling.
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[She stares at him, wide-eyed, automatically zeroing in on the lack of certainty on Flynn's part.]
You didn't know what happened to him? Was that the last thing you remember before all this?
[She's still furious at Yuri for apparently telling this to Flynn but not her (yeah, they're best friends or whatever, but still).]
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My knights and I were being attacked by unusually-aggressive monsters in massive numbers in Hypionia. We were escorting guild refugees, and we ran aground and were attacked. Yuri has been gone for three weeks.
[ And that is the story, and he could leave it there but he rushes to fill in the gap a moment later, his lungs twisting up against the edges of his ribs. ]
I looked for him. As long as I possibly could, I took out the Imperial fleet as long as we could spare—but I never—the world is falling into chaos. The guilds are fractured and leaderless and with Alexei dead and a traitor on top of all of that—
[ He sucks in a shaking breath. Focus, Flynn. You can't unload all your problems onto Rita, not now. Not like this. He draws himself back in, pulls back all his fear and worry and stress, presses it down inside himself. ]
...it's been weeks with no word.
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