sail_ooc | 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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The sound of the blender makes Garner jump. He hadn't been anticipating it, there'd been no warning. Just a sudden, loud, violent sound somewhere to his right. There's no hiding it, nor does he try. His nerves are...frankly, shot. Moving through the world blind is hard enough, suddenly having that world be something completely different -a strange ship no less- was much harder. That was why, when he'd found a pub, he'd most definitely sighed in relief. A little liquid burn would surely help.

He's nursing his drink slowly, something 'strong' he'd ordered and the bartender had provided. He'd heard someone sit nearby, but hadn't decided whether to talk to them yet when they spoke for themselves. He had a nice voice, the stranger.

Clouded white eyes remained downcast to the bartop, but Garner turned his head slightly in the man's direction. He smelled of sweet smoke and some of the hair products Raleigh liked and the familiarity in that helped ease him further.

"You're a business man?"

"I am. I own the Margrave Building in Gallery, and run both the Blue Horseshoe Pub in the basement and the Margravine Club on the top floor. Drinks like this would sure be a hit at the Margravine."

Johnny notices the state of Garner's eyes, and he pauses. "Has anyone mentioned to you yet that the staff are invisible? So we're not getting any better look at them than you are."

“Truly?” There’s curiosity in his quiet voice. An interesting little fact, that.

“I can see how that might be concerning for everyone else.” He smiles lightly at his own joke, but doesn’t linger. “For me, I suppose they look just as I was imagining.”

He’s never funny, but that won’t stop him. He takes a sip from his glass and the curiosity grows in his voice. “Where is Gallery?”

He's heard that question a few times already. He's starting to realize there's different Earths people are coming from--but hasn't yet gotten the full scale of the issue.

"Europe. Between France and Italy and Switzerland"

There’s a quiet moment and Garner’s expression shifts from curiosity to something far more perplexed.

“Sorry…” he starts slowly and absently pushes some of his hair behind an ear that had been bothering him. “None of those names sound familiar.” But his thoughts are quick and where he lands is a concept he hasn’t considered yet.

“Are you familiar with the name Exandria?”

"No, I'm afraid not."

He pauses for another sip of his drink, before it all melts, taking the opportunity to think.

"I knew there were people from different times on Earth. I knew some of them didn't have the same sense of history I did--one said the Platinum Wars were never a thing. But you, you might be from another world entirely. And that's even scarier to consider."

Ah. Then things were more messy than he'd initially thought. That would be troublesome, but it was trouble to worry over later. He did, however, finish off the remains of his drink in one gulp, it certainly warented that.

"Is it? I suppose so. Planer travel isn't an unknown concept on my world. Though I certainly lack the ability myself, I don't see why travelling between worlds would be so different, if someone could manage it."

Another chain of thoughts born of the comment about the sound runs its course. If there were different worlds, that would likely mean different powers and different rules. "That sound...the one that made your drink, I imagine it came from something considered mundane if the invisible man used it, yet you sounded intrigued. I would be willing to guess there's quite a few forgone conclusions we'll need to second guess here."

"The drink's made of pulverized ice, juice and coconut milk. The sound of the machine was the ice being chopped to bits. In theory, something like this could be made where I'm from, but I've never seen the machine before."

He pauses, and a soft humor colors his words. "Care to try a sip?"

Another interesting thought. It was unknown, and yet the capability to make such a thing existed for him, yet Garner was pretty sure there was no such thing that could exist back home. Something to crush ice, sure, but not so...intensely.

The offer, however, cuts off his thoughts and the novel sort of surprise is likely clear in his face. "A generous offer...but one I would b interested in accepting. I am curious."

Garner places his hand on the counter top, fingers gently spread as invitation.

Johnny gently places the glass in Garner's hand, making sure he's got a good grip on it before pulling his hand away. "There's a paper umbrella on the rim of the glass--the other end of it's pointed, like a toothpick."

It's funny, he never really took the time to think before about how much information he gets from his sight.

He nods for the information, a useful note, and slowly moves a finger near the side of the glass until he can find the paper thing and hold it in place.

His sip is small and equally careful, but he savors the taste on his tongue a moment. He rests the glass back to the counter slowly and slides it in Johnny's direction. "That is...very sweet. Far sweeter than most things where I am from, to my knowledge. It is fruit-based yes? It smells of it, though I'm not familiar with the fruit in question."

"The fruit in it are the sorts that grow in tropical parts of my world. Coconut and pineapple."

He takes the glass back, letting his hand briefly brush Garner's. "Sweet drinks like this are popular back home. Some people don't like to taste the alcohol, given the choice."

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

2B

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