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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
As for his asking her whether or not she has a pulse, Lucy makes a "tch" sound.]
Well, believe me when I say I wasn't looking, or feeling, very alive moments before. [At least, it felt as though it had only been moments before. She has no idea how much time has passed between her death and her waking up in the cabin.] My body was destroyed beyond repair.
no subject
... I don't get it. It makes no sense to me, but... I'll believe ya. Gotta be some kind of top-class actor to pull off a reaction like that, and it doesn't seem like you're tryin' to pull anybody's leg around here.
[ visibly confused, itto's still processing her words. his hand finds a spot against the back of his head, fingers briefly toying with the strands of his hair there as if the act alone would help his brain buffer a little faster than this. ]
But hey, you're here now. Think that's better than bein' gone for good. [ despite the fact that this isn't home for either of them. ]
no subject
Why would I try to trick someone that way? I'm not the type to seek out attention.
[She hated being the center of attention, especially since most of the kind she did get was negative. From the bullies she grew up with to the adults at the institute who only wanted to experiment on her, or even kill her.
Despite how he tries to say something encouraging, Lucy's expression doesn't brighten up at all. She looks off to the side, shaking her head.]
I don't know... I was fully prepared to die. [To give up everything.] I'm not sure how I should feel, but I guess - It's not like I've got anything better to do either way.
[A small pause before she introduces herself.]
Anyway, I'm Lucy.
[It's not her real name, and really - since she's dead, there's no reason for her to hide her real name. However, calling herself by her real name still feels strange, just because she's a far cry from that little girl. Plus using an alias helps with putting up her protective walls, whereas giving out her real name so casually kind of makes her feel vulnerable. And Lucy hates feeling vulnerable.]
no subject
[ kind of reminds him of a guy he knows.
life's rough, sometimes. itto lends himself to bad decisions as much as the next guy. but he doesn't buy into that self-sacrificial stuff. there is always another way. he thinks so, at least. it'd be easy enough to preach that much, impose an opinion onto a stranger, get them to live a little. but itto knew nothing about her, what made her want to forfeit it all before she landed herself here.
in the case of takuya, his horns, painted blue, speak for themselves. hers must harbor an equally sullen story. itto's lucky; he has never been that far gone, placed in those shoes with an uncomfortable wear. but backed into a corner, left without much of a choice - maybe that's how it tends to feel. so itto doesn't pry; he does note that she doesn't seem thrilled to be alive. then again, he isn't exactly enthused to be on this ship, either. ]
Just because you got nothin' better to do doesn't mean they gotta nab you outta nowhere. But hey, maybe we'll figure something out. Just gotta avoid that one lady with the weird face. [ or lack thereof. ]
Not the best of circumstances, but it's nice to meet you anyway. I'm Arataki Itto. Take it easy while you're here, all right? ... It sounds like you can use a break or two.
no subject
[Lucy had sacrificed herself to save the love of her life, Kouta. She had been fully prepared to let him go, but she figured that if she was dead, her heart wouldn't be hurting as she entered the eternal sleep. Except here she was, with the breath put back in her lungs, her pulse returned to her, and all the memories retained.
She'd be lying to herself if she denied hoping that death would bring her some kind of peace from the lifetime's worth of suffering she had to endure in her eighteen years. No more thinking, no more heartache... It seemed that karma really did have it out for her, even in the afterlife if she wasn't allowed to rest in peace.
Despite the man's - Itto's -- attempts to lighten the mood, Lucy's face remains as unreadable as ever. She shrugs.]
I can have all the breaks in the world now... Although, I've never been on a cruise before. [She'll throw Itto a bone, albeit her tone of voice lacks any kind of enthusiasm.] Despite the circumstances, from what I've seen so far, it looks nicer than the place I was being kept at before.