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

Maybe... [but it felt like his own life... just folded in on itself]

I doubt it. But it doesn't matter. Anyway...even if you are indestructible, don't take it for granted. Anything can happen and Fell would never forgive me if something happened we couldn't walk back.

Are you actually worried about me?

[ A human worried about a demon. HA! This had him smiling as he picked a direction and headed down the long hallway. ]

You should worry about yourself, you're the mortal one.

[ Its not like he was rooming with a demon hunter or anything! ]

Everyone knows I'm going to die. That's inevitable. You being an idiot and dying on accident would be much more tragic. [he tweaks Anthony's nose without thinking about it and then backs off immediately]

Just watch your step-- for the sake of people that care about you.

[ The only saving grace in that... or er, the demonic equivalent of that... was that the tweaking of his nose wasn't a prelude to a magic trick. He recoiled in exasperated overdramatic fashion as one would expect from the drama demon he was but he was far too curious to retaliate. ]

What does that matter to you?

I told you, you're important to Fell so you're important to me. So it matters. A lot.

[it is going to get more complicated the more he has to explain this, so he hopes he doesn't have to]

[ When has Crowley ever taken the less complicated route? ]

Why is what 'Fell' wants so important to you? Even if you are friends... There's more to it! You wouldn't be getting so familiar if there wasn't!

That is none of your business. [because he can't explain it anyway] The point is you're under my protection and you'd make it a lot easier if you didn't act recklessly. But I don't expect you not to.

I'm under your protection?

[ He had to sneer, from no sense of malicious intent at all, but from the novelty of having a bodyguard. In the entire history of the world that had happened, like, never... There had been a few knights he had hired to help him sow discontent in King Arthur's time, a few other minions here or there, but never a bodyguard.

It made one feel like a rock star and his swagger took on every bit of that 'just walked off the stage and the crowd still wants more' flair. ]

I haven't acted recklessly at all, you were the one out there starting food fights.

[it felt pathetic said like that, and Alec reminded himself that this Anthony wasn't his, not exactly anyway. Well he didn't expect to be any good at it but if he could just do enough...]

I didn't. There's something going on here. Something bloody strange. Don't you hear the whispers? Haven't you seen things flying around? It seems to be happening all over.

I noticed there were a few ghosts wandering down the halls. I never paid all that much attention to them. Ghosts talk a lot of nonsense.

[ Said by one who has likely spoken to a spirit or two in his past. ]

Why? What have they been saying?

Mostly get out. And trying to kill me. [maybe they were more sympathetic to Anthony? Or didn't want to piss him off]

I don't want this bloody ship to be haunted. How do you even take care of that? Find a priest?

Eh... I would just as soon we didn't. They have this bad habit of tossing holy water around indiscriminately when they are scared.

Besides maybe the ghosts had been hoping for a ghosts only cruise. They'll get over it!

[interesting. Holy water... Is that something that could hurt him? Probably. He is a demon after all. Alec knows better than to ask but decides to look in on it just in case]

Hopefully before someone gets eviscerated. Fortunately I can survive something like that...more or less.

[he's not actually sure of his limits and hopes it doesn't come to that]

And you? You've got full...everything?

[ Crowley glanced over this Alec Crowley, human bodyguard, and found him more or less in one piece. Apparently he had managed to dodge all those knives with out even a scratch. ]

Full everything.

[ This was a funny way to put it but he agreed.

...Before deflating slightly. ]

All but the ability to leave.

[ And his immortal status being disabled. He didn't know about that yet not having died to anything. ]

Don't worry, I'll figure it out-- and try to keep this horseshit from happening again.

[all he has is time, after all, which he is beginning to realize is a valuable asset]

Just sit tight for a while.

[it is a relief to know that Anthony has just about everything he needs to keep himself safe... aside from maybe the common sense]

That's confidence. You've done a lot of ghost investigations?

[ Anyway sitting tight was about all he could do atm. That and maybe find a lounge chair, pull a slot levers... If it was meant to be a vacation he was going to do some vacationing! ]

No. [as evidenced when they turned the corner and he's slapped in the shoulder by a flying book, then has to duck out of the ay of several malicious pens as ghostly voices laugh]

Fuck. This place.

[he glares, daring Anthony to laugh, though he knows he will]

Have you?

[ A laugh! Hardly! It was more of a smile which concealed a laugh... badly.

There was no way to avoid it after that 'you're too reckless' warning. Alec was the one being reckless by recklessly rounding a corner without looking first. ]

What hunt for ghosts? Why would I need too, I've always known they were real. They'd have to be or otherwise why would Heaven and Hell be out there trying to gather souls. There would be no point if humans just died and that was the end of it.

I think I'd prefer an end. [he wrinkles his nose and peers around the corner, only to jerk back as a letter opener barely misses his nose]

Though not right now. Christ. [at least he's a source of amusement if nothing else] There's got to be somewhere quiet on this bloody vessel.

[ Finding quiet on a cruise ship was like looking for a marble at the bottom of the Atlantic and Crowley's amused expression said as much. ]

You don't travel much do you?

[ He sighed and peeking around the corner in the opposite direction where at least the only things those spirits seemed to be throwing was pillows and the feathers that used to be in them. ]

Cruise ships aren't meant to be quiet. They are meant to be loud with tons or people talking, kids running up and down the halls, and music at such volume your cabin walls are pulsing while you are trying to go to sleep.

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject