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

"You won't be able to move. Unless it's in the direction of the muster drill. And then you'll get the same explanation all the rest of us got; it's not going to help, I'm sure."

Right, at least the confusion and anger and frustration is familiar, even if the scales and snout aren't.

Phaenan paused for a moment, taking in what the human was saying. Evidently he was already a resident here, talking about 'the same explanation we all got'. He took a breath, a fresh plume of smoke curling from his nostrils. He could probably keep thrashing, see if he couldn't break through one of the walls, but he was in over his head with whatever strange magic was keeping him here, and without his wizardly companion to dispel it, he was clearly not going to be able to overcome it. He gave the nearest wall a shove with his shoulder, before finally dispersing the smoke with another breath.

"No point in prolonging this humiliation, then. You have my apologies- I dislike showing the flames of my temper to those who aren't my foes. I'd ask you directions, but it seems I'd be better served by simply walking."

"I can walk up to the deck with you. No problem either way, really." His gaze follows the smoke. "Wonder if you'll be told to keep that to the casino or Tauva. We're not suppose to smoke outside of there."

"They're welcome to try and stop me. I go where I please, when my foes aren't cheating with magic."

He laughed, deep and throaty. He dipped into a flourished bow before setting off, letting the vague sense of being guided direct him to where he needed to go.

"I of course need no introduction, but what may I call my oddly-dressed shepherd, for this occasion?"

"I think you might need an introduction--I have no clue who, or even what you are. I'm Johnny Summer, though. I've been here for a few weeks now."

He glances down at the dinner suit with its white jacket that he's wearing. "And this is hardly odd, where I'm from."

Phaenan wrinkled his nose up a bit. He was fairly used to having his reputation precede him, but he supposed there were some backwaters in Ve'golo and such that the circus hadn't been to yet. He cleared his throat,

"Well, what and who I am are somewhat of the same question- you may call me Phaenan the Magnificent, the Golden Dragon of Archibald Thorne's travelling circus, champion of the small and defender of the weak, triumphant over Wezgul the mighty, Daelart the wicked, and Ozgroc the Bull of Minrekka. I was found by Archibald as an egg, when he uncovered a mysterious chest from a river-"

If Johnny doesn't stop him, he will keep going.

"Right, and what part of that do I call you conversationally? That's a bit of a mouthful, I'm sure you realize."

And none of the names signify to him at all. And that probably shows.

"Phaenan the Magnificent, or just Phaenan if you must,"
He replied, a little deflated.

"Has there been any indication of when we'll be able to leave? I've my own issues and responsibilities to attend to, not to mention the havoc this will wreck on my performance schedule."

"None of us have been allowed to leave. Also, we're all from different worlds--that's why I don't know anything about you. Just like you wouldn't recognize place names from my world, I'm sure."

They're almost to the right part of the deck for the drill.

"Different..?"

Like the faewilds? His brow knitted for a moment, the golden spikes distorting the fabric of his mask.

"I'm not sure I get your meaning-"

Phaenan noticed others converging at the spot where he felt himself drawn to, and quietly steeled himself for whatever lay ahead.

"Well. I hope to see you again, Johnny Summers. Perhaps if we truly are trapped here, I'll find an opportunity to prove the truth behind my title,"

With a wide, sharp grin, he flicked his cape aside and flexed an arm, the scales on his arm rippling and catching the light with the motion.

"I'm sure you'll hear more of me, regardless."

Johnny, he's just going to wait and watch the big gold guy through the drill and after he gets lei'd, approach again. Friendly-like.

"So, did that help you at all?"

"Not in the slightest,"

Phaenan fiddled with the lei, looking more confused than he had when Johnny left him.

"Is... people not having faces something that happens in other worlds? Everyone else that I saw seemed to have them, I think."

He seemed unsure as to whether he should take the lei off or leave it on.

"So... what now?"

"Yeah, no, the faceless dame is horrifying. I don't know what to make of her. But now, friend, the whole ship is open to you. Find a meal, see a show, make a friend. You can do just about anything--except leave. We don't get to leave." He glances out over the water. "Like I said, I've already been here for weeks."

Another wrinkle of his muzzle in displeasure.

"Is that really all? Just... food and entertainment? Is there really nothing else to do? Nowhere we can help?"

A small puff of smoke, thin as incense smoke.

"I suppose I ought to eat something, I feel weak. Have you eaten yet? I'm not sure I kept my coin-purse on me, but I'm sure I can drum up some gold fairly easily- I worked the side-show before I took up the main stage, you know."

"The money's not necessary--food's included in our 'vacation package'. As for help--we've been trying to figure out how we got here, how to get home. If you have any theories or ways of gathering information, that'll be help to us. I'm usually not much useful in those talks."

Except occasionally when he is. But he's not driven as Clarke or daring like Jinx or gifted with supernatural senses like Palamedes.

"I don't believe in a free lunch," he grumbled, but his performance costume didn't exactly have pockets, so there wasn't much of a way around it. If Phaenan was being honest, he hadn't even considered how he'd ended up here,he'd assumed it was something to do with magic, which was out of his realm of understanding. The bards of the circus had largely handled all of that.

"Well, then it looks like we're largely in the same- er, boat. Often I simply get pointed at things and told to hit them, when it's not a show. But don't feel too bad, I'm sure you have other talents."

He smiled supportively, as if he'd received this same talk a number of times.

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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