TEST DRIVE MEME #1

[sailmods]

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.]

Comments

[fortify]

[ is that so.

Zhongli considers Childe's opinion and finds his thoughts sound. Zhongli would not think of it, but humans seem very eager to make known what is unknown. Finding a similarity in a name of one place they have never been to with that of a place that they share an emotion to may allow them to manifest that emotion about the unknown. That gives a little bit more feeling of control if one knows how they should act towards it. ] Yes, you make a good point. I did not think of that.

[ Zhongli will walk, leading them along the deck in order to finally reach stairs to the smaller deck just above it.

As Zhongli walks forward and further into the area, he materializes momentarily the Memory of Dust, letting it float over this outstretched palm. There is a hint of melancholy seen in the ex-archon's now glowing eyes as he observes it even as it becomes obvious one of his jade barriers is forming around the entirely of deck seven. ]

They are unable to pentrate my barrier, therefore I cannot fathom their ability to escape beyond the other. It is an idle pondering at best, of course, with no way to find out the truth, currently.

[ The Memory of Dust rises hovering on away from Zhongli to the top center of the jade barrier, as if to oversee the battle before it disappears. There's a thick brilliant sheen that spills from the top of the barrier and around like shooting stars before they fade to a dull, pulsing yellow.

With that, Zhongli begins the process of unbuttoning his coat. ] This will assure no interruptions and contain the sounds of battle so curiosity does not bait an audience.

[ also no one will accidentally get hit with anything if someone or something is knocked off the deck.

once his coat is off, he folds it neatly over one arm before moving to a not-far-off bench to leave it there. ]

[acutabove]

That's a neat trick. I trust it won't tip the battle in your favor, but even if it did you'll hear no complaints from me.

[ geo resonance and all. but Childe doesn't doubt his abilities and his experience make him a formidable opponent in his own right, even when facing off against someone who had countless millennia of battle history tucked under his belt. there was a reason why Morax was collectively referred to as Liyue's martial god in many of the transcripts he'd read, a reason why he was still an imposing, indomitable force despite the defensive nature of geo itself.

he's excited just thinking about it.

as he watches Zhongli move to lay his coat out of the way of whatever imagined paths of destruction the god envisions, Childe himself takes up his position a few paces away. his usual handicap with the bow goes ignored for the moment; against an opponent like Zhongli, it would be an insult not to give it his all.

(though, he'd be lying if there wasn't a part of him that wanted to, anyway, just for the chance to lord it over him on his victory).

still, even as he sets his hands on his hips, watching as Zhongli makes his way back to their makeshift battleground, he can't help but to try provoking him again. it's less serious this time around, more teasing, like the idle banter they had before their mutual games of trickery and deceit. ]

What's the matter? Don't want anyone to see you lose?

[fortify]

It will not, this battle is already mine.

[ Zhongli declares such in a cool and confident tone. Just because he chose to not meet Childe on the battlefield (or Osial) does not reflect his confidence in his once-position as the oldest Archon. Perhaps Childe does not wish to make the connection, but the reason a deal was forged in the first place was because even the Tsaritsa knew there was no hope of taking his gnosis unless he willingly allowed it. It is interesting, though ,for someone who is so hungry to fight strong opponents that he fails to understand what he is up against. Perhaps the docile nature of Zhongli has confused Childe or led him into a false assumption. Or is it that Zhongli no longer has his gnosis that gives the boy an inflated boost? No matter.

Vortex Vanquisher solidifies from the glow of geo energy in his hand before he beckons to the Harbinger with his free one. ]

On the contrary, I would rather not humiliate you in public. I am assuming from your demeanor this defeat will be hard for you to swallow as is. I am not so cruel as to compound on it.

Come, Harbinger Eleven. Strike me down for your Queen, if you can as you claim. [ the glow in his sharp gaze and his tone of voice already say Childe can't.]

[acutabove]

[ unsurprisingly, the weapon draws his eye almost immediately. golden and brown and elegant, it looked like it was crafted for the sole purpose of being wielded by the Geo Archon. the different symbols and motifs decorating the polearm are all things that he could associate with Zhongli at first glance, and he finds himself wondering not for the first time how he could have possibly missed all the indications that Zhongli was not who he said he was at first glance.

he'd had his suspicions, of course, but he'd been just a little too slow on the uptake to make them count. ]

You misunderstand me. No matter the outcome of the battle, I will be made all the more better for it. [ as he speaks, his Vision glows; Hydro coalesces into the air around his hand, elongating into his signature polearm that, after a second's pause where he studies Zhongli's own, shifts to mimic the god's weapon. ]

It's not victory I seek, but improvement. The chance to face against the mighty Morax himself isn't an opportunity that comes around every day, after all.

[ it's the best kind of apology, when he thinks about it. what better way to work out his frustrations then crossing blades with the Geo Archon? just the thought of it has him giddy with excitement, adrenaline pumping through his veins strong enough he's practically vibrating with it. ]

I trust you won't hold back.