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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.]
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"I was...somewhere I didn't want to be." He admitted, looking away. That was best left out of his thoughts for the moment.
"All the same, uhhh, yeah. Just woke up here. How crazy is that?"
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The urge to query further was squashed down. Not exactly appropriate when they had just met, nor when he didn't look like he wanted to dive into the topic. "It's tough, isn't it?" The statement might have suggested she'd been in a similar circumstance herself. Or it could have simply been her trying to be empathetic.
"It's quite extraordinary, to say the least. Though at least we aren't alone in the extraordinary, hmm?" It did beg the question as to the why of it all. Evidently her initial theory wasn't panning out.
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"I've been on a boat before but nothing as big as this one." Prompto sighed.
"And yeah, kinda, even though I didn't want to be where I was...I had stuff to do, you know?"
Like leaving Zegnautus into the neverending night.
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"Really? It sounds exciting. It would be wonderful to hear some stories of your travels." When he felt more settled. Or as a means of helping himself feel more settled. Whatever worked for him.
For a moment, Chloe was quiet. When she did speak, her voice was a notch softer. "I do know what that's like." Matters she didn't want to bore or burden anyone else with. Or fully acknowledge them to herself but who was counting that?
"I know how this may sound, considering we've just met, but if you ever find you'd like someone to talk to about anything, anything at all, I'd be happy to listen."
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It was much nicer to think about the good things over the bad, wasn't it?
"That's really nice of you." Prompto said with an honest smile. "Uh, I dunno, but maybe later?"
He wasn't in the habit of sharing his burdens with others, terrible as that habit may be.
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"Oh, I didn't mean right now," she clarified with a slightly apologetic note. "I just meant, well, in general. You don't have to though, of course."
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"Chocobos are the best! They're big fluffy birds, normally yellow, that we ride sometimes. They're really fast, and the black ones don't like my friend Iggy. It's hilarious how they steal his glasses."
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“They sound absolutely stunning. Being able to ride a bird like that… I bet it’s quite an experience. I like birds too, but there isn’t really anything like that where I’m from. Are they kept as pets?”
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"Have you ever raced one? It all sounds very exciting." Already it sounds like he's lived an interesting life. At least, by her standards. Though she might not be the best judge of what counts as an exciting, action-packed existence.
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He nodded a little bit. "Well not officially. I just raced against my friends, but my favourite chocobo, Lemon Kwehkers is really fast! She's the best!"
The name may or may not have come from him.