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

"I don't know what I want. I'm a rogue SecUnit who spent the time after I disabled my governor module continuing to work. Because the point wasn't escaping or being free or being a person. It was a matter of knowing I wouldn't have to obey stupid orders like 'kill the humans' or anything." Because it had been forced to obey those orders before. Because it hated knowing it had obeyed those orders.

It pauses, glancing toward Chloe. Others might see this and think it's weird, two non-humans sitting in silence together. It doesn't care, though.

"Here, no one is giving me any orders. I find ways to fill my time. I have thousands of hours of serials in my storage--let me know if you want any to watch. I can transfer the files."

Partly to appear more casual and partly to give her a moment to process that which hits close to home, Chloe adjusts herself to lounge out on the chair. No orders. No instructions. No expectations. No experiments. It's all... a lot to consider. But she's glad he's been able to find that for himself. There are few who could truly understand what it's like.

"I don't think you have to know, to be honest. Maybe some of the point is having the time and ability to discover that." There's a pause, only a second or two. "I'm sorry you've been through that." Treated like that. Used like that.

To cut through the seriousness, she looks over to him with a smile. "That sounds wonderful. Perhaps we could watch them together?" It's more fun with someone else, right?

"I have a media player that can display them. So yes, together would be good. Nice, even." It includes an excited tone indicator. Which is totally not the same thing as a :D emoji, even if it expresses the exact same mood in almost as short a form.

And then it goes back to the serious part of everything. You have that time now, too. And perhaps the same expectation that you'll get somewhere in that discovery process that the humans place on me. Good luck.

Okay, the emoji that isn't an emoji is utterly adorable. In return, Chloe transmits some warm, fuzzy feelings of her own. Rather than a tone or equivalent, it's a dose of the emotion itself. Or what she perceives as being an emotion. Sometimes, she isn't entirely sure which it might be. "I think it would be lovely. Thank you." It dawns on her then that, in a dreadful lack of manners, she hasn't actually introduced herself. "I'm Chloe, by the way. And you?"

Yes, she supposes she does. If she's going to be stuck here, time is what she's got. Time to think. Less appealing than it should be, in some ways. "I don't really mind if they think of me as real. Or would like for me to think of myself as such, if it makes them feel more at ease."

Oh yes, it's completely all about the humans and not at all about a deep longing within the android. Plastic is fantastic and circuits are worth it, absolutely.

"I've asked the humans to call me either SecUnit or Rin. Most have opted for Rin."

Neither is its name, though its feed address or equivalent probably just reads as SecUnit, perhaps with an idenfitication number. But Murderbot's name is something private, personal to itself.

Plus it kind of would scare most people, right?

"May I call you Rin?" A tentativeness is evident, wary of implying he should go by the moniker most humans have gravitated towards. "Unless you prefer SecUnit? Or something else?"

She's more than happy to address him by whatever name suits him. Names are important. Although a whole series of androids share hers, she was the first Chloe. The name has a meaning, and it was chosen for her.

Murderbot is a pretty metal name. It might raise an android eyebrow. Then again, humans have come up with all sorts of... creative ways to brand androids so it doesn't mean she'd assume it's literal and accurate.

There's a noticeable pause as it tries to decide what to tell Chloe.

"I don't have a preference between SecUnit and Rin. They're not for me. They're for the purpose of other people to use. They don't matter, not really. But I think I like that."

Chloe knows those kinds of pauses. For as much as she wishes no one experiences anything similar, someone of the same ilk is a comfort.

"Do you mind if I ask why you like that?" And what she really wants to ask is if he chose Rin for himself. It feels like a step too far to do so. In some ways she can understand not wanting that which is of use to others to matter on a more personal level.

It folds its hands in its lap, and looks at them instead of at her as it responds.

"I have a name I call myself. It's for me, not for anyone else. It matters."

For a moment, her hand moves like she’s going to reach out and touch one of his. An action she quickly decides against. Instead she just smiles.

”It does,” she agrees. “Everyone should have that. Something that’s just for them.”

It’s all gotten rather heavy and while she doesn’t shy away from being serious, it might all be a bit close for the both of them.

”Why don’t you tell me a little more about your serials? Is there anything I need to catch up on?” There. That’s much lighter and much more pleasant. She can probably avoid shoving a well-meaning foot into her mouth with that topic.

"I'd be glad to start the series from the beginning. My favorite is a show called The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, which is about a colony solicitor and her team, dealing with trouble on a small colony on a terraformed moon."

It sounds more passionate, like any fan talking about the best show ever. "The solicitor's bodyguard is sleeping with one of her trainees, her assistant is secretly in love with her, and the rest of the trainees all have secrets. It's awesome."

"How scandalous!" She's more playful, and clearly intrigued by the drama of it all. Chloe is not above a good bit of cheese.

"Do you like musicals?" One of her own guilty pleasures. As Rin has a media player, she might be able to share something in return.

"I haven't seen very many, but some of the shows I watch have had a musical episode. I like those. Why?" Yes, Chloe, share your own media banks--more movie nights for everyone!

"I really enjoy musicals. I was wondering if you might like to watch one of those sometime too? A cultural exchange, of sorts." Sign Chloe up for all the movie nights. She'll bring the popcorn. If there is popcorn on the ship.

She'll bring some kind of treats for everyone!

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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