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

"Normally I'd say I don't have the right kind of magic for that, but we are surrounded by ocean, and water is my element."

She doesn't sound very confident that she'll be useful, though, as she powers back down into her schoolgirl form to conserve magic.

Gen gave her a kind smile, encouraging. "That's not the only thing in you favor, my dear. Surely, if someone like you is on the ship - there'll be others with amazing abilities who're working on lending a hand."

And perhaps real life wasn't like a morning cartoon, but, he took a wild stab, "After all - it's always easier to tackle a tricky task with friends on your side, isn't it?"

The mention of friends by her side makes Undine flinch, as for a moment she imagines the rest of her team, after their final fight. All dead. All gone. No longer beside her at all.

Not that she's fighting alone these nights, strictly, but it's different, teaming up with Heartful Punch.

She's quick to put herself back together, though. "Right, it's not for me to solve all on my own. That's important to remember."

Though Gen - no matter what he claimed during a performance - couldn't read minds, the flinch was obvious. This time, his expression of remorse was genuine.

"I am sorry if I've touched something a little painful, dear Undyne," Gen said quietly. "But you're right - you won't be alone, here."

He gave her a slightly more ridiculous, sheepish smile. "Ah, even if the first person you've met is pretty useless magically, hm?"

"Well, of course you're not magical." Undine says it as though this is self-evident. "You're not a girl and you're too old anyway. Even I'm only going to have my powers for so much longer."

"I've never been a fan of gender-locked classes, that seems like a shame," Gen complained a little ridiculously, though part of him wondered about people like - hm. Not the time to bring that up, no matter how curious he was.

But his eyebrows raised. "How old are girls usually when they lose their powers, then?"

Put a pin in that and ask later, Gen, it's sure to be an engaging conversation.

"Usually around eighteen or so, always before twenty-one. Some burn their powers out sooner, in an emergency, though. One final miracle, one final attack. I've seen that happen before, it's actually quite scary, to see all the power inside a girl turned to one purpose." To save Undine's own life, one of her teammates had blown all her power at once.

That was the night Team Alchemical ceased to be.

Gen didn't really want to bring her down with darker thoughts, but it seemed this conversation had gone in this direction all the same. His hands tucked into his sleeves as he bit his lip a little, like he was thinking it all through. As if it took effort to come to this conclusion, and he hadn't thought of it right away.

"That sounds ... rather dire, if you forgive me for saying so, the way you say that," Gen shivered a little. "Like it's the last thing they'd ever do."

"Most survive. But it's definitely an act of desperation. It's hard, to suddenly no longer be a magical girl, when that's what your life has revolved around for years."

She takes a deep breath, and then puts on a smile. "That's the job, though. That's what we're here for."

Slowly, Gen nodded, breathing out slowly. "I suppose I can see that. Not that I've been involved in anything so dire!"

Not true, but. It's not going to be an advantage revealing his background, he didn't think. Only parts of it likely will help him build rapport.

"Yet I was a performer starting at - I likely was around your age, my friend," Gen admitted to her. "Suddenly having everything you knew, all the skills you've built up, mean nothing ... it can shake your entire world. And being on a stage certainly isn't a matter of life and death, either, so please don't think I'm making light of your situation. It just helps me imagine, a little, what you're likely thinking about."

"Oh! Did something happen that made it so you had to stop performing? That's terrible. Especially since it clearly mattered a lot to you."

No, it's not the same, but she's got a soft heart and enough sympathy to go around. She has the heart of a magical girl, after all.

Gen gave her a bright smile. "Well, I found a way to adapt, I assure you. Something rather antastic-fay happened in my timeline, so the traditional stage I had grown so accustomed to was no more. But I did find my niche, my dear, even if I couldn't quite do what I used to. Diplomacy is kind of like being on stage, isn't it?"

It's perhaps best if he didn't mention that those skills were adapted toward spying on others first, though. That wouldn't really make him look trustworthy, would it?

He winked at Undine. "So, while it's not quite the same thing ... I'm sure once your time as a magical girl is over, you'll have other skills that you can use toward your second career. You'll have your whole life ahead of you, after all!"

"Right! And if all else fails, I can work for the City Defense Department and help other magical girls on their fights."

She is curious about whatever happened in Gen's world, but he didn't volunteer the information and she's not about to pry into someone else's problems.

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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