come_sailaway | I think I'm taking on water

Entry tags:

I think I'm taking on water

Who: Ryan Akagi (

chickenchoicejudy) and you! (OTA)
What: Arrival and getting used to being a passenger again
When: First week of August-ish, pre-event stuff.
Where: All over the place
Warnings: None ATM, will change as needed.

A. AFTER THE MUSTER DRILL (For Min)
There was been a lot of screaming this morning. Ryan isn't the biggest fan of waking up in an unusual place he doesn't remember, especially when he realizes he's alone, but there's only so much he can do in his...room? Cabin?

He stubbornly tried to go literally anywhere but the muster drill, but eventually he's too tired to fight it. Fine, fine, whatever, he'll go!

This is where he finds Min-Gi, and the relief is overwhelming. Ryan spends the entire muster drill by his side, most likely having to be shushed by anyone nearby trying to pay even the smallest amount of attention. Hopefully Min was listening with his whole brain, because Ryan retained absolutely nothing.

The moment they're permitted to leave the drill, they immediately go looking for the first empty deck space they can find, somewhere where they can regroup alone. Ryan leans hard against the railing, head down and looking out at the water. Passerby might mistake it for seasickness, but that isn't really the problem.

"So. First there was a Wormhole Judgement Line," he says. "...Now there's a Wormhole Judgement Cruise. Seriously?"

He's so fucking tired. Out of old habit he looks down at his right palm, but there's nothing there. No glowing green numbers. Nothing.

"Min-Gi, pleeeeeease tell me you know more about what's going on?"

He knows Min probably doesn't, but it's worth a shot.

B. LATER ON ARRIVAL DAY (OTA, mostly the first few decks)
It's a pretty big ship, and so far there isn't anything immediately dangerous. There don't seem to be any puzzles to solve either, so Min-Gi and Ryan agree to split up to cover more ground. Ryan's determined to pay attention and find useful information, but...eh.

He doesn't spend much time on deck zero. There's an infirmary and that's cool, but there is a morgue and Ryan doesn't want to think about that any more than he absolutely has to. The Atrium and Lounge are pretty sweet, but going to guest services gets him absolutely nothing, no matter how much he wiggles his eyebrows and shamelessly flirts with whoever is currently there. There's a ton of cabins like the one he turned up in, and people coming and going. If he gets caught people-watching, he will laugh it off and try to chat the person up as though he's always been on the ship.

"Soooo, been here long?" he'll ask, with a charming smile.

He can't tell when he's actually supposed to go get food (since there's a smudge on that information) so he just sort of pops in whenever he's actually hungry. That's probably what he's supposed to do, right? Maybe?

C. MALL RAT (OTA, FIFTH DECK)
There's a huge mall in the middle of this boat.

Truthfully, Ryan's never been on a cruise ship. His parents never could have afforded that with five kids, so it was just never in the cards. They took the ferry to Vancouver now and then, but it was nothing like this. There's some bars, some food, and even this...one really strange storefront.

He tilts his head a little and squints at it.

"...Who's Tommy Bahama?"

It turns out that time is split into two eras - before Tommy Bahama and after Tommy Bahama. The main difference is that after Tommy Bahama he is dressed like the most aggressively bisexual Jimmy Buffet fan to ever exist. And honestly? He's not mad about it.

D. WALLOWING (OTA, POOL)
Objectively, things could be worse than bad Hawaiian shirts and free food and a bed to sleep in. But that's not going to stop Ryan from laying around feeling sorry for himself that he's been stolen away by yet another outdated form of transportation. Every time he starts to think about it, he just gets pissed off at himself. Was he fucking up his life again? He thought that he and Min were doing pretty good now!

On the bright side, he can mope poolside with a pair of sunglasses and a margarita in hand. Stupid Wormhole Judgement Line never comped them any drinks.

He's never been one for sitting still for too long though, so eventually he sits criss-cross in the pool chair and pulls out his guitar. It's unplugged, since he wasn't carrying his amp when he arrived, but that's never stopped him from practicing before. He seems to be working on something new, but to be honest it keeps accidentally turning into the chords for Margaritaville because it's stuck in his head now, UGH. Every time he realizes it's dipped into Buffet territory he groans, aggressively strums it to try and unstick the song from his brain, and starts again at the more original thought.

He can't help it though - hell, it could be his fault.

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Min-Gi who, by this point, is looking a little green behind the gills, follows Ryan to what passes for privacy and shakes his head no.

This is both way too similar and way too different than the train and past the letter and briefing with Friday just now, he’s got bupkis.

He’s got bupkis and he’s somewhere between complete bolting panic and totally normal not at all PTSD related meltdown. Can he allow himself that right now? No. No he can’t because if this is another test then-

“Nothing. I don’t get it, man. I thought we figured our stuff out, what did we do? I mean.. we’re back together. We were following our dreams, we gave up everything to do it. Where did we go wrong?”

As Min speaks he can’t help but look at his hands. Like Ryan, he’s expecting to see a number any minute now but nothing ever comes.

“Did you read the letter? There wasn’t a task or anything.”

They must have screwed up somehow. That’s the only reasonable explanation. But how!?

"We even got all the way to America! We were doing great!" He gestures wide as he talks. "We didn't rush it either. We took our time, like we were supposed to! And I'm pretty sure I didn't chuck your keys in a wormhole again, so what gives?!"

Frankly, Ryan is also in that same place of trying not to have an entire goddamn meltdown right here on the deck. Now that he isn't forced to walk anywhere in particular and the weird drill is over, it's really sinking in that this is it. They're stuck somewhere else. Again.

"Yeah. No task." He doesn't remember much of the letter and just sort of echoes Min with a sigh. "And we don't have numbers to lower so like...even if we did know what we screwed up, would it even help us?"

If lowering their number won't give them an exit, how are they supposed to get home?

Someone really has it out for them. Arrogant, but this is twice now so what the hell?!

Min pinches the bridge of his nose as he thinks, other hand on his hip.

“Okay, okay think. So. The train was because we messed up our lives right. And Kez showed up like right away and..sorta told us that. We’ve woken up this time and it’s a cruise. Friday said we’re here to relax. Do you buy that for a single second? She doesn’t have a face!”

"Definitely not. There is literally NOTHING about getting dragged off to another weird wormhole that makes me wanna relax. So...it's got to be something else, right?"

Ryan has held it in so long. He did so good not blurting it out once during the entire drill, but now that Min's pointed it out he can't keep his mouth shut a second longer. He tangles his fingers in the hair at his temple.

"Dude, she didn't have a face! How can she talk without a mouth, man?! And she kept looking at things and she doesn't have fucking eyes to look with!"

He does a full body shudder, now that she's not there to judge the hell out of him for it. The entire concept is super creepy.

It is super creepy! Min didn't think Ryan would not agree, but it still feels good to hear.

"Right!? Nothing about this place is going to get us to relax, it has to be a trap, pure and simple."

And oh god how he hates that. Min growls with frustration and removes the lei from his neck, clenching it in his hands. He feels like it might be important to keep, but even then the thing is gross and weird just like Friday. Everything is wrong on the half step and there isn't even an objective. They're listless.

"Not to mention how many other passengers there are. And they're all just here like, hanging around. This is so bogus."

"Yeah...we didn't see any other passengers on the train," he agrees. "This is messed, man."

Typically, Ryan is more okay with being listless than Min-Gi is. The thing that tips it into too much (other than the obvious train similarities) is that they're trapped there. Listlessness becomes restlessness and it makes his skin crawl.

"There's gotta be a weird door around here somewhere right? I mean, The train was able to fit like...entire castles and wild west bug towns and wherever the hell those parka aliens were from inside cars, right? It might not be the train, but...it might be a good place to start?"

Honestly, he hasn't thought about the leis since one was put on him, but seeing Min take his off reminds him. He does the same, pulling it off to look at it. At least it's a little better than jumpsuits and magnet boots, right?

Then, without thinking about it even a second longer, he chucks his lei overboard.

Edited 2022-08-07 20:12 (UTC)

Min stares with horror, not sure why, as Ryan's lei goes over the side. By reflex, he clenches his fists around his before stuffing it into the pocket of his jacket.

It is then, that he realizes he is wearing the exact fucking same clothes as when they were on the train. Ryan is, too. What the hell. Are these clothes haunted? Is that a thing now??

Ryan is saying something and Min's attention snaps back up.

"Huh? Oh- y-yeah." a nod.

"Yes. We should go and look. Someone has to know what's going on around here, right? We just need... a Kez."

Hopefully it's not. Ryan really likes this jacket and it would suck to have it be cursed forever.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly it. We need a Kez! Someone who lives here and knows the ropes and isn't super creepy about it."

Because arguably Friday checks off many of those boxes, but...no. Absolutely not. Thank you, next.

"But yeah. Sounds good. Wanna go give ourselves the grand tour?" He spreads an arm out and gestures wide, trying to make light of this stupid situation. "Might as well see what relaxing amenities we get as kidnapees, right?"

The sarcasm is thick. There will be zero relaxing here.

Min snorts but what else can they do?

“Why not. I mean, it’s not like we’re being attacked by anything. We should know what we’re dealing with. Where we’re dealing with.”

And he’s kind of hungry if we’re being honest. The ship can’t be infinite, right? There’s a front and a back. No cars leading on forever. This has got to be easier.

"When we're dealing with? Why we're dealing with?" he playfully finishes.

He laughs too and claps Min on the shoulder before gesturing down the deck, away from where the drill was. This way? And with any silent confirmation he'll start walking in that direction.

"We didn't get a ton of choice in how to get here, so...guess we'll check out this floor?" A pause. "Wait. They're not floors on a boat..."

Oh well. That's not that important. Instead he takes a turn and brings them into the Atrium. It's hard not to be impressed by how swanky it all is, though maybe not for normal reasons. He elbows Min.

"Is it weird this reminds me of Morgan? What do you think the odds are that the boat's going to just start talking to us?"

He's kind of joking, but also a little bit not. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened to them by a longshot.

“It’s definitely weird,” Min laughs back. Weird, but not out of the realm of the impossible.

“Hello? Boat?” He calls, half kidding but actually no he is completely serious.

The boat does not answer.

“Miss uh. Serena Eterna?”

Still nothing. He looks at Ryan and shrugs, having to take all this lightly for a moment to spare himself the freak out. Is it bad he’s not freaking out? Feels like he should be.

“I guess she’s asleep.”

Ryan decides to give it a shot too, because why not.

"Hey, Serena!"

He's met with silence, and he shrugs back at Min.

"Pretty heavy sleeper," he says, like this is the normal conclusion to make here.

They wander around a little from there. There's a lounge area, and a guest services area that they think for a half a second might be helpful until they spot the no face lady behind the counter and beeline past the desk toward the shops.

"Kind of weird that there's like...stores and commerce and stuff, right?" He looks to Min. "You almost went to school for finance - isn't this too normal for whatever weird bullshit is going on?"

Min furrows his brow but you know he gets off on being deferred to as the expert on something so he can’t not try to answer seriously.

“We’ll I’m not a cruise expert or anything but I mean…even the ferry to Vancouver Island sells coffee. It makes sense that a regular cruise would have stores and stuff. Why wouldn’t an evil cruise?”

Or haunted cruise. Or whatever it is they’re deciding to brand this experience. Nothing like, super evil had happened but also nothing not evil has happened either. It’s very sus. He is very sus.

Min-Gi surveys the stores. Clothing, convenience, luxury jewellery, a gift shop. There’s all kinds here. And while a passenger or two can be seen milling about looking for specific items, there doesn’t seem to be anyone working at any of the places. Just the quick, occasional, silvery outline of a form out of the corner of your eye. Probably just seeing things.

“Do you have any money?” He asks and turns out his pockets. He’s got his wallet with 83 American dollars and a handful of Canadian change.

"Uh..."

He pats his pockets like he's looking for something, but the only things he has on him are the keys to their van and a guitar pick he misplaced the night before. His guitar is safe in his cabin, but that's the only other item that showed up with him.

"...Nope. Looks like I'm broke."

He should probably be way more concerned about that but honestly? They have bigger problems right now than not having money.

Is that not a big problem because it feels like a big problem to Min-Gi. They’re on a ship with stores and restaurants and they barely have any money.

“Great.”

A heavy pause.

“I hope we don’t have to get jobs.”

Ryan apparently doesn't think it's a big problem, but it's hard to gauge because keeping track of money (and apparently now his wallet) has never been his strong suit.

"Probably not? Is that what happens when you're on a cruise with no money?"

...It occurs to him that whatever actually happens is probably more like indentured servitude, but you know what? Now is not the time to stress Min-Gi out about that!

"Min, Min. It'll be fine. We'll figure it out!" He slings an arm over Min's shoulder, attempting to be comforting. "Besides, if Serena wanted money that bad, maybe she should've kidnapped someone who actually has cash to spend. There's probably free stuff somewhere, right?"

“Yeah, I guess.”

He does not guess but what can he do. They’ve just got to..nnngh. Figure it out as they go along.

Great. Hate that. But lesson learned.

Min takes a breath and lets it out slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Okay. So. What next then? There’s a million doors all over the place and no one’s told us what to do.”

Not train logic Min, sorry. Doesn’t work that way.

“Let’s just keep going.”

Going where he has no idea but they’ll scour the entire ship if they have to.

"On the upside, it...doesn't seem like it goes on forever?" Ryan shrugs. "I mean yeah, there's lots of doors, but there's only so much boat to explore."

So unlike the train, they'll hit a point where they've seen most things...probably. At least it's more likely than on the train?

Ryan tugs Min along until the reach the end of the boat, where the stairs and elevator are. He's learned his share of lessons too though so instead of rushing ahead impulsively, he looks to Min.

"So...up or down?"

Min thinks about it for a moment, jaw tight as he tries to think. There’s just so many options, it’s a little rattling.

“Down,” he decides and presses the button for the elevator.

“It can only go down so far, right?”

A beat while they wait.

“I’m really glad you’re here, man. When I woke up alone.. I was scared you were gone.”

"Me too. Like, even on the train we woke up together? For a second, I thought--"

He doesn't get to finish that sentence. The doors open with a distracting 'ding' to a seemingly normal elevator, and Ryan gets on. Min's instinct is right - there's only one level below the one they're on now, so Ryan pushes the button for it.

"...I can't tell if it's weird that the boat has an elevator or if I just don't know enough about boats," he says, looking around the tiny space.

So close to some real conversation. So close and yet so far.

Min drops the subject, it’s not like there’s anything really important they need to talk about, right? They’re fine. They’re together. They aren’t alone after all.

“At this point man, I don’t think anything could surprise me anymore.”

Like. It could but also. You know what he means.

“Kinda waiting for the buttons to grow faces or something.”

A snort.

He waits an extra beat just in case they do.

Nope, still buttons. The ride is short and the doors open with another ding, letting them out into the white, sterile basement.

Well this isn’t creepy at all.

Min-Gi folds his arms over his chest by reflex. Yeah, this is definitely where the zombie hoard would be.

Ryan laughs.

"Don't jinx it, man! They might try and bite us or something."

He doesn't look all that worried about it though, because the buttons are just buttons for now. The thing that does worry him is this off white hallway. It's absolutely where zombies would hang out.

A shiver goes down his spine, but he pastes on a forced smile and takes Min by the arm. He acts like he has to tug Min along, but truthfully he just wants to hang off him in this spooky place.

"Soooo. Not much down here, huh? Think there's anything down the hall?"

Objectively, yea there is stuff down the hall. Min hears the out and he is sorely tempted to take it, reflexively placing his hand on Ryan’s where he’s curled around Min-Gi’s arm.

They should be brave though, right? They’ve handled worse than a creepy boat hall.

“Maybe,” he murmurs but pulls them forward. If anything, they can track the hall and bounce. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite go like that.

Under the buzzing fluorescent lights, they begin down the way, and two things happen in quick succession.

1, they reach a sign simply labelled MORGUE.

And like hell they’re hanging around to investigate that!

“Nope,” Min says and moves to quickly pull past at which point-

2, they reach Dr. Watson’s office. And like some kind of shadow show his silhouette is cast against the glass. He probably doing something completely innocent but in the moment it just looks like a monster stretching across the glass.

There's a morgue.

There's an actual morgue on the ship.

An actual morgue means there's a chance they could actually die on this boat. And maybe that was true of the train too - there were definitely times they almost died - but it feels a lot more real now that they know where the bodies go.

Where do they go from here? Do they get dumped out into the ocean and fed to sharks?

Then oh, he's moving. Min's pulling him. Ryan shakes his head, trying to snap himself out of it. Wow he doesn't like that there's a morgue here.

The next door is slightly better, in that it doesn't lead to a morgue, but there's something in there and it could totally be whoever puts people in the morgue. He tugs Min's arm, commanding a stop, and just gestures at the window and tries to keep them out of view.

Whatever's in there, they probably don't want it to know they're lurking around.

They stop short and Min just barely keeps a little scream inside. There's definitely a monster in there and it's definitely coming for them!

Hhhhhh---- okay. okay okay okay think-

"Time to go?"

A Mustard Dill

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Dont judge my icons im replying from email

how dare you. tsk tsk

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