we're not lost!

[sonofabinky]

Who: Max and YOU!
What: There's a dog wearing a Nervous vest who compensates for it with humour a Max on the boat. No, not the omnic one, another Max.
Where: The cabins, Tommy Bahama, wildcard
When: Late November with the arrival of the new batch

1. bang-bang into the room (closed to Jeff)

Soooo. About that nasty brackish blood coating the mattress, and the underside of the duvet, and the pillow, and the headboard, as if someone lying in bed had just... exploded.

It's fine. Don't worry about it.

Also, the bathroom is damp and warm where somebody's used the shower. The wet towels are at least folded, though, as though whoever invaded Jeff's room had a brief attack of conscience before they raided his wardrobe for a shirt and trousers.

That same whoever, a little while after muster, carefully elbows open the cabin door. There's a washing-up bowl of water in his arm, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in his hand, and an expression on his face of the deepest trepidation.


2a. bang-bang all over you (OTA)

After arriving with not even the clothes on his back, Max feels the definite need to find something more appropriate to wear. Luckily there's a hilariously overpriced beachware store here to supply his every need!

His outfit right now is... unfortunate. His t-shirt is emblazoned with the band logo of THE FLAMING NIPS; this involves flamethrower tits, which were already drawn big enough before they were stretched over Max's chest. He's only multiclassed a level or two into beefcake, but the shirt was still clearly intended for a much slimmer man, and it's struggling. His attempt to dress it down with a similarly-snug customised colour-blocked jacket is Not Working.

And if you're in a position to, you might be asking yourself: aren't those Jeff's fucking clothes?

And the answer would be yes. Yes they are.

The first thing Max beelines for is a pair of sneakers that fit. After that, once he's no longer walking around like a summertime John McClane, he starts to take his time wandering the racks; he stops occasionally to admire a particularly hideous print, or to wonder why they have Christmas-themed clothes for sale in what he's still pretty sure is August.

Currently he's squinting intensely at a t-shirt, trying to decipher whether the Shining joke is intentional.


2b. just wait a minute, let me take you there (OTA)

...and then there's a rustling behind him. He looks around with alarm, because, uh, well, he's had bad luck with things creeping up on him in big empty places, okay?

"Oh, what?"

It's. Clothes. It's a moving bundle of children's clothes.

And then another. And another.

Max very slowly freezes.

"Oh man. See, this is awkward. I hadn't asked myself if I was hallucinating in like, at least fifteen minutes."

It's a nervous joke, and it doesn't deter them. And then, from behind, one pounces and lands heavily on his back.

"SHIT A BRICK," opines Max shrilly, and as the others give chase he fucking runs, with the bundle that hit him hanging on like a particularly vicious limpet. Is that a zipper catching him or does this thing have teeth?!


3. and wait a minute til you ooohhhh hey (wildcard)

Max will be poking around the ship with the attitude of a very confused and lost puppy. If he sees someone human, or apparently human, he'll pause, and then give them a confused and lost wave. If he sees someone obviously nonhuman, he will gawk like an idiot. If it's night, you might catch him on deck, looking up at the nearly-new moon with a deeply worried expression.

Feel free to wildcard in and encounter him wherever!

Comments

Wildcard

[neverleave]

Natsuno is in Windjammer, picking at a bowl of fruit while reading a book. The new person's scent catches his attention and he looks up to see Max wave at him. Definitely a new passenger, and not human, despite his appearance.

He raises an eyebrow.

"So. What are you?"

Surely that's a polite and normal way to start conversation.

[sonofabinky]

That's such a polite and normal and non-abrupt conversation starter that Max just... looks utterly genuinely clueless. There's not really been time for him to develop a feeling of 'oh god everybody can tell', but it'll kick in in three... two... one...

Aaaand there it is. He glances to the side and starts showily counting answers on his fingers, definitely cool and not nervous or evasive at all.

"Let's see, uh... one, kinda lost, physically and spiritually; two, wearing my roommate's clothes; three, feeling like I'm in Carnival Cruises' Spirited Away. I dunno, dude, what are you?"

[neverleave]

Definitely not evasive. Natsuno is a little annoyed, but unsurprised, and the guy does get points for a technically true answer.

"Just curious," he replies in a similar, technically-true manner. "There's a lot of non-humans here, but not like you."

[sonofabinky]

"Huh," says Max, with a look on his face that the best liar in the world couldn't hope to explain as anything other than 'oh shit, busted'. How did this kid-- how did-- Okay, first, how many nonhumans, and second, what gave him away?

"Whooo," he adds, nodding at nobody in particular, as if the guy has just raised a really interesting point to consider that's really made him rethink some things. Huh. Yeah! Much to think about! Wow.

"Oh jeez," he concludes, as he runs a hand nervously through his hair. "Feels like I'm not gonna get away with, like, a 'what are you talking about' or whatever, am I?"

[neverleave]

"No," he says, his stoic calm contrasting Max. This kid doesn't have much in the way of facial expressions. "You smell like something else."

Whatever this guy is, he's not undead, so Natsuno isn't particularly on edge... yet.

[sonofabinky]

"Hold up, I smell different?" Yikes! "Nobody told me I smell different. Is it bad? Am I walking around with like, monster B.O. and nobody told me?"

Oh god he's going to have to warn Laura. And then, like, bathe in deodorant.

[neverleave]

This guy refers to himself as a monster. That means he's not an animal-person like Mizuki and La Pluma, nor someone like Jinx with her enhanced blood. Natsuno can think about some monsters that appear human, but there's always a chance it's something unfamiliar.

"It's not a bad smell," he says, "just different. Most passengers probably won't notice."

Well, the cougar-man from the Tommy Bahama probably will. Natsuno can't think of anyone else.

[sonofabinky]

Max stops attempting to smell his own shirt.

"So how come you did?"

Or did he just get tricked into admitting it? Man, less than a day and he's already screwing up his and Laura's decision to not tell anybody.

[neverleave]

"My nose is better than most's."

Admitting as much comes easily now. After almost nine months on the Serena Eterna, being not human is hardly a big deal. When attempting to keep secrets only ends up in outing yourself in a disaster outside your control, honesty is the only way to maintain it.

"I told you, plenty of passengers aren't human."

[sonofabinky]

"...Ohhhh."

It clicks. In Max's defence, he got the concept of human-looking nonhumans confirmed as real to him like... two months ago, and it's been a lot to deal with. So he kind of stares at this kid for a few moments, and the thoughts running through his head look a lot like the thoughts he's had repeatedly those last couple months, while lying on a shitty blanketless bed with nothing else to do:

Alien? Vampire? Witch? Zombie? Ghost? Baba Yaga? Frankenstein? What else is secretly totally real?

"Oh wow, yeah, no kidding, huh?" Yeah Max is just going to try to roll with this. "Hoo. Okay, how about this: on the count of three, at the same time, we both say... what we are, and that way it's not awkward for anybody because we're both kind of. Out there. Yeah? Can you get behind that?"

[neverleave]

It's a childish and weird suggestion, but Natsuno's still curious about what this guy is. He shrugs.

"Yeah, I guess I can. One... two..."

Surely his constant lineface and flat voice will make it less awkward. Once they reach three, Natsuno will say shiki.

Sorry, Max, this will explain absolutely nothing and he's doing it on purpose.

[sonofabinky]

When they reach three, Max says werewolf, with the expression of someone sending a risky text.

Beat.

"Wait, did- did you just say 'ski'? What?"

[neverleave]

Werewolf? Huh. That's the first time Natsuno's meeting one - this guy must be a "proper" werewolf, not Sunako Kirishiki's stupid nickname for a daywalking vampire. He wonders how similar Max is to the werewolves in stories. Vampires, at least, tended to vary across realities, if the ones he met on the ship were any indication.

"Shiki," he repeats, a bit louder, "that's what my species is called."

Technically true. Despite his determination to separate himself from Sotoba's vampires, shiki is a good way to keep things vague. You have to unlock level 5 Friendship to hear the v-word, or walk around with a cross necklace.

[sonofabinky]

"Oh," says Max, embarrassed. "I have no idea what that is."

Man. Do you ever feel like you picked all the dumbest and wrongest options in a conversation tree, and you just want to load a save and start over? Because that's Max right now.

He's thrown off by the lack of reaction to 'werewolf', because to him it still feels like a huge fucking deal, but to this kid... apparently it's not, so much. But does that mean he doesn't care? That he doesn't get it?

"You..." Glance over his shoulder to make sure nobody else has walked in to hear him. "You know what a werewolf is, right?"

[neverleave]

Natsuno shrugs. Meeting weird creatures is just part of the Serena Eterna life; you get used to it quickly. After multiple existential crises, very little can shake him on that front.

"I know the stories. They transform into monstrous wolves every full moon, and can infect others by biting." He tiles his head, eying Max. "How much of it is real?"

[sonofabinky]

Max glances down, uncomfortable.

"Oh, you know. All of the above."

God, and he has no idea whether this guy is a gossip or what. He's honestly not sure which freaks him out more: the idea of people knowing now, or the idea of nobody knowing when the next full moon comes around.

Actually, put like that it's pretty clear which would be worse. If Laura's putting her mind to getting away then they can probably get away, but what if they can't?

[neverleave]

He's not a gossip. Whether or not telling the few people whose well-being he's invested in... that's yet to be decided. If all stories are true, what else is important? Silver bullets? Not like they have those lying around.

"Hmm." A neutral sound; his expression didn't change since this conversation started. "Did you decide what to do when it's full moon, then?"

[sonofabinky]

"I dunno, man," Max says slowly. "Plan A is 'don't be here'. Plan B..."

He slumps onto the nearest chair, looking into the middle distance.

"I dunno. Boat in the middle of the pool? Still water is kinda like werewolf Kryptonite--" (he'd sure never heard of that one before, so maybe this guy hasn't either) "--so maybe it'd... keep me in one place? I dunno."

[neverleave]

"Still water? That's a new one."

So yeah, he'd never heard that before, either. Natsuno leans back in his seat, arms crossed, already thinking.

"Werewolves are strong, right? So you might be able to jump across the pool and on the deck. You'll be better off taking a lifeboat out - the ship doesn't actually move, so the sea should count as still water."