R2 TDM - boys in the band order boat memes

[bathymetric]

Hello and welcome to the...



UNKNOWN SEAS R2
TEST DRIVE MEME

Glad to have you aboard! Gone are the musty old dark tones and anxieties of that creepy underwater facility from the first round - welcome to the lap of luxury on your very own Atlantic Cruise. And we mean your very own, too - there's nobody else aboard! Well, except for the Captain, who broke the news to you when you got up about what you have to do here.

The facilities are all top of the line, even if for some reason you just can't seem to get to the other floors of the ship just yet - there's a gym, a pool, a buffet- wait, scratch that, looks like you're on one of our liners lucky enough to have a tie-in deal with Jimmy Buffett himself, which means you get access to all you can eat at the on-board Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville's Jimmy Buffet!

So make the most of your time! Maybe even get a spooky souvenir from somewhere in the B̴͖̈́e̷̟̊̀ṛ̴̩̑̉m̴̺̪̈̈́u̵̧͛̇d̶̗̱̀̔a̸̧̙͗͝ ̶͖̖͑̚T̴̤͝r̷̩͘i̶̟͎͗̈́a̴͍͗̐n̵̥̆͝g̵̮̳͘l̷͔͑ḛ̸̹͒͗ while you're here.

1. Arise from the depths (of sleep)

Hey, you! You're finally awake! Welcome to your modest accommodations aboard... some kind of cruise ship? Look, there aren't exactly a lot of great accommodations offered aboard cruise ships, you get what you get. There's a bed, there's a little desk, there's a vase of flowers... and a beautiful view of the ocean outside your window!

Hope this isn't, like, wildly different and strange compared to where you just were! Oh, also the whole boat is all decked out for New Year's.

2. Room for all kinds of activities!

If you head out to the decks, or just walk around the ship, there's all kinds of things to see here while you wait for the bodies to start dropping! Feel free to make up whatever facilities you like, gyms or shuffleboard courts or even libraries - the Margaritaville buffet is canon, though. That's your canon food option. Hope you like shrimp!

3. Son of a son of a motive

Another Tuesday, another sealed envelope full of fun! Is this finally something worth killing for to get off this boat? Or is it just something stupid and/or embarrassing? Better ask around!

4. A good friend returns

On one of the decks, next to some regular beverage and food vending machines, is... an unmarked one? It only takes these weird coins that sometimes show up in your rooms at night. Sometimes it gives you things from back home! Sometimes it gives you? Little creepy wooden puppets??

5. Wasting away again in... well, a murder

Oh no! Someone is dead! Did you kill them? Are you trying to get the word out? Did you find the body and really need to calm down? Live your dreams, kill who you wanna kill offscreen!

6. Anything else!

There's all kinds of things you might be doing on a boat like this! Don't feel constrained by the options here - live your murderboat dreams!

Comments

Lorna | Over The Garden Wall

[bonesorter]

Name: Lorna | The Unfortunate One
Age: Appears 16-17 | Species: Human? | Occupation: Maid
Likes: Turtles, Books, Tea
Dislikes: Bells
Traits: Shy, anxious, kind, susceptible to temptation
Trivia: The ringing of the bell commands her...

1.

[On the one hand, waking up in a room that's put together so nicely and gives her a view of the ocean, a place she thought she would never see in her lifetime, doesn't seem like such a bad thing to Lorna, at first. The flowers really are quite lovely, and she's tempted to open the window to let the breeze roll in and envelop the room. It would be a change of best from the smell of cleaning supplies ad nauseum, after all.

... On the other hand, she cannot remember how she even got here on this ship, and she is almost certainly in big trouble for being here.

As such, one may find her pacing around the ship nervously, wringing her hands as she talks quietly to herself for the time being, unsure of what to do.]

It doesn't seem like such a bad place... but oh, Auntie Whispers will be furious when she discovers our absence...

[The way she says it seems to imply that whoever this "Auntie Whispers" is, she's possibly more terrified of them and their supposed temper than the fact that she's practically been kidnapped here.]

2.

[Eventually, Lorna appears to cease her fretting, at least for now once she finds the library on the ship. Here, she seems to be much more at ease, reading whichever books she finds that are of interest and soon creating an impressive stack on the table here. Before, she could only hope that Auntie Whispers would bring her a book back during one of her trips from around the Unknown, but only after it was "approved" as something that would not "give her any strange ideas"...

But now, there is no one to stop her from reading what she so chooses. And she can even speak with other people now for their own thoughts on them too, so after a little while, she works up the courage to ask someone nearby--]

Have you read any of these tales before? I'm interested in recommendations that you would consider worth your time.

3.

[Lorna should have known that her freedom was a false one here. Upon reading the note inside the envelope, she pales considerably, clutching the note to her chest.]

I... I don't understand why this is necessary.

[She would have accepted the idea of staying here forever instead of returning to Auntie Whispers, but now they're acting as if a life needs to be taken in order to keep this peace she found here.

What a terrifying, dangerous temptation to offer to someone like her here...]

4.

[........ Lmao Lorna is from like the late 17-1800s?? So she has no idea what this machine is. She can only stare at it in confusion, warily prod at it here and there as she tries to determine what it's purpose is and where it came from.

At least, until someone manages to help her figure out that she's supposed to be putting her coins in it, and all is well and good... until a certain object falls out in reach of you, and the moment Lorna realizes what it is, she starts to panic.]

I--I beg of you, please don't touch that. It's... it's not what you may think it is...

[Do you heed her warning? Or will you try to ring the bell anyway?]

5.

[Wow, there sure was a heckin murder, wasn't there? Oddly enough, Lorna has been rather quiet both in the discovery of the body, during the investigation, and even now at the trial, just sort of staring out into space. Maybe the loss of one of our friends here was that much of a shock to her? Should you try saying anything to her.......?]

Wildcard??

[If there's something you wanna do that I didn't already offer, hit me up here!!]

3

[puppetlooselystrung]

[ Antonio grimaces at the note in his hand.

He's been in a gilded cage before, he had a feeling another shoe would drop... And this is it. ]

This is barbaric! [ He hisses at the Captain. ] What do you want from us, some twisted form of entertainment?!

[ Alas, his complaints fall on deaf ears. ]

[bonesorter]

It... feels like it, doesn't it.

[She says quietly, when the captain deigns to ignore her fellow captive here.

She tries to breathe, and reorient herself regardless. Maybe think about looking after everyone else instead of thinking about herself. Lest she slide down the slippery slope of temptation...]

Are you... ah, well, I don't know if "alright" is the correct word, Antonio sir, however...

[...You get what she's trying to say here, right?]

[puppetlooselystrung]

[ Well, he's clearly seething at the moment... But company's always a comfort. ]

I'm... It's nothing. [ He folds the note in half and grips it tightly. ] We're in the middle of nowhere, with no way to contact the outside world. Surely that man's just making empty threats.

[ That's more to console himself than anything. ]

[bonesorter]

I... I hope so. It just doesn't seem possible otherwise, when you put it like that.

[She also says it, perhaps to console herself more than anything, before she then gestures towards the dining hall.]

Mister Antonio... would you like a cup of tea? I think that might help you feel a little better here.

[And maybe it'll help clear her own mind too.]

[puppetlooselystrung]

Liquor would be more preferable for me, but yes.

[ Oh, how he wishes they served wine on this ship. As much as he loves alcohol, he's getting sick of "margaritas..." But he'll take anything that tastes decent at this point. ]

4

[whitehairedprettyboy]

Oh, isn't it? And what precisely might it be, then? Something valuable? Perhaps something... magic?

[ Sorry, Lorna, you might have chosen exactly the wrong words there if you wanted to dissuade this guy from being interested. Valmont leans over to pick the bell up. ]

[bonesorter]

[Lorna, despite all the manners ingrained in her to not do such things, reaches out to grab the other man's arm momentarily in an effort to stop him. Though, it may be in vain if he does manage to pick up the bell before she can get to it.]

Sir, please... please, whatever you do, do not ring that bell...!

[She is in fact begging here, even if this response does give away that there is something magic about the object in question here, doesn't it...]

[whitehairedprettyboy]

[ Maybe it's something about the urgency in her voice, or maybe it's her hand on his arm, but Valmont actually does find himself pausing in his reach for the mysterious bell. He looks back at Lorna, half annoyed, half wary. ]

What, is it cursed or something?

[ He doesn't sound dismissive of the possibility, just frustrated by it. That'd be just his luck, wouldn't it. ]

[bonesorter]

Yes.

[She lets go of Valmont's arm once she sees that he's stopped reaching for the bell, clearly relieved as she frowns at the object still lying on the ground.]

As long as it's not rung, it should be okay. But...

[She pauses, as she then reaches out to finally pick it up--but then she suddenly pulls her hand back with a gasp, where Valmont can see that it actually seemed to cause a burn to appear on her fingers where they came in contact with the bell. She quickly switches to using her apron she's wearing to touch it instead and lift it up, rising back onto her feet.]

It's still not safe to handle, if done so carelessly.

3

[sivard]

It's horrible, isn't it?

[Zaveid has already crumpled his own envelope up, still clutched in his fist.]

All of this is malicious nonsense.

[bonesorter]

[Lorna clasps her hands in front of her tightly. She was already a rather pale person before, but since the announcement, she seems to have somehow gone even paler.]

Nonsense... yes, I pray that is all this is.

[It has to be. Because the reality is too terrible to consider.]

[sivard]

It is all that it is.

This guy isn't all-powerful, no one is.

[At least he sounds confident...?]

[bonesorter]

I... I suppose you have a fair argument to make...

[Then again, this guy did also somehow bring all of these people from different eras together into one place...]

Still, I am worried that someone may take them too seriously with their threats here.

[sivard]

[Look, he's seen some pretty bad things. Just because a person has godlike powers doesn't make them a literal god!]

You and me both.

2

[dokkalfheimr]

[Freyja has never really had much interest in places like this; libraries were a thing they were familiar with, back in her younger days in Ljósálfheimr, but she had never spent much time there.

But this one seems so interested in everything that's here... The question surprises her a little, but she doesn't seem annoyed by it at all.]

I have not... I know many of the stories of the old ones, those that came before me, but tales the mortals tell one another are beyond me somewhat.

[bonesorter]

I see.

[Hmm... well then--]

I apologize if this is presumptuous of me to ask, but... I would not mind hearing the stories you do know, if you do not mind telling them to me.

[dokkalfheimr]

Would you...?

[That does seem to surprise her, at least a little; she'll come over and sit nearby, at least, smoothing out her dress as she does so.]

What sort of stories do you like?

[bonesorter]

[Lorna sits down at an appropriate distance, humming in thought at the question.]

Well... I do like mysteries, but I also enjoy fairy tales and stories with happy endings, when I'm able to find them.

[However, Lorna isn't that picky. She's just happy that someone is willing to converse with her here.]

[dokkalfheimr]

Oh... Happy endings do tend to be preferred, don't they? Even if the story itself is dark, mortals do enjoy their hope. If they can hold onto that desire for hope here, perhaps that will serve them well.

[Hmmmmm...]

Have you heard of the Shining Prince, and the Queen of the Dead?

4

[guffawsungraciously]

[Jasper's eyes narrow a bit upon seeing the bell, because it's a little... you know... spooky, but he's fine with spooky. He's been steeped in spooky for years.

The warning, though... he stops before moving to pick it up, at least.]

Is it under some sort of curse, then?

[bonesorter]

[It looks like touching it is harmless enough, but Lorna is still very tense and wary seeing it in his hands here.]

Yes. It's... something that was created by a witch. Ringing it is very dangerous.

[guffawsungraciously]

Ah, I see.

[He gingerly holds it by the bell part to keep it from ringing, then.]

I suppose there is no guarantee that objects like these have had their magical qualities removed, then, even if the rest of us have had our abilities blocked. Are you capable of dealing with it safely?

[bonesorter]

Yes... I'm used to dealing with this particular object, unfortunately.

[She then holds her hands out, waiting to carefully take the bell back from him if he'll allow it.]

[guffawsungraciously]

I cannot relate.

[HE LIED.]

Based on the design, I assume it kills everyone who hears it, then?