COMMENCE VOYAGE

[bathymetric]

Fun Fact: Did you know the Atlantic Ocean has a surface area of 41.1 million square miles? No reason.

...

There's something uneasy in the air as you come to.

Well, "come to" is an interesting word in this case. It implies waking up, which is not exactly what happens. None of you are in beds, nor are you really asleep in the traditional sense. One moment you're somewhere else, doing something else with your time, and the next? You're somewhere on board a massive cruise ship - maybe lounging on a deck chair by the pool, maybe getting some Gains in the exercise room, maybe enjoying the tasteful décor in the buffet - and you have no idea how you got here or how you might get back. This is not your beautiful house. If you have a beautiful wife, she isn't here.

What you do have, apart from 25 other unlucky souls, is a small smartphone-like device in your pocket with only a handful of things on it: a clock reading 11PM, a pdf of a ticket in your name on a special Atlantic Liners New Year's Eve Cruise, an app labeled Passenger Profiles with some basic information on your traveling companions, and a message:

Welcome aboard, passenger! Please feel free to partake of any of the facilities while you wait for the big event! Remember: when midnight comes, you better make your way to the theatre at the back of Level 1 for the main event! The Captain and the First Mate will be there to take care of you all personally, and to help you ring in the new year in style!

Well, that's a start. But what you do until then, it seems, is up to you!

Comments

[thisaroma]

Damn it. I'm not looking for anyone else! [ Plus he is PRETTY SURE none of them could compare!!!!!!! ] I've pledged my heart to her and her alone!

[ Dramatically looking out at the horizon again... ]

So thanks anyway, but I've got to...

[ ... ]

Are we on a boat?

[oceangirlfriend]

We certainly are. A cruise ship, to be precise. [She keeps smiling that easy smile, talking in a calm, even voice.] I'm not sure why we were all brought here, but there must be some misunderstanding.

[thisaroma]

That's...

[ The fuck. To be fair, there wouldn't be any place that wouldn't be pretty weird for him to show up in from where he was before this, but still. He squints into the distance, trying to make out any potentially familiar landmarks, but it seems to just be water and darkness. Cool. ]

...Yeah, there must be. Where were you before this?

[oceangirlfriend]

A hotel room. Me and my team were discussing the next item on our itinerary.

[thisaroma]

And you just suddenly showed up here from there?

[ Being dragged out of an inn seems... well, much more doable from a logistics standpoint, but also kind of extreme compared to just grabbing someone out of a field or something. ]

It wouldn't have been someone on your team turning on you or anything, right?

[ Because internal strife within organizations sure can be a thing!! ]

[oceangirlfriend]

Prezez and Chilly would never do anything like that! [Her voice rises for a bit before going back to steady calm.] They're good people, if a little arrogant. And neither of them know that kind of magic.

[thisaroma]

All right, it was just a question.

[ and a reasonable one, he thinks, because sometimes you just have to murder your coworkers ]

What kind of magic? How do you think we got here?

[oceangirlfriend]

Teleportation, of course. Though some psychics have the same kind of ability, and it happened too fast for me to distinguish particularly between them.