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

[dokkalfheimr]

[Lady with horns meets blue-haired mortal. The hair would probably be strange if Freyja weren't from...well, where she's from. As it is this probably just means you're a Lord.

Thankfully, Freyja doesn't startle too badly at someone being there.]

...For many things, yes.

[hellahighwater]

[ Chloe Price, the protagonist of a Fire Emblem game...

Yeah, still would've been better than Arcadia Bay. ]

Don't sweat it too much. Seriously, cruise ships are weird. Heard there's some with freakin' laser tag. [ A wink. ] This shit's like...designed to be overwhelming.

[ It's probably this point where it's good to point out that Chloe is dripping wet. ]

[dokkalfheimr]

Laser tag...

[what is a laser tag. what is a laser? what is.]

...Are you another one that ended up in the pool?

[hellahighwater]

Huh? People've been ending up in the pool? Harsh. [ She shakes her head. ] No, this is uhh kinda a holdover I guess? I got...caught in the rain before all this.

[dokkalfheimr]

At least one of them has. It was rather rude, I think.

[So there's that.]

A bit of a shame that you weren't given the courtesy of drying off before being summoned here, however.

[hellahighwater]

Ohhh I don't think I'd really expect whatever...fate or destiny bull's going on here to cut me some slack.

[ She's trying this new thing lately, it's called mild self-deprecation. ]

I'm...kind of guessing you weren't counting on being on this ship?

[dokkalfheimr]

I was not. Suddenly changing location like this, bringing people from one space to another... That's something normally within my power. But it isn't something I did to any of you. Not now; I wouldn't have.

[hellahighwater]

You can just... [ She snaps her fingers. ] And teleport people? Why not use it to blink us outta here?

[dokkalfheimr]

Something like that.

[It usually takes a little more than that and nobody ever likes where they end up, but sure.]

My magic seems distant from me now, however. If I could access it, then I would; I cannot guarantee that I could return you to the place you came from, however.

[hellahighwater]

Mmm, gotcha, could end up back home, could end up in a lovely field, could end up in the center of the Earth.

[ Part of her still wishes she could test it out. Haaa, some things never change. ]

Well, whatever's responsible for all this clearly thought ahead, then. Damn.

[dokkalfheimr]

I doubt you've done anything to end up at the center of the planet, in fairness.

[...Is she serious. Is she fucking with you. Expression and tone says serious but who does that.]

I would be more surprised if there wasn't forethought put into this, to be blunt. Generally, mortals don't see those like me unless someone is meddling with something they shouldn't be.

[hellahighwater]

[ She can't help but mutter: ] Oh, you'd be surprised, apparently...

[ ...and then realize maybe there's something more important than her slight self-deprecation— ]

Waaaiiit, mortals? Like...you're not one?

[dokkalfheimr]

Of course not.

[She says, like she has not yet gotten completely frustrated with the fact that evidently no one knows about this sort of thing here.]

As Queen of the Dökkálfar, I live well outside the human realm.

[hellahighwater]

Oh! You're...like, a fairy queen.

[ Same place as that other fairy girl from earlier was talking about. ]

Am I supposed to call you Your Majesty...?

[dokkalfheimr]

..."Lady Freyja" is fine.

[It could be worse, she supposes. There's little to be gained for being in too much of a mood right now.]

And you are...?

[hellahighwater]

Uh-huh...

[ We'll see if she remembers that. ]

Chloe. Chloe Price.