Behold Atlantis

[Captain]

You are simply a human living on Earth. Not the Earth of the past, nor the Earth of the future, although despite existing on the same timeline of our Earth, they exist simultaneously as their own dimensions parallel to our Earth, while maintaining their position in our timeline. No, our Earth is not the Earth misplaced in time, nor anywhere in the countless dimensions off from it. This is called the Omniverse, and our Earth is Earth [0], or Earth Zero.

You, as previously stated, are a normal human being living on Earth [0]. Our story takes place here.

Throughout time, there have been strange occasions where the unexplainable happens. There are creatures in the darkness that do not belong. There are creatures in our forests that originated from elsewhere.  There are creatures in our oceans that have been misplaced.

And more are appearing every day.

The cracks are growing.

[Captain]

You are on a cruise ship when Chapter 1 starts. Plenty of time to lead up to that, as long as your intro story ends with stepping aboard Fantasy Desination Cruise Lines 364. Your characters may be real people, and they may know each other, if that's what you so choose. Your character sheets must include the following:

Name
Age
Sex/Gender (if they are not the same, please state)
Personality
Physical Description (the more precise, the better)
Goals in life (i realize this may be a hard one)

Please send character sheets to me via PM and I will update a roster here. Please do NOT post your character sheets here, especially if there is any information others are not supposed to know about them. Don't hesitate to contact me via PM, or IM on Pesterchum or Steam if you have any questions.

Captain
---Esteban Ricardo

Fira
---Miles Evereaux
---Varina Lusk

Reg
---Clara "Babydoll" Doll
---Kindra Dement

Addn: it is perfectly acceptable to make your character in any of my RPs a self-insert, but be very careful. As it stands to be planned, all of my RPs take place within the Omniverse, so your self could well be caught inside one universe or another before you discover a story that you'd desperately want them in. In other words, pick your character placements wisely. Although, I do hasten to add that it's possible for one character to appear in multiple RPs, as long as the acting DM (myself, for the foreseeable future) deems it possible within Omniverse standards.

[Captain]

---Esteban

The lanky man hastily checked the brochure. This did indeed appear to be the ship. White cruise liner with golden and burgandy trim in the Port of San Fran, preparing for leaving today. Had to be it. He took one last look at the brochure before stuffing it in the sack at his side.

Fantasy Destination Cruise Lines 364 - The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle! The words were proudly printed across the front of the thing, and the inside was more than happy to express total delight for journeying into the famed hotspot of mysterious vanishings. Making his way to the stairs, he picked a target. An old lady with a walker and a hat just barely sitting atop her head and a breeze strong enough to blow it off. Sneaking up, Esteban merely helped the wind before slipping into the rest of the crowd.

He waited until a while after she'd given her ticket. She got comfortable on the deck before realizing she was missing her hat. Looking around, she spotted it right where Esteban had left it - caught between two barrels on deck. It wasn't hard to spot, being firetruck red, but the ticketman waved her past and she was on her way down the stairs.

Estaban made sure he was in front of her, and made enough of a call to grab her attention that the ticketman would notice. He dove past right from the gateline, hastily retrieved the hat for her, and escorted her back. When they got back to the ticketline, the man halted him with a semi-questioning look. Esteban explained that they'd already settled on and his wife held the stubs. He'd only left the deck to help the lady. The ticketman nodded and waved him on, telling him to leave such business to others not on deck yet. Esteban was grateful.

Grateful he'd gotten on without a ticket, that is.

[Fira]

Varina had awoken early that morning, barely able to keep her eyes open. She'd been staying up late last night, again, researching extravagant presents. Miles had been hinting all month that he had something planned for her birthday that would "blow every other present out of the water", and she had been absolutely DYING to know what it was. But no matter how often she made guesses, no matter how many times she begged for a hint, he would just give her a smirk and a simple "you'll see" in reply. It was positively infuriating, and she refused to wait any longer than necessary to find out what was in store for her.

She forced herself to keep her eyes open despite her lack of sleep, and hurriedly got dressed. She tossed on one of her favorite shirts, one with a huge whale peeking over her side, and decided to opt for her jean capris today instead of her usual brown ones. After quickly putting her auburn hair into a ponytail and clipping in her hairpin, she dashed out of her room and into the kitchen, where she had left her phone to charge overnight. 

Varina's house was a simple apartment, as actual homes in California were ridiculously expensive, and her mother hadn't given her much say when it came to decorating. Her mother was very interested in exotic, mystical items and the occult, and the apartment reflected that, often looking far more like a local store for hipsters and aging hippies than any normal living space. It bothered Varina far more than she cared to admit, especially all of those damn incense burners. She was forced to make her trip to her phone as quickly as possible before the perfumes could get to her too much, and as soon as she had retrieved it, she darted back into her room, stubbing her toe on a Buddha statue as she passed. She still had no idea where they kept coming from and why her mother kept moving them.

With a sigh, she slammed her door shut and flopped onto her bed. Her toe hurt like hell. Thanks, Buddha. Her room was the one place in the house that she had complete control over, and she took advantage of it. Her blue walls were coated with pictures of sea life and water, some of them drawn by her, others clipped out of magazines or printed out from the internet. A 10 gallon aquarium dominated the room, filled with tropical fish, small shrimp, and an eel. She kept it very well-maintained, as it was one of her prized possessions, and she often used her fish as subjects for one of her sketches (which unfortunately were never very good). She had kept her nautical theme going, with a metal model of a ship she'd picked up from a garage sale sitting on her dresser, and a navy and white striped set of blankets and sheets that rarely, if ever, sat neatly on her bed. But she didn't mind. It was comfortable to her, and she was glad her mom didn't nag her to keep it neat.

She turned her phone on, and a few seconds later got an alert on it. Miles had already shot her a text, knowing she'd be up this early. He knew her far too well. Her eyes scanned the screen, narrowing a little as she read.
Good morning, Varina. I'll be there in about fifteen minutes. Pack a suitcase.
Oh, and happy birthday!
She glowered at her phone, blaming it for her friend's reticence. Even after a WHOLE MONTH of waiting, he still wouldn't tell her what it was he had gotten her for her birthday. And a suitcase? That was enough to get her head spinning, but considering that he had sent that text five minutes ago, she realized she had no time to sit and try to puzzle it out. With a groan, she got up, yanked a small suitcase out from under her bed, and started packing, tossing clothes haphazardly into the bag.

[Regina]

"Bye guys! See you whenever the hell I get back!" Kindra called out behind her, adjusting the cheap duffel bag on her shoulder. Her two roommates were somewhere in the apartment, and just as she was closing the door she heard two lazy good-byes shouted at her. It wasn't like they didn't care; they were just both tired from the night shifts at work and staying up later playing video games.

She was glad that she had managed to find a place to stay, even if she did have to share it with two other people. All three of them worked to equally pay for the place, and it was a pretty nice arrangement. Plus, job schedules meant that there were plenty of times when one person got the place to themselves for a few hours. She realized, of course, that she was pretty young to be living with roommates in a non-college setting: most kids her age, after all, would be in dorms, studying away to get their dream job.

But of course, getting involved with drugs and gangs and having your parents kick you out and cut you off can kind of put a damper on plans for a higher education. All in all, her current situation wasn't so bad: she had a nice job, good roommates, plenty of friends, and a sober lifestyle. She had taken the cruise as a kind of present to herself, a reward for the healthy lifestyle she was living (it took up all of her vacation days but it would be worth it).

She adjusted her coat, fixing the sleeves that had come unrolled. It was warm out, but her damn anemia and simple habit of wearing the coat allowed her to stay in layers. She made sure to leave extra early, as she had to make the long trek from the apartment complex to the dock.

[Fira]

"Ugh, Miles, where are we going? We've been walking for an hour,"
Varina whined, "And was the blindfold really necessary? It's starting to get itchy..." She had finished her packing exactly on time, but still had to dash down the stairs to ensure he didn't leave without her. She doubted he would, but the anticipation was driving her crazy and she wouldn't put it past him to do that as a joke. As soon as she opened the front door, Miles ambushed her, tying a piece of heavy fabric over her eyes, pushing her glasses up onto her forehead. She could barely register that he was wearing his nice pants today before she found her vision obscured. And now they were walking down a sidewalk to who knows where.

Miles rolled his eyes. "It's only been ten minutes. And the blindfold is absolutely necessary. I wasn't kidding when I said it was a surprise." He walked a short distance in front of the girl, barely suppressing a smirk. He could already envision her response when she saw what he had in store for her. It was going to be absolutely hilarious, he was sure of it.

Varina decided to switch tactics, still trying to get him to let slip a hint about their destination. "So what's up with the nice pants? And were you wearing a pink shirt today?"

He started, and turned back to give her a glare she couldn't see. "It's not PINK, it's LIGHT WINE. Major difference. I would not spend thirty dollars on a simple pink shirt, Varina. I have more taste than that." He sighed and adjusted his cuffs. Summer always sucked, it made his dress shirts very uncomfortable to wear. And he always got all sweaty. Disgusting. "And how could I not wear nice pants? It's not every day that your friendly neighborhood fish freak has a birthday. It's an occasion."

Varina frowned at the reply. "You know I don't like being called a fish freak."

Miles couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "Would you prefer just Freak, then? That can be arranged." He chuckled to himself, causing Varina to scowl even more. "Ah, you know I don't mean it. I wouldn't bother hanging around if you were a freak. I don't associate with them."

Varina huffed. "Whatever, can I take the blindfold off now?"

The boy heaved a sigh. "I suppose we're close enough. If you really can't wait any longer, go ahead."

Varina wasted no time, pulling off her glasses and yanking the blindfold off roughly. As soon as she replaced her glasses, she looked around wildly for a second before her gaze lingered on the most obvious landmark. "Oh. My. God. You DIDN'T." A massive cruise ship dominated the area, gleaming white in the sun. Its gold and burgundy trim was spotless, and a set of stairs extended down to the dock. She turned towards miles, her mouth agape. He simply chuckled quietly and produced two tickets, holding them out to her. "Oh my god. OH my GOD, I'm going on a CRUISE!" She squealed, bouncing up and down. 

She reached for a ticket, but he pulled them away from her with a smirk. "So? Was I right? You can't top this present? Even if you saved up all year?"

Varina groaned. Of course he would use this opportunity to gloat. "Yes, yes, fine, there is absolutely no way I could top this present, you totally blew every other one out of the water, you are the best friend ever, NOW CAN I HAVE MY TICKET!?"  Miles grinned and handed it over, pleased. She examined it hungrily. It was a second-class cabin ticket to the Fantasy Destination Cruise Lines 364, and it had a map of the Bermuda triangle printed on it. It proudly proclaimed its journey, gleefully noting that it would be exploring 'The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle!'

Miles shrugged. "It would have been first class, but I decided to come along. Consider it both your party and your present. You have an underwater cabin with a window, I made sure of it, so you'll be able to see the fish and stuff." He gave her a smile. "You're lucky it's for your birthday, or else you'd totally owe me for this." His watch beeped, and he pulled back his sleeve to check it. "Hm, they'll be departing soon, so I suppose we better get on board. Shall we go, then?"

Varina grinned. "You're an ass, but you're the best ass. And yes, I suppose we shall, young master." Miles just shook his head and led her over to the ticketman.

[Regina]

In an uppity area of the neighborhood, in a bedroom in a ritzy house, a young girl sat on the floor, carefully carving a small torso out of a hunk of wood, her hoop skirt fluffing out on the carpet. The whittling knife made a low scraping sound as the body slowly took shape, which provoked a smile out of the girl. Her skill was improving: she had made this much faster, and with better quality, than when she started out. An open suitcase sat on the bed above her, and a sewing kit sat next to her, open and in an organized chaos.

In a minute, her mother gently knocked on her door and slowly pushed it open.

"Clara, sweetheart? The car is here to take you to the docks. Do you have everything ready?" The woman tentatively asked, as if she was afraid of upsetting her daughter (which, in actuality, she was).

The girl snapped her head towards the door and smiled, nodding in approval. She stood up and placed her doll and marionette supplies in the suitcase before snapping it shut and lightly skipping out of the house towards the awaiting car.

She hadn't really wanted to go on the cruise, and she was still confused as to why her parents had suddenly approached her with a brochure and tickets, raving about how great it would be and how she should go. In all truth, her parents were getting unnerved by their child. The two worked all day, in part because their high-paying jobs demanded the hours, and in part because they simply liked working that much, and as such rarely got the chance to actually parent their child. They blamed themselves for how she was suddenly obsessed with dolls and puppets, with making them and dressing them, and insisting on being called "Babydoll". They weren't upset that she had a passion (and was actually making progressing and improving at it) but that it was all she did.

The girl didn't have any friends to speak of. She knew kids at school that she talked to during the year, but their relationship never went further than good schoolmates. The other kids avoided her because of her odd outfits (her parents never knew where she got those clothes, but let her wear them. The school allowed her to get away with it, because while they were distracting, they did obey the dress code) and the way she talked in such a childish manner.

Her parents were stumped, with no idea what to do for their precious girl. They saw the cruise as a way to get her out of the house and possibly socialize, and it gave them a chance to talk in private about getting her a therapist to analyze her.

The hired car took her to the dock quickly enough, and she exited the vehicle dragging the deep red suitcase, her colorful outfit drawing a few odd looks, which she ignored as she handed in her ticket and boarded.

[Captain]

---Esteban

Getting onto the ship had been easy. Preparing for it had most certainly not been. Esteban slipped onto the lower decks, specifically into the living quarters. A couple rooms had been recently vacated, right before the day of the launch, as his hacking had deciphered. He'd picked an unassuming one to stay in. He knew the general layout of the hallways from a friend... well, an acquaintance who'd worked on Fantasy Destination Cruise Lines before. As such, he also knew where to find... the uniforms.

He quickly changed into a cleaner's uniform and stashed his own clothes - intentionally light and thin as they were - into his bag before stuffing it in the lower shelf of a cleaning cart and heading for the room he'd picked out.

Using his acquired key, he opened the door and walked in, pushing the cart. Looking up at a sound, he found himself looking directly at a couple of crewmembers, suddenly paused in their... activities off from duty and staring at him in horror.

"Oh! Um. I, uh..." He found himself stumbling for words. "Shit. I-I came to clean, but I'll... begin on another room. Right. Um... Bye." He hastily made his exit, feeling his face quite hot. Another room, then.

Finding another room proved easy, since he kept an updating list on his phone. He quickly stepped inside, set a "Reserved" sign on the door, and closed it, before clearing space for his machines. He'd already smuggled pieces on through paid-off movers and hidden pieces amongst cargo. All he needed now was to get it assembled.

[Fira]

Varina gasped in delight as she boarded the boat, taking in the view of the ocean. "Wow...Miles, look!" She pointed excitedly towards the sea and ran over to the railing, looking in wonder at the waves. She'd seen them many times before, but never from a boat like this.

Miles followed behind her, dragging his suitcase behind him. He frowned. Varina had abandoned hers when she went to go look at the water. "Ugh, Varina. Come back here and get your suitcase!" He was certainly not going to take it with him to put it downstairs like he was doing with his own.

Varina turned from the railing regretfully, giving it a backwards glance before hurrying over to go get her stuff. "Heh, sorry, Miles. I got a bit carried away." She grabbed her suitcase and turned back around, looking for the stairs. "Where are we going, anyways?"

Miles sighed. "Downstairs to our rooms. Here, give me your ticket." He took it from her and studied it, looking for the room number. "Ah, there it is...I'll be across the hall from you, it seems. Try not to be too noisy when you're raving about the fish, kay?" He gave her a smirk, but she seemed entirely unaffected by the jibe. In fact, she seemed rather proud of it.

"I'll do my best, but no promises. There are going to be so many fish, oh my god, can you IMAGINE?" Her eyes took on a faraway look as she seemed to do just that.

Miles cleared his throat and elbowed her, used to this. "You can appreciate the pretty fishies all you want once we get downstairs and put our stuff away, Var. Until then, start walking. We're taking up space."

Varina snapped out of it and nodded sheepishly. "Heh, right." She started walking, lifting her suitcase so it didn't bang down the stairs, and followed the signs and any directions she got from Miles (who had brought a map), until she found herself in front of the door to her room.

Miles watched her, maintaining a cool facade as she patted her pockets and looked around wildly, trying to find a card key. She couldn't remember where she had put hers. Did she even get it? Did she lose it? She turned to Miles, a despairing look on her face. It was then that he broke his facade with a smirk as he pulled two keys out of his pocket, grabbing one and handing it to her. "This is why you don't immediately board the ship once you hand over your ticket."

Varina blinked and took the key. "...Oh." She beamed at him. "Thanks for covering for me!" Miles responded only by rolling his eyes and going to unlock his own room. Varina giggled self-consciously and swiped the card through the slot on the door. After a short moment, it beeped and she opened it. Her room was clean, large, and spacious, a huge difference from the room she was used to back home. Her bed was pressed against one wall, tastefully covered with brown and blue blankets to match the rest of the decor. There were a couple of chairs in the room, and there were lamps on the walls. A small room next door (if one could even call it a room) contained her bathroom, complete with the little soaps and shampoos. There was a porthole placed above her bed,  but it wasn't entirely underwater, only half way. Varina was extremely disappointed to find this out, and hoped there would be an underwater observation deck somewhere. Besides the disappointing window, the room looked quite nice, more like something out of a good hotel than what she'd expect on a ship.

Varina set her suitcase on the bed and opened it up, pulling out a tote bag that she used as a purse, printed with an octopus design. She zipped up the suitcase and put her card key in her bag before leaving the room.

Miles had no trouble getting into his room, and nodded appreciatively at the layout, which was very similar to Varina's. He was already carrying everything he needed with him, so he simply leaned his suitcase against the wall by the bed and left, putting the key in his pocket. He closed his door gently and leaned against the hallway wall, waiting for his friend to finish with her business. Varina waved to him, looking a little less cheery than her usual. The neutral expression looked weird on her.
"All set?"

Varina nodded, indicating her bag. "I'm all ready. But...my window wasn't underwater. Only a little bit." She frowned. "I was expecting something all the way under, but I guess I was wrong."

Miles shrugged. He'd suspected as such. "I couldn't do much about that, that was the most underwater cabin they had that was second class, and I sure as hell wasn't going to put you in a living space of any lower quality." He shivered at the thought, barely able to imagine what that would be like. Absolutely unforgivable. He continued. "Perhaps there's an observation deck somewhere below us that would let you see the fish. Why don't we check the map?"

Varina nodded, her usual smile returning. "I was thinking the same thing. What cruise ship wouldn't offer something like that? Why would anyone bother going on a cruise if they couldn't see the fish? That would just be ridiculous." Miles didn't bother commenting on that, knowing that there were plenty of other reasons but not really wanting to argue right now, so he simply shrugged and pulled out the map.

~~~

After noting with some dismay that the ship did not have an underwater observation deck, the pair decided to head back on deck to see the ocean from above, instead.

[Regina]

Kindra huffed as she finally made it to the cruise ship. It had taken her longer than she expected to walk there, and how that she actually arrived, she was rather tired. The heat had finally gotten to her, and she rolled up the sleeves of her jacket, revealing heavily-tattooed arms. She had to pause before approaching the boat to appreciate it. She had never really lived in the lap of luxury, and such riches were completely alien to her. She raised her eyebrows at it, legitimately impressed.

She turned in her ticket and received the key to her third-class room. It was the cheapest available, but she still had had to save up for it. Oh well. It wasn't like the quality of her room would really affect her time on this trip. She had taken it for a breath of fresh air and some well-deserved time off, as it marked a whole year that she had been completely sober.

She nodded in approval at her room. Sure, it was small by luxury cruise standards and was in the bottom of the ship and had no window and only a tiny bed with a small bathroom attached, a small dresser, minimal seating and decoration, and plain carpet and wall-paper, but it was a hell of a lot better than anywhere she had lived. It was there that she finally allowed herself to push up her sunglasses so that they rested on her head, messing up her hair a bit (not like she cared).

The place would do. It wasn't royalty, or even five-star hotel standards, but it sure beat her shared apartment. She placed her duffel bag on the bed and started to carefully take her clothes out and put them away in the dresser. Perhaps later she would inquire about the free food promised.

***

Babydoll, on the other hand, arrived fairly quickly, the car pulling up smoothly to the water. She calmly got out of the car, a smile on her face. Her loud outfit drew a few stares, but she was oblivious as she half-skipped as she rolled her expensive suitcase.

As she strolled across the surface of the ship, her heels made a clicking sound. She gazed around the boat with open eyes, looking as innocent as a child. She even had curtsied to the people who took her ticket and gave her the key to her first-class room (only the best for her parents' precious girl!).

She didn't even look around the room, ignoring the bed that was far larger than any human, the lavish pillows, expensive carpet and curtains, a large picture window that gave her the perfect view of the ocean, the multiple comfortable chairs and loveseats, and the clean and extravagant bathroom with the polished surfaces. She immediately threw her suitcase down and plopped down on the carpet, eagerly opening up her kit and threading a needle. Cruise or no cruise, she wanted to finish this project.

[Captain]

It wasn't soon after the ship took off that things started to go wrong. A few people were yelling for their loved ones, who'd disappeared from their sight. A mysterious black stain was slowly spreading across the base of the pool and up the sides. It'd only been a few hours, and nothing was surely overly wrong, but there was a sense of it all being... off.

An old man nearly knocked Kindra over yelling for the ship to get back to port immediately. "THEY'RE COMING! WE WON'T SURVIVE!" his words rang the ears of those nearby, but went unheeded. Varina thought she saw an incredibly large shadow beneath the waves, but was unable to confirm it when mentioned to Miles.

The panic had begun.

---Esteban

A few hours after the ship took off, Esteban was still hiding in his little room. It had a window, submerged completely, but he wasn't paying any attention to the light bouncing off the undercurrents. His equipment was set up - a strange cavalcade of wires and electric boxes, blinking lights, and four monitors displaying a variety of information. Primarily of interest was the one Esteban was fixed upon. It seemed to be a radar of sorts... and it was going off the charts.

Esteban scribbled numbers and variables across a large sheet in front of him already well covered in ink. He was muttering under his breath getting more and more worked up. The numbers weren't lying. It was TRUE, what he'd heard, this year was the year that paranormal activity in the seas was SPIKING, and it seemed the source was correct.

Quite literally, every second the ship inched closer to its destination, the numbers went higher and higher. Esteban was ecstatic, completely unable to control his excitement as the readings not only validated his suspicions, but well surpassed them. But, as time crawled on, his smile faded. The numbers showed no sign of slowing, and he knew all too well what happened when activity was too high. Abandoning his seat, he turned to look out the window, instantly spotting the giant red eye staring back at him, a mere few feet from the ship. As he watched, it turned ethereal and altogether vanished. Suddenly panicking, Esteban grabbed the notepad he'd been scribbling in, scratched to a blank page and started trying to estimate the levels they'd reach.

Meanwhile, up top, two people pitched headfirst off the side of the ship as a shrill scream pierced the air. Vacation no longer, the unrest on deck was palpable.

[Fira]

Miles looked around in shock, unsure of how to react. Everyone had suddenly begun to panic. What was going on? How had things gone wrong so quickly? What could he do? He was completely at a loss. Varina, meanwhile, only clung to the railing of the ship, staring at the water as hard as she possibly could. She had seen something under the water, even if Miles hadn't, and she would not give up until she saw it again and could confirm it. Whatever it was, it was far too close to the surface, moved quickly, and was absolutely HUGE. It didn't fit any sea creature she could think of, and as a veritable encyclopedia of sea life, that was cause for her concern. "Miles, I swear I saw something! It was huge! Is that what's causing this panic?"

Miles gritted his teeth and turned to her, grabbing her arm and attempting to pull her away from the railing. "I don't know and I don't care. We need to go, now! It's not safe here, Varina!"

She shook him off, still transfixed by the water. "Where do you plan on going? We're on a ship in the middle of the ocean, the best place to be is up top! If it sinks, we're closest to the lifeboats." Her eyes were wide open, her mouth was set in a hard line, and she was taking her stubborn stance: a pose Miles knew all too well. When she got like this, there was no moving her. He swore under his breath and resumed glancing around the area in a panic, searching for something that could explain the sudden change in atmosphere.

[Regina]

Kindra's eyes widened as she took in everything. This was not how she expected the trip to go. She barely registered the old man as she stumbled up to the main deck, regretting going back down into her room. She was panicking, and it took her all of her strength to not hyperventilate as she looked in horror at the chaos on the deck. What was happening? What did she miss? She had been below for only a few minutes and had been on her way up when this happened.

Was all this even real? Did she relapse, and this hallucination is the result of the toxins she forced into her body? No, no. That couldn't be. She had been clean, and didn't bring anything with her. Besides, where would she get that kind of substance on the boat? Then, was this a result of years of drug abuse that had finally caught up with her?

No: this was real, not a hallucination or fucked-up dream. Her senses were working properly, and as much as she didn't want to, she had to accept this as reality, events happening right in front of her. She seriously regretted ever taking this stupid cruise. How ironic! The trip to reward herself for a whole year of being drug-free was making her crave the calming substances. What she wouldn't give for a drink or cigarette or certain illegal powders disappearing up her nose!

She grabbed onto the railing, clinging on to it for dear life. She couldn't swim, so if she went over, it would be the end for her.

***

Babydoll was completely calm throughout the panic on the ship. The atmosphere of confusion and horror couldn't pierce the peaceful aura that surrounded her as she manipulated her latest creation. She smiled down on the marionette, pleased at how smooth the joints worked, how the skirt flowed as its legs danced, how the artificial hair on its wooden head swished from side to side.

All around her, the room was chaos. She had haphazardly put her clothes away (or at least attempted to), and didn't make an effort to keep the area tidy. Her doll-making supplies were spread out, but in an organized fashion. She hadn't willingly gone on this trip, and come hell or high water (and both seemed to be arriving), she would construct her masterpieces.

[Captain]

A storm suddenly began to appear overhead, the clouds beginning to darken more than expected, and the water began to rock the ship quite significantly. The captain spoke over the PA system that it was recommended that the passengers seek shelter, for a storm was coming their way. He spoke with a jovial tone, clearly not quite picking up on the enormity of the issue at hand.

Esteban did, though. He'd tweaked his equipment to pick up on supernatural movements with a number of black market bits and bobs from highly haunted sites. Unfortunately, that made his equipment physically susceptible to the supernatural element. Soon after going off the chart, his pieces physically exploded, setting a hole in the wall. There was panic among the employees that Esteban barely escaped, switching back to his "civilian" clothes in a dark corner as quite as he could, pulling his hair into his hat. Before he put on his glasses or jacket, though, an employee saw him and gave him a quick reprimand for people in an unauthorized place. She clearly didn't know of the explosion that'd rocked the ship just a bit more than the water already was. Beginning to feel sick an entirely discombobulated, he threw a quick apology to her before dashing to main deck, throwing on his glasses, jacket, and removing his hat.

The deck was not as much chaos as he would have expected. A few things in corners were floating, but nobody was noticing - probably meant that the disenchantment fields were too strong, which was incredibly curious. That suggested that the rip in dimensional space was far larger elsewhere, essentially "stealing" the power of other creatures. Esteban actually caught sight of a tentacle slipping around a corner, and some shadows were less than attached to their respective owners. This was incredibly wrong. In the middle of the ocean and there was less than 14% chance of survival, by his estimated odds. And that was BEFORE something hit the bottom of the ship, cracking the hull and rocking the whole thing. A giant shadow under the ship began to get closer and closer to the surface, and panic FINALLY began to set in.

[Fira]

Varina's eyes widened. There it was, it was back again, just as she had expected. She pointed to it excitedly. "Miles! It's back! I told you there was something in the water!" She broke off, intending to say more but noticing that it was approaching their vessel at a steady rate and the sky had suddenly grown stormy. It seemed as though their cruise was going to hell in a handbasket. She frowned, remembering her father's tales of the bad storms one could find out at sea.

Miles rushed over to the railing, oblivious to everything else and staring into the water with a desperate, terrified look in his eyes. "Wh-what the fuck!? Varina, what the hell is that!?" The shadow grew ever closer to the ship, and Miles, already panicking, was close to losing it completely and just jumping off right now, no matter how dangerous the water was. This cruise had been a mistake, a huge mistake, and he had never regretted a decision more in his life. He froze when his friend laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey." Miles looked over at her, startled by her calm tone. Varina's mouth was set in that same stubborn line, but this time she wasn't going against him. Her eyes, a rich blue, showed no signs of panic or fear; just simple, stubborn determination. "It's going to be okay." He only stared at her in disbelief and pointed towards the shadow in the water. She shook her head, still holding his gaze with that same determined look. "We're not going to die. I won't let it happen." 

Just then, the boat jerked and water sprayed through the railing. Miles gave a very girlish shriek of terror as his hand unexpectedly slipped from the metal bars, almost yanking him off the boat, but Varina grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the deck with a strength he never knew she had. She nodded at him and released her iron grip to ensure she had a good hold on the metal, taking care to use both hands. Miles winced in pain and followed her example as soon as he could, noting with a detached dismay somewhere in the back of his mind that his thirty dollar shirt was soaked through and almost certainly ruined.

[Regina]

Kindra shut her eyes tight, trying to block out everything. For once, she was grateful for the glasses that shielded her eyes, although no one at this point would blame her for her actions. At least the lenses kept the water that splashed up away from her eyes. She kept clinging to the railing, her body refusing to move, even though it was probably smarter to get below the deck. She had never been so scared before, not since...

No, now was not the time to be suffering from flashbacks. Now was the time to take precautions to actually keep herself alive. She tried to inch herself along the railing to make it back to the stairs, but just then another wave rocked the boat and she lost her footing. She landed hard, no doubt gaining several bruises on her legs. The fall nearly caused her glasses to fly from her face, but she quickly let go of the railing to push them back on her face. They were the only thing keeping sane at this moment.

She shivered violently as another wave of water washed over her, soaking her completely and chilling her to the bone. Her teeth chattered as she attempted to stand up once more, but found it difficult as her feet slipped on the wet deck. Her hands started to go numb as she realized that she needed to get below, get where it was warm (hopefully); otherwise, if she stayed up there, she would eventually lose her grip completely and go headfirst over the edge of the boat.

Silent tears mixed in with the water on her face as she agonizingly made her way back to the stairs, the craving for a drink or a smoke or a snort growing ever stronger. She ignored everything else happening because otherwise, she wouldn't have the mental strength to keep going. She shrieked as the boat tipped, the side she was on nearly dipping into the dangerous ocean. The salt water coarsely invaded her eyes and nostrils and mouth, making it hard to see and breathe.

Why, why, WHY did she feel like she had to come up to the deck? If she had stayed below she would still be dry and warm, though ignorant of the true amount of panic and chaos up above. Her stomach lurched, threatening to heave its contents into the churning sea below her. No longer able to feel her fingers, the poor girl hooked her arms around the railing before her legs gave out. It was all she could do to sit on her knees and not completely let go and allow herself to be washed out into the sea. There was no way she could move without outside assistance.

***

Babydoll had only now taken notice of everything. The loud explosion and sudden lurching of the ship broke her blissful bubble. Her first thought wasn't of confusion or panic, of regret for being forced onto this damn cruise, of a dramatic fear for her life, of prayers for salvation or a quiet death wish, no. Her first thought was to preserve her doll kit and guard it with her life.

The contents of her room began shifting, moved by the constant motion of the boat. She quickly reached out for her nearby materials and shoved them in the kit box, for once not taking care to organize them and put everything back in its proper place. She blindly began tossing in her completed works, hunks of wood, sandpaper, thread, needles, fabric, string, and...

Ouch. The whittling knife. She hadn't realized that she grabbed it by the blade until she felt a stinging sensation spread across the palm of her hand and her fingers. She delicately grasped the handle of the knife and put it away before turning to her wound. Or rather, absentmindedly licking away the blood before it stained anything and then turning her attention to the kit. Everything seemed to be there (she couldn't care less about anything else but her precious kit) and she breathed a sigh of relief, not noticing (or caring) that the blood had begun flowing again, dripping through her (now ripped) glove and staining the fabric.

She simply sat cross-legged on her bed, clutching the kit to her chest as tightly as she could. She wouldn't be letting go of it, no matter how much the waves tossed the boat and the furniture grated across the floor, no matter how loud the screams of the other passengers were, no matter how much her life was in danger.

It was the only thing that mattered to her, and she would be lost without it.

[Captain]

[[ooc: posted without further comment. clearly, you can guess what's going on. feel free to post about the overall panic. next post i make will cover what happens when the ship has sunk. since (spoilers) it will]]

[Fira]

Miles had been holding onto the railing with his eyes shut for quite some time as the boat bucked beneath him. The wind howled, and the waves crashed and rumbled against the ship as though they were determined to rip it to pieces. Whatever it was that had rammed into the boat seemed to have disappeared, though, and he worked up the courage to open his eyes and see what was going on. 

As soon as he had regained his vision, he instantly regretted ever doing so.

A gigantic tentacle stretched past them, hovering uncertainly as though deciding which part of the cruise ship was most fit for destruction. It was a sickly green color and was coated with seawater and mucus. Each fleshy pink sucker on it looked about the size of his hand, with some a little larger or smaller. He couldn't tell where the appendage ended, or if it even ended. With an arm that long, the creature attached to it had to be gigantic - the very thought was enough to wrest a squeak of terror out of him.

Varina, however, was ecstatic. "Oh my god, it's huge," she breathed, her eyes aglow with excitement. She had never seen anything like it before. Judging by the tentacle, it was a squid of some sort, though no squid she had ever seen before could match the utter girth of the beast this arm was attached to. Perhaps it was the kraken her father told stories about when she was younger, though Varina had always assumed they were mere tall tales. She couldn't see the entire length of the appendage, but if it was one of the longer arms, she had to estimate the creature's size at at least one and a half ship lengths, possibly more, which was far longer than any giant squid she had ever read about. She murmured to herself, awed by the uncertain movements of the arm. "This must be a hunting maneuver...It's probably waiting for the boat to get nearer before it uses those arms to grasp it and drag it towards the main body to be devoured. Ohhh, this is fascinating...!"

Miles, hearing her mumbling, stared at her in disbelief. "Uh, hello, Earth to Freak!? It's going to EAT US!" The boat bucked again, causing him to smack his nose against the metal railing. There was a burning pain and he promptly got a nosebleed, though it seemed that the impact wasn't enough to break it. He groaned and shut his eyes again, not even bothering to stem the flow of blood. What was the point?

Varina blinked, riding out the rocking of the ship. She hadn't thought of that during her speculation. "...Oh. Well, shit."

[Regina]

Kindra finally allowed herself to look up and observe her surroundings and the recent events of the storm, and dearly wish she had kept her eyes firmly shut. She could feel acidic bile rise in her throat, stinging the tissue. She swallowed; keeping the contents of her stomach down was the least of her worries.

She was paralyzed in horror, her brain half-refusing to acknowledge what it was seeing. Screams of terror tore from her throat, piercing the air. She hadn't even realized that she was crying out in shock. She shook from the chill and fear, unable to stand up, forced to remain on her knees and desperately clinging on to the railing. Her vision swam as her head suddenly felt light; she was swaying from side to side, on the verge of losing consciousness.

However, before she could sink into peaceful blackness, another wave hit her, jolting her back to reality. It had finally sunk in that she couldn't pass this off as a dream: that she was stuck on a cruise ship lost in the treacherous waves of a dangerous ocean, all alone. She had no one to cling to, no one to lean on, no one there to help her. All other thoughts fled her mind as all she could think about was how she was going to die in a few moments. That was inevitable. That thing would eat her alive, or the waves would pull her under.

The salt water left her face burning; it was difficult to keep her eyes open. How she managed to stay on the boat was a mystery to her, as she felt completely numb from the freezing cold ocean water and the fear that sent shivers down her spine over and over and over. The fear of death retreated from her mind, replaced by an awful craving.

***

Babydoll didn't move a muscle, not even when the lurching of the boat sent her flying across the room, slamming her into the wall. She just stayed still, clinging onto her doll kit, not even noticing that the cut on her hand had dripped blood onto the blanket, or that her hair was slipping out of its pigtails.

She held onto the kit for dear life, for it was the only thing of value she had. There she sat in the corner of the room, staring out blankly, ignoring the panic and chaos and the waves and storm and sea creature and stinging hand and sore back. Her mind had shut down.

[Captain]

The ship lurched violently before the tentacle above even bore down on it. Esteban assumed there was another underneath, probably latched on to the underbelly and pulling downward. Then the heavenward one struck.

The ship cleaved entirely in two, sending people into walls, water, and even the air. Esteban himself was hurled off a middle-aged woman and into the bar overlooking the water. It knocked the wind and sense out of him long enough for gravity to drag him downwards across the deck, now angled severely. He slid directly through a ghost, now incredibly corporeal, who latched onto him as he slid down and started screaming wordlessly at him, gripping the front of his shirt. The shirt itself was being lifted up, though the thing's leg through Esteban's midsection caused no feeling. Esteban reached up and lay his hands atop the ghost's on his shirt. Instantly, thought he felt nothing and had no other way to know he was actually in contact with the creature, the words started to flow into audibility.

"╚-═ ╤═-╕-╒-═ ╬═-╛-╘-═ ╤═-╡!" The words still held no meaning to Esteban's ears, though he could tell the creature was upset. Either angry or frightened, he didn't know. Not until a second later, however, when there was a massive shake across the ship and everything seemed to freeze.

Looking up, he saw water droplets suspended in mid-air. Not all were clear, some tinted with red. Before he had a chance to think about that, though, they started to move again. Not downwards, the same direction he had been pulled a moment before, but backwards - heading away from Esteban and further behind him, towards the crack in the ship. Esteban didn't have too long to try and twist to spot it before the pull strengthened, lifting chairs and tables crashed into the wall and dragging them the same. The ghost was screaming gibberish desperately now, and let go of Esteban's with one hand shirt long enough to grip the side of his head.

Instantly, the view of everything facing the wrong way was replaced with a conglomeration of senseless flashes. Esteban opened his mouth to shout at the surprise, but instead of his voice, he heard an alien sound.

Within an instant, the images were gone, and Esteban found himself suspended in mid-air as the ghost was holding onto his shirt, being pulled far faster to a glowing purple and black ball of... electricity, or something, suspended above the center of destruction on the ship. People were being pulled into it, and screams were from everywhere. With a sudden shock of panic that Esteban knew was not his own, he felt the words "╒-═ ╤═-╡!" escape his lips, which he somehow knew the meaning to. The ghost's eyes undilated and a smile touched his lips. Suddenly, the pull no longer seemed to affect him, and he flew into Esteban, but truly not through him.

A mixtured cry of pain and surprise escaped him, and he felt an uncomfortable heat tear itself through him, setting his veins on fire and his heart to stone. Then he hit the electric sphere, and his world went dark.

[Fira]

Miles gave another girlish shriek as the ship clove into two pieces, only barely managing to keep his grip on the rail. However, his reward for doing so was yet another smack in the face from the metal, giving him a brilliant black eye in addition to his bleeding nose. He whimpered, not even attempting to maintain his cool anymore. "Oh god, Varina, we're going to die here, we are so fucking dead...!"

Varina's calm had been broken by the sudden impact of the tentacle as it tore the ship in half, and she finally screamed, her throat going raw from the salty sea spray and the exertion of producing such a loud noise. She landed hard on the deck, feeling her ankle go. The pain was instant and intense, and she prayed that it was simply twisted and not broken. She instinctively let go of the railing to try and touch the injury and assess it, which proved to be a terrible decision when the strange ball of energy appeared. She found herself getting sucked towards it, twisting around to stare at it wide-eyed with terror. No...No, this can't be right! This can't happen! Don't let me die from something I don't understand, please, God! 

Suddenly, as if answering her prayers, she found herself caught by a transparent being. It gripped her wrist, attempting to pull her away from the energy, silently shrieking at her as she watched it in terrified confusion. In the split second she had a chance to see it, she noticed that it seemed to be a female, once human, but she couldn't make out any distinguishing features. The moment passed, and with it the ghost's frantic expression. It cocked its head, listening to something Varina couldn't hear, and then with a serene look, it floated into her. Varina felt a rush of cold, then a rush of burning heat that turned her limbs to lead before she found herself dragged into the pool of lightning.

"VARINA!" Miles watched in horror as his friend was dragged down the deck and the weird energy ball appeared. He turned away from it, his eyes closed, still clinging to the wet and slippery metal as he felt the irresistible pull from the sphere acting on him. Tears streamed down his face to mingle with the blood and seawater. Varina was gone, most likely dead. He was stuck on this railing, surrounded by things he couldn't understand, and his best friend in the whole world had been taken from him. There was no hope left.

Without any warning, Miles felt a presence trying to grab at his hand, and he looked up at it wordlessly. It was a ghost, something he had never believed in, and it was pulling at him desperately. He couldn't tell what gender it was, but it was obviously human, and he really didn't care enough to try and figure out where it came from. He spoke to it tiredly, not caring if it understood him or responded. "Are you here to take me to Varina...?" The ghost turned to listen to something, and its expression changed to a small smile. That was all the answer he needed. "Okay..." He released the railing, and the being floated over to him and then through him. 

Miles cried out, feeling an incredible heat and pain for a moment, but all feeling was lost as he was sucked into the darkness.

[Regina]

Kindra had tried to stand right before the boat was broken into two pieces, and the resulting shock knocked her back down. She winced as she scraped her knees on the rough deck, but soon forgot her pain as complete and utter panic set in. She shakily stood up and turned around, grabbing onto the railing behind her. Her knees shook as she took in the sight of the sphere of energy before the shock and numbness got to her, and she blacked out.

She awoke a second later to find a ghost staring directly at her. It was screeching something, and Kindra had to fight to not faint a second time. She stared, eyes wide, as it pulled her up by the collar of her coat, screaming all the while. She managed to place her feet on the ground and stand, although with difficulty. She was nearly hyperventilating, absolutely sure that this was just a really, really, REALLY realistic acid trip. Just as her ears were about to start ringing, the ghost's cries suddenly stopped, and it released its grip on her.

She cried out as she quickly latched on to the railing, the only thing preventing her from falling into... whatever that thing was. Tears starting falling down her cheeks again, but suddenly the ghost was gentle. It carefully pushed up her sunglasses, staring into her face as though it was studying her. It paused and nodded slightly, as if confirming something. Kindra stood, jaw dropped, as it put the glasses back over her eyes...

...and threw her away from the railing. As she fell, the ghost passed through her and disappeared. A scream stuck in her throat as pain and heat and darkness overtook her.

***

The only reason Babydoll left her room was that the boat getting chopped in two forced her door open. She wordlessly stood up, clinging to the doll kit for dear life. Her head ached from being slammed into the wall, but that thought barely registered as she silently trotted onto the deck. The blood on her hand had finally started to clog, but still hurt when a wave splashed salty sea water into the wound.

She quietly blinked as she viewed the destruction on the ship, her face calm and demure. Just then, a ghostly figure appeared in front of her and roughly tugged on her pigtails, sending shoots of pain through her scalp. As she cried out and tried to slap the hands away, she felt a tug on the doll kit. The thing had tried to pull it away from her.

A quiet smile appeared on her face, although it was hardly happy. Her expression surely would have unnerved anyone in any other situation, but the yelling ghost wasn't fazed. It seemed to...smile, for a second, before using a burst of strength that tore the kit from Babydoll's gloved hands and towards the energy. As soon as that was accomplished, the ghost floated through the agitated girl.

Without a second thought, the girl ran as fast as she could, somehow not sliding on the wet deck. She had just caught it and clutched it to her chest before the momentum of her running sent her into heat and pain and darkness.

[Captain]

The ruins had stood exactly the same for millenia, barely affected by the monstrosities that ambled through on water current lazily every so often. Sometimes, a building would fall and the dust would dissolve into the water, soon to be swallowed by the fish that would assume it was food. There was a rumbling as yet another ship sank, the pieces miraculously floating to opposite sides of the long-since destroyed city. They landed atop the piles of other lost ships, boats, planes, blimps, and even unclear vehicles, simply creating a veritable WALL around this city.

The city itself looked as though it had once perhaps existed in the height of Greek culture. Though the architecture was not the same, the buildings were places about the same distance, set up relatively similar, and altogether looked almost imitatingly like Greek. Although, perhaps it looked a bit more precise. The statues and stone creatures certainly seemed to hold a lifelike resonating feel to them. In the northern sector of the city stood a giant stone wheel, carved out in the middle. Despite the destruction around it, the wheel stood relatively undamaged, only a few scars on the stone. It had to have been a miracle, for the stone looked aged not a day from the time it was picked from whatever cliff it had been.

Suddenly and without warning, in the precise middle of the city, an explosion of eery blue light blasted debris to the sides. It clearly hadn't been the first, since there was debris plied against the buildings around this epicenter of destruction. In fact, it looked almost as though someone had fashioned a crude arena. The ground was smooth beyond belief, and the water was clear enough to see the distance around. Not the same could be said for the water across the rest of the city, however.



---Esteban

He hadn't been sure how long of a period of time he'd been unconscious. But when he awoke, he found himself not breathing.

He sat up with a start, upset with how slowly he found himself moving, and inspected his chest, only to be immediately even more alarmed. There were glowing lines on his chest, forming a symbol he didn't recognize. Trying to scratch it off didn't work, and only hurt the already-there scars, and leaking blood from them out. Instead of dripping down his chest, though, it wafted away and vanished. Realizing something wasn't right, he got to his feet and looked around. Everything was dark. Not... pitch-black dark, but dark, indeed. There were four glowing areas near him, and it took just a moment to realize they were also humans.

This was wrong. This... this was all wrong. And where WAS he that his movement was being so blocked??? He inspected to ground to find it perfectly smooth, though there seemed to be debris off in the distance on the ground. Possibly rocks. Were they on the moon???

It was at that precise moment he noticed the floating particles in front of him. His light was reflecting off them. He'd assumed they were dust, but upon closer inspection, they had to be something else. Small, flat... and it certainly didn't move as if through air... could it be...?

As if on cue, a fish swam by. Esteban instantly realized he was indeed submerged deep below the water and immediately, his body reacted. He hit the ground, scratching at his throat for air to come in and fighting the convulsions his body was trying to force. It took far too long for his brain to process that he didn't need to breathe, wasn't breathing, and even when he took breaths, wasn't inhaling water. He slowly uncurled from his ball and fell onto his side. "Of all the places to be..." he muttered. Voice worked, apparently. How the FUCK he was underwater and still alive, he didn't know.

He hesitantly stood, still shaking a bit. One of his only phobias, and of course, it'd be tapped into. Once the immediate terror subsided, though, the logical side of his brain took over. Where was he?

[Fira]

Varina groaned, blinking awake groggily. She sat up and looked around in confusion, squinting. Where had the ship gone? Why was it so dark? After a few moments of confusion, she tried to stand, but immediately cried out and collapsed back on the smooth ground, her ankle throbbing. A puff of sand floated up, disturbed by her rough landing, and she instantly realized she was underwater. She blinked, her eyes widening. It all came back to her. The sudden storm, the panic, the great kraken that tore the ship in half, the ghost, the mysterious ball of energy...She tried to piece together what had happened after that, but all she could remember was darkness.

A few minutes after Varina had recovered from her unexpected trip to the bottom of the sea, Miles bolted awake, looking around frantically. The blood flow from his nose had finally ceased, but his eye had started to puff up and ached terribly. He wasn't concerned with the state of either injury, however. He was busy looking at the woman in front of him, who had a very familiar hair clip. He froze. "Varina..." Miles got shakily to his feet and ran over to the girl as quickly as he could, completely shocked. Sand puffed up from his every step, and there was a frustrating resistance to his movements, but he paid it no mind as he collapsed behind the girl, pulling her into a rough hug. "Oh god, you're all right..." He murmured softly. He had no idea how she had survived, but he was too relieved by the news to question it.

Varina turned, startled out of her recollections by the sudden embrace. "Miles? What do you mean, I'm all right? Sure, I'm a bit banged up, but I'm just fine!" She frowned, noting his appearance with concern. "You're not, though. Jeez, you're a mess. There's blood all over your face...and your shirt."

Miles laughed weakly. He couldn't believe how absurd this situation was. "Jesus Christ, Varina, that is the least of my concerns." He chuckled, still unwilling to let her go. "I thought you were dead after you let go of that railing. Thought I'd died, too, after that ghost thing showed up...You have no idea how happy I am to see you again, you idiot." He punched her lightly on the arm, grinning at her.

Varina blinked, rubbing her arm absentmindedly. Something in his sentence jumped out at her, and she ignored the rest of his words in favor of it. "Um...Actually, I might really be dead. And if I am, then you are too. It makes a lot more sense than anything I was considering...But if that's true...Then where are we?" She trailed off, noticing the glowing, serpentine markings around her elbow for the first time.

Miles sighed and shook his head, not noticing Varina's sudden interest in her elbows. "You know, despite being a smart person, you're really emotionally dense sometimes." He stood, studying their surroundings. A fish darted past him, and he waved the silvery creature away. "Well, it seems like we're deep underwater, but we haven't drowned yet..." He furrowed his brow, noticing someone in the distance. "And it looks like we have company." He turned back towards Varina, shrugging. "...Yeah, I have no idea where we are."

[Regina]

The first thing Kindra noticed was that the familiar black lenses were gone from her face. She panicked, all other thoughts and questions on hold until she got her glasses back. She glanced up, finding the sunglasses floating about her, and without thinking, she plucked them from the water and placed them back on her face. She breathed a sigh of relief, but the feeling didn't last long as she finally started to understand her situation.

Everything came back at once, and she instantly understood that either she had died and this was the afterlife, or she wasn't quite dead and this was a dying hallucination. Everything was dark, even darker with the sunglasses, so she reluctantly raised them to rest on the top of her head. Her eyes widened as a few fish swam nearby, and she suddenly realized the reason her glasses had been casually floating above her.

She looked around silently at the flecks of light, the smooth ground, the puffs of sand, the underwater life, confused and afraid. She was sitting again, although she didn't have any memory of sinking back down to the ground. She couldn't acknowledge this as reality. How could she? She was completely submerged underwater and somehow wasn't dying, but... the stinging on her arms as her wounds came in contact with the salty water suggested that this was, in fact, real. After all, if she could accept some giant sea creature destroying the cruise ship, couldn't she accept lying on the bottom of the ocean?

...of course not. She ran her fingers through her hair, pausing when she noticed a bright light next to her face. Huh? Her eyebrows knit in confusion. What was this strange pattern on her hand? What was going on?


Babydoll woke up slowly, aware that she was still clutching the doll kit with a vice-like grip. She smiled nonchalantly, not concerned in the least. Of course she remembered everything; the boat had been attacked, started sinking, and she was swallowed up by a ball of energy after dealing with a particularly nasty ghost. Now, what exactly was happening was still a bit unclear.

Her head was throbbing a bit, the part that was hit against the wall forming a bruise, but she ignored all of that. She ignored the painful cut on her head, and she ignored how her expensive outfit was probably ruined. None of that mattered, really; as long as she had her doll kit (which was sealed against the water), she was fine. She quickly realized that the dark area around her was filled with water, and she could somehow breathe despite this fact.

She stood up, still calm and serene. The setting was almost peaceful, with the soft sand and dark lighting and silence. Her skirt puffed up around her, the hemline floating up and spreading out. Her small top hat clip had fallen out during the panic of the ship, but she could accept that small loss. It was an interesting turn of events, to be honest. As she glanced around, she noticed a few other figures. As she slowly walked towards them (the water resistance didn't make that an easy action) her shoes sent the sand flying, swirling around the smooth ground.

Just as she had come in view of them, another realization struck her: while the contents of her doll kit were safe from the water, if she wanted to use it she would have to open it, risking exposing all of her material to the harsh water.

"Hm...well, that is a pity. But nevertheless, this is an interesting development. I wonder who all of you are...?" She muttered to herself. Her voice had a proper tone to it, as though she was raised in a more traditional setting.

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