A song interrupted the cackles of the seagulls. Vriska looked up from the ring of life, trying to discern the source of the noise. It came from the air a few feet left of the middle of the ship, and though the song had no specific tune, each note hinted of an entire opera behind it. Tavros, Sollux, John, Aradia, and even a few nearby Kankris shuffled toward the sound. The air around it began to waver, distorting Vriska's view of the rainbow sea behind it.
Vriska ignored the noise, letting her shipmates worry about such boring affairs. She slid the ring onto her third finger, grinning. A pleasurable heat came over her and her leg twitched unconsciously.
The last thing she saw was a young troll with ruffled white hair landing on Tavros, knocking his face into the bottom of his mop. Then the world turned as blue as a highblood's blush. No boat stretched under her feet and no sky closed in her world. The blue looked one moment like a smooth wall in front of her face and the next like an infinite ocean meeting a blue sky. As a test, she spit into the void. Her saliva hovered and contorted without falling.
"Select your body," said a low, growling voice. Vriska turned back and forth, far more concerned about this noise's origin than that of the music. The act of looking up contorted her entire body upwards, though the tails of her beloved blue flarping coat stuck to her former position. At least a mile above her, a tiny purple line twisted like a ribbon.
Four human children materialized before her eyes, starting with their stomachs and expanding outward. They stood perfectly still. Their stares seemed fixed on something miles behind her and though their eyes had pupils, their chests stayed still. All four wore identical expressions of boredom. She reached out to touch the one wearing Lord English's symbol and her hand fell through him as if he were a hologram.
"Theight one," she said, pointing at random to the one with the sword. With her luck, she would probably get the best one, the one to win aaaaaaaall of the treasure.
She blinked to find herself face to face with a ten-foot red stone in the middle of a dark, hilly pasture.