12th wave;

[learnedtosmile]

CHARACTERS: any and all
LOCATION: Gravity Couches and beyond
WARNINGS: maybe some swearing, or even some violence, and more than likely some implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness.
SUMMARY: Another month, another jump, another round of new faces.
NOTES: Keeping up with the tradition and copy pasted like always from the last one


You wake up in darkness.


There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're deposited on the floor of a stark, sterile medical bay.

You are not alone.


There are others who have come before you, others who are awakening beside you. Some may be familiar to you, perhaps even friends. Others have much less amiable plans. Some are merely alien and inexplicable, but there are always those who might mean you harm.

After you catch your breath and your vision returns, you notice a number on the inside of your forearm. Maybe it's a familiar number. Maybe it means something. Maybe it's just a number. But the number—completely unique to you—is a tattoo, and it does not come off.

If you enter the room adjacent to the medbay, you will find a small locker with your number on it, surrounded by rows upon rows of identical lockers. Inside, you will find a few of your personal items, a communications device, and a ship's uniform in your exact size. The comms device is fully powered and connects directly to the ship's network; it's your only means of communication beyond physical conversation. Upon turning the device on, a neutral, automated voice will say, "Please take the blue lift to the passenger quarters." Any other attempts at communicating with the rest of the network are met only with static.

This is your welcome party.

Comments

[cocksauce]

Finally zipped into his jumpsuit and feeling less hungover than when he'd awoken, John's gaze sweeps over the crowd of people in the locker room. So far, he still hasn't spotted Dave. He could recognize Dave's fat ass anywhere. But then he sees someone else he recognizes--

Shit, it isn't. It can't be. John does a double-take, and that turns into a triple-take because his head snaps back in that direction once again and sees that guy is still there.

Holy shit, it's fucking Obi-Wan Kenobi. Fuck, fuck, fuck, is it really him, or is it just a really dedicated impersonator? Is it a monster version with a pi tattooed somewhere on one of his feet?

Fuck that, he doesn't even care about those things anymore.

"Hey, Obi-Wan Kenobi!" John waves, hoping to flag the Obi-Wan-looking guy's attention.

[enforced]

Obi-Wan hears someone yelling his name, but he's never seen the man before, let alone felt that particular Force signature. He's not quite sure why, then, he knows his name: he's known at the University and at the Temple, but this man is no Jedi.

That much is obvious.

He just watches him waving, and raises his hand. Perhaps he is someone from Coruscant?

[cocksauce]

Oh, that got his attention. Good. But now that John's got it, he doesn't know whether he should casually approach him in a friendly manner or rush up to him in excitement. It takes only a couple seconds for the latter to win out. He breaks into a run and stops abruptly in what is hopefully a respectful distance from the Padawan.

If this guy's an impersonator, he's certainly gone out of his way to look authentic, like Ewan McGregor all decked out right in front of him. Except he looks too cool and too legit to be someone wearing a costume and make-up.

"Can I have your autograph? I don't have a pen and paper right now, but I think it'd be alright if you signed my ass with your shit or something."

[enforced]

Obi-Wan is staring.

He's had a lot of odd requests in his lifetime, usually involving the words take care of this odd animal I picked up, thank you that were usually followed with the words trust your feelings.

This is possibly the oddest.

"Excuse me? Is this a joke?"

[cocksauce]

It suddenly occurs to John that this might not be Ewan McGregor or some other actor or impersonator in costume. Well, it could still be an impersonator if They ever made a copy of Obi-Wan. But if Obi-Wan was himself (and this one in front of him certainly seems like him), then he doesn't have crazy fans who'd do anything for a celebrity's name on their bodies. He'd just know the standard fare of the Star Wars world...

And that means that John sure seems like a freak right now.

John peers at Obi-Wan, studying him for a moment before putting on an immensely shocked expression.

"Whoa. Sorry about that. You know, at first glance, you looked a whole lot like this guy I know. You actually answered me when I called out his fake name, but it turns out that you don't know what I'm talking about. That probably means you aren't the same guy."

He ends this with an apologetic shrug.

"I'm guessing that sort of thing doesn't happen to you often, am I right? Also, you can call off writing your name in shit."

[enforced]

Obi-Wan just nods his head, because he doesn't believe that even a little, but the man seems embarrassed and apologetic enough that he can let it off with a degree of grace.

"Most people are not quite so excited to see a Padawan, no." Especially without a Master nearby. Although almost no one is excited to see Jedi, at all.

[cocksauce]

"That depends on the place and date, I think."

So wait, maybe the actual Star Wars world is real in some other dimension, and this Obi-Wan Kenobi is the real one from that other world. Or maybe he's a real one from a split timeline of the real Star Wars world. He might even be a monster-clone carbon copied from any of the actual Obi-Wans who exist nonfictional Star Wars or any one of its split timelines.

Never mind, he's making this too complicated for himself. Time shenanigans and paradox space can do that to a person.

"Would you happen to be familiar to these parts? Don't know about you, but I think I'm one of the new kids on the block. Oh yeah, the name's John." Might as well share since, well, he already know's Obi-Wan's name.

[enforced]

"I only recently arrived as well, but I've been told this vessel is operating with a skeleton crew for a colony ship, and it's heading towards a planet known as Andromeda. We just came out of a Jump, and no one understands how the machines work."

That's Obi-Wan's number one goal - find out how the machines work.

"Does that help?"

[cocksauce]

Whoa, so Obi-Wan's also a new addition to the team too. John feels like that puts him and the Padawan on the same level, even though Obi-Wan could still probably kick his ass if he wanted to. He'd rather not have it come to that because if Star Wars is real somewhere out there, they're going to need all the help they can get. Even though he already knows what fate lies in store for the Wan who'll later be a Jedi Master. That sucks.

"Actually, yeah. Thanks." He nods.

Obi-Wan's briefing him on the situation here, isn't that awesome?

"Someone told me that the jumps are a monthly thing that they need to do when the ship goes really fast. Sometimes those gravity couches pick up random people from different worlds."

That's probably all he really knows.

"Is anyone else from St--err, anyone else from your world here?"

[enforced]

Obi-Wan takes a breath - no one had explained that part. No wonder no one seems to know the core planets, or where they are. This is not his universe, although it's comforting to know that the Force is the same no matter where he is.

He reaches out with his feelings. Again, the brush against a Jedi, someone familiar, but Obi-Wan does not dwell on it. He'll seek the other Jedi later.

"I suspect so, but I haven't spoken to them yet. Are you alone?"

[cocksauce]

"I'm not really sure, but I haven't seen anyone who I know is from my world around here yet. I'm still looking around just in case I missed someone."

If only that'd lend some credence to the little mishap earlier. How awesome would it be to get the real Obi-Wan's autograph? Maybe there'll be a chance for that in the future.

"But I keep seeing people who I think I know, and they turn out to be sort of different. Maybe having body doubles is just a universal constant."

[enforced]

There's that excitement, again. Obi-Wan isn't sure what it means, not yet. "You mean to say, someone who resembles another completely? To the mannerisms?"

Another Obi-Wan. Who looks just like him, and acts just like him.

[cocksauce]

John thinks about those weird moments when he looks at a person and sees one thing while others see something completely different. Now, he's not entirely certain about this because Obi-Wan's still a Padawan at current, but he's pretty sure the guy is immune to it because he's a Jedi. They can't possibly take on a Jedi's form.

See, body doubles are a very normal thing in John's life--his best friend, best friend's girlfriend, and best friend's dog have all been replicated at one point. And one of the aforementioned things killed and replaced its own original and is, as far as John knows, still living in its original's place today.

"Yeah, body doubles who look and act and think exactly like each other. It's almost impossible to tell them apart."

At this moment, John decides to spare him the existential crisis he might trigger by mentioning the doubles often have marks like tattoos somewhere on their bodies. Usually those marks are shaped like the pi-symbol rather than numbers, but he can't be too careful. There's still a lot they need to know about where they are right now.

He uses a pinky finger to clean one of his ears. "So just like what happened earlier? It happens to me a lot."

[enforced]

He nods: that, at least, isn't a lie. Whoever this man is isn't lying about that part, even though Obi-Wan doesn't think he was actually replicated from anything, and not simply because of his memories. There are ways to fool Jedi, but Obi-Wan is young, and he does not think it is that simple.

"Well, then. My apologies."