twenty third jump;

[ataraxites]

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: Something's different. Characters will wake with the vague feeling that they're being watched, but they will have no memories of anything strange occurring. Like last month, the sensation will fade as characters go about their day, but there may be a lingering sense that someone's just around the corner.

As characters go through their routines, showering and getting dressed, they might notice one or two drops of blood — a light nosebleed, or maybe a small trickle from one ear. It will stop almost as quickly as it starts, and there will be no other symptoms to cause worry. Just another side effect of the post-jump disorientation, right?



We're almost there.




DON'T WORRY.

IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP.

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

[toomuchtenacity]

[Chell just has to stop and look because wow you guys look like some happy campers. Which is why you also get a notepad sign being held up.]

Having fun?

[cobaltblue]

[He raises an eyebrow and looks at the message, then at her.]

The fuck do you think?

[testgasm]

[Wheatley immediately shoots Church a look of extreme displeasure, one that clearly says he is the only one allowed to be mean to Chell. He even goes so far as to lean over the table in an attempt to kind-of-sort-of shove him out of the way.]

What he means, is that yes. Yes, we're just about having the time of our lives, here. You're, ah. More than welcome to join us.

[toomuchtenacity]

[Chell just raises an eyebrow, more at Wheatley because right, she totally believes you.]

What kind of space questions do you normally get?

[Also because she suddenly remembers. She writes something else down to show to Wheatley.]

So are you the space core now?

[cobaltblue]

[He glares at Wheatley for that, folding his arms.]

No, what I mean is pretty damn obvious to anyone with half a brain. Which she probably has.

[Wheatley, on the other hand...]

[testgasm]

[Wheatley groans audibly, clearly displeased by this turn of events. Now it is his turn for DEEP REGRET, because he's worked very, very, hard to forget that Space Core was even a thing.]

There is, in fact, a difference between knowing things about space, and being completely obsessed with it.

[toomuchtenacity]

[Chell should not look so amused. But she does.]

Do you really know things about space?

[Church she doesn't know if he does. Wheatley on the other hand. She's skeptical. Because Wheatley.]

[testgasm]

Yes!

[This is very offensive to him.]

I know a great deal about space, by virtue of being stranded there.

[He punctuates the last two words with an icy glare in Chell's direction. SHE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT HE'S TALKIN ABOUT. So much for being nice.]

[toomuchtenacity]

[Oh wow, really Wheatley?]

So you know about floating in it.

[Well colour her impressed.]

[testgasm]

[Wheatley's expression darkens in a frightening sort of way. This is the epitome of his love-hate relationship with Chell actually choosing to communicate--he's always craved her attention and acknowledgement, but now that she does acknowledge him, it's definitely not in the way he imagined. Or wanted.

What a jerk!]

You really want to go into this? Because I'll go into it, if that's what you want.

[toomuchtenacity]

[Chell is wondering why she even bothers. Maybe it's because after all the time in Aperture you get tired of having A.I's lording their supposed genius over you all the time.]

Really? You brought it up.

[testgasm]

Wh--

[Sorry, Church.]

If we're talking about who started it, you're the one who baited me! You're the one who brought space core into it.

[toomuchtenacity]

[Sorry indeed Church. Her writing gets messier as she srcibbles things down but it's still legible so there's that.]

You're in a box marked "ask anything about space" why wouldn't I bring him up?

[testgasm]

Because, if you didn't notice, he and I don't exactly--don't exactly get along.

[He's out from behind the table now, folding his arms and doing his very best to look intimidating.]

Because I thought, maybe, you'd have a little tact about this sort of thing!

[toomuchtenacity]

[You fail but guess what, she puts her notebook away. Because you've lost the words privilege with that mister. Instead she glares back at him.

Silently.]

[testgasm]

[WHAT NO]

Oh, come on, don't--there's no need to be like that.