ELEVENTH WAVE

[astrogate]

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

[tofindthesun]

[if he is aware of her presence, he doesn't acknowledge it outright. hers is a company he is somewhat familiar with, one he finds himself doing as well (though not as much as he might like). quiet contemplation, recollection. relaxation.

her curtsy gives him pause, and after a moment it is returned with a low sweeping how.]

Good evening, my lady, if it is evening indeed. [it's a funny thing-- he's gone from not knowing day from night to not knowing night from day. but it is a minor thing as well, and he dismisses it in favor of straightening with a small smile, both polite and genuine.] You are enjoying the gardens, I hope?

[mansuetus]

I think it is impossible not to, my lord.

[ the title sounds too simple for him but she uses it anyway, inclines her head with a smile. ]

I have not been aboard the ship for much time but I have decided it is the most beautiful place on it still. It brings me peace to rest here.

[ a small grin. ]

Lucrezia.

[tofindthesun]

Well met, Lady Lucrezia. [he doesn't pronounce it quite right, but good enough for repeating what is being said.] I am called Legolas, Greenleaf in the common tongue.

[he would refute the title, should-- he is no lord here, with nothing and no one to rule over, and no real claim to the throne anyways. but he doesn't, as she does not renounce hers. it is, in any case, a small matter.]

Aye, it is. Truly, though, I find the trees in the lower levels of the gardens far more comforting-- but then I am born and raised in the woods such as those. [the tremble in his voice is concealed as well as he can, covered with a smile, nostalgic; the memories of a dead forest riddled with evil are not what he needs right now, and is certainly not productive towards a conversation.]

[mansuetus]

You must miss them. I was not raised in a forest, but I always enjoyed riding through them when I was allowed. There are no horses aboard this ship but a walk is just as calming.

[ she smiles looks at the hovertruck. ]

What is this? Is it magic?

[tofindthesun]

I have found substitute enough in the jungles here, though their silence perturbs me occasionally.

[he follows her gaze and, for a moment, actually takes the time to wonder this himself.]

..I honestly do not know. They call it a work of science, but I know not what that even is. Magic cannot do such things-- or if it could, there must be a caster, and there is none that I can see. [he would laugh here, a small exhale of breath, and passes a hand over the metal exterior.] It is useful for collecting produce, however, and I find that is good enough explanation.

[mansuetus]

Simply accept and look upon it in awe, then.

[ She smiles, gazes at the thing. ]

In my own realm science is but a child, a growing thing. I have never seen anything quite like that; but there are so few things I can gaze upon without a sense of wonder here.

[tofindthesun]

It is docile, at least, to be looked upon. We have but magic in my world, and even that is a dying thing. [a bit melancholy, perhaps, but so are many who speak of their own worlds, and especially those who miss it most.]

Aye.. much there is here that I could never imagine to exist, least of all the vessel which now holds us. The people of this future must spend their lives learning such things; but even had we the time for such matters, I do not think I would be able to do the same.

Accept and look upon in awe, as you say. And as I say: let those who know do what they do best. Choose a sailor for a ship among the stars, a writer for the tales, and for gardens, a gardener.

[or in his case, an elf.]