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

[backwardscompatible]

[That wipes the smile from her face. She came across stories of the Master when researching her thesis, enough to have a fair idea of how dangerous he could be. She had been tempted to go back and meet him, but not under circumstances like these.]

I've heard of you. The Doctor built you a body just to stop you from dying?

[It does sound like something he might do... anything to avoid being alone again.]

[andyouwill]

[A gentle curving of his lips, and an unholy light of amusement in his eyes.]

My reputation does at times precede me.

I was of aid to the Doctor during certain...dramatic events. Out of what he claimed was a sense of obligation he offered me this alternative to a slow, painful death. I accepted.

[Pause] Is he here?

[backwardscompatible]

Yes.

And you should know that if you do anything to hurt him, I will kill you. And it will be a slow, painful death.

[The steel in her voice says that she believes herself perfectly capable of carrying out that threat.]

[andyouwill]

Ah.[A small sigh, possibly of satisfaction. Or anticipation. His eyes are dark for a moment before he reengages with the conversation.

Dear me. [The companions have been getting sharper teeth, it seems.] And what would he say to such a threat, do you think, Professor Song?

[backwardscompatible]

I don't much care. I'm afraid you'll find that we're very different people when it comes to the topic of mercy.

[andyouwill]

How very intriguing.

And yet, alas for my curiosity, I currently have no plans to hurt the Doctor. [Always a mistake to make plans in advance of any information, after all. Though if his current regeneration is wearing a particularly ugly coat I cannot guarantee its safety.

[backwardscompatible]

[and just like that, she drops back into casual conversation mode. She's given him his warning and whether he listens to it or not is his business]

It's not the coats you have to worry about with this one, it's the hats. And the bowtie.

[andyouwill]

...Does it have question marks on it? Is it rainbow-colored?

[backwardscompatible]

What sort of person would I be if I let him go out in public like that? No, he usually keeps things to a marginally acceptable level of awful.

[andyouwill]

That is a great and unexpected relief. Usually he's at his worst when I'm not around. I take it I'm not, in your time with him?

He left off the reasonably becoming if inexplicable cricketing gear and changed to the, ah, coat of many colors, checquered tie, and question mark collar directly after burning me alive, you know. Insult to injury.

[backwardscompatible]

Yes, I know. But he hadn't met me yet.

[Actually, he had. But it didn't count if she made sure he didn't remember it]

[andyouwill]

[Very confident of her own abilities and importance to the Doctor, this one.] He attends to your opinions on the subject? In my experience he seeks out whatever clothing he can find in the first day or two after regeneration - however hideous - and imprints on it beyond all that rhyme or reason can say against it.

[backwardscompatible]

Where reason fails, there are other methods. He can't wear it if it's been blasted into its constituent atoms.

[andyouwill]

[Respectful nod.] Indeed.

Are any more of the Doctor's young friends present?

[backwardscompatible]

Just one, Captain Jack Harkness. I'm sure you'll run into him sooner or later.

[she'd already decided not to give away Amy so there's no hesitation or nervousness to hint at the blatant lie. Jack can take care of himself, possibly better than even River can considering how well he knows the ship and his unique talent. Amy might be more vulnerable.]

[andyouwill]

No doubt. I suppose he will have gathered one or two others if he's been here for any length of time. He makes friends wherever he goes. [The Master's tone suggests that this is an embarrassing but incorrigible habit his near and dear just have to bear, like stuffing used hankies up one's sleeves or talking in one's sleep or building model train sets.]

[backwardscompatible]

I'd say it's one of his charms. [River, on the other hand, is completely sincere]

[andyouwill]

Our perspectives are different, which is of course unsurprising.

A pleasure to meet you, Professor Song, [a carefully measured bow] but I fear I must be seeking out my...old friend.

[backwardscompatible]

I'm sure he'll be pleased to see you. [more pleased than she'd like anyway]

[andyouwill]

[Eyebrow. As this Master hasn't had the experience of dealing with a Doctor who's the last of his species, hungry for companionship from another Time Lord, however bitter and twisted, this sounds like rather blunt sarcasm to him.] Occasionally he has been, although not recently. [Not since the Doctor had been exiled on Earth with a crippled TARDIS, eager for any source of entertainment. And even then he hadn't admitted being glad to see the Master to his face.]