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

[dwellsonthe]

[The confirmation is something he both wants and doesn't want to hear because it messes with what he knows and Bardo's not too comfortable with that. So he huffs and runs fingers through the slick state of his hair as he thinks. But as soon as Asato pipes up again, Bardo follows example and looks to his own wrist, traces the ink.]

It's alive then?

[This place is weird Asato :(]

[walksonrooftops]

I don't really know. [Which sucks to admit because he's been here so long, but this is one bit of technology he still doesn't understand. He doesn't think the nanites are alive, but hearing them described to him makes him wonder all the same.]

It has little things in it that are alive but not alive.

[dwellsonthe]

Hmm. [He shrugs and places that on his hazy "to ask about later" list. Maybe some else does know, not that in the endit probably matters much.]

Is there anything else like this? [gestures toward wrist, looks expectant. C'mon bro, don't leave him hanging.]

[walksonrooftops]

Not that I can remember. The tattoo is what lets you have the things that belong to you. Your locker and your room. Things like that. But most of this ship is for everyone to use.

[dwellsonthe]

[He nods then, contemplating more than a few things but mostly wondering just how big this place is.]

So, the 011 is my floor number then? Do they go in order?

[walksonrooftops]

Right. Everyone from one group lives on one deck. [He nods again and gestures in the direction of the lifts that take passengers to their respective decks.] The number on your arm is your room number, too. So I'm on the first deck. You would be up on the eleventh.

You can move around if you want to. Konoe stays in my room.

[dwellsonthe]

[He looks over at the lift briefly, glances back once he's gotten his scope on. And it's all fine and dandy information but hey.]

Konoe? [Might perk up a bit, familiar cats coming out of the woodwork---!] I didn't know he was here too.

[walksonrooftops]

Yes. [His smile brightens and his ears perk. Unfortunately there are no other cats to be found here, but when Konoe's around he doesn't mind that so much.]

He came here on the third moon. A lot has happened since then. [He won't make mention of being Konoe's Touga, since he knows for a fact he doesn't think of the two of them as simply a Sanga-Touga pair anymore. Still, there's a definite fondness in the way he talks about Konoe, a softening of his expression into a mellow smile.]

I never got your name, by the way.

[dwellsonthe]

[Odd how spread out they are, one and three and eleven. If he had a thought, it would be that there was no pattern to this ship and really he'd be correct in that. But it's a thought for later, when he's holed up in his own room. So he focuses in on Asato again and oh--Bardo picks up on that softened expression easily, and can't help the flicker of a smile of his own. How cute, he's going to have to tease them later. Because ah, young love!

Which is a thought that's interrupted rather quickly when his thoughts are confirmed, so Asato didn't remember him. How odd...]

Ah, Bardo. Sorry about that.

[walksonrooftops]

[Fortunately any teasing will fly over his head--or he'll take it seriously, because he doesn't see anything wrong with loving Konoe. He can't predict how Konoe will react, since he's the type to get a little more bristly, but Asato can take comments like that in stride.

On the other hand, he doesn't know Bardo from any time other than the few minutes they've spoken, so he almost introduces himself in response, catching himself just in time.]

Bardo. I don't remember you, but where did we meet? Konoe said he met me after a time I remember, too. His ears were a different color back then. I don't know what's happened since I ended up here.

[dwellsonthe]

[Certainly nothing wrong with it, Bardo just finds it oddly endearing to see. He's an old cat let him have his entertainment, gosh.]

In Ransen, a few days ago--[Pause, blink.] Well, it was a few days ago for me, not for you I guess.

[Which is to say, he's leaning back and thinking about it despite his headache.]

[walksonrooftops]

Ransen? [He went to Ransen, of all places? He can't even imagine doing anything like that--even though Ransen is not all that far, it still feels like it's worlds away from Kira.]

Strange. [His ears fold back and he thinks about that for a moment, but it's beginning to make his head hurt.]

Either way, this place is completely different. Different from Kira and probably from Ransen too. I have to help the people on here, so I'll help you too.

[dwellsonthe]

[Bardo nods a bit at Asato's commentary, fully agreeing though perhaps not on the same topic. He was perfectly fine with Ransen, after all and didn't have to think to hard about just how weird the city would be to a cat like Asato who hadn't ventured very far from his home. For various reasons though he didn't know of them.]

Have to? [He tips his head, curious.]

[walksonrooftops]

Well. [He stops and tries to figure out how to explain his position here.]

I'm with security. [He shows his tattoo again, and the SEC before his number.] I have to help keep people safe. It's my task here on this ship. When the jumps happen, a lot of people need help with all kinds of things, so I'll help them.