seventeenth jump;

[mathematically]

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

[deprecate]

You had an arranged marriage. Jesus, that sounds rough.

[assumedposition]

Rough? Ah, I never really thought of it like that. It's just... the way things are done, you know?

Besides, Eugénie and I have been friends for as long as I can remember, so it's not like we were total strangers.

[deprecate]

Still. Bit weird to me. You should be able to pick who you want to be with. What if either of you fell for someone else?

[assumedposition]

[A fond smile appears.]

Haha... a good friend of mine back home once said the exact same thing.

I agree with him. But it'll take some time before we're able to change anything.

[deprecate]

I s'pose, since you're young and all, it were your parents who fixed it up for you, like. Parents can get a little stroppy about the strangest of things. Especially if they think it's for your own good.

1/2

[assumedposition]

I'll say.

[But there's a subject Albert really doesn't want to talk or think about right now, so time for a subject change.]

[assumedposition]

How about you? Do you have someone you'd like to get married to?

[deprecate]

[ cillian snorts, hard, though he looks like he wasn't expecting the question. then he gives a soft laugh. ]

No. Marriage is bullshit. If you love someone, don't ever marry 'em.

[assumedposition]

What...? Why do you say that?

[deprecate]

That's just how I feel.

[assumedposition]

Oh... but-- surely it doesn't always have to be like that. There are plenty of happily married people out there!

[deprecate]

Newlyweds, maybe. But show me a relationship that doesn't start going down the drain the moment they get rings on, and I'll show you a unicorn.

[assumedposition]

[ He takes a breath as if to speak, but then stops himself. There was a time when Albert would've naively pointed to his own parents, or to Eugénie's, or even Valentine's ... but these days he knows better. ]

[ He closes his mouth, racking his memory for an answer. ]

[deprecate]

Yeah, I thought so.

[ cillian pushes off the locker, abruptly hunch-shouldered. ]

Most places I couldn't get married to my boyfriend anyway, so it doesn't much matter.

[assumedposition]

... Hey. Just because the families I happen to know are ... kind of messed up, doesn't prove anything.

[deprecate]

I'm not lookin' to prove what I already know.

[ if albert doesn't want to accept the reality, then that's his own problem. cillian shrugs, not looking to argue. ]

I'll see you around, yeah?

[assumedposition]

... Yeah. See you.