eighteenth 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

Rose Tyler / ota

[refusing]

pods;
[The last thing she remembers is the void, and knowing she was about to be sucked right into it. So when she topples out of her pod hacking and a mess of goo and clumsy flailing limbs, she's more than a little surprised to still be alive. After feeling like she's coughed for nearly an hour, she's able to focus attention to her legs. Functioning legs are important. Even though they're wobbly, she's able to rise up to stand. So she can look around, she shakes off her hands as best as possible and proceeds to wipe at her face. Eyesight is also important in situations like these.

She sees people around her going every which way, but doesn't keep track of how many things there are. The most important thing in the moment is figuring out where she is and what's going on. And also, the location of the man she left behind.]

Doctor?

[She calls out over the noise of the others, cautiously looking all around her. Oh, he's going to get an earful when she finds him.]


lockers;

[By now, Rose is clean and dressed, glad to have her own things to wear. They put her a little at ease, despite being a ball of nerves on the inside. The fact that her locker is filled with her things and her arm's got numbers on it are entirely unsettling though, and she's trying really hard to not think about it. Her mind is racing, tracing back her last steps back at Canary Wharf. She needs to be there, she can't be someplace else. It's not fair, it isn't right. But after hearing the talk of others, it sounds like she's on a spaceship. Not something warm and brilliant like the TARDIS, but something sharp and cold and entirely alien.

Not that she minds alien.

She pulls her phone out of her locker and finds it powered up as always, and thanks whoever brought her here for letting her keep her superphone. She scrolls through the contact list to find TARDIS, and quickly finds that her mobile doesn't connect. There's not even a busy signal or anything, just dead air. Angry at her situation, she throws the phone back in the locker, pleased when it makes a loud ding against the metal. Serves it right, for being so useless.]

lockers!

[nonsomno]

[She glances over when she hears the clang of metal, and smiles grimly as she sees someone just as frustrated as her. Fantastic. At least that makes two of them.

She makes an odd sight, covered in weapons, but at least she's protected.]

What did it give you? The locker.

[refusing]

What?

[She's pulled out of her little selfish fit of anger, and turns to face who is speaking to her. All of the weapons on the woman cause her eyebrows to arch.]

Just some clothes, my phone, things like that. They're all mine, but some of 'em I haven't used in a while.

[She murmurs this out as it dawns on her, and now she's only more frustrated and freaked out about this place.]

I'm guessing yours gave you weapons, yeah?

[nonsomno]

Observational.

[A beat. Curiously:]

Your-- phone.

pods

[sweetmotherofgod]

Heather's not one - a doctor, that is - but she's not the sort of person who can just breeze past if someone's yelling for one, either. She's shed most of the goop and wrapped a towel around herself, hold another that was meant for someone else, but a confused newbie takes precedence. So she smiles in what's meant to be a totally non-threatening way and holds out the towel. First jumps suck, but they can be fractionally improved by not being nearly-naked in front of a bunch of strangers.]

Are you hurt? Feeling like you're gonna puke's pretty standard so they'll probably be to busy to help with that, but if you're injured I'll go find you someone.

[refusing]

[She's never looked so happy to see a towel before in her life. Probably because she hasn't ever been. With a grateful smile, she reaches out to take hold of it and promptly cleans off her face better and moves to wrap it around herself. ]

Thanks.

[It's said after she feels satisfied that she's covered up decently, and she's able to relax just a fraction.]

No, I'm not hurt or anything. Just looking for someone.

[It dawns on her then that she must have heard Doctor and thinks she needs medical help. It pulls a laugh out of her, and she shakes her head.]

His name's the Doctor.

[sweetmotherofgod]

[Ohboy.

She knows that name. She knows that there was a man who went by that name here, and that he left. She does not know that there's a new one, but this probably isn't the time for "oh he was here months ago but he vanished". Let the chick wash the gunk out of her hair before she breaks her heart, maybe.

Only Heather's a really, really bad liar so all of that probably shows on her face before she shakes her head slightly and hedges her bets with something that isn't, technically, a lie.]

Don't know him, sorry. This your first time here?

pods

[backwardscompatible]

[ When River hears someone call for a doctor, she can't help but glance over to see who it is. It's always been her instinct, ever since she was first conditioned as a child. Usually, of course, it has nothing to do with the particular Doctor she's interested in. This time, however, the face doing the calling is familiar. It doesn't take her long to place it as one of the people she'd come across during long hours of research many years ago and then to put a name to the face. Rose Tyler. She looks around in the hopes of spotting the ridiculous ears/leather jacket combo or the spiky hair/pretty face combo, but they're nowhere to be seen.

Still, Rose meant something to her beloved, so River finds herself heading towards her to start the process of working out when and where she's been taken from and helping her adjust. ]

I have a feeling I'm not the sort of doctor you're looking for, but I'm sure I can answer a few of your questions. Welcome aboard the Tranquility.

[ No reason to give the game away about knowing the Doctor just yet. ]

[refusing]

[Rose likes people who are efficient enough to get right out with answering questions and providing information about where she currently is. So River gets a grateful smile. It's good to at least have a ship name to go off of, not that she's ever heard it before.]

That name? Definitely rubbish. This place needs a better name or maybe a redesign, it's anything but tranquil.

[She glances back over at the pod she fell out of, and gives it a disapproving frown. That wasn't a very great experience, and she's not looking to repeat it anytime soon.]

Thing is, I'm looking for someone? It's usually his fault I end up in places like this, not that I mind. It's just...he needs someone t'be there with him, so I've gotta get back to Earth. There's escape pods 'round here somewhere, yeah?

[She sounds entirely positive that there might be, even if she has a sinking suspicion she wouldn't be able to do anything with one even if there were. She can already tell this place is going to throw all kinds of tricks and traps at her, just like that impossible planet she and the Doctor visited not that long ago.]

[backwardscompatible]

[River's not surprised to hear Rose express worry for the Doctor first, over herself, but she does sigh mentally. When will he stop kidnapping and brainwashing young girls?

Still, she smiles back at Rose, not letting her pleasant tone slip.]

There are, but I'm afraid you'll be hard pressed to use them to return to Earth. As far as I can tell we're not even in the same quadrant. In any case, I wouldn't worry too much about your travelling companion. If he's let you come here alone then you deserve far better.

[51stcentury]

[By now, Jack has been through this over a dozen times, having been on the Tranquility for over a year. He doesn't really get nauseous when the stasis tubes dumped them out into the Med Bay although that had less to do with having been there that long and more to do with the fact that he'd been a time traveler before, and even more to do with the fact that he's a fixed point in space and time and therefore almost too resilient. So when he's ejected out he barely even stumbles, running a hand through his hair (immaculate even despite the stasis gel) before making his way over to his locker. Casually toweling off, he gets dressed into his customary trousers, shirt, and braces. Ianto did a good job of patching up the bullet hole from where the pirate had shot him and getting the stains out of his clothes for that matter. No one looking at him would know what had happened - no one but Marty, Eridan, and Ianto, who Jack supposes he should check in on if he can. So he sets off across the room, to meet new people, to check in on those who've been around for a while.

And that's when he runs into her, at a locker in the newest section of arrivals, looking frustrated and gorgeous and like a piece of his past had just come alive again right in front of him. Sure, he'd seen her again since that horrible day when he'd found her name on the list of casualties at Canary Wharf, but then he said goodbye again. Seeing her again here when he's been so sure that he'd never see her again... A broad smile spreads across his face without any prompting from him whatsoever as he makes his way up behind her.]

Well. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes...

[refusing]

[That voice registers with her instantly, and in her mind several memories blur past. Dancing with Jack atop his ship, high fives with the Doctor while cheering about traveling through time and space. Chips and laughter on one of their stops in London. The last time she saw him on Satellite 5.

There's a grin on her face as she spins around to face him, and sure enough, standing before her is none other than her old friend. His name comes off her lips in something caught between disbelief and excitement, and she doesn't hesitate in launching herself forward to tackle him in a tight hug.]

'Bout time you showed yourself!

[She's laughing now, giddy with the fact that he's alright. It doesn't matter that she's the one that just showed up here, she'll act like they're back up on that stupid satellite and the Doctor had stuck around to wait for him. Guilt runs through her at the fact they hadn't waited, and she just clings hold of him a little tighter.]

[51stcentury]

[Jack himself doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her as she jumps to hug him, getting a good grip on her before even lifting her up and swinging her around a little. There's something about Rose that brings out the part of him that Mickey affectionately named 'Captain Cheeseball'. Maybe it's because they met while he was still mortal, still young and frankly a bit stupid. But oh, the fun that they had together, with the Doctor in the TARDIS.

He knows he's got no clue when she's from, and that's frankly a bit dangerous, but. Seeing her now is more than worth it.

Eventually he puts her down, pressing a kiss to her cheek before pulling back to look at her, his smile a little softer but no less happy to see her as he does.]

I could be saying the same for you. You're the one who's new here, after all.

pods

[thatsaflaregun]

[Desmond, hardly the type to ignore a woman in distress no matter how out of sorts he's feeling, abandons his current path to the showers and steers himself towards the girl.]

You need a doctor, sistah? [He offers her a hand.] There might be a few getting settled in medbay now.

[refusing]

[Oh, she forgot that this happens regularly when talking about the Doctor. She chuckles a bit, and shakes her head. But since he's offering a hand, she just casually slides hers in his and gives it a good shake to show she's alright.]

Rose Tyler, no medbay needed. [She turns it around into an introduction, which gives her time to try and figure out how to explain the Doctor thing.]

I'm just...I'm looking for someone. The Doctor, not a doctor? Thought he might have shown up here with me, but I dunno 'bout that, not anymore.

[memorari]

No signal? [ a grimace. girl, she has been there. ] I've been trying to get wifi for weeks. Nothing to connect to except the ship's weird network, I'm afraid.

[ which isn't worrying at all — except it is. the comms department shoots signals into space, yeah, but who knows if they actually reach anyone (and if they do, clara doubts the strangers will be friendly, especially after the space pirate fiasco). ]

[refusing]

[Rose turns around to face the other girl, smiling in amusement. She supposes wifi is important to worry about, being trapped on a spaceship out in the middle of who knows where. She's still used to having to go to Mickey's to use his dial up connection.]

Don't think my phone connects to the internet anyway. [A pause, and she laughs at herself.]

'Cept I'm pretty sure you mean just a regular old signal to dial out. [She pulls her big old phone out of her locker and holds it up for the other to see.]

It's kinda a superphone, it's only been outta range once or twice. A friend of mine, he fixed it up for me.

lockers

[purrfectlycute]

[ Speaking of alien...

Halfway through getting dressed, Nepeta hears the loud clatter of something hitting a locker. For a minute she's worried that Equius has gone off and punched someone into a locker, so to scamper over and see frustrated human (or human-looking) girl is a bit of a relief. ]

Erm, you alright?

[ She offers a smile, trying to be friendly as she prepares for the inevitable strange looks. Not that she minds. There's a lot worse things in the world than people staring at you.

Though her mouth is lined with shark-like teeth and fangs, the fact that she's struggling to squeeze into her jumpsuit ruins anything even vaguely threatening about her. Yeah not awkward at all to get dressed in front of strangers this is a perfectly acceptable way to welcome someone to a spaceship. ]

[refusing]

[Rose glances over at the girl, and smiles as she's glad someone's kind enough to check up on her. She's used to seeing all kinds of things by this point, so the fact that the girl's trying to get dressed is what she pays attention to, and she nods over at the jumpsuit.]

Me? Top of the world, couldn't be better.

[This is said in a tone that she doesn't even fully believe, and she just glosses right over it to instead talk about anything other than how she's feeling.]

Not trying t'be weird or anything, but need some help with that? Looks like you're having some trouble, yeah? [Anything to switch the focus off of her and actually being stuck here is good right about now.]

Lockers!

[bottlearum]

[ At the clang of the metal lockers, Jack Sparrow looks over from his own locker, not too far away. He raises an eyebrow at the frustrated looking blonde woman and well, dressed or not, he's not going to deny that he looks her up and down before asking, ]

Somethin' wrong, luv? [ He pauses before waving an arm to encompass the whole of everything. ] 'sides from the whole space thing?

[ For someone who's at the brand new, just arrived lockers, Jack seems remarkably calm about the whole thing. ]

[refusing]

[He is entirely too calm. But still, some people are just better at hiding their anger or frustration or fear than others. He must be one of them. She turns to face him, an amused smile on her face.]

Nah. [She draws out the word, shaking her head.] Just fine, top of the world, nothing at all wrong here.

[She doesn't even bother trying to make it sound like she's telling the truth, and instead chooses to just act like this is all a big joke.]

You're kinda...casual 'bout all this. Used to waking up naked in strange spaceships, are we?

[picnmix]

[ well hello. nathan's on his way back from the showers, one towel (thankfully) around his waist and the other wrapped in a very manly fashion around his head, and he stops up short when he spots rose and hears her shout.

there's a noticeable delay for appreciative staring, but then he offers a smug smile and nods at her in greeting (the delinquent and somewhat thuggish chin-up kind of nod, of course, nothing classy. ]

You looking to play doctor?

[ is that what you meant, rose. he knows that's what you meant. ]

[refusing]

[And despite coming across some real winners in her time, she's never quite had a first encounter like this one. She's naked, and he's got two towels on, and he's staring at her like she's some piece of meat, or worse. Offended, her arms cross over her chest, and she stares him down.

She could yell at him, sure. Or just walk right up and punch him. But instead, she arches her eyebrows and smirks.]

Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?

[And then that smirk abruptly fades, and she's left looking all kinds of offended at his existing.]

I'd rather die. I mean it, I'd rather die. You really need to work on getting new lines, by the way.

[Oh, and now she's laughing, because this is entirely ridiculous. Yes, the laughter is in his general direction.]

[ex_inventive578]

[ and after the doctor has finished gathering up his belongings that he's strewn around and, as he promised river, gone to take a shower and dress himself properly, he goes looking for rose tyler. ]

[ she's not hard to miss. not for him, anyway — put a hundred blonde girls in denim in a room together and he'd still pick her out straight away, every time, because she shines. amidst all the broken timelines and people pulled from fixed points, walking paradoxes that make his fingers itch, there she is. rose tyler, who had looked into the heart of the tardis and taken a little of her into herself. rose tyler, who'd held his hand across two regenerations and all of time and space. rose tyler, who'd chosen someone else over him. ]

[ but that had been for the best, in the end. and from what river had told him, that was all spoilers, anyway. ]

[ he smiles as he approaches her at her locker, situated way down the other end from his own, because she's just tried the phone, maybe not even for the first time, and he's positive he knows who she's calling. and he will always, always answer. ]

Ring ring!

[ he says it quite clearly when he gets close, lips quirked in a half-smile, ignoring the other people who glance about. looking at her is like taking a long drink of cold water, and his tastebuds may have changed slightly but that doesn't mean it's not refreshing. ]

Ring ring!

Better answer it, don't you think?

[ he grins, picks up his hand, finger and thumb like a telephone. ]

Hello. Doctor speaking. What can I do for you, Rose Tyler?

[refusing]

[By the time he approaches her, she's taken her phone back out of her locker and is clutching hold of it in one hand like it's a lifeline. She's taken off guard by just how refreshing it is to be encountered by someone slightly eccentric but entirely amusing, because it reminds her of a certain someone. She laughs, nose wrinkling up a bit as she tips her head to smile over at him. What is this man up to?

By the second ring ring, she's mimicking him and is using her thumb and finger to form a phone as well. Despite the fact she's holding her mobile in the other hand, it's more fun this way.

She opens her mouth to speak, to respond with an entertained hello there, but then that last line comes out of his mouth and she's left stunned. It hits her all at once, with such intensity that her stomach twists and her heart threatens to jump right on out of her throat. Her eyes go wide, and her actual phone is dropped, crashing to the floor. She ignores it, that's not important right now. He is, just like he always will be.]

You -

[He's different. Another regeneration, another new face. But it's a face that recognizes her, a face that hasn't forgotten her. And that is the most important thing to her, no matter what face or personality differences the Doctor has.

She realizes that she still has her hand up to her head acting as a phone, and despite her eyes that are tearing up and her smile that's wavering as her lips tremble, she plays along with his game of telephone. What kind of companion would she be if she didn't?]

Just was looking for a way to get back to you. Same as always, yeah?

[But this time, he's the one that's found her. And she laughs in a mixture of delight and disbelief, and launches herself forward to tackle him in an incredibly tight hug.]