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

Lockers!

[ryuuzaki]

[The man has an unmistakeable, outre appearance, although one L can't recall seeing around since the early days when he was keeping more to himself. Dreadlocks, heavy tattooing. His gait is also interesting -- weird, relatively rare, usually seen on clowns and cheerful alcoholics.

If they're really in stasis for thirty days, if that's true, it seems extremely unlikely that someone could manage to be intoxicated for all of it. It's obvious that the man is strange -- he could be a local character in certain districts of almost any major city in the world -- but hard to tell whether or not he's acting, or drunk, or if this is natural.

Strange is interesting. L stands in his shirt and jeans with his bare feet crammed into worn blue high-top sneakers, staring. He has to stop his mind from going on a tangent: Would detox happen during stasis, or would it merely halt the process and make waking up twice as unpleasant? There's time for that line of thought later. In any case, the man probably makes him look normal by comparison. L can't recall his name; they had never spoken.]

You have something in your hair.

[It's a flat, mild observation. He's referring to what looks like stray bits of stasis fluid, but he might be referring to any number of things.]

Weren't you here before?

[The location of his locker intimates that he's a new arrival, but it's possible that he doesn't remember any previous time on the ship.]

[bottlearum]

[ Jack has often wondered the question of what would happen if he went into a jump completely drunk. Would he wake up drunk? Would he wake up hung over, making the side effects of the jump compounded upon itself? Would it kill him?

(Jack has been on the Tranquility long enough to know that anything could be an option. Nor has he forgotten the time the stasis goo made them all deathly ill and nearly killed them all.)

He hasn't tried. he's not sure he wants to try. ]

...Aye.

[ Contrary to popular belief, Jack Sparrow is not stupid. And he is keenly aware of the fact that he has something in his hair. A good deal many somethings, in fact. ]

Never left, mate.

[ Which is true enough. For him. ]

[ryuuzaki]

[Local color indeed. Well, if he doesn't care about the goo in his hair, L doesn't either.

L raises his hand to his mouth, then presses his index finger to his lower lip and considers the man for a moment. There is a scant possibility that he's just managed to be in places where this man was not, over and over, for months, and that the man hasn't used the network at all. But that wouldn't explain the locker number: these are the new arrivals.]

No, I think I would have noticed you, the last few months. You're extremely noticeable, Mr...?

[His already wide eyes get wider and more as his tone trails up and his eyebrows arch; he makes it as obvious as possible that he intends the question as the beginning of an introduction.]

[bottlearum]

[ When L very obviously looks him over, Jack only raises an eyebrow and holds his hands to the side. Sure, mate. Look him over as much as you want. He's not ashamed nor is he trying to hide anything.

But then L calls him Mister and Jack wrinkles his nose is distaste because ew. Jack Sparrow has not, is not, and will never be a Mister. That is entirely too proper for him to know what to do with. It's not even a case of Oh no, my father was the mister, because his father wasn't. ]

Captain. [ It's insistent. Calling him mister makes him sound formal and Jack despises any such nonsense. ] Captain Jack Sparrow. And yourself?

[ The bit about him not being here the last few months wasn't a question. So Jack doesn't answer it. Not yet, at least. ]

[ryuuzaki]

[All of this amuses L a little bit -- Sparrow is a little more astute than his gait would indicate, he thinks, by the way he notices the scrutiny and invites more of it. His expression brightens.]

Captain Sparrow. [He inclines his head, a fractional tilt.] Please call me Ryuuzaki.

[There is nothing about Sparrow that indicates military discipline, and while it could be an affectation...]

What are you the captain of?

[There's genuine interest in the inquiry.]

[bottlearum]

Ryuuzaki, eh?

[ It's an Asian name for a man who doesn't look particularly Asian. It warrants a strange look from Jack, but he doesn't question it more than he already has. He's been around the world a few times - he's traveled on all seven seas, including Europe, including Asia - and the idea of mixed nationalities is not a new thing to him. Although it's curious as to why two non-Asians would give their child an Asian name, it's not the strangest thing Jack has ever seen.

But he's been to Asia - most noticeably Singapore - and he knows - well, he's fairly certain, at least - it's traditional to bow upon introductions. Ryuuzaki does not bow, despite his Asian name, and so Jack does not either. Instead, he nods his head at the not-Asian Asian man. ]

Pleasure t'meet you, mate.

I be captain of me own ship - The Black Pearl.

[ His beloved, lovely Pearl. It's around here in a bottle somewhere, if only he could find it. ]

[ryuuzaki]

Yes.

[And he punctuates the confirmation of his name with a small smile and a swift nod, as if to reassure Jack Sparrow. L hasn't missed the weird expression that the introduction got, and he scores another mark for Sparrow maybe being sharper than he looks. Most people don't question the alias, taken from someone whose name it hadn't been and who wouldn't be using it in the future. It can't always be good manners. A lot of people seem to be genuinely oblivious to the slight dichotomy, and it can't always be chalked up to them lacking the cultural context to recognize it, either.]

The Black Pearl.

["Mate," the weird use of the verb "to be"... even taking his reaction to the name into account, it's still possible that Sparrow isn't from Earth as L knows it; that's a chance that always has to be considered these days. If he is, it's possible that he comes from some other time, past or future, no way to know for sure without eliminating candidates. But pins can be placed in these maps, like any other, and they might lead in a line to an implied destination.]

It's an oceangoing vessel? [Those tattoos and ornaments might suggest a lot of travel, and nothing about Sparrow -- including the phrase "me own ship" -- suggests military discipline of any kind.] That's very interesting. Where does it make port?

[bottlearum]

[ Jack prides himself on being a jack of all trades. He's been to most established countries and even a few that aren't on the map. He's spent a lot of time in a lot of different countries, learned a few different languages, jumped into cultures head first. He took what he likes best about every culture, adopts them and weaves them into himself. As a result he knows a little of just about every place.

At least, until he came on board the Tranquility, and then suddenly there are different worlds and different times and different technology that he has no hope of understanding. But he does his best.

And maybe things are different when and where Ryuuzaki is from. But where Jack is from, a European man having an Asian name is a bit odd. But Ryuuzaki says yes and Jack moves on. ]

Aye. It don't travel in space, like this ship. [ He waves his arms about, gesturing at this ship. ] Makes port all over the place. Anywhere I wanna go. [ And that is, in effect, the best thing about being a pirate. He can go anywhere, do anything. He doesn't have anyone to tell him where he should or needs to go. He does what he wants because he wants to. ]