ataraxionlogs | twenty-sixth jump;

Entry tags:

twenty-sixth jump;

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: Your average, run-of-the-mill jump—except some characters don't seem to be waking up from stasis like they should.

Don't worry.

THEY NEEDED THE REST.

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.

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[ caroline's usually little miss observant. after her first jump, she'd been pretty good with dealing with them. she got showered and dressed quickly, she found the people she cared about and headed up to her room with tyler to try and settle her stomach, to start to feel better because her body always seemed to rebel against the way the stasis tubes made her feel.

but this month it's different, she goes to tyler's stasis tube and he's still in it. she figures that maybe it's just slower than her own or something, she doesn't let the creeping panic overtake her yet. no, she goes quickly to shower and clean off. but when she comes back to see if tyler is out yet, he's not.

what does that mean?

so elena might spy her best friend, distracted, a towel wrapped around her as her hand presses to the stasis tube holding her boyfriend as if that might open it. she'd heard about this happening to others before but she didn't want to think about going a month (or more) without tyler even if she's got jenna and ric.]

[ if elena hadn't been specifically looking for caroline's face, she might have missed her -- everyone was moving so fast, and elena was so disoriented her vision was still slightly blurry -- but she would know that face anywhere. instantly, everything seems less intimidating. she's not alone. ]

Caroline! [ elena shouts the name, running toward her friend at a normal human pace. she's getting more alert by the second, but vampire speed is still a ways off yet. before caroline can say anything, elena pulls her into a hug, holding onto her tightly, towel be damned. ]

Thank god I'm not alone, I was so worried. Do you know where we are? Who brought us here?

[ when caroline hears elena's voice, it's almost like a dream. after months of being on the ship without her best friend, she'd almost forgotten what elena sounded like. for a short moment, she thinks she's imagining things. she turns her attention from tyler, her forehead wrinkled before she immediately brightens.

she can't help the tears that well up in her eyes as she moves to close the distance between them, one hand clutching her towel and she goes to embrace her friend. she lets out something like a half laugh, half sob, astonished to see her.] Elena, oh my god. You're actually here. [ her arm tightens around elena for a moment, unable to even think about how to explain this place to her.]

I've missed you so much.

[ "missed" kind of implies that elena has been here before -- that caroline has been here for a while -- but elena's fuzzy, adrenalin-filled brain doesn't register that. all she cares about is the fact that caroline is here and she's not alone and caroline is here.

she clings to caroline for a moment, then steps away, but keeps her hands on her shoulders. elena's not usually quite this clingy, but being kidnapped will do that to a person. she still can't quite believe caroline is here, but it's hard to mistrust her own sense of touch. if caroline is here, maybe other people they know are too. maybe damon's here. the thought provokes mixed emotions -- she doesn't want damon to be kidnapped too, but nothing would make her feel better than knowing he was here with them. if there was anyone who could figure out a way to get them all out of here, it would be damon. ]

I'm so glad you're here, Car. Do you know where we are? Who brought us here? Is there anyone else here? [ she cuts herself off, laughing. she counts it as a win that it only sounds a little hysterical. ] Sorry, I know I'm asking too many questions. Did I mention how happy I am to see you?

[ here comes the questions caroline doesn't know how to answer without sounding completely insane. she'd thought tyler had lost her mind when he explained it to her too. when elena pulls back, caroline can't stop smiling. if tyler was stuck in the stasis tube at least she had elena here with her now. it would make things a little easier. but for now, she has to explain...]

Elena... I know this is going to sound crazy but trust me, I'm not making it up. [ caroline's a kidnapping expert by now but this is... new.] We're on a ship. In outer space. [ yeah, she's not going to let that sink in.] I don't know who took us, none of us do. And we're not the only ones here. [ she'll wait to drop the 'jenna and ric' bomb.] There are over a hundred people here. [ she glances moves to grab elena's arm, gently, guiding her towards tyler's tube before elena can really talk.] Tyler's here but... I'm not sure why he's not out of his tube. I've been here for months. And he's been here over a year. I don't know how it's possible.

Edited 2013-12-08 08:51 (UTC)

[ elena can't stop smiling either, at least at first. the more caroline tells her, though, the more her smile slips. a spaceship? she's been there for months? that doesn't make sense, they were just together in whitmore a couple days ago. when caroline shows her tyler, elena barely manages to suppress a scream -- she hadn't really been looking at the other tubes around her when she got out of her own, too focused on not throwing up to really care about her surroundings, and after that all she'd cared about was finding someone she knew. seeing tyler in that tube... she walks forward, pressing her hand to the glass. ]

Is there any way to get him out of here? Anything we can break the glass with? I think I'm still too fuzzy to do anything [ she lowers her voice ] vampire-y but could you?

[ she'll ask about everything else later. the most important thing is trying to get tyler out of that tube. ]

[ caroline clutches her towel, expression strained as she looks at her boyfriend behind the glass, full of green goop or whatever the stasis tubes are full of.] We can't. Even if we could break it... I don't know what it would do to him. If he'd die or get sick. He might come out later... I don't know. [ there's so much in this place she doesn't know and by her tone, elena might pick up on how lost this place can make caroline feel sometimes. caroline glances at the tube one more time. caroline forbes never gives up but she's started to accept the realities of this place.]

Come on, let's get dressed. We can come back, okay? Sometimes they get delayed. [ that's not true but caroline can still hope!]

[ if caroline is lost, elena has no idea how she's supposed to make sense of all of this. caroline's been here for months -- or at least, she says she has, but how can that be possible when elena saw her just a day ago at whitmore -- and she doesn't understand this place, how is elena supposed to? vampires, she can handle. werewolves, she can handle. evil original hybrids, she can handle. this? she's been kidnapped onto a spaceship where people are stuck in tubes, and no one knows who brought them here, and there are at least a hundred other people who've been kidnapped too. how the hell is she supposed to handle this?

at least she's not alone. and caroline said they weren't the only ones here. ]

You said we weren't the only ones here? Is Damon here? Jeremy?

[ caroline moves on to the next task, trying not to think about how there's nothing she can do to fix tyler, to fix this. now she needs to help elena, she can focus on that. it will help the helplessness she feels. her eyes go back to elena with a shake of her head.] Damon was here but... he's gone now. [ although she's unknowingly wrong about that.]

But Elena... Jenna and Alaric, they're here. I know it seems impossible but they are.

Edited 2013-12-12 08:00 (UTC)

[ elena tries not to let her dismay at damon's not being here show, because it's caroline and she knows caroline would just try to paint it as a positive, a way for elena to get over him and get her head back on straight. still, she can't help the way her face crumples at that, and it takes her a second to pull herself back together. she can get through this without damon and has in the past, but everything is always a little less scary with him around.

all that is pushed to the back of her mind when caroline mentions jenna and alaric. ]

...what? That -- Caroline, that doesn't just seem impossible, it is impossible.

[ caroline expects the dismay upon hearing about damon but she expects the disbelief at what she says next even more. she'd felt the same until she saw jenna herself, saw ric. she lets out a breath, shaking her head.]

I know but I swear, it's true. I don't know how it's... I didn't believe it until I saw them myself.

[ elena's first thought is that caroline is lying to her. maybe not on purpose, because caroline would never lie to her on purpose (not so well, anyway, she'd lied for katherine but she'd lied atrociously, so it doesn't really count) but she might be compelled. they'd all stopped drinking vervain after a while, stupidly. maybe they needed to start again.

but no, something told her caroline wasn't lying. she honestly believe that jenna and alaric were alive and here. the thought that she could see them again had elena grinning uncontrollably. ]

They're really here? Do you know where? Can I see them?

[ caroline's eyes flicker towards tyler in his stasis tube before she glances back at elena. she's not sure who is still around or if either or both of them might have the same fate as tyler. but she nods, looking earnest and true.]

Yeah, they should be around here somewhere. We can go look for them if you want. Or get dressed and go to their room.

[ in all her excitement over the possibility of seeing alaric and jenna again, elena'd almost forgotten about tyler. she follows caroline's gaze back to his tube and the grin that had begun to spread over her face abruptly drops. there's more to think about here than what she wants, and if caroline is right, she'll have time to find them soon enough. right now, she should be focusing on caroline. ]

We don't have to do that right now if you don't want to, Caroline. If you want to wait for Tyler, or try to get him out, or you just don't want to leave him, I'll stay with you. [ as difficult as it is to say, and as much as she obviously wants to go looking for jenna as soon as possible, elena very clearly means every word. she has time. caroline is the priority right now. ]

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twenty-sixth jump;

<333

:DDDDD

:DDDDDDD

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LOL SO THE WRONG ICON FOR THIS

i was going to say WHAT DID ELENA DO D:

XD

i am the worst and i am so sorry

<333 psh you're good

except for my tense shifts ugh god i hate tenses