ataraxionlogs | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ there are a billion things he could say to all of that, including but not limited to judging her for saying exactly what he was thinking regarding tony, but it's difficult not to fixate on the last comment. ]

It sounds like me? [ it being the wolf, obviously. which is totally separate from him in every way, shape and form, jaye, don't crush his delusions. he looks and sounds somewhat melodramatically offended by the concept. ]

Well, you asked for help anonymously, didn't you?

[ Whoops, accidentally sending Josh into a little panicky spiral while attempting to deal with the eyeballs in her locker was not her intention here. ]

I've never heard you make animal noises though, so I couldn't tell you.

[ oh right, that. it's fine, panicky spirals are a thing, he'll make up reasons for them if he has to. that said, he drops the concern quickly in favor of a slightly chagrined expression when she clarifies. ]

Oh, that. I thought you meant you could talk to... [ werewolves? dogs? while she's shifted into one, surely. ] Weren't you talking about gods? [ let's talk about you instead, shall we. while the eyes watch????? whatever, priorities. ]

Animals don't talk like we do, Josh.

[ Duh. As for whether she can or not, well -- it's a bit of a tricky question. She's hardly Tyke, but she can act the same way the creatures can, knows what their vocalizations and body language mean simply because she uses them too. It's like learning to speak the language before actually knowing how it should sound, in a way. ]

Yeah, I was. So?

[ well excuse you. apparently he's just going to spend this entire conversation looking mildly offended, because that earns her another look, but he drops it otherwise. ]

Is that a thing where you come from? Multiple gods. Or is it is like with most places, you know, delegated to the new age section of the bookstore.

[ like are we talking gods walking the earth, here. see also: josh being phenomenally insensitive towards religions that aren't (weren't??) his. ]

[ Well don't ask dumb questions, Josh!! ]

It's a thing. I mean, they're typical Earth culture gods and angels and demons, but they... actually exist. And don't knock the new age section of the bookstore, it helps them out. Belief is a pretty powerful thing.

[ Says the lady who is best known for being "that crazy chick because she spent too much time in a hall as a bug". ]

[ but that's his specialty!! ]

Seriously? Like "I do believe in faeries", that kind of powerful?

[ he's intrigued, but he probably sounds far too skeptical and condescending for that to show through. ]

Either way, they aren't here, are they?

[ that's a bit blunt. even josh realizes that much, so he attempts to soften it with a quick follow-up, tone slightly apologetic. ] I mean we're all pretty cut off up here.

[ well then deal with it!!! ]

If faeries stop existing if people don't believe in them, sure.

[ She's used to the skepticism; right now, she's not too horribly bothered, mostly because she knows she can make jokes about him having fleas. ]

... Not any immediately recognizable from my world, no. [ Sigh. :C ] I mean, we had a Thor, Norse god of thunder, but he wasn't the same one as the one I know. An aspect of him, maybe. From, uh. A different universe.

[ aka what she thinks Smiley is to Coyote oops ]

According to some people, they do.

[ fictional people in fictional stories, but that doesn't actually make something less credible these days. ]

An aspect of a god. [ that's more doubtful than skeptical, if only because he's not thrilled by the idea. ] You'd think they'd be kind of immune to the whole dimensional variation thing.

[ yes, please say you think smiley is a god, jaye. josh trails off, lost in his own thoughts, but his attention strays back to the eyeballs in the meantime. ]

Why four?

Then like that, I guess.

[ Jaye snorts. ]

You'd think. But gods are fragile. You start destroying mentions of their names and they start to lose themselves, and most gods now don't have large, thriving communities of followers who worship them. You'd think a god would be able to stop his master minder from being pulled onto a ship too, yet here I am.

[ It is, perhaps, a sore subject. ]

No idea.

Sounds very Gaiman.

[ what's next, the god of telephones and the internet showing up at a jump. but the response is distracted, because he's finally paying more attention to the truly creepy issue at hand. ]

Are they— are they supposed to look like yours? [ and actually, hold up. ] What's a "master minder"?

Sounds what?

[ josh she doesn't read ]

The eyes? I... really hope not. [ That's sincere; she's genuinely unsettled by the idea. ] Smiley told me not to look too much, though. Or I'd end up like- [ Oh. Probably shouldn't say that, so she just shakes her head. ]

I am. Gods have two people who work for them, a master and apprentice, since apparently mortals are confusing.

Gaiman. American Gods? [ a pause to wait for recognition, but when there isn't any- ] Never mind, not important.

So you're what, some kind of middleman? Keep the gods up to date with mortal slang?

Basically? Or whatever else they need us to do. Coyote's really good at keeping up to date, but...

[ She shrugs. ]

It probably helps having people around who can't help but believe, too.

twenty-sixth jump;

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