twenty-sixth jump;

[ataraxites]

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.

Comments

[uncurse]

If I had to guess? Probably Neverland by now. [ long story. and it's clear emma wishes more than anything that she was there with her, but she can't be. because she's got to find a way off this damnable ship. she covers aurora's hand with her own, trying to steady her. ] You're on the Tranquility, it's a - sort of like a ... ship. [ she'll work out how to explain flying through outerspace to a woman who's never heard of sci-fi movies later. ] What's the last thing you remember?

[wellrested]

[Neverland. Aurora looks surprised at that, and the question in her face is clear: Weren't they trying to return to Storybrooke? How did they get separated?]

I-I know, I've been here once before.

[But you can still explain the rest to her, Emma. Aurora doesn't yet understand it.]

Mulan had returned. She put my heart back where it belonged.

[uncurse]

You've - Hold on, what? What the hell do you mean you've been here before? [ like ok the mulan thing is great news and all but since it's good news and not a crisis, emma doesn't feel bad jumping back to what she feels like is brand new information. ]

[wellrested]

For a short time. When it came time to get back into those...pods, I opened my eyes and was reunited with Mulan again. It was like a dream that I didn't remember.

[That's the only way she can describe it, this strange knowledge that only returned now that she has.]

[uncurse]

So, you were taken when we left you in Rumpelstiltskin's cell. [ there's really no way to recall that in which it doesn't sound like they'd locked aurora up in it and left her there. but it was by her choice, so emma's not feeling too guilty about it. besides, aurora was unlikely to show up and tear out somebody's heart and work with cora out of bitterness that she'd been tied to something and left behind UNLIKE OTHERS EMMA COULD MENTION. ] And you ... were returned right back there at another jump? That doesn't make sense. It wouldn't have taken Mulan more than - than a few hours to find you.