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

[doggedly]

Cold tea?

[His nose wrinkles up immediately. Cursed humans that everyone perceives as monsters: yeah, normal. Cold tea... less so.]

You could let your tea go cold and then drink it if you like, but I dunno why you'd like that. If anything is monstrous, that is.

[braverys]

Yes! I had it at home. It was tea, but with ice in it - it was wonderful.

[ She smiles, brightening and not really noticing how - strange it might sound. She means iced tea, of course, but she was never entirely sure on the name. ]

I don't think it was tea that was left to go cold... It was made to be cold.

[doggedly]

[It was made to be cold. Sirius squints a little. All teacups and wizard boyfriends aside, his eventual conclusion here is going to be girl u crazy, because--]

Tea with ice in it. Oh, no. You really liked that?

[braverys]

Yes, it was delicious! Ruby showed me it, actually. She also let me try pancakes and I had hamburgers, once, too. It was all so delicious.

[ ... Of course, she doesn't realise how strange this might seem to someone else. It's all marvellous and new to her, even now. ]

[doggedly]

[Any disdain about iced tea is fading a little, and he grins at her.]

Hang on-- you'd never had hamburgers? Even I've had hamburgers--right, so what do they usually eat, where you're from?

[braverys]

Before we were cursed we used to eat whatever we grew in the harvest and meats, cheese and bread. After the curse... I was locked up for so long that I never had a chance to try a hamburger until Rumple and I went.

[doggedly]

Harvests, meats, cheeses, breads. Did you live in a castle? Were there lutes and things? Did you drink ale? I lived in a castle for a bit, but we had whatever food we wanted. That's magic for you, I s'ppose.

What's the year, where you're from?

[Because he's starting to make some educated guesses here...]

[braverys]

I did live in a Castle, before the curse. There were no lutes or ale - there was nothing and no one apart from Rumple and me.

[ She smiles and nods her head; magic is an amazing gift, she's aware of that. She knows how easy it would be to summon food, to give someone anything they'd like to eat. It seems a little foolish, wasteful to her, but - ]

I'm not sure what year it was in the Enchanted Forest, but the calender in Storybrooke said 2013.

[doggedly]

That's a bit... isolated.

[And weird. What kind of boyfriend do you have, miss, really.]

No furniture, even? Hang on--so you lived in... an Enchanted Forest, in a Castle, before the curse. And then after the curse, it was 2013 and you were living in... Storybrooke. Is that how it goes?

[braverys]

That's right!

[ A really weird one. But he's nice! To her. Sort-of. Well. She loves him and it's true love, so there. ]

And Rumple's castle was - it was grand, but very lonely. I was the one who took care of it, so much of it was left dusty even after I moved out of my cell.

[doggedly]

[ ~true love~ yes ok but cell--]

Is 'cell' some sort of new posh decorative term, here, or do you mean you were actually living in a cell.

[braverys]

I was living in a cell? I was a prisoner, in a way, for a short time, until we became friends.

[ And then until he threw her out, but. You know. ]