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

[striking]

[ katniss pulls in a sharp, unhappy breath through her nose. ]

No. No, she slept too much for boyfriends.

[ this kid is too young to be asking questions like that. ]

Do you have any friends here? Apart from your mom and dad.

[throwsdown]

[He nods quietly once again.]

Mmhm. Lots of my friends go home, and sometimes my friends... die, but I — I got lots of friends here, too. We take care f'each other. You'll like them; they're good people.

[striking]

[ katniss swallows hard. sometimes his friends die. he says it with such acceptance, barely wavering, that she doesn't want to rattle that by reacting poorly. but it upsets her. no little boy deserves to know death like that. ]

Okay, that's good. I know you can take care of yourself, but you'll probably need people to help you reach things on the high shelves.

[throwsdown]

[He actually goes from solemn to giggling a bit at that.]

I can climb! And jump! I can reach stuff, s'okay.

I climb trees with Hoi Hoi sometimes, too. You should meet Hoi Hoi. You'd like Hoi Hoi.

[striking]

[ good. giggling is good. ]

Who's Hoi Hoi?

[throwsdown]

He's a panda bear! You ever meet a panda bear?

[The best and coolest panda ever. Look how Takeshi sparkles about it.]

[striking]

[ oh no he's so cute. katniss grins at him. ]

Nope, not ever. I've only ever seen them in pictures.