twenty-eighth 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: It could just be the standard sensation of air on wet skin, but if you bother to check, you might notice the steam rising from your body, barely there and gone within a minute. By the time you get to the showers, it will be clear that it's not just taking you time to adjust. The room is cold — colder than usual, but no worse than the last jump. While it's nothing dangerous, it's certainly motivation to hurry through the usual routine and get dressed quickly.



It's getting closer.




YOUR EYES ARE OPEN.

KEEP LOOKING.

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

somehow that isn't surprising!!

[cogere]

[ wryly. ] Is that really such a feat? [ setting the bar low there, kat. ]

[ But it seems to imply she's new around here, too. Interesting that they've been taken together. At least she appears unhurt, though that's not unexpected. ]

[ He adjusts his sleeves. ] I didn't expect to see you so soon. [ because klaus problems take decades to deal with. ]

[outliver]

It is quite the feat. I was having the worst of times until you showed up. [ So no, on the contrary Elijah, everything sucked up until a moment ago. ]

Soon is relative here, you know? It's been a while since I last saw you. Then again, you're twice my age; maybe anything short of a few years is soon to you.

[cogere]

I could say that a single moment without you is an eternity in and of itself. [ but he doesn't. platitudes and flowery declarations aren't his thing. he's a straightforward kind of guy, well, mostly. still, it's a nice thought. ]

Regardless, from my perspective, I've only just left you. [ he trusts her with that information, just as she trusted him with her relative timeline. it's nothing damning, but every snippet elijah offers is significant. ]

[outliver]

Oh you flatterer. Don't stop.

[ But that's really curious, and it only makes her more confident she can work this out. She can work them out. ]

And which one of our meetings was that? Just to make sure we're both on the same page.

[cogere]

[ he tuts. ] Now, Katerina, I ought to ask you the same question.

[ she omitted a very crucial incident recently, and he won't be fooled again. ]