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

[specialism]

I don't think so.

[ he doesn't know, precisely — what little information he has about this place so far is that it's a spaceship and honestly? last he knew, earth didn't have spaceships.

there's something about this guy's manner of speech, though — ] Are you Asguardian? [ it wouldn't explain why he's asking after new york, but it would explain terminology like 'realm'. ]

[capsize]

[ conversations that are going nowhere fast. hook takes a moment to consider the word, just to make sure it's not familiar — he's heard mention of plenty of worlds and plenty of people in his travels, but it still doesn't ring a bell. ]

I'd presume not, but it's hard to say without a definition. They're not native to New York either, I take it?

[ if he's bothered about being in some unknown realm, it doesn't show. but while his tone is deliberately nonchalant, there's no hiding the edge of focused curiosity in the questions. ]

[specialism]

They're native to Asgard.

[ ward has nothing against asgard per se, but his experiences with them haven't precisely been the most pleasant and there might be a hint of relief at not having to deal with an asgardian. ]

[capsize]

[ there's another pause to consider, though this time it's that vague relief that's got his attention, not the information. hook's tempted to ask after whether it has any relation to the aforementioned battle, but — well, that would require a bit more caring, and the truth is he's got his mind focused elsewhere.

there's still a moment where it's clear he's making some kind of connection before he passes on a follow-up, instead offering up his good hand. ] Killian Jones, of the Jolly Roger.

[ because his ship is more of origin at this point than anywhere else. it's a surprisingly formal gesture, given his appearance. it's easy enough to pick up on the rigid control in the other man's demeanor, easy enough to draw on his own military past in echo. it's a deliberate choice, aiming to find some common ground. ]

[specialism]

[ hook could have asked and ward might have answered truthfully — there seems little purpose in denying or concealing commonly known facts about the battle of new york (or about more recent events in london), and the involvement of both loki and thor is commonly known. there is plenty going on beneath the surface that the general public does not know about, and shield is working hard to keep it that way. those are things that ward wouldn't talk about even if pressed.

ward takes the offered hand and shakes it, his own shoulders going back a little further, a soldier standing to attention for all that ward is not a soldier and hook is not in his line of command, wouldn't be even if he were. ]

Grant Ward.

[ he could have used an alias, but there is no more information publicly available on grant ward than there is on dan filch. ( less, in fact. ) and hook doesn't seem hostile — which doesn't have to mean anything, but ward has to start somewhere. ]

[capsize]

[ the response is enough to confirm he's made the right call, and as a result hook doesn't drop the formality — casual, relaxed, but still distinctly respectful. there's no pretending it's not a slightly odd fit after all these years, but taking advantage of his own history is hardly the worst he's done in the past century or two.

there's a slight delay, as if he's considering whether to confide in ward; for show, of course, and a beat later: ] Travel between worlds — how familiar are you with the concept, precisely?

[ hook's assuming he's not completely foreign to it, given the commentary about asgard. ]

[specialism]

It happens.

[ it started with the asgardians, but the 'ghost' haunting hannah hutchings had been travelling between worlds as well. fitzsimmons have scientific explanations for it, ward's thoughts feature tactical analyses of what it might mean in a hostile situation. ] Never happened to me before.

[capsize]

Well it has happened to me, though it usually requires a bit more deliberation. It's not the sort of thing that happens without intent.

[ the implication being that if they didn't bring themselves here, someone else did. that someone could still include ward, as far as hook's concerned, but he doesn't say as much. ]

Or without a great deal of magic.

[ it's said idly, but it's more fishing, trying to gauge ward's experience with magic without asking outright. ]

[specialism]

So you're saying we've been abducted deliberately.

[ that coincides with what ward had already assumed anyways, though the mention of magic earns a raised eyebrow. magic really is just science that shield does not yet understand — and his mental voice sounded a lot like simmons' for that statement.

( he worries about his team. ) ]