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

[sleuthtastic]

[ She reaches to lightly smack his hand away, replaces it with a clean corner of her towel — it's rare that she finds someone who is, you know, within a reasonable height enough that she can do that. ]

Oh, you know. A little bit of the ol' Spectacular Spacetime blues.

[ When in doubt: avoid! ]

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

I have a cure. It involves some boogie-woogie.

[God he's like an old man. But the fact is that Blue is about 80 years out of date.

He looks a little embarrassed when she finishes]

Thanks.

[sleuthtastic]

Boogie woogie.

[ On the bright side, it seems to lighten Veronica's mood a little, mouth quirked into a smile as she slings the towel back over her shoulder. ]

Let me guess: you're out of the forties and you're going to start calling me dame?

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

[He flushes, but not because he's embarrassed but because he doesn't know how to talk to mundy girls. Fables just accept that they all get stuck in time periods, sometimes.]

Dolly, maybe.

Ever want to learn to jitterbug?

[sleuthtastic]

I know how to do a mean vogue?

[ Dolly? Veronica's expression twists at that, not so much because it's ye old timey but because she's just not too good at those little nicknames. She knocks her shoulder into his, like she's trying to chase that flush away. ]

Are you trying to get me to hold your hand by cover of dancing, you scoundrel?

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

Aw, here I was hoping to catch a glimpse of your pretty ankles.

[He looks a little smug for a moment, but it only lasts a minute.]

Besides, the guys in the band never get to go down for a dance. I'm always stuck up on the stage.

[sleuthtastic]

[ It gets Veronica to do a suspiciously good impression of a flustered maiden, one hand covering her mouth and her lashes rapidly batting at him. ]

My ankles? The nerve!

[ Aw, no. Her expression softens at that, though, actually, this seems like a good reason to point out the sword. ]

I get the feeling you're not a sword swallower.

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

That might hurt.

[Especially with this sword. Snicker-snack and all]

Would you believe me if I told you that I found it?

[Essentially, that's true. Factually? That's debatable.]

[sleuthtastic]

I would, [ Because, you know, she would. ] But then I'd have to ask if there's a warrant out for your arrest.

[ That's a joke!

Maybe. ]

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

Just a wanted poster.

[He says that with a smile, like it's not true.

(It's true.)]

[sleuthtastic]

[ ... ]

Qu'est-ce que? Wanted?

[ This! Is! Important! Information! ]

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

[He laughs.]

I'm teasing you. Really, what do you think I would have done that's so bad? Once I broke a noise ordinance but that's about it.

[sleuthtastic]

Well, you know—

[ At least she knows not to judge people by appearances, though it, clearly, hasn't done her much good this time around. Blue is Blue, right? Right. Trumpets and. What. LARP swords? ]

—I was more wondering if it was because you give love a bad name.

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

Love certainly has it out for me.

[He has no luck with it, ha ha ha]

Where is the fair lady off to today? Does she mind an escort?

[sleuthtastic]

Au contraire, mon frere.

[ Shot through the heart? And you're Red's to blame? ]

I'm just heading back to the rooms. Get some good old fashioned brooding done before I leap back out into the world.

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

....want to climb a tree?

[Look if he has to act sixteen might as well do something stupid and youthful]

Then you can brood and get fresh oxygen at the same time.

[sleuthtastic]

[ ... ]

Is that a euphemism?

[ Squint. ]

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

It's a euphemism for would you like to climb a tree, Veronica.

[SQUINT.]

[sleuthtastic]

[ ... ]

This isn't a sex thing, right? Because I'm not really going to show you my ankles.

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

Oh my god, teenagers!

[It probably wasn't supposed to come out that way but well.]

[sleuthtastic]

[ :') —hey, wait a minute. ]

Which you would be?

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

[HUSH.]

I'm an old soul, Veronica.

No, it's not a sex thing. It's a I'm pretty sure the jump fries brain cells thing.

[sleuthtastic]

[ Veronica, without much warning, simply decides to sling her arm around Blue's shoulders, marching them both towards the exit. ]

Next time, just say something like, Veronica, do you want to spy on people with me by climbing into trees? I feel like that would be easier for the both of us.

[boogiewoogiebugleboy]

[He doesn't seem at all bothered by this. He just laughs.]

Is that the angle I need to take? Okay.

Lets go spying.

[sleuthtastic]

Now you're talking.

[ A beat. ]

Just don't tell Edgeworth.