ataraxionlogs | twenty-eighth jump;

Entry tags:

twenty-eighth jump;

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.

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{pods}

[Charlie wakes with a muffled shriek gurgling up past her throat and breathing tube alike. It takes her several long seconds of floundering about like a fish out of water before she's able to get to her knees and, ultimately, her feet, and as soon as her vision stops swimming in front of her she quickly turns her attention to her surroundings.

She never thought the sight of the pods would be welcoming but, well, they definitely are. The only problem is, she can't really explain why they're so welcoming. All she knows is that the terror she's feeling beneath her skin, and rambling around inside her jumbled and sluggish thoughts, is satiated at least slightly at the familiar surroundings.

With a nearby towel wrapped securely around her, she idly wonders if she's reacting to suppressed memories or simply a nightmare. She then wonders if the two aren't one in the same. A shiver snakes its way up her spine at the thought and she decides rather quickly that she doesn't want to know the answer.

She just wants a shower.]

{lockers}

[Unfortunately, the shower does little to settle her nerves. All it manages to do, aside from getting her clean, is cause her tremble at the chill in the air. She's pretty sure that it wasn't this cold the last jump but she won't swear to that fact. She won't swear to much of anything, save her name (or, rather, pseudonym because she's pretty sure only Dean knows her real name and even that's questionable), but it's a thought that weighs on her mind along with all of the rest as she reaches her locker and begins systematically getting dressed.

Fortunately though, the sight of her beloved tablet in the bottom of her locker is enough to at least pull her from her stupor. Her fingers lightly brush across its smooth surface and her lips quirk into a faint grin. It's ridiculous, really. It isn't as though the device can provide her with answers, or offers much in the way of protection either. But it makes her feel better, feel whole somehow, and she almost sounds like her normal self as she picks it up and moves toward an available bench.]

Oh, blessed, familiar technology, how I've missed you so.

[Has she been missing it or does it just feel that way? She doesn't know and, right now, doesn't particularly care.]

[Luke's already toweling himself off near his pod after his own gagging session with the breathing tube. That part is never going to be not unpleasant. He can't help but overhear someone else in a nearby pod just waking up. The gurgling, gasping sound is unmistakable, followed by the flailing.

He's just wiping the fluid from his eyes as his neighbor's pod opens. Her thrashing limbs almost make him laugh, not because it's genuinely funny, but because he knows he just did the same thing and from an outsider's perspective it really does look ridiculous. One of those laugh to keep from crying sort of things.

From here Luke doesn't have a very clear view of her but he keeps his eyes turned away just in case she's totally naked. At this point many people have given up on modesty and just walk around the pod room in whatever but Luke likes to be respectful.]

You okay?

Edited (quick adjustment of wording) 2014-02-12 04:19 (UTC)

[At the sound of the voice, Charlie half-turns. She's all set to announce that yeah, she's just peachy, minus the whole waking up in goo and being pretty certain something awful happened before that even if she can't remember it, but the sight of who is speaking to her makes her instead decide on a different course of action... namely to open and close her mouth a few times, quickly scramble to make sure she's covered her nakedness for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with modesty, and make a slight squeaking noise before finally finding her voice.]

Who, me? Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I've been through this before. [A pause. She frowns a bit.] I think. Everything's a little foggy right now. [Another pause, during which she chances a glance his way and tries to keep her voice casual while subconsciously tightening her grip on her towel.]

So. Seen any interesting or possibly awkward tattoos recently?

[Like the one she has of his sister, in a slave girl bikini, astride a 20-sided dice. Something along those lines.]

[Her reaction is one Luke certainly couldn't have predicted. In fact, he's a little uncertain about continuing to converse with this person. Or maybe he should attempt to escort her to a medic. She seems a bit panicked. His uncertainty shows on his face.

The super out-of-place question about tattoos doesn't help.]

I- uhm. What? I-... don't think so? Not that I can remember. Why?

[Because really. What an odd and totally random question that she asked for seemingly no reason whatsoever.]

[Charlie's clearly relieved at his answer and smiles perhaps a bit too brightly in a failed attempt to hide her embarrassment.]

No reason. Nope, absolutely none. That's just a question [a pause] that we ask [another pause as she slowly continues with her train wreck of a lie] where I'm from. [She draws in a breath, lets it out slowly, and tries her best to change the subject before she manages to send Luke freaking Skywalker fleeing from her in abject terror.]

I'm Charlie. Uh... hi?

[You better be damn glad that Luke can't use the Force well enough to detect your lies yet, Charlene Bradbury.

Still, it's not hard to tell that she might be trying to cover up the fact that she has an awkward tattoo of sorts and she's glad he didn't spot it. It's so obvious that Luke can't help but smirk in barely-contained amusement.

He'll let her get away with those obvious (and poorly executed) lies because her excuse is evidently embarrassment and he doesn't want to embarrass her more. He just grins in as friendly a manner as he can manage while being covered in blue goop and extends his hand for a handshake.]

Hi. I'm Luke.

[Naked-except-for-a-towel, covered-in-blue-goop handshake. Nothing weird.]

[Charlie can't help but match his grin with one of her own as she shakes his hand.]

Nice to meet you, Luke. And thanks for the concern. [See that? She's even refraining from pointing out that she's well aware of him. She can practically feel her heartbeat slowing a bit as her anxiety begins to drop. Maybe this meeting is salvageable after all.

Now that she's able to breathe again, her attention manages to lock onto something other than one of her childhood heroes standing beside her. Quickly her gaze takes in the other people, searching the crowd for folks who don't look familiar and, more importantly, any who do.

Of course, that's precisely when she forgets all about the towel she's wearing... or more importantly, the fact that it's currently covering the literal definition of an awkward tattoo on her back. And that in order for it to keep covering said tattoo, she can't let her grip on it loosen. Which is exactly what happens, of course, because apparently she can hack into top secret government files with minimal effort but the ability to hold a towel in place while looking around a room is lost on her.

Still hopeful that maybe he missed it, though, she forces herself to turn back to him. Eyes wide, her voice is tinged with dread when she manages to speak.]

Please tell me that did not just happen.

Edited 2014-02-12 07:21 (UTC)

Any time.

[He's still smiling over the funny little incident that just occurred, totally unaware of how awkward things almost were--

--until they suddenly become just that awkward. Luke wasn't trying to look, he really wasn't. But when Charlie's towel drops a little, the revealed tattoo is so hard to miss when it looks just like... your sister. In a bikini.

First Luke's eyes widen, then he cranes his neck to get a better look. At first he isn't sure it's her. Then he's sure. He UNcranes his neck so quickly that he almost gives himself whiplash.

The last thing Luke wants to do is embarrass Charlie more but now when she spins around and he comes face to face with her embarrassment once again he's starting to feel that she deserves it. What even?

That look of horror mixed with disgust mixed with confusion and more disgust on his face? Yeah, it's still there.

He nods.]

It did.

[Since he's a nice guy and totally going to try to be understanding about this he'll give her the benefit of the doubt and let her attempt to explain first. Which is why he's still staring in silent horror.]

[Okay, she can do this. She can explain. She isn't sure how, without making the situation even worse, but she's sure she'll think of something.

Any second now.

Really.

Finally, after several heartbeats when all she's managing is to open and close her mouth and idly wonder if he's at a point in his Jedi training when he could theoretically lash out with the Force and accidentally cause her some serious bodily harm, she just blurts the only thing she can think to say.]

Any chance my pointing out I was drunk at the time, and that your sister is seriously hot, will help matters any? [Nope. Didn't think so. She swallows. Hard.] Yeah, I'm just going to climb back into my pod now because, seriously, that's totes the better option, here.

[If Charlie had just stuck with the drunk story Luke might have found it in his heart to forgive her. People do stupid ~~and pervy~~ things when they're drunk. But then she goes and mentions his sister's hotness. His eyes bulging out of their sockets at her might just give Charlie a clue as to just how well that helped matters.

Of course this also brings up a whole slew of other questions.]

Woah, wait wait.

[He holds out a hand as if to stop her from trying to escape.]

Hold on. Okay, your tattoo aside... [he squints his eyes shut for a second] ... really aside...

[He takes a deep breath and regards her seriously. This is an important question.] Do I know you? [Because the idea that someone Luke knows has a tattoo of his nearly-naked sister is bad enough. But a total stranger?? That's just unspeakably disturbing.]

Edited (whoops typo) 2014-02-12 08:16 (UTC)

[Charlie considers lying. As awful of a person as that might make her, she actually considers making something up, on the spot, about how he doesn't know her yet but he will, someday. She's read the books that take place after the films. She knows things about his future that will back up her lie. Maybe even come up with a reason that fully explains away why she has Leia in a slave girl bikini forever marked on her skin.

But she can't bring herself to do it. No sooner does the lie start to form is she sighing softly and letting her gaze drop, brow furrowing a bit.]

I really wish I could lessen the creep factor here by saying yes. [Drawing in a breath, and in a move that she considers exceedingly brave considering the guy can kill her with his brain if he really wants to, she raises her gaze back to his, looks him in the eye, and goes for the truth.

Well, minus the whole 'you're fictional' aspect, at any rate.]

I'm from the future and, in my time, you're both pretty famous. I grew up on the stories about the fall of the Empire. So one year, when hanging out with other people who grew up on the stories too, I got drunk and woke up with this. [She motions with her free arm toward her back area, pauses, then offers him an embarrassed look.] I'm not a total freak, I promise. Just socially awkward on the best of days and a really big fan.

[The look on Luke's face slowly morphs as Charlie explains herself. He isn't really showing any one recognizable emotion because he's just not sure how to feel about this. If it could be described it might be... disturbed but resigned to the nightmares he faces.

Her story is a bit odd to his ears but he's well aware of the weird time stuff that happens and knows that it's possibly entirely true. And he has to admit that her story rouses even more questions, because learning that he'll be famous someday (and not just any famous but tattoo-worthy famous) is actually really interesting.

For her sake, because she's trying so, so hard, and because she's apparently a fan of his (who knew?), Luke is attempting to put away his disturbed face in favor of as much understanding as he can muster.]

I see. Okay. So... a fan, huh? [Then his eyes widen again and his jaw goes somewhat slack.] Wait, did you say the fall of the Empire? [He can't even make his voice sound excited anymore. He forgot how. There's still too much disturbed and horrified in the way. Charlie, I think you just broke his brain.]

[Oh. Oh crap. Yeah, she totally didn't realize that he's from before that particular event in his reality yet. Great. Just great. First she horrifies him with a tattoo of his half-naked sister that he's probably only just stopped crushing on himself and now she's given him one of the biggest spoilers of his life.

Well, at least she didn't mention the whole Vader being his father thing. Technically she supposes that would've been worse.

Maybe.

But okay. She can salvage a bit of this conversation, despite her foot-in-mouth syndrome. Really, she can. She even manages a small, hopeful smile for precisely that reason.]

Um, yeah. I kinda did. [She turns the smile up a notch, just to be on the safe side.] Surprise?

[Huh. Well, this is a lot. Luke's not even looking at her anymore. His emotions are still hard to read and he might even appear upset or verging on angry if someone didn't know just how the fall of the Empire might affect him.

Heck, he still wants to be angry at Charlie but he just can't maintain that anger. She just gave him the best news he's heard in these past three months. Actually, probably in his whole life.

The Empire will fall.

Finally he looks at her again, the smile that's slowly forming on his face looking maybe a bit crazed. This is really good news and okay, forgive him if he just experienced nearly every emotion imaginable within the past three minutes and forgot how to look genuinely happy and not going-to-do-something-scary-or-unexpected-any-second-now happy.

He closes his eyes and actually lets out a relieved laugh.]

That's really good to know. Really good.

[If there's one thing Charlie is figuring out rather quickly it's that meeting fictional characters that you've idolized since you were a kid doesn't tend to go the way you think it should. She learned that firsthand when coming face to face with Dorothy, has had it confirmed since meeting folks from Middle Earth, and is once again being reminded of that fact now. Because in the movies, when Luke is struggling with an emotion, as someone witnessing it you're wrapped up in what he's feeling.

When he's struggling with emotions directly in front of you, however, Charlie's discovering she's not so much wrapped up in what he's feeling as she's directly in the line of fire if he loses control and lashes out. And that is a terrifying concept to behold.

Still awesome, of course. Just terrifying.

Especially when he looks at her like he's slowly losing his mind, piece by piece, and she's partially responsible for that fact.

With a hard swallow, she forces herself to stand still and not take several large steps away from him. She even manages a small, clearly nervous, smile of her own.]

Yeah. It is. [A pause. She frowns at her own words and gives a little shake of her head.] I mean, right. Sorry. I probably shouldn't have just dumped that on you like that. It's just this thing I do. Totally incapable of not inserting my foot in my mouth whenever I open it, that's me. [Another pause and she sighs, scrubs a hand down her face, and peers back over at him with an exasperated look.] And I promise, I'm really not normally this much of a spaz. Honest.

[Finally Charlie's nervousness starts to get through to Luke and his brain performs a little emotion reset, like a cartoon character shaking its head clear, except without the silly, cartoonish shaking of the head. He's starting to realize that he's the reason she's getting all worked up in the first place. Whooops.

Luke holds up a hand to her, trying to slow her down.]

Hey, hey, it's alright! It's alright. Take it easy. Believe me, I've heard far worse news from people who knew all about the future. No harm done.

Look, uh [he glances down at his merely-towel-clad-self, still coated in blue goop as an indication] this stuff is starting to congeal and it's cold in here. Let's go get cleaned up and then maybe get something to eat. I want to hear more about all this history.

[He's genuinely trying to make friends with her now, starting to feel badly about how much he probably traumatized her.]

[Most people would really put some thought into their reply. Considering how things have gone thus far, anyone with a modicum of common sense would probably decline the offer and instead suggest they reschedule for another time.

Charlie, however, is hardly most people and it's really a good thing that she's a genius because she has pretty much zero common sense the majority of the time.

So her answer comes quickly, virtually instantaneously, and is accompanied with a super enthusiastic smile.]

For serious? Oh, I'm so in! [She pauses, briefly closes her eyes, then shoots him a sardonic grin.] And no more fangirling, too. Promise. [She even makes a small 'X' over her heart to emphasize the point.]

[Luke just grins at her. Hey, he finds the fangirling sort of endearing, okay? He plans to encourage this behavior... without it looking like he's encouraging the behavior, of course. Fly casual.]

Then why don't we meet over at the lift in a few minutes?

[The congealing fluid is beginning to congeal in some of the most awkward places and he's rather eager for a shower.]

[ It's not that he doesn't know where he's going or where he should go. There is so much he needs to sort through, so much he has to figure out. Being surrounded by all of these people in their various states of distress does him little good, and still covered in the cool gel of the stasis chamber as well as Sam's blood, it has him wandering. An aimless objective, stopping at his own locker to stand in front of it and stare at the numbers.

He reads them, knows them. He doesn't bother to open it.

Before, he could have easily remedied the situation of clothes with a thought, but he has to reserve what strength he has left. His grace is still trapped and lost, intangibly woven into him but inaccessible for the most part. He'd barely been able to heal Sam, after all. Castiel frowns, looking down at his hands and flexing his fingers once, twice. He's getting stuck in this body, and it's frustrating. It's lonely.

Someone's voice pulls him from those thoughts, however, and he turns to look, locating her rather quickly. His expression is neutral as he approaches her, thinking nothing of his appearance and what alarm it might cause. ]

That won't be helpful to you here. [ In other words: hello. ]

[At first, Charlie doesn't even bother to look up at the voice. She's far too busy triple checking her tablet to make absolutely certain it doesn't have any scratches or dings on it. It isn't until she presses the power button - holding her breath that the upgrades she's made have, in fact, increased the battery life as much as she's hoping - that she finally glances up and over at the person speaking to her.

And immediately surges to her feet, her beloved device very nearly forgotten in her grasp.]

You're covered in blood. Did you know you were covered in blood? [She pauses.] Wait. Of course you knew you were covered in blood. Nobody just walks around, covered in blood, and doesn't know it. [Her eyes grow even wider than they already are.] Are you hurt? [Another pause and this time she seems to really consider the situation. Or, more importantly, their location. Suddenly nervous, she swallows. Hard.] Or a serial killer? Because I swear, if the answer is that last one, I totes didn't see anything and [Her voice gets small and slightly pleading.] please don't kill me? It kinda sucked the first time and I'm not all that jazzed at going through it again.

[And now she finally stops. For now.]

[ The look she gets in response is almost blank, rapidly processing each of those questions without so much as a verbal response. Castiel touches his clothes; no, not hurt. He inclines his head; no, not a serial killer. Although, the term, he finds, is lacking in definition, and while it isn't current, he is a killer. The terrible things he has done to earn the title-- well, he doesn't want to consider them. Instead, there's the slightest roll of his eyes upward as if asking why he'd felt the need to intervene here. ]

I'm not going to kill you. [ Obviously. ] I was merely... stating that the technology you know is irrelevant now. It isn't going to work.

[ Because he's broken must mean that all other things that import into this ship are as well. It's only logical. ]

[Charlie nods, looking visibly relieved at his assurance that he isn't going to kill her. She ignores the eye roll, mostly because she's used to it when meeting new people, and instead glances back down at her tablet then back over to Castiel as though she doesn't quite understand the words he's speaking.

She does, of course, but the thought of her tablet not working at all is enough to make her want to cry.

Instead she just gives him a small smile.]

Oh. Right. Well, I mean, I know it won't connect me to the 'net or let me send emails or any of that totes awesome stuff it would do if we weren't stuck on a spaceship, but.... [she shrugs a little, shooting her tablet another quick glance] it still lets me use my apps, at least. That's something, right?

[Okay, so she's really reaching for reasons to want to hold onto her tablet but she can't bring herself to give up on it yet. It's one of the few things she still has from home. So, almost as if she's justifying herself, she turns the device so he can see it, thereby revealing an entire screen filled with various app titles.

Including ones with titles like 'Lord of the Rings' (technically made by Lego but still an awesome game to play when she's bored) and 'Supernatural' (providing her quick access to all of Carver Edlund's stories, even the new ones that she initially thought might be fanfiction). Still offering up the screen for him to see, Charlie continues.]

And I even managed to get her to work in tandem with the device the aliens have given us, too. Sure there were still bugs to fix but I was making progress. I think. [Which might be why she went missing in the first place. Okay. Enough defending herself now. She's back to giving Castiel another once-over.]

Are you sure you're not hurt? That's really a lot of blood, for serious.

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twenty-eighth jump;

Charlie Bradbury | ota

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lockers;

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