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

[chuffle]

[She makes a noise, then, and looks up at the bag. Yes, she wants her catnip.

She inches forward on her belly, sniffing at it, coming closer and closer to him.]

[moonstruck]

[Aaaand Yuri is inching backwards, not letting her get terribly close. A bit like dangling a carrot in front of a horse, except he's aware that being attached to said carrot is perilous at best.

If he lures her far enough off of his towel, he'll eventually slide the bag down one of the corridors, hoping that it'll be a good enough distraction.]

[chuffle]

[She keeps going forward on her belly, her nose moving. She could grab it if she wanted to, she thinks - she's fast enough, and he's not so big - but this is part of the game too.

Then she backs up, picks the towel up in her mouth, waves it a bit like a flag.

Trade?]

[moonstruck]

[When she backs up, he frowns. And when she picks up the towel, he even almost raises a brow.

He can't read her mind, but he can infer from her actions what she may be getting at. Definitely one of the most interesting animals he's come into contact with.

He stands to his full height, then, holding out an arm and dangling the bag in front and a little above the tiger -- within its reach, certainly. He better still have his hand after this.]

[chuffle]

[She's dainty. She throws the towel up into the air and lunges for the catnip, and when she moves away she only has the bag dangling from her mouth, his hand unharmed.]

[moonstruck]

[He barely registers the bag snatched out of his hand, too busy catching the towel with his other hand before it lands on his head. Catching it out of the air, the next thing he does is wrap it around his waist, then looks down at the tiger.]

Thank you.

[Said in a more "finally" sort of way than an actual thank you, but.]

[chuffle]

[She chuffs and her tail rises up, and she turns to saunter off.

Good to meet you too, Yuri.]