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

[inebriety]

[Now he's floundering. Her missing friend sounds like her guardian and he's only ever been in her friend's position, not hers. This is what he gets for sticking his nose in other people's business.]

Uh-- well... [He doesn't want to give her false hope, but there had to be some well meaning platitude he could spout.] Do you want to get drunk?

[That's really about the best he could do.]

[parallels]

[She blinks and then laughs.]

You're the other Tony Stark, aren't you? I've been warned about you.

[But she seems more amused and simply cheerful at the idea of company. She offers him her hand.]

Clara Oswald.

[inebriety]

[He's not bothered by his reputation preceding him. In fact, this is closer to normal for him. He takes her hand and does an old fashioned bow.]

My reputation evidently precedes me. Consider anything unflattering as vulgar lies.

[parallels]

[She laughs at the bow and gives him a polite nod.]

WIll do. Though, I'll still take that drink.

[inebriety]

Of course, how else am I going to indoctrinate you to my side? And to make it even sweeter, I work at the bar so I can get you the good stuff.

[parallels]

Ah, so it's bribery. I see.

Get me a cosmo and we'll see how I feel after that.