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

[legionare]

[ she doesn't seem surprised to see him. he doesn't know what to make of that, but he is certainly surprised — pleasantly so — to see her.

he comes to a stop in front of her, running a hand through his hair, though it does little to spread space gunk around a little. ]

Crows— You're back.

[cons]

- Yep.

[ her expression is shifting a bit though, less curious and more conffffused. her first thought is that she skipped a jump, slept straight through it. she remembers sitting outside people's jump tubes when that happened, maybe a year ago, the relief she felt when she saw them out and about. but those people dreamed when they were under, they knew they were out for a while. Wichita couldn't remember dreaming, in fact, she couldn't really remember much at all after the pod knocked her out and sent her into stasis like it always did. still, she's trying to mask her concern as best as she can, though it's probably obvious she's not really as aware of things as she tries to be ]

How long was I out?

[ that has to be it, right? ]

[legionare]

You weren't out. You were gone.

[ just as tavi had left — and really, max isn't trying to let himself hope, but he can't help but steal a glance around. if wichita has returned, who is to say that his best friend won't come back as well?

and maybe he should be more delicate in confronting her with that; she's clearly not aware of it. but — max is not the most subtle of creatures. ]

[cons]

[ she's just kind of squinting for a little bit, steps slowing down even though all she wants to do is get into the shower and warm up, clean off. but that's- huh. okay. uh. okay. ]

What, like- gone gone? [ a beat ] I left. [ which is why he was all HEY! at seeing her, right. duh. the information is seeping in slower than it has any right to, but it's just really hard to believe ] Can we take this conversation to the shower? I don't know about you, but I am insanely cold. [ like a hot shower will help clear her head, help her piece together what she's not getting here. oh, but then she realizes- ] Aaand that sounded like an invitation to shower with me, wow. Not that there's much privacy in there anyway. But. Well, whatever. [ ... what? she wouldn't mind showering with Max. HEH. but no, she doesn't want him to think she's just throwing it out there casually. they can shower next to each other, that's not new. ] I'm just gonna- [ jut her thumb towards the showers ] We can talk in there.

[legionare]

Yeah. You've been gone a while.

[ but frankly, having this conversation in the shower is absolutely fine by him because while the jumps aren't the worst things max has ever been through, a hot shower still makes him feel considerably better regardless. and the invitation — it might not have been intended as one, but he'll sling an arm around her shoulders regardless ( it also means she can't see the scars on his back; he'd like to keep it that way ). ]

Let's shower, then.

[cons]

-- 'Kay.

[ his arm moves around her shoulder and she's suddenly seriously glad she let herself barf her brains out by her pod, because her stomach does a stupid flipflop. and hey, she's not reading into it, he's just really hot. it's always fine by her if a really hot guy wants to shower with her. that's- totally happening. and she's totally fine with it. right. ]

[legionare]

[ she could read into it, provided that what she reads into it is that he's glad to see her and that he wouldn't precisely mind sleeping with her — but if they just wash each other's backs and leave it at that, it's cool, too.

just don't read anything more than that into it.

but yeah, this is happening. there's the showers and here's max reaching out and turning on the water. ]