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

[carbonite]

Don't — [he waves her off as he sits up on his own, towel wrapped around his waist so that it can't get more awkward. he gets up, turns around to figure out what the hell just happened.]

Yeah, I'm sure. The hell just happened?

[wolfchild]

[ there is no other way to say this but-- ] You were beaten by a hairbrush.

[carbonite]

You couldn't have lied to me and said it was your pal over there? [he looks at her direwolf, almost expecting it to make the sounds that a wookie would.]

Who's idiot that threw it?

[wolfchild]

She's not an idiot!

[ at least he got what he wanted. ]

[carbonite]

I 'aint saying she is. [you, on the other hand!!!]

[wolfchild]

Good.

—Where did the brush go?

[carbonite]

You're worried about the brush? What about my back? [That's fine, by the way.]

[wolfchild]

[ she gives him a flat look. ] You're moving. I think you're fine.

[carbonite]

Your concern is overwhelming and I feel smothered by it. [deadpan, even as he rubs the arch of his back.]

[wolfchild]

[ she glares before adopting a too sweet tone. ]

Do you want me to hold your hand and walk you to your locker?

[carbonite]

You're lucky that I don't stuff you in one, kid. [seriously, this guy becomes a dad.]

[wolfchild]

You couldn't if you tried. [ see: ferocious animal prone to biting.

—and nymeria. ]

[carbonite]

I don't know, I'm up for the challenge. [not that he actually would do that to the kid, but still. it was really, really tempting.]

[wolfchild]

[ suuuure. ]

I'm going to get dressed.

[ it's freezing or she'd argue a bit more. with the brush in hand, she waves to han. ]

[carbonite]

Waitwaitwait - wait. [but he's going to snatch that brush from her as a penance.]

Now, you can go.

[wolfchild]

Hey—! That's mine.

[ in that she took it from somebody else. ]

[carbonite]

And now it's mine. See how it goes?

[there's no honor amongst thieves. or is the opposite?]

[wolfchild]

[ arya purses her lips. she knows when a fight isn't worth it, though, so she lets him keep the brush. calling to nymeria, she heads for her locker. ]

[carbonite]

[maybe next jump she'll find it back in there because han isn't an asshole.]