ataraxionlogs | thirty-ninth 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: A feeling of deep dread greets you as you stumble out of the gravcouch, strong enough to hold you still for a long moment, searching your surroundings for the source of your wariness. Nothing becomes apparent, only your fellow passengers waking up. Eventually you gather the resolve to pick yourself up and start moving, the feeling fading slowly as you progress through routine.

New arrivals will find messages spraypainted across their lockers telling them not to follow their tattoo numbers, and instead to find a room on Floors 001-010.

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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.

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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.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pods

Something was wrong. Something was different, and Rich had spent way too long outside ordinary life to be able to tell as soon as he woke up. He was weary, and that was just weird. And there was something in his mind, about dreams...

He sat up, disengaged himself from the pod, and stepped out, blinking around. There were new faces. Peter was there (still. again. whichever) and so was Sam, so that was a start.

He pushed himself away from the pod, standing up straighter.

"Anybody need any help?"

Didn't hurt to ask, right?

Lockers.

Rich's shower was quick, mostly washing up the goo, and then he was out with the lockers, keeping his eyes still open for anyone who was not okay. It was what he did. He would get a chance to process later.

Well, keeping his eyes still open for anyone who was not okay... and for familiar faces. Just to check in.

Sam is there, alright. But he's slow to get out of his pod. Lethargic, pale, and are those dark circles under his eyes under the blue goo? He hardly even registers that Rich's pod has opened, he's so focused on just standing up straight.

Sam is definitely among those that Rich checks up on. On the first glance, it's just good enough that Sam's there, but, after a moment, he registers that the teen is not really getting up very quickly, and flies over in a rush.

"Hey, hey. What's going on? I'll just take you over to medbay, okay?"

"Rich?" The familiar voice, and then the sight of the gold-helmeted figure flying over, makes Sam smile. Even if the smile is a little worn. "Man, is it good to see you. I got worried..."

Then the reunion is ruined by Sam slipping on some goo and nearly falling face first onto the floor.

Nearly, because Rich catches him and picks him up. "Worried? Why, and what's happening with you?"

Nova Prime who hasn't gotten the memo that he's actually skipped a jump: Rich Rider.

Sam slowly gets his feet underneath him, and looks up at Rich, confused. "Dude, you slept through a whole jump. You and Peter both."

And then he averts his eyes, sheepish. "I... may have made some mistakes while you were gone."

"Wh..."

... Rich bites the question off, instead just focusing on picking Sam up and flying him over to the showers. He can practically see the teen's cheekbones protruding through his skin. Liquids and food and rest, and the sooner cleaned up, the sooner treated, right?

"Blue blazes! Who did this to you?"

He appreciates Sam's taking responsibility for whatever happened... but, no, somebody else has to be at fault for it, as well.

Sam lets out a sad laugh. Guess there was no avoiding it, now. "You remember that smiley face guy? He, uh, messaged me. He gave me a map, and I got curious, so, I... followed it."

Saying it out loud just makes it sound way stupider than it actually was.

Rich doesn't react - if Sam expected to be yelled at, or anything of the sort, well.

For one thing, Rich is still processing the fact where he apparently skipped a jump. At least? Unless he's skipped two, and Sam's skipped one, too? He... really has to talk with somebody who's not trying to cope with so much else at the moment.

Anyway.

For another thing, he's learned a long time ago that judging people's decisions in the field? Is a bad idea. Sometimes, you can give advice on what they can do better another time. If they ask for such. As it is, well.

"Helmet or without?"

Since that makes a big difference, when it comes to Sam.

Sam rolls his eyes. "I'm not stupid." Yes he is. "With."

He sighs. "Didn't help much, though. I got lost in the corridors for forever. Couldn't blast my way out, couldn't do anything."

Rich's mouth tightens, but it's anger at himself for not pointing that out sooner.

"None of what we can do works against this ship. Can't break it, can't harm it. The closest I've come is those elevator doors, and that was more pure physical force applied somewhere that was already meant to open than anything else."

Beat.

"So the map didn't take you where it should have? Or didn't bring you back out, after it?"

"Great. Would've been nice to know that going in." But there's nothing he can do about it now.

"The map only led me to the starting point. Eventually, after I got really lost, Smiley started giving me these messages, on the walls. But... I freaked out. It's like he knew me. So I stopped listening to him. I ignored his messages, and eventually I found my way out."

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect to be... not here when you had to make the call. I should've..." Shower. Shower is a good thing to focus on, right? "When you're feeling better, we're gonna focus on what we know about Tranquility and what we can do, all right?"

With the training.

Then he listens, carefully, his arms itching to go from washing off to just hugging the teen, but that's probably going to get awkward soon. So he's just near.

"First, I'm glad that you did make your way back. It'll get better, both feeling like poop and feeling bad about it." It's so much easier, when nobody else got hurt. "You can't blame yourself for him - or it, or whatever - for not keeping his end of the deal, Sam. It's not your fault that he got you into that mess, and not trying to get that information, if it had been there, might have been as bad as, or worse, than this."

Sam focuses on showering, looking down at himself instead of up at Rich. Ever since he was lost in the corridors, he kept telling himself stuff like Rich would know what to door Rich wouldn't have been so stupid. But Rich is right. Sam can't blame himself. Eventually, once he's clean enough that he has to stop pretending he's rubbing off goo residue, Sam makes eye contact again.

"You're right. We've gotta focus on what's in front of us and how we go forward. We've got to get better, so we can help everybody." They've got to-- he's got to-- be Nova.

thirty-ninth jump;

Rich Rider | Pods + Lockers

Pods?

Pods!

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