ataraxionlogs | thirty-ninth jump;

Entry tags:

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.

ＹＯ́Ｕ̴ ̧Ａ̨ＲＥＮＯＴ҉ ̷ＡＬＯ̨ＮＥ҉

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

Yes!

[The worst thing, the worst thing happened - as soon as she's at his side she scoops him up, cradles his small body tight against hers and buries her face against his cheek, muffling all her words.]

Oh, my god. I missed you, I missed you so much.

[It doesn't occur to her yet that Takeshi doesn't realize he was gone. Or that she was down a leg last time she saw him and now she's back to two. Or that every second she spends here hogging the kid is time away from Netherlands, who'll definitely want to know. For now, all that matters is Takeshi. The familiar weight of him, the way he smells. Her son.]

[No, he certainly doesn't put two and two together about her leg; mostly, he's just getting squished and is squinting at her with a heck of a lot of worried confusion. He pushes at her to try to get a little room, and then grabs her face in his hands to squish her cheeks.] Are you sick? I sawed you; I didn't go anywhere!

[You're crazy, mom.

Hoi Hoi is just sparkling in delight all the while beside them.]

No, I'm not sick.

[She gives him room when he pushes, grins through the onset of hot, eye-prickling tears while he squishes her face. Leans in again (personal space? Who needs it!) to kiss each of his chubby little cheeks through her crying - which is disbelieving, giddy, closer to a laugh than a sob.]

I'm fine. Everything's perfect. Can I - can we go find your dad?

[He looks pretty much like he's not sure you're telling the truth. But eventually, he nods, because suddenly he really, really wants both of them together in one place. So it's all three of them. Four, if he counts Hoi Hoi. Five if he counts a particular little bunny. He reaches out quickly to try to dab at Heather's cheeks with the end of his tattered sweater sleeve, looking concerned.]

Are you super sure you don't need t'lay down...

Why're you crying — mom?

I'm okay! Happy tears.

[She's still while he dabs at her face, smiling through - nope, she didn't inflate how incredible he is after he was gone, the way loss and missing someone can distort your view. He really is a wonderful, caring, precious little boy. Their little boy.]

You remember I told you about my friend Tillman? How he went away, and then he came back?

You did that too, buddy. It's been - months. A real long time.

[He still doesn't like the crying, but it's better than sad tears. He'll take what he can get. He finishes up cleaning up her face and leans back, eyes wide and attentive.] I went away?? Where did I go?

[He doesn't remember anything else. He doesn't remember leaving. He remembers getting into his pod and getting ready to sleep for the jump...]

I don't know, bud. We just woke up after the jump and you weren't there anymore. It was - it was pretty rough. But - we should go find Netherlands. You mind if I carry you?

[Too bad she's doing it anyway, trying to text Netherlands with the kid still in her arms and trusting Hoi Hoi to follow.]

Listen, you should know - he looks a little bit different to last time you saw him. Not bad! But skinnier. He was really sick for a while. He's better now, getting better every day. I just don't want you to be too worried when you see him, okay?

[You know he never minds when you carry him; it's comfortable and secure, and he's still puny enough that it's easy. But when he looks back to her, the worry is palpable in his expression. You can't go fooling him, Heder, he knows how you try not to make him worry sometimes. Sorry, mama, he's gonna be worried.] He was sick? Why? Did the ship make him sick?

[Because that's always what happens. Always.]

We're not sure. He had a pretty rough time, but -

[but this is the moment his voice hums out from her communicator, and she makes a little shh face at Takeshi before replying - by our lockers. Come quick, okay?]

- he's gonna feel so much better when he sees you.

[So about that feeling much better when he sees them. That's not quite what happens.

No, he rounds the corner with his chicken caravan clucking along behind him, sees them, and stops so suddenly that the chickens all bang into the back of his knees - he doesn't even notice. Eyes wide and looking between the two, heart in his throat and somewhere between ready to flee and ready to launch himself toward them, right on the edge. He's here, his kid is here, and what if he doesn't remember and they have to start all over again and can he do that a second time oh fuck but his son is here and -

!!!!!!!]

[Takeshi hopes so. He doesn't want Mr. Ned to keep feeling bad. It'll be... like Roy all over again, and he doesn't want that. But then he sees his adoptive dad, and even though he worries and frets (like he really shouldn't at age six), he offers Netherlands a cautious little smile from where Heather's holding him.

Well, if he's just gonna stand there like a dummy, he'll just have to start a conversation.]

Hey... Dad!

Heder said you were sick! Are you okay now??

[Oh no, that look. She hefts Takeshi a little, steps forward, not sure whether the delicacy of her footsteps is to avoid squashing chickens or startling Netherlands.]

It's him. And he knows us.

[Aaaaaand crying again.]

[Takeshi's chirped little dad, he thought he'd never get to hear that again - his breath leaves him in a rush, but he doesn't unstick until Heather takes the first step. Then, though. He basically flings himself their way with a strangled sound in the back of his throat, chickens completely forgotten.

Nothing comes out when he tries to speak so when he reaches them he just. Tugs them in, chest heaving, and buries his face in Takeshi's hair before pulling back. But only enough to look between the two of them, like he still can't quite believe it. He's a crying, half-naked shuddering wreck and he totally doesn't give a shit.]

[It actually kind of scares Takeshi at first, the way any tall, strong adult crying would worry him. It's even worse with grown-up men, he finds. There's a sort of rawness with them that makes it kind of even more alarming. He has no clue how to vocalize that, of course, but he does look with complete worry at Netherlands, letting him squish and prod him like Heather had done. And crush him. Crushing's okay.]

Don't cry — don't cry, it's okay! I didn't mean to leave, but it's alright. It's okay!

Don't make yourself sick! You're gonna throw up!

He's not gonna throw up.

[He might throw up. God knows she feels like she might throw up, because somehow Netherlands seeing Takeshi and responding makes it all real and that's wonderful, it's dazzling, it's better than she ever could have hoped for

but it's also slightly terrifying. With Netherlands clinging to Takeshi the way he is she unloops one arm to snake it around him, group hug style, rubs at his back. Don't panic, he needs us not to panic. The rest they can figure out as they go.]

[He's not gonna throw up. (He might throw up.) But he swallows and nods - understood - takes one shaky hand to scrub at his face and attempt to wipe away everything that's got Takeshi worried and Heather subtly reassuring him where their kiddo can't see it. Tears: downgraded to leaking, for the moment.]

I'll - try.

[Not to cry or not to throw up it is a mystery. Meanwhile Lodewijk has joined Hoi Hoi and is attentively observing, for once.]

[Takeshi bites his lip, and if they had noticed his eyes are a bit glossy, well, he's not about to mention it. It's just — he's sad. Takeshi's sad, because he's made such a scene, made his family worry about him to the point of tears, and he can't even recollect how it all happened. It's hard for a five-year-old to grasp being here then being gone, even if he's aware of how topsy-turvy this place is with coming and going. He pats Netherland's shoulders, frowning.]

I didn't mean to make you and Heder cry. M'sorry...

[PLEASE JUST DON'T CRY ANYMORE, HE'LL BE GOOD AND STAY. ;A;]

Hey, hey. It's not your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for.

[She jostles the kid slightly, a little jiggle that's meant to be reassuring and probably isn't because she is, it would seem, stereotypically less able to control her tears than the men in her life. But she looks between them - her kid, her precious son, and the love of her stinkin' life, and one thing's clear.

They should be doing this somewhere else.]

We should move. To someone's room.

[DON'T PAT HIS SHOULDERS TAKESHI that nearly sets him off all over again. He covers it by wiping his face on his shoulder (gross) while giving a grunted agreement to what Heather says and then, after her jostling, by lightly placing his chin on Takeshi's head and tucking closer. It's not Takeshi's fault at all, but it's just like him to feel like it is.]

Whose.

[The question is muttered first, and only then does Netherlands pull back enough to look between the two. Pack up and move to someone's room - now that there's a task in the queue, it's much easier to reign all those sloppy emotions in.]

Have to put those up first.

[Thumb back to chickens.]

We should go! We should rest... Did — Is my room still okay?

[He knows now he's been gone for a while... but...]

Whoa — !!

[EXCUSE ME MOM AND DAD, THERE ARE CHICKENS TO BE WITNESSED.]

Whoa, Mr. Ned, where'd all these come from?!

[Just gently (and reluctantly) lowering the kiddo to the floor, so he can greet the chickens if he wants. The motion comes with a shrug towards Netherlands over the pipsqueak's head - maybe they put chickens away together, since Takeshi seems so interested, and then hit somebody's room?]

It's - [what is it? For now it's a mystery, because Takeshi cuts him off and then everything is chickens. Ned's watching all the excitement with an unmistakably proud look on his face - blinks over at Heather's shrug. What does that shrug mean.]

Uh. [Whatever, chickens.] Eggs.

[He's not even trying to be funny. That's where they came from :|]

[Takeshi looks up to Netherlands, beaming proudly at his spacedad's work.]

Do they peck people?!

[... Well, what. He hasn't actually felt like he's left, so the moment is totally ruined (or maybe saved?) by his eagerness to help with something like chicken-herding. Besides, other than Hoi Hoi over there (chewing on his paw), he isn't used to a lot of other animals being around.]

[That's a very sensible question, considering that if Heather knows the kid at all his next move is going to be to try to pet one or all of them, but that doesn't stop her from giggling quietly to herself at the enthusiastic tone of the question. Like he's hoping they're attack chickens, or something.]

Maybe we can help get them home, and you can get to know 'em better that way.

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