thirty-ninth 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: 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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ＹＯＵ͘ ̨ＷＡＫＥ̢ ̧ＵＰ ́ＩＮ ＤＡ̛ＲＫＮ̢Ｅ̕ＳＳ̶

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 ̧Ａ̨ＲＥ ＮＯＴ҉ ̷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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Comments

[perceptum]

[ As intriguing as meeting everyone is, ever since learning from Dean that her brother was aboard the Tranquility River had pretty much set her sights on locating him as quickly as possible - naturally, of course. It's not been long for her since she's seen him, of course, barely a few days, but this is Simon. Besides her time at the Academy, they'd barely been apart for long at all.

So needless to say she's hunting pretty hard, especially given the medical bay had turned up empty despite many people's insistence that he'd likely be there. Two ships passing in the wind and all that, they'd missed each other - until now.

Her head jerks around at his voice, and she's just as quick to close the gap between them as him. Hugging him tight, she actually laughs a little as her arms close around his shoulders and for a moment there everything is okay. But everything isn't okay, she can tell almost immediately something is wrong, not least of all because there's no efforts to hide it from her either.

(Which, granted, are never guaranteed to work - but this? She can't miss this). ]

Simon-

[ she pulls back a little, not enough to release him but just enough to look into his eyes with a soft, sad smile. ] Sad, you're so sad. Why?

[pompous_today]

[Simon opens his mouth to deny that he's sad- but what's the use? River will read it on his mind, anyway. She was always so in tune with his feelings, even before... all of that had happened. And she was here- she was here and real and in his arms, he could feel her.

So instead of pretending, of putting on a brave face for her, he brushed a strand of his sister's hair behind her ear, leaning in to kiss her forehead before looking her in the eyes once more.]

Where do I even start? I guess... I should ask you what the last thing you remember from back home is.

[perceptum]

The question is complicated.

[ She knows the answer, of course, she's thought about the exact moment where her memories of Serenity cease to exist and her memories of somewhere else entirely start, but that was almost a year ago now. He isn't asking her about what she's been doing since then, of course, but how could he know? Still, it seems like an overly complex explanation saved for after she finds out just what it is that's breaking her big brothers heart so much, so she frowns slightly before she responds. ]

You got shot. You shouldn't have done that.

[ heavens forbid she brings that up without scolding him a little, and a disapproving expression briefly follows suit. ]

But Zoe stitched you up, it was okay. Even if it almost ruined the plan. But you- [ She raises her eyebrows at him, leaning back just a little, enough to get a better look. ] There's more. He knows more.

[pompous_today]

I know. I have a way of spoiling plans, don't I?

[That statement is met with another squeeze, another soft kiss on the forehead, and Simon can feel his eyes welling up. It was almost overwhelming- first running into Kaylee, finding out that he was still the only one out of the crew here who knew, who knew about Book, about Wash, about the Operative, about everything, and it was a burden he was starting to resent carrying a little. But that was nobody's fault... it was what it was.]

She always knows when he's hiding something, doesn't she? He does know more... months more. Things happened... the Alliance came after you again, they sent an Operative... people died. Book. Wash. I had to tell... I had to tell Wash he was dead. [And there it was, that ache squeezing his heart again.]