forty-second 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: There's a strange sense of contentment that greets you as you wake from the jump. Deep and certain, it doesn't warm you or cloak the unpleasantness of the stasis fluid on your skin and the disorientation spinning in your head. It feels disconcertingly distant, instead, a sense as though an answer has been decided on - and that you won't much like to experience it coming to fruition...

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.

ＴＨ̀ＩＳ͜ ̶Ｉ͠Ｓ͡ ͘Ｙ̵Ｏ͝ＵＲ ̕Ｗ͝Ｅ̛Ｌ̨Ｃ͡Ｏ͝Ｍ͏Ｅ Ｐ̛ＡＲ̴ＴＹ͜

Comments

[blackmagus]

[ Jazz seems to appreciate the kick, streaking off after the cap with renewed energy. Fortescue appreciates it, and might normally smile that someone was humoring her cat. But right now, a smile is too out of the question.

She glances up, all the same. ]

Oh, he's easy. Give Jazz something to chase and all's right with the world.

[ Fortescue isn't actually sure of her answer to the question, and shrugs. Was she really going to pour herself two? Cash would be rolling his eyes at her. But... ]

If you need a glass, consider it yours.

[ She'll even pour his first drink. ]

[foundafamily]

I'd be surprised to meet anybody who doesn't need a drink here. Thanks

[He slides in across from her, nodding his gratitude as he takes the glass.

He casts another look at the scampering cat as he sips.]

Jazz's an interestin' name for a cat. Lotta older people can't stand that music back home--say it's from the devil or somethin'.

[So maybe it fits for a black cat.]

[blackmagus]

[ If there are people here who don't drink a drop, Fortescue just figures they have other vices that they use instead. Or they meditate, maybe. She's never gotten the hang of meditation. Clearing her mind's never worked... except when booze was involved. ]

Music from the devil, mm? [ Something approaching a dusty chuckle comes out of her. ] I think I've heard that line, too. Quite odd. I named him because it was my father's favorite kind of music.

[foundafamily]

[He smiles.]

Yeah? Usually it's the kids back home who like it.

[The older Martillo capos weren't of the "devil music" mindset, but their tastes were definitely different. More towards the opera and folk music end of the spectrum.

He takes another drink.]

It's not your favorite too?

[blackmagus]

He was always a bit of a forward-thinker.

[ Music had helped him unwind. Think better. Fortescue only listens to music when the impulse grabs her, which isn't very often. Mostly, she prefers silence. It's easier to hear trouble when it's silent. ]

I prefer electro-swing, myself.

[ The music of her generation. Though her father hadn't minded it, either; she does have a few early memories of hearing it drift out of his office.

And then, to get her mind off of that memory: ]

What about you?

[foundafamily]

"Electro"..? Like a lightbulb..?

[Firo doesn't know a whole lot about music, so he'll chalk up his confusion about how the heck that works to his ignorance.

He shrugs.]

I'm not really much for music. My boss or Sena usually pick the music at our places--stuff like opera, music that's popular back in the old country. They're both pretty old-fashioned with that stuff.

[blackmagus]

[ She gives a vague nod at the ship itself. ]

Electronic music — it's made with computers.

[ No idea 'when' this guy is from, but hopefully he at least knows about computers. Otherwise this is going to be a very complicated conversation that she isn't qualified for. Certainly not when she's edging toward tipsy. ]

I only listen to it when I need to think, and not much else.

[foundafamily]

[Despite being from quite a while back in the past, Firo'd learned a bit about computers--not much beyond their existence, but enough to nod along in understanding.

But not so much that it keeps him from staring up in the ship in wonder and murmuring:]

Made by computers..?

[The world is a strange place. He shakes his head and takes another gulp.]

It doesn't distract you or anything? I've heard some casinos use music to get people's minds off the game.

[And he'd consider doing it himself if it worked, so this is research. Kind of.]

[blackmagus]

Do they? [ Fortescue half-raises a delicate brow. ] That sounds clever. Though it wouldn't work for me. It sort of goes into the background. Like a barrier. Keeps anything else from disturbing my thoughts.

[ Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's usually never disruptive. She likes to throttle the volume up, lay somewhere comfortable, and stare at the ceiling. That's usually when she does her best thinking. Although she's also done some great thinking while cornered in a firefight, but that's hardly optimal. And difficult to replicate. ]

[foundafamily]

Clever's the idea.

[He grins like he's the person who invented it. He definitely doesn't have that creativity, but he can relish the achievements of his fellow managers.

He shakes his head.]

But that'd be a problem. I hope you don't gamble too much?

[blackmagus]

Gamble? No. Only once or twice.

[ For a mission, and only to seem like she'd gone to a place of gambling for the act of gambling itself. Instead of to watch someone, or... to kill someone. ]

Do you work at a casino, Mr...?

[foundafamily]

Dealin' with people who can concentrate is a pain, so I bet some people're glad for that.

[He assumes she means that she only tried it out of curiosity of to cross it off the bucket list. The real, much more interesting reason isn't even something he'd guess from her just yet.]

Yeah. I managed one back home.

Prochainezo. But Firo works just fine.

[He looks at her expectantly, waiting for her to offer her name.]

[blackmagus]

Fortescue.

[ And she loathes her first name, so she has yet to offer it to anyone on board the Tranquility. Her last name, or a nickname, works just as well. Especially as she's the last to bear it; there's no one to confuse her with. ]

Did you like managing a casino? Seems like it would keep you busy.

[ That's neither a good thing or a bad thing, in her mind. ]

[foundafamily]

[He nods, making no comment on the name as he files it away. He knows a couple people who don't have or won't offer a second name, so he won't pry about that.]

It's what I do for my Family. Some days I feel like throwin' a table at people, but at least it's interesting. Bein' here really does make me miss it, though.

What do you do?

[blackmagus]

I imagine. The closest thing we have is the occasional card game.

[ Surely someone must have a weekly cards night. It just seems like something the human race would do. Come to that, she thinks she's heard of it over the network itself. ]

I'm... [ She pauses, tapping her glass with her fingertips, before supplying the usual answer. ] Unemployed, I suppose. Or retired. However you want to look at it. But I used to work for the government. Not unlike a casino, really.

[foundafamily]

Yeah. Even then, it just ain't the same at all.

[There's something about being in the middle of all of it that's just different. Firo'd go on about it for hours if allowed.

Being unemployed isn't so strange; it's the Great Depression back home, so even a lot of young people are without work. But retired, at her age? He raises an eyebrow at that and his expression only grows more surprised when she finishes.]

...Your government ran somethin' like that? It's illegal where I'm from.

[blackmagus]

[ Fortescue shakes her head slightly, with the vague hint of a smile. It's close. ]

Oh, not literally. Just a joke. [ Which she probably shouldn't be doing right now, she reflects, as she doesn't feel even remotely funny. ] Let's just say there was a lot of politics involved. Not that they haven't participated in a few high-stakes games before.

[foundafamily]

Politics, huh? But not like a politician?

[He'd imagine she wouldn't be skirting the issue, then. He wrinkles his nose as he tries to think.]

Were you a fixer or somebody who delivered bribes or somethin'?

[Firo's political knowledge is, thanks to experience and ignorance, pretty limited to the shady side of things.]

[blackmagus]

[ A fixer. Well, that's a word for it. She supposes that she fixed a lot of problems for the Council, including problems that weren't really problems for anyone else. But back then, she hadn't questioned her orders. She'd been focused on doing her job so that her little sister would be taken care of. Now that she knows Mirabelle had died before she'd made it into the field...

...well, there's a lot of guilt involved. ]

Something like that. [ Fortescue smiles, cagey. ] It wasn't pretty work. Part of the reason I got out the second I could.

[foundafamily]

Yeah, I'd bet not. I gotta friend in a similar line a' work, but he's crazy.

[Firo nods to punctuate his point. Nothing against assassins, but he can't see anyone hanging around a field like that for too long and feeling too great about it except for a very particular kind of person.

Given that he's a gangster, he probably shouldn't be talking.]

Full blown retirement after that, or did you pick up a new line a' work?

[blackmagus]

[ She gestures vaguely. ]

Well, I sort of... got out, got far away, and was trying to figure that out when I was pulled here. So now I just tend the bar, when I'm itching for something to do.

[ Fortescue doesn't even know what else she'd be good at. She has the collective skills of a spy and an assassin. That's a very narrow field of work. And she's smart, but she also has very little faith in herself. It's been a bumpy road to figuring out what to do with herself. ]

[foundafamily]

[Firo nods. In the line of work he's thinking of, you have to make tracks if you want to get out and stay out.]

That's a pretty good skill to have. Especially in a place where you don't hafta worry about raids--bartenders never have a problem gettin' a job where I'm from.

[Even when they could be arrested for it. The risk was just a little too small and the profits too big to dissuade people.]

[blackmagus]

Raids?

[ Fortescue raises an eyebrow. Unless the two of them come from dramatically different worlds in every respect... ]

What year is it for you?

[foundafamily]

1934.

[Given her question, he has a feeling she might know something of the historical context. So he smiles and adds:]

Prohibition just got tossed out last year. But before then raids were a big pain.

[blackmagus]

Ah.

[ She nods in somewhat bemused understanding. ]

We didn't have the prohibition where I'm from. We saw how it flopped horribly in other worlds. Well — some tried to get it going, but it never really happened. But I've heard of it from being... elsewhere.