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.


----------------

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

[foundafamily]

Yeah, from what I heard, there's a lotta us. Might be thousands a' years apart, but it's still pretty close compared to bein' from another planet.

[He takes a long drink.]

Did you ever travel yourself?

[blackmagus]

[ She nods slightly. ]

I was sent out a few times. [ There hadn't been much choice in the matter. ] Mostly to Earths, usually about sixty years into my future. First time was quite jarring, getting used to all the differences. The next few times, I was ready for it, more or less.

[foundafamily]

[He laughs and waves a hand at the ship around them. Going from 1934 to all this was a bit wild.]

Believe me, I'm with you on the future bein' "jarring."

[He rests an elbow on the table, making himself pretty comfortable considering he didn't even know this person a moment ago.]

So can you tell me about it? See anything really neat?

[blackmagus]

[ Taking a long sip from her drink, she considers. ]

It's strange. I saw a few neat things, but, at the time, mankind going into space was the most remarkable thing I saw. Shuttles and so on. [ She arches her brows and glances around the bar, once. ] Now that all seems rather pedestrian.

[foundafamily]

[He nods.]

I never woulda' thought it could happen, to be honest. Definitely woulda' called somebody crazy if they told me I'd be livin' in a place like this one day.

Life gets really funny sometimes.

[blackmagus]

[ Fortescue shrugs her shoulders a little. What can you do? It's not like they all elected to come here. They just have to deal with... all of it. Including the part where people leave without warning and never come back. ]

I suppose it tests how well we adapt.

[foundafamily]

[He feigns a heavy sigh.]

I thought I'd done a pretty good job of avoidin' tests, but I guess luck doesn't hold out forever.

Can be a pretty high penalty for failin', though.

[He laughs; of course it wouldn't be any other way. He's thinking mostly of having to adapt to creepy technology and monster attacks.]

[blackmagus]

Luckily, we generally take an interest in new people.

[ Several people had helped her when she'd been new. And anyone who looks sufficiently confused usually gets some help during the post-jump process. Fortescue tries to help with that as much as she can. Although, not this time. She'd been too distracted... ]

We all look after each other a bit. It's... one of the nicer parts of this whole thing.

[foundafamily]

[His head bobs up and down in agreement.]

Yeah, you're tellin' me. It's crazy, don't you think? When people're fresh off the boat back home, somebody shows up to scam 'em outta their life savings and some free labor.

Here they practically offer you a tour. How the hell's that happen?

[He's been here since the 11th jump and it's still weird to him, even if he is one of those people who tries to help.]

[blackmagus]

[ She shrugs a little. ]

Kindness, bonding in mutual strangeness, the basic human desire to connect with someone, pity, laughing at them inwardly... take your pick.

[ Whatever the reason other people do it, Fortescue isn't going to argue against it, certainly. She'd been thoroughly unsettled on her first jump. ]

[foundafamily]

Hey, laughin' at people who pop up here is just cruel.

[But he does stop to consider her words, eventually nodding.]

I guess that makes sense. So it's just like prison, then. You're all trapped, so why not help somebody out?

[Because that's obviously an experience everyone can relate to.

He pauses, realizing a slight flaw in his new-found understanding.]

Except there there's just as many people who'll stab you in the back instead a' givin' you a hand, but other than that.

[blackmagus]

[ Fortescue raises a brow. ]

We're a bit warmer than that, I hope.

[ Otherwise, the ship's in trouble. ]

Is that something you know from experience?

[foundafamily]

Just a bit.

[He laughs. Even though he's farther from his family here, he has to admit that this place is generally more pleasant.]

Yeah. I mean, nobody came after me, but you see it. Even saw my... neighbor, I guess, take a bite outta somebody.

[And he may have been one of the literal backstabbers himself.]

[blackmagus]

A bite, mm?

[ That brow stays up for just a minute longer, and she almost wrinkles her nose. Fortescue's been to a prison, once, but it was to infiltrate it from the inside; she'd gotten herself in on false charges. Once she'd done what she needed to do, the case had mysteriously imploded with sudden evidence of her being framed. She'd been escorted out, no one the wiser. ]

Well, I'm glad you're somewhere far more comfortable than that, now. At least we don't have any bars to contend to. Unless you count the brig, of course.

[foundafamily]

Yeah, he was a cannibal. He had this thing about live food, too.

[He grimaces slightly, still not entirely pleased with his memories of Dragon. The guy wasn't all that bad in the grand scheme of things, but Firo thinks his eating habits are gross.]

Thanks. And I've managed to keep myself outta there so far, so knock on wood...

[He taps his knuckles against his head.]

[blackmagus]

[ If Fortescue wasn't in such an abysmal mood, that would make her laugh. As it is, the edges of her lips quirk up briefly. As good as it gets, right now. ]

I'll keep my fingers crossed, shall I?

[ She really doubts there's any wood outside of the gardens. ]

[foundafamily]

[Any hint of a positive reaction is enough for him.]

Thank you. I'm usually pretty good at not startin' trouble myself, but I'll take any help I can get.

[Trouble comes to him. That's his story and he's sticking to it.]

[blackmagus]

[ She sips her drink, shaking her head slightly. ]

Trouble's an easy enough thing on this ship, so I'd say that's just about true for everybody.

[foundafamily]

Ain't that the truth.

[He leans back in his seat.]

You gotten into any trouble yourself lately?

[blackmagus]

[ Her shoulders give a lazy shrug in return, as she traces the rim of her glass with a finger. ]

Not really. I try to stay out of it. A war's worth of trouble is all I've needed for a while now.

[ Though it will only last so long, she knows, before she gets herself into something else aboard the ship. ]

[foundafamily]

A whole war, huh?

[He raises both eyebrows, because that sounds pretty damn sucky. But also interesting.]

Guess that would kinda ruin you for it.

[blackmagus]

I've dodged enough energy bolts for a lifetime.

[ And also fired a stupid amount of them. ]

Though I have to say, when we get trouble on the ship, it's... quite different.

[ From her expression, it's clear that this isn't actually a good thing. ]

[foundafamily]

Energy bolts..?

[Who is she, Thomas Edison? The way she talks about it makes it sound like that stuff is normal where she's from, so he shakes his head to forget about it for now and tries to keep up.]

Different? You mean you don't get attacked by rabid dog-monsters and get your memories spread around at home?

[blackmagus]

[ She shakes her head slightly. It's almost ridiculous, what finds them aboard the TQ. ]

Rabid dog-monsters aren't out of the question, but memories usually aren't tampered with. [ A pause. ] Usually. But certainly not in the way the ship likes to do.

[foundafamily]

...That still kinda sounds like it all sucks. At least the dogs are just dogs back home.

[They're still not safe from memory stuff there, though, which is why he holds himself back from commenting on her remark with regards to that. He knows how unpleasant that all can be.]