forty-third 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: As you emerge from the grav couches following the jump, the chill of the medical bay pales in comparison to the hollow feeling that settles deep within your chest. Grim and foreboding, the grip of isolation spreads through you like a gnawing void, as though you've been left behind. That nagging sensation of neglect that comes from someone turning their back on you only worsens as you move through your routines, leaving you feeling distant, disoriented, and unwanted.

New arrivals will find messages spray-painted in red 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 ̧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

[muscovy]

Do you have a weapon here?

[Whoever this person is, getting armed in case he did come with this jump sounds like a good safety measure.]

[foundafamily]

[Firo blinks at the slight change of subject.]

Huh? I've always got my knife on me.

[He taps his jacket where he keeps his knife in an inside breast pocket. Usually he sticks to the idea that it's not good practice to show people where you keep your steel, but he doesn't think any harm can come from it now.

Even not being that agile of mind, Firo can kind of guess what the connection might be between Huey and a weapon.]

...Look, I don't think I'll need against him. From what I saw, he wasn't really the type to go at a guy in a fight.

[muscovy]

But he would be very angry that you have his eye. And people act differently from normal when they are angry. And then bad things happen.

[He pauses and considers this. And, just in case Firo is immortal and this guy knows that and Firo will thus say that he shouldn't worry because the guy cannot kill him-]

Even if he doesn't try to kill you because he can't, he could still want to hurt you. And that isn't nice.

[All of this is accompanied by Muscovy grabbing Firo's free hand, rather more tightly and firmly than one would consider such a young child capable of, and pulls. They really should get to a different place where it is less likely that this guy comes across Firo while he is holding that eye.]

[foundafamily]

Okay, okay, got it.

[And it is a good point. Huey may not be physically tough, but he was a frighteningly powerful man. Any man who could smuggle information in and out of Alcatraz was someone to watch out for, even if he were dropped into a strange place without his connections.

Firo moves with the pull, being careful not to tense his other hand, because vitreous humor is pretty gross.]

What're you tryiin' to do?

[muscovy]

You should hide the eye somewhere, yes?

So if he finds you he won't immediately see it. [The ship is really large enough to do that - so many rooms that are out of use, the gardens with their many trees... there certainly is no shortage of hiding spots. At least until Firo can be sure that this Huey person didn't arrive this jump.]

[foundafamily]

Hide it..?

[He glances down at his gently closed hand, then at his friend.]

...Actually, that's a pretty good idea. Don't want this thing starin' at me all the time, either.

[He forces a laugh, hoping it'll perk Muscovy up a bit. Even if it's reassuring to see a young kid who knows what's up, there's also something a little sad about it. Nobody should have to be like that, nation or not.]

[muscovy]

[He doesn't stop dragging Firo - maybe even does it with a bit more force - but his eyes are alarmed now.]

Can he still see you with it if he's here? [SWEDEN TOLD HIM STORIES BACK IN THE DAY]

[foundafamily]

[Oh. That didn't go as planned. Firo follows along as quickly as Muscovy will pull, frowning as he tries to think of a way to spin this that'll reassure him.]

Hey, it's gonna be--

[He wrinkles his nose at that question, because it's a fair concern and also pretty gross. As wary as he is of them--especially now that they bleed so easily into his own--Firo reaches for Szilard's knowledge. His eyebrows knit together and he shakes his head.]

...Nah, not as far as I know. You need, like, nerves and stuff connected to your brain to do that anyway.

[Those 300 years of scientific study and knowledge are pretty much wasted on a guy like Firo.]

[muscovy]

[He relaxes a little bit at that, though he doesn't stop pulling.

...Slowly nearing the elevator.]

Then he can't find it by looking at the surroundings, too.

[foundafamily]

Good point. He's a smart guy, so--

[So he'd definitely figure out where it was eventually if he could see out of it. But Firo figures that's not very comforting, so he stops himself.]

You know, I don't really need to keep it from him even if he does show up. It was other people back home who did it.

[He's still bitter about doing the dirty work for the FBI--it's the lowest shame for a gangster--but he also doesn't want Muscovy worrying too much.

He'll follow into the elevator when they reach it.]

[muscovy]

[He peers into the elevator and checks all corners before entering. Just to make sure that there's no one-eyed person in there that might want something of theirs back.]

But he would still want it back, and people can get very angry when you have something of theirs just because you have it.

[foundafamily]

[Firo sighs, unable to argue with that logic.]

Makes sense, yeah. You know an awful lot about this stuff, huh? You make a habit outta stealin' people's eyes?

[He smiles to show that he's teasing, though he really is curious. But as the kid who used to steal from people all the time and as an adult who apparently hasn't broken that habit, he won't judge.

He hovers his finger over the button for a random floor in the 20s, but doesn't press until he sees if Muscovy agrees.]

[muscovy]

No!

[It's said very firmly - he wouldn't do that! (Unless one of his bosses told him to, because then he'd have no choice, or if it was really necessary for some reason, but-] Only ravens do that.

But I know a lot of people. [Or he has met a lot of people, anyway, and while some things seem to lack a pattern or are just plain irrational, others happen with some regularity and consequence. And people getting angry when you take their things belong on that list.

And he doesn't object the button, instead looking at Firo to ask him to press that button - sure, the floor is unsafe, but they won't have to stay for long, yes? And there's two of them, and both of them are armed.]

[foundafamily]

[He frowns and shakes his head.]

Hey, I didn't mean to accuse you of anything. I was jokin'.

[Firo's jokes have a tendency to fall flat. Usually because they're incredibly inopportune, just like now.

He nods as he punches the button. Then he leans against the back of the elevator as he waits for it to trundle them to their destination.]

...Yeah, I guess people are the same everywhere. Mostly.

[His teeth flash in a smile. Tangentially-relevant family thoughts incoming.]

I've met some ones who're pretty different about this stuff, though. Not many of 'em, but they're still there.

[muscovy]

But it is silly to not want to keep your important things, because then you have nothing in the end. [He's silly himself that way, sometimes, though really most of the time it isn't even an issue because he has very few belongings that eh could give away.]

[foundafamily]

[He conceded with a nod. His most important things are actually people, but he understands just as well as anyone else the desire not to be left destitute.]

Yeah, I guess it is. Well, they still got it back in the end. But they didn't get angry or take revenge or anything like a lotta people would, you know?

[The way Muscovy talks about all of this gives Firo a hunch that the general attitudes of their worlds may not be all that different. At least on this topic.]

[muscovy]

Why not?

[It's a good thing, probably. Maybe. He can't really tell - it's something that should be normal not happening and on the one hand that is good in this case because that thing that should normally happen is bad, on the other hand it is not normal, so it is not how things are. And deviation like that can mean more trouble in the end than it is worth.]

[foundafamily]

[He glances at the doors as the lift thuds to a stop.]

I dunno. I guess they decided it was worth it to give me a chance.

[He nods firmly.]

Whatever it was, they're some a' the better people I've met.

[muscovy]

[He nods and really isn't sure what else to say with this, and they have arrived anyway, so he peers out of the lift cautiously when the doors slide open and then steps out, remaining quiet to hear if something is approaching, and also to not attract possibly dangerous creatures to their presence.]

[foundafamily]

[Sorry, Muscovy, Firo tends to babble if he gets going.

He steps out into the hallway and glances around. He doesn't seem to share Muscovy's plan about lying low and starts speaking almost immediately.]

Doesn't look like we've got any company.

...I wonder if the monsters would even bother comin' to a floor that doesn't have anybody on it.

[Comforting thought, right?]

[muscovy]

They will bother if they hear you talk here, yes?

[This is as close to a shut up as he'll get.]

[foundafamily]

[Sheepish, Firo glances down at Muscovy and concedes with a nod.]

...Maybe. All right.

[Okay, now he'll be quiet. He moves down the hallway, keeping his eyes open. When he spots one of the lounges, he nods to Muscovy and slips in.

There's a lot of clutter in this kind of place, which means there are lots of hiding places.]

[muscovy]

[When they enter the room, his daggers have appeared in Muscovy's hands and he watches their surroundings with concentration, leaving the finding of a hiding spot to Firo.

Everything is quiet and he doesn't even know what he is looking for, but this is... creepy and scary and strange. The only place that he has been to that was remotely similar as this had long since been occupied by people who were on a similar level of development as him, and while that place still had electricity and modern conveniences it was never entirely modern and always crowded.]

[foundafamily]

[Firo hasn't noticed it yet, but they've strayed beyond the lit corners of the ship and to somewhere that, well... They probably shouldn't be. As the lights in the passenger quarters go out for evening, it's not entirely odd that they're outside of the lit zone. Hey, maybe he just lost track of time...

He's not entirely sure anything is even wrong with where they are until he hears what just might be the faint scrape of claws. Firo immediately stiffens and has his knife in his free hand.]

...Tell me I'm just goin' crazy and you didn't hear that.

[muscovy]

[Muscovy just grips his daggers harder.

He didn't hear anything, but now he strains his ears, trying to pick up on anything that might be there, slowly turning around and back again to spot or hear whatever Firo might have heard. This place is really, really mean.]