forty-fourth 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: Awareness comes to you slowly in the smothering quiet of the blue fluid. In the light piercing through from the medical bay you realise there's a shadow, a figure stood at the glass of your gravcouch, a hand pressed to the surface just above your face. Fear spikes through your gut as waves of alien sensation crash into your mind, a rage that feels endless, all-consuming, furious, molten hatred that you know is for you.

When the fluid drains, door sliding open to deposit you on the medbay floor, you remember it. Remember it coming again and again, like a nightmare that plagued your sleep over and over, leaving you with no respite, no rest. Days. Perhaps even longer.

You remember that the light coming through from behind the shadow was red.

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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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

skye / showers or lockers

[hacker]

[ All-in-all, Skye would like to think she has a pretty skewed perception of what's screwed up by this point. That's just part of becoming a SHIELD agent, and she's one of them, now. Even if it is still new enough to need constant mental reminders that there's no trainee attached. She's seen super soldiers, eye cameras, asgardian artifacts, and tussled with Ian Quinn.

When she spills out of the grav couch, though—short of breath, freezing, and ready to puke—it's definitely a new one. Top five at least. Tight contender for number one, steadily winning that top slot. She sputters blue liquid past her lips, pulling her hands up around her naked body as she looks around at the other people in the room—some naked and confused like she is, but some stepping out like they're just showering or paying taxes.

Dark hair sticks to her, and she pushes it back away from her face as she looks up and around. There's no sign of the dark figure, hovering outside the grav couch before it opened. But she can still feel it, rage pulsing out of it, like a weight on her mind. She pulls herself up. ]

Come on, come on. [ She mumbles blindly, feet carrying her in a hurry through the medical bay. Towels are stacked by the showers, and she invites herself to one without washing the blue fluid off. It's only when she's wrapping it around her that she even notices the tattoo. 044 - 084. ] What the hell? [ Her hand reaches down, trying to smear it away, but it's not marker. It's embedded deep in her skin. A brand. Like something out of a nightmare, something that can't be real, can't be happening to her. ]




[ Later, once she's got some idea of where she is and what's happening, she's managed to shower the stasis fluid off and bring herself to her locker. Some of the contents, she doesn't recognize. Some strange, metal device. Her fingers brush against it for only a brief moment, and the surface seems to ripple when her hand draws near. She pulls it back, perplexed, and settles on dressing herself. She can run that by Fitzsimmons when she links up with them later.

Right now, she needs to find Coulson. She grabs for the comms device once her clothes are on, scanning the previous entries to catch herself up while she uses her free hand to tug her hair out of the collar of her jacket. ]

Locker.

[throwsdown]

What're you looking at?

[It's a bit sheepish, mostly because Takeshi's pretty sure it's rude to intrude on people while they're at their lockers trying to figure themselves out (she's new, Takeshi thinks; she acts new). He has just cleaned off his wet hair, had just gotten his sweater back on, the black leather powersuit underneath only shown at his neck and over his hands as he observes her. She was poking at something weird, and he's too nosy for his own good. And short. Very short, even for his age, and he has to crane his neck up to see.

His panda, which is sitting a little ways behind him chewing on his own foot, is not so nosy.

Yet. Lucky you.]

[hacker]

[ Her hair flops over her shoulders, bunching in thick, wet ropes around her head as she turns her head to look at him. It takes a beat for her gaze to drop and find him at his height. She blinks twice before answering, but stows her surprise. ]

Uh — … Honestly? I'm not sure. [ She shuts the locker decisively. Let it be tomorrow's problem. But she did pocket a 5x3 hard drive before letting the door slam all the way. ] Some weird metal thing. [ She reaches up, scratching the back of her head and shrugging loosely, as if she's much more at ease in this situation than she actually is. ] You new, too?

[throwsdown]

[He shakes his head fervently.]

No ma'am!! I'm not new! I'm old. But I was gone for a tiny bit, then I came back.

[Totally normal, like talking about the weather.]

Maybe the ship put it there... It might be bad! Don't touch it.

[hacker]

[ Her gaze flicks back towards her locker at that, her hand curling into a fist at her side. Little late for that. She dismisses it as something to pin Fitzsimmons down about later, moving to crouch in front of the kid. ]

I'll make sure no one gets their hands on it until we know what it is. [ She smiles. ] You can just call me Skye, it's okay.

[throwsdown]

[He nods, determined. Right! Don't let anyone get their hands on it.

Seems like a good plan.

He straightens up his posture, puffing his chest slightly to look more certified.]

I'm Takeshi! I'm the Moral Officer in the garden!

Are you okay??

showers?? ish.

[kutte]

It's not gonna come off, kid.

[ which isn't a very comforting welcome, but it's not as bad as it could be. jax's tone is gentle. he's seen this before. coddling isn't in his nature, but a harsh welcome isn't either. ]

You want it there, while you're stuck here. It'll help you get around.

[ for a man in nothing but towels, he sounds fairly sure of himself. ]

objectifies jax

[hacker]

[ The voice doesn't exactly reassure her—"stuck here" least of all. But as she looks up, Skye visibly takes a break from her frustration to, well, gawk slightly. She seems to choke on a breath, eyes scanning him. ]

I — [ She's never seen Thor in real life, up close, but she imagines this is a pretty comparable experience. Remembering that he's said something, she blinks quickly, searches out his face. The cold comes rushing back in a moment later. ] What?

[ Her brain catches up to her— Well. ]

Stuck? Stuck where?

business as usual.

[kutte]

[ clearly all that work on his thor-esque mane has payed off. jax actually looks amused for a split second because man, it's been a long time up in space. everyone's so used to people dripping goo everywhere that it's been a while since jax has elicited this kind of reaction. or hung around the jump long enough to make it. ]

It's a spaceship called the Tranquility. [ because that sounds totally believable, right? ] Been here a while, still haven't found the exit.

[ or a way to get the numbers off his arm, though it wasn't like jax has been trying all that hard. ]

[hacker]

[ W H A T. ]

Hold up. Can we rewind to the part where you just said we're on a freaking spaceship? Are you kidding me?

[ She gestures her incredulity by throwing one hand out to her side, looking away from him then to examine the locker room, the medical bay, and — notice the distinct lack of windows. None of the light is natural, all fluorescent. Which could mean Jax is right, and it could mean this is some creepy facility where she wound up because of being an 0-8-4. ]

Aliens. We got abducted by aliens?

[kutte]

You know, I haven't seen a whole lot of aliens. Or not ones that weren't stuck on this boat with us, anyway.

[ and clearly were not at fault for their predicament. jax isn't totally sure where to place the blame for that these days, but he's confident it wasn't aliens. ]

I know it sounds like bullshit, but I'm not just pulling your leg.

[ not that her shock isn't weirdly entertaining. from a detached standpoint, jax is aware that he'd had the same reaction once, and after that he's not really inclined to get much amusement from it. ]

showersish!!

[technologist]

[ There's a very precarious balance between respecting boundaries and checking in on Jemma and Skye after the jumps, which mostly consists of making sure their devices ping back normally and leaving the in-person discussion to when they'll absolutely be clothed.

Jemma's device pings back fine. But Skye's doesn't, and he's on the edge of— fear, worry, panic? He's honestly not sure. People leave. That's normal, and it's not as if they don't know where they go. Just home. That shouldn't sound like a prison sentence, but knowing what he does about Skye's parents—

It's sheer chance that he glances up, expression startled into a numb neutrality and skin cold with shock, and catches sight of someone scrubbing irritably at their tattoo. Except it's not so much someone as it is Skye, and his brows furrow sharply as he looks back to his device. He wastes a full four seconds thinking it's broken before he puts two and two together, and then there's a glance behind him as if he's expecting someone way better at this to show up and save the day.

Because really, he's terrible at this. He doesn't do introductions to space so much as advanced jump physics. But if she doesn't remember then she's scared, and confused, and that's about all it takes for him to shove awkwardness aside and step forward to meet her. ] Skye?

[ A little uncertain. Hallucinations are always a possibility, frankly. ]

[hacker]

Fitz!

[ Relief colors her expression. She tucks the edge of her towel in to keep it up and then moves forward to pull him in for a real hug, slathering him in blue goo in the process. Relief slips out in her exhale before she pulls back, looking him over. ]

Are you okay? Did they do anything to you? [ She's not sure who "they" is, but considering they tagged her like a carrier pigeon, she's pretty sure there's cause for concern. ]

[technologist]

[ For once he bites down on the confused what before it's out of his mouth. The hug's returned with a bit of awkward delay, on account of the fact that he's still processing her being here — or not being here. He supposes it depends on which "her" he's referring to.

But he meets her eyes easily when she pulls back, stoically ignoring the fact that his shirt and jumper are now slightly damp. ]

I'm— okay. [ Fine is his default when he's full of shit, so that slow, drawn out word contains more ponderous honesty than his usual response would. ] It's... have you spoken to anyone?

[hacker]

I—Yeah, this guy. [ She gestures vaguely over her shoulder, obviously at a loss for words and not entirely sure where Jax went. Actually, this is a good time to sidebar. She looks back at her teammate, dropping her voice to a stage whisper as she remarks, ] Who looked exactly like Thor, for the record, and I thought I was gonna faint—But Fitz, he said we were in space. [ Spoken with a terrified sort of tremor that is neck-and-neck with how cool she thinks it all is. She'll never stop being impressed by this shit. ] How is that even possible?

[technologist]

What— [ So much for that. Fitz glances back to where she does, expecting some kind of Thor facsimile to be standing there. ]

Are you sure it wasn't Thor?

[ Because that's a possibility, you know. It isn't the priority, not even a little bit; although technically, having Thor around might be a bonus. Either way, he's entirely too sidetracked to answer her question. ]

lockers!

[lifescience]

[There is...some comfort in finding herself back on the Tranquility. Jemma hadn't had time to wonder about her fate, she'd only had time to scream, and even that had been cut off.

But the greatest comfort is - will be - finding her friends. And that doesn't seem to be going too well, at least not until Jemma spots her.]

Skye! [There's relief in Jemma's voice as she runs over, arms thrown around Skye to hug her tightly. Maybe even too tight. Who needs breathing when you have friends.] You changed your locker! I couldn't find you.

[Wait.]

Oh...[She leans back slowly, worried eyes on Skye's face now.] You changed your locker...

[hacker]

[ Sharing in the relief, Skye wraps her arms around Simmons to return the hug when it comes at her. She exhales, smiling at the solidness of the embrace. It's only once Simmons draws back that Skye notices her hair has changed, among other things. Confusion settles in a moment later, a combination of Simmons' locker confusion and Skye's confusion over her hair. ]

I didn't … change. [ How can she change her locker when she just got here? ] Was I supposed to find another one? This had my badge and stuff. [ She points to the locker, perplexed. ] There were a couple things I didn't recognize, but people said the tattoo would match the locker that was mine.

[lifescience]

[She keeps the oh dear to herself, taking a deep breath before she gives Skye her best reassuring smile. Jemma keeps holding one of Skye's hands, patting it with the other in that way people do when they want you to think that everything is okay. It ends up being a dead giveaway that they're not.]

I want you to take a deep breath, and I don't want you to panic. That is your stuff and this is your locker. And it's on board a spaceship called the Tranquility.

[hacker]

I know, Jemma.

[ Skye's brow furrows like guuuurl. ]

Fitz and Thor's long lost brother gave me the run-down when I got out of the goo-pod. Which just happened, so how could I have changed my locker?

[ NOT LETTING THAT GO. VERY PERPLEXED. Something is not jiving and she can get the sense that Simmons is trying to protect her from something and she just wants to know what's going on. ]

[lifescience]

What's this about Thor's long lost brother?

[She can't mean Loki. Please don't mean Loki. But at least Skye has already spoken to Fitz, got an idea of the basics, and thank heavens for small favors.]

Well, because you had a different locker before - when you were here before. Which...I guess you could say also just happened. But it's alright if you don't remember! I've been told that the same thing happened to me. Just not quite as consecutively.

lockers~

[familybusiness]

[He catches sight of her as he's moving away from the lockers towards the lifts to go find his brother. What grabs his attention is the somewhat confused expression on her face, as if she's found something she wasn't expecting, and it causes him to pause.]

Hey, Skye. Everything okay?

[hacker]

Oh my god! [ His appearance startles Skye, who drops the diviner in her locker with a loud metal clang. She pulls her hands back, whipping around to look at him. Finding a stranger does nothing to reassure her, and she balks at his appearance. ]

Who are you? [ Her startle response doesn't come from a place of fear, and the flatness in her demand makes it apparent that she isn't left wondering why she doesn't recognize someone calling her by name. ]

[familybusiness]

[Well, that's not the reaction he was expecting. O.O

He holds his hands up in an 'I'm harmless' gesture before he explains.]

I'm Sam. Sam Winchester, remember? We fought that boggart together a couple jumps ago?

[More like ran away from it and hid in a closet, but details. His brows furrow after a moment, as he recalls a couple of interactions just like this, only he was on the other end, not recognizing anyone.]

You don't remember, do you.

[hacker]

No, I don't.

[ She affirms, looking him over now that she's less off-guard. Raising a hand, she pushes her locker shut and shifts her weight to get her bearings. ]

I mean, Simmons said I'd forgotten stuff when my number updated… [ She hunches her shoulders, folding her arms under her chest in a slightly defensive gesture. ] Sorry.