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.

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Comments

[notyourutopian]

Eleanor frowned, studying him. She was not going to follow the strange ice monster man anywhere, of course. But how long could she stay here?

Well, long enough to make him fetch her something to wear, at least.

"Just...if you're really trying to help me, go and get one." A pause. "Please."

[glacius]

The strange ice monster man waits patiently for Eleanor to reach a decision, and then nods when he hears it. Turning on his heel and walking away from the pods, he fetches a towel from the locker room and then heads back to where he found her. A part of him is expecting the human to have used the opportunity to slip away--it's probably what he would have done when he was a brand new arrival to be honest--but regardless, he's back with a fresh towel in hand, looking for her.

[notyourutopian]

Eleanor had not departed, but apparently in his absence she had run into someone else, as she now has a towel wrapped around herself. She was examining the pod she had come out of, and she turned at the sound of his footsteps, a bit surprised that he had returned. And she honestly still wasn't sure he was real.

"Ah..." She felt a bit awful for having assumed the worst of him, considering he had come back. "...Thank you. But I ran into a child who found me one."

[glacius]

All's fair; Glacius has done his own fair bit of assuming the worst of others on board this ship. Even if he might have reason given his past experiences, he was working to move beyond that... and to help others get adjusted, so that they may eventually do the same. He knows how hard it can be.

When he spots Eleanor with the towel, his simply tilts his head to one side. "It is no problem. I am glad you found someone else that could assist you. Ah... would you like this one for your hair, or should I simply hold onto it?"