ARRIVAL ▒ 002

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Any and all.
LOCATION: Basecamp, Medical and beyond.
WARNINGS: Implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness.
SUMMARY: The Tranquility jumps again.
NOTES: Can be found at the bottom of the post.

T H E   C A M P   ( C U R R E N T   C H A R A C T E R S ) Clouds have rolled in, obscuring the high noon in grey shadow when the alarms start. Wailing through the air, not as keenly as it had when base camp still huddled in its shadow, but still loud enough to turn heads and give people pause. It sends a shiver of nervous energy throughout camp. They were out of range the last time, and there is no sudden scrambling attempt at retreat, but the crowd does begin to thin. Some pick up and go, just to put distance between themselves and the inevitable, because you never know. Others stay behind, for whatever that reason might be. Those who were closer towards the ship emerge from the treeline in a hurry. It's ten hours later when it happens. A tremble in the earth, shaking up through the trees, sending the jungle's wildlife into distressed flocks of movement and alarmed cries. Under the shrouded sun the wreck of the Tranquility begins to cord with lines of white light, threading across the hull like veins, some patches remaining dark, standing out against the vision like splotches burnt to the back of the eyelids. There's no great sound. In an instant, the ship is gone, a soft whomp, a feeling of air rushing past, the trees bending towards the site as if blown by a fierce wind. It's only a second. With a crack, the wreck returns, a rumble rolling through the air like thunder. The earth shakes. The trees tremble. The ship groans, the sound echoing out like the cry of a wounded beast. The jump has passed. Before search and rescue can gather and see for themselves if anyone new was dragged from their homes, something strange happens. A gas mask, old fashioned and heavy, round-eyed, with a filter like a muzzle at the mouth, lands in the packed earth at someone's feet. With a clatter of plastic and metal, something that was once a radio receiver apparently plummets from the air, shattering on impact when it strikes the metal framework of a communal tent, and another lands in softer earth, intact. Tin cans of food, earthenware bottles of water, candles wrapped in paper and tied in string, a box of matches, a set of well-used playing cards with roughed up corners, a rough woollen blanket, a pillow, a gas lamp all hit the ground throughout camp, or are discovered in the jungle beyond. This unusual rain of items ceases, hardly a minute after it has begun. M E D I C A L   ( N E W   A R R I V A L S ) You wake up, alone in the dark. There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Through the fog you can see shadows of movement, the muted sound of alarms crying. 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 suddenly dropped several feet onto the opposite wall. The impact is painful, winds you, and it takes several seconds to overcome and persuade uncooperative limbs to move. All around you is chaos: the sirens of alarms are shrieking in your ears, close and claustrophic in the wreckage of the medical bay you've awoken in, lit dim and red. Around you, others are waking up, falling from other gravcouches, stumbling to their feet. Light catches your eye, and you look up to see a huge rend in the outer wall high above you, overhung by broken structural beams and damaged cabling. Climbing up takes all the strength you have. You emerge in bleak, grey sunlight, surrounded by an immense, vast jungle. As your vision clears, you realize you stand on the hull of a colossal spaceship, crashed on an unknown world, two moons hanging heavy in the sky above. In the distance, far out on a great swathe of torn up earth through the jungle are a clustered crowd of figures, moving towards the wreck. Your welcome party, but are they friend or foe? N O T E S Anything remaining within a mile radius of the ship when it jumps will be irreperably damaged. Soft organics will be pulverised, while all trees and plants will initially appear fine but crumble to pieces within a day (or sooner if disturbed). Non-organic material will also be weakened, bending or falling apart when touched. Newly arriving characters venturing through the medbay will discover their inventory items somewhere in the heavily damaged locker banks. They will also be able to find jumpsuits and other standard clothing in the wreckage. The alarms will cut after two hours, a which point a looping audio message telling passengers to make their way to the blue lifts will be audible. The lifts, if investigated, will be missing, leaving only empty elevator shafts. The wreck will show increased signs of instability for a few days after the jump, and will have seemed to have sunk further into the rock of the cliff than it was before. As mentioned, items as described above will also rain down on camp and all areas beyond it. Feel free to find these in sporadic quantity. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us via PM, the FAQ or Questions pages!

Comments

[suddenlycaptain]

[ A month, also, since Carolyn has climbed out. A month of not knowing his fate, of Wash saying "most of the others" disappeared when she did but not really knowing what that means. A month of being too angry at herself for caring as much to ask.

A month and another jump, like clockwork. As if it would stop, even here.

A month and she sees a familiar canine-like shape, alien here and alien to everyone else, and the dark form of a man. And she knows it's him, knows he didn't just come this jump, and Carolyn Fry is caught between anger and relief so bright it's almost crippling. ]

Hey!

[ She shouts, but her faith in him turning to acknowledge it, in even knowing it's directed at him, is limited. So instead she whistles, sharp and piercing, hoping the jackal will come to her.

Even if Riddick doesn't follow, she can maybe attach a message. She can see what sort of shape it's in and judge Riddick's condition accordingly.

And in truth, she may have missed having something warm and furry to pet behind the ears. ]

[20mentholkools]

[The shout goes unnoticed, just one more voice in the low hubbub that comes from the camp. The whistle, though, catches attention - the jackal's ears pricking, head turning straight towards the source of the sound. There's the tensing of muscles, all the signs of an animal about to bounce forward into a run, but Riddick's voice rolls low and firm.]

Hold.

[A month keeping the jackal from investigating any group of people hunting in the trees, bounding into the camp whenever they stray close, the command leashes it, held back but pushing forward as if it might break loose at any moment.

If it had any memory of how it died, Riddick might have more to work with.

Attention caught, Riddick's unlikely to get him back into the trees quietly. It grates, tension which tightens a little at the edges of his frame. But he turns to face her over the distance between them. Carolyn Fry, who he'd known was here, but who could do well enough without him. Better, without him, the same as he's always told her.

He waits.]

[suddenlycaptain]

[ It almost works, works enough that Riddick stops and the jackal practically vibrates with pent-up energy. Carolyn lets herself be satisfied with that. He could have left without the creature, could have vanished into the trees and assumed it would find him later.

He's waiting. He's probably not happy about it, but Riddick has always had his fucked up sense of things.

And if she jogs toward him more than walks, well. It's just efficient, that's all, increased gravity or not. She slows when she's closer, not wanting the jackal to decide that she's not friendly after all; her palms splay, open and low, ready for it to come and sniff if it wants. No weapons, not a threat in any way the canine can understand. ]

Riddick.

[ So much, in one word. History hangs between them like a shroud and there's so much of it that she doesn't know where to begin.

The basics first, then. ]

Were you on the ship when it crashed?

[20mentholkools]

No.

[He says simply. He wasn't in the ship. She wasn't, either - he'd seen her making her way up from the wreck, at the start. Seen her around the camp, the few times he's come close enough to watch. He tips his head slightly, looking at her, the bright sunlight sliding over the surface of his googles.]

But you already knew that.

[Because she would have asked, and Riddick, no matter how much he'd kept to himself on the ship, caught attention. It wasn't like here. Here, he could stay away for good.]

[suddenlycaptain]

Thought so.

[ But she doesn't know all of these people and they don't all know her. When she had first arrived, none had known Riddick's name and he had been there for months. They could have been wrong.

Still. She had wanted to know for sure. Now she does.

(He could be lying to her, she supposes. But she doesn't think so.) ]

And this isn't your first jump on this planet.

[ Which means he's been here. Avoiding her. He doesn't owe her anything, but-

Carolyn sets her jaw. ]

[20mentholkools]

[The jackal gives a low whine, still stood at Riddick's side, looking between them. Riddick doesn't look at it. He doesn't look anywhere but at Carolyn, the tightening of her expression, sharpness of it settling into her frame in a way most others might not be able to perceive. But he knows it.]

Why don't you get to the point, Carolyn.

[That he's been here. That she hasn't seen him because he hadn't wanted her to. That it was only a slip, chance, that she'd caught him out here.]

[suddenlycaptain]

[ The point. Fingers flex at her sides; she's unarmed, save for the curved claws at her belt, but they both know Riddick could easily finish her in a fight. That isn't why she's here anyway, at least not to physically fight.

It seems like a verbal one might just be unavoidable. ]

The point. Okay.

[ She licks her lips and takes a deep breath, and while she doesn't lunge at him, she clearly wants to -- wants to grab him by the shirt and shake him. ]

What the fuck is your problem?

[20mentholkools]

[The jackal's whining cuts off. It's eyes flicking from one to the other, it looks unsure whether to continue, plaintive, or if something more aggressive is required. Riddick, meanwhile, just smiles.]

Problem.

[His smile is not a nice expression, just as his amusement never has been. Dark and sharp, like a blade catching the light, but not turned to cutting. Not yet.]

You've forgotten who you're talking to.

[He's a walking problem. An outsider, an unknown, a criminal and an animal and a threat. He'd had that reminder, had it all the clearer for waking up in the ship again, here, the wild of the world around them. It was time Carolyn had it, too.]

[suddenlycaptain]

I know exactly who I'm talking to.

[ She's aware of the jackal but does nothing, for now; she'll soothe it as much as she can if it comes to that, but right now she's too upset, too angry, to make it very genuine. ]

You've forgotten that I don't buy into all your bullshit.

[ She died for him. There's no point in her buying into it. ]