ARRIVAL ▒ 003

[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 ) Dawn is just shy of breaking when the alarms start. The wailing is distant enough that many manage to sleep through it, but inevitably wake up to the long, piercing siren coming from the crashed, early morning shape of the Tranquility. The coming jump puts a feeling of nervous energy about the camp, but it's becoming a routine, and they know there are long hours until the jump sounds. People clear the surrounding area of effect, and otherwise go about their day. 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. Everything turns white. 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 is the site of a camp. But there is no welcome party coming to greet you. Perhaps you are alone, or you encounter someone in the same situation, but regardless, you must make it down and away from the ship without the aid of anyone who knows what's going on. Should you choose to head for the camp, it's dead quiet. The men and women who have made this place their home are scattered around, in the midst of having gone about their day, but all of them are in a state of frozen catatonia. Entirely unresponsive to any kind of stimulus, they are as still and as unseeing as statues. Within two hours since you woke in the wreck of the ship, they suddenly and simultaneously begin to stir, regaining consciousness to a prompt nose bleed and the unsettling affect of lost time. N O T E S Anything remaining within a mile radius of the ship when it jumps will be irreparably 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 scattered beyond the ship. Feel free to find all of your inventory items, or lose as many as you like, as they will be randomly distributed around the jump radius. They will also be able to find jumpsuits and other standard clothing in the wreckage of medical. 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 described, all current characters will simultaneously enter a state of strange catatonia when the ship jumps, essentially freezing in place. They will see only blank whiteness, and be unable to recall how long they spent in this state. Upon regaining full consciousness two hours later, they will be left with a headache and a nosebleed. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us via PM, the FAQ or Questions pages!

Comments

[mead]

[ She smiles at him — it's weak, but genuine, and once she's fairly sure she's steady she steps away from him. ] I'm fine, I promise. It's just this massive headache and—

[ She feels something running from her nose, and Diana lifts her fingers to it, scowling at the sight of blood on her fingers (and presumably her face; Faye would be giving her so much crap right now, it's not even funny). ] A bloody nose, apparently. Crap.

[ She starts looking around again, this time for something she can use to wipe off her nose. ]

[fulminants]

[ Oh, shi -- Johnny's eyes widen when he realizes she's bleeding, from the nose; he's absolutely positive he hadn't actually knocked into her hard enough for her to be bleeding, right? ]

Oh, man, hey. C'mon, take a seat. [ He's ushering her to a stump she can sit on, in case she's feeling woozy or anything. Johnny's looking around for anything to wipe off the blood, coming up only with the jumpsuit he'd simply refused to wear. It's mostly clean, so that's good, right?

He holds it out to her. ] Here, use this for a bit -- I'm not wearing it, anyway. Are you okay? Does anything hurt?

[mead]

[ To say she looks mortified is an understatement. Diana's glad Faye's not here right now — she'd never hear the end of it. As it is, the fact she's about ready to pass out on one of the hottest people she's ever seen is embarrassing enough. She goes when he ushers her, sitting down a little hard on the stump but otherwise alright. Mostly. She takes his jumpsuit with a grateful smile and holds it up to her nose, shaking her head. Her voice is a little nasal, what with the fabric pushed up to her face. ]

Just the headache I've had. Thank you, I'm so sorry. You're new, right? This is not how things normally are around here.

[ Pause. ] Well, I think, anyway. I just got here last month.

I'M SORRY THIS IS SO LATE BEE

[fulminants]

Yeah, pretty new. Obvious, huh?

[ He lets her have it, studying her with a concerned frown. It's really not the time to be putting the flirt on (at least not yet), and he's fully capable of being a decent human being when he puts his mind to it. When it doesn't look like she's going to keel over anytime soon, he decides to lay off the mother hen routine, curiosity piqued. ]

So, where'd you come from? New York?