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[clockworkrepeat.livejournal.com]

It has been some time since she first entered the pod caverns. She's lost track of it-- it's hard to tell time in this ship to begin with, and so without any sort of measure here it's especially hard.

Homura can't make out the faces of anyone inside. Just a vague silhouette. She knows she's trying to do something nearly impossible. She could look through these pods her entire life and never find Madoka, but she still looks. She said it herself to the others, didn't she? Giving up is the same as dying. Homura judges from the particulars of these people's bodies, their wrists, their ankles. Their hair. She searches for a glimpse of pink in a sea of green and finds nothing; that's alright, she'll keep looking.

On and on her trek goes, up and down the spiralling walkways and stairs. Pausing at every single pod that holds a glimmer of hope, a human figure of a young girl. Illuminating the insides with the light of her soul gem, she can never get their faces to show. What she can see of their bodies usually shows something Madoka doesn't have. A faint scar, a distinct freckle or mole.

She's started from the bottom and is moving her way gradually up. It's easily been a day since she started looking. She's hungry and she's thirsty and she's tired, so tired. It's nearly too much. But she knows if she moves from this spot to get food or water or sleep she'll lose her place, and she'll have to start all over again. There's no food or water here, but she can at least get some rest.

Exhausted and frustrated, Homura transforms her soul gem back into its compact ring form and sits down. Leaning gently against a pod and feeling the swell of Stacy's breathing, she tries to get some sleep.

Comments

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"You know, rooms with the best views or the better layouts." He laughed and shook his head. "It sounds nice-- anything's gotta be better than those generic rooms. I mean, the beds aren't completely uncomfortable, but it's still lacking in that home sweet home department."

The talk of trees certainly caught his attention, though. "Cherry blossoms? Real ones?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Hmm. Then I'd say there were still some cool rooms left. I lived in Crew Quarters for a while, but I found it uncomfortably... organic."

He nodded. "They bloomed a while back; I'm not sure if that means it's spring, somehow, or if the schedule in the City just confuses them. I didn't know you were a fan of them."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

He snickered. "Most places here are uncomfortably organic."

And then it was time for Jr. to show some of his Earth-time dork colors. "They're pretty! Used to be pretty rare, too, where I'm from, since they originate from Lost Jerusalem. There's plantlife like them on other planets out there, but there are some places where you can find pretty authentic ones."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about it. Apparently in order to fix anything, you have to crawl through Engineering goo."

He smiled. "I like them a lot, too... there were some places where you could go see them on Earth, at least. I guess people kept them around for the nostalgia value. So did people engineer trees to look like them once they'd left Lost Jerusalem?"

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"Goo? Like, literal goo?"

Jr. nodded along with him fondly. "We've got originals in places! When everyone left the planet, they made sure to take a lot of things with them... of course in cases of trees and nature, you'd think they'd flourish more without us there."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Definitely literal goo. It's not too surprising, considering what this ship is made of, is it?"

Zouichi's expression turned a little wry. "Civilization does tend to shunt nature to the side, doesn't it? I guess that's what they call progress. Still, it's nice that they thought to preserve what they could. Maybe they wanted to be reminded of home."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

He put in an exaggerated grossed-out look. "Man, I'm glad Engineering isn't my strongest point, now."

It was funny, how important Lost Jerusalem and returning to it was to the whole of humanity now. "Sometimes too much. When you're in fear of losing something, you realize how much you really wanna preserve it, I guess."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"I think I'll stick to maintaining vehicles myself."

"And, well. I guess it's also possible to never truly realize the value of something until you're about to lose it. But I'm glad they saved what they could."