The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a green-skinned alien and snake girl among their number. There are also several authoritative-looking figures ready to introduce themselves.

There's a lot to tell the new people. It's going to be a lot to take in.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies.]

Some cheer was definitely needed on this ship. Whatever chance meeting had brought Kaylee and Claudia together in mechanical mischief had also set their minds to turning over what they could possibly do to get some smiles back on the faces of those onboard.

A costume party.

Claudia had come up with the idea, really. She knew a bit more about it than Kaylee did, but she explained it all in such a way that Kaylee really couldn’t resist wanting to throw one. It’d be a good chance for everyone to let loose and have a good time in the midst of the nightmare madness. Who could resist that?

The sensorium had been melded to an image from Kaylee’s mind, though. A grand ballroom, with marble floors and painted ceiling. A large buffet table stood against one of the walls, covered mostly in fruit, but in some other hors d’oeuvres as well.

[[ OoC: Party style!! Costumes aren't a requirement, but they are fun. If you've got questions about anything, ask Cheryle or Holly. :D ]]

As per the Chief's message, it was training time. Everyone who signed up for training (or was signed up by someone else) was ordered to an open square in the City.

Yes, the City, instead of the sensoriums. That meant that any weapons used would be real. And every bit of damage that they dealt would be real. As would the injuries. Though there didn't seem to be any weapons around, and there were no targets set up.

Interesting, that.

Anyway, in the square was the Chief of Security, who was busy marking off names of people who arrived early or on time. Anyone who figured that they could skip out, though, there is now an unhappy seven foot fully armed and armored Spartan hunting you down.

((ooc: READ THIS BEFORE TAGGING. EDIT: But the first subthread "Early/on time arrivals" is now open for tagging. Training has now begun!))

Rein had found her way to Engineering after the invite there. Possible lunatic scientists be darned, she was prepared for anything.

Floating into the room, she looked up at the area. Machines were strewn everywhere and she felt almost at home, remembering Shari's lab had a similar look and feel to it. It was very lived in.

"Hello?" called out Rein, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Helllooooo desu~! I'm here to look around and find that machine I need!"

And there she waited, floating in place and hoping someone nearby would answer her.

It is that time again, meatship.

Once again, the King of Nightmares has deigned to spread his touch to all of your dreams.

This time, however, he has decided to give them a much more personal touch, sending his very own children to visit each and every one of you, slowly sowing the seeds of madness within all of you.

Such a kind and loving king he is, isn't he?

[ooc: Alright folks, Nightmare King is ramping things up a bit. These nightmares are a good bit more dangerous now, and he's sending in his minions to make things a little more real. The nightmares will be of a much more serious nature this time, designed to start driving the crew slowly insane. Characters are more likely to run into nightmare minions in the guise of someone or something that will tug at the edges of their sanity. Also, this time, the characters can have joint dreams, as these nightmares are of a more mystical nature this time. Once again, tagging in isn't mandatory, but if you want to, go crazy (literally)!]

[Additional Note: Any injuries won't be carrying over to real life at this point in the plot but don't worry, we'll get there eventually!]

Blink. Blink. Blinkity-blink.

Why are there three blue lights blinking from a small corner of Obs Deck? The blond kid in the simple blue polo and khaki pants might have an answer for you.

He's surrounded by small blue boxes and various inventions on the table and chairs around him, and if not for the fact that he's fiddling away on yet another invention and acting as if nothing's wrong, he would look just like an ex who'd been thrown out of his former significant other's house.

In between tasks, he lowers the tools and gazes around the deck, almost as if he's looking for something (or someoone) else. Hey, maybe he and his big mess ended up out here for a reason.

Wedge had found himself a rather solid office building and busily converted it into an impromptu headquarters for the erstwhile Rogue Squadron he was building. A few private offices for himself, Luke, Admiral Spaurh and Wyn. A large meeting room for briefings, meetings and other important events, and even what seemed to be a break room where pilots and others could meet and simply relax. He'd have to see if he could get more furniture than the office stuff, considering it wasn't very comfortable. As it was, he'd posted his request and was waiting for his new squadron to arrive. Hopefully this would go smoothly.

But knowing his luck, things never went quite as well as he hoped, so he was planning for the worst. Besides, most of the potential pilots seemed solid. He'd already begun working out a training schedule. Now all he needed was the personnel...

The new people will find themselves ushered out of Obs Deck, so it can be shot down to the planet again, to pick the crew up. Eventually, the crew members on the mission are brought back up, and the doors open to let the two groups meet.

The newbies are likely not expecting their new crew-mates to come back bearing presents--which some of them are.

[ooc: This time anyone can post in. REMEMBER TO TAG OTHER PEOPLE, THO. This is set after the mission so mission peoples can meet the newbies. Latecomer newbies, if you want, you can just tag your guys into this one to make things easier.]

Wedge had been shocked, to say the least, to find out that one, his universe was probably gone, and two, that he had been conscripted into the war against those responsible. He had taken some time to think it over, and now that he'd managed to accept what was going on and fight down the rage and despair that Wes, Tycho, Iella...all his friends might be gone, he'd moved onto the next very important issue. Finding his ship and his astromech. R5-G8 (or Gate as Wedge called him) had been pretty easy to find, stored with several other droids in the clutter of the possessions bay. Then it was time for the fighter. He had made his way to the vehicle bay and been a little surprised by the low gravity. He left Gate out in the corridor, then pushed off into the bay himself. He drifted amongst the amazing variety of starfighters, shuttles, and even spotted what looked like a small frigate. It had been quite the relief when he'd found his X-wing, along with what seemed to be twenty-three matching craft in the shadow of a larger ship. He ran his hands across the hull, amazed. It was his fighter, alright. Right down to the kill markers and the Rogue Squadron markings. He had to smile, despite himself.

"At least there's something familiar here..." He sighed.

There is a whole world out there to spread holiday joy to. A world of flying cars, and massive towering skyscrapers, of quiet, cold deserts, of snow-covered cities. Everyone in it is either holed up in their homes, hooked into the Links, the network run by Macrohard, abstaining from human contact, or they're poor and destitute, in the streets, and in parts of the world that are ailing right now.

Some of them are due to stop in on specific parts of the world during their journeys. Others are just going to be show generosity to anyone they meet. Every angle has to be covered, every holiday that celebrates generosity and unity, to help stoke the fires and revive the Holiday Spirit.

Pick a place, Meatcrew. Grab some crewmates to help. Make some noise and entice people to leave their VR sets and come outside with their fellow man.

With the magical sacks, containing last of the Spirit's power, they can give anything that's wanted OR needed to the people of this world, and with the enchanted flying cars, they can get anywhere in the world to do it, in no time.

[ooc: Special holiday groups, tag your assigned subthreads (and keeping them in one thread would likely be best, since those groups are small). Whoever feels creative can pick an exact location and set up details--we wanted to give you some freedom to have your characters find where to go. Anyone else, doing Christmas or general gift-giving, tag and make new subthreads for each situation of gift-giving. These can stand alone as vignettes, but we encourage everyone to thread-hop and tag in to random threads. Don't worry about the organization of groups, they'll probably be switching groups all over the place throughout the night.]

The plantsuits and space age clothing are so warm they almost forget they're in an environment that's negative seventy degrees Fahrenheit, (-21 degrees C). This would likely explain the snowball fight right in the middle of the mission. The mission that they've all forgotten. Remember the mission, guys? The mission to revive the Spirit of Giving? That mission?

They have to revive the Spirit of Giving hidden away in its own pocket dimension, accessible only by a portal they probably can't find. Where could this portal be? It could be anywhere! It could be under the ice, under the sea, at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.

The portal could be... suddenly wavering in the sky above them, like the aurora. Yes, there it is up in the sky, pushing the clouds out of the way to expose the sky overhead, caught in its three-month night, the stars sparkling in the frigid air. The sweeping colors probably remind them of the view from Obs Deck, and as it descends down from the sky closer to the snow, it bathes them all in a curtain of flickering pinks, greens, and blues. The edges of it burn white and then the portal opens up to a white space, that they can't see into. There is the delicate sound of bells coming from somewhere.

Their snowball fight did this.

The spirit thrived on joy, after all. What else would be the key to its home?

Well, what are you waiting for, folks? Dive in.

[ooc: tag away.]

There is a resounding mental alarum that sounds through the ship. Nearly "deafening." Lights flash from places for extra emphasis, making it impossible to ignore.

||Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention, all personnel...||

It's entirely likely that she won't stop repeating the announcement until, well, everyone reports to Obs Deck. Outside the windows, a very Earth-like planet is visible, hanging in space. The mouth in the huge statue opens, revealing a screen. On it, the dossier for the mission flickers into display, understandable to every person there. Smaller copies of the dossier appear in holographic form in front of everyone.

The planet's stats, right next to a rotating holographic picture of it, marbled blue and green, are as follows:

Planet Designation: Earth-78734XM45
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Homo Sapiens. [Various translations of "human" appear here so everyone understands it]
Water: 69.5% of the planet's surface.

Climate: Earth-like, in the throes of a mild nuclear winter [Click here for cultural equivalents for non-Earth cultures.]
Landscape: Varied.
Air: Normoxic concentration. Slightly elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

Air Pressure: 101.3 kPa (kilopascals) = 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue. Often overcast.
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star.

Warnings: Wildlife and plant-life can be hazardous. Humans can be hazardous. A human cultural and legal database is available. [click here]

Mission: Revive the spiritual entity at the North Pole.

--

Following that, there are various maps and things visible. The version of Earth this world is may be very recognizable to some, but vast cities dot its surface.

||Attention, podmates. Attention.||

Apparently Stacy wants their attention.

||It is critical that you pay attention at this time.||

A few people will be able to avoid the call by being in the right place at the right time, but most will be gathered up on Obs Deck.

[ooc: Organization Post | You can post into the gathering thread. I'll add more subthreads with explanations of aspects of the mission as we go. Note: If you don't have time to post to this mission briefing but still want to have your character in the plot, that's fine. You can just pretend they were there the whole time. If you DON'T want your characters to be in this plot altogether, however, don't have them in the briefing--Stacy could have missed snagging them.]

Adam stood a bit nervously on the stage that the Sensorium provided. He knew the audience was all fake. Well, except for Billy in the corner. But it was still nerve wracking to play in a concert where all eyes, fake or otherwise, were on him.

He gave a tentative smile to Billy and immediately started to strum the guitar in a fast tempo. The bass and drums were provided by the Sensorium quickly after, seemingly knowing how the song will go regardless.

Adam opened his mouth and sang.

[OOC: I'll be posting Youtube links throughout the post as people start tagging and all. Each song are by Eyeshine. For those who don't know, Adam Park's actor is the lead singer of Eyeshine so all these songs will be in Adam's voice regardless :3]

This was it, the day that Instructors Callahan and Cranston had been anticipating (and perhaps, on Mr. Cranston's part, dreading). This afternoon, in a Sensorium-created laboratory, their students would be learning laboratory safety protocol and putting it into practice.

As students enter and receive greetings from Billy, they'll notice the main features of the laboratory if they choose to look around. A desk sits in the front of the room with boxes of supplies piled on it. In the middle sits a mysterious boiling pot. One one side of the room sits an eye wash station that shouldn't be needed today. Long work tables stretch from the front of the room to the rear, surrounded by simple stools, and a white cabinet sits to the side of the room, opened to reveal hair ties, gloves, and goggles.

Behind the desk sits a chalkboard, where Billy has written a list of paired names. Feel free to react in dismay or horror at your lab partners, students, but your instructors won't be budging. They have their reasons. When everyone arrives and is seated, they'll begin.

After processing all this, there might be another question on their minds---where's Wyn disappeared to? Students unfortunate enough to fail to arrive on time will soon find out...

((And the nightmare begins! Start tagging in the first few subthreads, team. If you're not already on the lab partner list but would still like to participate, feel free to contact Kuroi or Zoki on AIM or comment to this post, and we'll set you up. Have fun!))

Nate had gotten his armor back from Stacy. The initial elation had slowly given way to a very businesslike examination of the suit's use however, following a troubleshooting session in the City. It seemed that Stacy had locked down the suit's time travel capabilities. So that meant he wouldn't be going anywhere, and he wouldn't be pulling weapons out of the time stream either. A few of the deadlier weapons in the suit itself had been disabled. But he'd be able to get those back up and running.

The thing that he had most wanted to know however, was whether the Vision programming was present. Running through his checklists and looking through the programming ands source codes of the armor's minimal AI system, he was soon satisfied that his suit wouldn't be walking around on it's own anytime soon. Good. One less headache for him. Something he was thankful for, what with the way his head had been pounding recently. That being said he didn't want to be walking around in that suit at the moment. At least, not while it was looking like that.

So it was that he ended up in the Special Weapons area, various tools littering the table next to the larger one that he'd laid the suit out on. First things first, he'd need to get rid of that helmet. He didn't want his face hidden, not anymore at least. So he worked for an hour or so at pulling the components from the helmet and incorporating them into the suit. Of course, for the HUD he'd need to find an alternate method. Perhaps he could rig up a retinal projector keyed to his DNA? Well, time enough for that later.

The sound of clinking and fiddling could be heard for a long time. His eyes began to grow tired as he kept working. How many hours had it been? Didn't matter, he had his suit. He needed to finish. Now that fusion cell connected to that power cable. And that ion regulator into that outlet. Yes it was going fine. Picking up another fusion cell, he grabbed his screwdriver and began to unscrew the cap. Hopefully the gel hadn't congealed after disuse, or else it might--

BOOM

The cell exploded in a great spray of coolant gel and metal parts. One sliver of metal ran a cut along his cheek, and he was glad he'd had the foresight to put goggles on, as others pinged off the protective eyewear. Setting down his screwdriver, he pulled the goggles off, a bemused expression crossing his face as he lifted a hand to wipe the gel off it. His hair stuck out at odd angles from the release of static the exploding fusion cell had caused, and he sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

Maybe that was enough for one night.

Something...odd is happening on the ship. Plant-like protrusions are occasionally sprouting in places throughout the ship.

They look like mistletoe, but this is purely coincidental. It's not like it's the holidays on the ship, right? It might be for some people, back home (if they still had a home), but others were grabbed from different times. No, it's just coincidence that these little devices look vaguely like mistletoe, and coincidence what they're being used for.

For you see, when this "mistletoe" is overhead, a crew member will be trapped in an invisible forcefield, and won't be able to escape until someone has kissed them or otherwise showed them some equivalent of affection. (Cheek kisses and sloppy puppy kisses from the canine crew members count). The "mistletoe" spring itself is shielded itself and can't be destroyed, the only way out is a kiss.

Why is this all happening? GLaDoS is performing whacky behavioral experiments, that's why. Each time, it happens, she intones messages like the following.

"Please express affection for your fellow crewmate to free them."

"This is of the utmost importance, and part of ongoing Crew Coherency and Cooperation Studies."

"Please do not attempt to leave the vicinity until you have participated."

"Participation is required. Why wouldn't you want to participate?"

"The Transmigration9 AI Complex thanks you for your participation in important research. Unless you don't want to participate, but not participating would make me disappointed. I suppose you just want to disappoint me."

And of course, sometimes she even outright lies.

"There will be cake."

Picard was standing on the bridge of the Enterprise E. Everyone entering found their clothes shifting into Starfleet uniforms as they entered, including the observers. The captain liked it that way. He thought it was appropriate. For his part, he had only three shining pips on his neck, and when Worf entered, the Klingon would find four pips on his own collar.

"Welcome to the bridge, Captain. Why don't you sit down?"

Many things have been on the minds of the crew lately, and many things have happened.

There is, however, one happening which might go completely unnoticed by all but the most astute members of the crew.

Lately, all across the ship, in different rooms at different times, there is a strange feeling of unnaturalness. It happens slowly, so slowly one could hardly notice the change until it was entirely there.

The air, normally temperate and vaguely humid, begins to become chilled and dry.

The faint sounds of voices can be heard, whispering as if conspiring together, just far off enough to be unintelligible.

The shapes of objects in the area seem to subtly change, forming almost impossible angles if one watches long enough.

The last, and perhaps most noticeable to some, is the feeling of being observed. Not in the same way Stacy watches over the crew, but rather as if something is looking directly into you, straight into your soul.

Eventually, these feelings will fade, moving on to some other part of the ship.

However, they do seem to last long enough for one to attempt to investigate, should someone manage to work up the will to remain in the area long enough.

Kelly had been trying to keep as busy as possible in the days following the big reveal. She knew that she would have to sit and consider what it meant for her at some point, but not yet. She'd cleaned her armor, taking hours to get the olive drab metal to shine again. She'd modified her combat knives, installing High Frequency sonic generators to vibrate the blades and enhance their cutting power.

She's helped as much as she could with cleanup. But she was unavoidably running out of things to do. So when she'd woken up today, she'd decided to go for a run. It was the best way to keep her mind off things. Whenever she ran, it felt like everything fell away. There was no need to think, no need to worry, nothing to worry about. It was just the pounding of her feet on the ground in her ears, the steady rhythm of her heart. It was like a world of her own. A world where things weren't complicated.

So she started to run. Just slowly at first, but as her muscles warmed, she picked up the pace. Soon she was practically flying along the corridors, legs pumping as she loped along, lost in the rhythm of the run. She loved this feeling. It was almost intoxicating.

For anyone else? They had better stay out of the way, if she hit them at this speed? Well...that wouldn't be fun. For them.

 Between nearly killing himself trying to help people and his talk with Nathan, Peter was exhausted. Even with his upbeat demeanor, it was hard to not say he felt stressed. His flight-breaks no longer helping, he decided he needed to take a few hours. He found himself at the sensoriums, a place he had heard talked about like the holodeck from Star Trek. As he walked in, it was a blank room. He closed his eyes and thought to himself. 

I just need a way to relax.

He suddenly heard music, and opened his eyes to what appeared to be a high class nightclub, but filled with the strangest creatures he had ever seen, even since arriving on the ship. Behind the bar, a green-skinned redhead with horns, more conspicuous for his paisley shirt and purple ascot, was trying to get his attention.  

"Hey, kiddo, didn't you hear them call your name?" The demon said, smiling. "You're up, bubbulah. Don't worry, I picked a good song for you." Peter eyed him warily. Wherever this place had come from, it was not his head. But decided not to question it, and went to stand in front of a karaoke machine on stage. He picked up the mike and saw the song, and smiled. He loved this song. EVERYONE loved this song. Luckily, a few years in boy's choir had given him a sense of tune, and puberty had left him with a decent tenor. So, he began to sing. 

o/` I can't fight this feeling any longer,
      And yet I'm still afraid to let it flow... o/` 

That was all it took. As if suddenly injected with 100 ccs of pure rock ballad awesome, Peter closed his eyes and began letting the music take him, eventually rocking out. He had forgotten what it was like, honestly. Forgotten the fun of just letting go and having fun. And as he finished up the REO Speedwagon classic, breathing heavily and feeling alive, he wished he hadn't. 

But then he opened his eyes to notice more than just his holographic audience had filtered into the "club". 

"Uh... Next?" He said as he hastily replaced the mike and went to get a holo-beer. 

That was embarrassing.  He could only hope someone would follow him up and make it slightly less so.

[ooc: Start a subthread with your character approaching the stage and singing a song. Characters can react to other's performances even if they aren't singing themselves. And any song you'd like, Lorne has the entire mutliverse on karaoke. I'm not asking, and neither should you.]