Thirteen.

That's how many witches - including the one Mami had finished off moments ago - had been released since they started showing up on-board. Mami honestly wasn't sure how many people knew about this potential threat, and really... she didn't care. This was a problem for the puella magi, not anyone else. It was their duty to find and destroy these witches, and that didn't change just because the territory changed.

She leaned back against the nearby wall, slowly sliding down it until she was sitting. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep going like this. She was exhausted, physically and mentally; she was running on maybe three hours of sleep a night, four if she was lucky. She was still helping Homura with her idiotic, futile search for the pod Madoka slept in, and the stress from that "Visitation Day" still hasn't gone away.

And there was the thought that had been nagging at the back of her head ever since her group had gotten together after the Lirath mission. There really was no way to tell just how many witches were left. A thousand? A hundred? Ten? For all Mami knew, the one she had just defeated could have been the last one. There was no way the ship could predict how many witches would be needed to keep them healthy and still-human until they restored their worlds. Mami's own Soul Gem had been draining at an alarming rate, something that honestly scared her - partially because she didn't know why.

She stays hunched over and sitting in that hallway for a while longer - still clad in her puella magi outfit - with the grief seed she won from the defeated witch in one hand and her dim Soul Gem in another. She can't bring herself to cleanse it; if that was the last witch (or really, even if it wasn't!), what was the point? She's only prolonging a fate she has no way of escaping.

[OOC: Edited for trigger warning for possible mentions of suicide.]

Let it never be said that Stacy was not benevolent toward her crew. Truth was, she loved them, to the point of risking her own life. And thus, she'd been busy for quite some time... silently she had worked, trying to get into her own archives and cross-checking references. She was going to help boost morale and give them a gift - show them people they cared about, wake them up for a single day as proof that, yes, they were there, close by. She was going to give them a day to awaken, to see their loved ones again and to go back, knowing that their time would come one day or another...

It sounded so beautiful and poetic on theory. In reality, it could become a true disaster. Spent of most of the energies doing this task, in complete secrecy to keep it as a surprise, Stacy's never-ending work was only stopped by its own Warden program, which pulled the plug on the ship's search to find everyone at least someone they cared about. That, unfortunately, left her not only spent of energy which was dangerous in itself - but it also meant that some of the crew would be deprived of seeing their close ones, no doubt leaving some of them bitter.

The road to hell has always been paved by good intentions.

Stacy's voice was decidedly more cheerful than normal as she spoke to the entire ship.

|| Transmigration Nine crew, please report to the Observation Deck. I have a gift for you. ||

She repeated the request, and waited.

Once most of the crew had made their way there, she continued.

||I have been working on a...|| she couldn't quite find the proper word and settled on the next one, || present for you. While many of your records are locked to even me, I have worked to find the pods which contain people close to you. I...apologize if some of you may end up with no one, it is not my fault I...|| suddenly Stacy's voice seemed a little less cheerful, ||The Warden stopped me before I could finish everything completely. Please do not feel like I targeted you specifically, I really did my best to get as many of your friends and companions awake as possible for today.||

Now was the hardest part to explain.

||And that is, unfortunately, all that can be given to you. Because their avia are not yet ready to be properly awakened, they'll be here for a single day. Please make the most of it, so you can feel better and continue our mission with renewed vigor . I hope that meeting those that care about you will give you a boost of energy that you all need.|| Spoken like a mother who put her children before herself. ||But if you can...look at it this way, it means that they are here, and one day I will proudly awaken them properly when they are ready.||

Her voice was becoming strange as she went on. Not static-like, but raspy, like someone who was running out of breath.

||And I am afraid that I must go offline for a few hours due to the strain this is putting on...me...|| It sounded really painful for her to speak, completely spent and only going because she wanted to at least give them a proper last word. ||I...hope...you...will...be...happy...a...lit--||

For the first time in a long while, Stacy was completely silent.

[OOC: GO FOR IT.]

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.

The battle is over.

There is happiness and weariness and sadness. Their banners of victory are flown, and the Ohm retreat.

Homura cares little for all of those things; before they even return to the ship, her thoughts are with Madoka. And after throwing off the others, she strides through the many paths of the ship. Searching and searching. But Madoka cannot be found. The ship is huge, so she can't possibly search every nook and cranny. So she takes a brief look through everything but the city; and when Madoka is not found, she carefully combs through it again. And again.

And eventually, she finds her way back to the Obs Deck. She sits on a couch and breathes, trying to keep her composure.

Where could she be?

[ Closed to Sayaka and Mami! Bendytimed to just after they get back from Lirath. ]

 After dropping off some of the crew at Balisair, it was time for the crew to set course for Lirath. The situation greeting them wasn't the most promising.

The cracked surface of the moon called Lirath was one of its most unmistakeable features. One of the three moons of the planet Kehoe, it had been terraformed and served as a settlement for a hundreds of different species, some humanoid, some not. Despite occasional class struggles, environmental issues, and speciesism blocking their way, the darker parts of Lirath's past were largely left behind, and an era of peace and tolerance had reigned for quite some time. The only problems they'd had recently were with a terrorist group whose cause for their actions had been a mystery, but they weren't tied to any particular species or social group and had been likened to a cult and had largely gone quiet in recent years.

Now the peace on the moon of Lirath had been shattered by the invasion of the Ohm.

The capital city had been destroyed. Now, all that was left of the peoples of Lirath was evacuating from one of its smaller cities, one known as Smyteval. A desert city, existing in a valley in between a rocky range of canyons and mountains, even though it was in the low ground, the natural channels of rock served as bottlenecks for any Ohm attacking from the ground.

GIA squadrons patrolled in space, locked in explosive warfare, protecting the Bleed-gate that had been activated to see the evacuated ships to the refugee world, and a shield created by massively-powerful shield generators extended around the city and up into the atmosphere, creating a shielded tunnel so ships could escape.

Word had come that there was a vital weapon to be deployed on Lirath, one that needed to be destroyed, hence why the Transmigration 9 had been called in. Given the diverse crew, and the ships that were in its hangar, there was at least someone or something on board that could blow the weapon up if it did show.

There was no sign of it yet. Right now, there was just chaos, streams of evacuees boarding ships, armies of Ohm engaged with GIA soldiers outside the shields, and forcefields that everyone hoped would hold out just a little bit longer.

The crew would be following Leon's orders but finding themselves fighting side-by-side with GIA platoons, full of various species that were currently all getting their asses kicked severely.

[ooc: STAGE 1 is now open! Please do not tage STAGE 2 until it's announced as open as well.]

[ooc: STAGE 2 is now open!]

It had been a while since Hoshi first discovered the beystadium here on Stacy and she knew it had to be cleaned out of all the things strewn about inside. She did want to get it at least working the way it was supposed to be so that she could begin the beyblading lessons she continually talked about since she first woke up here.

And, so, she had her hair tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes, as well as dressed in her usual white t-shirt and black shorts that she used for training. There was already a small pile of garbage outside the stadium, mostly items she deemed to be useless for the stadium itself, but it could always benefit the crew in some way, but there were trash bags from the teams' locker rooms in with the other items.

She wondered what else she could potentially find in here, since the possibilities were endless!

( OOC: Here's what the various rooms look like in the stadium:

Main Area/Stadium, hallway with a lavatory, television screen announcing which teams are up (currently turned off), the entrance, another hallway. Just ignore emo!Takao and entrance where the teams would come in.

Hoshi will also be working on repairing a few things here and there with the arena itself so that there's more electricity around than there is at the current moment. )

Down on the city level, right by the Kohaku River and near the imposing castle, a modern-looking white building welcomed one and all to its promise of running water and warmth. Maybe even a little socializing was in order.

The ramp led up to the heated roof level, where one and all could sit down and relax in an almost sauna-like environment. Below, corridors contained plenty of towels, places to leave clothes, quick showers, and the baths, a number of them sized for any and all comers.

The private areas were accessed through separate corridors on the outside, but the busier communal baths were just as warm and welcoming. Anyone of any size or species was welcome here, so long as they behaved themselves.

[ooc: it's mingling party post time! Just start a thread or hop in one, and note if your character's in a single sex bath, co-ed, or the sauna level upstairs. My characters will be here to meet some people too.]

Despite having been spat out of a goo-filled sac and told her world had been destroyed, Minatsuki wasn't all that upset. She had to act like she was, of course; no matter where she went, she wore a downcast, depressed look on her face and she flinched if anyone so much as looked at her. But inwardly, she really didn't care. There was no one on that planet who deserved to live. Of course she would pretend to grieve, but in reality, this was a blessing. She was alone. And she was free of that twisted prison -- as fun as it had been.

Now, if only she didn't have to rely on this ship full of strangers, everything would be perfect.

Right now, Minatsuki was browsing the media library, marvelling at the technology as she browsed its vast contents. She was so engrossed that she didn't even notice where she was going -- or so she seemed. The cute, innocent, clumsy girl act was highly effective.

((OOC: Please take note of Minatsuki's information/trigger warnings and permissions post!))

Today, she decides to spend a bit of time exploring. It's important, Homura thinks, to get her bearings straight. To familiarize herself with the passageways of this place, the ins and outs, to feel comfortable under the swell of Stacy breathing. It makes her feel small and trapped to be inside a being so huge, but it's okay. She just needs some time to adjust.

The first thing she does is head towards the city level. Once there, she dives down streets and alleyways and figures out how the place is set up. Observing the online network of this place has given her a map, which she follows. You might have noticed her there, walking around. Wandering isn't the word to use for what she does-- nothing Homura does is without purpose.

Moving through the city and figuring out the general size of it takes most of the day. She has yet to explore every nook and cranny, but that will come to her with time.

So she heads to another place that she'd heard of in passing, read on a map.

The main armory.

Weaponry was a practicality as well as something she held some interest in; bombs, rifles, handguns. At one point they'd frightened her, considering how illegal they are in her home country. But no longer. She instead takes some comfort in the familiar weight of a gun. It's something that never changes between timelines; a bullet is always so strong, a bomb made with this ratio of materials has this much firepower. It's good, to have some consistencies.

The technology here however is far beyond her wildest imagination. The weaponry is no different. Flipping through the holographic display, she finds things that are familiar to her and then things that are not. She looks through it all appearing at first rather stoic, but she's really quite interested-- and that's obvious in the way her eyes scan over each weapon that appears before going to the next. There's fondness too, as she sees something she recognizes. Something she's handled. It's something hard to really see, but it's there.

But isn't it a little odd to see a girl who looks only around fourteen years old so familiar and at home with weapons?

Life aboard Stacy isn't necessarily bad, she supposes. There are less threats here-- so far-- than in her home world. She can't find witches despite searching for them. And most everyone is friendly, kind, strong; she's yet to meet anyone less than pleasant to deal with. So she feels a lot more hopeful than she might have at home. Circumstances are different, and no longer stacked up completely against her. Madoka will be okay. She'll win this time. She's so very sure of it.

Homura sits in the eating area by her lonesome, picking at the slop. She doesn't like the idea of holograms messing with her perception of things, so she just steels herself and eats it. The food tastes bland and the texture is undesirable but it gives her energy. That's all that matters.

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 tall man in green armor 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.]