In the short time that Katara had been on the meatship, she'd found herself getting rather used to the environs. Sure, it was nothing like what home had been, but if Katara had clung on to that, she never would have adjusted to the meatship, and that would have been all kinds of bad. Besides, the people had been nothing but warm and friendly to her, with an obvious exception or two, and she had plenty of familiar faces around to keep her from feeling, well, lost and alone.

She was on her own today, though, exploring the ship, letting herself learn where everything was so that she didn't really have to rely on anyone else. It wouldn't be fair to them, nor would it be fair to her. Besides, if something crazy did happen on board, she'd only end up being a hindrance if she wasn't able to get from point A to point B on her own.

Katara had already discovered the freaky Art Hall, and the Tapestry room up on the fifth level. She'd also had her breath taken away by the spacewalk before she'd decided to descend into the city and get to know that place better as well.

Currently, she was down on the city level, at a place which the omnicomm called Faron Spring. She was kneeling by the water's edge, enjoying the relative peace and quiet that the area had to offer. She felt a sense of serenity as she waved her hands over the water, sending it rippling back and forth in little waves. No heavy waterbending here, just some nice, calm relaxation, which was how she liked it for now, given the serene feeling that she was getting from this area of the city.

It seemed that she had spruced up the place only a few days ago, and here she was again, making sure that the bus was good and ready for Katara. There was little to do of course, but she found doing this helped her to quell some of the anxiety she was feeling. The GAang had their waterbender after all, what need would they have for Kaya? She didn't want to think that was the case of course, which was why she had put that front for Azula, but she couldn't act like she didn't feel that a little. Which was why she wanted to have a chance to talk to Katara at length, and quell her fears about anything else. Despite everything, this was her teacher, and she had been in her head a long time before she had her own. There was no one else she respected, more besides Aang, from their world. Katara being here meant that they at least had another piece of their world here on the ship

Which was why, in the common are, she's prepared several soups and fish based foods (based, since they were alien fish, after all). She wiped her brow, and waited for her teacher: she had, after all, been very explicit about the directions.

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.]

[ooc: Newbie Helpers List | Instructions: Post your character with one post establishing them as being podpopped. Tag each other in groups of 2's, 3's, and 4's, to get some interaction to start with. If a thread doesn't already have 2 or 3 people tagged in, tag it with your character's podpop popping near the other people, rather than making a new subthread. If you would like to play out them talking to the AI, please send an email to the mods making the request--we do this only by request. Then move onto the big Newbie Meeting. Once your character has gotten the rundown from the old crew, you may start posting entrance posts and freely tagging.]


||Pod Release Protocols Initating|| Stacy's familiar voice sounds out to all the podmates through the ship.

In the Pod Caverns, there are the sounds of: Pop. Pop pop pop. Poppuhpoppoppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiiiissssss.

There is condensation and mist spraying out from cracks in the pods, as the people inside slide out onto the floors, covered in slime.

--

( There was nothing... )

It had been some time since the idea had been raised, the upgrade to the bath house based on an unintended but rather beneficial side effect to the initial construction that had led to the tiles above the sauna to heat up to a rather pleasant level especially so for those reptilian crew members aboard. The intent of the upgrade to make use of the unintended side affect along with some additional heating to provide second level to the bath house containing a series of larger heating pads of a variety of textures for those who wished to use them.

Thus here she was, materials gathered and ready to be used in the upgrades, the bath house closed off for the short period of the construction. The plans for the upgrade projected in a holographic manner from a crystal device not unlike the one that hung around her neck, the plans available for any to observe. With everything in place and ready to begin, all she had to do was wait for those who wished to assist her to arrive.

(OOC: Channel post related to this here)

Mai, as always, was short of something interesting to do. The Sensoriums just made her miss her own home more than she thought she ought to and as much as she loved Zuko, spending all of her time around him was a bit much. Even for her. She needed space occasionally. Not that she would've minded his company right now. She'd been wandering around the city for a few hours, even dropped by to say hi to Sokka. So many buildings, all dead and empty. It was depressing. Well, it would have been depressing if she cared all that much. Instead, she'd regarded them as curiosities - empty artifacts without meaning or emotional investment. Like objects in a museum.

Her bored wandering had taken her back down to the river after as the hours passed, the sky overhead turned to night and back to day. That was weird. So she settled on the bank, idly skipping stones across the surface. Almost as good as knife-throwing and it gave her a bit of entertainment. Ah, life on Stacy. So full of intrigue.

It was, all things considered, a pretty good day. Sokka had decided to take the day off and spend the day doing something he loved: fishing. He wasn't sure if there were actually any fish in the river that ran through the city now, but that wasn't really the point. The point was that he had a body of water and a stick with a piece of line that was baited with a worm. He was happy to sit beneath the artificial sun, hat pulled over his eyes and stick held easily in his hands as he idled the day away. True, he could have done this in the Sensoriums but that wouldn't be the same. Real water was just more satisfying. And maybe he'd go for a swim later.

All in all it was shaping up to be a pretty good day.

One of the funniest things about Night Furies, for all their elusive nature and their terrifying flame and the fact that they were always renowned as the most dangerous breed of dragons (...on Berk, at least), they loved sunbathing. Having scales the dark, blue-black shade that Toothless did made for a delightful means of sucking heat rays from the sun right on out of the air. So while he was largely a nocturnal creature and flew by night if given the choice, if there was one thing this particular Night Fury loved... It was curling into a comfortable little half-moon shape on a large, flat rock in the sun and dozing there.

Thankfully, the Sensoriums had always been more than happy to provide one of these large, flat rocks and patches of sunlight.

So here Toothless was, curled on his side and possibly snoring slightly with his tail swishing slightly behind him. Sort of like a giant cat, but with scales and wings and only half of a natural tail. Periodically, he'd move in his sleep, as though dreaming.

[[OOC: ...wow hi Trans9. I'm not dead! >_>; I do however have the shortest complete lack of attention span in the history of... ever. Point being, there's gonna be a Hiccup in this post and that thread will be closed to just them but Toothless is otherwise open for being bothered by anybody that happens by. And I'm sorry if I'm slow about tagging, I just seriously suck at life lately. Derrp.]]

 Alex sat on the floor of engineering, off by the corner where he usually worked, with the sheet and pillow off of his bed. He propped himself against what appeared to be the empty chassis for some old terminal, and got himself consumed in a game of Galactica. Something about those older actiony games was oddly soothing in a way.

Steady trance beats still poured from his speakers, just loud enough to be heard softly from the door to the department. He at least seemed to be doing a lot better with it this time.

[I wanna bendy time this to two days after the announcement, so it won't seem too random.]

She felt guilty that she had taken this long. They had met several weeks ago, and she had made a promise to get to training as soon as she could. Sadly, things came up that had forced her to take some time for herself: she was in a better place now, and it was time to get back to business. uh

When it came down to it, the marriage planet had been good for couples, but her interest was with what happened with the people who hadn't participated. Once again, there was an attack,and when it happened, despite them being strong, capable people, it regressed to arguments and pointless infighting, and this was a problem. Then of course there was the idea of how to compliment one fighting style and another. After thought, the best thing to do seemed to have all the guys come here, show what they could do, and start organizing training that way, get some input, trade different information, relay tactics. It would be unorganized for this meeting alone, but afterward they could start and tailor the training to their strengths, add in situations that played on their weaker points for good measure.

This would be a good way to get other people talking, really start to learn about how they fought and where they came from. The Sensorium would be blank for now: she figured Beastboy should be the one to add a little flair to their surroundings.

She did have to compose herself a little though: she hadn't been happy to hear Tavros was gone. He had been a nice person, and he was Alex's roommate.

Irma couldn't explain what she was doing right now.

Okay, she could: she was busy poking through the various houses brought on board and left abandoned. But, she couldn't explain why. True, the W.I.T.C.H. Bus had her own awesome room and rooms for Hay Lin and Will (as well as a bunch of others), but for Irma it didn't feel like it was enough. As much she enjoyed it, she felt that there should be some sort of place to call their own. Or at the very least, a backup home.

She found one almost right off the bat, though - a large, two story house on the other side of the Kohaku River. Stepping inside, Irma was a bit impressed with what she saw inside. By all accounts, it had a few necessities for them to live in - a number of bedrooms, a kitchen just in case. It might take a few raids of other places, but it seemed like a good place to stay.

The only problem would be: would Will and Hay Lin go for it?

It was once again time for Billy to assess the progress being made in this seemingly endless war with tasks and deadlines. So far, reorganization of the Engineering department was about 25% complete. Not terrible for a day's work, but he could certainly do better. Several projects were stalled pending discussion from the involved parties. His social time and interactions with the Rangers had taken a hit due to all of this.
( Time for the grind again! )
As Billy wandered back and forth throughout the day, a stuffed backpack always accompanied him. Throughout the day, the loaded-down teenager made trips between a number of places on the upper levels and a particular house in the City. Distracted as he was with the constant juggling of omnicom, comm ring, tools, and items, he eventually wore himself out.

Where he ended up shouldn't be a surprise: in the city park, fast asleep, sprawled across an assortment of odd items. Somehow, he'd note when he woke up, he doubted this was what had been meant by the recommendation for 'personal time'.

((ooc: The two location tags basically mean you can catch him anywhere: asleep with shiny stuff to steal or rushing back and forth between the different areas of the ship. Just make a note of where you found him.))

Sofia rose above the city, riding on the wind. Even though a lot of the city was a mess, there was something calming about seeing everything from the air. It brought her a sense of peace and perspective. But mostly she liked using her powers, especially after thinking she would never be able to use them again.

[[OOC: If your character can't fly they can just say hi after she's settled on the ground.]]

The next morning, Katara woke up with a slight headache. It could have been worse, she knew it, but she knew what would help: a morning bath. She got up slowly, petting a sleeping Zhin before walking over toward the baths, a towel in hand. She made a bee line toward the co-ed baths, taking a quick dive deep in the water, and cleaning thoroughly. It was early enough that she thought she wouldn't bother anyone, and after a wash she went straight to the hot springs, towel wrapped around her chest and down to her knees.

She settled down, breathing deeply, closing her eyes a moment. After everything, it was good to just sit, relax, take everything in. There was still so much uncertainty, and there was definitely some pain, but she needed to stay focused, needed to be what was needed, especially now. How was Billy doing, was Matt recovering from his foray with darkness? There was still so much going on, and she needed to keep focused on training and the next step with the Outsiders.

She sat quietly, breathing in, breathing out. She couldn't be overwhelmed or things would be worse. There were reasons, after all, she still kept her head high: there was still so many things to do.

The bottling of the beer hadn't taken long. Six collective bottles she'd filled and brought back to Outsiders HQ, for the sake of youth in rebellion. Doing something she really wasn't supposed to. But the fact that Querl definitely would not approve only made it more...tempting.

Setting the box on the coffee table in the main room of the building, she let out a sigh, mind pondering over her surrogate sister's current disposition and mood. There'd been hesitance in Katara's texts, and perhaps even in her speech, if she'd dictated to the omnicom like Nura commonly did. Moving her hands away from the set box, Nura briefly wondered if needed to make good on that promise she made to Katara that she (Nura) would snap whichever boy hurt her, in half.

But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the front door opening. Putting on a smile to keep appearances for now, she straightened her clothes consisting of baggy, witty t-shirt (this one was purple and said I AM SURROUNDED BY PRIMATES on the front. It'd been made especially for Querl, but Nura couldn't resist wearing her husband's new clothes.) and shorts and flip-flops, and walked out of the main room, still smiling as well as she could could.

"Hello. Welcome to the Outsiders' headquarters. How can I make your day absolutely chummy?" She said this with a wry tone and witty edge. Yes. There was some form of sarcasm laced in somewhere.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Matt was in a rather unorthodox position on the ground. Instead of being in one of those lotus positions that people come to associate with meditation, Matt was flat on his back with the lights lowered to a gentle hum. He was laying on a training mat and his breathing was slow, and his eyes closed. It looked like he was sleeping if it weren't for the cool glass of water in his hand.

He was dressed oddly even for Matt, in a rather feminine suit of armor, chestpiece and all. He didn't wear the helmet, but once in a while his hand would go out and touch the item that was at the side. He had rarely taken off Aqua's armor for the time being, just until he got everything under control.

In, breathe out. Sip water. Repeat.

Whatever the mission had been, it seemed to be over, and Katara had understood well enough where she had to go: it was the first place she'd started to realize Aang was on the ship: the Statuary.

There was a lot to think about, especially after seeing Matt how he was. When she talked to Sokka, she could tell that Aang was pretty upset too. So at the moment, she had two guys who were feeling pretty rotten right now, and she was responsible. She could only imagine what the other GAang thought of her, and the rest of the trip, even with her friends around, felt fairly miserable. Once she got home, she had gone to her room in the Outsiders suite and had a long, restless sleep. What was Aang thinking, how was Matt dealing with things?

So now she was in the place where she had first laid eyes on the statue of older Aang. She was here with Zhin, who had felt her emotions and was staying by her for awhile. She sat by Aang's statue, quietly wondering what would happen when he found her.

Those left outside the city would find their experience to be far less exciting, but at least it was still relaxing for the most part.

The accommodations they were given were relatively spartan but well maintained, and the locals seemed nice enough. The food was good, and they were treated fairly well despite refusing to undergo the rituals.

But strangely, by the time night started rolling around, the locals began hurrying to finish up whatever they were doing, cutting conversations short and rushing back inside. By the time the sun fell, none of the locals were outside.

...Well. That certainly wasn't ominous.

[ooc: secondary plot is go! try to keep everything in one thread for now]

Matt had refused to go near the City, or near the others for a while. He had a lot to think about.

So with his guitar slung over his shoulder, he had gone to the furthest reaches of the beach area, using an ability he kept under wraps. Shouldn't be people from a few miles at least, unless they had followed him doggedly.

Unslinging his guitar, he settled on a rock and started to play.

Early light that burns my eyes,
A minute more the sun will rise
And paint the bright blue sky with yellow gold
I’ll be dead asleep by then,
Shut up in this box again
Until it’s gone
Outside I can hear it
Birds are singing, bees are buzzing, sun shines overhead
I’d be there to see it but I can’t get out of bed
Since the day you left the weather always feels this way
One more blue sunny day

With a heavy sigh, he continued to play in the midst of the wonderful lakeside view he found.

Those who had decided not to undergo the rituals were given the option of staying near the observation deck, or in the small settlement near the edge of the trees.

The buildings of the settlement were made of the same stone as the wall, complete with the tribal markings, and people filled the streets, mostly consisting of those waiting for friends. Several more Moai could be seen, oftentimes around groups of Rapa Nui, dwarfing them in size. There were many more Rapa Nui scampering through the crowds, fixing things up here and there, or cleaning messes.

[Go forth and socialize!]