Leni still wasn't quite sure how she felt about this place.

On the one hand, she still didn't appreciate being brought here against her will, pretty much everything here was well outside her comfort zone, getting bitten by a goddamn vampire had not been the best possible introduction to things, and she could really use a drink to help her cope with everything.

On the other hand, the rest of the people on board seemed decent enough, by and large, there was no Confederation around to hassle her (she assumed), and everything was... new. She'd lived for so long within her struggle that being plucked bodily from that context was forcing her to revise her mindset; her conversation with the Doctor had made that abundantly clear to her early on.

And then, too, sometimes she'd find places like this: places of unearthly beauty and grotesquerie. There was art that, while clearly the product of some foreign sense of aesthetics, was still unmistakably art. There was art that originated from a more human-like mindset, but that was defamiliarized, made strange by its new context. The art hall she stood in now was yet another instance of both, with its chilling murals and shifting statues, all bathed in a light like nothing she'd seen before. It made her shiver, but that didn't keep her from appreciating it.

The statues, she had to admit, puzzled her. They were interesting to look at, but what was their point? It wasn't as if they'd been created by an artist with something to communicate, like normal art was; were they simply meant to be commemorative? Were they computer-controlled, or was there some kind of intelligence guiding them--perhaps Stacy? Was it really art if there were no motives, or even an artist behind it, to examine?

She sighed and rubbed her temples. She was starting to feel like she was back in college again--the last time she'd come up with something that pretentious, she'd been writing her thesis. She'd wanted to clear her mind, not clutter it further, and so she contented herself for now with watching the statues change.

After the most recent pod-pop had been completed, Stacy began encouraging the crew towards the Obs Deck. They would be most effective if they were familiar with each other, and as the Jaime Reyes Incident had proved, leaving them to meet whenever they happened to cross paths was not effective.

Anyone who stepped into the Hub would be transported to the Obs Deck, no matter where they had intended to go. Those who had been exploring the City were verbally herded towards the Hub, although the energy tentacles did not make an appearance.

||Please report to the Obs Deck for Crew Introductions.||

The Obs Deck hadn't changed very much since they'd last been there. The creepy sculpture was still present, as were the fleshy couches. However, the couches were arranged in a more obvious circle this time.

Come and meet the new -- and in some cases, weirder -- members of your crew.

Disconcerted though Leni was, it hadn't taken her long to find a way to cope with her current situation.

Naturally, it involved filming everything.

The... whatever-it-was that went by the name of "Stacy" had apparently been kind enough to grab her equipment. There was her minicam, which allowed her to keep a videolog, something she did faithfully every day. She had her handheld 2D corder, too--a sleek, streamlined piece of equipment that was about as top-of-the-line as you could get with tech that was mostly used these days by amateurs, arthouses, and housewives filming birthday parties--which never left her side these days. Her holorecording equipment (she felt an obligation to keep up-to-date with it, even if she didn't like the medium; it'd come in handy here, though) was too bulky for her to move out of the lockers by herself, but she'd be back for that once she was ready.

Most of what she'd done so far involved scouting, trying to get a feel for the place and plan out her shots for later on, as well as doing a few preliminary testing sweeps. From what she'd seen so far, she had the place pegged as some kind of pseudo-military facility (particularly given the food, which had almost made her sick at the mere sight of it). That she could handle easily enough, she'd figured; she'd done it before, and all she'd need to do would be to adjust for the size.

Right about then was when she'd found the city.

It was stunning, unnerving, and yet beautiful all at once, like all good art was, and--was that a real, honest-to-goodness, atmospheric-scattering-induced blue sky? No, the transport tube went up past it, but it was a good imitation.

Hardly knowing where to begin, she set off outward, not knowing what she'd find but certain it wouldn't take her long to run into something interesting.

Throughout the ship, people would hear the familiar voice of Stacy in their heads.

||Pod Release Protocols Initating||

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

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

Pop. Poppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiissss.