For the first time in a long time, Billy Cranston could make an honest self-assessment with a positive outlook. Encouragement from the crew, a return to his routine duties, and that last eradication of guilt with Adam, Jamie, and Renne had done much to heal the pain and paranoia from before.

Of course, part of this healing process included the difficult requirement of actually spending quiet time with himself---and that meant applying the meditation techniques that Jason, Trini, and Adam had taught him so long ago. His preference was a natural setting, and the only place to simulate that would be the Sensoriums. So off he went, so focused on the task ahead that he forgot to install a lock or 'do not disturb' sign.

( Someone forgets the Sensoriums are public again. Water still wet. )

People say that war is hell. This looked it.

Buildings and cars and bodies are scattered like broken toys as far as the eye can see, stretching out toward a dirty horizon. Even the clouds seems streaked with mud and blood, and they're taking it out on everyone below with a constant stream of cold, soaking rain.

The sounds of fighting seem to come from all directions, but at this moment, there's no one else in sight.

A breather. The calm before the storm.

[[OOC: This is for everyone who was involved with "The Lurking Fear". Questions go to Milo or Kaylin.]]

Nightmare becomes reality....

_{[roster: Leader - Batman, Brainiac 5, Duncan Idaho, Invisible Kid, Brenda Del Vecchio, Hellion]}

Deadly phantoms are attacking the ship, nightmares are turning into daymares, and people are being caught by the Nightmare King's traps even when they're awake. The captain has put the ship on red alert and called together the Magical Department, the Security teams, and the bridge crew.

The Daligig have directed the crew towards two archives that have information that could help them--but will it be enough to stop the Nightmare King before it's full onslaught.

||These two Sensoriums have been configured to allow you visual navigation of my information archives. I have highlighted the path to the archives. However, navigation could be dangerous as in this state, safety protocols are not active due to security measures in my systems. Please take caution as you obtain the information.||

[ooc: One thread for each team, folks. After everyone has posted in, post in the same order to stay organized.]

The crew will see them slinking off, disappearing around hallways--shifting shadow shapes and the backs of heads ducking around corners. They're always people they think they know. Dead loved ones, perhaps, or loved ones they're not sure are dead or alive. They lead crew members into dangerous places, sudden drops, parts of Stacy where things can go wrong.

And they do go wrong. Floors drop out. Ducts become damaged somehow, invisibly, and suddenly spew hot steam. Around the children, items slam into walls--poltergeist activity.

Whether these are really those lost souls, or just illusions, is hard to tell. Either way, those that are part-ghost or have supernatural powers will have a helluva workout. The upside is the presence of the ghosts might disrupt the Waking Dreams to allow people to escape them more easily.

Which is good because the dreams will start to cause injuries now. Real ones.

And refusing to go to sleep doesn't save you when the dreams can happen while you're awake.

[ooc: Waking dreams will continue--and start causing injuries. Furthermore, ghostly apparitions will start to cause poltergeist activity and lead the crew into danger. Start to raise the alarm, meatship. It's starting.]

Leaning back in his chair, Apollo stretches while giving out a loud yawn. He'd holed himself up in the Sensoriums, leaving the entrance open in case someone really wanted to use them, for a few hours. A large stack of paper was in front of him, and the table and floor around him was littered with various bits of crumpled... No, folded paper. Paper crabs, paper cranes, paper frogs, paper bugs... He's obviously been busy. In his hand, held between two fingers, is the start of another folded paper project.

He looks at the paper and sets it down, leaning over the back of his chair and letting his arms hang loosely for a bit. He's been at this for too long, but somehow the whole 'wait for a crewmember to stop by the most popular part of the ship for a bit of conversation' plan failed. "Maybe I should have tried the cafeteria?"

Rhiow sat in the middle of the main concourse of Grand Central Station, occasionally turning her head to speak into her omnicomm. She waited patiently, her tail curling slowly as she switched it, for people to arrive.

She hoped they would gain as much strength from the mantra as she did, but she was certainly willing to explain some of the theology behind it in case they didn't understand the more pointed references. It came from The Gaze of Rhoua's Eye, of course, which was the strictly feline rendition of The Book of Night with Moon.

She twitched her ears back and forth and waited.

Slowly but surely, the nightmares have been chipping away at the mental defenses of the crew.

Even those who attempt to stay awake to avoid the nightmares find themselves too on-edge to completely concentrate their defenses.

And the Nightmare King has not been idle during all this, no. He has been slowly feeding off the crew, gathering his strength so that he may yet break free from his prison.

And he now uses that new found power, reaching out to affect the minds of the crew even in the waking world. Even those avoiding sleep will find themselves drifting in and out of their nightmares, bringing everyone a taste of despair.

After all, no one can escape the grasp of the King of Nightmares.

No one.

[ooc: OH NOEZ. As you can guess, the Nightmare King is getting stronger. As such, the crew will start experiencing waking dreams. These are much more subtle than the normal nightmares, however, and are more so depressing and surreal than actually brain-breaking. Mostly they would be miserable versions of the character's normal life, or perhaps even their life on the ship.]

As many of the tech brigade had learned at some point or other, there was only so long that Stacy was willing to let them work before forcing a compulsory break, and Ahava was no exception. Even trying to reason that sleeping, considering the current circumstances, wasn't exactly restful any more didn't make a difference, so the senior scientist headed down to the Mess Hall, deciding she may as well grab something to eat while she was free. It was just too bad about what was the only food on offer there, but with the number of people on board already and their supply of real food having a finite limit, it was practical to keep the food that wasn't sludge for things other than someone's enforced lunch break.

So, tray in hand, Ahava pulled up a chair close to the entrance of the room and settled down with a sigh. Hmm, maybe a break wasn't such a bad idea judging from how her feet felt. Now if only she had some decent company to pass the time with as well...

Nura has done all she can to prep the meeting - she's had Stacy shape the sensorium to be spherical, with light blue walls and gray tiling, and the walls stretching high for the screen display. On the first screen, there is this image, framed by chrome for a nice, silver-polish finish. The third screen displays a similar image, only there are obvious differences by number and form. And the second image is a large collage of an assortment of numbers from both images and then some.

There are steps to a slightly raised dais which is located before the three screens, with two hover-seats for the viewing part. It seems like one of those tri-screens in the museums to commemorate the 'what was' and the 'what is' statements about society - but it is not. Nura has done all this with a purpose. She has the information to give, and she is confident that it needs to be given.

She's adorned the room with bean-bags placed haphazardly, and a few statues of deceased Legionnaires from various Legions as tribute. And to help ease the foreboding air in the room, she has had Stacy bring back Holo-Querl, with added Holo-Lyle of her Earth. Holo-Lyle has crashed on a beanbag and is reading a comic from a comic stack that was quickly created out of thin air. Holo-Querl is by Nura's side, where she sits on the top step of the dais, thinking.

[this is closed to Lyle Norg]

The crew dreams.

As they have been for the past while, their dreams are being tampered with, but tonight it's different. Roxie, one of the crew members has done rituals to try to give the crew good dreams. However, the power of the Nightmare King can't easily be overcome, as a result, rather than pleasant or nightmarish, people's dreams are instead taking a turn for the surreal tonight.

Get ready to go down the rabbit hole, Meatship.

The jovial extra terrestrial sporadically giggled at the sight of the imaginary synthetic meat by-product. Exuberance!

Curiouser and curiouser.

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.]

Brenda has cookies. She also has a trampoline. The trampoline was there BEFORE Brainy put on an 'I am totally baked' APB on the comm rings - she'd been bouncing on it as her own little fun reward for a workout well completed - but it seemed like the kind of thing to keep around when your stoned friend was coming to visit.

Honestly she was a bit torn, between worry and hysterical amusement.

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 ]]

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!]

It's hard to keep track of time on the ship, which makes it harder for Lyle to tell when he's overworking himself. He seems to have overdone it a bit at the moment, and he's escaped to a Sensorium to relax.

Normally, he looks for people to chat with to regain his strength, but a recent dream has put him in more of a nostalgic and thoughtful mood. Still, it's almost a surprise to him when he enters the room and switches it to a rocky, barren landscape. His strongest memories of this place were a long, long time ago.

It does make sense. Being sent to Durla after everything that'd happened had turned out to be a blessing. He had people to talk to and new philosophies to learn, and he also had the surface. It was barren of any buildings and completely open to the sky--the clearest sky he'd seen on any planet.

He lies back and stargazes, but it's not long before he begins to feel that it's too easy to think here. Lyle sits up and begins to dust himself off, debating where else to go.

Night-time.

Or, at least, what passes for night-time on the meatship.

Tonight, though, there is something strange happening.

Throughout the ship, an odd tinge creeps into the dreams of the shipmates. A flash of red, perhaps, or the soft chiming of bells—but what follows it are good dreams, in sharp contrast to the darker ones of before.

Pleasant dreams, meatship.

[Good dreams for everyone! Nobody is required to post, but if you, have fun with it!]

Reconnaissance was both a duty to her captain, and a way for Mulan to satisfy her burning curiosity about the new world that fate had brought her to. And so the young Chinese soldier skittered through Stacy's halls, quietly, purposefully, and above all, curiously.

She was glad she'd found her armor, along with her sword, her bow, and her quiver, in the Possessions locker. Her armor would be hot and heavy to wear in this humid environment, but at least it concealed the embarrassingly form-fitting suit the ship had given her. It was much preferable to be slightly uncomfortable at all hours of the day then to be walking around in what would have qualified in her time as nothing but the barest of underclothing. With her armor on and her hair tied back, she looked more like the boy she had become used to pretending to be, the boy she had just been growing accustomed to not having to be back home.

As she explored, she kept her bow, arrow notched and at the ready. She'd heard enough about the dangers that had already beset the crew, though she had the sense not to pull back on the string at the first signs of movement. The people here were abductees, like her, dragged from their strange foreign worlds into an equally strange and foreign one. It would not do to shoot any of them for no reason.

Nighttime.

Or, at least, what passed for nighttime on the meatship.

A time when most of the crew was already fast asleep, dreaming away pleasantly throughout the night.

...Or, perhaps not. For you see, tonight, something particularly strange is happening.

Now it is not all that unusual for someone to have a nightmare, especially not on the ship.

Yet tonight, no one will sleep easily, for the Nightmare King deems it so.

Everyone's dreams will have a tinge of horror to them. Nothing so out of the ordinary to rouse one's suspicions, but at the same time, no one is left out.

Pleasant nightmares, meatship.

[ooc: And thus begins the start of the Nightmare King's spree of insanity. He's starting out subtle, of course. The nightmares won't be anything more than your run of the mill bad dream, but he is giving them to everyone. Posting in isn't mandatory, but if you want to have fun with your character's nightmare, go right ahead.]

Mai was bored, as per usual. So, she did what she always did when she didn't have anything more pressing to do or Zuko to bother. She went and threw knives at things. It was therapeutic  actually. It helped her calm, find her center, and more practice certainly didn't hurt her. She'd set up a simple training ring in the Sensorium - a circle of dirt, with posts and targets set up around the edges. She was moving quickly, turning and hurling knives, the dull thock of a blade biting into wood rhythmically filling the air as she moved, flowing through the actions, ducking and weaving. She'd been the one to take out HAL, an action she still felt no remorse for - a machine was a machine. It wasn't a person.

She went around the circle, tugging knives free as she wiped some weat from her brow - she hadn't bothered to style her hair up. It took too much time and she didn't have the inclination to do it every day, as she'd used to. Instead, it was tied back in a long, flowing pony-tail to keep it out of her eyes. She also had real clothes on, for once. Trousers had never suited her, but the desses that passed for clothing on that planet didn't much suit her either. Rummaging through the clothing brought aboard had dredged up a pair of loose "gi" pants and a loose t-shirt. Strange, but they worked. Oh, and a sports bra. The ones with the clasps and hooks had given her pause and she'd decided she wasn't going to bother with that nonsense. The sports bra, however, was much better suited then wrapping her own chest. It made her exercise easier, anyway.

She was barefoot just now, but she'd also managed to find some sandals - better then nothing, she supposed. She half-turned turned towards the door as she pulled out her last knife - she could swear she'd heard someone come in.

"Can I help you?" she intoned dryly.