As soon as he was able, Cowabunga and Humar had set out for Engineering department. Clearing a space for himself, the Tauren disconnected the prosthetic arm, wincing a bit thanks to the shock to his nerves. After he placed the large construct down, Cowabunga leaned back on the table as Humar lay down, and they waited for Winry to arrive.

"Winry?"

Hiccup went and poked around where she worked, as he had more than once before.

He'd seen the plans, and ultimately opted for a very plain design, something easy to repair. Simple or not, though, the automail mechanic was making sure every meticulous detail was right. Day after day, he'd popped his head in, and day after day, she'd still been working. At times, he even got to learn a few things as she worked. Sometimes he just watched silently, maybe asking a question or two to break the silence.

Today, though...

"It is done yet?"

Is it? Is it?

Ed was beginning to think something was up. Winry had been FAR too quiet since the invasion and she KNEW his arm was broken -- the bruises he got from that were proof enough of that. But her usual workday was six days: three nights and three days non-stop. Even factoring in the availability of parts and labor, and the fact she was doing this for free now made him stop and wonder about all of this.

And put simply, she had been quiet for two weeks. And he had been without an arm for two weeks.

Pushing the door open to her workshop on the bus, he called out, "Hey Winry, I hate to bug you but did you get my arm fixed yet?"

If there could be a little line following where Hiccup was going through the ship, it'd show that the young man couldn't stand still. Several things were on his mind.

1) Finding Astrid.

2) Finding some mead or ale to thank Kang.

3) Finding the other two that had helped save him, other than Astrid and Kang.

4) Finding Ed to learn about science.

5) Finding this "Engineering" place that was clearly the kind of place that would be wonder and a joy for him to be in.

The search was afoot. He had people, places, and booze to find.

And thus Hiccup hobbled through the halls with a set of crutches (he really shouldn't be putting much weight on his injured leg yet), on his mighty Viking quest.

It was a well known fact that Negi couldn't sleep well without sleeping near anyone. Even when he was tempered by experiences, he was still ten, and prone to nightmares. As such, the young boy had sleepwalked through the rooms of the dorm and his internal Girl Senses had located someone. Tall, soft, smelled like machine oil and soap.

Perfect.

Still nearly 100% asleep, Negi crawled into bed alongside the form and curled up, sleeping until morning when he stirred and sleepily muttered, "Morning Oneechan..."

And planted a soft kiss on the person's lips.

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.]

[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... )