After making her announcement, Yuna scurried about making her little hut presentable. There were rags drawn over the windows for makeshift curtains, sheets piled on the table, and candles lit wherever possible. Of course, they were a mishmash of scavenged candles and no two matched, but it was better than nothing.

The hut where they would be learning had two rooms: a somewhat larger room with benches for the theory lessons, and a smaller room in the back for treatments. The back room probably wouldn't be needed today, but she hoped to use it when oils and creams were available.

"Good morning," Yuna greeted her guests, smiling brightly at them. "We'll get started soon!"

(Dive right in! Feel free to start a new subthread if your character wants to do another lesson or provide other advice, and have fun!)

Medical Bay had a habit of being busy, and upon the return of some of its members (including the head of Medical Bay) from Galilee, things only got busier. Most the tech needed to be pieced out, but some of it was usable. Discussion of making those small technologies replicable and training people in Med Bay in how to use them was only one topic on anyone's mind.

After all, there'd been a Pod Pop in the interim, which could mean more people coming into the Medical Bay. Not to mention, discussing ideas of how to work better as a group, in light of events on Galilee.

[ ooc: Log's open to mingling for medical workers or those interested in learning; it will have one subthread designated for nursing training with Rory, another for those wanting to make IC connections for further training, and one for general discussion of things those working in Med Bay may want to see. ]

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.]

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.]

( A reclusive summoner emerges )
Steeling herself for this preliminary battle, Yuna performed the most important task: creating her opponent. It stood stationary at first: twice her height, very wide, and loaded with...tentacles. Yes. A super-charged Malboro. It was a thematic fit on this strange ship, wasn't it?

When it was ready, she sent out a quick comm ring notice to anyone in the area---if they wished to meet a giant tentacle monster with terrible breath, now was their chance! They would just have to get rid of him before he got anyone sick.

"...I will bring you down," Yuna promised her rather pungent opponent, twirling her staff in her hands and steeling herself to start the match. "I will show my strength."

Paco hopped up on a box to survey the work already done.

It was getting toward “evening” in the City. They’d hung a sheet up on the Great Wall, and a couple people were currently adjusting the movie projector that had been constructed in Engineering so that the picture would fall exactly on the sheet. He’d collected the recordings from the Media Library himself, everything on there was appropriate for pretty much everyone who might show up.

At the other end of the space he’d picked for the party, a few people were testing the sound system (also constructed in Engineering) and arguing with each other, probably about the music. Well, he’d done his best, anyone who didn’t like it could throw their own dance party somewhere else.

In the middle, up against the outer wall of a building they’d hung lights from, Kang and his helpers were putting the finishing touches on the drinks area. And there was plenty of space for people to mingle or play tag or whatever if the shows and music weren’t to their taste.

Paco grinned and cupped his hands around his mouth to form a megaphone.

“OKAY EVERYONE,” he shouted. “TRY NOT TO DO ANYTHING THAT WILL LOSE US OUR PARTY PRIVILEGES AND LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!”

[[OOC: Post-Melting Clock! Mix! Mingle! Make fun of the music, thread with people you haven’t threaded with before! It’s like a Pod Pop for oldbies!]]

There was something wrong with Ren. It was becoming more and more clear to him. He didn't know just what it was, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized things just seemed...off. Like collapsing the week before. There was no reason he should have fallen or why his heart should have stopped. Sure, he'd had an intense training simulation not long before it, but he'd fought much harder than that back home, during the battle. He must have.

In one hand, he was clutching Eri's ring, desperately clinging to it though he knew she was gone...though something in his memory didn't seem to add up, and he couldn't figure out why he'd gone out during Shore Leave and bought a new chain for the ring if he knew everything was beyond hope.

In his other hand was an Advent Card deck. But it wasn't his Knight deck--the one he'd given to Phillip just after he'd collapsed, agreeing to take it easy until they could figure out what was wrong with him. This deck was golden, emblazoned with a phoenix.

It was the strongest deck in the Rider War, the greatest power of any Rider: Kamen Rider Odin.

And it was Ren's.

Phillip pulled the HardBoiler to a halt, putting the kickstand in place as he stepped out into the quieter districts of the trade planet. Quiet meaning that it wasn't full of people selling at maximum volume, but a more respectful level since the roads were cluttered by an impenetrable wall of people selling what appeared to be holy knicknacks.

It was quite literally a lot like a scene you'd find in the Vatican, with people of all cultures wearing different robes, symbols and selling many for a cheap price. A few people sat in quiet reverence, signifying they were from some local or near-local order and Phillip paused to purchase one of the items.

The woman there, which appeared to be a nun, looked at him with silver eyes. "You have a good eye," she said as Phillip traced a finger over a filched cross placed against what appeared to be a sun. "That is the symbol of the Tallest."

"The Tallest?" inquired Phillip as he looked at it.

The old woman nodded. "The Tallest is the symbol of Life and Rebirth, the holiest of holy in our culture. He is dark haired and symbolized by green." She gave him a look that made Phillip feel like he was being searched to his core.

"Take it," said the woman. "Our order does not need the money, but a good symbol knows where it is meant for."

Phillip nodded respectfully, taking up the item and storing it into his book before bowing.

Walking away, he turned to thank her - but she was gone.

"... that was odd." he remarked to the air.

Of all the duties of a summoner, the Sending was easily the hardest for Yuna to face. Every time she took up her staff and danced, it meant only one thing: more people had violently died, needlessly died, shouldn't have died, wouldn't have died had an outside source not torn them apart. Left alone to wander the universe with their anger at sudden death intact, their lost souls could coalesce into an even greater threat.

This time, she thought with a painful clench of her heart, she wasn't guiding the souls of a small army's soldiers or the scattered casualties of a ruined town. If their information was to be believed, with the possible exception of her guardians, all Spirans had perished in the Ohm's violent strike. Knowing that meant she was likely the last summoner still living---thus the responsibility for their souls fell to her.
( How many millions now lost... )

It had only taken Snow a few minutes after waking up to realize that he still had his powers. As strange and unfathomable as it was (for crying out loud, he saw that it was gone), there his l'Cie brand was, easily noticeable on his left forearm and, from what Snow could recall, in the same form it was in right before he had lost it. But then again, he couldn't be quite sure, he wasn't very keen on studying the mark very closely when he did have it - he just knew that it had been pretty well along. A round, eye-shaped pattern inside of a rectangular brand, arrowed edges branching off in all directions. But it was no longer the deep black color that it had been, it was glazed over in a dull grey. And though it made him uneasy to see the brand there again, he was relieved that it was at least frozen. No ever-present countdown to turning into a monster.

He had felt the rush of icy powers when he tried to use them down in the pod chambers, even though they had been promptly cut off by one of Stacy's tentacles. So Snow'd be able to fend for himself (and protect Serah. Which was ten times more important than fending for himself, really), since despite what he'd read and what he'd heard so far, he was skeptical of many things. He had dealt with enough to easily trust some voice in his head that later reprimanded him and ordered him to follow the rules when he had no idea what was happening. He never did like rules, and he especially didn't like the idea of some giant talking creature trying to play puppeteer with people and simply expect them to go along with it. He'd had enough of that. So having his powers back was a point up in feeling even a little more safe.

But as he stood in the city, in an area large enough to both test this out and for any passersby to easily spot him, he had one more thing he wanted to try. "Let's see if you two are still here, too." Snow spoke, seemingly to nobody in particular. He raised his arm, a small, ice-blue orb forming around and rising from his brand. "Shiva!" he called, and a glyph-like pattern materialized in mid-air in front of him. From it rose two figures, completely contrasted from the other. One dark, one light - the summoned sisters looked more like robots of some sort, adorned with chains and huge, bulky pieces of metal. The large wheels clearly visible on their bodies gave the (very obvious) impression that the two could combine into a vehicle of some sort. They landed gracefully in front of Snow, who just smiled widely at the them.

"Hey! Long time no see!" he greeted with a wave. "I can't believe you two wound up sticking around, too! At least getting around'll be a little easier, now."

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... )