[Nexus] GLoG 83

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Grounds]

Alysha is positively giddy as she watches Yuki take off. She lets out a cheer as her friend starts to go higher...

...and a small shriek as Yuki starts to fall.

Alysha races forward as Yuki falls, seeking to catch her. Then she sees that Yuki is gonna fall into the lake. Which, will probably still hurt, but Alysha can't really catch her there. Oh well. Gonna have to swim for her.

Just as Alysha gets ready to jump in, Yuki manages to catch herself and flies back. Alysha gives an enormous sigh of relief, and finds herself holding her arms open to catch her friend in a hug.

[The Bushranger]

[Infirmary > Lake]

Spoiler

Show

[Infirmary]

Alysha is almost jumping from excitement now. At first, she forgets about the gown as well. Then she sees Jamie offer it.

Oh, right. Should probably get dressed, first.

[Infirmary>>Grounds]

Yuki smiles widely, she thinks Alysha is probably just as excited as she is. With some adjustment for her regrown wings Yuki puts her robe back on. She is really going to need to get more clothes sooner or later. Ones that have more holes in the back, but these will do for now.

Once she is all set she heads outside looking up at the sky. Now that she is just about ready to take off she seems a bit nervous. It seems that the only thing she can remember is the sensation of falling.

[Grounds]

Yeah, safe bet that Alysha is as excited, if not more, as Yuki herself.

I'd offer some advice, but I've never flown before. Well, except that one time I went to Neverland, but that was with pixie dust, not wings, so it probably doesn't work the same way.

She does give a large reassuring smile at least.

[Grounds]

Yuki takes a deep breath then turns and smiles at Alysha.

"Alright, here I go."

Yuki's wings stretch out and start to beat quickly lifting her off the ground. She is quite surprised how quickly she finds her self in the air. She manages to look around just in time to see that she was about to fly into a tree. She manages to dodge the tree and rise even higher into the sky.

Without any obstacles in her way she quickly starts to get the hang of it, banking left and right. Rising and falling. She even manages to do a loop over the lake. She starts to fly higher and higher looking straight up into the sky with a huge grin on her face.

And then something goes wrong. From the ground it looks like Yuki goes limp and her wings stop lock up and she starts to fall. Her wings slow her somewhat spinning her around in a tight spin, then they catch the air just right and flare out, and Yuki snaps out of it trying flap her wings to stop her descent.

Which she does just above the surface of the lake, her bare toes just barely touching the water. With a sigh of relief she flies back over to the shore near Alysha.

Jamie watches in awe! And then surprise at the sudden spin. And then relief as Yuki recovers.
And she hurries over to hug her new friend after she lands!

[Infirmary with Kitty]

Unfortunately, the thorough medical exam won't be enough to tell anything more than that Kitty ate way too much. Whatever's wrong with her, either Quinn doesn't have the resources to pick it up or it's not mundane.

And so Quinn switches away from the mundane.
Paladin powers activate!
Starting by checking for curses.

[McBish]

[Infirmary > Lake]

Yuki lands on the edge of the lake, her trembling legs barely holding her up. She is happy to be caught by Alysha and hugs her back. Her wings wrap around all three of them once Jamie joins in.

Yuki is obviously shaken by the experience, though also a bit exhilarated.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Lake]

Are you okay Yuki? What happened? Did you get hurt? I'm so glad you didn't fall into the water! Maybe we should wait on the flying!

Alysha says all that rather quickly as she continues hugging Yuki.

[happyturtle]

Side Room >> Reinholdt's sunning rock

Side Room
"Nor do I," Lume says, sadly. "That's why I came here. I was told this was a place where all might learn how to atone for past deeds.

"Stay here for a moment. I think I know someone who could possibly help." And Brand heads out to go outside to the rock where a certain cat is often known to be sunning. Is Reinholdt there?

Main Cabin

Note to self: Big donation to Remnant and Watchtower.

"Do they really count as apocalypses if they don't actually end the world?" Justin asks.

Missy starts to answer, and something about Brand's hurry, and his look towards the children, make her decide to move in that direction while answering, and to be as close to the children as possible until he returns. "There's a school of thought that says no apocalypse can ever truly succeed. That the Nexus itself will reject it, even if it remains unfought. For obvious reasons, we've never tested this theory." Missy says. And as they're getting closer to the children now, she uses the cover of Caretaker's song to say softly, "We can at least reduce the death toll."

[Main Cabin]

Brinika's ears twitch. Fight music? Hmm.
"Caretaker, come over here!" She calls, and the drone floats over. "Play that song we found yesterday," she tells him. The drone buzzes and plays.

Jefferies listens and starts to stomp and clap along with the beat. "I yike it!" she exclaims when it's over.

Tito rolls his eyes a little. "Sounds like a song Leelee would like."

[Reinholdt]

[Outside Elm Cabin]

Reinholdt returns to GLoG. He doesn't go to one of his usual spots though, heading instead to his cabin and leaning against the outside, looking up instead of his typical down. Searching the sky.

Reinholdt's actually over here doing the things above, but it should be within easy sight of the sunning rock and it'd be pretty hard to miss the heavily geared adventurer. Currently in human form.

I'll go ahead and presume Brand finds and approaches him, barring rolls of 4.

Reinholdt interrupts his gazing to look down at the sound of footsteps, quiet though they may be. "Hello again Brand." He considers some witty kitchen related question in addition to that, but decides against it in the end, figuring the Applehills probably don't hear the end of those.

[The Bushranger]

[Lake]

"We should go get some ice cream, it's good for settling nerves," Jamie declares, but she won't let go of the hug for awhile.

[McBish]

[Lake]

Yuki shakes her head.

"I don't know. I just suddenly had this sensation of dropping, I think it freaked me out."

Yuki is glad to have her friends around to hug her, this would have been much more frightening by herself.

"Ice cream, I can't remember ever having that."

She smiles a bit at that.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Lake]

Well, maybe you should wait a little while to try again.

Alysha nods vigorously at Jamie's suggestion.

Yes! Ice cream! It is cold and delicious and helps make anything better!

[happyturtle]

Outside Elm Cabin

Reinholdt's actually over here doing the things above, but it should be within easy sight of the sunning rock and it'd be pretty hard to miss the heavily geared adventurer. Currently in human form.

I'll go ahead and presume Brand finds and approaches him, barring rolls of 4.

Reinholdt interrupts his gazing to look down at the sound of footsteps, quiet though they may be. "Hello again Brand." He considers some witty kitchen related question in addition to that, but decides against it in the end, figuring the Applehills probably don't hear the end of those.

"I came to look for you. I know we've barely spoken, but stories get around. About your past." Brand takes a deep breath. "There's a man - creature - who is looking for advice on how to atone for his past. I know you've changed, but I don't know how you did it or what helped you along the way. I wondered if you could - if you had any insight for him? Is that possible?"

[Reinholdt]

Outside Elm Cabin

Reinholdt looks up at the sky a bit again.
"I suppose anything's possible. At least, that's the dream we have to hold onto."

He'll look back at Brand. "I'll talk to him if you'd like, but I can't promise I'll be of much help."

[McBish]

[Lake]

"Maybe you are right. And Ice cream sounds great."

((And I am off, and will be for about a week. Night.))

[happyturtle]

Outside Elm Cabin >> Side Room

"If you're willing - that's all I ask," Brand says, as he leads Reinholdt back to the Main Cabin. "His crimes are so extreme I can't even imagine them. I'm torn between wanting to help and wanting to drive him away before he gets near my children. But that's not what GLoG is here for. If it gets to that point, I'll have to take my family and find sanctuary elsewhere."

He leads Reinholdt, who is currently in the form of a stunningly beautiful man, into the room where Lume is waiting. Lume is an 8 foot tall being made of light.

"Lume, this is Reinholdt. Reinholdt, Lume," Brand says.

[Reinholdt]

Outside Elm Cabin
"Should you need a true sanctuary, the only place I'd fully recommend for a family would be the Temple of Inari." Reinholdt suggests, explaining how to get there should Brand want to look into it.

Side Room
"I guess I should be glad I'm not bursting into flames." He says, performing his flourish for Lume before taking a seat somewhere. "A pleasure to meet you."

[The Bushranger]

[Lake]

Jamie will lead Alysha and Yuki to the kitchen. Where ice cream shall be had!



[Infirmary]

Quinn frowns as she examines Kitty. "There seems to be some sort of supernatural effect..."

[Dimonite]

Side Room
"It is good to meet you, Reinholdt," Lume says sincerely. "If Brand has brought you here to help, you should know my story as well."

*snipped*

(but the original post has all the info - Just follow the link. Didn't want to take up too much more space)

[Reinholdt]

Side Room

Reinholdt listens to his story somberly.
"You mentioned bound to will, forced, and converted a fair bit. Did you ever have a choice?"

[Gullara]

[Infirmary with Kitty]

Kitty frowns a little. "What do you think it's doing?" Supernatural effect? That could be so so many different things. Since there really is something wrong, the kitsune is really hoping Quinn will be able to figure it out.

[Dimonite]

Side Room

Reinholdt listens to his story somberly.
"You mentioned bound to will, forced, and converted a fair bit. Did you ever have a choice?"

Side Room

"As I told Brand," Lume says, slowly, as if each word pains him, "I was myself, but a twisted, corrupted version of myself. I know that what I have done may not be considered my fault, but I remember not only doing these terrible things, but enjoying them. It is because of this that I must find redemption."

[OrchestraHc]

Main Cabin

Missy starts to answer, and something about Brand's hurry, and his look towards the children, make her decide to move in that direction while answering, and to be as close to the children as possible until he returns. "There's a school of thought that says no apocalypse can ever truly succeed. That the Nexus itself will reject it, even if it remains unfought. For obvious reasons, we've never tested this theory." Missy says. And as they're getting closer to the children now, she uses the cover of Caretaker's song to say softly, "We can at least reduce the death toll."

Jefferies listens and starts to stomp and clap along with the beat. "I yike it!" she exclaims when it's over.

Tito rolls his eyes a little. "Sounds like a song Leelee would like."

Main Cabin

Justin nods solemnly. Maybe it was time to change the subject, especially if they were going to be standing next to the children. Following Missy to the kids, he makes a comment on the song, "Where is that song from? Sounds like it's specific to a musical."

[happyturtle]

Side Room

Spoiler

Show

Side Room
"It is good to meet you, Reinholdt," Lume says sincerely. "If Brand has brought you here to help, you should know my story as well."

(but the original post has all the info - Just follow the link. Didn't want to take up too much more space)

Side Room

Reinholdt listens to his story somberly.
"You mentioned bound to will, forced, and converted a fair bit. Did you ever have a choice?"

Side Room

"As I told Brand," Lume says, slowly, as if each word pains him, "I was myself, but a twisted, corrupted version of myself. I know that what I have done may not be considered my fault, but I remember not only doing these terrible things, but enjoying them. It is because of this that I must find redemption."

"I asked Reinholdt to speak to you because he has also atoned for terrible deeds, though I do not know the details," Brand says. "Reinholdt, would it be easier for you to speak freely if I left?"


Main Cabin

Main Cabin

Justin nods solemnly. Maybe it was time to change the subject, especially if they were going to be standing next to the children. Following Missy to the kids, he makes a comment on the song, "Where is that song from? Sounds like it's specific to a musical."

Missy doesn't know the answer, but she reaches down to ruffle Jefferies' wet hair affectionately.

[Morty]

[Main Cabin]

Brinika giggles at Tito's reaction, then Justin and Missy show up. She looks up at the two new big folk.

"Caretaker said it's from a movie. About a girl who went to the army so her dad didn't have to."

[OrchestraHc]

"Caretaker said? Do you not watch a lot of movies?" Justin asks. Movies are good small talk fodder, but they're hard to talk about when so many people in Nexus are pre-light bulb.

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

Show

Side Room

"As I told Brand," Lume says, slowly, as if each word pains him, "I was myself, but a twisted, corrupted version of myself. I know that what I have done may not be considered my fault, but I remember not only doing these terrible things, but enjoying them. It is because of this that I must find redemption."

Side Room

"I asked Reinholdt to speak to you because he has also atoned for terrible deeds, though I do not know the details," Brand says. "Reinholdt, would it be easier for you to speak freely if I left?"

Side Room

Reinholdt mulls over Brand's offer momentarily. There seemed to be some misconceptions already.
"... No. I think I'd rather you'd stay so that I might have a neutral opinion available." In case he's way wrong.

He looks at Lume. "I think you're confusing the prerequisites for needing redemption. I once ran with a powerful wizard who enjoyed manipulating and controlling people. I learned a lot about control back then, more than I wish I knew. But the cruelest form of control was always corruption. Putting someone so heavily under the influence that they had no real choice. But because it was enjoyable, because they kept memories, because they had a... sad reflection of their real selves, they all too often believed it was their fault."
Reinholdt reaches for his vest pocket for a moment, before realizing he is and stopping himself, putting his hand back out on the table.

"No one, except irrational victims, could ever accuse someone whose soul has been ripped out of them and their mind warped, of being guilty of the crimes they committed in that state. And in this case, I think that applies to you." He pauses again.

"What that does not do is erase the memories and the feelings of the terrible things you had to do. Especially the guilt. All the platitudes in the world of not your fault doesn't matter. Not until you truly believe it yourself. And I think that will be the hardest part of your journey here. You don't need to atone, but you do need to come to terms with the guilt you feel for the things you did not do." That'll be... difficult for most people.

"At least, that's my opinion on the matter." Reinholdt clarifies. "The people here will be happy to help you work through the issue either way, of course."

[Medlab]

Gasp, plotclone stuffs! In the same thread no less.
Reinholdt returning from HALO, heads here and checks Toby's office. If Tobias isn't there, then he'll go to the cabins/infirmary that he might be at and check each until he finds him or exhausts his options.

[FireFox]

[Outside]

A plotclone of Toby is yanked hat-first from his current plot to assist Reinholdt in another plot. He picks himself up and dusts himself off, grumbling about the casual crushing of chronal continuity for the sake of servicing a narrative like a desperate English major on food stamps with a bad crack habit. Stupid Histor... Oh, hey Rein, what's up?

[Reinholdt]

[Outside]

"Hey Tobias. I need to borrow your psychomorphic hat." Reinholdt says, getting right to the point. "Only for like an hour." Maybe less!

[FireFox]

[Outside]

At the moment, Toby is quite inclined to let him take it off his head for awhile. But he's still curious. Okay, why?

[Reinholdt]

[Outside]

"Creepy stalker fetish." Reinholdt explains with a nod. "Obviously I'll owe you some humiliating, semi-homoerotic favor you can cash in later or something."

[FireFox]

[Outside]

Toby rolls his eyes. He doesn't seem interested in that, for some reason. I'll pass. If it's really important, you can borrow it. Unless you're just going to find some way to use it against me and be a huge jerk about it. Then I'll keep you stuck in your cat form and let my son play with you for an hour. Because cats hate babies, right? Wait, does that count as a humiliating, semi-homoerotic favor?

[Reinholdt]

[Outside]

"Probably, but for reasons I dare not elaborate on." Reinholdt explains. "It's important and I don't need it to use against you or to be a huge jerk. I can do those things without the hat."