HALO 182: Wait, what if we ARE Lawbreaking?

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

Reinholdt thought it might just be the gruff voice, but the rumor that the charr don't have a strong sense of humor might be fact.

"I believe it has more to do with the power trying to get out and growing stronger under pressure. Like a diamond or something. Really only effective when you're growing up and the power is still developing and definitely does not come with any understanding."

"So what can you do besides melt things?"

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

"I can teleport now, for one thing," Thariza says. As if to illustrate, she disappears in a flash of purple light, and reappears a short distance away. "It's like I know this magic, but I can only vaguely remember it. It seems more aggressive than what I did before. That will take some getting used to. I was trained to hold a position, not engage on my own."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

"Hmm. Have you considered writing down a list? It might help you remember what you can do more clearly." A good old fashioned spell list. Reinholdt never thought he'd suggest that to anyone. "The teleporting will come in handy for guerrilla tactics. Super handy to know when you're engaging on your own. The number one skill to a long life is running away." Reinholdt nods sagely.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Thariza's tail swishes and her ears dip.

"I'm not really in the Iron Legion anymore, but I still only run away when ordered to," she insists. "But since I've got this magic now, I need to use it. Maybe make myself some new weapons." She sighs. "No rest for the weary, I guess. It's twice now that I should have died, but didn't. If I was a human, I'd say the gods will it, but Charr don't have gods."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

"Maybe only retreating when ordered is why you 'didn't' die twice," Reinholdt says, with a teasing grin. "So, the Charr have an afterlife but no gods? Seems a little unusual. They tend to go hand in hand."

"Maybe you should use that magic to get some rest. Teleport yourself to a nice tropic island paradise for a vacation." Sounds like she could use one. Definitely sounds like she's earned one.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Thariza's tail flicks nervously when Reinhold mentions retreating. It's clearly not something she's comfortable with.

"As far as I know, everyone on Tyria goes to the Mists when they die. What happens there is anyone's guess. Humans go on about their gods, but they haven't done anything in two centuries. They're either dead, or just stopped caring about their people." She pauses. "Also, I'm not sure what I'd even do on a vacation."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

"Perhaps discovering that will bring you closer to your inner self. And your magic." Reflection through undisciplined relaxation is the surest path to enlightenment, right?

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

"Okay, so what do you do on a vacation?" Thariza asks, poking a claw in Reinholdt's direction. "You look like the type to know this sort of thing." He doesn't, really, but she decided to roll with it.

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

"Um... Err... Well...." Reinholdt is caught off guard. Now that he thinks about, he hasn't really gone on vacation per say. Plenty of holiday parties or exciting adventures, but vacations? "There's, um, beaches involved. And massages by beautiful women. I think. That sun tan lotion doesn't apply itself you know. And drinking alcoholic beverages you normally don't just to try them out. And sleeping. Lots of sleeping." Reinholdt attempts to nod sagely. As if he doesn't sleep all the time on the job anyways.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Thariza's tail swishes in silence.

"I think this is a cultural clash situation. I have fur, so lotion is right out. And I don't do women, but... maybe some young, impressionable soldiers who look up to a tough and experienced one." She pauses. "And don't mind me being technically a gladium. Sleeping and booze seem to be universal."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

Reinholdt waves his hand. "No need to take everything so literally. Where I would get sun tan lotion, you'd find someone to brush that fur. I know that much of a coat takes hours to groom properly." Fur requires attention.

"What's a gladium?" He's trying to guess based on context, but there's still too many things it could be.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Thariza's tail starts moving faster and her ears dip.

"A gladium is... a Charr without a warband. Still technically part of a Legion, but on their own. Or completely outside their Legion. Like me. As far as the Iron Legion knows, I was killed in action."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

"I, um, sorry." Thariza makes it sound like getting disowned, but the fact that she's only presumed dead kind of makes it sound like she still has a place if she ever got back to this Legion? So maybe it's a homesick thing and she's being too hard on herself? That wouldn't surprise him, if her stance on vacations meant anything. Regardless, it sounded complicated.

"So wait. Is your entire race comprised of War Legions? Is everyone a soldier?" That doesn't sound very pragmatic. Or maybe it is. Like there's a threshold of warrior saturation in a people before economy of scale kicks in. Something to be studied in Tobias' library no doubt. He's bound to have books on that topic.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Thariza shrugs.

"More or less. But maybe not in the way you understand it. A Charr who herds cattle or cleans up might not fight, but they're still a member of one of the High Legions, belong to a warband and follow the chain of command. And they can fight if they need to. War is what we know."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

"Ugh, that's..." Reinholdt shakes his head. "War is stupid." No wonder he was having such a hard time communicating with her. Thariza's culture was steeped in war and Rein's spent so much of his life fighting against war.

"Congratulations on being free. You can learn something else now." Though that something else seems to be magical ghost powers. Which is admittedly a cool thing to learn.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Thariza at first looks entirely uncomprehending, as if Reinholdt's words didn't register at all. Then, she snarls and bares her teeth, as her fur bristles.

"Free? From what? I never wanted anything else. I was proud to serve the Iron Legion. A soldier is who I am. I'm a Charr. I can no longer serve my legion, so I serve HALO instead. As long as I can, I will obey orders and fight. And use this new magic I got saddled with to do it, if I have to."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

Reinholdt can appreciate her ability to cat when Thariza needs to, but only narrows his eyes at her reaction. "And what are you fighting exactly? I don't think HALO's been in a war since the earliest Acronym days." Some sorties here and there certainly.

"Or more importantly, what are you fighting for? I can, on some level, understand fighting for your tribe, your Iron Legion. But you've made it sound like you came to HALO just to have someone to tell you what to do once you lost the legion."

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Reinholdt's words make Thariza pause, as she has to recognize the truth of them.

"...what else was I going to do? I'd led my warband to their deaths. The ghosts cut them all down, and I wandered into the ruins of Ascalon to die. But I wound up here. All I could think to do was find someone else to give me orders."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

Reinholdt opens his mouth to say something, but closes it and softens. He lets out a little bit of a sigh and begins anew. "Decisions don't seem to matter when you're trying to throw your life away." The fey glances away from Thariza for a moment. "Well you could do worse. You've been granted a rare second chance. Maybe instead of that vacation, you could reflect and figure out what you want to do with it. Reasons to keep going are elusive, but worth finding. Then you'll know what you're fighting for." Presumably. This conversation is getting increasingly awkward for Reinholdt. He's reasonably certain he's relying on a few cliches to carry him through at this point. He turns towards the exit. "Let me know if you figure it out."

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

"I'll let you know if I ever do," Thariza says, sitting down heavily. She doesn't stop Reinholdt from leaving, or look at him as he does.

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range -> The Office]

Reinholdt leaves Thariza to her thoughts, shifting back into a cat on his way out. This got too heavy. Reinholdt is going to have to unwind by sneaking into Toby's office, messing up all the papers on his desk, batting that perpetual clackity clack thing, and falling asleep in whichever spot seems the most inconvenient. You know. Cat things.

[Felandria]

Meanwhile.....

Felandria is in her dorm room, cleaning dust off of things.

Since VIGIL is between epic battles for its survival, Fel decided to see if HALO had anything going on.

But she hadn't been around in a bit, so she had some cleaning to do.

[Reinholdt]

[Dorms]

Reinholdt's been busy. He's taken a nap on the couch, knocked Toby's papers off his desk, taken a nap of Toby's desk, ate half the tuna, watched his phone waiting on a call, marathoned the whole Secret Agent Magler series, taken a nap on the tv, gave Thariza a crisis of purpose, ate the other half of the tuna, marathoned the whole Reinholdt Jones series, ordered more tuna, watched his phone waiting on a call, sat and stared at the fishies outside, and took a nap on top of the simulation control room panel.

Now the small blue cat is wandering around the halls with his phone strapped to his head when he hears noise from inside one of the rooms. What?! Someone was here? A looter perhaps? That rapscallion! Only Rein takes advantage of a mostly empty base! Or rather, he was here first. Or something.

Then again he only knocks at the door and calls out "Hello?" So I guess he isn't too concerned about intruders.

[Felandria]

[Dorms]

Felandria hears a small knock on her door, so she puts the duster down and opens her door, but she doesn't see anyone...

Until she looks down.

Hi, kitty!

[Reinholdt]

[Dorms]

Reinholdt tilts his head up and up and up. Huh. This one was tall even by Nexus' standards which already had more than its fair share of tall. Well someone has to beat the curve and since he was at the other end, it might as well be her.

"Ila'kil. Greetings, I am Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire, taker of naps and stealer of chairs." Reinholdt performs his flourish. "Who might you be?"

She didn't seem to be acting like someone who was just caught so she probably was supposed to be here. That would be the first since... what's it been? A month? Best not to scare her away too quickly.

[Felandria]

[Dorms]

Reinholdt tilts his head up and up and up. Huh. This one was tall even by Nexus' standards which already had more than its fair share of tall. Well someone has to beat the curve and since he was at the other end, it might as well be her.

"Ila'kil. Greetings, I am Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire, taker of naps and stealer of chairs." Reinholdt performs his flourish. "Who might you be?"

She didn't seem to be acting like someone who was just caught so she probably was supposed to be here. That would be the first since... what's it been? A month? Best not to scare her away too quickly.

Felandria would be more surprised that the kitty talked if she hadn't been around here so long, but she still stifled a d'aww when Reinholdt does his flourish.

She bows somewhat as she introduces herself.

I'm Felandria, daughter of Zeus, member of HALO, VIGIL, and about six other things.

And how are you today?

[Reinholdt]

[Dorms]

Reinholdt is torn as to whether being a daughter of Zeus is neat or commonplace, but something else she said catches his attention more. "VIGIL? I just sent a liaison over there to negotiate for me. I'm still waiting for a call from them." Rein rubs at the cell phone strapped atop his head. He's nervous and he knows he shouldn't be hopeful for a positive outcome but he can't manage to keep away from the phone either.

"So I guess I'm anxious? Sure, that's a word. What about you?"

[Felandria]

[Dorms]

Reinholdt is torn as to whether being a daughter of Zeus is neat or commonplace, but something else she said catches his attention more. "VIGIL? I just sent a liaison over there to negotiate for me. I'm still waiting for a call from them." Rein rubs at the cell phone strapped atop his head. He's nervous and he knows he shouldn't be hopeful for a positive outcome but he can't manage to keep away from the phone either.

"So I guess I'm anxious? Sure, that's a word. What about you?"

Felandria sits down on the floor.

I'm just cleaning up my room, it's been a while since I was here, it got a bit dusty.

Been with VIGIL mostly, since the crisis, they've needed me more, especially since my house was their base for a while.

What exactly are you negotiating with them about?

[Reinholdt]

[Dorms]

"Do you want a chair?" Reinholdt asks as she sits on the floor. He can appreciate the floor perhaps, but it's not the comfiest thing around.

"That was kind of you." How big was her house? Or did they suffer close quarters drama? Questions that go unanswered. "I'm hoping for the release... no, that's not the right word. Hmm... an exchange of custody of my son's soul. I don't know how long you've been in VIGIL, but you've probably seen him. Whichever thing in your vault that's most heavily guarded." Unless they limited access from her. Which might be the case. He hasn't studied VIGIL's security measures.

[Felandria]

[Dorms]

"Do you want a chair?" Reinholdt asks as she sits on the floor. He can appreciate the floor perhaps, but it's not the comfiest thing around.

"That was kind of you." How big was her house? Or did they suffer close quarters drama? Questions that go unanswered. "I'm hoping for the release... no, that's not the right word. Hmm... an exchange of custody of my son's soul. I don't know how long you've been in VIGIL, but you've probably seen him. Whichever thing in your vault that's most heavily guarded." Unless they limited access from her. Which might be the case. He hasn't studied VIGIL's security measures.

Fel's eyes widen.

Why does VIGIL have your son's soul?

And why wouldn't they give it to you?