HALO 182: Wait, what if we ARE Lawbreaking?

[Morty]

[Swimming Pool]

"I guess we could, but what's stopping him from just lying through his teeth about the whole thing?" Thariza says. "We have no proof, if he even is involved in it. He could've believed the offer was genuine, too. I'm... not much of an investigator, but it feels like asking him directly wouldn't help much at this point."

[Cola]

[Swimming Pool]

"Then what can we do? I'm definitely not an investigator either, and I kinda doubt that there's an investigator-for-hire in Bayside who'll look into something that might give them trouble with the pirates."
Strawberry sighs yet again. "Do you have any reasonable idea what to do, maybe?"

[Morty]

[Swimming Pool]

Thariza's tail swishes.

"Maybe someone here can help us. Whoever started this seems to have a bone to pick with us, so it's all of HALO's business."

[Cola]

[Swimming Pool]

There it is again, that fearful look on Strawberry's face.
"That might be possible, but... if they had beef with HALO, why would they send a single, clueless old woman? Look, we could just say this never happened, the thing with me breaking into the base. If we were to say that the only weak spot of the base was a cracked window, and it's fixed now... then this whole ordeal would be over, right?" Or at least it would allow her to return home without further problems. "I... I really just wouldn't like to get in any conflict." She adds, looking down at the water.

((Whoever faked the e-mail, they don't have a bone to pick with HALO. I merely wanted an excuse for a character to enter the base.))

[Morty]

[Swimming Pool]

"Well... I guess nothing major happened, at the end of the day," Thariza says. "It's just one broken window. Launching a full investigation might be excessive. Maybe we can just wait to see if anything else happens."

[Cola]

[Swimming Pool]

"Really?" Strawberry's face lightens up almost instantly, a happy smile stretching across. "Oh, thank you so much!"
If Thariza is next to her, Strawberry will give her a big ol' happy hug. Even if Thariza is standing up, in that case she'll just hug the legs. "When you and that boy had me cornered in the storeroom, I really thought my final hour had come."

[Reinholdt]

[Couch]

The blue kitty on the couch yawns and wakes up. While it is super tempting to leave at that and go back to sleep, he stretches in place, getting his tiny paws out there and decides it's probably time he get up and move about. Maybe even do something if it's one of those days.

So Reinholdt hops off the couch and shifts into his humanoid fey form. Another big stretch, this time with arms and hands, and he sets off on a leisurely stroll around the base.

[Morty]

[Swimming Pool]

Thariza is hugged. She looks very awkward about it.

"We, uh... don't execute people for breaking in, you know. But you're welcome. What are you going to do now?"

[Cola]

[Swimming Pool]

Awkward or not, Strawberry holds on for a lengthy 6.83 seconds.
"I... don't really know." she says after letting go of Thariza. "Maybe leave the base and call it a day, I guess? Probably loiter around the riftline station since my return ticket is only valid for the evening train. Unless you want to keep me in your mermaid holding cell some more, of course." She makes a gesture towards the pool.

[Morty]

[Swimming Pool]

"I don't really see the point," Thariza says. "You're free to go. Drop by sometime, if you want. Only next time, through the front door."

[Cola]

[Swimming Pool]

"Thank you! Maybe I will come visit again some day." Strawberry sheepishly smiles at Thariza for a moment, a faint, blue blush tinting her face. "Also, about the free to go thing, I kinda have no legs, you see, sooo... I may need some assistance in reaching the exit."

[Morty]

[Swimming Pool]

Thariza sighs.

"I guess I can carry you to the exit. Will you be fine from there?"

[Cola]

[Swimming Pool]

"Yes, absolutely. I left my wheelchair right next to the water at the riftline station's pier, so letting me out through an airlock should be just fine."

When grabbed, Strawberry's body tenses up and becomes stiff, which should make her easier to lift and carry.

[Morty]

[Swimming Pool ==> Exit]

"Seems it's a good thing you ran into someone big," Thariza remarks, as she picks Strawberry up and carries her again, this time towards the exit.

[The Bushranger]

Psh, what's a week to a demon that's lived 300+ years. He's still a young'un. ((Not to mention how slow I am. ))
Said demon young'un realized he didn't really know anything about Dani's wife other than that she existed. "What does she do?"

((Bah, sorry for the delay. My brain decided to take a hike on me.))

"She fights bad guys. Works for an elite unit," Dani says proudly as she scoops out the ice cream with a broad grin on her face.

[Cola]

[Exit]

"Someone big and kind, rather."

Presumably, Strawberry will be placed in an airlock very soon.
"It was nice to meet you, Thariza. Even if the circumstances under which we met weren't really nice at all, but you get what I mean. Anyway. Goodbye, I guess." She waves her hand a little, smiling.

[Morty]

[Exit]

"I've met people in worse circumstances. See you around," Thariza says.

[Cola]

[Exit]

Strawberry pulls the big, green lever on the airlock's wall, which causes the lights to go out. That's it. "Pretty big light switch you got here." For her next try, she presses the small, red button next to the lever. A warning signal sounds, the inside doors shut, water is pumped into the small room, and the outside doors open. If nothing stops her, Strawberry will hurry away from the base, towards the riftline station beach.



[some sort of epilogue?]

A small Bayside apartment, the next morning: Strawberry is sitting in her kitchen, enjoying a modest breakfast, when her cell phone rings. Her boss, a Grey alien, is at the other end of the line.
"Good morning Mrs. Strabirova. How was your trip to HALO yesterday? Any good news?"
"Well, it went better than expected." she lies, "Though I don't know very much about high-tech engineering, the only weak spot in the base's exterior I could find was a cracked window. It should be fixed by now, I think."
"That's good news. The HALO people were satisfied with your work?"
"I guess."
"That's good news. So they paid the full price then?"
Strawberry's hearts almost skip a beat. She had been so happy about not getting into further trouble yesterday that she completely forgot about the pay. And she doesn't have enough savings to compensate for the missing payment, either. For some dreadfully long seconds, silence prevails. "There is no pay." she quietly admits.
"What do you mean, there is no pay? You just said you got the job done."
"I lied. I didn't get the job done. I screwed up big time, I'm so sorry."
This time, it's the boss who falls silent for a moment. "I'll just say three things. One: you will not have to compensate the lost payment with you own savings, I know you don't have much. Three: You're fired, because you just lied to me about one of the perhaps most important contracts we've ever got. You don't have to show up for work tomorrow."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
The boss hangs up.

((With that, the scene should be over. Thank you for playing.))

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

Reinholdt's wandering leads him to the Firing Range. Well, he hasn't been properly sticking to a regimen of training, so it seems as good a time as any to brush up on his sharpshooting.

So he's here, headphones over his ears as he murders some moving targets with bullets. Bang bang.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Not far from the firing range is Thariza, who looks a bit different than the last time Reinholdt saw her. Which was a while ago. Her fur seems to have acquired some black-and-white streaks here and there, and her horns have grown longer. She's practising with her mace, or rather a mace she picked up from the armoury, and evoking some strange magic. She doesn't appear to entirely know what she's doing. A few practice dummies have been melted into puddles.

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

It is hard to forget a Charr, even if Thariza does look a little different. When Reinholdt notices her, he stops firing, setting the gun down and lowering the headphones. It seems to him that she's doing quite well at her task. If said task is melting her foes. He heads on over, though stays at a respectable distance away from her that mace. "Not many people willing to liquify their enemies these days. Not so literally at any rate."

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Thariza looks down at the small cat. If Reinholdt is in cat form, that is. She's pretty sure she's seen him somewhere...

"Willing isn't the right word. I'm not really doing it on purpose. Not entirely, anyway. I was... well. I was dead for a while, and seems like a trip to the Mists and back gave me some new magic. I'm trying to get a handle on it."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

Given historical interactions, Reinholdt seems to be both in cat form and fey form at any point in time since he cannot be directly observed.

Granted, he can't actually use guns and weapons in general in cat form. Only his unique god slaying sniper rifle was fitted to scale with his size and he is no longer in possession of that. So his cat form is mostly 'defenseless' for certain interpretations of the word.

"Uh, being dead for a while usually isn't healthy. Trust me. This is the longest I've lived and the sanest I've been. Maybe there's a direct correlation..." Hmm. "What's the Mists?"

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

"You don't need to tell me that," Thariza assures him grouchily. "It's not like I chose to die. Or to get dragged back here, for that matter. The Mists is... sort of the afterlife, where I come from. A lot of things is there, but it's also the place people go where they die. I think so, anyway. I don't remember anything between dying and coming back."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

"That's a strange description for an after life. So you don't remember whether it was pleasant sunny warm or everything is too hot warm? No trials of judgement. No dueling ancient pharaohs to determine the fate of your soul? Come on, you gotta remember something vague." The vague recollections were the only valuable part of dying and returning. "How'd you die?"

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

"Something clearly happened to me, or I wouldn't have this new magic," Thariza says. "I was in the Vigil tower when it fell. Demons overwhelmed and killed me. Then, another one of them brought me back for some insane reason."

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

"Maybe the insane reason is the cause of the magic?" Instead of whatever happened on the other side. But then it depends on the insanity. And the reason. "I can't say I've met any demons who had sane reasoning." Reinholdt says, shifting uncomfortably and giving a forced smile.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

"No, I'm pretty sure I brought the magic back from the Mists," Thariza says. "The demon brought me back to prove a point. See if it could. No rest for me yet, either way." She sighs. "I'm not sure what happened to me on the other side, but I can connect to... something. Someone." She puts her claws together, concentrates and a green glow surrounds her, as an angry yell can be heard faintly in the distance.

[Reinholdt]

[Firing Range]

Reinholdt glances briefly around for the source of the scream. More on instinct than anything else, already knowing the 'source'. "Well, might not be someone you want to connect to. Besides, you're going about this all wrong anyways. Everyone knows mystical power gets stronger the more you repress it. The less practice you have, the better." So long as unintended consequences is an acceptable payment for raw power.

[Morty]

[Firing Range]

Thariza scowls.

"That doesn't make any sense. How will a power get stronger if I don't practice it? Besides, if I'm stuck with it, I'd rather understand it."