HALO 183: The Not Remotely Gritty Reboot

[Reinholdt]

[More Fourth Tower Settling]

Reinholdt's always considered cohabiting bodies a questionable idea to begin with, but there are some undeniable spiritual benefits to the process. "Would holographic circles work? Like hardened projected light of the proper patterns? Cause that'd be the biggest empty space we'd have available." Mixing science and magic never went wrong for anyone!

[Late Evening Phone Call]

"Don'tcha mean four?" Don't let Annie hear you call her a baby still Reinholdt! You'll lose all your brownie points. "That's... That makes a lot of sense actually. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to do that. Thanks Kitty." Calling Kitty was the right move! Even drunk Rein has great ideas. Now he's just got to remember this conversation in the morning.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

And the woman wasn't even giving Dena her name. This was going to be difficult.
"I'm not representing MERC right now if that makes you feel any better. Nor do I think HALO would let me in if they thought I was a danger to anyone outside." She offers, her voice free from frustration for now. She had to try to see things from the woman's perspective...
Which meant that she probably wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible. Better get to the point then.
"Helios, I want to discuss a god named Helios."

[Gullara]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

The vanara frowns. "You'll talk to Vax. Wait in the office." She points to the door immediately left of the entrance.

[More Fourth Tower Settling]

Korrina arches an eyebrow. "I can't say I'm familiar. Our techniques are fine, though. I'm just trying to maximize this room. You know, flex my skills."

[Late Evening Phone Call]

"You know, at one time." Kitsuki clarifies. Not that Annie makes it any easier. "No problem. We can talk some more when you're sober if you want. Maybe I should meet this Harley."

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Visitl]

Dena takes a seat and crosses her legs. This was not going well so far so hopefully Vax would be more helpful. Though considering that she was responsible for the Malechenar split, Dena very much doubted that.

[Reinholdt]

[More Fourth Tower Settling]

"Ah. Alright. Just wanted to be sure," Rein gives a smile that assures Korrina he has full faith in her abilities. "Well I could ask a hundred more questions about you and this before I get tired of it, but I don't want to belay your progress. I'll leave you to it."

[Late Evening Phone Call]

"Yeah. Yeah. Both of those things. Waitaminute... sober? Am I still that? I think I got another one around here some where..." There's the sound of some movement and glasses clinking as Rein seeks out a full bottle from his liquor cabinet. "Oh wait. Maybe I should ask her first. It'll probably be ok. She's very sociable. But I'll double check. Just... plan on visiting next week or something and I'll let you know if she says no. Oh wait. Maybe we should come over to your place? I don't think I've seen it yet. Eh, whatever you decid- ah-hah! Thought you could hide back there." Rein appears to have found a fresh bottle of rum. Huzzah! "I've got a new engagement to make. Talk to you later Kitty. You've been a big help. You're amazing."

[Felandria]

[I Don't Think This is Thanksmas Anymore, Toto]

Lynette's plan of pretending they never saw each other is almost immediately thrown so far off the rails that a couple of bystanders look around in confusion, trying to work out whether the faint sound of a train going by is part of the festivities. One of them even pats his hair, in an attempt to make sure that the spectral breeze of its passage didn't ruin his look, before frowning in complete baffelement, because even if it weren't for the fact that there's obviously no train here, the base is underwater and there can't be one in earshot.

After a few moments of frantic thought, though, the thief forces a smile onto her lips (it's almost convincing, though Felandria likely knows her well enough to pick up on the fact that it's most assuredly not) and offers a quick wave of her own. She even manages to keep from tensing up like her former lover did, which in her opinion makes it look altogether more natural. And that's it, right? A brief acknowledgement, a pretense of friendliness that lets them both feel good about how mature they're being, and they can go right back to ignoring each other and do their best to have it never happen again. Ever. Even if it means that Lynette stops going out for Thanksmas after this. She doesn't like the cold anyway, it's totally a mature and reasonable reaction, and besides, she has a whole year to think about it.

Felandria sees the returned wave and allows herself a smile.

She can tell that Lynette’s smile was a little awkward, but figures it’s just the general tension.

And before she’s even entirely aware, Fel finds herself heading in Lyn’s direction.

Not hurriedly, of course, just more of a meander, as she looks around, vaguely checking on things.

Perhaps she could even grab a couple of mugs of cocoa as she does so.

However, while this is happening, unbeknownst to Fel, Lynette may notice a smol white fuzzy boi investigating her shoes, Reginald is very curious.

[Gullara]

[Fourth Tower Visitl]

After several minutes of waiting, Dena will find Vax entering the office. She moves deftly past the gorgon and seats herself in front of her. Not normally a notable task, but she did it blind. An eyeless face greets Dena from across the desk.

"Dena Xifhara, lieutenant of Merc. What brings you to our compound?" She asks neutrally.

[Late Evening Phone Call]

Oh boy. This poor guy. "We'll sort out the detils. See you later, Rein. And good luck." And with that the call can end.

[More Fourth Tower Settling]

Korrina smiles. "If you want any details on the finished outcome you can ask whenever you want." She flicks her finger toward Delv. "He stays this time, though." Delv grins and gives an exaggerated wink.

[Reinholdt]

[More Fourth Tower Settling]

"I will. Thank you." What it is exactly is a good starter question. He should have asked about that instead of Vax. Ah well.

Rein peers at Delv. "Yes, well... Try not to make a mess. And good luck with the baby." Reinholdt will turn and make his exit.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

Dena was suddenly glad she was wearing sunglasses for a second reason, namely that no one could see the blank looks she was giving the diim as she entered. Were they serious? As if MERC would have a senior official announce themselves and then start murdering people. She had hoped they had a better reputation than that. Besides, if Dena really wanted to murder someone she wouldn't be reliant on her gaze. You never knew who could be immune.

But whatever, if she wanted to wear an uncomfortable mask for the entire meeting that was her choice. "I see that my reputation precedes me. Or at least a part of it." Vax tone told her she wouldn't as much as getting close to a smile for most of the meeting but sometimes Dena couldn't resist poking fun at things. "But yes, I want to pay you for information regarding a god called Helios. I'm told you would have some intelligence on him." She gets up from her seat. "So... should I just stay here or do you want me to come in?" It was awkward having a meeting in the waiting room but she had a feeling that's exactly what they were going to have.

[Purple Eagle]

[Enitan's Lab]

After some more conversation about Sizewell, Enitan expresses her desire to get back to work. "It is nice meeting you, Dorota, and I look forward to working with you, but much as I enjoy this conversation, I should focus on setting this lab up." After saying their goodbyes and giving a friendly wave to both beings, she shuts the door and gets to work.

[Gullara]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

Dena was suddenly glad she was wearing sunglasses for a second reason, namely that no one could see the blank looks she was giving the diim as she entered. Were they serious? As if MERC would have a senior official announce themselves and then start murdering people. She had hoped they had a better reputation than that. Besides, if Dena really wanted to murder someone she wouldn't be reliant on her gaze. You never knew who could be immune.

But whatever, if she wanted to wear an uncomfortable mask for the entire meeting that was her choice. "I see that my reputation precedes me. Or at least a part of it." Vax tone told her she wouldn't as much as getting close to a smile for most of the meeting but sometimes Dena couldn't resist poking fun at things. "But yes, I want to pay you for information regarding a god called Helios. I'm told you would have some intelligence on him." She gets up from her seat. "So... should I just stay here or do you want me to come in?" It was awkward having a meeting in the waiting room but she had a feeling that's exactly what they were going to have.

((There in the office right now, not the forey. Or at least Dena was told to wait there.))

[Fourth Tower Visit]

Vax looks at her flat in the face, despite not having any eyes. "Helios? It's possible we have information for you. What makes you seek out information on this being?" She asks neutrally.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

"A potential business deal. Helios is the god of deals I'm told so that probably shouldn't come as a surprise. I need to know to what degree he can be trusted and if he delivers on his promises. So essentially a character assessment." Dena explains as she uncrosses her legs and leans forward. "For one, have you dealt with him?"

[Gullara]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

"Personally? No. That said, the knowledge of the Fourth Tower goes far beyond any one member. But delving into that repository of knowledge is no small task. Tell me, Dena, why should I help the associate of my enemies?" Vax leans back and steaples her fingers.

[5a Violista]

[Kitchen]

Carlie has been cooking a dinner for a stay-at-home date. Everything's going well: she started marinating the beans since last night and those are now almost done cooking with a handful of meats and vegetables. In another pot, there's chicken with peppers, spices, coconut milk, and oils cooking together (This recipe ought to have shrimp instead of chicken, but...). There's something that looks like breadcrumbs but is actually spiced and toasted flour-like stuff and is already set aside. A small vegetable side dish has been prepared and placed in the fridge. And although she's never used a pressure cooker before, she heard that it cooks rice in half the time and between everything else she got a little late on putting the rice in so she...


...smoke starts pouring out of the pressure cooker.


"No no no nononono," she says, panic rising behind her eyes. She drops down the forks she was using to stir, and one of them falls into the bean mixture "Wait-" and the other falls out of the pan, flicking the sauce up at her then the fork falls to the ground "No-". She turns the heat down for all of them, then reaches out to the pressure cooker to check it. While reaching for it, her fingers brush against it and quickly burn - because as long as everything's suddenly falling apart, might as well accidentally burn your fingers too, right? "Ow!"

Tears well up in her eyes as she brings those fingers to her mouth.

Since rice is as essential and not wanting to ruin everything, she does her best to avoid breaking down, and moves the pressure cooker off the heat and starts looking for a new regular pot.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

"I'm only your enemy by association. MERC troops have never enforced your organization to do anything. We've stayed in Westside just doing our jobs. I mean, your relationship with Malechenar aside I think we both agree that money is good. We simply haven't been given a reason to break away yet like you have." Dena pauses but isn't letting Vax comment just yet. "That said, if we can agree that money is good I'd like to pay you like any other customer. Whatever you think this information is worth I'll pay it."

[Reinholdt]

[Kitchen]

Reinholdt has a date tonight! A lighter one wherein he was going to be dressed up, but casually. Just something low pressure. And it wasn't still for at least another twenty to thirty minutes which meant he could absolutely get a nap in on the couch in the TV room. Best couch in the base.

So when a ruckus occurs in the kitchen nearby, the cat ear's flick and he was instantly awake. It was already hard enough to sleep with the good smells. Now it smelled like smoke?! Within moments the small blue cat was dashing into the kitchen blindly. "Is everything alright?!" Hopefully he doesn't get underfoot.

[5a Violista]

[Kitchen]

Carlie was automatically just going through the motions of grabbing rice, butter, water, and so on and putting it in the new pot. All while keeping the burnt fingers in her mouth. Doing everything on automatic like this is just a recipe for more things going wrong.
Like, for example, accidentally tripping over or stepping on someone.

Luckily, being talked to shakes her out of it. She immediately stops walking back and forth around the kitchen and looks around, and realizes that if this continues, things could go worse. She pulls her fingers out of her mouth, then shakes her hand hoping that somehow stops it from hurting.
"U-um." She tests her voice to make sure it doesn't sound too warbled from the tears. She clenches her hand now, hoping that will numb her fingers a bit now.

After swallowing and taking a deep breath, she adds, "Y-yeah. It's fine. It just might take a bit longer than expected." She doesn't state why, but it's pretty obvious that it's because of the smoke.

"So."
She stands there, then reaches over to put the pot on the stove.
"...yeah." Carlie bends over to grab the fork that's fallen on the floor, then drops it again because she tried picking it up with the burned fingers. "Yeah. Everything's fine," she claims.

[Reinholdt]

[Kitchen]

"That's good," Reinholdt says after taking in the scene for a moment, the cat moving over to pick up the twice fallen fork. He moves to an empty section of the counter and hops up, holding out the fork towards Carlie.

"Must be boring if everything's going so well though. Would you like some help? Just for the company to break up the tedium." And for no other reason.

[Gullara]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

"I'm only your enemy by association. MERC troops have never enforced your organization to do anything. We've stayed in Westside just doing our jobs. I mean, your relationship with Malechenar aside I think we both agree that money is good. We simply haven't been given a reason to break away yet like you have." Dena pauses but isn't letting Vax comment just yet. "That said, if we can agree that money is good I'd like to pay you like any other customer. Whatever you think this information is worth I'll pay it."

[Fourth Tower Visit]

"The trouble is that I don't precisely know what Malechenar has you doing. If you work for them in Westside, what else could they have hired you for?" Vax replies matter of factly. "But perhaps you are right. It is just your job, after all. However, do not expect me to trust you."

The diim folders her hands on the desk. "I'm sure an appropriate sum of money can be worked out. In addition I'd like a meeting, however. Merc has a young woman in its employ. Astrana, yes? I'd like to meet with her if our information is satisfactory."

[5a Violista]

[Kitchen]

Carlie grabs the fork with her same hand but with her knuckles instead of fingertips this time. "Thanks," she says.

She deposits it into the sink and starts to rinse it, while careful to not let too much water splash onto herself. While letting the water run, she turns back up the heat to get everything cooking again. Once that's all done, she starts to clean up the tiny mess she made, and takes a few more deep breaths.

To be honest, if she was just offered help, she'd probably turn it down and say everything's under control, everything's fine, she doesn't need help. But just company? "Sure," she says. "There's not really much left to do, anyway. Very boring. Just stirring things and adjusting the heat."

Trying to move the focus of the room away from the smoke in the air, she decides to instead push the conversation towards the food: "It's been a while since I made this dish so I hope it's good, but I used to make it on lots of holidays," she says. Good conversation starter, right? She thinks so.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

"That's fair." Dena replies regarding the trust issue, refraining from commenting on anything else as Vax speaks.
Vax's request comes somewhat unexpected, but Dena quickly realized that it made sense as she recalled the fourth tower being mentioned in relation to Astrana. "Astrana Tyamere. I know of her. She was associated to your organization once, wasn't she? That makes thing a bit more difficult but perhaps we could arrange something. Considering the suspicion it sounds like you want her to come to you but as I don't know your shared history I can't ask her to just potentially endanger herself. Instead, what about I call her right now and let you two arrange the meeting? I think that would be easier for everyone."

[Gullara]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

"The Fourth Tower doesn't have the centralized structure you'd assume. I know nothing about Astrana nor the compound she associated with. But I am curious." Vax explains. "By all means call her."

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

Dena raises an eyebrow. "So why are you interested in seeing her then?" Though as soon as Vax answers the question she will ask for some privacy and leave to have the call in private.

Eventually she returns and hands the diim her phone. "Well, here she is."
"This is Astrana Tyamere, how may I help the fourth tower?" Comes a gentle inquiry on the other end.

[Reinholdt]

[Kitchen]

"Yes. Quite very boring," Reinholdt agrees half-heartedly. Regardless, the cat hops down and displays his own personal impression of Animorphs as he shifts into what is in his opinion his much less handsome form.

The humanoid fey then reaches over around Carlie and flicks on all the exhaust fans. It's a little loud and Rein doesn't like them either, but better than letting the smoke linger. He does make a note to double check their fire alarms though. The kitchen system probably didn't come on because it sensed Carlie was still inside. Kinda counterproductive to suck all the oxygen out of the room to save people from burning to death.

"Yeah?" Rein asks, apparently caught on her conversational hook. "What kind of holidays did you celebrate where you're from?"

[5a Violista]

[Kitchen]

Oh, right, the exhaust fan. Carlie should have turned it on herself. "Thanks," she says again.
She keeps on taking care of the pans and so on, while waiting for the rice-water to start boiling.

"Um..." Carlie tries to translate their names in her head so that they make more sense. "There were, um, Birthplace and Our Lady of the Appearance which have some date overlap with Thanksmas and Spooktober, respectively, I guess. Day of Independence, too, that's in September, and Mother's Day is another big one even though I didn't care for that one as much. Then, the other two big ones are the Carnival and the Festival of Iemanja," she explains. "Those two are the biggest ones."

Explaining what any of those are will have to wait, however, because there's a more important question: "...Are garlic and onion toxic to you?" she asks. "I didn't put any in the rice just in case, but..." How to ask this question..."Also, you're actually a cat?" Not really a question, though. She did some background research. "At first I thought you were joking, but...actually seeing you change like that is different." And seeing someone Animorph-shift in such a massive way was pretty interesting but also weird.

[Gullara]

[Fourth Tower Visit]

"Professional curiosity." Is Vax's only response.

"A pleasure." Vax says when Dena returns with Astrana on the line. "I'll ask the obvious question first. You were trained in a compound, yes?" It doesn't sound like much of a question.

[billtodamax]

Nigel's Research

What Nigel sees is unusual. The concept motes (he might come up with a better name for them) are seemingly out of sync as they seem to be distrupting each other's patterns. The message they're emitting is now completely incomprehensible and just results in nonsense.
There's no telling how long this chaotic state will last until they reach some kind of equilibrium but an infected invidual might be free from at least the symptoms of the "disease" during that time.

[Felandria's Room]

Oh. Poor Nigel. He went through all that work to make it taste good when you drink it, and Juliana decided to treat it like salsa. "Oh. Sorry," she says. "I was getting mixed signals, what with the nachos and all."

Not really, though. She knew you were supposed to drink it. She just didn't feel like having it plain. At least, mixing it with nachos helps mask the 'magic' flavor.

In fact! Waking up Felandria was not Juliet's plan. She didn't even consider it. So, that's why she says, "Oh, you know me too well. Am I really that obvious?" At this point, she's running out of potion but keeps on eating the nachos anyway. "I bet she'll be a lot more fun awake." Jules shifts her position again, so now she's sitting up. "So you're saying all you have to do is shut off your brain for a bit and that might help stop it?" she asks.

Felandria's Room

Well not off off that's death, right? Nigel chuckles, then pauses for a minute. Maybe get them dead then defibrillate them? Probably safer ways to fix this. Last resort, moving on. Uh, but, yeah, sleep should help. Theoretically. It's not... just your brain that this targets, it's sorta all in you, but for one thing you can'tbe a danger to others while you're asleep. Nigel says. His bedside manner has never been great. He polishes off his nachos. Anyway, you got any other questions?

Nigel's Research

Ah! OK! Ok ok ok. Suppression! Nigel says, starting to sketch out some ideas. His paper runes quickly collapse, burning themselves out and allowing the motes to seperate again. This nerd is probably going to be doing math and such for a while. Is that some sort of bracelet he's drawing? Whatever, we'll find out later once other Nigel catches up to this Nigel.

[Reinholdt]

[Kitchen]

Reinholdt leans back and gives her room to work, though he is tempted to mildly interfere. There's a lot of Carlie he wants to touch, especially that belly. "Our Lady of the Appearance huh? Some kind of shapeshifting Saint?" That would make sense as an origin for a costume based holiday like Spooktober. "What's Iemanja?" Rein inquires further.

The treasure hunter nearly chuckles. "Not quite. I'm an Alikil. But that's just an evolved, nearly extinct, form of the cat you're thinking of." Rein shrugs. "But I'm not a cat in this form. You don't have to worry about anything poisoning me that wouldn't poison a normal human." Though he doesn't like garlic and onion much.

"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to disturb you. If I knew it wasn't an emergency, I'd have put my kissing face on first," Rein says jokingly, but a little defensively, sensitive about the matter.

[5a Violista]

[Kitchen]

Speaking of kissing faces, Carlie finds a small break in having to stir and adjust heat, and takes a step towards Reinholdt. She leans over, to plant a kiss on him.

Well, it's too late to put onion and garlic in the rice now. There would be too little time and their flavor won't distribute as well, so there'd be strong concentrated patches of onion and garlic. "So will the baby be part-cat, then?" she wonders, since he's not allergic to the things cats would be. She hadn't thought to check and now it's too late without maybe ultrasound or divination or something but that sounds too bothersome. "Sorry, I mean, part-Alikil?"

"Actually, except for monsters and animals and fairies, everyone else where I come from is just human. The only other shapeshifters I knew were my mother and my sister and some distant cousins." And her dead children. So, consequently, "The Lady of the Appearance was a saint, but just a normal human one who came from the sea, fell in love with a god-king, became the mother of the head god, and then performed miracles for the enslaved. She represents love, femininity, and magic. Nothing to do with shapeshifting." So not actually that related to Spooktober; the holidays just have similar dates. "And Iemanja was the goddess of the ocean and healing and, um, childbirth, because she was the mother of everything living. She was also a mermaid." And then a sudden thought comes to Carlie: wait, that's a weird coincidence she's never put together. Carlie became a mermaid, and then somehow - she's not entirely sure how - she's still becoming one whenever she gets wet, and then shortly afterwards she discovered that she was pregnant.

"But, I mean, they're not really gods? Not in the same sense as actual gods because there's only one of those where I come from, but they're still divine, so...I don't know. It all makes sense to me, it's just hard to explain. They do frequently possess people and I just realized that it's entirely possible Iemanja's been coming to me because I'm pregnant and I'm still turning into a mermaid whenever I go in water."

Super-weird coincidence.
Not planned at all. (Seriously. I had forgotten that that was something I had previously decided on and only remembered it because of the question about holidays.)




[Felandria's Room]

Juliana would prefer to not die.
Dying is just something that's not on her bucket list.

She yawns.
"Wanna bet?" Julie asks. "I'll bet that I can be a danger while I'm asleep." She shifts again, lying down this time and facing away from him, and then pats the space behind her. "Come on, lie down. I bet you're tired, and when I wake up we can see if you're still fine or not. That's what science is about, right?"

She moves her arm up and uses it like a pillow, and becomes grateful that she chose to face away: he can't see her tears that way. And tears are unattractive and would require her to reach behind her lensless glasses to wipe them away. Does she have any other questions? she wonders. "U-um. Hey," she says in a more mellow tone, quieter probably because he'll need to get closer to hear her just as well as before. And luring people closer is something that she's been trying to do most of the time so far. "You're pretty smart, right? And that means you're going to figure it out soon, right? I...I don't want to kill anyone again."

Wait, killing people again?
Juleka leans up and turns her head. Her eyes are dried again, a shiver-inducing smile creeps along her face, and she peers at a downward angle through her fake-glasses. "Oh, before I forget: make sure you keep the lights off when you look in the lab closet. And don't touch the walls. At least until I have a chance to clean up in there..."

...
She didn't actually do anything in there.

[Morty]

[Fourth Tower Section]

Some time after the Fourth Tower has set up in HALO, they will receive a visitor. Dorota, the organization's alchemist, enters the lobby looking for someone to speak to.