[Nexus] HALO 178: Mia clementia denor esto

[Lord Magtok]

Sparring Match

"Brute force is not my realm of expertise. You need someone outnumbered, outgunned, outsmarted, smooth-talked, or anything other than punched in the head, and I do it best." Magtok grumbles, picking himself up off of the ground slowly. Raptor Christ, that were-tiger demon woman has to weigh at least six hundred pounds.

"Alright, round two." Magtok decides to charge first, before Thariza can get the idea to do so herself. He lifts a couple inches off the ground just before closing in on her, hoping to drive a shiny knee into her gut before she can ensnare him in those horrifying murder-claws again.

Magtok's Office

"Oh, you're not here to boot me out? Well...alright, then." Magtok's shoulders visibly drop, and he doesn't seem nearly as tense as he had a moment ago. Not just because of the healing, though. The cyborg had her pinned for 'girl with surprising depth and hidden seriousness that totally won't stand for you messing with her organization' when he spotted her in the chair, y'see. One of a rare few who could make a decent case for throwing him out and into the ocean, and putting her own butt in that fun spinning chair, for more than just the five minutes Magtok's own reign is expected to last.

"What kind of assistance are you offering?" Not that Magtok's picky or anything. He just spent the last few minutes having his face smashed against the floor; he's really not in a position to say he's too good at this leadership business to need anyone's help right now.

[Mee]

I'm still keeping Vulpania, my beautiful Queen. He gives her a tired smile before falling to his knees and pressing his face into her body. Now comes the other side of the coin, the reason why it took so long: I hate giving up.

Ori hugs him gently. "You didn't give up. You . . . you're . . . well, if you hadn't, you would have worked yourself to death. This isn't worth that."

Entrance

Weiss listens intently.
Interesting system, miss. So... who is in charge currently?
Weiss asks.

"Apparently Magtok."

Magtok's Office

"Oh, you're not here to boot me out? Well...alright, then." Magtok's shoulders visibly drop, and he doesn't seem nearly as tense as he had a moment ago. Not just because of the healing, though. The cyborg had her pinned for 'girl with surprising depth and hidden seriousness that totally won't stand for you messing with her organization' when he spotted her in the chair, y'see. One of a rare few who could make a decent case for throwing him out and into the ocean, and putting her own butt in that fun spinning chair, for more than just the five minutes Magtok's own reign is expected to last.

"What kind of assistance are you offering?" Not that Magtok's picky or anything. He just spent the last few minutes having his face smashed against the floor; he's really not in a position to say he's too good at this leadership business to need anyone's help right now.

"Well, you know very little of the members of HALO." Civvy says, pacing slightly. "I know every one of them. I answered them all at the door, and got to know them at least a bit on their way to this office. I can tell you about the people here. I will help you however you need.

Hello." She says finally, offering him a hand. "My name is Civiron. I'm the Goddess of Hope, HALO's door answerer, and first line of stopping, or at least delaying, anyone who tries to attack. It's nice to meet you. How can I help?" She says this in a very, very formal tone.

[Arkhosia]

Entrance

Weiss raises an eyebrow.
...who?

[Lord Raziere]

Hello." [/FONT][/COLOR]She says finally, offering him a hand. "My name is Civiron. I'm the Goddess of Hope, HALO's door answerer, and first line of stopping, or at least delaying, anyone who tries to attack. It's nice to meet you. How can I help?" She says this in a very, very formal tone.

Valcario is now thinking:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!! A GODDESS! I'M ALL GONNA DIE!
As he calmly follows her. No wait, wait, calm down, if she could read minds, you'd already be dead, in jail or expelled from the base. So, she must possess a more overt and "divine retribution" kind of godhood. So keep on your toes around her, and keep under her notice. Real good security measure there. Valcario is now seriously questioning the wisdom of his decision to try and find out where Caelynn is using this infiltration. Hindsight is always 20/20.

But now he definitely cannot make any sudden escape. Any suspicious moves and she'd probably snap her fingers and well.....whatever happens then will be a complete failure no matter what it actually is, so. Yeah. This is going to be tricky. What is the plan? Be patient. You just have to wait this out, and the tour will end. Then he can get the Nine Hells out of here and write a "DO NOT EVER COME BACK HERE, GODDESS" notice on his Ye Olde Map of Everything's HALO location. Finding out Caelynn's status was NOT worth potentially ticking off a Goddess by trying to get in using a disguise. Especially one assigned to security.

Side note: oh hey, so this is Magtok? well at least this tour is informative! So a redeemed villain type. cyborg. owns a company. Interesting. He would have to find a way to investigate closer. One that doesn't involve being right next to a goddess.

[Mee]

Valcario is now thinking:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!! A GODDESS! I'M ALL GONNA DIE!

((My apologies for not using tags, that entire conversation was in a seperate timeline. Civvy sas greeting these guys in the entrance hall, and that conversation with Magtok happened in his office at a seperate time. Civvy keeps her divinity on the extreme down-low, and hidden to the extreme.))

Entrance

Weiss raises an eyebrow.
...who?

Civvy shrugs. "Dunno. Only met him the other day. Seems nice, though."

[Arkhosia]

((My apologies for not using tags, that entire conversation was in a seperate timeline. Civvy sas greeting these guys in the entrance hall, and that conversation with Magtok happened in his office at a seperate time. Civvy keeps her divinity on the extreme down-low, and hidden to the extreme.))



Civvy shrugs. "Dunno. Only met him the other day. Seems nice, though."

Ah. So... what locations are in here?
Weiss asks.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok's Office

Magtok shakes the extended hand. "Lord Magtok. I'm a former supervillain who's trying his hardest to stay a former supervillain. It's not as easy as it sounds when all your old friends are still evil and upset and trying to make you feel guilty for being able to feel guilty about things."

The cyborg doesn't seem very surprised by the 'Goddess of Hope' thing. She had to be some kind of divine or amazing or something, to just instantly cure vampirism with magical healing lasers without so much as a look of exertion on her face. Being a goddess seemed the most logical choice. A wide selection of gods and goddesses are one of those things HALO is known for, isn't it?

"I need to know a lot more about HALO's members...just, in general, mostly. I'm good at figuring out individual people pretty quickly, but group dynamics take a while to understand. What they respond well to, whether they prefer their leaders bossy and authoritative or more casual and carefree, if people are going to glare at me when I walk by or fake a smile and then plot my ruin behind my back, how to do recruiting, whether I should downplay my wacky eccentric buffoon routine or keep at it, who would or wouldn't be willing to play my vice president or internal affairs adviser or plucky sidekick or whatever she wants to call it..."

A meaningful glance is shot towards Civvy around the end of that sentence. Admittedly, she doesn't seem the big responsibility and fancy title type, but he's been wrong before, and it wouldn't hurt to have someone competent and fun watching out for him. Magtok gets bored easily, and a bored cyborg is a foolhardy cyborg, prone to self-sabotage, and likely to ruin this whole HALO leader thing just to have an excuse to do something else.

[Morty]

[Sparring Match]

Magtok succeeds. Either Thariza didn't feel like dodging, or wasn't quick enough, but he knees her in the stomach. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't seem to stop her anyway. She tries to grab onto him with her arms and immobilize him.

[Ionbound]

((Seeing that no one noticed Ark enter somehow...))
Nope!
Ark replies as she walks up behind Therlynn.
Hey, uh, that stuff water under the bridge?
She asks, giving Therlynn a grin.

Therlynn grins back and says, "Maybe...Seeing as Civvy fixed up my face rather quickly, and I'm in no condition to fight you right now," She gestures to herself, "I guess we can call it even...Although, once all this pregnancy stuff over, I want to fight you again, this time in the ring."

[Arkhosia]

Therlynn grins back and says, "Maybe...Seeing as Civvy fixed up my face rather quickly, and I'm in no condition to fight you right now," She gestures to herself, "I guess we can call it even...Although, once all this pregnancy stuff over, I want to fight you again, this time in the ring."

Sounds good! Probably gonna be drifting towards neutral or good, by the way.
Ark informs Therlynn.

[FireFox]

[History of Death]
Carrie starts to realize that, more or less, Histor has put this sick little game not entirely within his control, and partly into hers.
Pompous, sloppy worm.
As Carrie starts to feel Sam in the way she can feel a soul ready to come loose from its moorings, she starts to take hold of metaphorical handholds, ready to knock Histor off the wagon, so to speak.
And then run him over with it.
And maybe kill everyone he's ever met.
But for now, she just focuses on getting a grip; normally, this would be unfeasible with her meager power.
When you're running on the insane thaumic reactions of burning divine power, though, your scope of capabilities approaches the utterly ludicrous. As it is, Carrie is poised to grab Sam's soul, as if she is hunched over it and waiting for it to budge.
I know, sweetheart, and I'm so sorry.
I love you.
I love you, and you are mine.

[History of Death]

As Dani realises just what had been going on...

For the first time, the incredibly cute, bubbly, cheerful little redhead swears to slowly, painfully, and gleefully murderate somebody the next time they meet.

And the thoughts she's having about what she's going to do to Histor are quite...creative.

...but then she hears Sam, and her heart breaks once more as she kneels next to her. "This wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to be this way. I...I didn't know...I'm sorry. We haven't met...yet...but you're...you're going to be important to me. And I thought I was working to get you back...I didn't expect..."

And she tries to gently reach for the young Sam's hand...

...as she breaks into sobs, tears running down her cheeks.

Carrie's wings open; from the eyespots, those creepy spectral hands haze forth, translucent fingers twitching and flexing in perverse readiness, as if eager to find the holes and loose threads of Histor's mistakes and wrench them wide open, baring the sores beneath the sweater to dig her nails into and rip.
Do forgive the poor dear if her thoughts get a little too visceral.
As it is, she manifests a handgun, the one Sam had her use when she was first learning to use a firearm under her lover's tutelage. Stroking Dani's hair with one dirty hand, she racks the slide back with her teeth for that oh-so-satisfying metallic sound and sensation.

[History of Death]

Dying sucks. Especially when you're bleeding to death in an African hellhole, terrified and confused, while an airplane roars overhead and fills the sky with parachutes. But dying can be made almost bearable in the presence of your loved ones. ...Even if they, uh, were the ones who killed her. Sam squeezes Dani's hand tightly for the duration of a heartbeat--her last heartbeat--before her grip loosens and the light withdraws from her eyes. She exhales her final breath like a gun ejects the last brass casing. And then her soul leaves her broken, young body.

The soul starts to fly away, desperately reeled in by Histor. But the Death Goddess' psychopompic phalanges are able to unhook his lines if they move quickly enough. Carrie, should she be skilled enough, will have full control of Samantha Goswell's soul. Does she think this is over? Perhaps the battle may be, but not the war. Have they forgotten how Histor took advantage of a brief moment of Dani's infidelity to send Sam into the arms of the Bushranger? Not that they would be able to remember where the name for the resulting child came from. Theodore, the "gift of God". What an arrogant God! For even in the moment of his defeat he declares that the game is best two out of three. And Histor's hold over Tobias is absolute, only reinforced by the Druid's legendary exploits. Carrie and Dani have managed to win Sam, but they'll have a much tougher fight ahead over Theo.

Ori hugs him gently. "You didn't give up. You . . . you're . . . well, if you hadn't, you would have worked yourself to death. This isn't worth that."

[Glade]

The fox-eyed man returns the angel's embrace. No, I guess it's not. But before the conversation can turn to how long it's been since he last slept and how Orianna is prepared to forcibly render him unconscious for his own good, he springs up and turns to a wide pit. You know what makes everything better? Fire! Dem, fetch me some fuel!

[Lord Magtok]

Sparring Match

Nooo! Nooo! Magtok got snared! He tries to fly away, but it's completely ineffectual. There's not a chance he's going to break away before Thariza's beaten him down some more.

"Ark, you're drifting towards what now?"

Not the time, Magtok! Save it for when you're not about to be broken like a twig!

[Morty]

[Sparring Match]

Thariza grunts with effort, plants her feet firmly on the ground and lifts with her back. With a powerful heave, she attempts to bodily throw Magtok across the ring.

[Ionbound]

Sounds good! Probably gonna be drifting towards neutral or good, by the way.
Ark informs Therlynn.

Therlynn laughs and says, "Really? I'll believe it when I see it." Her attention briefly turns to the sparring as Magtok is grabbed and she smirks, saying, "Oooh...Nasty. Shame he can't tag out."

[Arkhosia]

Therlynn laughs and says, "Really? I'll believe it when I see it." Her attention briefly turns to the sparring as Magtok is grabbed and she smirks, saying, "Oooh...Nasty. Shame he can't tag out."

Oh, I could easily beat her.
Energy drain ability, remember?
Ark replies, poking Therlynn's nose lightly.

[Lord Raziere]

((My apologies for not using tags, that entire conversation was in a seperate timeline. Civvy sas greeting these guys in the entrance hall, and that conversation with Magtok happened in his office at a seperate time. Civvy keeps her divinity on the extreme down-low, and hidden to the extreme.))

((Aaaaaaaw. Oh well.))

The Tour

Valcario had the feeling that something happened to him, then did not happen to him. He disliked it when he got those feelings. It always felt like a paradox or something. Its why he didn't look too deep into his past all that much: Too many feelings that something happened then did not, or did not but then did. It felt weird. Best to just ignore the Not-Happenings and focus on his self-appointed mission. Thing is, he needed to figure it out without letting Civyy know, get away from the tour. There was a simple way to do that. But she already seemed a little suspicious of him already so he'd have to wait a while before putting his plan into effect, make it seem....normal, do it too early and she'd be suspicious about why he wanted to get away from the tour early. So lets wait a bit.

He pointed a random room they pass by.
"What is that room all about?"
Y'know, to show interest in the place he is infiltrating, keep it believable.

[Lord Magtok]

[Sparring Match]

Thariza grunts with effort, plants her feet firmly on the ground and lifts with her back. With a powerful heave, she attempts to bodily throw Magtok across the ring.

Magtok tumbles to the ground, rolling a few times before coming to an unpleasant stop, with his fingers smashed between the floor and his torso. Nothing's broken, it wasn't that bad, but oww!

"Uuurgh...that's two," he mumbles, picking himself back up off the ground. He would've used his ability to hover to catch himself, but that throw was rather unexpected, and he was on the ground before he realized what happened.

"I suppose now would be a good time to start making a comeback. I mean, if you didn't weigh half a ton more than me." Maybe he should stay put, and just dodge the next attack, maybe throw in a punch after Thariza shoots past him, and go back on the defensive until he can do the same again.

[Morty]

[Sparring Match]

Thariza takes a deep breath and approaches Magtok slowly. Throwing even a noodly wimp like the cyborg isn't easy, so she needs a small breather before finishing the fight.

"Now would be a good time if you plan on actually trying, yes," she says.

[Lord Magtok]

Sparring Match

"Hit me with your best shot," Magtok fires back, his legs shoulder-width apart, trying to approximate something vaguely resembling a stance that might be of actual use in this situation.

[Ionbound]

Oh, I could easily beat her.
Energy drain ability, remember?
Ark replies, poking Therlynn's nose lightly.

Therlynn grins and says, "What, you think I want this to stop? Nah, I just feel a little sorry for poor Magtok...But not much."

[Morty]

[Sparring Match]

"Aye aye, commander," Thariza says, before aiming two hooks at Magtok - one from the left and to the ribs and the other from the right and to the side of the head.

[Zefir]

[PSI-chosis: Poolside]

Correct.
Not!Leo looks further through Leo's mind, wondering how far his natural talent extends. Without trying, he can hear softly projected thoughts, but could he respond, or alter them? Maybe he could affect the physical world? All things which he could be taught to do, but how many does some part of him already know.
You like this shape then? Odd, this is just a neutral default appearance from a long time ago.
Yes, maybe quite a while to adapt. It is as if you had been blind and given eyes, or unknowing and become a spiritualist. You'll need to carry on through the pain, I'm afraid. She could give Leo some medicine, but it could easily interfere with the learning.
Maybe they should go elsewhere. The noodles filling the pool are starting to bother her.

[PSI-chosis: Poolside]

Mr. C just looks at leo with the 'I said it before' expression after he saw the fcurrent appearing of the Halo member. Sine the other person is trying to just speak to Leo, Mr C shouldn't hear her and so he got nothing to respond or ask.

[ImpSyndrome]

[PSI-chosis: Poolside]

Correct.
Not!Leo looks further through Leo's mind, wondering how far his natural talent extends. Without trying, he can hear softly projected thoughts, but could he respond, or alter them? Maybe he could affect the physical world? All things which he could be taught to do, but how many does some part of him already know.
You like this shape then? Odd, this is just a neutral default appearance from a long time ago.
Yes, maybe quite a while to adapt. It is as if you had been blind and given eyes, or unknowing and become a spiritualist. You'll need to carry on through the pain, I'm afraid. She could give Leo some medicine, but it could easily interfere with the learning.
Maybe they should go elsewhere. The noodles filling the pool are starting to bother her.

There's another message, and...Whoops. Looks like having telepathic skills doesn't help Leo keep his own thoughts to himself. He makes a note to try and work on that as he replies, "I didn't mean any offense by that...No sense in denying it, but...I was mainly just making an observation." The key word, of course, is "mainly", but what can you expect from a relatively young guy who's experiencing most things in the Nexus for the first time? If it helps his case any, he really doesn't mean any harm. "Well, no point in worrying...I'll just have to deal with it," he responds to the next message. Just then...

[PSI-chosis: Poolside]

Mr. C just looks at leo with the 'I said it before' expression after he saw the fcurrent appearing of the Halo member. Sine the other person is trying to just speak to Leo, Mr C shouldn't hear her and so he got nothing to respond or ask.

Leo receives a sudden reminder that Mr. C is still present and as irritated as ever. The spiritualist apologetically tells him, "It looks like I'm going to be here a lot longer than I anticipated...I appreciate your bringing me here, but you don't need to stick around if you have business elsewhere. I don't want to waste your time if you're not directly involved..."

[Lord Magtok]

Sparring Match

The shot at his ribs gets blocked (mostly), but the blow to his head connects. The punch echoes through his body, leaving him dazed and senseless, but not so much that he can't fight back, as blind as it might be. He feints with his right arm towards her abdomen, and then swings a uppercut towards her chin with the shiny left arm. Assuming, of course, that she's still standing where she was a moment ago, because Magtok's too busy seeing stars to be sure of where anything is right now.

[Morty]

[Sparring Match]

Thariza does receive the upper-cut. She looks surprised, so it's possible she simply wasn't expecting Magtok to actually land a blow. She steps back, shakes her head and responds with an upper-cut on her own, having decided to end this.

[Mee]

[Glade]

The fox-eyed man returns the angel's embrace. No, I guess it's not. But before the conversation can turn to how long it's been since he last slept and how Orianna is prepared to forcibly render him unconscious for his own good, he springs up and turns to a wide pit. You know what makes everything better? Fire! Dem, fetch me some fuel!

"You aren't going funeral pyre on me, right?" Ori asks, grinning slightly at Toby. "If you do, I will have to pull you out. And you don't want me to have to do that."

Magtok's Office

Magtok shakes the extended hand. "Lord Magtok. I'm a former supervillain who's trying his hardest to stay a former supervillain. It's not as easy as it sounds when all your old friends are still evil and upset and trying to make you feel guilty for being able to feel guilty about things."

The cyborg doesn't seem very surprised by the 'Goddess of Hope' thing. She had to be some kind of divine or amazing or something, to just instantly cure vampirism with magical healing lasers without so much as a look of exertion on her face. Being a goddess seemed the most logical choice. A wide selection of gods and goddesses are one of those things HALO is known for, isn't it?

"I need to know a lot more about HALO's members...just, in general, mostly. I'm good at figuring out individual people pretty quickly, but group dynamics take a while to understand. What they respond well to, whether they prefer their leaders bossy and authoritative or more casual and carefree, if people are going to glare at me when I walk by or fake a smile and then plot my ruin behind my back, how to do recruiting, whether I should downplay my wacky eccentric buffoon routine or keep at it, who would or wouldn't be willing to play my vice president or internal affairs adviser or plucky sidekick or whatever she wants to call it..."

A meaningful glance is shot towards Civvy around the end of that sentence. Admittedly, she doesn't seem the big responsibility and fancy title type, but he's been wrong before, and it wouldn't hurt to have someone competent and fun watching out for him. Magtok gets bored easily, and a bored cyborg is a foolhardy cyborg, prone to self-sabotage, and likely to ruin this whole HALO leader thing just to have an excuse to do something else.

Civvy nodded at the end of his introduction. "I'm glad you're not letting them get to you. I'm sure they can't bug you much while you're here though, right?"

Then she listened, and nodded along with the rest of the conversation. "Off the top of my head, I'm not sure about the strike teams and what they expect of their leaders. I would assume slightly more strict, but I don't know. I can find out, though. It's easy enough to ask around.

For recruiting I'd say . . . hmm." She pauses her to think for a few moments, tapping one foot. "It would really depend. HALO's leadership is all wonky right now. I'd keep things flexible for now, and then just . . . go with it. HALO's been laughed at and mocked enough that there's very little you could do to hurt anything. How do you want to run HALO? Do you want to try to continue what Toby started, and try to get the others to respect us and call for help? Or do you want to let it just be a safe haven for those that don't wish to fight?"

Ah. So... what locations are in here?
Weiss asks.

Civvy takes her on a tour! Showing her the pool, the TV room, and ending up in the kitchen. "At this point I'd take you to the boss' office, but I don't know what's going on right now . . ."

She also avoided the living quarters and training room, the latter mostly because timelines.

[The Bushranger]

[History of Death]

[spoiler]

Dying sucks. Especially when you're bleeding to death in an African hellhole, terrified and confused, while an airplane roars overhead and fills the sky with parachutes. But dying can be made almost bearable in the presence of your loved ones. ...Even if they, uh, were the ones who killed her. Sam squeezes Dani's hand tightly for the duration of a heartbeat--her last heartbeat--before her grip loosens and the light withdraws from her eyes. She exhales her final breath like a gun ejects the last brass casing. And then her soul leaves her broken, young body.

The soul starts to fly away, desperately reeled in by Histor. But the Death Goddess' psychopompic phalanges are able to unhook his lines if they move quickly enough. Carrie, should she be skilled enough, will have full control of Samantha Goswell's soul. Does she think this is over? Perhaps the battle may be, but not the war. Have they forgotten how Histor took advantage of a brief moment of Dani's infidelity to send Sam into the arms of the Bushranger? Not that they would be able to remember where the name for the resulting child came from. Theodore, the "gift of God". What an arrogant God! For even in the moment of his defeat he declares that the game is best two out of three. And Histor's hold over Tobias is absolute, only reinforced by the Druid's legendary exploits. Carrie and Dani have managed to win Sam, but they'll have a much tougher fight ahead over Theo.

Dani sobs, shuddering and reaching down to close Sam's eyes.

Twice, in the space of...however long it's been...she's watched her wife die. And the second time she was responsible, even if tricked.
It's a lot for her to bear...
...and she reaches for Carrie's shoulder, almost desperately looking into the young goddess' eyes.
"Did you...?"

[Beans]

[History of Death]
Carrie, burning with power like an out-of-control star, is easily able to take secure hold of Sam's soul and hold it tightly, unyieldingly.
I've got her. It's okay, I've got her... let's go home, Dani.

[FireFox]

[History of Death]

His toy taken away, apparently a super sore loser, Histor ends the play date like a petulant child kicking the other kids out of his home. Dani and Carrie, with Sam's soul clutched close, are ejected out of the demiplane into...

[Tobias' Glade]

Mount Oeta, this place is not. Tobias tells his wife while a tiger of colossal size drops a few logs into the pit. But speaking of a pyre... His goofiness fades away and his voice becomes more paternal and grave. Welcome back, you two.
When did Samantha's body end up lying on that stone table over there? How were all her injuries post-mortem, leaving her ready to receive her soul and a new breath of life? Are you really questioning the Goddamned Tobias?

[The Bushranger]

[Tobias' Glade]

Both Tobias and Orianna will probably note the tear stains on Dani's cheeks. Given that the tiny redhead is still shuddering with sobs as she tries to collect herself.

...Tobias, at least, will probably catch her muttering about Histor with swearwords even she didn't know she knew.