HALO 183: The Not Remotely Gritty Reboot

[UncleWolf]

Haunted Pool


Anja smiles, her worries gone. "Can I stay in your room then?" She asks. "It's not like I need a bed of my own. I could just kinda...I dunno, possess your pillow or bed or something else?" She considers. "And I know you're at least cool with me. I don't know if anyone else would be."

[Recaiden]

Oh, it seems it was 'fluffy scientist' originally.
"No one calls us that. Besides, probably like a dozen book girls here at HALO."

And back to the trivialities of experimental medical treatments and emotional growth.
"Yeah. You're pretty human already, so you've got a great chance of being cured by doin' human stuff. Hope's pretty human, yeah? Definitely think about how you felt meeting Dorabella." Whoever that is.

"Come back later and check how human you're doing." she says, taking a step away. That oughta get some sort of reaction.

[5a Violista]

Juleka can't even keep track of which name she told someone an hour earlier, and you expect her to keep track of her use of fluffy, floofy, and fuzzy?

"Oh, she had such a smile. And her eyes. Her-" Yet another thing she's making up. There actually is no Dora, bella or otherwise.

When Honeysuckle steps away, Julia suddenly stops and sits up again and reaches out to her. "Wait, you can stay here if you want. I'll be serious, I promise." Then, she starts pleading: "Please, don't go, it'll work out better if you stay here."

[Deathkeeper]

"Fixin' an engine!" Mechanic replies, swinging her comically large wrench around a few times, before laying it to rest on her shoulder.
. . .
And overbalancing her slightly and she almost half stumbles, but tries to make it look intended.
It obviously was not though.
"Because it broke.
Because someone definitely not me decided to see how many Gs could be pulled by a cruise liner in orbit.
. . .
The answer was not 27.
. . .
Just in case you were curious."

Hangar

Catie nods.
"Sounds simple enough. What can I do for you?" she asks, smiling as she folds her hands behind her back, standing up straight.

[Recaiden]

Honeysuckle pauses near the exit and turns back to Jules.
"Miss me that much? Kay, Scordatura. Human thoughts. Serious."
"Why don't you want to be a monster? Why want that bit of normality?"

[Felandria]

Nurse follows along! "Of course! I would be happy to help!"

Fel nods.

Excellent!

Well, Mr. C, I do think it would be prudent to attempt parlay, however, if the door doesn’t wish to cooperate, then it seems it will, in fact, have to come to a more pronounced conflict.

- - - Updated - - -

Felandria's Room

Thanks. Nigel says, peering at Rein. He shuffles inside quickly, going to reach for the door before Fel beats him to it. Chicken fried rice for you and just chicken for Reinholdt. I didn't know if cats could eat rice or anything so I just um... you get it. Nigel says, setting down the bowl of fried rice first for Fel before setting the smaller dish down for Rein. I don't know uh... what's appropriate. Enjoy, I guess. Nigel has not worshipped a god before poor dear.

[Felandria's Room]

Rein squirms, mewling in dissatisfaction at being picked up. He manages to slip free and get back to the floor, but sadly not before the door is closed again. He stares at the sealed portal with great indignation and after a few seconds of this, meows loudly, pawing at the door.

Once the door is closed and Reinholdt slips free, Felandria will shrug and tuck into the fried rice.

Sooooo good!

Honestly, we should probably have a larger batch made and stored away for later, because this is quite delicious.

Rein, you should try your chicken.

[billtodamax]

Felandria's Room

That definitely would have been smart. Nigel concedes. He's not used to cooking for two, especially not for cooking for someone so... large. Is that insulting? How are you supposed to think about uh... god. He pulls out a few sheafs of paper from his bag as Fel eats, sorting through them a little before he finds his place. So, with this disease. It's a pain in the ass working with just one test suspect and I'm pretty much not getting anything else out of scanning Rein. So, I probably have to hunt down some other sick people to actually progress here but I have a pretty good idea of how it's actually affecting people even if a cure's a bit off. It's more like a sort of curse than a disease. I'm gonna try brewing up some remove curse potions - I'm not especially confident they're going to work, but at least it doesn't look like a permanent change. Then there's some technical stuff... Nigel starts leafing through the results of his scans, muttering to himself a little. Uh, yeah, guess that's it. Got a plan moving forward, gonna try to get you a remove curse potion and see if that does anything, gonna see if I can hunt down anyone else infected. Probably won't even have to leave base, to be honest.

Nigel flicks through the rest of his papers, nodding to himself, before putting it back into his satchel and looking at Fel. Worse comes to worse, what do you need in here?

[5a Violista]

The Scordatura opens her mouth.

...

Then, she closes it again and decides against what she was going to say. After all, she did promise to be serious.

So after a bit more thought, she opens her mouth again. "Because," Juliet says, "being the same as everyone else is better than being alone. I just...I just...don't..." She can't finish her sentence, because tears start to well up and she has to turn away.

[Recaiden]

You know, Juli, you don't have to turn away. Honeysuckle couldn't see you crying.
"Because you're lonely. Pretty human thing to feel, yeah?"
Honeysuckle leans against the outside of the quarantine area and sighs. Why does Scordatura have to be like this? The crazy lies were almost better.
"Don't have to be alone...once you're cured. Lots of people here." Too many people, honestly.

[Reinholdt]

[Felandria's Room]

Rein looks at Felandria when she tells him to eat. It is an indignant look, followed by an insistent meow. He then looks back at the door and meows again, even louder than before.

How hard is this? Open the door and let him out.
MEOW.

[Gullara]

[The Fourth Tower]

Some time after Halo and the Fourth Tower finalized their agreement everything has been arranged the final preparations to integrate are underway. Vax stands alone in one of the rooms they're occupying, looking at a new Ring Transporter that's been installed here. She stands there patiently for a few moments before someone steps through the transporter. The young woman cracks open an eye. Oh hey, she's alive. She relaxes her shoulders and runs her hands over her frizzy hair to make sure it's still there.

"If you're finished cowering like a fresh initiate, Onyeka, inform the others they can come through."

"Yes ma'am!" Onyeka promptly turns around and steps back through. A moment later more people come through carrying various boxes and pieces of furniture. Onyeka comes back through as well and Vax gestures for her to follow her out of the room.

"This is the entrance space." Vax says as they enter a larger room. A pair of vanara maneuver around them and roll out a large rug in the middle of the room. "The front entrance will be open, welcoming. The door to the transporter room will typically be closed. The entrance to the tower is for members only. Are you writing this down?"

"Oh, you bet." Onyeka retrieves a notebook from a pocket on the inside of her poncho and a pencil from down the front of her shirt. She starts to write. "Go ahead."

Vax gives her a look, but continues. "The other four rooms are to be laid out as such. One office, protected by two spirits of silence. Bontu and Korinna have been instructed to summon them."

"Korinna? She's barely been around since she hooked up with that goblin in Riverside." The woman wrinkles her nose. "If I gotta hear one more time about how she wants to have his green ba-"

"Should I trust someone else with your task? I could put you in charge of waste management on the island." Vax interrupts.

"Uh, right. Drag Korinna's ass back. I can do that."

"Good. Two of the other rooms will be summoning chambers. Olumide will need to install inlaid base circles in the precise centers of the rooms. Make sure he understands that if he makes another mistake like he did yesterday I'll put a hex on him such that his descendants will be cursing his name six generations from now."

Onyeka grins. "Six generations. You got it."

"The last room will be for storage. Candles, sconces, incense, thuribles, chalk, the basics. We're not likely to do anything too complex here."

"Anything else?"

"Make sure the decor gives the right impression. This is a public face. It should reflect our history and maintain our dignity." She gestures to the few people who have been working around them to put tapestries on the walls.

"Just leave it to me." Onyeka stows away the notebook. "And what if some of those Halo people come snooping around?"

"Greet them graciously. They are our partners and they should be treated with respect. If someone is out of line report them to me."

"I hear you loud and clear. I better get to work then."

Vax nods and walks back toward the back door and the transporter. She steps aside for a chandelier being carried in and then slips through the door.

[Zefir]

Nurse follows along! "Of course! I would be happy to help!"

Fel nods.

Excellent!

Well, Mr. C, I do think it would be prudent to attempt parlay, however, if the door doesn’t wish to cooperate, then it seems it will, in fact, have to come to a more pronounced conflict.

[Where have we been?]

((Hope I don't jump to fast, just thought we might go on.))

"In that case let us make haste. To the battle." Mr C says and walks off. As you can guess he is not the fastest due to his size. Fel will mostly have to got very slow. Imagine just like you would have an ant walking next to you. They appear in so much haste while you just take one step after another.

When they arrive Mr C speaks up. "Okay, I try to negotiate. If there is anything you want to say to him just tell me I translate." He then sticks out his toung and makes some strange blawlawla noise. For a few moments nothing happens until suddendly the door appears to answer in the same way.
"I asked him what he is doing here and who send him, but he refused to tell me anything and just insulted my mother." He translates. "How should I repeat? If we want to play hard, you need to help me."

[5a Violista]

Somehow, Juliane still hasn't figured out that Honeysuckle can't see her.
...Either that, or she likes pretending that she can be seen.

"Okay," she says. "...okay." The Scordatura, still turned away, takes deep breaths to help her calm down. "I'll try."

"You'll be back, right? I'll get better and think human thoughts and then you'll be back to let me out?" She makes herself sound confident, turns back towards the fluffy scientist, smirks, makes finger-guns to point at her, and then winks. "It's a date, then."

...Then she quickly turns away again because she still feels like crying and doesn't want to be seen crying.


[Not Quarantined, but instead in the Lab]

Holly, not finding anyone on her way to the lab, enters it and looks for an adequate place she can put the in-stasis samples. And write out an explanation, because someone finding random samples sitting around with no idea how they got there can be confusing.

[Recaiden]

[Quarantine]

"You think human thoughts, and once you're better enough, you can leave."
Honeysuckle laughs.
"I'll see you soon, Scordatura."
She flashes the patient a smile.

And then she heads off towards the lab, sealing the place up behind her.
On second thought, no, how about towards the shooting range? Disintegrating some targets sounds perfect right now.

[CosmicHobbit]

Entrance Hall

A person steps out of the shuttlepod airlock and gazes around the room, looking for anyone who might be a member of HALO.

The person is wearing a cloak with a hood and a plain white mask with tinted glass in the eyes. All skin is covered in some way or another. The only thing about how they look that can be deduced is that they seem to be a man.

[5a Violista]

[Quarantine]

And so, the Scordatura tries her best to think human thoughts and feel human feelings and convince herself that she's actually not a horrifying man-eating uncaring shadow monster but instead is just a human.



[Lab]

Having properly put the samples in that lab and labeled them and written a brief essay on what they are and how the mutagenic corruption relates to the skinwalkers' remains and emphasizes how dangerous they can be and how she promised to share any findings with GLoG's medical lab, Holly leaves there.

And heads towards the shuttle-entrance, because she has other things she needs to get done today.

As she enters the Entrance Hall, she spots the hooded-and-masked figure. For a moment, she admires the mask --she has a collection of masks, after all-- she draws attention to herself with a "Hello?"

[Mee]

Fel nods.

Excellent!

Well, Mr. C, I do think it would be prudent to attempt parlay, however, if the door doesn’t wish to cooperate, then it seems it will, in fact, have to come to a more pronounced conflict.

[Where have we been?]

((Hope I don't jump to fast, just thought we might go on.))

"In that case let us make haste. To the battle." Mr C says and walks off. As you can guess he is not the fastest due to his size. Fel will mostly have to got very slow. Imagine just like you would have an ant walking next to you. They appear in so much haste while you just take one step after another.

When they arrive Mr C speaks up. "Okay, I try to negotiate. If there is anything you want to say to him just tell me I translate." He then sticks out his toung and makes some strange blawlawla noise. For a few moments nothing happens until suddendly the door appears to answer in the same way.
"I asked him what he is doing here and who send him, but he refused to tell me anything and just insulted my mother." He translates. "How should I repeat? If we want to play hard, you need to help me."

The Nurse blinks several times. She seems content to follow along, and follow Fel's lead. "Right. Talking first. Yeah!"
She doesn't do combat, but if it comes to it, she'll be ready.

[Felandria]

Felandria's Room

That definitely would have been smart. Nigel concedes. He's not used to cooking for two, especially not for cooking for someone so... large. Is that insulting? How are you supposed to think about uh... god. He pulls out a few sheafs of paper from his bag as Fel eats, sorting through them a little before he finds his place. So, with this disease. It's a pain in the ass working with just one test suspect and I'm pretty much not getting anything else out of scanning Rein. So, I probably have to hunt down some other sick people to actually progress here but I have a pretty good idea of how it's actually affecting people even if a cure's a bit off. It's more like a sort of curse than a disease. I'm gonna try brewing up some remove curse potions - I'm not especially confident they're going to work, but at least it doesn't look like a permanent change. Then there's some technical stuff... Nigel starts leafing through the results of his scans, muttering to himself a little. Uh, yeah, guess that's it. Got a plan moving forward, gonna try to get you a remove curse potion and see if that does anything, gonna see if I can hunt down anyone else infected. Probably won't even have to leave base, to be honest.

Nigel flicks through the rest of his papers, nodding to himself, before putting it back into his satchel and looking at Fel. Worse comes to worse, what do you need in here?

[Felandria's Room]

Rein looks at Felandria when she tells him to eat. It is an indignant look, followed by an insistent meow. He then looks back at the door and meows again, even louder than before.

How hard is this? Open the door and let him out.
MEOW.

Felandria leans back and considers the question.

Worse comes to worse, more fried rice and something to distract Rein with.

Sorry, Rein, but you gotta stay in here with me for a while, I can’t let you out or you’ll make people sick.

- - - Updated - - -

[Where have we been?]

((Hope I don't jump to fast, just thought we might go on.))

"In that case let us make haste. To the battle." Mr C says and walks off. As you can guess he is not the fastest due to his size. Fel will mostly have to got very slow. Imagine just like you would have an ant walking next to you. They appear in so much haste while you just take one step after another.

When they arrive Mr C speaks up. "Okay, I try to negotiate. If there is anything you want to say to him just tell me I translate." He then sticks out his toung and makes some strange blawlawla noise. For a few moments nothing happens until suddendly the door appears to answer in the same way.
"I asked him what he is doing here and who send him, but he refused to tell me anything and just insulted my mother." He translates. "How should I repeat? If we want to play hard, you need to help me."

The Nurse blinks several times. She seems content to follow along, and follow Fel's lead. "Right. Talking first. Yeah!"
She doesn't do combat, but if it comes to it, she'll be ready.

Fel squints angrily towards the door.

You tell that door not to be rude or it’ll have to deal with me.

He can’t come in here and attack my new friend!

- - - Updated - - -

Entrance Hall

A person steps out of the shuttlepod airlock and gazes around the room, looking for anyone who might be a member of HALO.

The person is wearing a cloak with a hood and a plain white mask with tinted glass in the eyes. All skin is covered in some way or another. The only thing about how they look that can be deduced is that they seem to be a man.

Felandria is there to greet the new arrival and make sure the shuttle door is a shuttle door.

Hello.

Welcome to HALO!

[CosmicHobbit]

Felandria is there to greet the new arrival and make sure the shuttle door is a shuttle door.

Hello.

Welcome to HALO!

The shuttle door is indeed just a shuttle door.

The person waves, then holds out a slip of paper for Felandria to take. Nothing is threatening in their posture, though the fact they're covering everything that could be used to identify them may be slightly suspicious.

[billtodamax]

Felandria's Room

Alrighty, can do. Nigel says, before a thought strikes him. Oh, uh, I dunno if this will help but... he rummages through his bag, producing a laser pointer, shining it near Rein and wiggling the dot around a bit. Go get it Reinholdt! He wiggles it around a bit more before handing it over to Fel. I'll be back in a bit with the remove curse potions and the nachos. He says, standing up and heading to the door. He'll wait until Rein is sufficiently distracted before opening the door and stepping out.

[Reinholdt]

[Felandria's Room]

Rein looks at the shining dot. Watches it. Watches it. Watches it. Turns to look back at the person holding the laser pointer. Then looks back at the door and meows again. Meow. Meow.

Nigel can probably get through with force, but Reinholdt is not letting up. Largely because there are still people in the room with him. As long as there are people in this room, he will want these people to let him out. It is unlikely he'll stop anytime soon (or ever) as long as anyone is around.

He always did take things too far.

[Zefir]

[Negotiations]

The Nurse blinks several times. She seems content to follow along, and follow Fel's lead. "Right. Talking first. Yeah!"
She doesn't do combat, but if it comes to it, she'll be ready.

Fel squints angrily towards the door.

You tell that door not to be rude or it’ll have to deal with me.

He can’t come in here and attack my new friend!

Mr. C will translate followed by a long reply from the door which makes the small lizard creature look worried.

"He seems a bit afraid I guess. He now said you shouldn't make him mad or he and his friends will flood this place and eat every single person. Starting with the nurse or something like that. He also says some words I can't really translate but I guess they are all insults and such." He says.
"If he is not lying, which I don't know Mimics can or not, then there are at least a hand full more in the base."

[5a Violista]

[Quarantine]

Presumably she's still there trying to think human thoughts. What she really needs is to wish upon a star so she can become a real boy.


[Entryway]

Meanwhile,
Holly the half-elf just stands around awkwardly.
It looks like Felandria's taking care of it...

[Felandria]

The shuttle door is indeed just a shuttle door.

The person waves, then holds out a slip of paper for Felandria to take. Nothing is threatening in their posture, though the fact they're covering everything that could be used to identify them may be slightly suspicious.

Felandria takes the slip of paper and reads it.

- - - Updated - - -

Felandria's Room

Alrighty, can do. Nigel says, before a thought strikes him. Oh, uh, I dunno if this will help but... he rummages through his bag, producing a laser pointer, shining it near Rein and wiggling the dot around a bit. Go get it Reinholdt! He wiggles it around a bit more before handing it over to Fel. I'll be back in a bit with the remove curse potions and the nachos. He says, standing up and heading to the door. He'll wait until Rein is sufficiently distracted before opening the door and stepping out.

[Felandria's Room]

Rein looks at the shining dot. Watches it. Watches it. Watches it. Turns to look back at the person holding the laser pointer. Then looks back at the door and meows again. Meow. Meow.

Nigel can probably get through with force, but Reinholdt is not letting up. Largely because there are still people in the room with him. As long as there are people in this room, he will want these people to let him out. It is unlikely he'll stop anytime soon (or ever) as long as anyone is around.

He always did take things too far.

Felandria will take the laser pointer and points it straight up at the ceiling, which would ideally allow her to get a hold of Rein to give him tummy scritches!

[billtodamax]

Felandria's Room

Nigel will do a little shimmy through the door, keeping his body blocking the door as he passes through it, before drawing it shut behind him. Cats. Pain in the ass.

See you soon! He calls through the door, before slipping off first to the kitchen (to check on the chilli) and then to his lab to start brewing up a pair of remove curse potions. Felandria and Reinholdt have some time to themselves while he does. Anyone near the lab will also have time to distract him...

[CosmicHobbit]

Felandria takes the slip of paper and reads it.

Entrance Hall

The moment Felandria takes the paper, the stranger turns and starts quickly heading back to the shuttle.

The slip of paper is presumably from the person, as it appears to have been written with technology, not hand-written, obscuring the identity of whoever wrote it. It reads:

I HAVE COME UPON A DISCOVERY OF A VILLAINOUS PLOT
A MAD MAN WHOSE TRUE NAME I DO NOT KNOW HAS BEEN DABBLING WITH GENETIC SCIENCE
HE HAS AUGMENTED HIMSELF TO HAVE THE POWERS OF NUMEROUS POWERFUL CREATURES
HE PLANS TO WAGE WAR UPON THE NEXUS, STARTING WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF STEELE STREET IN INSIDE
IF YOU ARE TRULY AN ORGANIZATION OF HEROES, YOU WILL SEND SOMEONE TO DEAL WITH THIS MAD MAN
HE WILL NOT BACK DOWN FROM HIS PLAN UNLESS YOU USE DIRECT FORCE
DO NOT MENTION THIS TIP IN YOUR CONFRONTATION, HE MAY KNOW IT IS I WHO GAVE YOU IT
MAY LUCK BE WITH YOU

[Mee]

Haunted Pool


Anja smiles, her worries gone. "Can I stay in your room then?" She asks. "It's not like I need a bed of my own. I could just kinda...I dunno, possess your pillow or bed or something else?" She considers. "And I know you're at least cool with me. I don't know if anyone else would be."

Haunted Pool

Kin blinks a few times, then grins, and nods a few more times. "Sure, of course! I, uh, actually have a lot of pillows. Beds, turns out, don't actually work too well for me. But a bed festooned in pillows. That's the ticket.
And I dunno about that at all!" She rubs at the back of her neck, cricking the joints slightly. "The people here are pretty darn understanding and open minded. I think it'd be perfectly okay!"

[Negotiations]

Mr. C will translate followed by a long reply from the door which makes the small lizard creature look worried.

"He seems a bit afraid I guess. He now said you shouldn't make him mad or he and his friends will flood this place and eat every single person. Starting with the nurse or something like that. He also says some words I can't really translate but I guess they are all insults and such." He says.
"If he is not lying, which I don't know Mimics can or not, then there are at least a hand full more in the base."

Nurse blinks a few times.
"O-oh! Is, is he threatening me?" She asks, confused, taken aback, and stepping back a bit, hand raised against her chest.

[Reinholdt]

[Felandria's Room]

Rein ignores the laser on the ceiling, standing when Nigel approaches the door and clearly making a few attempts to get through, but they're all false starts with Nigel's body in the way. If Felandria picks up Rein anyways and scritches his belly, all his claws will come out and latch on, accompanied by the hardest bite Rein can manage. Better let him go before he rakes too.

No one scritches the belly.

[Felandria]

Haunted Pool

Kin blinks a few times, then grins, and nods a few more times. "Sure, of course! I, uh, actually have a lot of pillows. Beds, turns out, don't actually work too well for me. But a bed festooned in pillows. That's the ticket.
And I dunno about that at all!" She rubs at the back of her neck, cricking the joints slightly. "The people here are pretty darn understanding and open minded. I think it'd be perfectly okay!"



Nurse blinks a few times.
"O-oh! Is, is he threatening me?" She asks, confused, taken aback, and stepping back a bit, hand raised against her chest.

It would seem he’s threatening all three of us, Nurse.

What shall we do?

- - - Updated - - -

Entrance Hall

The moment Felandria takes the paper, the stranger turns and starts quickly heading back to the shuttle.

The slip of paper is presumably from the person, as it appears to have been written with technology, not hand-written, obscuring the identity of whoever wrote it. It reads:

Fel looks up to see if the stranger is still there, nevertheless, upon reading the note, Felandria decides to take on the mission

[CosmicHobbit]

Fel looks up to see if the stranger is still there, nevertheless, upon reading the note, Felandria decides to take on the mission

As Fel looks up, the stranger is getting into the shuttle. Looking back, he sees her and bows as the shuttle door closes.