HALO 183: The Not Remotely Gritty Reboot

[Reinholdt]

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

Ironically, a different Jezebelle. One created by a different player before the current Jezebelle. About as wildly different from each other as can be imagined.

Easy to confuse in context however.

Kitty does force Rein to smile and Carlie reassures him, so he has no choice but to give a small laugh. "I suppose it was. Getting into over the top messes and mythological level events was standard fare for me back then I guess. Things are... Different." Happier. Duller.

Rein sticks his tongue out at Kitty for the imitation. "Not bad, but you gotta twist the wrist right at the end."

[THAT Room]

Reinholdt yawns and stretches and sits up, awake. He doesn't have anything in particular to add however. His projects are usually just find projects for other people and to decide which brand of cognac is his favorite.

[Zefir]

[That ROOM]

Mr C sits in the chair and bove him suddendly appears a sign big enougth for everyone to read and it says: "Personalized Seating!".
The little creature doesn't notice that it seems since as he speaks he sounds calm.
"I got nothing to do latly. Just tried to improve my mobility in the hallways by using those small catapults."

[Morty]

[THAT Room]

"I've had some very fruitful meetings with the members of the Fourth Tower," Dorota says. "I'm glad we have them aboard. Everything is running smoothly on my end, really. But then, I don't leave my lab a lot. I'm a bit... focused this way."

[5a Violista]

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

If people don't want to be confused for other people, they should build a time machine and convince their parents to give them a different name. Or, alternatively, convince the parents of the other person to name them differently.

"I'm sure there's probably a history museum that goes over this kind of stuff," Carlie says.

She thinks about what Rein said. "To be honest, I'm not really sure whether I want more over-the-top messes to start happening again." That skinwalker invasion kind-of was, but then it suddenly was over. "If it comes to a vote, put me in as 'undecided'."

[Recaiden]

Yeah, I guess it is a little mystifying.

"To be honest," Marin says, "I don't think I'm actually any good at superheroing stuff." She leans against a table, with most her weight on an arm. Remembering the most recent visit with Jade and also her other experience saving someone's life in combat, she says, "Sure I suppose there are some small things I can do, but...not really anything 'superhero'-worthy."

"I'd imagine you organizing a team of superheroes. Like, find out about evil plots and send heroes off on their missions." Honeysuckle suggests.
"But honest, even with a weird power, don't think I'd be any good as a hero neither. Good thing there's who are."

"Another round of targets? Or...?" Honeysuckle would probably just embarrass herself further, but she can't seem to find any boldness to do otherwise just yet.

[THAT Room]

"Nah, all good."
Actually.
"Except, Reinholdt, what is it ya do?"
"And heard about something bad in Inside."

[5a Violista]

[Shooting Range]

Marin smiles, and laughs. "If I'm the one organizing the team, then you have to be on it," she says. "You can be..." The catgirl tries to think of an adequate superhero name. "...either Doctor Blaze or Ginger Spice. Your choice." A couple others had come to mind, but they weren't as cool.

Notably, Marin hasn't moved back to a gun.
She just lets Honeysuckle's 'or...?' hang in the air, trying to decide. Sure, another round is fun. Definitely would be worth it. But...coming all the way here just to do something she could do outside of HALO? "Or..." She bites the inside of her lip, looks at Honeysuckle, and then decides.
She walks up to Honeysuckle, and reaches out to cling to her arm. "Or you could show me around? I only got to see the part where the Thanksmas party was hosted, after all."

[Recaiden]

That gets a laugh out of Honeysuckle. "Ginger Spice it is."

And then a Marin gets her arm, so she shifts closer to the catgirl with a smile. The guns will have to get put up later.
"Sure! Seen the range and that room..." Time to exit the range, arm in arm!
"Right next to here, the gym." Should probably visit more often, but you know, who can find the time?
"Around the next bend - look out at the fish 'long the way! - are the labs. Where I'm if actually doing something." From the materials lab, to the plague labs, to the big flashy machines no one remembers how to work, to whatever Nigel does, there's all sorts of things. The materials lab where Honeysuckle has most recently been working is a mess. But she can find everything fine, promise.

[5a Violista]

"Okay, Ginger Spice." Marin says, suppressing a laugh. It is a lot cuter than 'Doctor Blaze' so it was definitely the better pick.

"Cool," she says, going along to look at the rooms. "I probably need to go to the gym more. Haven't been working out recently." She's a bit less lean and a bit more curved than she'd like.

Approaching the labs, the catgirl looks up at all the fish. Wow, looks nice here.

And!
Labs!
The labs are actually really exciting. Marin isn't really sure what all of it does or what all of it's for, but looking at it she knows it all looks like stuff that she wants to know how to use. "Wow. 's neat. What sort of stuff do you usually work on?"

[Felandria]

[THAT Room]

Fel nods at Dorota’s news.

That’s excellent to hear, an alliance with Fourth Tower is quite a good thing to have.

She turns towards Honeysuckle.

What’s going on Inside?

[Gullara]

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

Ironically, a different Jezebelle. One created by a different player before the current Jezebelle. About as wildly different from each other as can be imagined.

Easy to confuse in context however.

Kitty does force Rein to smile and Carlie reassures him, so he has no choice but to give a small laugh. "I suppose it was. Getting into over the top messes and mythological level events was standard fare for me back then I guess. Things are... Different." Happier. Duller.

Rein sticks his tongue out at Kitty for the imitation. "Not bad, but you gotta twist the wrist right at the end."

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

If people don't want to be confused for other people, they should build a time machine and convince their parents to give them a different name. Or, alternatively, convince the parents of the other person to name them differently.

"I'm sure there's probably a history museum that goes over this kind of stuff," Carlie says.

She thinks about what Rein said. "To be honest, I'm not really sure whether I want more over-the-top messes to start happening again." That skinwalker invasion kind-of was, but then it suddenly was over. "If it comes to a vote, put me in as 'undecided'."

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

"It's for the better for me. Maybe several years back I could react easily to that sorta thing. I did my won thing back then. These days I have responsibilities." Kitsuki looks down at her sleeping daughter.

[Recaiden]

"Okay, Ginger Spice." Marin says, suppressing a laugh. It is a lot cuter than 'Doctor Blaze' so it was definitely the better pick.

"Cool," she says, going along to look at the rooms. "I probably need to go to the gym more. Haven't been working out recently." She's a bit less lean and a bit more curved than she'd like.

Approaching the labs, the catgirl looks up at all the fish. Wow, looks nice here.

And!
Labs!
The labs are actually really exciting. Marin isn't really sure what all of it does or what all of it's for, but looking at it she knows it all looks like stuff that she wants to know how to use. "Wow. 's neat. What sort of stuff do you usually work on?"

"So, you get a codename too?" Honeysuckle asks. Gotta have some way to refer to the team organizer.

That's also the boat most people are in with the lab equipment. Including the people who use it!
"Well, it depends what kinda disasters going on. Done a lot of going over microsamples, poking at viruses."
"But if it's quieter....that brings me to the next part of the tour, if we loop back, turn left, then right, go past the swimming pool, then down this way the power plant."
"Which is kinda my expertise."

[THAT Room]

Fel nods at Dorota’s news.

That’s excellent to hear, an alliance with Fourth Tower is quite a good thing to have.

She turns towards Honeysuckle.

What’s going on Inside?

Honeysuckle tosses her head awkwardly. Didn't expect that she would actually have that followed up on.
"Parks exploding, people turn into monsters. You know? Stuff."
"Think the police have mostly got it, but maybe we could be more prepared for weird happening."

[5a Violista]

[by Labs, Power Plant]

Marin thinks about it. "Yes. I suppose I should have one, too." But she can only think of lame things or names that are already taken, so..."I'll let you pick."


"Wow, that sounds fun," Marin says, even though they are talking about disasters happening.

She nods, and starts to go around that path towards the power plant. "Oh, it is?" she asks. Her expertise? "So what kind of power plant is it? How long have you been working on power and things like that? It sounds really interesting."



[Great Escape]

It's morning.
Harley's asleep, and planning on sleeping for another hour. Since that's when Manja's supposed to wake up to eat next.

Unfortunately, the baby's awake.
She doesn't cry, though.
She just...looks. She sees the bars and wants to get out. Unfortunately, she can't move nearly as well as everyone else and she's too big to fit through the bars but too small to climb out.
Remembering that she's seen her dad as a small cat before, she thinks that would probably let her out.

So, pretty simply, Manja is suddenly a kitten. Almost pure white, with a really fluffy tail, pink eyes that glow, a little, and the same weird pink-tipped cat-and-rabbit ears that have a gold ring on each. She's still too young for her claws to be retractable, so they keep on getting caught on stuff...and she walks awkwardly. Partly because of the claws, but mostly because it's really the first time she's ever done it.

The kitten squeezes out of the bed, falls to the floor, and then looks up at the bed.
She blinks.
She starts to play around in the room a bit, but quickly gets bored because nothing is changing and it's dark. So, she pushes open the door enough to squeeze out.

[Reinholdt]

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

"A history museum? I haven't heard of such a thing here." He's pretty sure any treasures in any museums would get stolen and they wouldn't maintain the revenue to stay open. Extremely certain in fact.

Rein smirks a bit at Kitty. "Oh I bet you you have one more wild adventure in you somewhere. Carlie and I will make sure of it some day." He laughs. "But it looks like we've bored Annie to sleep with all our talk. Should we call it here then?"

[THAT Room]

Reinholdt is pretty distracted by Mr C when he talks, the cat staring at him with ravenous, calculating eyes. Rein's body is tense and his tail is twitching as if calibrating the best way to pounce on his prey.

Honeysuckle's comments draw his attention away, however, and with reluctance he turns to face his doubter. "That's above your clearance level," Rein replies in his most professional voice, as if the project he's working on is top secret. It's not.

[Zefir]

[THAT Room]

Mr. C doesn't miss Reinholdt's desire and slowly pulls his grabling hook up. Just in case.
He has nothing to add right now.

[5a Violista]

[THAT room]

"People turning into monsters?" HarleyCarlie repeats, about what's going on Inside.
Huh.
...
"I think I might want to look into that." Like, what kind of monsters? it sounds interesting. Maybe she could help, or maybe she can just find out some cool stuff, depending on what kind of monsters.


[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

Wouldn't you rather keep treasures in a treasure museum? And not a history museum? At least, that's what Carlie would say.

Looking at the child, Carlie says, "Yeah, we should probably get her up to let her sleep somewhere more comfortable." Or something else like that. Sleeping sitting like that is probably uncomfortable.

She starts to stand up.
...
It's hard. She is, of course, about to pop at this time.


[Great Baby Escape]

Kittens are pretty bad at thermoregulation. Just like most babies.
Manja feels a little cold.

She starts mewing a little, looking for somewhere warm that she can head to.
She wanders down a hallway, in her search for something warm.

[Felandria]

[THAT Room]

Felandria notices Rein’s tail twitch and wonders if Reinholdt know that Mr. C is a stuff toy and isn’t very meaty.

She will have to keep an eye on that situation, but until then.

Well, yes, that’s part of the reason for this meeting, to get everyone’s status and to make sure we all know what each other is doing, minimize redundancies, offer each other help, maximize efficiency.

Although, going out and fighting monsters is always a good time and that will require further information.

Is there anything specific that Rein or myself can assist anyone with?

[Recaiden]

[On Tour]
A good superheroic name for Marin...
"Oh, don't know about names. Double Time? Captain Star? Lucky Charm?"

They're headed basically to the other side of the base. Honeysuckle isn't a great tour guide.
"'s a team auraplant, actually. Means the upkeep is weird and it needs a lot of capacitance and battery, but no turbine needed at all."
Or in other words, it's powered by weird lightning creatures.
When they arrive, Marin will be able to see (through thick plastic) the plump rodents scampering around their enclosures, frolicking, squabbling, arcing lightning bolts into electrical pylons, etc.

[That Room]

Honeysuckle just tilts her head curiously.
"When did we get clearance levels?"
Silly cat.

[Felandria]

[Great Baby Escape]

Kittens are pretty bad at thermoregulation. Just like most babies.
Manja feels a little cold.

She starts mewing a little, looking for somewhere warm that she can head to.
She wanders down a hallway, in her search for something warm.

Felandria is walking down the hall, reading something on her phone, when she hears a soft, tiny mewing.

She sees a tiny kitty on the floor, exploring.

Ooo, hello smol friend.

Aren’t you adorable?

She crouches down and scoops the tiny floof off the cold floor.

She holds it in one hand and gently strokes it with a finger.

[5a Violista]

[Great Kitten Escape]

The kitty gets picked up.
She's too small and weak to really do anything to stop that, but it's okay. She doesn't mind. Getting picked up means someone else gets to walk for you.

As Felandria talks to her, Manja looks up at her and mews a couple times in response.

Feeling that this tall woman's hand is warm, she decides that she wants more of it. So, she lies down to touch as much of the hand as possible.
And then!
The kitten suddenly gets attacked by a finger!
Manja rolls to her back so she can look up at the descending finger, and with her tiny paws tries to swat them at the finger. She's bad at swatting, but that's fine: It's the intention that counts.


[On Tour]

Marin carefully considers those names. "'Double Time' feels like the kind of name you'd give to a speedster," she says, ruling that one out. And she's not a captain so she'd feel a little weird going by that. But! "Lucky Charm sounds pretty good," she says. "And being lucky is definitely a good superpower! I'd get it if I could." And, everyone knows, superhero names sometimes go with what powers you have so it's only logical that she'd be lucky if she used that name.

It is a bit of a walk. But, it's okay. Marin doesn't mind. Going on walks while wrapped around someone's arm is inherently fun. "Auraplant...?" she asks, not entirely sure what that is.
But, seeing the actual power plant is a really good at explaining what it is.
She lets go of Honeysuckle so that she can get closer to the plastic and press against it. "Oh! They're so cute!" she says. She turns to look back at her date. "They're all named, right?" Gotta name cute things, after all.

[Gullara]

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

"A history museum? I haven't heard of such a thing here." He's pretty sure any treasures in any museums would get stolen and they wouldn't maintain the revenue to stay open. Extremely certain in fact.

Rein smirks a bit at Kitty. "Oh I bet you you have one more wild adventure in you somewhere. Carlie and I will make sure of it some day." He laughs. "But it looks like we've bored Annie to sleep with all our talk. Should we call it here then?"

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

Wouldn't you rather keep treasures in a treasure museum? And not a history museum? At least, that's what Carlie would say.

Looking at the child, Carlie says, "Yeah, we should probably get her up to let her sleep somewhere more comfortable." Or something else like that. Sleeping sitting like that is probably uncomfortable.

She starts to stand up.
...
It's hard. She is, of course, about to pop at this time.

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

Kitsuki giggles, but then looks down at Annie. "Yeah, I think you're right." Kitsuki shifts, tucks an arm under Annie, and seems to get up with far more ease considering the awkward angle and her arm being occupied with a child that's not so small these days. Then again, they saw her levitate that strawberry earlier too, didn't they?

"Thanks for the meal, and it was so nice to meet you, Carlie." Kitsuki smiles between the two. Annie shifts and being jostled and her eyes open blearily. "She mumbles something, and Kitsuki replies, "We're going home. Say goodbye."

"Bye bye Rein." Annie says, a bit more clearly, before leaning her head against her mom's arm again.

[Recaiden]

"'Lucky Charm' it is."
Hmm, do these feel too silly to use?
No, it should just be fun.
"Next thing a superhero needs - a costume, right?"

Honeysuckle comes over to the window and puts a hand on Marin's shoulder, though it doesn't help her see any better.
"Yeah, have names, but can be kinda hard to tell apart." They're all made of the same materials in the same proportions, and they move around so much.
One of the yellow-furred critters zips over and stands on its hind legs to get a better look at Marin.
"That'll be 'Ectrinea', really curious. And big orange one is 'Surge'."

[Morty]

[THAT Room]

Dorota shakes her head.

"I don't think there is. Everything is running smoothly in my corner of the base."

[Felandria]

[Great Kitten Escape]

The kitty gets picked up.
She's too small and weak to really do anything to stop that, but it's okay. She doesn't mind. Getting picked up means someone else gets to walk for you.

As Felandria talks to her, Manja looks up at her and mews a couple times in response.

Feeling that this tall woman's hand is warm, she decides that she wants more of it. So, she lies down to touch as much of the hand as possible.
And then!
The kitten suddenly gets attacked by a finger!
Manja rolls to her back so she can look up at the descending finger, and with her tiny paws tries to swat them at the finger. She's bad at swatting, but that's fine: It's the intention that counts.

Felandria lets out an involuntary squee as the tiny catbab waves it’s little paws at her finger.

She gently strokes upward from the nose up between the eyes.

I think we need to find you some milk.

Fel heads towards the nearest kitchen to take care of the smol.

[5a Violista]

[On Tour]

It's not too silly. As proof, MarinLucky Charm is going to use 'Ginger Spice' for the rest of the day. "Yes. Costumes. Good luck picking one for me, because not very many things look good on me." And also Marin be bad at picking out a good costume, too, because she's notoriously bad at matching colors.

Lucky Charm looks through the window at the curious one. She waves at it. The yellow ones are cuter than the orange ones," she claims.


[Great Kitten Escape]

Hopefully it's the right kind of milk, because kittens should really only be fed cat milk. Then again, there's probably some of that somewhat available.

She tries to bite the finger that's stroking her head, but can't quite reach it just by bending her head up. Frustrated that the finger is too hard to bite, she meows a complaint.

[Reinholdt]

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

Rein gets up without having anything extra to hold and offers a hand to help Carlie. Kitty clearly doesn't need it. Also, Reinholdt's also fairly convinced that those tails of Kitty's hold a decent amount of strength. Enough of them working in tandem can help anyone get up easily.

"Bye bye Annie. Take care of your mom, ok?" He says, waving bye back at her.

[THAT Room]

"Everyone always has clearance levels from the day they're born," Reinholdt posits. "Sure, they're usually invisible and unofficial, but they exist."

You're too young to know that. That's none of your business. It's a family secret.
Clearance levels interfere with everyone!

[Recaiden]

"Need a costume of not very many things for you then." Ginger Spice teases.

"What? The orange ones those big floppy ears, right? Gotta be way cuter." Unless it's the yellow color itself that's so cute, and not the other attendant differences. In that case Lucky Charm might be right and she could never know.

"So yeah, they absorb ambient aura, turn it into electricity we can use. Plant has to handle power levels going way up and way down again, no real pattern in the short term."

[5a Violista]

[A Bunny Meeting Kitty]

Having a hand outstretched to help her up is a little...embarrassing. Her pride almost makes her reject the help. But, Carlie ends up taking it anyway, and stands.
"Yeah! It was nice to meet you, too," she replies, smiling back.

She also says 'bye' to Annie and waves at her.


[On Tour]

Lucky Charm successfully holds back a laugh at the first comment. It was really hard, but she manages to only snicker. She glances around the room to make sure nobody else is around, since that would be mortifying if everyone at HALO's first impression of her was that mental image.

"No - I mean, yeah, those ones are kinda cute," she says, defending her opinions, "But, like, they're also a little more intimidating! Like, more cool than cute, y'know?"

Now that Ginger Spice is going back to talk about science, Lucky Charm goes back to her side to latch onto her arm and lean against her shoulder again. "Huh, that's really interesting. It's got to have some really good battery storage then, right?"

[Beans]

[Front Entrance]

The door opens and a young lady steps out, shaggy black wings loosely folded on her back. She's got a home to head back to, but first she's got an old one to check in on. Black hair in the sort of over-the-shoulder style of a dead anime mom, she adjusts her glasses and glances around. "Huh," she murmurs, "did Fel put new lights in?"

[Recaiden]

"Okay, agree they're cool."

"Right. Lots of batteries hold power, lots of flywheels smooth things out. All get the output consistent."
"About it for the power plant, though." Though they can walk through a door and look at the banks of machinery. Batteries can take up so much space, you know. Just row after row, stack after stack, and plenty of electrical cables.
Oh, and she's collected a superhero leader on her arm again. How nice.
"So, Lucky Charm, mind my petting your ears?" If she gets a positive answer, Ginger Spice will reach the other hand over to do so. Most people holding onto her arm, she wouldn't ask, but Lucky Charm was very particular about her personal space earlier.

[5a Violista]

[On Tour]

Ooh!
Yes!
Flywheels!
Those are really neat. Plus! She knows what they are!

The batteries look boring, though.
They're just batteries.

Honestly, the catgirl had been having so much fun that she had forgotten that it's unfair for her to touch Ginger Spice but be adverse to the reverse. So, she loosens her grip on Ginger Spice as she deliberates over it.

She swallows.
Lucky Charm almost gives a condition that she's not allowed to reach any lower, but instead says, "Um...so...it's fine. I don't mind. Go ahead, Ginger Spice."
It took her a lot of courage to say that, but she's still somewhat apprehensive about it.
She does love how it feels, though, so she'll do her best to not purr on accident. "Sh-should we sit down?"



[Front Entrance]

A woman is just happening to walk near the front entrance. It's a bunnygirl, who likely is going by the name Carlie, and she's holding a baby. Sure, there's some similar features between her and the baby, but they look pretty contrasting: she has dark skin and black hair, the baby doesn't, instead having white hair and kinda-glowy pink eyes. She's got bunny ears, the baby has...cat?bunny?with levitating gold rings around the bunny part? ears with pink tips. And the baby's tail is more like a fluffy cat's tail, or something.

"Oh! Um," she says. She stops walking. "Hi. Nice to meet you."