HALO 183: The Not Remotely Gritty Reboot

[Reinholdt]

[Half-lit Hallway]

Maria's eyes light up for a moment. "Oh it is most stimulating. It is about- ah..." The light fades when Julie insists she's not actually interested in the book.

There's a bit of an awkward silence as Maria realized she almost got carried away again. People don't enjoy hearing about such dry conversation topics like tax incentive programs and their relations on intercultural exchange. "I-I shall leave you to your ennui then," Maria says, stepping carefully past the jacket this time as she moves to continue down the hallway.

[Felandria's Room]

Reinholdt watches Felandria get bowls out. Bowls of food and water. Oh boy!

Reinholdt proceeds to ignore said bowls and look back at the door.

MEOW. MEOW.

He looks to Felandria and back at the door, now pawing at it.

MEOW!

[Felandria]

[Half-lit Hallway]

Maria's eyes light up for a moment. "Oh it is most stimulating. It is about- ah..." The light fades when Julie insists she's not actually interested in the book.

There's a bit of an awkward silence as Maria realized she almost got carried away again. People don't enjoy hearing about such dry conversation topics like tax incentive programs and their relations on intercultural exchange. "I-I shall leave you to your ennui then," Maria says, stepping carefully past the jacket this time as she moves to continue down the hallway.

[Felandria's Room]

Reinholdt watches Felandria get bowls out. Bowls of food and water. Oh boy!

Reinholdt proceeds to ignore said bowls and look back at the door.

MEOW. MEOW.

He looks to Felandria and back at the door, now pawing at it.

MEOW!

Felandria sighs.

Then she thinks for a minute.

Idea!

She concentrates and shapeshifts into a tabaxi, and responds to Reinholdt.

Translation provided.

Meow. (You can’t go out there right now)

Mrrrow! (We are sick and we have to stay in here)

Meeeowwwww!!!! (Otherwise our friends might get really sick)

meow. (Please just stay here for now?)

[5a Violista]

[Half-lit Hallway]

Wait.

Juliana doesn't want to be alone again.

Please don't go.

"W-wait," she manages to say. What can she do to get back on script? How is she supposed to do this when Maria cleverly manages to avoid all her traps and tricks?
"There's a key in the jacket. Could you bring it over to me?" she requests.

[Reinholdt]

[Half-lit Hallway]

Maria does pause and turn back around. At least he's more aware of his surroundings now. He must not have found where in his book he left off. Maria examines the situation in a little more detail with a skeptical look.

"It occurs to me that you are restrained for some residual purpose. Why should I alter that status quo?"

[Felandria's Room]

Rein's stare grows more indignant over time. Or that's just your conscience making it seem that way.

"Meow." (Open this door at once Servant.)

"MEOW." (The only thing that's unwell tis the position of thine door. Tis not open.)

"Meow." (Servant, if thou wishes to continue to bask in our eternal glory, thou whilst open this door immediately, lest you be destroyed by mine will.)

"Mew." (This door is closed. Closed is not open. A door that is closed cannot be open. This is a great indignity.)

"MEOW!!" (Upon the very name of Bastet herself, I command thee to open this door!)

[Felandria]

[Half-lit Hallway]

Maria does pause and turn back around. At least he's more aware of his surroundings now. He must not have found where in his book he left off. Maria examines the situation in a little more detail with a skeptical look.

"It occurs to me that you are restrained for some residual purpose. Why should I alter that status quo?"

[Felandria's Room]

Rein's stare grows more indignant over time. Or that's just your conscience making it seem that way.

"Meow." (Open this door at once Servant.)

"MEOW." (The only thing that's unwell tis the position of thine door. Tis not open.)

"Meow." (Servant, if thou wishes to continue to bask in our eternal glory, thou whilst open this door immediately, lest you be destroyed by mine will.)

"Mew." (This door is closed. Closed is not open. A door that is closed cannot be open. This is a great indignity.)

"MEOW!!" (Upon the very name of Bastet herself, I command thee to open this door!)

Felandria shifts to normal and shrugs, waving a hand and muttering to herself, then heads to the door.

Alright, then, I guess you win.

And Felandria opens the door, however, the doorway is now completely blocked by an invisible force field.

[5a Violista]

[Half-lit Hallway]

Wait, that is a good question. Juliana has to think through it to figure out why.

"Because it's, um..." She pauses, trying to figure out a good answer. "B-because it's the right thing to do? Isn't that what people do? Release chained-up women from hallways?"

"I promise I won't eat your eyes or voice," she promises.

...
Then, she clarifies. "...because I'm a perfectly normal human and not a fairy or ogre. And humans don't eat people's voices."

I mean, sounds reasonable, right?

[billtodamax]

Felandria's Room

Alright, chilli's cooking, chicken fried rice is done, and the computer should be just about finished crunching the data. Probably oughta check in with Felandria first... Nigel picks up two plates - one stacked with chicken fried rice as big as his head, and a much smaller one that just has a few pieces of cooked chicken on it for Reinholdt. He heads down the hallway to Felandria's room, wondering how he's gonna get this food in without letting Reinholdt out. Felandria will have to pick him up. He looks over to Felandria's room just in time to see the door swing open, with Rein apparently ready to leave. No no no no no! He cries out as he starts running toward the room, precariously carrying Felandria and Reinholdt's food.

[Reinholdt]

[Half-Lit Hallway]

"Do they? That seems horribly unwise of said personages," Maria remarks with a frown as she pushes her spectacles up her nose a little. "Even if we ignore your distressingly specific strawman argument, an empirically bad procedure to begin with, chained-up women in hallways have a historically high probability of being either a prisoner or a slave. Since we are not residing in the Underdark, the overall social consensus seems to accept slavery as undesirable and the culture of this organization is not one that appears to run contrary to this ideal. So the percentage chance of you being a prisoner seems to be relatively significant, even if the confine choices are not particularly traditional."

Maria realizes what he's said a moment later and clears his throat. "Not that I have, uh, been in the Underdark or anything." If Juliana is what one can call a good liar, Maria is what one can call a very bad liar.

[Felandria's Room]

Ah-ha! The door is open. Rein hovers for a bit, not moving anywhere at all, until he sees Nigel running at him. He crouches low, defensively, before attempting to dart forward out of the room.

Bonk.

Rein stares stupefied at the empty space for a moment before attempting to move forward again at a much slower pace.

Bonk.

The feline sits down, seemingly nonplussed about the situation. But he solves it quickly. By sticking his tongue out and licking the forcefield. Lick lick lick lick lick.

[5a Violista]

[Half-lit Hallway]

Maria must be pretty bad at lying, then.

For some reason, the chained-up woman fails to realize that she doesn't need the key to no longer be chained up. In fact, there's a good chance the key doesn't even fit because she didn't test it in the first place. She is just so intent on things working out according to the trap she had set, she doesn't realize that it's a bad idea and that there are better ways to go about it.

"But- but..." Juliana says, trying to come up with a good counterargment.
Her eyes light up as she comes up with something: "But if I were a prisoner, wouldn't I have a guard? Unless you think everyone else here is stupid enough to leave a prisoner without a guard... which they're not, by the way: I already met a smart person, which just goes to show..."

Julie pulls on the chains behind her, trying to get closer to Maria so that she can lower her voice to make it more intimate and personal.
She doesn't manage to get closer at all.

Then, Julienne (who has also never been to the Underdark or anything) adds, "Besides, keeping a prisoner in the hallway is a bad idea. What if somebody comes by not knowing that they're a prisoner, and then lets them free on accident? So, you see, nobody would leave a prisoner in a hallway because anybody who would think about doing that would be dumb, which means because I'm in the hallway that makes me not a prisoner."

[Reinholdt]

[Half-lit Hallway]

Maria's attention seems to be wavering as her head starts to slowly dip back towards her own book. She just wanted to read. Why was she here conversing with this person again? "I make it a habit not to underestimate the folly of others. But I will follow this line of theoretical thinking. Under these presumptions, you are not a 'prisoner'. Why then, do you find yourself restrained in this hallway?" Maria has asked variations on this question already. He's starting to believe that Julie may be avoiding the question.

[5a Violista]

[Half-lit Hallway]

"I've already told you, like, five times," she claims. "I can't tell whether you keep on forgetting or what."

So Julia starts to explain with a tone of voice like she's tired of explaining it. "So there's this disease going around that affects the mind, so I was chained up just in case, but it turns out I'm immune to it so I need to..."

Suddenly, because Julie was distracted by her explanation, she accidentally weakens the chains and breaks one of them. Because she was slightly pulling on it, she stumbles forward a bit.
She looks down at the chains. Then up at Maria. Then back down to her chains.
She backs up hides her freer-hand behind her back, hoping Maria didn't see anything.

[Felandria]

[Half-Lit Hallway]

"Do they? That seems horribly unwise of said personages," Maria remarks with a frown as she pushes her spectacles up her nose a little. "Even if we ignore your distressingly specific strawman argument, an empirically bad procedure to begin with, chained-up women in hallways have a historically high probability of being either a prisoner or a slave. Since we are not residing in the Underdark, the overall social consensus seems to accept slavery as undesirable and the culture of this organization is not one that appears to run contrary to this ideal. So the percentage chance of you being a prisoner seems to be relatively significant, even if the confine choices are not particularly traditional."

Maria realizes what he's said a moment later and clears his throat. "Not that I have, uh, been in the Underdark or anything." If Juliana is what one can call a good liar, Maria is what one can call a very bad liar.

[Felandria's Room]

Ah-ha! The door is open. Rein hovers for a bit, not moving anywhere at all, until he sees Nigel running at him. He crouches low, defensively, before attempting to dart forward out of the room.

Bonk.

Rein stares stupefied at the empty space for a moment before attempting to move forward again at a much slower pace.

Bonk.

The feline sits down, seemingly nonplussed about the situation. But he solves it quickly. By sticking his tongue out and licking the forcefield. Lick lick lick lick lick.

Felandria will walk up to the doorway and giggle at Rein’s licking, then she sees Nigel rapidly approaching and signals for him to slow down so he doesn’t hurt himself or drop the fried rice.

[Reinholdt]

[Half-Lit Hallway]

Maria falters at that and frowns. What? Julie had? When? Had he really forgotten already?

Now Julie has Maria's full attention. So of course he notices when the chains come free. His face says it pretty clearly. Or wait... Did she imagine the chain being broken? Why would Julie still act like she was chained up? Isn't everything a moot point now? Gah, nothing made sense. Maria's brow furrows, second guessing her own sanity.

"... How exactly does this disease affect the mind? What makes you so certain you're immune?"

[5a Violista]

[Half-lit Hallway]

...how does it work?

Julia doesn't actually know. She forgot to ask. "Someone told me," she says. "Basically there's different levels of immunity and the disease is in people's brains. In spite of what some people think, humans completely immune and people who are human-ish are immune so long as they don't eat anybody's brains. That's why there's so many zombies who are infected." That is, of course, not how it works and she knows that, but...if it'll convince Maria that Julie's not infected then that's alright with her.

She backs up a step so that it's not so obvious that one half of the chain is on the ground and unattached, adding a little slack to the other one. "I was in the kitchen. I thought I had accidentally eaten some brains, but..." She shrugs. "...but turns out it was just some brain coral which doesn't count as brains, for some reason."

Back to the plan again: "There a couple other people in here who know a lot more about it than me; so, like, hurry and unlock me so then I can bring you to them and then they can explain more about it."

There are a lot of lies pouring out of her mouth.

The leather jacket - or whatever it is - still lies on the ground with the metal key in a pocket. Black threads lie on the ground in the dim hallway. And, of course, the chain is only loosely wrapped around the pipe, snaking around and attaching on to one of Juliana's wrist. Somehow, the other wrist is now bare with not even the manacle around it anymore, but she's trying to hide that behind her back (which is hard when she wants to use her hands to help her talk and explain stuff) but...hopefully she's successful.

Edit:
Her voice sounds a little different, like it has a different quality to it. Julie doesn't seem to notice, but to anyone else it probably would be obvious: after all, voices sound different to your own ears than to others'. Give her a moment, she'll eventually notice.
...And the color change was totally intentional and not accidental at all.

[Felandria]

Pikachu Room

Since Nurse is on a cheeseburger break, Felandria has headed down to the Pikachu room, where the cuddly yellow fluffers are keeping the base fully powered.

She has brought them a buncha Pikachu food, all kinds of apples, berries and fruits, and several bottles of ketchup.

Num Num time!

[Zefir]

A bit earlier


Pikatchus need food and that is bought somewhere and brought down right? Right when such a delivery is made Mr. C made it on the ship as well. But it semed none noticed him. So the shuttle went down unloading the last boxes of the food. The captains off the ship then prepare to get back up. When one of them tries to shut the backdoor they just here a loud squeek and the door doesn't close. They look at each other confused and try again. The same happens thought the squeek sounds different. Then one stands up to check things out.

"Hey, there is something in the door.... It's some kind of stuff toy."
"Really? What is it?"
"I don't really know. Something like a green rat or so."
"Maybe it's a toy for those electro rats we brought the food down. But it in the storage and we can go."

The first man nods and does so. Then they disapear back to their duties.

Pikachu Room

Right when she serves the Pikatchus the berries sh might notice a strange green one. It's small and has a very strange form and it isn't a berry at all. It's the small stuff animal known as Mr. C which she knows from the Any Size Hotel. How odd. He looks asleep but hit eyes are crosses. That's not normal, right?

[Reinholdt]

[Half-Lit Hallway]

Maria pinches her nose with her thumb and forefinger, rubbing it under her glasses. Was... Was this person for real? "You just up and believed... After eating..." There's so many things wrong with this Maria's at a loss for words.

She forces herself to take a deep breath. There was no disease to begin with. This person has been horribly pranked by someone. And apparently just likes to eat brain like substances? That's ridiculous. Everything about this is ridiculous.

"It is fortunate then that the problem seems to have resolved itself," Maria says, nodding down at the broken chain. "Goodbye." Maria turns to walk away once more.

[Felandria]

A bit earlier


Pikatchus need food and that is bought somewhere and brought down right? Right when such a delivery is made Mr. C made it on the ship as well. But it semed none noticed him. So the shuttle went down unloading the last boxes of the food. The captains off the ship then prepare to get back up. When one of them tries to shut the backdoor they just here a loud squeek and the door doesn't close. They look at each other confused and try again. The same happens thought the squeek sounds different. Then one stands up to check things out.

"Hey, there is something in the door.... It's some kind of stuff toy."
"Really? What is it?"
"I don't really know. Something like a green rat or so."
"Maybe it's a toy for those electro rats we brought the food down. But it in the storage and we can go."

The first man nods and does so. Then they disapear back to their duties.

Pikachu Room

Right when she serves the Pikatchus the berries sh might notice a strange green one. It's small and has a very strange form and it isn't a berry at all. It's the small stuff animal known as Mr. C which she knows from the Any Size Hotel. How odd. He looks asleep but hit eyes are crosses. That's not normal, right?

Felandria notices the green berry and examines it.

Then she gasps.

Mr. C!

Are you okay?

She whips out her trusty wand of Cure Wounds and heals Mr. C just in case.

[Zefir]

Pikachu Room

As she cures him a green "+6" appears over him and a red "-dying".
The small creature wakes up and takes a fet deep breaths, it sounds a bit like Kirby. He appears like Fel just saved him from drowning.

"Where am I? Who am I? What am I?" befor Fel can answer it he draws a passport from behind his colar.
"Name: 'Mr. C'
Race: 'Reanimated Stuff animal Lizard thing?'
Guess they didn't really know either. Oh man what a bad picture."
The picture shows Mr. C's face with those thick nerd glasses, pimples and braces. Like those stereotyp nerds. Still his first question remains unanswered.

[Felandria]

Pikachu Room

As she cures him a green "+6" appears over him and a red "-dying".
The small creature wakes up and takes a fet deep breaths, it sounds a bit like Kirby. He appears like Fel just saved him from drowning.

"Where am I? Who am I? What am I?" befor Fel can answer it he draws a passport from behind his colar.
"Name: 'Mr. C'
Race: 'Reanimated Stuff animal Lizard thing?'
Guess they didn't really know either. Oh man what a bad picture."
The picture shows Mr. C's face with those thick nerd glasses, pimples and braces. Like those stereotyp nerds. Still his first question remains unanswered.

Felandria puts her wand away and gently sets Mr. C on a nearby post.

You’re here at HALO’s underwater base of operations.

I’m Felandria, coleader Of HALO.

And you must be Mr. C, I’m a big fan of your hotel.

[Zefir]

Pikachu Room

Mr. C looks confused at Felandria's feet. then up...and more up... and more. Lucky him his eyes are just two balls on his head otherwise he would hve seriouse neck problems right now.

"Oh yeah you are big." Mr C comments. "Felandria you said?" he pulls out a very small tablet, nearly like a toy version for lego figures, but this one works. "Yeah, big room, went to the other door. It's a bit ago but I remember. And this is HALo? Oh yeah I wanted to join for adventure, but befor I left the shuttle someone hit me in the side. Befor I could look it hit me again and knocked me out. I think I was somwhere at -5 hitpoints."

[5a Violista]

[Half-Lit Hallway]

"Hey, wait," she says to the leaving Maria. She steps forward, pulling the chain a little so it starts to unwrap around the pipe. "P-please."

She reaches out with her unchained hand "Please don't..."
The chain gets caught on one of the bolts holding the pipes together. It pulls back on her arm and she stumbles. "ow"
Julie, rather than actually thinking through her actions, starts tugging harder and harder on the chain even though tugging harder hurts. "Don't go." Ow. "Please don't." Ow. "Don't leave me..."

Then, she doesn't say it but, still tugging at the caught chain, she thinks: I-I don't want to be alone.

[Felandria]

Pikachu Room

Mr. C looks confused at Felandria's feet. then up...and more up... and more. Lucky him his eyes are just two balls on his head otherwise he would hve seriouse neck problems right now.

"Oh yeah you are big." Mr C comments. "Felandria you said?" he pulls out a very small tablet, nearly like a toy version for lego figures, but this one works. "Yeah, big room, went to the other door. It's a bit ago but I remember. And this is HALo? Oh yeah I wanted to join for adventure, but befor I left the shuttle someone hit m. e in the side. Befor I could look it hit me again and knocked me out. I think I was somwhere at -5 hitpoints."

Oh dear, well, that certainly won’t do at all.


Fel will gently scoop Mr. C up.

First things first, allow me to formally welcome you to HALO, we’re delighted to have you and hope the rest of your time here is considerably more enjoyable.

Now, if you’d like, I can take you to the Nurse’s office to get checked up on.

Or, if you’re hungry, I could escort you to one of the kitchens.

Felandria smiles down at Mr. C, her face radiating figurative warmth, sincerity and delight.

[Reinholdt]

[Half-Lit Hallway]

Maria seems to be a generally cold and distant kind of person, taking refuge with more books than people. Still, she's not heartless. Julie's voice, the desperation in her begging, is enough to give the scholar pause, albiet halfway down the hallway. There's a long sigh as Maria laboriously turns back around.

"Alright, alright. Just... relax," He says, quietly noting the outstretched hand. "Observe. You are already halfway to accomplishing your goal. Just unlock yourself. I will wait," Maria assures her, agreeing to stand there patiently within general proximity of Julie.

[Zefir]

[Pikachu Room]

Mr C waves back as he is picked up and welcomed, but then he suddendly wears a sherlock holmes outfit.

"We have to investiage. Whoever brought be down might be around and he might be EVIL." The last word spoken like mermaid man from Spongebob.

Then Fel mentions nurse and kitchen. While Mr C like to be treated a big question mark appears above him.

"Kitchens? Like in 'We got more then one since we need one for every great cuisin?'"

A big grumbling sound appears, which might be a yes for kitchens.

[5a Violista]

[Half-Lit Hallway]

Oh.

Right.

One of her hands is freed, she can just reach the key. Somehow Juliet didn't notice that.
She feels a little sheepish now.

"Um...like this?" she asks bending down to grab the key from the jacket. Putting the key into the lock, Julia suddenly remembers that it's not really a real key and not really a real lock. Seriously, though, how could she forget that? The manacle and chain are literally part of her body with an exoskeleton around it, darkened to look like old chains. It actually feels really uncomfortable to be sticking the metal key inside it...kinda like what it feels like when somebody sticks a finger in your open wound.

Regardless of the non-functionality of the key, Julie manages to open up the manacle anyway, leaving her wrist beneath looking like it has been abraded. After losing that much flesh, she does feel a little woozy. "Look, it worked," she says in a tone half-congratulating Maria for figuring out how to open it up and free her.

Now free from the tyranny of the chain and pipe, the woman picks up her leather jacket(?) (or whatever it really is) and puts it on.

She runs to catch up, leaving the half-lit hallway behind her.

"S-so."
"...are you headed to the library or something?"

[Felandria]

[Pikachu Room]

Mr C waves back as he is picked up and welcomed, but then he suddendly wears a sherlock holmes outfit.

"We have to investiage. Whoever brought be down might be around and he might be EVIL." The last word spoken like mermaid man from Spongebob.

Then Fel mentions nurse and kitchen. While Mr C like to be treated a big question mark appears above him.

"Kitchens? Like in 'We got more then one since we need one for every great cuisin?'"

A big grumbling sound appears, which might be a yes for kitchens.

Felandria is very impressed by this tiny plush lizard, and nods sagely.

You’re absolutely right, Mr. C, let us get you something to eat, then we shall investigate who tried to get you.

[Reinholdt]

[Well-lit Hallway]

Maria is unaware of just how many hoops and how much pain Julie is going through to 'unlock' herself from more of herself. Which just means it's a pretty solid deception. As a whole.

"That is accurate," Maria says, starting to move, but pausing before actually taking a step. She takes a moment to think it over once more. "Well, that at least was accurate at one point in a prior period of time. My original destination can be delayed for a short while. I will not fall too far behind on my itinerary."

That entire 'itinerary' likely consists of reading more books.

"It would seem prudent however, to go discuss this falsely attributed disease with whomever told you about it initially." It was a very cruel joke, making up a disease and locking someone up. "Who informed you of this malady?"

[Zefir]

Felandria is very impressed by this tiny plush lizard, and nods sagely.

You’re absolutely right, Mr. C, let us get you something to eat, then we shall investigate who tried to get you.

[Pikachu Room]

She might be less impressed if she finds out what happened.

"To the kitchen it is." Mr C replies. "I should note I eat anything and I eat ALOT more then my size might imagine. Do you got cameras around here ? Maybe that will make things WAY faster."

[5a Violista]

[Well-lit Hallway]

She'll be fine. Just like anyone else who cut off their own limb to survive something, she'll feel a little light-headed but recover just fine and be back to normal in a few hours. (That is what happens when you lose a limb, right?)

"There was this girl with animal ears and glasses," Julie says as she gestures 'fox ears' on her own head, ""And a scientist guy with syringes."

...
Realizing she just told the truth, Julia decides to elaborate: "They both had lab-coats..." she gestures 'lab coat' by miming one. "Actually, though, now that I think about it, they were both working together. You're right. It's actually kind-of obvious now that I think about it, because they both said the same things. And you know what they say about girls with glasses." She sagely nods.

Faux-angry, she adds, "I can't believe they would do something like that! She was really nice and he looked very serious. Do you think they weren't really scientists? But then where did they get those syringes and glasses?"