HALO 183: The Not Remotely Gritty Reboot

[Morty]

[Labs]

Dorota stops her examination of the laboratories and thinks for a moment.

"How dangerous would it be to gather some blood or skin samples from this hand? Until we can safely contain and handle the substance itself, they might do as a source of information."

[5a Violista]

[Labs]

Oh.
That's...
That's...
That's not something she considered, that they might have to take blood and tissue samples. What if she doesn't want more people to gain access to her blood? GLoG already has a sample in storage, and AMEN...likely has it as well. What if this could be used to link together everything?
But, on the other hand, it could help solve this mystery and find out what this stuff is.

...
But, something that Holly hasn't mentioned is that there's actually two different mutagens there. One is that dangerous whatever that's on her right hand - but, on her, is nowhere near as dangerous as the pure substance. The other is throughout her entire body and is both inherent to her and controllable by her. As far as she knows, she's the only one with that particular mutagen in the entire Nexus. ((Little does she know, there is one other and she's located in HALO's quarantine, but...that's a secret to everybody.))
And maybe they'll also be able to tell that she made a deal with an eldritch horror and that kind-of remade her entire body to be inherently stronger?
And what if she asks questions? She'll have to come up with answers that sound plausible but don't give away everything.

No. Breathe, she tells herself. It'll be fine. There's a reason why you're currently disguised as a half-elf. Just use that as your excuse.

"Maybe..." she says, really thinking it out. "As long as it's treated like a deadly biohazard and nobody touches it, it should be safe enough."

Now, the half-elf bit. "Of course, being a half-elf," she points at her ears, "my body is alraedy inherently unstable so you'd probably need a non-infected sample as well, to determine what's the mutagen's doing and what's just a side-effect of being a mutt. When GLoG did this way back when, they used some sort of time-stasis-whatever to keep my blood from collapsing on itself. I'd recommend using something similar, because my blood doesn't react well with being separated from me."

....
Yes.
That's a satisfactory explanation, she figures. Having an uninfected sample, so that they will ignore the inherent instability and just focus on the mutagen's effects. Blaming the instability on being a half-elf. Yup...that good enough.

[Morty]

[Labs]

Dorota blinks slowly, unsure of what to say. Talking has never been her strong suit, but now she's just rather confused.

"...this is the first time I've heard of a half-elf's body being inherently unstable. And I've been married to one for years." She pushes her glasses up her nose. "But I suppose there are different half-elves on different worlds. Either way, I don't know if we have the right kind of containment equipment here."

[5a Violista]

[Labs]

"Oh."

Escape plan, escape plan, escape plan...before she starts asking more about half-elves.

Did she hear a difficulty? The wrong kind of equipment? That's a way out. "You can keep on getting intimate with the lab," Holly says, as if waving off the problem. "GLoG used to be renowned for its medical equipment so they probably still have it around. I'll go ask their infirmary if we can borrow or use it."

Holly the half-elf starts to leave the lab. "Nice talking with you; have fun here."

[Morty]

[Labs]

Dorota nods slowly in confusion. That was abrupt. Did she say something wrong? She turns back to examining the labs once Holly is gone.

[Recaiden]

She honestly wants to put off the answer as long as possible. As soon as she answers all her questions, she knows she's not going to be let out. She's just going to be left alone for another dozen hours, or however long she's been in here.

She really doesn't want to just be alone. More than getting out, she just wants to have someone else nearby.
Honestly, the best threat that could be given in order to make her cooperate would be 'I'm going to leave until you're ready to start answering.'

So, it's to nobody's surprise that instead of answering the question, she instead says, "Are you sure you don't want to hear music now? I've been practicing this really neat trick where I play the flute at the same time as the percussion. It's pretty hard, actually, do you want me to show you how to do it?" Juliekana then proceeds to try to pick up the tambourine with her toes and - unless Honeysuckle starts to have a disapproving look on her face or tone in her voice, starts playing it with her feet.

Intentionally misunderstanding the question, she keeps on talking: "The answer to your question is actually pretty obvious. I'm a musician-slash-artist-slash-motorcycle-chick."

...Feeling that Honeysuckle isn't going to accept that answer, she keeps on talking. "But, seriously, that's a tough question to answer so I don't know why you called it easy. Like, 'what are you' is a question that's been debated by tons of philosophers like Plato who said man is a miserable pile of secrets and...er...Sparticus, I believe, who said you are what you eat." She's literally just making all this up on the spot. If she had known a scientist would had asked her a really deep question, she would have spent more time preparing. She stretches again, and then lifts her legs (and the tambourine) high into the air, keeping the hospital gown barely modest enough using her hands. "The answer I'm partial to is that who you are is not what fate said you had to be at your birth, but instead..." the tambourine falls off her feet and hits her square in the face. "...wait, don't go yet, I'm getting somewhere with this." She randomly says this even without looking, because there's a tambourine blocking her vision. She grabs one of the billiard balls and tosses it upwards, only to catch it again."So, like, so what if my grandma's a man-eating shadow monster thing that seduces the hearts of men and tricks them into whatever? I've never met her, and besides, I think that whole nature vs nurture argument is bunk, anyway."

"No. No music."
But apparently she didn't sound disapproving enough, because Julie starts playing it anyway.
The scientist covers and folds down her ears until the tambourine stops.

"Yeah. Never heard of Plato or Sparticus. Pretty sure ya made them up."

Honeysuckle starts walking away as Julius picks up the billiard balls, but that second to last sentence makes her pause.
"Said easy because it's damn easy. Even you got it eventually. 'Man-eating shadow monster'. Explain. How about other grandparents? Your other grandparents."

[5a Violista]

Because Honeysuckle has threatened to walk away by...actually starting to walk away, Julienne stays on topic so it doesn't happen again.
She sets down the ball.

"Like, exactly what I said," she claims. "Shadow monster. Awful person. Probably immortal. Tried to take over the world once. Everybody kinda hates her." That's enough about that grandmother, right? Well, except she didn't specify a species, and Julie doesn't have any personal experiences with her, but she's definitely heard the rumors and legends.

"Don't even know who she hooked up with. Heard he was a knight, or something. And my other grandparents, one was a revolutionary who died a long time ago and my other grandma was an old lady for as long as I knew her." Still nothing about their species...but they are human; she just forgot to mention that.

Julia leans closer and whispers: "I'll tell you more if you let me out."
...
Or you could just threaten to walk out again. That'll work.

[Mee]

Cam Room

Felandria goes to the nearby coffee maker and pours a nice cup of coffee.

Once Nurse arrives in the room, Fel will hand it to her.

Greetings, Nurse.

I’d like you to meet Mr. C, he needs nursing.

"coooffffffffffffffffeeeeeeeeeeee" Nurse murmurs, still bleary eyed, taking the cup with a happy and polite bow of her head, and twitch of an ear!
She sipp!
She happy sigh!
But mostly, she here to help tiny guy!
"Oh! Of course! House calls are fun!"

Cam Room

Righht then one of the chairs turn around in those James BBond styles when the villian leader faces the hero. Even the james bond music is playing. At first glance the chair is empty, but then she might see the little green creature. He's only 2-3 inches long has green skin that appears to be some kind of cloth just like stuffed animals got it. A yellow crage makes it appear like a cameleon. just with little paws instead of thos reptilian feets. A monocle is right in front of his button like eye.

"I was waiting for you, Ms Nurse." he says ina deep voice. He caughts and spills blood with that. A small health bar appears above him which turns from yellow to red. he felt under 20%.

"Oooohhhh. Well you are adorable." Nurse cheers, clapping her hands together, her ears standing straight back up, and tails swishing behind her!
"You do definitely appear to be hurt! Do you respond to regular healing? Or do you need special treatment?
I ask once because I had a vampire come through that didn't like positive energy so that took a bit of extra work." she murmurs the last to herself, mostly.

[Recaiden]

Because Honeysuckle has threatened to walk away by...actually starting to walk away, Julienne stays on topic so it doesn't happen again.
She sets down the ball.

"Like, exactly what I said," she claims. "Shadow monster. Awful person. Probably immortal. Tried to take over the world once. Everybody kinda hates her." That's enough about that grandmother, right? Well, except she didn't specify a species, and Julie doesn't have any personal experiences with her, but she's definitely heard the rumors and legends.

"Don't even know who she hooked up with. Heard he was a knight, or something. And my other grandparents, one was a revolutionary who died a long time ago and my other grandma was an old lady for as long as I knew her." Still nothing about their species...but they are human; she just forgot to mention that.

Julia leans closer and whispers: "I'll tell you more if you let me out."
...
Or you could just threaten to walk out again. That'll work.

Honeysuckle drifts a step closer to Juliet's quarantine room.
"That's rough, hating your grand-ma. So one of your parents was half-shadow-monster, right? They ever try taking over the world? What did they all-"

A bit of the craziness catches up to her.
"Juleka, everyone's an old lady once they get old. What kind of old lady? Human? Garden gnome? Talking weasel?"

At the patient's final offer, she laughs.
"How about if you tell me everything, I stay and listen to your music?"

[5a Violista]

That's...that's a tough choice.
If Juleka turns down the offer and sticks to the 'let me out and I'll tell you more' then she might be let out.
But if Juliette agrees to the offer, then the fuzzy scientist will stick around.
"..."
"You promise? No backsies." She grabs the knife that was on the ground too, and pushes it away from herself so it's no longer in reach.

"She was human," Julie says. "Where I'm from, everyone's human. Except shadow monsters. They're not. And me, I suppose, and my mom."

The quarantined woman stretches again. She doesn't like being in quarantine. It's very uncomfortable.
You know what else Julie finds uncomfortable?
Talking about herself. She's visibly uncomfortable as she says things about herself and her family. "She...well, she didn't tell me any stories about trying to take over the world," Miss In-Quarantine says, "but my mom did start a couple of wars."

She rolls over, onto her stomach, which makes the tambourine fall to the ground. "Oh! But this one time!" Juliekana says, sounding excited. "She told us a story about how she joined a knight's order. It was pretty cool."

Her excitement dies down. "But...um, where was I? Oh, right. I don't think there's anything else to tell." She reaches over and grabs the flute. "That's it. You ready now?"

[Recaiden]

"Yeah, promise."
If the music is really bad, well, it's not that serious a promise. Should be easy to break.
The fluffy scientist sits down outside the quarantine cell.

"Woah. Most people have trouble starting one war. How about you? Ever want to take over the world?"
There's so much more to talk about, Juleka. No time for music yet.
"Don't know a thing about my grandparents. Mom wasn't much for history. Dad must've been the one with the tail." Honeysuckle says, hoping that sharing will help Jukliana continue on that topic.

[5a Violista]

Julie puts the flute back down.

"W-well, I only wanted to take over the world exactly as much as anyone else!" she says, indignant. "It's a normal, healthy thing for a girl to want, you know? But I never tried, obviously."

"My dad didn't have a tail," she says, "but my mom knew so much about history. I guess that makes us complete opposites even though we're both wearing glasses."
Here she is, talking about glasses again.
"I guess what they say probably isn't true, after all."

"All my family's dead, though," Juliana says, looking up at the ceiling. "There was a fire and my parents probably tried to save my little brothers. I was sneaking out of the house at the time, to meet with some boy I knew. He was kind-of cute but my mom didn't like him. He didn't talk to me after that. Said something about his father and then he told me to go die." She shrugs and starts rhythmically tapping out something on the floor. She turns her head to Honeysuckle. "What else was there that you wanted to know? Sorry, I already forgot what you asked me."

[Recaiden]

"What, you think you coulda done it if you just tried? I never wanted to, don't think."
Honeysuckle laughs.
"Okay, what do they say about glasses?" That's a remarkably persistent part of Julie's delusional rambling.

What else? She considers, not even facing towards Juleka.
"Tell me about the shadow monsters."

[5a Violista]

"If you've never thought that...maybe you should get yourself checked?" Julie recommends. "I know a good psychiatrist I could recommend you to." She actually doesn't.

"So, what they say is that they..." In order to answer the second question, she looks around, moves as close as she can to Honeysuckle, and then whispers something really dirty. She hopes that the scientist has a similar reaction that Maria had. It was a pretty fun reaction.

She moves back to the pile of all the random objects. "On a related note, the shadow monsters." She starts rolling the balls around. "Like, ninety-nine percent of them all come out at night, and they eat people. Can't pronounce vowels, because they don't have lungs. Very dangerous, make sure you don't go somewhere dark without a light. And all the other stuff people say."

...
What about the other 1%?
"...my grandma's not one of those ninety-nine. I heard on the radio once talking about it, called something something in Latin. Proditor? Something like that."

"Oh! But I practiced how to pronounce it! Not in Latin. But, like, how they pronounce it."

Julia exhales all her breath, and then says something nonsensical: "Tsthskhsss tz ssfpsth. Kinda cool, right? It's actually pretty hard to say."

[Zefir]

"coooffffffffffffffffeeeeeeeeeeee" Nurse murmurs, still bleary eyed, taking the cup with a happy and polite bow of her head, and twitch of an ear!
She sipp!
She happy sigh!
But mostly, she here to help tiny guy!
"Oh! Of course! House calls are fun!"



"Oooohhhh. Well you are adorable." Nurse cheers, clapping her hands together, her ears standing straight back up, and tails swishing behind her!
"You do definitely appear to be hurt! Do you respond to regular healing? Or do you need special treatment?
I ask once because I had a vampire come through that didn't like positive energy so that took a bit of extra work." she murmurs the last to herself, mostly.

[Cam Room]

"I guarantee you Missssssssssssssssssss that I'm not a vampire" he says. As the nurse blinks she might suddendly see him wear a graf Dracula Cape and pointy theeth at his mouth with cause the long s. As he notice it he shakes himself and after another blink things are gone, "I'm totally positiv. I might just start to blink when I reach a near death situation and my eyes cross out when I pass out."
Just from the look, the small creature seems fine. Must be some inner wounds. Those kind that happen when someone squisches you so hard it breakes your bones or organs and such.

[Recaiden]

Honeysuckle leans an ear in to listen to Juleka's whispering. And then she throws her head back and laughs and laughs.
"I think when they say that? They're exactly right."

But did she just say the shadow monsters were 'a related note' to that?

"Interesting. So you more like the 99%, from what you said in the lab? Or what?"
She did seem to be torn between eating people and not, didn't she?
"But if she's not like the others, why's everyone still hate your grandma?"

At the slithery vowel-less pronunciation, she just shakes her head. Wouldn't be able to recognize that if anyone said it again, even.

[5a Violista]

Julie, in response to the latter questions, says with a totally serious tone of voice, "She probably still eats people."

"The difference is that she - we? - she has lungs, isn't afraid of a little sunburn, and looks human." Juleka nods sagely. "I heard that she used to kidnap people and keep them in a dungeon."

"Also!" she adds. "There's reports that, like, people like her don't have any real emotions. It's all fake. Just pretend to have emotions to manipulate and trick people." After a beat of thought, Juliana says, "Wait."

"Do you think that's true?" she asks. "I'm like her. Are all my emotions fake, too? Is it all just a big lie?" She gets a worried look on her face. "Like, all of it. What if I'm just trying to trick you into letting me out? What if I don't actually care?"

She stops rolling the balls around. A tear runs down her face. "That would be really sad, right?"

[Mee]

[Cam Room]

"I guarantee you Missssssssssssssssssss that I'm not a vampire" he says. As the nurse blinks she might suddendly see him wear a graf Dracula Cape and pointy theeth at his mouth with cause the long s. As he notice it he shakes himself and after another blink things are gone, "I'm totally positiv. I might just start to blink when I reach a near death situation and my eyes cross out when I pass out."
Just from the look, the small creature seems fine. Must be some inner wounds. Those kind that happen when someone squisches you so hard it breakes your bones or organs and such.

[Cam Room]

Nurse nods a few times, unsurprising. By this point, having been a nurse around the Nexus as long as she has, not a lot surprises her. This display certainly doesn't. "All right!" She says, excitedly, "That does make this a lot easier!"
And with that, a liiiittle bit of good healthy healing magic is sent over at him. Just to make sure it actually works, because Nurse wants to be careful.
Assuming it does work, then the entire room is suffused by a warm, gentle, pink light that should soothe all of his wounds back to full health.
And if Fel has any bruises or hurts of her own, as she's in the room, she'll likely get healed for any she might need as well!

[UncleWolf]

Haunted Pool

Those currently swimming in the pool, relaxing in the warmth to the sound of the deep ocean currents swirling just outside, might not be relaxed for long as the air becomes slightly chilly and a quiet voice can be heard. "H-Helloooooo...?" A young woman's voice calls out. "A-Anyone here?" Those looking for the voice's source will see a blank wall before the rather pretty head of a particularly long-eared elf pokes her head through. "Where is this?" The ghost asks, looking about in confusion and a bit of fright.

[Mee]

Haunted Pool

Those currently swimming in the pool, relaxing in the warmth to the sound of the deep ocean currents swirling just outside, might not be relaxed for long as the air becomes slightly chilly and a quiet voice can be heard. "H-Helloooooo...?" A young woman's voice calls out. "A-Anyone here?" Those looking for the voice's source will see a blank wall before the rather pretty head of a particularly long-eared elf pokes her head through. "Where is this?" The ghost asks, looking about in confusion and a bit of fright.

S-pool-ky

Currently the pool is mostly quiet, aside from one fairly drowsy lamia using it as a warm place to sleep!
She mumbles in drowsy frustration as the temperature of the room cools, and sinks further into the water until just her nose and up is above the water. Her shoulder length, loose, blue hair spreading across the surface of the water as she sinks down. She does reply to this long-eared elf, though being mostly asleep, her reply turns into a collection of bubbling noises as she speaks underwater, without any sort of magical help allowing her to actually speak underwater.

Glancing into the pool shows that she takes up a rather decent chunk of it, her long, strong, sinuous tail swishing through the water idly, its blue, red, and purple scales reflecting the light, if not out and out glowing on their own. Her upper half is fairly pale, very well muscled, and surprisingly modestly covered.

[UncleWolf]

Spooky Happenings

Spotting the sleeping snake-lady down below, the elf tilts her head in both confusion and interest. She tries to float down, but she's stuck in the wall until she gives a grunt and forces her way through the wall entirely by pushing her hands against it. Having concentrated on doing something physical however, she forgets to keep floating and lets out a frightened scream as she falls into the pool below! Of course, there isn't a splash at all as she lands next to the Lamia and her scream can still be heard even from underwater. Eventually she finally pops her head back up, wide-eyed and panicking for the brief moment before the ghost realizes what must have happened.

[Mee]

Spooky Happenings

Spotting the sleeping snake-lady down below, the elf tilts her head in both confusion and interest. She tries to float down, but she's stuck in the wall until she gives a grunt and forces her way through the wall entirely by pushing her hands against it. Having concentrated on doing something physical however, she forgets to keep floating and lets out a frightened scream as she falls into the pool below! Of course, there isn't a splash at all as she lands next to the Lamia and her scream can still be heard even from underwater. Eventually she finally pops her head back up, wide-eyed and panicking for the brief moment before the ghost realizes what must have happened.

Spoopums

Now, the scream though. That wakes her up with a start! The lamia flails a bit, splashing water everywhere as she sinks underwater for a moment. She surfaces a panicked moment later, shooting up out of the water high enough to scootch back up onto the corner of the concrete around the pool, leaning back, hands firmly supporting her as she leans back away from the spooky startle.
She looks around, not speaking yet, trying to figure out what she just heard.

[UncleWolf]

Spooky Scaly Lamia-Kins

"Um...hello." The sheepish spook says, reaching up and giving a little wriggle of her fingers to say hello now that she was a few scant feet from the pool's occupant. "S-Sorry for waking you. You don't happen to know where I am, would you?" She asks as she hops up out of the pool to sit on the edge. Despite having been beyond head's-deep, her ghostly nightgown looked dry to the touch. At least, as dry as a ghost could look.

[Mee]

Spooky Scaly Lamia-Kins

"Um...hello." The sheepish spook says, reaching up and giving a little wriggle of her fingers to say hello now that she was a few scant feet from the pool's occupant. "S-Sorry for waking you. You don't happen to know where I am, would you?" She asks as she hops up out of the pool to sit on the edge. Despite having been beyond head's-deep, her ghostly nightgown looked dry to the touch. At least, as dry as a ghost could look.

Spookee Poooool

"No, no, I'm sorry." Kin mumbles, rubbing at her eyes sleepily. "You are in HALO," Kin begins, placing a palm on both cheeks, her fingers reaching along her jaw down to under her ears, and lets out a long exhale. In part to stifle a yawn. "An underwater base full of peoples that do stuffs. Like. Sciences. And magics." And . . . Kin just isn't 100% sure. Grace invited her to come hang out, but she's not spent a lot of time walking around the base.
Any time, really.
"I'm sorry, I'm Kin." And then she offers a hand for shaking. And her cheeks turn a deep blue as she blushes so hard at the ghost, finally putting 2 and 2 together and getting corporeality.

[UncleWolf]

Spooky Spectacles

"And I'm...I'm..." The elf stops, frozen and confused. "I can't remember." She admits, looking quite sad and hanging her head in defeat. "I remember who I was, just not my name. I'm a princess though!" She explains as she looks at the offered hand. Frowning, she reaches out, concentrating, and finally grips Kin's hand to give it a shake. It was a very weak grip, hardly more than a breeze, but she seems like she can at least turn partially corporeal when given time and effort.

[Mee]

Spooky Spectacles

"And I'm...I'm..." The elf stops, frozen and confused. "I can't remember." She admits, looking quite sad and hanging her head in defeat. "I remember who I was, just not my name. I'm a princess though!" She explains as she looks at the offered hand. Frowning, she reaches out, concentrating, and finally grips Kin's hand to give it a shake. It was a very weak grip, hardly more than a breeze, but she seems like she can at least turn partially corporeal when given time and effort.

Too Spook For Me!

"Oh no!" Kin frowns in sympathy as she admits she can't remember her name. She does shake her hand though, very, very gently! "Well . . . I could maybe help with the name, if you would like.
Though a princess!" Kin blinks a few times, surprised, and curious! "Well then, well met, your highness. It's my pleasure."

[Zefir]

[Cam Room]

Nurse nods a few times, unsurprising. By this point, having been a nurse around the Nexus as long as she has, not a lot surprises her. This display certainly doesn't. "All right!" She says, excitedly, "That does make this a lot easier!"
And with that, a liiiittle bit of good healthy healing magic is sent over at him. Just to make sure it actually works, because Nurse wants to be careful.
Assuming it does work, then the entire room is suffused by a warm, gentle, pink light that should soothe all of his wounds back to full health.
And if Fel has any bruises or hurts of her own, as she's in the room, she'll likely get healed for any she might need as well!

[Cam Room]

Oh it wasn't a display. Mr C got no controll over the 'funny facts'. Those are obviouse jokes changing his appereance for a funny touch in any conversation/situation. The healing magic seems to work as the health bar turns up and disapears after it passed to orange again. With her healing Mr. C is back up and running. He caughts a bit seeing that there is no more blood coming out.

"Thanks Mrs Nurse. Now we can go on and slay that evil Mimic Door thing down there."

[Recaiden]

Julie, in response to the latter questions, says with a totally serious tone of voice, "She probably still eats people."

"The difference is that she - we? - she has lungs, isn't afraid of a little sunburn, and looks human." Juleka nods sagely. "I heard that she used to kidnap people and keep them in a dungeon."

"Also!" she adds. "There's reports that, like, people like her don't have any real emotions. It's all fake. Just pretend to have emotions to manipulate and trick people." After a beat of thought, Juliana says, "Wait."

"Do you think that's true?" she asks. "I'm like her. Are all my emotions fake, too? Is it all just a big lie?" She gets a worried look on her face. "Like, all of it. What if I'm just trying to trick you into letting me out? What if I don't actually care?"

She stops rolling the balls around. A tear runs down her face. "That would be really sad, right?"

"No, it ain't gonna be sad. Sadness is an emotion too."
Honeysuckle paces back and forth outside the quarantine, thinking about that.

"I mean, you've jumped back and forth. Happy, angry, sad, seductive, cunning, proud, crying, just like that. Be easier if it were all an act."

"Why don't you play some music now, if you still want to?"

[UncleWolf]

Haunted Happenings

"Yes! I am one!" The ghost says, sounding quite adamant and firm about it as she crosses her arms at the thought of any potential objection to her status. "A dead one, but still! And I suppose you need to call me something other than just Princess all the time. That sounds boring and tiring even to me." She admits before flopping back on the floor with a sigh. "I remember growing up, and I remember waking up dead, but names and faces escape me." A thought comes to her and she begins feeling her head from her ears to her hair. "I don't have a big hole in my head or something, do I? I know in the stories some ghosts have their wounds..." She wonders. She doesn't have such a hole on her head or anywhere, let alone any sort of mark of how she may have died.

[5a Violista]

Julia laughs. "Yeah. I guess you're right." She wipes away the tear. "It's gotta be all an act, right? Wouldn't make sense otherwise."

"So..." She grabs the tambourine and passes it to her feet again. She starts playing it, and, as she grabs the flute, says, "I've been practicing to beatbox at the same time as well but I'm not that good yet." Then, she starts playing the flute as well.

...
It's music.
Sure, there's some magic woven in the music, but it's mostly entirely music. The magic isn't doing anything, anyway. It's just there, magical energy or whatever.