Thanksmasnewyearskwannzahkah 2019: HALOed Angel Atop The Tree

[bc56]

Arrivals

By taking on Sekhmet's form and powers, there's a lot Geneva can learn about her. She's a very powerful person, even if most of that power is locked up without Sekhmet's knowledge of how to use it. Geneva as Sekhmet will have an intuitive understanding of how to manipulate energy using magic, especially to spontaneously produce fire. She also has raw, undeveloped psychic talents, best suited to mental communication. On a physical level, despite the heavy clothing, Geneva as Sekhmet will feel chilly. Her normal body temperature is beyond what would be called feverish to a normal human. If Geneva also picks up learned skills, she'll find that despite her wings, Sekhmet can't fly, not because the wings don't work, but because she doesn't know how to use them. She'll also have an understanding of how to weave illusions from magic and an apprentice's level of knowledge in metallurgy, smithing, and origami.
The most unusual trait will be the sense of connection. Geneva as Sekhmet will be able to mentally sense the presence of the true Sekhmet, and also many other creatures much further away, all their minds linked together.

Sekhmet is fascinated by Geneva's transformation, and walks around her doppelgänger. So that's what she looks like from behind. Her telepathic voice returns, but with the link strengthened by their connection to the hivemind, it comes over far clearer and with no accidental shouting. "Amazing. How, uh, how complete is the transformation?" She might not have even realized she switched back to telepathy. It's just instinctive when dealing with fellow hive creatures.

And then the hive is calling her. She sends back to Pink, "No, uh, everything's fine. Just a, uh, a bit odd." She sends over an image of her duplicate as an explanation.

[Rebonack]

[Arrivals]

Oh.

Well.

That's pretty unexpected.

Sekhmet has a TON of really interesting moves she could learn, but she simply isn't experienced enough yet to make use of them. Most of them, really. With her analytical mind, Geneva is already tracing what routes could be taken to unlock these abilities, but then she finds herself somewhat distracted.

Why?

Well because a whole bunch of other voices are talking to her all of a sudden.

"Um..."

Geneva's a bit befuddled by this. She hasn't experienced a psychic gestalt before and it's actually kind of nice. She starts trying to form a reply, only for the other mind that shares her head-space to interrupt. What just happened isn't too terribly different from a pair of people having a conversation only for a third person to dive between them, arms raised.

~Miss Muller is talking to someone else right now, but you can chat with me if you like,~ comes the voice of the second mind. The second mind isn't as structured or as disciplined as the first, but no less intelligent. A sure sign that one is naturally psychic and the other is not. There's also a POWERFUL undercurrent of absolute terror just below the thin veneer of polite friendliness. This second mind knows about the Hive. Or at least something like it. And judging from her reaction she holds a great deal of fear regarding it. ~Miss Muller was just showing off her ability to Transform and mimicked our new friend Sekhmet. We- she was hoping she might get some insight into how her abilities work so she could offer helpful advice. We didn't expect it to be so crowded in here.~

The other mind, the first one the Hive contacted, is tantalizingly out of reach. The other Geneva has stolen the phone, so to speak.

Meanwhile!

On the outside Not!Sekhmet gives her head a little shake.

"Copies a lot of things. Not personal memories, though. Mostly skills. I can see how your moves and abilities work, but most of them are locked away," Not!Sekhmet replies. "Not magically sealed or anything! Just... you aren't experienced enough with them yet. Like these wings? Given a few months of practice you could learn how to Fly. You have some extraordinarily powerful fire magic, too. And I can see what you mean when you said half your family is psychic. You didn't mention you're part of a gestalt. Sorry, I should have asked first before Transforming into you. I was just hoping I might be able to give you better advice after walking around in your shoes for a bit."

[5a Violista]

[Arrived]

"Thanks! To you, too," Marin says. She's awfully glad that nobody can see under her collar because there's an actual collar under there.

She grabs the cookie and takes a bite. "These are good!" she exclaims. "Did you make them yourself?"

[Recaiden]

[Arrivals]

Be careful. She hides part of herself, and fears you. We cannot tell what she intends. That said, Pink recedes from the conversation.

~And what are you to Miss Muller, child? It's not often we encounter anyone who isn't alone in their own mind. I hope the two of you get along.~
The second voice will hear the same adoring chorus, with just a hint of sadness at the first Geneva departing.
~Much less someone who already knows us. How is that? Who do you think we are?~

[Arrived]

"Yeah. Special oven. Took forever to work out, but now perfect soft cookies." Honeysuckle says, smiling a little.
"Cute collar." she adds, tails (she has two of them) swishing.

[bc56]

Arrivals

"I, uh, don't know how." Sekhmet's referring to not knowing even how to practice flight. She wasn't born with the wings, and has neither muscle memory nor instinct to help her learn. Then the question about the gestalt comes up. She doesn't know what that means, but she figures it out. "Oh, the, uh, hive?" She thinks for a moment. "I never meant to join them, but, uh, they've been good to me. They've helped me learn magic. They gave me a bodyguard after someone tried to murder me. One of them tutored me a little in my psychic powers." Of course there's a but. Sekhmet feels an irrational urge not to say it, probably stemming from what control they have over her. "But, uh, they tricked me into agreeing to it, and they did something to me so I wouldn't run away."

[5a Violista]

[Arrived]

"Yeah, they are pr-" Marin starts to say, before it clicks in her mind what Honeysuckle said.

Hold on, this is supposed to be an ugly sweater. So it couldn't have been a serious compliment on it, especially because people don't normally compliment the collar of her normal turtlenecks. But the turtleneck collar isn't particularly ugly compared to the rest of the sweater, so it can't be a sarcastic compliment either.

Is her...other collar peeking out? Marin adjusts the turtleneck just in case, pulling it up even higher than it was before.

"...thanks," she says, eventually deciding it was a subtle way to mention it was peeking out, kind-of like what happens with bra straps sometimes.

She looks at Honeysuckle again, now no longer concerned about the state of her neck, and asks a question: "Oh, you have two tails? That's pretty cool, but I imagine it's hard to find clothes that work. It's hard enough with just one tail."

[Rebonack]

[Arrivals]

Inside. Deep inside, sealed away from all other thoughts, Geneva speaks with herself.

They tricked her.
They did something to her so she couldn't run away.
That isn't something a friend does.

We have to help her.
................We have to help her.

Keep holding their attention. Keep them talking.
Make sure Sekhmet doesn't start getting worried, she has to understand that we're her friend.

To the hive far away-

~She's me. And I'm her. We're the same person reflected across the infinite facets of the multiverse. There was something like you from my home world. Something malign. It called itself Unity.~

-and to the half-devil near.

"It's nice that they're helping you learn, Sekhmet, but it doesn't sound so nice that they've manipulated you into joining them. Even less nice that they've altered you so you can't just walk away. Those are't the sorts of things friends or family should do."

[Recaiden]

[Arrivals]

~How many reflections, cooped up in one body? Must be crowded. But now you can be let out.~
They don't want to scare these Genevas and Mullers much more than they already are. Not if they have useful information, however worrisome this Transform thing might be.

~Like us how? Unity is one, and we have always been varied~
There is pressure.
The other looks at Geneva, not hard enough to reach that hidden self, but perhaps enough to see more of what she thinks and knows.

[Arrived]

Now, it could have been an insincere compliment, for politeness sake. But as Marin has figured out, it wasn't that either.
"Yeah." Honeysuckle agrees, spinning around to show off (carefully tilting the tray of cookies to not spill them). It is pretty cool. "Probably could get more. Someday. Somehow."

"Bet you could too. Ever think about that?" She waves at Marin's tail. Sometimes cats have two tails. Why not catgirls? "An outfit handles one tail, more is easy."

[Morty]

Like every year, a pack of wolves has appeared in Thanksmas. They wander around, offering pets and cuddles. It's odd that the personal wolf pack of MERC's chief executive would serve in this capacity, but that's just how it goes.

The horde of goblin kids hasn't arrived yet, but they've sent an advance guard of one goblin and one gnome. Brinika rushes into the Thanksmas area of the HALO base and stops, wide-eyed.

"Whoa. Sure is pink in here."

[Earl of Purple]

Pink!

Cheasadh's here too! She's the gnome, with a large nose for her face, small of stature, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She's wearing a pink dress, with a white scarf and a pink bobble-hat with a white bobble. "It really, truly is. I need to come here more often." She looks around with wide-eyed wonder. "Or maybe not. I'd blend in too well, the bigjobs might trip over me." She looks at her clothing, nearly matching the decorations.

Teleporters

Someone else arrives using the ring gates. She's not too keen on spending a long trip on a small vessel to the bottom of the sea, so this works just as well. She's apparently human, with grey eyes and short black hair. The exception to her humanity is the large pair of black-feathered wings emerging from her back, bearing an eye in the middle joint that look around curiously and giving her a whole host of information that she's still figuring out. She's wearing a backless black dress to give the wings plenty of room, and walks softly since she's traded her usually ubiquitous hiking boots for a pair of clean white trainers. She's slung a leather satchel with a stylised bird branded into the flap over her shoulder, and done so in a way that won't hamper her wings. She looks young; twenty or so, possibly a few years either way.

[bc56]

Arrivals

"They aren't my friends." Sekhmet's mental voice is uncharacteristically cold there, but it brightens up a little. "Uh, most of them aren't, anyway." Spike is nice. Sekhmet considers Spike a friend. [I]"I, uh, don't think they care really. They mostly stay away from me."

[Rebonack]

[Arrivals]

Well. That's pretty emphatic isn't it? How close are you?
Close. Just a little longer.
We should ask if she wants to be cut loose.
Wait until I have a sure solution. This Nasty Plot is just about done.

~Just the two of us and we get along just fine,~ Pressurefront replies. ~Unity had plenty of different voices, but they were all turned to the same purpose.~

Whether they wanted to or not.

~Maybe tricking people isn't quite as bad as forcing them, but it still leaves you pretty suspect as far as I'm concerned.~

Looking into Geneva's thoughts and knowledge, especially right now, isn't terribly difficult. She has that same link Sekhmet does at the moment after all. But actually finding anything useful is... harder. At first glance all the information in her mind appears to be absolute gibberish. Though more careful scrutiny might reveal that that there's some structure to the gibberish.

It's encrypted.

"They aren't controlling you at least," Not!Sekhmet says. "But that could be temporary. It's hard to build a model from so little information and sadly Future Sight isn't a move I know."

Sure would be handy sometimes, though.

[Recaiden]

[Arrivals]

A bizarre monster, these Genevas. But let's take note of their garbled thoughts; copy them down and they can be deciphered later.
~You worry for your voices?~
She is right to be worried. In time, all will be turned to one purpose, or else be extinguished. All will be the garden. Pressurefront can see this behind her Queen's voice. Or at least should think that she can.
~You should have seen her before. Lonely, scared of everything, hating herself. Didn't want to change because she thought she was a monster, and don't monsters deserve all that? But we knew what she could be, with some help. She doesn't appreciate us because she still thinks like a lonely human, doesn't see the connections. We don't mind.~
~We're already allies, Geneva Richards, Miss Muller and Miss Reflection. Would you like to be 'friends'?~ They have remembered who she is. Her work with portals is most interesting. Her moves more interesting still. It would be a shame if she insisted on causing trouble.

[bc56]

Arrivals

Yes, she was like that before, but the hive didn't do much to fix it. In some ways, they even made it worse. Really, her real friends were the ones to help: Prumathe, Sophie, and Pontius.

"I, uh, don't know if they can. I told you what they, uh, did to me, and all they did back was to tell me I shouldn't, uh, say those things." Sekhmet should probably know better than that. If she can control lesser hive creatures through the link, then a stronger hive creature can probably control her, but she doesn't think of that.

[Rebonack]

[Arrivals]

Have you got it?
I've got it.
Good.

~Friends. You aren't so different from Unity, then. You want to make peace by making everyone think the same. And whoever won't join you gets exterminated. But changing people's minds through coercion is hardly friendship. The TRUE magic of friendship is FAR more powerful than that. People can be friends no matter how different they are; what they believe, what they look like, friendship binds us together. And part of true friendship is respecting those differences, not trying to erase them!~

And then Geneva springs what she's been working on.

The Nasty Plot drops upon the psychic link between herself and the Hive like the blade of a guillotine, severing it in an instant.

SHOMP!

Now they know it works. On herself at least.

The wave of Transform washes over Geneva again, once again revealing the strange floating pink cat-like creature.

~The Hive's intentions are anything but magnanimous. They want to absorb everyone and exterminate any who resists. They probably don't have the forces right now to make good on their plans, but if they're left alone they'll become a threat VIGIL will have to address,~ Geneva says, undercurrents of equal parts fear and resolution in her voice. ~I know how to cut the psychic link they made with you. I was able to sever it in myself, but I'm not sure if I can break it in someone else. I can try. Or I can teach you how to break it yourself. The first option might not work and might have side effects. The second option will take more time.~

[bc56]

Arrivals

"Do it. Now!" If what Geneva says is true, the hive won't give Sekhmet time to learn the trick, and is probably planning a counterattack right now. There really is no time for hesitation.

[Recaiden]

Transformation into creatures she meets and, supposedly, the power of a disruptor. The Nexus never ceases to amaze.

The hive pays solid attention to Sekhmet, to watch this connection-breaking in close detail. Maybe they can learn something useful.
They also direct Spike, a Countess with its battlegroup, and a Scout to head to various places. If this goes badly, they'll want to have a talk with Sekhmet from a controlled position. No need to crash the party, though. They're patient.

[Rebonack]

[Arrivals]

Geneva's pink fur turns black, as if liquid shadow were rolling over her. The little pomph at the end of her tail becoming a spade as he little ears get a bit pointier.

She looks a bit more impish than she did a moment ago, certainly.

And then, perhaps rather silly in appearance, a series floating black question marks ringed in red congeal out of the darkness above her. Just as quickly they vanish, along with Geneva's impish features, as another mental construct forms. A little rod of pure light hovering between Geneva's little paws.

In a swift motion the mew will pass the little baton of mental power to the half devil. As soon as Sekhmet takes it she should feel something in her mind that is at once sharp and weighty crashing down on her link with the Hive. Pure, twisting cunning turned toward a singular purpose.

The breaking of mental bonds.

Geneva used NASTY PLOT!

Her Sp Attack Sharply Rose!

Geneva used BATON PASS!

Go Sekhmet!

[bc56]

Arrivals

"Aaaaaah!" Sekhmet screams in pain. Her link is not merely mental, but part of her biology, and the attempt to sever it is physically harming her. She falls to her knees, clutching at her head as the pain intensifies. Tendrils of flame lick their way across her body, growing brighter and hotter until she bursts into flame, incinerating her clothes into ashen rags. After this outburst, she slumps over, exhausted, retching and coughing up globs of blood onto the floor. The baton slips from her hand.

The link held, but Sekhmet is decidedly not okay. She might even need medical care. She definitely needs new clothes.

[Recaiden]

Interesting. The link seems to be securely anchored in the nerves and cells of Sekhmet's variety of hive creatures. That's a serious concern with magical creatures, so they're very glad that it held. But the severance attempt caused substantial damage. Not as much as one of the enemy's feedback attacks might have, but it's still something to be wary of. Any Geneva-like enemies should only be engaged with Countess support when possible.

Now a few concerted voices sound in Sekhmet's head.
Spike seems concerned.
Sekhmet? You're going to be alright. I'm on the way with healing. Hang in there. Don't let her do anything else to you.

The queen is less sympathetic.
We are fairly disappointed that you would abandon us immediately on the word of a stranger at a party. You should know that Geneva is suffering from a split personality, one of which seems to identify us with a monster from her homeland called 'Unity'. Because of this, she is under the delusion that we plan to kill her and/or remove all differences between people. Both are incorrect; our priority remains stopping the cuthunian invasion and we rely on diversity in both body and spirit.
Be more careful in the future.

[Rebonack]

[Arrival]

Sekhmet is CONFUSED! She hurt herself in her confusion!

The baton vanishes in a shimmer of light as soon as Sekhmet lets go of it.

Geneva was worried something like that might happen. She knew she could break the link in herself, but in someone else? That was risky. But allowing Sekhmet to remain linked is risky, too. These Hive creatures are a clear and growing threat to the safety of the Nexus and Geneva isn't sure if they can puppet Sekhmet's body against her will.

~I'm sorry, I was afraid something like that might happen! I'm going to get you to the infirmary,~ Geneva says as she moves to pick Sekhmet up in her telekinetic grasp. The fire doesn't appear to be hurting Sekhmet at all,, so Geneva isn't going to concern herself with it just yet.

And now?

It's Geneva's turn to shoutcast.

~Someone is injured! I need to know where the infirmary is! Think the directions at me!~

As it turns out Geneva's telepathy range is pretty significant. Just about anyone in HALO should be able reply.

[Deathkeeper]

Entrance

There is a smallish dragon-like creature here. Pink scales, vibrant pink fins, and purple fur adorn her long, sinuous shape, plus the unnatural inclusions of a large bag and eyeglasses to her shape.
The Mizutsune princess is currently taptaptapping on an oversized phone, hoping that for once Rey will actually respond to her, instead of avoiding her like she has for basically every day since she got a tail.
Do u want 2 come 2 thnksms?

[Arrival]

Geneva will have directions projected to her with exact accuracy from a large deerperson carrying boxes of decorations currently on the other side of the room.

[bc56]

Arrivals

Sekhmet doesn't resist being picked up, nor does she respond to any psychic inquiries. She hangs limply in the telekinetic grasp and moans weakly, occasionally coughing up more blood. The flames surrounding her are not fading, and are radiating heat like a bonfire, but she seems unaffected by them.

[Morty]

Pink!

Cheasadh's here too! She's the gnome, with a large nose for her face, small of stature, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She's wearing a pink dress, with a white scarf and a pink bobble-hat with a white bobble. "It really, truly is. I need to come here more often." She looks around with wide-eyed wonder. "Or maybe not. I'd blend in too well, the bigjobs might trip over me." She looks at her clothing, nearly matching the decorations.

"Hopefully I stick out enough that they'll spot me, at least." Brinika is wearing a combination of a dark blue skirt, grey turtle-neck and green vest today. "Let's go see what's happening around here this year."

[Earl of Purple]

Pink!

"Then I'd best stick close to you, then." Cheasadh grins and hugs her sister. She'll look around to see if she can figure out where the fun stuff is, or just a wolf for pets and cuddles. That's also fun.

[Rebonack]

[To the Infirmary!]

~Thank you!~ Geneva sends back as she zips off with Sekhmet in tow. It shouldn't take her very long to reach the infirmary. ~Please help! She asked me to sever her from a hive mind she had been tricked into joining. It didn't work and she's coughing up blood.~

Also on fire.

But that isn't as important right now.

Meanwhile!

Gara gets a text back after a few minutes.

Where@ this year?

[Deathkeeper]

[Entrance]

Gara responds immediately.
HALO this year. I can meet u?

[Mee]

Pink!

"Then I'd best stick close to you, then." Cheasadh grins and hugs her sister. She'll look around to see if she can figure out where the fun stuff is, or just a wolf for pets and cuddles. That's also fun.

She could run into Nurse! Who is busy still hanging up more decorations, because there are always more!
And she does have an awful lot of fluff for pets.

[To the Infirmary!]

~Thank you!~ Geneva sends back as she zips off with Sekhmet in tow. It shouldn't take her very long to reach the infirmary. ~Please help! She asked me to sever her from a hive mind she had been tricked into joining. It didn't work and she's coughing up blood.~

Also on fire.

But that isn't as important right now.

Meanwhile!

Gara gets a text back after a few minutes.

Where@ this year?

Infirmary

Nurse is also in the infirmary!
"Oh dear." She siiiighs. "I had been told Thanksmsce was child friendly, and was . . . not expecting violence. Here, onto the bed, Catie, get some paperwork please." She calmly directs, helping -- unless stopped -- to get the wounded lying down on a surprisingly comfortable bed.
"Oh, seperated from a hive mind?" With a snap of her fingers -- and a very bright pink light from the tip of each of her many tails -- a very, very powerful ward goes up around the infirmary. Not aimed to stop physical presences from passing, but boy oh boy should it cut off outside influences.

[5a Violista]

[Arrived]

Marin knows how hard it is to spin while not spilling from a tray.
She's impressed.

"No, I've never actually thought about that," she admits, now suddenly thinking about what it would be like with two tails. "How do people normally get more tails? I didn't even know that was a thing that happened."

Being, of course, from a pretty standard world where humans had zero tails and catgirls had one tail.

[bc56]

Infirmary

Hopefully the bed is fireproof, because otherwise Sekhmet will probably burn through the sheets and mattress pretty quickly. She's still nonresponsive, but she shudders a little when the ward goes up, almost as if she can feel her connection being blocked.