HALO 184: Red and Grey All The Way

[5a Violista]

[Cool Cat and Cat Cool]

Harley wonders why it's called Russian Blue when she's pretty sure Russians can see the same colors as everyone else.
Also, she's probably just one of those worried mothers that panics and thinks everything is going to go wrong when separated from the baby.

Don't worry, though! About sleeping. As she gets older, Manja will get better at not doing any dangerous sleep-transformations. And, besides, so far it seems she hasn't had any transformation accidents when she went to sleep as a kitten, so. . .it seems like Rein has a good argument in terms of catnaps that he could make.

Anyway.
Yeah.
She actually was expecting 'raw cat'.
The thought of it was giving her enough flashbacks and panic that she didn't think through it clearly. She was expecting an inability to communicate, to write or grab or reach anything, and having to fight against instincts and reflexes and senses and a new size and height and


Once she realizes most of her fears did not come true, Harley ends up trying to move a paw, almost loses balances, then overcorrects, and then freezes in place before making things worse with overcorrection, and checks out the opposable...fingers? claws? whatever? and pushes back against Rein, half-using him for support and half- just brushing back. "B-better. Not quite what I was expecting. I feel a little short, though."

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

Reina just knows it's some kind of seafood, maybe one of those ones that has a light on the end of an antenna or something. Like a lamp.

"I dunno why I'd be bait. I've never displayed any oracular or magical propensity before." Reina shrugs, thinking someone else would be much better bait than her and this should all be their problem not hers!

The catgirl glances towards the direction of the circles. Why is it always circles with magic people? What's wrong with a good trapezoid or heptagon? Even when they branch into pentagrams, they're still enclosed in circles most of the time. Reina looks back to Zhareen. "Uhh... last time I stood in circles, Astrana got mad at me, so I'll take option A I suppose."

[Cool Cat and Cat Cool]

If Reinholdt had been that much of a raw, unfiltered cat, the world would be a very different place. Imagine treasure hunting without being able to open closed doors or brag about how many treasures you've gotten!

Might have spared a few dozen worlds a grisly death as well.

"Honestly, this is the proper height to be. Everything looks so small otherwise," Rein says, admitting that he feels kind of like a giant in his normal form.

"Well height's the wrong word. This is the proper size. The proper height is up here." Reinholdt demonstrates by taking away Harley's support and leaping up onto the kitchen counter and from there onto the kitchen fridge, where he can look down upon his domain. "Much better," He says, watching Harley to see if she'll try to follow or if jumping's too early for her.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

"It's not magical talent. Your bulwark have been lowered, uh-" And here Zhareen remembers she wasn't talking to another warlock. "I mean, your body have been opened up to the spirits." A beat. No, that wasn't right either.

"Actually, that just sounded wrong. What I really meant was, by possessing you this bird-spirit have made it easier for visions to invade your mind. That's why you can't resist these visions at all. If every person in a room would be represented as a door, yours would be the only one that was open. Thus they always go for your mind when nearby. It's the same with me." Zhareen gestures at herself. "My people were made not to be able to resist commands of spirits and I'm especially vulnerable, which is why I became an oracle. Of course, I now know methods how to fend them off so I'm not invaded by spirits all the time. But it sounds like you might need to do so as well unless you get it out of you."

Zhareen stares off in the distance for a moment.

"Uh, I was supposed to do something for you, right? I suddenly can't recall what we were talking about a moment ago."

[Lady Serpentine]

Spoiler

Show

[Shuttlepod A]

"Hold the door! Please!" Right after the blonde stepped onto the shuttle, another young woman comes running up from the direction of the Riftline. She's a black-haired foxgirl with the white rounded ears and soft tail of the Arctic species. Her attire is professionally secretarial, albeit boringly monochrome: grey blazer, white blouse, grey skirt, and black tights. She holds a white purse in one hand and a pair of black heels in the other as she rushes into the shuttle moments before it seals up and slides beneath the surface. After a panting pause to catch her breath, she straightens up and smiles.

"Thank you. I'm going to interview for a job. I could have taken the next one, but as nervous as I am now I'd feel even worse waiting up there. Better to get it over with, you know?" The vertical pupils in her dark orange eyes adjust to the light in the shuttle as she takes in the four-armed woman's appearance, sizing her up like she expects a fight. "Hey wait, that's the sign of the Savior. Do you worship Soteira?"

[Shuttlepod A]

The blonde isn't totally sure she can hold the door. She's not very familiar with how the shuttlepods work - she always had a private portal, in the old days - and she doesn't see any buttons or switches or anything like that that she's confident would do so. Certainly nothing clearly labeled, which would be her first preference. She does put her hand out in a half-considered attempt to simply provide an obstacle (surely the shuttlepods have safety measures to stop them closing on someone?) but fortunately, the point is moot; the foxgirl manages to squeak in just in time, despite the half-vampire's inability to actually assist.

Which makes it a little awkward when she's thanked for it anyway. But she nevertheless offers the more-or-less-monochromatic newcomer a slightly embarrassed smile in return; being rude would quite compound the problem, after all. Her own outfit is slightly more colorful, not that that's difficult: a dark red shirt that doesn't cover her shoulders, thin emerald straps (probably from a bra, but it's hard to tell; it could be a tank top) poking out from it, and practically loose black pants, suited to working (or fighting) in.

The way the black-haired girl sizes her up gets a reaction too. Not a dramatic one - but certainly one that the fox is likely well-equipped to notice given her own experience. Feet shift into a less relaxed (and more stable) stance, a hand flicks towards a weapon that simply isn't there, and her body tenses just enough to let her move at a moment's notice. All in all, a pretty comprehensive indication that the pale girl standing before her has training, experience of her own, or both, and enough of it to realize when someone's looking at her like they expect a fight.

She relaxes marginally at the question about Soteira, though she doesn't drop back into a regular stance. It's not likely that someone with a grudge against the Savior would just happen to stumble onto her here, but it's not impossible, either. And there's always the chance that this isn't as spontaneous as it appears, though in that case she'd have to commend either the planning involved in how narrowly her temporary travel companion managed to get aboard, or her ability to adapt her plan on the fly in adverse circumstances.

"I can understand wanting to get there instead of stewing," she agrees after a moment. Her voice is friendly enough, but there's a bit of an edge to it, a wariness that probably isn't explained entirely by her reflexive reaction to being sized up, lingering or not. Though it doesn't seem pointed, at least, just... On-edge. "And I do worship Soteira, yes. I am one of her paladins."

Her hand strays up to the edge of her shirt as she says that, unconsciously touching her fingers to the other necklace she wears, pulling the neck of it down just enough to get a good look at it in full. If she's familiar with it, she might recognize it as Carrie's holy symbol, though split nearly in half by a jagged crack running down the center of it. If not, well, it's still quite the odd gesture, to be touching something that very clearly isn't the prominently displayed holy symbol she's wearing when she talks about who she worships.

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

"Great..." None of that sounds great at all! But at least Reina understands what she meant now. Some spirit invaded her body, tied her up and is holding the door open for all its friends. Ok. This sounded nothing like the oracles of the past she's heard about.

Reina frowns at Zhareen and rubs her forehead, feeling a headache approaching at the scatterbrained medium. Reina had better figure this out quick. The less she ends up like Zhareen the better. "You were talking about sharing a vision with me to see if I was possessed or not."

[5a Violista]

[Wandering]

Venus, who is a lady who has flowers growing in her long red hair, wanders around. She found a place that has a decent view of the surrounding ocean and looks out the glass walls, watching some fish swimming.

It's pretty interesting!

Fish are pretty interesting.


[Cool Cat and Cat Cool]

You know those videos where cats sometimes jump from one high place towards another but misjudged how slippery the floor is, or something like that? And then they walk off like they had intended to do that the whole time.


Harley looks up to where he jumped.
On the plus side, muscles are pretty much the same so she knows how those work. She crouches and gets ready to jump up after him.


After failing at jumping up there, Harley decides it's best, for now at least, to stay on the floor.
"Partially worried about doors and such," she says. "But, I'm probably overthinking it. You and Manja haven't had any problem getting around."

[Reinholdt]

[Cool Cat and Cat Cool]

Reinholdt winces at Harley's attempted jump, then chuckles and hops back down to rejoin her. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it soon enough. It's all in the tail. Well that and every other muscle working in tandem. I think." Rein's not exactly a biologist or physical trainer. He's just guessing here.

"Yeah, don't worry too much about doors. Or meow loudly. Felandria or someone will open them for you." If the doors here are designed for Nexus species, then they should open on their own for the most part. At least down in HALO. If Harley's traveling elsewhere she'll have to learn how to manage the way Rein and Manja have.

"You make a cute cat by the way. I mean, you're cute all the time, but you're also cute as a cat. Not that I'm biased or anything..." Rein smirks at Harley.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

"Great..." None of that sounds great at all! But at least Reina understands what she meant now. Some spirit invaded her body, tied her up and is holding the door open for all its friends. Ok. This sounded nothing like the oracles of the past she's heard about.

Reina frowns at Zhareen and rubs her forehead, feeling a headache approaching at the scatterbrained medium. Reina had better figure this out quick. The less she ends up like Zhareen the better. "You were talking about sharing a vision with me to see if I was possessed or not."

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

"Ah, of course! See, I suggested it since there was this one vision that I had to decline since I came in the middle of- actually, that's not important. What's important is that I had forgotten about it until you came around so this seems like an excellent moment sharing it, no?"

Zhareen offers her hands to Reina.

"So take my hand and I will grant you it and tell me if it was like your other experiences."

And this is what Reina will see if she accepts Zhareen's hands.

[Spirit Bomb]

"You have to stop! You'll kill everyone!"
"No! It's alright, I can control it!"

As it turns out, he couldn't control it.

The flash comes first.

Everyone unfortunate enough to be looking in the direction of the warehouse in one of Inside's industrial districts is blinded by the searing light burning their retinas.

The heat comes second. Roaring flames racing through the neighborhood as the very air itself bursts to flame. Everything that can burn, does. Paint, wood, plants, clothing, flesh.

Finally the shock-wave hits, reducing nearby buildings to burning rubble and shattering windows more distant. Those who were close to the epicenter are blasted into a spray of ashes and dis-articulated bones.

This spasm of violence lasts for only a few brief seconds, but the results are devastating. A boiling crater of glass has been punched into the middle of inside, surrounding by shattered wreckage and ash. Further out buildings burn and sirens blare. The only small mercy is that the nature of Inside has kept the spread of devastation relatively contained. For all the world it looks as if a nuclear bomb just detonated.

Unlike a nuclear bomb there's no fallout.

Instead?

There are ghosts. Shades wracked in the agony of their final fleeting moments, raw manifestations of fear and pain.

And at the center of it all?

A wound in reality roils.

The emergency response teams of Inside are already on the move. This is going to be a long night.

[5a Violista]

[Cool Cat and Cat Cool]

Harley makes excuses and defends herself. "I...I can normally adapt pretty quickly to different muscle lengths and such," she says, giving herself an excuse, "but I'm just not really used to four...legs? Yeah, the muscleature of four legs." And she was thinking the tail was mostly for, like, expression and stuff so she didn't consider how it relates to movement.

"Well, in order to turn myself back I'm going to have to, one way or another, figure how and where all the muscles attach, so I'm going to take my ability to jump up there as a progress bar." Would've been a lot easier for her if he were a biologist or physical trainer, though. Then she could just ask him about literally everything. "Before Manja, I helped out at some veterinary surgeries so..." Harley takes a look at her paw and almost falls over. "Might give me a headstart?"

Well, the most relieving thing is that, the more she talks about this aloud, the less hopeless and terrifying this feels. Seems pretty reasonable! Maybe. Might be better if she didn't just drink right before this.

Deciding to tease him, Harley informs Rein,."You realize how I look is like seventy percent based on you, right? You're basically just calling yourself cute." Thus, "Proving me right, that you're cuter than me." Q.E.D. There is no flaw in her well-thought-out argument that he could exploit or turn against her.

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

"Sharing. Yay." Reina could sound more enthused.

Nevertheless she takes a hold of Zhareen's hands and... promptly spaces out for a few moments, the only visible reaction being a light gasp coinciding with the moment she sees the spirit bomb detonate.

When the vision ends, she blinks, disoriented. The catgirl looks down at her hands lewdly holding Zhareen's hands, then back up at the oracle. She blinks a few more times. Opens her mouth, closes her mouth, opens her mouth again. "Right. Uhhh... ready to start whenever you are."

[Cool Cat and Cat Cool]

"It's sooooo much easier than two legs, by goddesses." Reinholdt shakes his head. "I always think I'm going to fall over on two legs. Hmm... I guess I did fall for you." And he had two legs at the time. It's just that much easier to fall.

He shrugs a little. "I don't know how different Alikil are from cats but I imagine the surgeries you did will probably give you a good head start." Rein doesn't understand how. It's like looking at a book with a picture of a robot and then understanding how to be the robot. It must be a shapeshifter thing or something.

"Ohhh, I guess that might be true." Harley's argument is certainly a strong one. Rein is pretty cute. "But... with just seventy percent of the picture of extreme cuteness, well that's like baking a cake without the sugar. It's that last thirty percent you bring that actually makes it taste good." Rein's metaphor is losing some of its texture. "So I think that makes you the cutest of us all." Us all being the two cats in the room. If Manja was around, they'd both lose.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

Reina could be more excited about her visions of impending doom, yes.

Zhareen smiles at her, her teeth far too sharp. "You already did, dear. I've already shared my vision. How did it feel? I could see spacing out."

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

"Wut?" Reina asks, staring at Zhareen for a moment, then pulling her hands away largely to rub her head. "I don't... what was the vision?" Reina says, her voice full of carefully withheld frustration.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

The merfolk let's her hands go and gives her a reassuring smile. "Only you can tell, dear. Try to think back a bit. I could mask itself as one of your own memories. Is there anything you can recall that doesn't seem to connect to anything else? Something which doesn't seem to involve you, Reina, in any way? It's usually a notable event of some sort. Something you wouldn't forget."

[5a Violista]

[Cool Cat and Cat Cool]

Harley laughs at his wordplay. Actually, it was pretty good.

"Well, there's already a couple obvious differences," Harley says, "and I'm sure there's a lot more subtle ones that I'll find out pretty soon."
And!
Who knows, maybe this experience will finally get her over her distaste for fish?

Little does Rein know, Harley intentionally left an opening for him to compliment her back! He didn't go in exactly the direction she expected, but she parries the compliment and ripostes with a flirtatious comment, related to sugar in some way.


Considering that both players have a bunch of scenes that need to end eventually, this is possibly just as good a point as any to end or time-skip or whatever.

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

Ugh... she was being smiled down at! Reina hated learning! And couldn't Zhareen tell? Wasn't that the whole point of sharing to begin with? What's this only Reina can tell nonsense? Blatant lies!

She thinks back anyways. "Well there was that Magtok in the shower business. But that involved me. Then, hmm... Dena's dancing... but I guess that wasn't a big deal. Oh the whole bomb in Inside was a pretty big deal. It was so hot. Lotta dead people and... and I..." Reina's mouth presses into a thin line. She was there. In Inside when the bomb went off. Just... what she did after was pretty unclear. And... why she was there in the first place. When did she walk to Inside anyways?

"Oh."

"I haven't been to Inside, have I? So... wait, is that spirit attack going to happen? We need to warn somebody!" Reina starts to stand up.

[Cool Cat and Cat Cool]

Both cats manage to out flirt each other into a scene ending, drawn out of necessity lest the audience become lovesick.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Lobby]

Zhareen's eyes widens as Reina comes to the part about the dead people. Welp, she knew she shouldn't have delayed that vision! Curtains be damned!

"Haven't you? Oh dear. Um... well, you're at HALO so you're in luck." Zhareen points to the portal Reina came through. "To the HALO-cave!" A catgirl might be a more able runner than a merfolk though but Zhareen will slither as fast as she can to find someone they can talk to!

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Tower Lobby -> Rein's Office]

"O-of course." Might as well tell HALO since Reina doesn't exactly have any Inside numbers to call upon.

She leads the charge all the way to Rein's office and doesn't even knock before entering it. Rein is startled and nearly drops his tumbler, a little bit of whiskey spilling out as he stares at Reina and Zhareen dumbfounded. "R-Reina?! What are you-"

"There's no time for that!" Reina says, cutting him off and slamming her hands down on the desk. "You got contacts to Inside being a HALO leader right?"

"I'm not actu-"

"Shut up, everyone knows you are. You gotta call them! There's a spirit bomb that's going to kill a lot of people!"

Rein raises an eyebrow and glances from her to Zhareen, hoping the Fourth Tower Oracle can shed some light on Reina's ramblings. Oddly, he doesn't look especially surprised by Reina's claims.

[Shadowcaller]

[Rein's Office - Invasion of the Oracles]

Zhareen enters shortly after Reina, appearing only slightly out of breath after the rush to the office of the catman.

"By the flippers of Jorve, it's a prophecy!" She exclaims while gesturing dramatically with her arms. "I... delayed it and gave it to Reina." What? "But it is real so do what she says! It might already be too late!" It looks like she's about to grab Rein and shake him but thankfully she restrain herself enough to not do that.

[Reinholdt]

[Rein's Office - Invasion of the Oracles]

"Yeah, do what I say!"

Reinholdt has some metaphysical questions about doing what your own genderbent self tells you to do. But he also doesn't do what Reina tells him to do, instead just holding up his hand and pointing up to the corner behind them, slightly nodding his head.

Huh. At some point he appears to have put up a tv in his office. It's muted, but using subtitles. And right now, there's an emergency broadcast. The first reports of a bomb going off in Inside are filtering in.

Reina stares at the silent television for a moment before starting to sink down with stunned despair.

Rein frowns at them both. "Prophecies aren't usually about stuff that's already happened. You might want to ask... Jorve was it? Ask Jorve for a refund."

[Shadowcaller]

[Rein's Office - Invasion of the Oracles]

Zhareen let's out a loud gasp as she turns her attention to the tv. "Oh no, no, no, no!"

She slams her fist into Rein's desk, likely causing things on it to shake slightly. "This is all my fault..."

She will then attempt to hug Rein. "I'm so sorry Rein! I've failed in my HALO duties! All those people could have been saved if I hadn't delayed my vision!"

[Reinholdt]

[Rein's Office - Invasion of the Oracles]

Rein half jumps again. "Goddess bless it, stop hitting my desk!" Rein exclaims, the other half of his whiskey making its way out of the tumblr he was still carefully holding and hitting the floor as Zhareen shoves her way in there to hug him. He's mostly relieved that it didn't get on any papers, but that relief is smothered by smooth scaly squeezing.

Something he has to push back against. He's already been caught in compromising physical contact with a female in this office, he doesn't need a repeat of that. He doesn't stand a chance against Zhareen's strength though. It doesn't help that he always skips arm day. "No one's to blame except whoever set off the bomb. You've got no guarantee that you'd have been able to change anything. Heck when it comes to prophecies, you're much more likely to get caught up in the explosion anyways. It's just another example of the endless cycle of life and violence, good and evil. The only winning move is not to play."

Reina barely hears herself, him, whatever Rein and Reina are to each other. Instead, her eyes are glued to the devastation on the screen as she mutters to herself her own heartbreak and shock. "What's the point of visions if they can't stop anything?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Rein's Office - Invasion of the Oracles]

Thankfully for Rein, Zhareen lets him go as soon as he starts struggling. "But its like Reina said, prophecies are supposed to prevent things." Beat. "...except when they're not." She raises and waves around her index finger. "But then they change accordingly!" The oracle then leans onto Rein and whispers. "Besides, we need to be encouraging to Reina. I don't know if we can undo her gift of prophecy so we have show her it can be used for good."

[Reinholdt]

[Rein's Office - Invasion of the Oracles]

Reinholdt stares at Reina for a moment. He had thought Zhareen had just shared a prophecy with Reina. He hadn't a clue that she had a gift. Since when? Why? He turns and hisses a whisper to Zhareen. "Reins have a very traumatic history with prophecies! How am I suppose-" He cuts himself off when he sees Reina's ears flick and the catgirlacle turn to look at him, on the verge of tears.

"R-right, well..." Rein quickly opens up a desk drawer and pulls out two more glasses. "A drink?" Reina nods and Rein somberly pours the half-empty whiskey bottle into the glasses, including one for Zhareen if she wants it. Reina takes hers and quickly knocks it back, going for seconds, unless Zhareen highly suggests against this method of coping. Which would be the second tragedy of the day.

"Sounds to me like you put something off that shouldn't have been put off. I, umm, order you both to have as many visions as quickly as possible from now on. Err, as much as I can order anyone." Reinholdt nurses his drink and sips at it much slower than Reina. "Some of the most influential and powerful businessmen and Empresses were oracles. They could sense the future in some way or another, even if it was only hints at times. And they almost always are known for bringing their nations or companies up to the heights of great prosperity. You know this as well as I Reina. The tombs of prophets are the most dangerous to plunder for a reason. They always seem to know how to protect themselves until the 'time is right'. So there's precedent for a great positive influence here." Rein waves his hand around as he stretches for the only reason he can think of for this to be a good thing.

"But you must tell me how this happened," Rein insists. Reina affixes him with a frown. "No." He opens his mouth to protest but she cuts him off. "Not yet anyways. Later." Rein just rolls his eyes and shakes his head, but accepts her terms. Especially since she seems to be doing a little better with Rein's explanation. And not looking at the tv anymore. Rein flicks it off just in case she thinks about turning around to look at it again.

[Beans]

[Entrance]

A shuttlepod docks. The door opens; a tanned young lady with long brown hair and a bag steps out, looking about with interest and excitement. This is going to be great, she's sure of it! There's so much to do, and she's sure here's the place to do it.

[5a Violista]

[Entrance]

A shuttlepod docks. The door opens; a tanned young lady with long brown hair and a bag steps out, looking about with interest and excitement. This is going to be great, she's sure of it! There's so much to do, and she's sure here's the place to do it.

[Entrance]

A woman named Venus, as it happens, is walking nearby the entrance when that shuttlepod arrives.

Venus is a freckled lady with several things about her that are slightly unusual. First of all, she looks like she hasn't slept in a day.

Second, her eyes are violet and catlike, her ears are slightly pointed, and she only has four fingers on each hand. Even more notable is her hair, which is a natural red and goes down for days, nearly to her feet. Not to mention, there's plants growing in it: thorny vines at ear level keeping it out of her face, thin white flowers braided into her hair, opened flytrap leaf things, and balls of yellow inflorescences.

Also, she's barefoot.

Even though she's pretty tired, she still looks at the arrival and gives a friendly smile to her. "Hi!" she says. "Are...you new here? Or have I just not seen you yet?"

[Beans]

[Entrance]

The newcomer glances Venus up and down, her muddy-green eyes brightly interested. Her top, jacket, and pants all look quite worn and self-repaired, though the repairs are pretty decently done. "Hi!" She smiles at the tired-looking woman, having enough energy for at least one-and-a-half of them. "I'm Siiva, and this is my first time here! I heard HALO was a good place for helping people, and there's a lot of stuff that needs to be put right, so---" She waggles a hand. "Here I am! What's your name?"

[5a Violista]

[Entrance]

Having enough energy for one-and-a-half of them is pretty good, because Venus is an extravert so that obviously means she secretly drains energy from people or however that rumor goes. Which means the reason why she's so tired is that there haven't been enough people around to talk with.

"Siiva?" she repeats to make sure she got it in her mind and is pronouncing it right. "I'm Venus. Nice to meet you."

Then, she says, "Yeah, I'd say it's a pretty good place to do that."
She nods.
"What sort of things were you thinking of? Like, how do you want to help people?" An important question, of course.

[Beans]

[Entrance]

Siiva bounces a little on the balls of her feet. "Well, I'm really good at building and fixing stuff. Like, really good, and I can do it really fast. And, like, organizing stuff. So I can fix buildings, or build stuff that people need." She rubs at her eye and sniffs. "Sorry, started thinking about---like, people not having anywhere to live 'cause their houses all got knocked down, it---just like, waterworks immediately, I cry at everything." She swallows back the threat of tears and shakes her head, messy hair bouncing and swinging. "Anyway! Yeah, I learned about architecture and building stuff and repairs, and that's what I'm good at, so that's what I want to do for folks."

[5a Violista]

[Entrance]

Finding a thing she can relate with Siiva on, Venus says, "Oh, I've helped people build houses before!" Now they can relate with each other!

She thinks, stroking her chin with her hand. "Actually, given how many new people appear all over and how many large disasters happen, being able good at building houses will always be necessary."

As an aside, she adds, "I guess, fortunately, my place doesn't need to be rebuilt, since it was only taken over by cultists and not destroyed..."

Venus shakes her head, to being herself back on topic.
"I suppose...the leaders here are more up-to-date on what's needed and where? And I guess it'd be good to talk with them regardless."

[Beans]

[Entrance]

Siiva nods excitedly. "Yeah, there's a lot of people who need help---and sorry about your house getting taken over, that's rough. I know some spells and one of them's not too bad for clearing folks out, but I wouldn't call myself a huge fighter or anything, so I might not be the best if you need help kicking the cultists out. I can help with the cleanup after, though!"

At the mention of the leaders, she nods again. "Yeah, I gotta talk with 'em if I'm gonna join up! An organized group makes helping people easier, and you can't have that if the leaders don't know who's involved and all."