HALO 184: Red and Grey All The Way

[Reinholdt]

[Airbase]

Vlad walks through the portal! On the other side, he'll immediately notice the white sheet in his face as he runs into it. Someone threw it on the portal! One of the cleaning bots no doubt. It just hadn't been used in so long.

On the plus side this is merely annoying and does not merge with his dna. So, you know, could have been worse.

Reinholdt is behind him, but not right behind him. He's had enough experience with these things to know you gotta give the other guy a few seconds, especially if they haven't used this particular teleporter before. Once through though, he'll help Vlad remove the sheet if he hasn't already. "Oh. Oof. Sorry about that. Going to have to reprogram things so that doesn't happen again."

[Ironsmith]

[Airbase]

Vlad pulls the sheet aside and steps out into the room. Rein had already told him this base hadn't been used in a while, but now he was going to see that for himself. Hopefully, nothing in here would go too far over his head.

[Felandria]

[Reinholdt's Office - Felandria]

Reinholdt raises an eyebrow. Uneventful? Wasn't there a huge rat crisis in Riverside just recently?

Well, none of his business. He's focused on HALO.

"I've been doing alright. Staying busy. Dating, recruiting, tinkering, hunting.

I wanted to ask you and others what the current project you're working on is."

Nothing at the moment, if you’ve got something for me, I’d be glad to hear about it.

[Reinholdt]

[Airbase]

Rein leads Vlad out of the portal area into one of the hangars. There's an unsettling amount of dust and rust. But there's also a decent number of aircraft. Mostly older and modern pieces fortunately for Vlad. "A lot of the newer, higher tech stuff was kept by the RCA for their national security. Which is fair really since they were pretty much sole donor of all this equipment to begin with. What's left is... serviceable, but don't expect any stealth planes." Well Rein presumes they're serviceable. He'll let Vlad tell him that. "Mostly just recon and transport gear left. Which, you know, is fine for our aims."

[Reinholdt's Office - Felandria]

Reinholdt shakes his head. "No, I'm not here to ask for help, thank you though. I'm trying to figure out what your goals are. Your personal objectives, you know?" Rein smiles at Felandria, hoping rephrasing the concept will suffice.

[Ironsmith]

[Airbase]

"Heh. Quite the museum you've got here." Vlad jokes, looking around the room. "...Looks like your janitor's been skimping, though. I'll probably have to spend a week cleaning before I touch any of these things." He approaches one of the newer craft and gives it a little tap, looking over the engine configuration. "Agh, I don't think I have the parts I need to fix most of these... but a retrofit might not be out of the question. Slap some quantum sails on these ladies and everything's a stealth plane."

[Recaiden]

Marin gets off the shuttle.
She came here to see a certain someone on a whim, ... but didn't think to call ahead. Pretty dumb move, probably.

Marin, who is not a member here, is a catgirl with purple hair and a poor fashion sense when it comes to color matching (and, unusually, two tails but she's used to it).

If that certain someone is Honeysuckle, well, most of the time, Honeysuckle isn't at HALO.

Another catgirl, though, has just arrived, coming off the teleporter circle.
This one has black hair, only one tail, and is dressed in a labcoat.
She currently has her nose in a book, holding it in both hands and reading as she slowly walks toward the hallway.

[5a Violista]

A problem is that Marin is bad at making contact with people, because she's very used to not worrying about that sort of stuff.

She sees the teleporter being used, and runs forward to say 'hi' to the other catgirl: "Hey! The teleporter works again!" she says.

She looks at her book, to see if she can find out what it is about.

[Recaiden]

Well, eventually she'll get used to communicating, if she keeps needing to do it.

"Hi there!" she days, without looking up. She does pause in her walking and turn a little towards Marin, though.
"Of course it is. This old model is pretty reliable, so no need to keep taking the sub."

The book seems to be about the lives and history of various philosophers. Not about their philosophies, which the reader is presumed to already know.
The catgirl is still reading through the first section.

[Reinholdt]

[Airbase]

Reinholdt shrugs a little in defeat. Vlad wasn't wrong. "Well if you're in need of parts, just let us know what you do need and we can order them for you. Funding isn't an issue at HALO, just the expertise to know WHAT to get and what to do with it." And that's where Vlad comes in.

"And if it requires an esoteric adventure for a unique piece, all the better." Reinholdt likes those better than the administrative tasks anyways. "What is a quantum sail?"

[Ironsmith]

[Airbase]

"Just some physics-breaking nonsense I got off an invading time traveler." Vlad shrugs. He would explain further, but he wasn't sure it wouldn't go over Rein's head and wasn't entirely confident he understood it all the way himself. "Bottom line is that it's self-propelling and quiet without having much of a fuel cost. Not really many vehicles where that doesn't constitute an improvement." He steps back from the plane and turns back to Rein. "I can print off the sails myself, so you don't have to worry about that. I shouldn't have any trouble with the various nuts and bolts I need, either. But before I say everything's good entirely, I'd like to see the engine keeping the island up."

[5a Violista]

"Last time I was here, it was broken," Marin says, "but then again, there was definitely enough time to fix it since then."

She decides to talk about the book, being a decent enough icebreaker.
"So is that book any good?" is what she asks.

She probably doesn't know, Marin, since she just started it.

[Recaiden]

Hmm, asking about the book. Suspicious at first. But Marin is just being friendly.
"Oh, I like it so far. It has an interesting pitch. Really makes you consider things differently, not just learning about them in a vacuum."

The other catgirl actually looks at Marin at this point.

"What kind of things do you like to read yourself?"

[5a Violista]

"Oh, cool," Marin says. Sounds like a nice book.

"Mostly I read..."
She pauses.
Oh.
Boring stuff.
"..."
"Repair manuals and textbooks. It's pretty boring, so you can laugh if you want, but it's because I'm trying to get better at those things."

[Recaiden]

"I don't think I want to, though."
"It's not like you're reading them to try to look interesting to me. Now, are you getting better at it?" The catgirl challenges her?

It would be so rude to laugh at her! People have enough problems reading without adding that in!

[Reinholdt]

[Airbase]

"Do you get many invading time travelers? I've heard some unsubstantiated rumors that there's been a few around lately." Nothing concrete sadly about their numbers, identities, or motivations.

Rein shrugs a little. "Sure." He motions for Vlad to follow as he heads out, across a runway into a deceptively smaller building. The staircase leads into the island's core until they come across a locked chamber. Reinholdt discreetly enters a code, swipes a key card, and runs his fingerprint before the door's three lights flash green and they can get inside.

Spoiler

Show

He heads over to a console and checks it real quick. "Well I don't know what most of this is, but it's still running. So that's good."

[Ironsmith]

[Airbase]

Vlad lets out a low whistle when he sees the engine, impressed by its size and complexity. "Okay, yeah, not gonna lie, this might be just a bit beyond me." Vlad says, looking it over. "Maybe. I don't recognize any of the mechanisms at work here. I'd have to take some time to study it to tell you for sure. Long shot, but you don't happen to have the schematics for this thing lying around anywhere, do you?" Between that and disassembling it to see how everything goes together, he knew which he would prefer.

[5a Violista]

But she wants you to laugh at her! It'll help her feel better for doing something so dumb if someone laughs with her at it! It's probably rude not to laugh!

Marin considers whether or not she's getting better at it.
"Sort-of?" she says. "Sometimes it feels like I am, but sometimes it feels like there's other things that would be more effective."

[Purple Eagle]

Well, you only need the one, we just need to scan your biometrics, make sure it’s really you and not an impostor.

We can do that later, what else would you like to see?

[Couple Tour]

"Okay, hun. Now, whaaat next... I hear you have a Pool? It'd be ever sooo delightful if I could have a little peek on our way to the Shooting Range?" Rosie suggests.

[Recaiden]

Well in that case, no, she has to bear the burden of her foolishness alone.

The other catgirl shrugs.
"Maybe you should only sort-of read them."
"But anyway, you didn't come here for the books, right? Can I help?"
She tries to look into Marin's thoughts to get the context behind her visit.

[Purple Eagle]

[The Doctor Is In]

One of the portals activates and reveals a tall and skil Polish-Japanese woman with electronic eyes and a form that's a bit too perfect. She's wearing a light blue dress this time, under a long white labcoat. Her hair is done up in a topknot, held in place by a pair of two long red pins.

Svetlana's heterochromic (green and hazel) eyes seem to sparkle as she takes in her surroundings for a moment. With a deep breath, the gynoid makes a beeline for Reinholdt's office, her fox ears and tail already out.

[Reinholdt]

[Airbase]

Reinholdt holds up his hands noncommittally. "Might be in one of the boxes in storage. Or on one of the consoles. Worst case, I can always direct you to the people who may have built this place maybe. But their response time is.... slow."

"But you don't need to handle this engine to join up and help out. We would be grateful for what skills you do have to contribute. If something bad does happen here and the island starts falling, Felandria will just get really big and catch it." He has the utmost faith in the demi-goddess' ability to get very big and strong.

[The Doctor Is In]

"Come in," Reinholdt says as Svetlana knocks on his door, drawing him awake with a start. He sits up, pulling his head off his desk and straightening the light mess he made sleeping on it. He quickly fixes his hair and hopes there aren't any obvious lines on his face.

The office itself is cozy. Nice rug, nice chairs, fancy desk, liquor cabinet, bookshelf, and even an antique looking record player, though it's actually one of those faux new ones that just look antique. A glowing purple crystal sitting on the desk stands out as does a red hood hanging on the wall for decoration, which is odd because it looks old and tattered with holes. You usually want something nicer looking than that.

The fey blinks still half asleep at the beautiful... robot... android... cyborg foxgirl? Rein's not sure. Is this a Magtok prank? Magtok surely wouldn't send anyone to HALO just to prank Reinholdt. Regardless, Svetlana is impressive, of that there's no doubt. "How may I help you?"

[Ironsmith]

[Airbase]

"...O...kay, then." Vlad shrugs, deciding that wasn't the weirdest contingency plan he'd ever heard. "All the same, I'd love to get a better look at this. You can always learn something by studying the work of people smarter than you." He smiles. "After I get all those planes fixed up, of course."

[5a Violista]

"Yeah, okay." She's right, she didn't come here for books.

Marin mostly just came here as a surprise visit to Honeysuckle. That's really it. Pretty simple and basic. Just say 'hi' and...that's it. "Just here looking for someone," Marin says. "There's not, like, a registry of if people are around here, right?" Of course not, that'd be pretty ridiculous.

[Recaiden]

The other catgirl shakes her head.
"No, there's a list of where people can usually found, though. Just check the poster in the that room."
"But, just between you and me, the person you're looking for isn't here."

[Purple Eagle]

[The Doctor Is In]

Svetlana quickly glances around the room, her eyes lingering on the tattered hood before focusing on the fey before her. Respectfully, she bows forward. "Reinholdt-sama? Greetings, I am Dr Svetlana Himesaki Tanaka, and I wish to utilize my expertise in cybernetics for the good of this organization, HALO." She speaks clearly and eloquently, brushing away a stray hair when she's done. "I used to be a memeber of VIGIL, but I assure you that the underlying issues that led to my departure have been dealt with." She finishes, smiling politely as she studies those cat ears with interest.

[5a Violista]

"Um, okay, thanks," Marin says, looking over in the direction of that room.

Wait, though, why does this other catgirl seem to think she knows who Marin's looking for? Marin thinks back, trying to recall if she's ever seen this catgirl before, because it would make sense if she's seen them together before. "Pardon me, but have we met before? I can't quite remember seeing you before now."

[Recaiden]

The other catgirl tosses her head.
"No, I don't think we have. Nice to meet you." She closes the book for a moment to perform a bow toward Marin, and then resumes reading.

[5a Violista]

"Um, same," Marin says.

She pauses, says, "I'm Marin," and then figures she's probably bothering the other catgirl who probably just wants to read. "Okay, well...thanks. I'll stop bothering you, then."

If Honeysuckle really isn't here, then there probably isn't a reason to stick around.
She goes over to the room with the poster to check it out, just to see what kind of information it gives.

[Recaiden]

"Arlem. Don't worry about it. I did come here to head to the library, but, it's not like I need to read it all now."
And here, she's following along to that room.
The poster, is just a list of members and where in the base they work. It encourages you to go say hello!
Arlem isn't on the list, of course.

---

Meanwhile, in Riverside... "Hey, Marin here today?"

[Reinholdt]

[Airbase]

"Yeah, sure. If it helps, I think the Simulation Room was created with similar technology by the same ForeAncients and poking around there might help," Reinholdt suggests. "So you're joining then? If so I'll get a room ready for you."

[The Doctor Is In]

"Just Reinholdt is fine," Rein assures Svetlana, motioning to the chair across from him so she can have a seat at her leisure. Cybernetics, huh? Well she had to be more useful than the exceptionally reluctant Magtok. "Have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?" He asks, setting a pair of tumblers on the desk once he's slid some paperwork to one side, dangerously close to falling off the desk.

"Can I ask what 'underlying issues' you're referring to?"