World Tree MUSH

    A genteel, soft light illuminates a beach-side modern city this fine day; cascading lights from the sun make for perfect beach-going weather, and the city's seaside tourism industry appears to be up and roaring. Children play with each other on waterwings, a volleyball match is ensuing...

    And there's a blonde woman with horns looking extremely confused and curious as she nearly runs headlong into traffic. To say she looks weird would be an understatement, much to the murmur of someone going, "What is she, some kind of cosplayer?"

    Olivia retreats and sighs as she steps onto the sidewalk, though her eyes are still wide open with wonderment as she absorbs the sight. Not having ever been in a modern world before, the curiosity that fills her is engaging indeed...

For the time being Ash has decided leaving the warframe on his orbiter was the best idea. He had invited Miwa to go shopping, sightseeing, or just in general come putter around the world he had recent troubles within. It really did seem like a nice place after all, and after all that had happened he felt he owed her a time for quiet.

Of course Ash himself would stand out, what with the double breasted coat, clawed boots, and glass-less specticals, but he looked human... Mostly anyway as he paced about where the vines had dropped him off, hopingMiwa would join, or rather that if she decided to join that she got the directiosn right. It'd be so much more useful if he could call from anywhere in the worlds to whoever. Much less trying to deal with couriers and letters and... AUUUGH did she even get the message?

Fortunately Miwa did get Ash's message, and wasn't so mad at him that she would refuse to meet him. She arrived through the portal near the beach shortly after him, and promptly greeted him with a wave of her flipper. "Hello... Ash, I know earlier we both said some things in anger or desperation, that maybe we didn't mean, at least, not exactly how they came out, and some we did. I appreciate that you wanted to take me someplace nice, so let's just enjoy the here and now, and not dig up the dirt from before, deal?" She asks as she holds her right flipper for a sort of handshake. Later she would look out onto the beach, and through the sea of people she would eventually spot Olivia by her horns. "Wow, busy day at the beach huh? But it looks like we're not the only ones here from off world."

    Olivia lets out a little sigh as she nearly stumbles onto someone else, utterly unused to the sheer density of people around which the seaside street gathers! "W-what the...?" she's distracted by an overhead sign loudly advertising some kind of electrolysing (??) drink that apparently has 'Sweat' as part of its name. Eww...?

    She's fortunately distracted for a moment when she catches the Primarina talking to a man, curious as to the nature of the talking... seal? She looks a bit curious...

Ash smiled in genuine happyness as he gently took Miwa's flipper. "You're a friend willing to stand up to me when I do something dumb. That is the best kind of friend one can have... think of this as me trying to show you there's more going on than just murder, breaking thigns, and scary things." He was about to point out a concessions stand tht sold likely overpriced food, but last time he was here he liked these 'chicago style dogs'... whatever that was, he somehow doubted the local kubrow analogue was involved.

Then he saw the horned angel that was Olivia. "Well I don't hear any screams of terror, or anything that looks like she isn't just having a look around. Think we should go make nice and say hi?" His head tilted. CLothing that looked more in line with what he saw from Invalice than a world like this, horns, wings.... 

Ash waved to Olivia and started towards her, smiling broadly. "Hello there Miss. I take it you're new here?" He wasn't much better when it came to dealing with worlds on this tech level, but he could do basic navigation. "Lost or just exploring?"

Miwa nods and grins a little at Ash's comment about the kind of friend she was. "I hope the next dumb thing you involves a lot less chaos and murderous intent." She comments dryly, happy for the change of subject as Ash points out Olivia, who happened to be the off worlder she had mentioned before. She nodded and followed Ash over toward the horned angel and greeted the woman with a bright smile. "Hello." She added to Ash's greeting, letting him do the rest of the talking for now as he seemed to have it well in hand. Her nose does catch a whiff of the inticing odor of various food trucks lining the street ahead of them however, and her stomach growls a bit. Seems she missed lunch.

    Olivia glances towards the food stalls, before she's greeted by Ash; there's a somewhat tired-sounding sigh as she places a hand to her lips, hand on her other elbow in consternation. "Yes, I am rather new... the sights of this New World are rather-- provoking to me. Just what are those steel beasts that the mortals here carry themselves on?"

    That's... that's quite the culture shock, probably, for someone to describe a /car/ like that.

    She does smile towards Miwa and gently kneel by her side. "Oh goodness. Are you a manner of Primal like I am as well?"

Ash was about to speak when he saw Olivia instantly take to Miwa and smiled. His fear had been people treating Miwa like some sort of 'pet' that belonged to him. "...are you from Invalice by any chance?" He remembered a few people from there describing cars as steel beasts. Then he heard Miwa's stomach growl which caused his to also growl in sympathy. "Huh.... yea Maybe it'd be a good idea to talk this over food?" He pattd the pockets of his jacket ad pants and was grateful he had done a couple smaller scale jobs that amounted to consultations that gave him spending money. It wasn't much, but it would cover a group lunch even off of a beach truck.

Miwa wasn't sure where Invalice was, and thought maybe she should ask Ash about that later. For now, she wanted to get some food in her stomach, but first, she would try her best to answer Olivia's question even though she had no idea what a primal was. "Um, no, at least I don't think so. I'm a Primarina, a species of Pokemon, sort of like an animal but with strong mystical and elemental powers. Anyway it smells like there is food up ahead, you hungry miss? Sounds like Ash and I are. Oh, my name is Miwa by the way." She offers warmly before moving up the street a bit to try and see what sorts of food were available.

    "I am... unfamiliar with the world you describe of, 'Invalice'," Olivia replies after a moment's thought with a quiet frown. But there's a warmer smile as she listens to Miwa and expresses, "An animal with strong mystical and elemental powers... that does-- sound rather similar. I wonder if I would be called a Pokemon too, by your parlance?"

    olivia no don't go there

    She raises up towards her feet and says, "Hunger... ah, I am... not, but I am curious nonetheless about... the sustenance of children of man?"

    Yep, definitely a weirdo.

Ash shrugged, "It was a world I did a few odd jobs in that described cars and other vehicles as steel beasts, I figure it might be near to where you came from." He offered Olivia a hand before using his other to point to the food trucks lined up. "What do ou think Miwa, Burgers? Corndogs?" He squinted and after a moment his grin widened. "Personally I see a noodle truck with my name all over it." He practically sprinted in the direction of food, which was more than a bit rude to be honest as he didn't know if either of his companions had money that was good in this world.

Miwa giggles a little as Olivia questions whether she'd be called a Pokemon by her parlance. "Well maybe, I have a friend who looks linda like a humanoid mouse, and someone thought she was a Pokemon." Ash's qestion about what food she wanted was met with confusion. "I don't think I know what a corndog is, and I've seen a burger at least, but don't think I've eaten one before. Are they good?" She asks as she quickly shuffles after Ash, walking as best she could on her flippers. Looking back, she called after Olivia. "Come on, I guess you can at least enjoy the taste of something even if you don't need to eat."

    Olivia looks towards Ash and Miwa as they proceed, rather curious at the terms on offer. 'Burgers'. 'Corndogs'. (Olivia briefly imagines an adorable little Dachshund that's had its body converted into a cob of corn. ... it's more adorable than she'd like to let on.) She shuffles after her, rather curious.

    "I have seen the kinds of... burnt meats and harvested foliage the children of mankind sustain themselves on, but..." Olivia admits. She's kind of sheltered...

    "And, I see. Perhaps I should see this Invalice sometime... but-- as for myself, I come from a world of flying islands known collectively as the Phantagarde Skydom... the mortals in my realm, at least as I have observed them, travel on large vessels they call airships."

Ash stopped at the line oto the noodle truck then looked from Olivia, then to Miwa, then to the othe trucks. "Well If i were to go off of what sort of pokemon you are miwa I'd wager seafood would be more your thing." 

He then frowned at the fish and chips truck having a line twice aslong before walking over to a burger truck. "not my first choice but-" THe smell of onion, grilled beef, and other smells filled the air as Ash ordered for bot hhimself and Miwa then looked to Olivia. "Are you even able to eat miss? I don't want to be rude and not include you.' He ws unsure of what this 'coke' was, generally having stuck to juices or tea before and ordering a couple of those too.

"Flying Islands... like... giant chunks of land high up enough you couldfly under them? all on a single planet? Ash tried to process and shook his head. Weird, but if that's how her world worked it's how it worked.

Miwa looked to Olivia with a wondrous expression. "Islands in the sky, that sounds amazing! Though admittedly it'd be a lot more amazing for me to visit if I was a flying type. I suppose I still have my water bubble balloons, but I'd have to be really careful not to let it pop, or I'd be falling forever." As Ash orders her food she accepts the burger and Coke with a smile. "It's alright Ash, I have seafood all the time, a change now and then is nice." She says before taking a sip of the soda and her eyes widening a bit. "Wow, that's really sweet."

    "Yes... islands large enough to possess their own mountain ranges, and even oceans. They are typically governed by Primals, who embody the power of nature that runs through the island -- and makes them differ. An island governed by a Primal of Fire, for instance, could be a roaring volcano, full of iron and other valuable minerals..."

    Olivia finds herself reminiscing a bit more than she would have, perhaps realising she might be a bit homesick after the culture shock. She smiles at Miwa with a nod. "Perhaps you could have a ride on one of the airships. And ah--"

    She frowns and thinks.

    "I believe I am able to ingest human sustenance, yes. What is this..." She tilts her head as she peers. "The butchered meat of a calf, a root vegetable and... how curious..."

Ash listened to Olivia go on about how literal actual spirits governed and shaped their little domains and visualized what it may be like to fly through this place with his archwing, deciding that being an angel of steel wings might be fun.... depending on whether or not things tried to kill him.

"Calf?" Ash was snapped from his daydream by Olivia's talk of the burger's makeup. "I'll admit the animals of my home are wildly diffrent, and many of the colonies vat grow meat... or outright harvest it from infested growths." He recalled the Myconians strange way of lif and his part in defending this placein spite of being on the outs with Glast's corpus enclave. 

Then he took a sip of his drink and his eyes widened. "Sweet... Gods and Void... is there anything to this other than sweet?" He frowned at his cup and took a second drink, thistime holding the drink in his mouth, letting the bubbly bevrige roll across his pallet before swallowing. "I think I'll stick with teas, but it seems nice."

"Floating islands and airship rides? Where do I sign up to visit?" Miwa asks with a laugh, though she felt similarly to Ash, in that seeing this place, the way Olivia was describing it, would really be something to behold. The Alolan islands had guardian Pokemon, but as far as she was aware, they didn't so much influence the actually islands themselves, at least not that directly. She tried a bite of her burger now, and washed it down with more of the Coke. "It's not bad, I like shrimp and pinap-nomel juice better, but this is pretty good actually." She says with a nod of approval. Finally Miwa found herself looking back out at the beach, and the ocean beyond it. "So, who's up for a swim? The weather is nice, so the water should be pretty warm I'd wager."

    "Mortals slaughter animals they call livestock and consume them for survival... that much I know, but to see it in this form is... a bit peculiar... I must say," says Olivia. Ash's description of the foods from his own planet also seem even more curious. 

    "I do not know the way back, but if I do... I would invite you one day, Miss Miwa," Olivia expresses, ever so polite. "Though I do not own a skyship of my own." She doesn't comment on the very sweet drink, though she's curious about it... then Miwa asks if they want to swim.

    "I will... have to pass, for now. I am, er, how would you put it... bodies of water present a challenge to me," Olivia tries to save face.

    olivia just admit that you can't swim

"I've... never swam." Ash admitted after listening to Olivia speak. "Warframes sink, and if i knew before the accident..." His head shook. "I wouldn't mind wading in to change pace a bit." He then looked to Olivia and frowned. "On the other hand I wager wings and water don't go over too well together." He tried envisioning how much those would weigh waterlogged and his back ached in sympathy. "Plus I kinda... didn't bring anything to change into..."

Miwa finishes her burger and takes a few more sips of the soda before tossing her trash into a nearby can. "Well, I look forward to it, Miss Olivia." She says as she starts making her way onto the beach before suddenly stopping and looking back at Ash and Olivia and pouting a bit as they actually answer her. Seems both of them couldn't swim, though in Olivia's case it might be more complicated from the way she explained. "You guys are no fun. I'd be happy to help you learn how, but I suppose wearing wet clothes for a while isn't fun. Oh well, maybe next time."

    "Y-yes, I'd rather the terrible time when I was waterlogged, once," Olivia sounds like she's responding to a not terribly pleasant memory. "Perhaps if I were more equipped for it... but..." She pauses, as she chuckles softly as she expresses, "Perhaps if there was a vessel for me to ride on...? Next time, I suppose..."

    She does wonder sometime what it'd be like to rush through the surface of the water. It looked fun... even the children here did so.

    "This has been very enlightening to me. Thank you, Mister Ash. Miss Miwa. If we ever cross paths again, I would like to listen to more tales of your own worlds."