World Tree MUSH

    In this world, there is a city. It's a dark, claustrophobic city, currently lit by a full moon. It's a city known for being a... strange place, a place metaphysically close to other places. It's a city where a lot of detritus tends to wind up.

    There's a figure standing on a sidewalk in the city, in the bustling night life area. A figure wearing a black hooded coat, which completely conceal their features. People glance at them as they walk past, sometimes in alarm or curiosity, then as soon as the figure is out of sight they just go back to what they were doing before. Even people who stop to gawp soon grow bored and wander off.

    The figure is standing motionless, like a statue, just staring straight ahead at a blank wall on the other side of the road.

    Coming along down the way is someone who stands out on the opposite side of the spectrum from the hooded figure for the fact that his face is lit up by glowing blue eyes and a orange backlit throat. Hovering just beside him is a small, faded-red star-like form, four points to a forward and back half, eight in all, its core glowing blue and streaming light as it plays it over its counterpart's arm.

    "I had it covered," the former insists, his own hood worn and in no way meant to hide his features, especially the prominent blue nub of a metal horn protruding from his forehead. His little friend pauses in its administrations, its forward top vertices lowering slightly to deliver an undoubtedly flat look.

    "You almost lost an arm," it states.

    Cayde waves the Ghost off. "Well, I didn't. ...anyway, thanks. Feels better already." He gives his arm an experimental flex and swivel, then looks frontwards again before his steps draw to a halt. Pause. Squint. The dark figure might as well be an odd art installation, but it's kind of a bad place to put one when people can possibly run into it. Exchanging a glance with his Ghost, Cayde starts closer towards the hooded one.

    The black-clad figure remains motionless as Cayde approaches - until he steps up onto the sidewalk it's standing on, causing it to suddenly swivel its head to regard the exo. Its face is mostly hidden, only its mouth and chin visible under the shadows of the hood.

    Its left arm slowly lifts up, hand extended, palm pointing towards Cayde.

    "Cure," says a voice from under the hood. Suddenly, green light surrounds the exo - and miraculously, the damage to his arm smooth over, like an organic being regenerating but in fast forward.

    Then, its - her, by the sound of her voice - arm drops to her side again.

    "Whoa-!" Okay, not an art installation. Cayde blinks as the figure reacts. He only barely manages not to go for his weapon as a small hand is raised towards him. That is usually not the herald of something pleasant, at least for someone who's used to seeing such gestures only by Warlocks right before they blast you with space magic.

    What the mysterious figure says is even curioser than the motion, and although his Ghost flares in alarm at the sudden light that envelopes its Guardian, it calms when the results are non-damaging. 

    "That's...odd," it states. "Remaining damage has been healed." It peers between Cayde and the hooded figure who once again resumes being neutral, drifting a bit closer.

    "...yeah, I noticed," Cayde comments, studying his arm before he looks at the figure as well. "Hey, uh. Thanks?" 

    The hooded practitioner of healing magic just stares at Cayde for a few moments - well, at least, her hood is pointed in his direction. Then the thin line of her lips curls into a very slight smile. "You..." she says, haltingly. "Are.. w.. elcome..?"

    Her attention is then turned to the tiny floating droid. Her smile gets a little bit wider. "D..o you... know... me?"

    Exchanging a glance with his Ghost, the Exo shrugs a little. The AI looks back at the hooded one- er, the /other/ hooded one, twitching back and forth hesitantly.

    "Um... Sorry, I don't think we've met before," it replies, looking quite apologetic at that. It almost sinks under the weight of Cayde's hand as the Guardian rests it over the Ghost, giving it something of a pat.

    "Are you lost, kid?" he asks. She'd sounded young, anyway. 

    The person does sound young. And is also rather short - definitely a 'kid'. Or a very immature-sounding adult. Probably a kid.

    "I... don't... remember," she says, after a long pause. "How I... got here, or where... here is or... where I came from..." Slowly, her black gloved hands lift up to pull back her head. It is in fact a girl! A human girl, with blue eyes and black hair. "I don't... I don't know if I'm lost because I don't know where I'm supposed to be." Her speech is getting much less halting.

    Aw, crap.

    Cayde scratches his head, this situation having taken an awkward turn. "Erm. Well...part of that's at least understandable," he says carefully. "Hey, maybe you got here by wandering? Did you...by any chance follow some strange and sudden path that opened up? Gotta watch out for those."

    The rest of what the girl states is a bit troubling. "Is she suffering from some sort of amnesia, perhaps?" the Ghost asks. 

    "I remember... being very happy a-and also very sad... I think..." She frowns a little bit, and shakes her head. "I don't... think I'm supposed to be here, th-this feels wrong..." Her posture is getting much less stiff. It's as if just be interacting with Cayde she's turning from a mannequin into a person.

    But that's silly.

    There's a sudden dour frown as Ghost makes its suggestion. "What are your names?" she asks, suddenly.

    That's a detail that doesn't go amiss by either of the two. It's strange, but at least it makes the kid less creepy than when she'd been standing statue-still a moment ago. Cayde fingers his chin his metal brow furrowing just a touch.

    "'Feels' wrong? I'm not sure what you mean by that. I mean, we're not supposed to be here either, but I haven't gotten any bad vibes from the place in the hostile sense, anyway," he says. Still, he has a feeling there's something more to what she meant. It sounds more like a Warlock puzzle to decipher than a Hunter, but he'd kind of feel bad abandoning her in this state.

    "Oh, now there's a question I can answer." Despite his metal features, Cayde pulls off a roguish grin. "I'm Cayde. This here's my Ghost."

    "How do you do?" the Ghost replies, bobbing in something of a nod.

    The girl instantly sticks out her hand, almost like she's trying to spear Cayde with her fingertips... but it's obviously just a very stilted handshake gesture. "My name is Xion." So she doesn't have COMPLETE amnesia. Just... almost-complete amnesia. "How do I do... what?" she asks, sounding completely baffled.

    That name - 'Xion' - is pronounced like the X is a 'Sh' instead. It's also an incredibly ironic name, but Cayde or Ghost may not actually get that it's a flower that symbolises remembrance.

    The sudden motion from the girl has the Exo jerking back, but he slowly brings up his hand to clasp his own gloved hand around her's to shake. That she actually /does/ know her name has his brow lifting. "Xion, eh? Nice to meet you, Xion. And don't mind him, it's...ah, an expression or something?"

    The Ghost seems to shrug. "-anyway, like Cayde said, nice to meet you, Xion. Um. At least you can remember that much. Names are important!"

    Unfortunately neither of them are very well versed in flowers and their meanings.

    Handshake! Rather oddly mechanical. Who's the robot here again?

    "Y-yes. Names are important," she says, quietly. "Do you... do you know where this is? It feels... too big. The buildings look... they look familiar, but..." She trails off, and just shrugs her shoulders with a sigh. "...I don't know. I don't know what's going on or why I'm here and I don't know what to do..." mumble.

    Hey, he resembles that remark! But when you've got a robotic body you /know/ it's bad when you can tell someone's stiff going through the motions. It's so strange! Who is this kid??? Or should he be asking 'what'?

    "Ah. Well to be honest, we only got here a short bit ago. Haven't caught the name of the place, but I didn't intend to stick around for long," Cayde admits, glancing around as though to check to make sure they were still in the same place. "I've been to bigger places. Compared to those, this one's kinda homey."

    Giving a sigh himself, Cayde folds his arms once he's retracted his hand, once again glancing at his Ghost before the both of them regard Xion. "So...there isn't anything you remember before finding yourself here? How long have you been standing there anyway?"

    Xion's arm flops back down to her side again. "I... dunno. A few minutes? A few days? I-I don't... I don't know if this place lights up or if it's always dark..." She shakes her head, reaching up to touch her forehead. "How could a place be bigger than this? The sky seems like it just goes on forever and... and I can't see the edge of the world no matter which way I look... but that might be because of the buildings..."

    She frowns. "...Sorry. This is... dumb..."

    Cayde chuckles. "That's the way worlds work, kid. There's always a lot more beyond the city skylines. At least this place seems more on the quiet side." He reaches out, offering her a pat on the head. "Anyway, it's not dumb. You're taking this a lot better than you could be, at least. I have absolutely no idea how to fill in the blanks, but let's see..."

    He cocks his head, fingering his chin again. "You know your name. You can do...what was that, magic? And you can communicate to people, which is an invaluable plus."

    "...That doesn't make sense," she declares, looking slightly grumpy as she's patted on the head. But she doesn't actually resist. "Worlds aren't that big." She seems pretty convinced of this idea, for some reason!

    "Can't... can't most people talk?" she asks, confused. "I, um... m-magic? I... I guess. I don't remember." She looks at her hand. "I wonder if I can do other stuff..."

    He seems about ready to object to that, then shuts his mouth. Reminding the kid that she probably wouldn't remember if she's been to bigger worlds would probably be counter-productive. Although on that note...

    "So...that mans you've been to other worlds then," Cayde muses. Well, if she keeps this up, maybe Xion will pick up more of whatever memories might be floating around. 

    "Some people can't, but... I meant more like- earlier, you were barely speaking sentences, you know? I guess talking to someone's jump-started your motor skills or something." He waves a hand dismissively, then pauses. "Well, I dunno what else you'd call it. Seems as good as magic to me." What else /can/ she do? That seems a fair question. 

    "..I suppose. That makes sense, right? Going to lots of different places... I think I'd get bored if I just always saw the same scenery. Maybe? I-I don't really know..."

    She's still looking at her hand. She frowns in concentration. "I feel like I should be able to-" she says, before gasping in surprise as tiny motes of white light begin to float up from her palm, floating a few inches, and then vanishing again. Sort of like a shower, but... upside-down. And also light instead of water.

    So not really that much like a shower.

    "I know I would," Cayde says. Hunters were meant to roam. Being freed from his Vanguard duties at the Tower, albeit accidentally, he's been treating this whole being lost as a vacation.

    Both he and his Ghost watch as Xion's hand starts to glow. The Ghost's back half rotates as the front twitches, studying the brief light display. 

    "Huh. What was that?" Cayde asks. "What were you thinking of then?"

    The light is... well as far as robotic sensors can tell it's just white light, like you'd get from the sun. In fact, 'sunlight' is a pretty good description - it contains quite a bit of UV radiation as well, although luckily not enough to be harmful.

    "I-I was thinking... I should be able to make light. A-and I can!" She's beamingf with pride as she looks back up at Cayde. Like a little kid who just showed off a trick they've been practicing.

    "Fascinating! I'm not sure what you were attempting, but it could have been the start of a Warlock Sunsinger's attack spells," the Ghost pipes.

    "Yeah, but we draw from solar light. In case you haven't noticed, it's dark out," Cayde points out. Still, he can't help but grin a bit back at Xion as he looks at her in such a way. "That's no mean feat, kid. I have to wonder what you were able to do when you knew what you were doing." 

    "It IS pretty cool..." she murmurs to herself, kinda staring at her hand again. "...Ah, n-not that I'm... conceited or anything... um..." She coughs. "What's a Sunsinger? That doesn't sound familiar." Is that an amnesia joke?

    "...Do you think I might be... like, a superhero or something?" She apparently knows what THOSE are.

    "Sunsinger- it's a Warlock sub-classification in terms of abilities that they specialize in. Hunters like Cayde do use solar energy as well, however," the Ghost explains. "But I was just speaking in comparison. Your ability might be completely different, especially given the vast array of worlds beyond."

    Cayde chuckles at Xion then. "Anything goes. That'd be pretty neat though, wouldn't it? Although I'd advise being careful with what you do before you take it into your head that you can be a hero, eh? Figure out for sure what you can and can't do."

    The Ghost swivels a look towards him.

    "...what? I can give good advice!"

    "Occasionally."

    "...Okay I understood... about a third of that," Xion admits, rubbing the back of her head a bit. "I-I, um... well it's not like I'm going to go start... jumping in front of supervillains and trying to beat them up..." That is exactly what she was thinking of doing and it's quite obvious. She's a terrible liar.

    "...You said it was like a 'Sunsinger attack spell'? M-maybe I can... use magic to attack things?? I dunno..."

    Ah, a girl after Cayde's own heart. At least in the planning sense. He can't help but grin knowingly. 

    "Well, there's only one way to find out for sure," he says. "Come on, let's go find somewhere less...in the middle of everything." Where people are less likely to complain about property damage.

    Xion is already following even before Cayde stops talking. "...I feel like this is a bad idea for some reason," she says, conversationally. But she still follows.

    Story of Cayde's life. So naturally his response is, "It'll be fine!!"

Drifting after them, his Ghost sighs, sharing Xion's sentiment but knowing that voicing its concern probably won't make a difference.