World Tree MUSH

    It isn't unusual for Vines to eject their travelers someplace relatively peaceful compared to whatever is happening, but it is odd to get a 'diverted' Vine spitting out people in such an idyllic landscape. That's the only way to put it. The arrival of anyone who comes here - and it can ONLY be done by Vine at the moment - just drops them off at the top of a low, grassy hill amidst a wide valley, with taller mountains ringing all sides. Not a perfect circle or anything, but it's definitely an isolated valley. Various crops, some similar to rice paddies and others similar to corn or wheat, but none exactly like any of them, surround a reasonably-sized village with a small river sluggishly rounding the bend around the opposite side.

    The temperature is pleasantly warm, perhaps a little too warm for perfect comfort, which would indicate this is in sync with the Northern hemisphere of most worlds that match up to Standard Time. The village also looks... fairly primitive as these things go. Wooden and mud-brick structures, some wooden or tile slats and a few thatch roofs, but hints of reasonably advanced architecture. A much larger structure is in the distance, with a road leading up to it, looking strangely out of place like a large stone temple or cathedral, but nothing indicates technology more advanced than late middle ages in most Earth-type worlds.

    And of course, someone has arrived. Sandy brown hair and a simple vest, looking like a normal wanderer, William thuds onto the ground from a slight drop when he arrives from the Vine's gate, then immediately frowns as he looks up at the sky. It's dusk right now, yet stars are already sparkling in the clear sky, another sign that this world lacks industrialization given the clear air.

    And speaking of air, there's one more detail. The air here is... thin. Not enough to cause problems, but it's a definite high altitude, and those who came from a lower altitude may have their ears popping or be wheezing for a few minutes until they can adjust.

"What in the worlds," Neviah Younger murmurs with a blink. This wasn't where she expected to end up.

The warmth is nice, but the air feels thinner than she's used to. The professor pulls her heavy coat around herself, hunkering down into the high collar of her blouse and folding her arms around her body as if to shield herself from a cold that's not there. Indeed, it's entirely warmer than she'd expect in a place that seems to be far up. It's making her uncertain how to fully reacct.

The professor squints out towards the village not far from them. It takes her little time to draw some conclusions about the town's technological level. Simpler - not industrial. Maybe late medieval at best.

With a frown, Neviah reaches for her equipment case and sifts through the study gear within. She finds her notebook quickly enough and flips it open, stepping slowly forward. "I wonder where exactly this is," she murmurs. "If it's an Earth, or something else."

    Cats always land on their feet. Sometimes Juicers do as well! 

    Falling out of a vine portal, Valerian abruptly twists his body and lands in a kneeling position on the ground. Across his back is the wrapped bundle he usually travels with, almost as tall as he is. He seems more confused than anything, standing up and dusting off his hands with a frown, "Well I was going out for chicken tenders. But it looks like the Tree has other plans this time." 

    He says this with a frown as he reaches into his apron and pulls out a foil pouch, ripping it open to reveal a ration bar that he bites into, "Guess this will have to do for dinner for today."

    Magilou hadn't really been planning to take a Vine today, but she'd had that shopkeeper yelling about paying for the food she'd taken and calling local authorities and... Well, it had seemed like the better option rather than burning down the building or anything.

    She'll rub at a pointed ear, much more noticable since she lost her hat and usual outfit, from where she's sitting on the ground after exiting the vine. Given the garrish nature of her current hoodie and skirt combo, she's certainly noticable in being here.

    She'll glance around at the others who seem to be arriving, and strike up a conversation. "Anyone happen to know where we are? Not that it really matters, but it's good to put a name to a place."

    Peaceful is... Not exactly what Bell X is out for.
    Actually right about now, she was on her way back home from some act of major terrorism, when the Vine she was travelling through suddenly diverts. It is not her intended plan to be here in the least as she emerges, landing on her feet with a soft tup-tup on the ground not too far from where the others arrive.
    In her hand is a milkshake, and in her other hand is a bag of McDowell's brand fast food. Because even the worst little terrorists need fuel somehow.
    Slurping on said milkshake without even being seemingly bothered by the thin air in the least, silver eyes lock right on to William.
    Sssssssllllluuuurp.
    "Huh."
    Right then, moving on.
    "So... Where exactly is here?" The tiny girl in the white dress says amid slurps of milkshake.

    Stepping lightly on sandaled feet, a young teenager frowns upon finding himself here. Yahiko also didn't expect this, but being a wanderer, he takes it in stride. Adjusting the wooden practice sword at his side in a fidgeting motion more meant to help him think than because it's needed, he glances around, though he only sees one he knows and Magilou is someone he hasn't seen in ages.

    "It's nowhere I'm familiar with," he says, looking over the town and the people gathered. "It doesn't look very advanced, but it could just be very rural. There are villages in my home world that look a bit like this, because the railroad doesn't service them yet and it's too far out to get anything modern easily. It never helps to underestimate who you're dealing with in a foreign land."

    William does glance at the others who arrive, but he's staring up at the sky more. So Neviah gets an answer. "Not a standard Earth, at least. The stars are wrong. Probably some Earth-divergent or possibly something more wildly divergent, that just happens to have similar buildings. In fact, I haven't seen any place exactly like this, but it seems really familiar somehow."

    He lowers his head from the sky to look around again. "William, by the way. That's my name, since we're probably going to be talking to one another. This many Harbingers in one place suddenly usually means something is about to happen, but I can't see any signs of a Blossoming world or a collision or anything strange. Maybe it's something I can't sense."

    One thing is for sure... the inhabitants at least APPEAR human. At this distance they could be elves or something, but they don't appear to be like, talking hippos or anything, nor do they appear to have noticed the small group up on the hill outside of town. Either that, or they just don't care?

"I'm uncertain." Neviah looks over to Magilou, in part because she recognizes the energetic mage, in part because -

In part because that /outfit./ God /damn/ is it loud.

Most of the others arriving are faces she barely recognizes, William least of all. The fellow gets a pensive look from her before she looks skyward with a nod, assessing what of the stars she can make out from here. "There are often commonalities in architecture," she concedes before taking down a note. "But you're right, the sky's not familiar." She inclines her head politely. "Neviah Younger, Cambridge University Department of World Tree Studies."

If nothing else, she wounds up in the right place. She looks off into the distance, towards the village, before nodding anxiously at William's assessment. "I would say we should be wary, but the details may be hard to predict."

Neviah is, briefly, intensely grateful Magilou is around. At least /someone/ around her can fight. She's less good at it.

    Magilou will give a glance at William, scratching at the back of her neck. "..Weren't you going by Willard the last time we met?" That's.. not correct, but she has met him before for a job, a long time ago. Not that she really has any room at all to give anyone a hard time about changing their name, even if she was right.

    She dusts herself off after standing back up, sighing. "I guess we can go give a talk to the locals, though, and see if they know something that's about to happen? If they decide to try to kill all of us, we can figure out what to do then." She says the last like that kind of thing is a regular occurance. Maybe it is to the witch.

    "Valerian Railton," Valerian says to William in a flat tone. He adjusts his gloves and looks around some more, a frown crossing his face as he assesses the situation, "Something must be up for it to disrupt Vine Traffic." 

    "That said, I'm no scholar, so I can't even pretend to theorize what would cause this." He sighs a bit, mostly out of confusion and frustration at the situation.

    Yahiko frowns. "Yahiko Myojin, from Japan in a standard Earth world." He's evidently been wandering long enough to know how to identify himself. "Yeah we should be wary but let's not expect a fight. This place looks pretty peaceful. Unless they're really uptight about visitors from out of town, they probably won't start anything until we do. I hope." Yahiko definitely does appear armed, but a wooden sword may be small comfort. Across his back, though, appears to be a metal one, sheathed, so perhaps he's just not prepared to shed blood yet.

    "What Magilou said," Yahiko agrees. Hey, he knows the witch, too! Even if he keeps glancing at her outfit. "We won't learn much just standing around here." He'll start trudging down the hill and wave if someone looks his way.

    Bell does not introduce herself to anyone here while people assess and ascertain the situation, because she's kind of a brat. And once she's done with her milkshake she... 
    Casually tosses it aside into a bush.
    Littering is a form of terrorism too. Eco-terrorism.
    "I have no clue why I'm even here, I was just going home from handling something major. ... Oh man, daddy's going to be so mad if I'm late, ugh."

    "Pick that up, Bell," William says suddenly as he turns to follow Yahiko. "If this is a Blossom event, just leaving trash around could cause a world merge or something. We need to be as low impact as possible until we know what we're dealing with. Just tell your father you were with me." And yes, Bell didn't introduce herself, but William casually threw her name out. "At least the Vine appears stable, so we probably haven't been dumped in a Bud."

    Also, Bell may be savvy enough to know that saying she was with William won't get her any LESS in trouble.

    Finally, with people approaching, the village takes note. Hurriedly about a dozen people do shuffle out toward the group, but stop just outside of town to wait for them to arrive. They're all men, and all 'armed' with... largely gardening implements, another sign that this place isn't exactly on the mainstream of social and technological innovation. On the upside, they don't appear to be brandishing said tools threateningly, just looking on warily.

"Starting with the village seems like a logical point of investigation," Neviah concedes, nodding to Magilou quietly. "If nothing else it will help us orient ourselves in the world."

She glances back at Bell drops her milkshake, pressing her lips firmly together. "He's right. Please don't do that. We should be unobtrusive, as best as we can."

Not that they're going to be able to maintain that much longer - not with men shuffling towards them with farm implements in hand. The professor rises on her toes, raising a hand to her forehead as if to get a better look at whether or not the oncoming bunch of folks are armed with anything that'd endanger them.

Well - pitchforks might endanger /her./ Neviah is a cleric, and a crappy one at that. The others are probably less at risk.

Clearing her throat, she takes a few steps forward, pausing to tuck her notebook away. It frees up her hands so that she can hold them at shoulder height, palms open. "We mean no harm!" she calls out. "I'm not armed!"

    "These guys appear to be reacting in shear terror," Valerian says, a big dumb grin on his face as he looks at the gardening implements that one of them is wielding. The joke amuses HIM greatly as he looks around the rest of the party as if waiting to see if the joke landed. 

    "Okay, but seriously. This place seems so backwoods that I am having trouble believing there's anything interesting going on."

    Neviah will get a nod back from Magilou, and Yahiko a considering look - it had been a long time. On the bright side for the diplomacy effort with this village as they approach, she is also not visibly armed. Unfortunately, she is still herself, which may be a slight problem for everyone else.

    "I am the evil witch Magilou! We are looking for information about your village and about any momentous and portentous events that have been occuring or will be occuring nearby, and demand that you share information about that with us."

    This kind of thing is why she got stabbed by someone recently, really.

    Yahiko is too nervous to care much about the milkshake, but he does scowl at Bell briefly. Approaching with his arms up he's about to speak... when Magilou says all that and just makes him wince. "Sorry about her. We really don't mean any harm, we're all just travelers who are lost. Can you tell us where we are?"

    He's not actually a great diplomat, but it's probably better than anything Magilou has to say.

    "Oh come on!"
    Bell picks up the milkshake cup, though, with a huff as William tells her off. But at least she has an excuse now. Even if it may possibly not be enough to get out of trouble with her father for coming home late. It's something. "Hmph."
    What a brat though.
    Nevertheless, she stuffs her trash in her generic, green, dog-shaped backpack that is very, very, cute and follows along after everyone else to the village.
    Then Neviah has the nerve to join in on the telling Bell what to do train.
    "I don't know you, and my dad said to never talk to strangers."
    He said to atomize them, usually.
    But when they arrive at the edge of the village and people come out to greet them with wary glowers and farming implements, Bell puts on her brightest, sweetest, smile.
    "You all should put those away, someone could get hurt!"
    Sure she sounds like a sweet little girl right there, but unlike Neviah Bell means harm and she is very armed.

    Sigh. "This is why everyone hates Harbingers," William points out to everyone, quietly. He doesn't try to take over negotiations though. He's well aware he's pretty bad at it, even if he's friendly. He alone seems to get Valerian's joke, though... turning and staring. "Really dude? Really?"

    As for the villagers, they murmur amongst themselves, unsure of the conflicting replies. "What's a witch?" "I think it's what Ethan's wife is." An unsteady ripple of laughter runs over the small group, before one of them steps forward.

    "You're at the edge of the village!" he calls out. "And we've just seen visitors for the first time!"

    He's the best kind of correct.

Neviah glances at Magilou sidelong, lowering her lashes a shade. "You don't seem that evil to me, Magilou," she murmurs drily. "Please try not to terrify anyone."

Bell gets another look, Neviah setting her jaw a little and lowering her voice. "I don't care if you talk to me, just don't frighten these people any more than they are." She leaves that to hang there, gaze snapping back to the group of villagers as she takes another couple of steps forward, keeping her hands in plain sight.

Neviah may be a lousy fighter, but she knows how to talk to people, mostly - even if farmers are outside her usual ivory-tower paradigm.

Valerian just gets a flat look from her. Some puns don't warrant a response.

She steps forward in time with the approaching villager, offering up a polite smile. "Yes, I suppose we were a little lost, and some of those here were not expecting to end up here. Please forgive them. We are all a little off-balance. My name is Neviah, and I can assure you we're just travellers with peaceful intentions."

A beat - "What's the name of this village, if I might ask?"

    Magilou will, maybe thankfully, also get distracted from talking to the villagers as those who don't actively enjoy making entire towns hate them take over the negotiation. Instead, she'll turn towards William, smiling. "That's not true. I've been hated since long before my world ended up on the Tree, and I'll be hated long after I'm dead."

    It seems like a really weird thing to take quite so much pride in, but at least she's not responding the the sass of random villagers. It would be a real shame for there to be a farming implement to anyone's gut today. She's still keeping an ear on Neviah and Yahiko's conversation, though. She'd like to know more about the village too.

    "Hell yeah!" Valerian says back to William, making a rapid finger guns gesture as he grins back at the man. 

    "But anyway, what's up with your village? Anything weird going on lately besides us?" He asks the villager that seems to be taking the leadership position among all of them, "People disappearing, strange monsters in the region. Dangerous stuff?"

    Neviah is already asking about the name of the village, so Yahiko relaxes and just slowly walks forward, trying to look around a little. "If we can keep our companions under control, do you mind if we look around? What about that big building back there?" He's trying not to add too many questions at once, though. Overwhelming these people might be bad.

    "Me, frightening? I'm just a little girl." Bell replies to Neviah.
    This is incredibly far from the truth, as she is not JUST a little girl. Nevertheless, Bell folds her hands behind her back and rocks on her toes.
    "That was a bad joke. You should feel bad." She says to Valerian, right up until the villagers reply.
    Bell just. Kind of stares at that.

    The villagers look at one another, and the one speaking answers again. "It's... the village?" As if confused by the questions! "Why would it need a name? There's only the one."

    Someone else steps forward, "You are the first new thing to happen," he says confidently. "Perhaps the temple will have the answers you want though."

    The leader nods, "Yes, maybe. You can look around, if you mean no harm. We've never met anyone not from the village. Where did you come from?" Now it's his turn to ask questions, it seems, even though Yahiko's answer may not be very satisfactory given it's just 'the temple' and nothing more.

    William rubs his chin and frowns really hard like he's trying to remember something, but for now he's staying quiet.

At least some of them are trying to help. A tiny corner in the back of Neviah's mind churns with irritation. There's a not-insubstantial part of her that wants to toss Bell over the horizon, if only she were strong enough.

    /Of course./ It's a bitter thought. /Of course I come from a lost world with no gods left to give me power. Of COURSE I'm the weak link here./

As the villagers explain things as best they can, Neviah offers up a smile, seemingly content with their answers - outwardly. "A temple? Yes, we would mean no harm." She tilts her head and explains, "I come from a city very far from here."

It serves as well as anything, for now. Explaining the entire multiverse would be a bit much.

    "Just... the one village?" Valerian says in a confused tone, "We're the first new thing?" 

    Valerian scratches the side of his head, "I wonder if this is a peaceful Dead World." He ponders as he considers the whole situation. When asked where he is from, "Post-Apocalyptic Earth." He says in a non-specific note of where he is from. 

    "Temple. Cool beans. Sounds worth checking out."

    Magilou will seem to consider that idea of explaining where she came from, but she won't offer an answer in the end. The mention of a temple has her actually frowning, in fact, or maybe it's the claims that this is the only village. "...How long has this village been here, then?" She'll ask, and add. "How many people live here, too?"

    These questions aren't just about whether they could raid and loot the whole place; they're really about whether the village is even of the minimum size necessary to be viable, in isolation.

    "We're from... far away," Yahiko agrees. "Over the mountains. I guess we'll have to look at the temple, maybe they have something like records or scrolls we can use." He sighs, rubbing his wild hair a little and then shrugging at the others in mild frustration. He didn't expect a highly educated population, but usually villagers know SOMETHING useful.

    He eyes the path up the temple to see how long it would take. It's dusk after all, would it be good to go now? "If we don't want to walk all that way until morning, is there anywhere we could stay? I guess we could do chores or something to pay our way."

    So it's just... The village and the temple? ... And Ethan of course, who's wife is a witch.
    "That's... That's it?" Bell asks incredulously, before looking to William as though seeking permission from an adult for something.
    "I'm from Megaville." She does answer in regards to where she's from, at least. 
    "... So what's in the temple?"

    The things being said cause some confused murmurs from the varous men, though at least they still don't seem hostile. One of them speaks up, "You're not making any sense. There's nothing over the mountains, everyone knows that." The leader motions him into silence.

    "As he said." Apparently, silencing him was to make it easier to talk, not because he tattled some great secret. "The village has always been here, though. We can find room to house you if you wish."

    Another steps in just to answer a specific question. "One thousand, seven hundred and twelve," he says without a hint of bragging or doubt. "Plus forty-seven in the temple."

    William rubs his chin and says quietly, "I'm starting to think Valerian is right, that this is a Dead World because nothing happens, but I've never heard of a Dead World where people were still living like this. You'd think SOMEONE would get curious and do something to change the status quo, it's just human nature." He glances at Valerian especially. "Is this making you as uneasy as it is me?" Then to the rest. "Should we press on to the temple or spend the night?" It would be a couple hours hike, night would fall while on the way, but it isn't like there's anything that could hide threats along the trail.

    "I don't really... go to Dead Worlds. So I can't say what the average one is like," Valerian admits to William, tilting his head a bit at everything going on, "My bosses just told me about them. That they're not worth interfering with, and if you leave them alone, they don't cause any more harm to the Tree on their own." 

    "That said... well..." He looks at William, "What makes me feel uneasy is that, by definition, it's no longer a Dead World. We're here. Something is happening on this world now. And I'm starting to wonder if whatever forced us to wind up on a Dead World is doing that for a REASON." He admits as he adjusts the bundle across his back. 

    "I want to get to the temple ASAP. The longer we're here, the bigger the risk we disrupt their lives."

Neviah shoots Valerian a quick look, eyebrows coming up. The expression quickly passes to one of resignation as her shoulders slouch visibly. It's not like she can try to steer their interview tactics in front of the villagers.

It's not like they'd listen to her if she did.

As Will and Valerian chat, though, Neviah drops back to regroup with them, taking the risk of letting someone else leading the bantering. "I've never heard of a Dead World with life still in it, but it is theoretically possible," she whispers, keeping her voice down as much as she can. "If it is a world where nothing ever happens, then it certainly meets the definition. But to manifest this way...."

She trails off, looking ahead to watch the villagers. The answer is so specific that it's almost like someone had nothing better to do than take a head count. Neviah moues her lips before clearing her throat.

"I think visiting the temple would be a good idea," she says at normal volume and with a polite smile. "We would certainly wish to pay our respects."

    Magilou will frown, and nod at that exact count. "..That's enough, but it's starting to cut it a little bit close if you were to have any kind of disasters." Magilou is NOT a scholar of the Tree, but in a prior life she did work for an organization that had a lot of interest in isolated villages. Her estimates are actually a little higher than the reality here because they take some people getting eaten by daemons from time to time into account.

    "Let's press on, shall we? It wouldn't do to overburden these people. I doubt they have anywhere dedicated for travellers to stay, if there's no travelling to be done, and while I wouldn't mind them making room for us I think some of you might feel bad for making some of them sleep on the floor."

    Yahiko has been traveling the Tree for a long time now, but the stuff that Neviah, William, and Valerian are talking about is outside the scope of his knowledge. It's far too specific. So he just nods, "Thanks for the information, we'll just hurry to the temple I guess? Maybe they can put us up for the night. It looks big enough for a few extra guests."

    He gives a polite bow to the spokesman, then steps back, to rejoin the others. "Yeah... also there's something about this place that is really creeping me out. You'd think they'd have legends about what's beyond the mountains, even if it's demons or something. But they didn't seem scared or worried they just... dismissed it."

    So a possibly Dead World... With people on it.
    Weird.
    Spooky.
    "Well if I get to stay up late, I say the temple." Bell decides.
    "I mean. I could look over the mountains if we wanted?" She does also consider.

    William shrugs, "The temple it is." Seems he's just along for the ride on this one. He waves to the villagers and summons his spear, materializing the metal weapon to use as a humble walking stick. "We'd best get started then. I'm sure between all of us we have some people with flashlights or glow in the dark artifacts of immense power or something. At least a few among you also seem to know what you're talking about, that's refreshing. Old Will o' the Tree and I used to chat about that stuff for hours back in the day." He sighs whistfully.

    He glances around, "Well, if you do that, Bell, be sure to hurry right back and meet us at the Temple. I'm pretty sure most of the people here are our enemies normally, but I have a really bad feeling that splitting up or fighting would be something we'd all regret, so let's try to stick together, as much as possible. Anyone have an objection to her taking a quick look while we walk?"

Neviah's World Tree studies may be paying off, finally! And nothing's jumped out to eat them, yet.

Bell suggests something useful, and Neviah glances back at her with eyebrows arching with interest. "Yes, please don't go too far. See what you can see, but it would be better if you hurried back." She nods along with William's assessment.

Along with the villagers they go. Lacking a flashlight or electronic gizmos herself, she settles for patting her toolkit with a smile. Again she lowers her voice, trying not to let the villagers hear. "I will try to take some measurements and readings when it seems appropriate. I've studied the Tree for some time. The instruments may shed some light on things."

    Magilou will glance at Bell, and then back to William. "Like I care~." She'll say, in a singsong voice, though she'll at least make a few hand gestures and summon a floating ball of fire that follows around after herself, providing about as much light as a lantern would. Even though it's not dark yet.

    She definitely did that while they were still in sight of the villagers intentionally to put a little bit of a fright in them of witches.

    Putting both hands behind her neck, she'll start wondering towards the Temple, presumably alongside many of the others aside from Bell.

    Valerian perks up, "You know Will of the Tree?" He seems curious about that, "I've never met him, but he signs my paycheck, so to speak. I freelance for him when he needs a Juicer." He looks towards Will after this, "How did you two meet? He's usually pretty busy doing... what he does." 

    Valerian folds his hands behind his head in a relaxed gesture as he wanders on in the direction of the temple, chatting with Will. 

    He does look over towards Neviah, "Hey. Neviah, yeah? If things go sideways at the temple, just make sure to take cover behind me, alright? I'll be sure to shield you. Don't want you getting hurt if you're a researcher! Tree might lose a valuable discovery!"

    Yahiko is still a little unnerved, but also doesn't have much in the way of methods to make light. So he sticks near Magilou, which is probably best to keep her out of trouble. "If you can make it back in time, sure, take a look," he agrees, toward Bell.

    Concerning protection he adds, "I do know how to use these swords, but I'm more a specialist in disarming others. I'm hoping these aren't warrior monks or something, yeah?" The last thing he needs is a Futae no Kiwami to the face.

    "Fiiiiine~."
    Bell will go look.
    Look but not touch. And as the others start heading for the temple, Bell takes a second to adjust the straps of her super mega ultra cute green dog backpack.
    "I'll be back in a flash, go on ahead without me."
    Annnnd then she starts floating upwards. It's only for a few feet before she zips skywards with a sudden burst of speed, contrails of white light trailing in her wake as she zooms into the skies with the force of a gunshot and a miniature sonic boom as she heads up, up, up, up and up, to get a look around from a much higher vantage point.

    Guess there's something to talk about on the walk up. William looks over his shoulder. "Well... yes, I knew him quite well, back in the day. We used to roam the tree together, before he took on that ostentatious name. Adventuring about, researching the Tree like miss Younger here is doing. She may even have read papers based on some of the things we wrote! Though we weren't really formal scholars so it's hard to tell." He laughs, "It was just for fun, for us. Anyway, we had a falling out a few hundred years back. He got this whole idea of nurturing the Tree in his head, while I said it was too dangerous and it would be better to kill the Tree to prevent contamination between worlds. So we split, and he founded his little club, while I made the Keepers, and... well, the story goes we've been trying to kill each other ever since."

    William shrugs. "But really, neither of us tries to outright kill the other, usually. We're just trying to convince each other who is right. He still runs his little club, but I kinda let the Council run mine."

    William seems totally unconcerned that he just admit to a Dragon Juicer 'hey I'm basically your ultimate enemy' or something.

    Neviah has various tools, but it's hard to get a good read. What she CAN tell, that even William can't, is that this whole place definitely seems like it hasn't changed in a lng while. The grass seems healthy and vibrant, there's no sign of ruins or damage, and the only problem is that there's something really off with the way the stars are moving, like they night sky is changing overnight, which would normally be indicative of a rapid Blossoming, but there's no sign of anything like that.

    But the trip takes a bit longer than that, so he does launch into a story about adventuring with this mysterious 'Will of the Tree' and how they ended up chased out of a town after a series of comic mishaps, finally ending as the group nears the doors with, "... and it took three weeks to get the smell of pickled fish out of our hair."

"Thank you," Neviah says with a wan smile and a faint blush, nodding to Valerian simply. "I shall count on you."

Internally, a spike of embarrassment jabs at her. Is she truly such a liability that they all /realize/ they have to stand between her and even the most minimal of menaces?

At least William seems to be easy for her to talk to. "They do ring a few bells," she muses with a thoughtful smile. "I'm not privy to your personal history, of course. But there is a lot about the Tree that we still don't fully understand. Like how places like this can exist." As she speaks, she's pulling a complex-looking lens out of her pocket, leaning in to check out a few pieces of scenery as they pass. She squints, then exchanges the lens for a small handbook.

"There's an inconsistency here," she finally observes, again speaking more quietly. "The actual landscape is basically static. Nothing seems to have changed in a long time. But the cosmic landscape is shifting rapidly. Look at the way the stars shift." She points upwards. "Totally unlike what is happening down here."

The mystery colours Neviah's ability to enjoy the tale of Will's antics. She smiles faintly and scratches at one cheek, privately grateful this man seems to be relatively conversational and not out to sass her.

    Bell flies up good and high to get a nice vantage of what's over the mountains and what she sees...
    "Huh..."
    It makes her pause for a good moment. 
    "Wow."
    She doesn't linger for too long though before she starts on a downward path returning towards the temple.
    By the time everyone gets there, Bell touches down with a soft patter of her feet and puts her hands on her hips.
    "Soooooo... There's kind of nothing out there. At all. It's like we're on a little island floating in space."

    Despite the fact that William is admitting that he's the eternal rival and former bestie of his boss, Valerian does not immediately attack him or anything. Whether that's because he thinks the Will of the Tree would not want him to, or if it's because he'd be fighting 1d4+1 enemies by taking a swing at William is debatable. It is possibly some combination of both. 

    He gives Neviah a thumbs up and a smile as she agrees to stand behind him. Juicers make great meat shields. 

    For now, he just wanders along and listens in on the story that William tells, laughing occasionally and then asking, "So okay, that's a great story. But I have to ask: What happened to the bag of pearls?" Valerian inquires a moment later. 

    And then Bell returns and he looks to William, "So it's like a shard of a world, maybe?"

    Yahiko muses a bit, listening to the tale. "There always seem to be these sorts of stories when you dig deep enough..." But Neviah's words really catch his attention too. He nods slowly, listening to her and then frowning.

    "I don't REALLY understand," he admits. "But I think I get you. Like everything BUT this place is changing?" Which isn't exactly what Neviah said, but at least he's trying! Yahiko is a genius swordsman, but he's not the sharpest tool in the shed in other ways.

    Then Bell announces her discovery, and he looks more uneasy. "Or is it just... what's left of the world after it became Dead?" Yahiko isn't an expert on this stuff, but he can make a guess.

    William frowns. "Well... Neviah here may actually know more about this than me. We're getting a bit out of my realm of expertise. I've heard of many similar things but all together? There's something that this reminds me of though... especially the incomplete world thing." He scratches his head, then sighs and shakes it. "Like I said. I've heard of worlds that are fragments floating in void, before. Even been to a few! But the stasis and everything... and the weird cosmos..."

    It's like William has something on the tip of his tongue, but the moment he brightens and thinks of it, he instead... pulls open the door to the temple. Doesn't knock or anything. Which is good, because... nobody would answer. Just beyond the foyer, within sight of the entrance, is a huge, bloody massacre of bodies, strewn about and bloodied, with one in the middle of the floor clutching the knife embedded in his chest.

    "Hmm..."

Neviah's brows immediately knit when Bell returns and makes a truly troubling report. She crosses her arms under her bust, looking up into the starry sky - or perhaps more than a sky. A void, somehow.

"It's strange," she murmurs, voice distant with thought as William turns the floor over to her. "It is almost like this is some kind of fragment of a Dead World in the process of reconstruction or rebirth. It's uncommon to find worlds that are just voids, mind you, and even if you did want to revive a Dead World that way, you would need a World Seed, a catalyst and an immense source of power. It could be done, but...." She trails off, just staring into the open sky a moment.

That's about when William opens the door.

Neviah gasps and recoils at the butchery exposed within the temple, covering her mouth with both hands. "Wh- what the--"

    Magilou would not necessarily side with William, or not necessarily side against William, and it might be hard to know which she would do unless it actually came to be. She's actually fairly quiet - for once - as she walks behind the group, seeming deep in thought about something or other.

    At least, up until the Temple's door is opened. Her reaction there might actually be interesting if anyone were paying attention to her, rather than to the massacre - it's a complete and total nonreaction, her face and eyes going a little dead and losing the usual careful mockery, almost completely blank.

    "...Seems someone took offense to the services, I suppose?" She'll offer after a few moments, a bitter joke but one nevertheless, as she looks over the bodies. "Or a ritual suicide, maybe? That one looks to have done himself in, possibly." She'll say, gesturing at the one in the middle.

    William opens the door and...
    It's a bloodbath.
    Bell blinks slowly at the carnage as she leans over to peer around from behind William's back.
    "Oh, gross." She says way too brightly.

    "Classic death cult." Valerian says as he crosses his arms, "I guess we know, if it was a Dead World, what made it finally spring back up on the radar." 

    He looks over at William and surveys the bloody mess, "This does count as disrupting the status quo. Wonder what they were summoning. Or casting."

    Yahiko makes a choking noise and holds a hand up to his mouth. Fortunately he has seen corpses and even massacres before, so he composes himself quickly, then slowly walks inside, taking a look around. "I wonder if they are all dead. Come on, let's get a head count?"

    He's also reluctantly going to touch the body, to see how long they've been dead. At least an estimate. He's not a physician.

    William has... little reaction, but he also walks in. "Yeah... go ahead, take a head count." He looks thoughtful rather than disturbed, while the others are reacting in whatever way. "Mn... I'm not so sure this is the event we were here for."

    Yahiko can tell, even without being a physician, that these corpses have been dead a while. Rot hasn't set in or anything, but rigor mortis has, and they're cool to the touch. Around a day old, maybe? Definitely dead before the group arrived.

    William speaks up suddenly, "Actually, if my guess is right, nobody has died at all, nor will they yet. But that may change. Or will change, definitely."

Neviah can't fully process anything right now. She's capable of suppressing her surprise if she's at least somewhat *expecting* horror and bloodshed. In this case she was in the midst of scientific thought and walked in on a massacre.

She lingers near the entrance, face pale and hands over her mouth as she tries to catch her breath and regain her equilibrium. It takes her a bit to steady herself, and even when she does lower her hands, her expression remains heavy with horror and revulsion.

"...Nobody has died?" she asks with a blink and a frown, eyes snapping to William. "What do you mean?"

    Valerian looks towards William, "Please, do continue. I'm really curious about your theory for this one, since I am way out of my depth." 

    Still, he takes a mental note to tell the Will of the Tree about this later.

    Bell blinks.
    'Nobody has died at all, nor will they yet.'
    That's... An odd thing to hear from the man who is ostensibly her boss as she kneels down and pokes a dead body right on the cheek, repeatedly.
    "Uhhhhhh."
    "But these guys kind of are dead." She points out, bewildered. "I mean this one's even stone cold and stiff."
    Poke poke. Poooooke. Poke.

    "..Are you thinking this is some sort of illusion, then?" Magilou will ask, a little impressed by the idea of it on this scale. She only knows one person who could pull off an illusion of that size and depth; hers are more limited than this in scope, and she's the second best she knows of.

    "Or maybe they've got some sort of revival magic that's going to get to work?" She'll consider, glancing around to see if she can detect that. She does actually seem engaged, for once, by the tone of her voice. Which is completely lacking in horror as she bends down to prod at one of the corpses to see if she can detect the illusion, if that's what it is.

    "Yeah this doesn't make sense," Yahiko agrees, looking up from his head count. "Please tell us how this isn't a bunch of dead people, because I've seen this before, and I really don't want to see it again." But he's sure he will.

    Yahiko has his sword out. The wooden one, at least, but... just in case, right?

    William shakes his head. Yes, Yahiko finds all 47 bodies, when he counts, but as everyone is now in the temple, he taps his spear on the floor. "Follow me." The man walks toward the exit again, pushing open the door and stepping outside into-

    The morning sunlight. It was probably ten at night when the group entered, but now it is definitely dawn. He nods his head to confirm it, and turns around. "Okay. This is somethign that until now was theoretical. It's a Reflection. Or a Buffer, I guess. Two very similar worlds are about to Blossom together, and the strain of their minor differences are causing this place to... exist, I guess. In a sort of time loop. But the people here aren't really people. They're just reflections of what's happening in each world. That's why they don't know anything."

    He points to the temple. "If you close the door then go back in, I bet you could stop that massacre. Or you could torch the town to the ground. Or you could kill them all yourselves. Or we could all go turn around and go back. Any of these things will strike an imbalance here, and the entire place will start to crumble and the two worlds will Blossom, keyed off the imbalance created here. I can't even tell you which course of action would cause one to become a Thorn or something else, we just don't know enough, so I'm going to walk off and let the rest of you figure out what to do. Just remember that saving lives here may actually doom others. Or it may save lives! I don't really know. Think carefully if you want the responsibility."

    Though he doesn't literally walk off, more like just stands to the side thoughtfully. "Did you get all that, Younger? You could probably make a hell of a paper out of this, I imagine."

The shock has landed by now. Neviah centres herself enough that she can pull her notebook out and begin to move from body to body, taking a few notes. Her pencil dashes across the page, scribbling down observations about the state of the bodies.

And about the shift in time. Neviah blinks once, looking up to the sky with a deep frown.

"A Buffer? That's highly theoretical," she begins, before William explains roughly the same thing.

She looks back towards the temple with a knit of her brows, then back to the man with a cant of her head. "...Yes, I did, thank you," she answers, and indeed her page is full of notes.

A bit of colour returns to her cheeks as she looks to the rest of the group, frowning deeply. "I'm afraid that there is no way to predict an objective 'best outcome' here," she cautions. "There are too many micro-level variables that exist here. Even something as small as a puff of air off a bird's wing as it steers around us could alter things in either world. Any action we take will spark off a chain of unknowable butterfly effects, and there is simply no way to account for all of them."

The professor looks back to the temple, tugging at her collar anxiously. She opens her mouth a little, then closes it, stewing for a moment before deciding, "...It is a moral choice."

    Valerian rubs the back of his head and thinks it over, "I'll be honest, I'm not used to having the key decision making put in my own hands. Juicers are made to be pointed at something and then you get out of their way. You're not supposed to give us a lot of deep moral decision-making. Even with as sassy and free-wheeling as I am, I try to avoid interfering with delicate situations like this unless I have the higher-ups in the Gardeners giving me orders to ensure the optimal outcome." 

    He crosses his arms, "I'm pretty stumped."

    The science of it all goes clean over Bell's head. If her father were here he would understand, but for the most part, she kind of looks at William like she has no idea what he's saying.
    Anything they do could affect the blossoming of two worlds. Anything they do could make a Thorn, as he opens the door and it's broad daylight.
    Bell stands herself up from poking the corpse on the cheek, a determined look in her eyes as she...
    Opens up her super cute dog backpack.
    Pulls out her empty milkshake cup.
    And throws it on the goddamn ground like a rebel.
    She then proceeds to eat her leftover chicken nuggets, and toss the carton and empty paper bag on the ground too.
    JUST FOR EMPHASIS, she tears up the napkins and spreads them to the wind, opens the remaining ketchup packets and squeezes them over the nearby wall to write...

    'BELL WAS HERE'

    "If I could, I'd like to save the... priests..." Yahiko starts to say, but ends up staring at Bell just making a mess instead. "Is... is that really necessary? Will that even do anything?" He looks at Neviah and William, having heard the 'beat of a bird's wings' thing but kind of dubious that what Bell is doing will do anything.

    Idly he asks, "Is there any way we can just make this a world that sticks around? Give it its own um. History?"

    Magilou will walk out, and take a look up at the sky, frowning as she listens to the explaination, then glancing back over to the Temple. "...I'll do nothing of the sort. To interfere, to try to rule over these two worlds, it would be wrong of us. It'd rob these people, whatever they are, of their own agency." She.. actually sounds sincere. And bitter.

    She'll shake her head, and sigh. "But if one of you wants to, I'll watch and see what happens. I'm curious, now, what end this place will come to." And she'll turn back, looking towards the Temple again and waiting to see if anyone will do anything beyond the littering and vandalism.

    William chuckles at Magilou, "You'd make a good Keeper." He shrugs, but doesn't try to stop Bell, though he does note, "Vandalism like that WILL destabalize this world... slowly. It's a minor thing, but something like saving the priests or destroying the temple or whatever would make a much bigger impact. I'm reluctant to get involved. It's kind of my job to make Thorns, but there's no telling how to do that here. Hell, do the exact right thing and these worlds may NEVER Blossom."

    Yahiko's question catches him off-guard, blinking. He looks at Neviah, then Valerian, then back to Yahiko. "Well... in theory. If you could find an actual World Seed, you could empower it to bolster this reality. I'm not sure exactly how you'd do it, but if you wanted to do it strongly enough, you could probably do so, especially if you had help from someone like her." He rubs his chin. "I'm against the idea, but I admit I'm only against it because it would bond it to the Tree, and since I'm trying to kill the Tree the whole place would crumble anyway. But I admit that in the hypothetical sense the idea is... pretty tempting. But you'd need to find a World Seed and place it before the destabilization got too bad."

    "I've never even seen a World Seed, much less would I have any idea where to find one. This is some high concept metaphysical shit. I'll defer to the rest of the ragtag group of people on how we proceed," He says honestly, looking towards Magilou and Neviah and Yahiko in particular, since Bell's chosen plan of action seems to be littering all over the place.

    With her VILLAINOUS LITTERING WORLD-ENDING ECOTERRORISM complete, Bell dusts her hands.
    Flashing a big grin she shoots William a thumbs up.
    Totally doing some good work here, this one is.

    Yahiko grimaces. "Yeah... I'd be fine looking for one if someone else can help me out, because I don't think I can do that alone." It's painful for him to admit that, but at least it's made his decision. "I'm going to not touch this place for now. At least I can look for a World Seed, but I've never heard of these."

"Well, alright, maybe /that/ won't be the most shocking change," Neviah murmurs with a dip of her lashes as she glances at Bell. "Direct intervention would change more."

She clears her throat and moves over to stand by Magilou, clasping her notebook in both hands. "I agree with Magilou. I am a researcher. I am not God. To interfere with the natural development of these worlds would be unfitting. For better or for worse, the Buffer must be allowed to emerge in whatever form it will, whether it is perpetual stasis or some eventual break in the equilibrium."

She looks back to William, brushing back a lock of her hair with a pensive frown. "It would be one way to save the world, yes. But it is no small matter to find a World Seed."

    Magilou will hum, not being terribly familiar with the different concepts - she is mostly just a homeless drifter, after all, more than a real scholar these days. "I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment or an insult." She'll admit, not knowing that the Keepers are the organization that William belongs to. "But either way, I'm not sure it's something that should need an organization to make happen. Those generally don't do very well at being hands-off."

    William laughs, but it isn't a bad laugh. "Yeah... that's honestly probably the safest thing to do. I'm surprised, a lot of people do rush in. At least now we know what we're dealing with." He twirls his spear and rests it across his back. "I guess we can just head back to the Vine. Now we know why it keeps throwing people out here... it needs this destabilized. As much as the Tree 'thinks' at all." There are theories that the Tree has some kind of sapience, but apparently William does not subscribe to those.

    "Good luck on your quest, kid," he says to Yahiko.