World Tree MUSH

    Lungmen is a dense mobile city. It's a lively place when you're in the main part of the city.

    We're not in the main part of the city.

    In the outskirts, there are far less people, though the gridlock pattern of buildings still creates a maze-like route of streets, pathways and alleys. Some buildings have even collapsed in places from neglect, or Catastrophe damage that hasn't been repaired, adding to the labyrinthine feel.

    Those coming to aid the beleagured Rhodes Island patrol would hear the distinct sound of Artes use, and the sound of clashing melee weapons. No gunfire though, neither side has any firearms trained troops on the field.

    The gruff shout of a voice that Jessica would find familiar can be heard when getting closer. "Reinforce that barricade. Don't let them surround us!" Scavenger grouses. "Do I have to do everything myself?" The sound of complaining metal, and a heavy THUNK follows... and those arriving to help would see the rat-woman standing from hoisting a parked vehicle up onto its side to block off an alleyway.

  Not far from the conflict, an aircraft descends, a foreign shape in these skies. It's mostly silent, enough so that the sounds of battle are audible over its descent. It's a quinjet: The humble helicopter-agile transport jet of SHIELD.

  Plus passengers.

  Out the cargo ramp in the back descends one Agent Anneka Stojespal, dressed in a flight suit, her sedative ICER pistol already in her hands.

  Since Scavenger seems to be the one giving orders, Anneka pulls up short, staring, because the rat-woman just picked up a car.

  "Nice trick," the pilot grunts, shifting her grip on her ICER. "SHIELD agent Anneka Stojespal." Her voice is accented, strongly, and her lone blue eye fixes on Scavenger. "If you have use for a VTOL transport, than probably I will be of more use to you in the air than on the ground."

    Skitter... skitter skitter...

    Amongst the ruined buildings, there's movement. Tiny little golden things skitter to and fro, darting under bits of collapsed building and the like. They're not alone, to note -- a distance back from the loose grouping is a blond-haired kid with amber eyes.

    He looks like a typical human kid just coming out of his teen years. And he also looks nervous! Given he's unarmed, he probably has good reason to be! Though it's probably fortunate he doesn't have animal features because SPIDERS. Animal features in his case would probably be uh. A little bit horrifying.

    ANYWAY! He'll look for whoever seems to be in charge, and then straighten, hiding the nervousness. "Hello there. My name is Theodore Rabanne," he offers, with a polite nod of his head. "I heard a distress call." He takes a breath to say more... and then pauses, just for a moment. "I can help if there have been people injured," he continues smoothly.

    Catra has been roaming this world for a few days now. Far from the verdant green of Etheria, she seems more at home in a place that somewhat resembles the Fright Zone: A dense city. She's wrapped in a dark maroon cloak that's frayed at the edges, stalking along a rooftop when her ears perk at the sound of fighting. "Huh. You hear that?" she stops, crouching near the crumbling edge of a building. Behind her, Melog's head lifts and it emits a low mrrrr at her. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Someone's getting the business end of a beatdown," she laughs and plops down on the floor beneath her feet. Melog immediately starts to butt its head against her shoulder.

    "H-Hey! C'mon, you want us to get involved?" she tries to push the big quadruped back with both hands in a half-hearted way as she's growled at, "What! Those kids couldn't defend -themselves- and those masked guys were real jerks!" she huffs and the purple lioness ripples in color before letting up, but Catra isn't pushing back either. "Sheesh! Fine! We'll go LOOK," she huffs and pulls herself to her feet as the VTOL comes down the odd block or so ahead. 

    "Looks like we're not the only visitors anyway," she quips, stretching and then rushing across the rooftops at full speed, leveraging her own agility to skirt around edges and hop across collapsed sections while Melog seems to have no trouble keeping up.

    Yep, Jessica recognizes the voice. She's kind of surprised at the various offworlders she DOESN'T know showing up. Arriving with Lappland, of course, is going to complicate things. "Ah... we've got Lapp with us," she calls out, a quick warning that is meaningless to others, but will prep Scavenger for what is probably going to be a messy introduction.

    Jessica herself immediately dashes for cover and tries to get a feel for where the nearest enemy is. Now there ARE firearms-trained users on the field, as she readies a... pistol. "I'm guessing we're going to try for a withdrawal?" She nods to Anneka and Catra and... Theo is given a weird look. Maybe she can't see the spiders? Jessica squints, but probably needs to concentrate, but being a sniper might help. Her lack of Oripathy, though, could make it harder. The catgirl's ears twitch though, "You have healing Artes? Well... right now we should just get people to that." She gestures at the quinjet.

    Among the passengers upon the arriving quinjet is a one Steven Grant "Steve" Rogers. Captain America descends from the ramp shortly after Anneka, shield slung across his back and an M4A1 assault rifle clasped in his hands.
    He sees Scavenger up-end the car and looks to Anneka.
    "Before you ask. I can't do that."

    "Wahaha, woohoo~!" A FIGHT! A fight means... A Lupo! As warned, Lappland is here and she is immediately interested in being terrible.By terrible, we mean showing no regard for herself or property damage. Both swords are drawn and her fluffy while tail is wagging intensely as icy eyes glitter with delight. "I'm here to save the daaaa~aaaay~! Just ask Jessica!" This is said as she just... Casually starts kicking things over and making a mess while swinging swords at anything that may or may not be vaguely threatening. Car tires might be threatening! Fire hydrants! Lamp posts!

    The Quinjet gets a few crossbow bolts fired at it. They deflect harmlessly off the metal plating, but the Reunion snipers curse aloud. This lets the remaining RI Snipers to return fire and relieve some of the pressure. Anneka gets a gruff grunt from Scavenger. "Scavenger. Vanguard operative, Rhodes Island." she then points to a huddled group of people, two of them with the white armband and red + of medical personnel, most of them with arrows or bolts sticking out of painful places. "Wounded. Can you get them out of here?" There's about a dozen injured. Probably more than the Quinjet can comfortably handle, especially since they're going to need extra space from the big sticks jutting out of them. Steve gets a quirked brow and yellow eyes locked onto him for a moment. "Sniper? On the north barricade. They'll be pushing again soon." She gestures to the one barricade that looks pretty raggedy. There's not much material to reinforce it in easy reach so it's mostly cover for the snipers and hiding spots for the melee guys to not get shot in return.

    Jessica's warning gets the rat-woman on edge. "North side. Point her at the north side." is quickly shouted back, before a hail of bolts come in through that section, causing the RI people in the open to scatter, a few getting bolts embedded in armour, one getting a shot through the calf and going down hard.

    Theo's assertion that he can help heal earns the attention of one of the medics. "Over here! We got ambushed, and a few of our guys are in bad shape. I don't want to move them until we can stablize them." The feminine voice is muffled behind a helmet, the triangular ears of a Lupo poking out the top.

    Catra gets a good overview of the location. The barricaded section is big enough for the Jet to land in, but the entrances are all blocked off, save for the one main thoroughfare on the northern side. Most of the Reunion forces, various animal-people dressed in white robes with face concealing masks, are gathering in that area. They're being funneled into only being able to advance in small groups at a time, but there's a lot more of them than the defenders.

    And then Lappland arrives and starts caving up the area... she's helpfully pointed toward the bad men with big machetes that are threatening the area. One of the troopers calling out. "Hey, White Wolf... these guys said you're too weak to fight them!"

  "Should be able to do that." Scavenger's gruff grunt is returned with much the same, the pilot looking past the rat-woman to assess the number of passengers. It's going to be an uncomfortable squash for some of them, but they should be able to fit, for the most part. "Will need to know where they're going."

  She's quick to offer a gruff good luck nod to Steve, before turning and loping for the ragtag group of wounded, calling for them to follow her and telling them it's going to be alright... as long as they do what she says.

    Theo nods to Jessica's statement. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'arts'," he admits. "But I can heal injuries."

    The spiders begin to come in closer now, coming in from places they'd been hiding. They turn, look around nervously. And Lappland's swinging does not make them any less nervous! Nor does the sudden hail of bolts!

    The spiders closest to Theo squeak, *"Mu**RIIIIIIII**!!"* and hide behind his feet; those a bit further away hide in convenient places. Theo himself actually jumps at the hail of bolts, but before he can find cover, he's addressed by the medic! "Ah! R-right!" He scampers in that direction, the horde of golden spiders following.

    Though one actually remains in hiding... until it realizes it's being left behind! It runs after the others, squeaking that same way.

    Theo will get to where the injured are, and he won't even have to ask -- the spiders closest to the wounded will start to dead to where the sounds are, and start spinning golden threads into the sounds, trying to stitch them up.

    Those who can't see the spiders will just see wounds trying to close up, like someone's trying to stitch them together. Though it's worth mentioning that these spiders and their powers are psionic in nature, so if anyone has senses that psionic powers ping, they'll probably be getting pinged right how.

    As Catra nears the skirmish and gets a good view on the proceedings, she gestures to Melog and the two of them shimmer for a moment before fading completely from sight. "Uh huh. Uh huh... hm. Defensible location, complete choke point..." she crouches on the edge of an overlooking structure and surveys the situation with her vantage point. Then she scowls when she sees just who or what is doing the assault. "Oh THESE guys again? Come ON!" she hisses, thrusting her arm towards the Reunion forces and looking directly at Melog who just sort of tilts its head to the side. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" she asks, and the alien tilts its head the other way entirely.

    "Yeah, let's do it," she affirms and the two of them creep closer. They work their way to one of the flanks of the Reunion forces, still invisible through Melog's 'magic', and the two drop to the ground. Catra pulls the old Horde stun baton from her belt and activates it, electricity crackling between the tongs. "Right, let's do this," she grins, pulling her cloak's hood back. The catgirl's form shimmers, and at the same time, Melog adjusts its illusion. "I haven't had a good brawl in a while and I'm getting pretty sick of it..." she growls, baring her fangs.

    To the enemies she's nearest to, not only will she seem to step out of the shadows wearing a mimicry of Scavenger's outfit and colors, a half dozen other 'soldiers' step out with her, wearing similar appearances. "Someone call for reinforcements?!" she shouts at the top of her lungs, then drops into a growl, "...come and get it."

    Once he's off the quinjet, Steve checks his weapons. They're loaded and he's ready for conflict.
    "Not exactly." He does reply to Scavenger. He would have brought a more weapon with more precision of he had known a sniper was in need, but actual sniping isn't his forte. "But if that's where you need cover fire the most."
    Then the north barricade is where Steve will go, taking cover and assuming a firing position on one knee to cover for the others while Anneka ferries the wounded aboard the jet.

    What's a good way to instantly annoy Lappland? Question her ability. Doing so when she's having fun? Well, that results in... A demonstration. Most in her homeworld fail to realize that Lappland is an Arts user, albeit an untrained one. Even so, she can channel the power of Originium quite handily when she wants to and sometimes that doesn't even need to be done in a flashy way either. Sometimes it's just used to blast forward with burst of speed right up to one particularly large and threatening man! But Lappland does not slice him to pieces, oh no. She artfully stops just in front of him and rebounds with one foot, moving into a backward somersault that allows her free foot to contact with groin. There is a brief, potentially unheard sickerning squelch a split second before the Bad Man is sent skyward in an arc that leaves him crashing through a window. She lands in a particular graceful way and stands with one eye visible to the other mean, swords held at her sides as she offers a dark look and speaks in a decidedly scary tone. "Anyone else wanna try me?"

    Whew. With Lappland handled and being very effective against the others, and the ragtag group seems to be gelling together to get things done! That's great! Now Jessica just has to do what she does best: eat snacks!

    No wait. Cover fire! That's what she can do! Hopping up to get a better vantage, she lowers her pistol, stabilizing on her other arm, and snaps off a few shots downrange toward the other side away from Lappland, to keep the way clear for evacuation. If she sees a shot she'll take it - the nervous catgirl is just fine blowing a hole through an enemy - but her main goal is to get them to back off a bit.

    "Rhodes Island." is Scavengers clipped response to Anneka. "Smaller mobile settlement. Should still be near Lungmen." The ratwoman then turns as Theo and Anneka tend to the wounded. The medics helping to move the ones who can, while stabilizing those who can't be moved yet. Theo's spiders going either unheeded, or unseen by the mundane troopers and medics.

    Catra appears... wearing a Catastrophe Scouts outfit, apparently. Her appearance with 'fresh troops' alongside Lappland's demonstration make the front row of Reunion take a step or two back... then Jessica and Steve drop in covering fire and take a few more down. "The boss didn't say anything about reinforcements! Or the White Wolf! Lets get outta here!" calls one. The rest keep backing off and then they start turning tail and trampling over one another to get away.

    Scavenger is just about to join the fight, but comes up short just where a large slab of metal with a... handle? is stuck in the ground. "'bout time they took the hint." She looks at the responders. "I guess I should say 'thank you'." she says, yanking the metal slab out of where it's embedded and then casually twirling it to rest over a shoulder... turns out it's a truly massive cleaver that looks more like the mounted blade of a helicoptor than a purpose built weapon.

    "Oh come on!" Catra grouses loudly, charging up her stun baton and projecting a few bolts of bright green haphazardly towards the retreating Reunion forces. "Come back here so I can kick your asses!" she shakes her other fist in the air, tail standing on end. "Bunch of useless cowards! First you're picking on kids then you run at the slightest hint of hardship?!" Her 'uniform' melts away as the other troops scatter, back into the mix of maroon and dull orange of her normal outfit. She hooks the baton on her belt and pulls her cloak back around herself. 

    The 'fresh troops' she'd arrived with also shimmer and fade away and Melog joins her, nuzzling its face up between her legs and rather forcibly putting her on its back. "Yeah yeah... I'll take the W, lot of people hurt over the--heeey where are you?!" Unfortunately for Catra's desires to slip off into the night, her 'noble steed' carries her closer to the gathered group of defenders even as she grumps reluctantly.

  Trusting the less wounded to lead the more gravely wounded aboard the cargo ramp, Anneka lopes ahead to slide into the cockpit chair, keying in the startup sequence. The engines whirr to life nearly silently as she waits with the ramp open.

  Cameras on the exterior provide her a view of the tableau outside, and she squints at the feed where she can see Theo. Are those... spiders? No, they're not quite. Are those things made of gold? There's no audio feed, but they're obviously moving with that kid, and--

  It takes Anneka a few seconds to realise that everybody's aboard. Her voice crackles to life over the intercom.

  <<Hold onto something.>>

  Up goes the quinjet, towards the indicated destination. As long as there are wounded to ferry out, well, that's what Anneka will be doing, until Scavenger says she's done.

    The sharp report of Steve's assault rifle barks several times in succession as he provides covering fire until the enemy forces retreat.
    He won't be going after them. But he does purse his lips at how quickly the combat ended.
    Picking himself up and dusting his knees off, Cap makes his way back over to the group, clicking the safety into place on his weapon.
    "That was a little too easy. Not that I mind."

    A few more quick shots to make sure Reunion is really on the run, and Jessica stops firing to conserve precious ammo, which is a lot harder to come by in her world. She holsters her weapon and hops down, taking a deep breath. Lappy will cool down once the enemies are out of sight, she figures, but she'll keep an eye on the Lupo just in case.

    "It was a small force," she says toward Steve. "They just realized they were outmatched. Reunion isn't usually that coordinated, but without a good commander they're as scared to fight as anyone else." While she talks she tries to look around to see who else is here, since most everyone is new. She blinks, then looks at Theo again, seeing the wounds WERE taken care of... and then squints again.

    Theo's going to be helping with the more seriously wounded. Though it's probably fortunate that people seem to not notice the spiders as much. Because internal injuries have to be fixed from the inside... so those spiders are going to be crawling INSIDE the wounds as well as around them...

    Nope. Theo's not telling anyone about that. No sense traumatising people more than they need to be -- than they probably already are!

    But yeah, while the spiders are stitching up wounds and the like, Theo himself is helping people get on their feet and on the quinjet. If there's room he'll get on as well, since it sounds like they're about to make tracks, and he doesn't want to get left behind!

    "Tch," Lappland sounds out as people start to turn tail and run. Rather than chase them, she locks her swords together and hangs them at her hip before meandering on over to Jessica with her hands held behind her head and a somewhat non-plussed look on her face. This fight was not a fight. It was boring! Fluffy white tail sways about behind her at least, indicating she isn't furious. Really, her wildly-shifting temperament has been a lot more... Even of recent months for whatever reason. Perhaps all the time she seems to now spend with Jessica is having a positive effect?
    "These guys suck," she concludes once she has reached the Feline, glancing over her shoulder at the window destroyed by groin-kick victim's entry. "...Prob'ly need to have someone check on that one."

    "Too easy? Three patrol groups ambushed us... we only managed to get this place barricaded up because I saw them coming. There wasn't one of the leaders around, or we'd still be fending them off. They're weak and uncoordinated without a strong leader... plus Lappland is a terrifying force." remarks Scavenger to Steve. The Zalak then looks over toward Jessica. "You really should keep her on a leash when she's out for a walk." Did... did she just make a joke? In a deadpan tone?

    The wounded help one another into the Quinjet. One of the medics accompanies and slips into the co-pilot seat to help guide the jet to its destination. Luckily Rhodes Island itself isn't that far away. And also thanks to Theodore's intervention, the remaining wounded stabilize enough to be transported too.

    Catra's arrival on her 'Noble Steed' earns a quirk of a brow from Scavenger, the Zalak adjusting her cleaver before she flourishes it and sheaths it at the small of her back... like it were a normal sized combat knife or something. "Neat trick... some kind of illusion Arte?"

  There's room for Theo, and all his little spider buddies, too. He'll probably want to hold onto something during the short hop just like everyone else. It isn't that Anneka isn't flying carefully, but she has something of an aggressive flying style. Also, if there are remnant troops shooting at the quinjet, she'll want to get out quick.

  ...The impromptu co-pilot is tolerated, barely, but the look on her face says she's about half an inch away from barking at him not to touch anything. In most cases she doesn't actually need a co-pilot, despite the seat. Apparently, when it isn't under manual control, the jet is perfectly capable of flying itself quite well. Her impromptu co-pilot is only tolerated because he knows exactly where they're going.

    Catra just deals with it, having to socialize now. She hadn't planned on it. She was just looking for something to eat when she heard shit going down. She slides off of Melog and the larger cat nudges her side gently. "Huh? Arte?" she asks, looking bewildered and looking down at the creature at her side, "No that's Melog," she states. Her hand slips in under the hood of her cloak and her fingers rub at the back of her neck as she kind of sideways-looks at Scavenger with her mismatched eyes. "You uh. You okay? What's with those guys? Usually the ones in white are the good guys, but they're real assholes." She trails off, frowning, "...usually the good guys anyway..." she growls.

    "Whew..." Theodore sits down somewhere... probably on the floor of the quinjet, if he's managed to get aboard. He seems tired, his shoulders slumping. And then the elephant in the room...

    "...I have no idea what's going on," he admits.

    Oh yikes, hold onto something? He gives a squeak and tries to hold onto something. Immediately his spiders are on the move, weaving a rope of a glowing golden thread and looping it over (or attaching it to) something stable.

    Also that means he can be further away from the stable object, as well as offer more people something to hold onto for the trip!

    Jessica does grab hold of something, and she giggles at Lappland, "I'm sure it would have been better if you hadn't surprised them so much." She gets anchored and then looks around. Catra and Theodore are both asking what's going on, and she bets the others don't know either. "Reunion. They're um... kind of a terrorist organization? They mean well, they want to help end discrimination against people infected with Oripathy, but they kind of do it by... blowing things up and making demands." She gestures over to Scavenger. "Scavenger over there is with Rhodes Island, that has the same purpose but isn't as radical. They hire the company I work for, Blacksteel, for military ops sometimes."

    Scavenger straps in... holding her cleaver tightly so it doesn't go tumbling around the cabin. She looks at Catra. "I meant the phantom army, and the changing outfit." she replies. "... not important." she closes yellow eyes briefly. "Thanks, for coming to help. I'd have made it out on my own, but I wouldn't leave the others behind."

    To Jessica, a case is tossed. Inside are some bullets, the right caliber for her pistol... but one of the cheaper manufacturers. "Found those on one of the goons. Guess they stole some supplies before they found us."

    Oh hey, there's some exposition! Theodore looks to Jessica as she explains a bit about 'Reunion'. And sighs. "...Why is it always 'joining' terminology with these nutters...?" he grumbles, half under his breath.

    In a more normal volume, he notes, "Yeah, that's not going to work. Forcing people to accept those that are different through violence is never going to work. At that point you've only become the very thing the people who won't accept you thought you were to begin with."

    "Melog," Catra says by way of answer to the mention of the skills, nodding to the large celestial cat-thing at her side. The silent creature tilts its head to the side and it seems to be the 'sturdy object' that Catra is most comfortable holding on to at this point. Occasionally, though, it'll catch sight of one of the spiders nearby and try to paw at it. To likely no effect. Catra is, of course, bewildered, "...it hasn't... been on a ship in a long time..." she hazards an attempt at figuring out what exactly is going on with her companion.

    She grumps at the explanation of Reunion, though, and shakes her head, "...I've had enough trouble with a weird cult like that... especially the whole wearing white business.." she shudders and hugs her knees, and fixes her mismatched gaze on Scavenger again. "Good on you, for not leaving people behind anyway... just uh. Glad I could... lend a hand. Even if all I did was show up, you know? So uh where we going and is there food?"

    "Trust me, you'd normally have had to do a lot more. We lucked out this time that they backed off once we had reinforcements, but usually?" She says this to Catra, at first, but as she ends with that upward note in her voice, she glances at Theodore. "Well... he seems to understand what I'm saying. These guys can be fanatics. And sometimes they're more heavily armed or bring Artes. We've scuffled with them a few times, that's how they knew who my friend here was." She gestures at Lappland.

    Finally, she smiles at the ratgirl. "Eheh... nice to see you again, Scavenger?" It's always hard to talk to her, for the shy Jessica. Not to mention being a catgirl. It distracts her from the weird corner-of-the-eye thing she's seeing Melog try to pounce though.

    "Rhodes Island." replies Scavenger to Catra. "There is a messhall. I can show you when we land." The Zalak doesn't look at Catra. At least not more than glances. Yellow eyes meeting blue and yellow briefly. "You didn't give your name... unless you're also 'Melog'." she hazards, eyes narrowing slightly, which causes them to show the very faint glow they have as shadows form over them.

    Jessica earns a side-eyed glance. "Yeah. Nice." she gruffs. Then remains silent through the rest of the trip unless spoken to directly.

    The Quinjet makes a final landing and allows its passengers off that aren't taking the aircraft back to whereever they're going. Scavenger then makes a gesture for Catra to follow her, latching her cleaver into place on her back again. "This way." She won't stop anyone else from following her though.

    Catra's friend Melog's pawing at is really only to little avail because every time the little gold spiders are pawed at, they go a bit frantic and start running around in panicked circles, shrieking *"Mu**RIIIIIIIIIII**!"*, before running under something to hide.

    And every time this happens, Theodore's eye twitches just a bit, in a way that suggests he's annoyed, embarrassed, or both!

    Instead he turns his attention to Jessica and her explanation of what's going on with these Reunion folk. "So everyone was lucky this time? That they didn't bring stronger forces, I mean."

    And honestly? Theo's a bit hungry too. All those threads his little friends spun, that takes energy from him! Though he's probably also going to start 'putting them away', since he doesn't need them. He'll be in the rear of the procession to presumably the messhall, because he needs to put them away. His hand is over his mouth as they start out...

    Catra nods to Jessica, "Yeah, well, I came down looking for a fight..." She holds up one of her hands, extending her claws with a small twitch of her hand before retracting them and squeezing her arms around her knees again. "Sounds rough here. Might as well stick around if you're going to feed me though," she chuckles, tail thumping against the deck beneath her rear. "Catra," she clarifies when Scavenger mentions her name, blinking at the glow in the other woman's eyes. "Whoa, shiny," she laughs. "I mean, I feel like I fit in around here pretty well," she glances around at the 'natives', her ears twitching and making her cowl shift a little. "As in, I can blend, you know?"

    She shrugs when they land and pulls herself to her feet to follow Scavenger. Melog, though, seems to linger behind, fixing its gaze on Theodore and the spiders. Catra, of course, can't tell what or why and she has to gently tug on the great cat, "C'mon, leave him alone..." she rolls her eyes and shakes her head at Theodore, seeing the look on his face with the hand over it. "...he looks tired, let's go get something to eat." As she tags along behind Scavenger, she pulls her hood back and rests her hands behind her head, "Thanks, by the way. Been trying to find a good meal since I got here last week... well. Got there," she jerks her head a little towards the jet and presumably vaguely towards the city they'd left.

    "Jessica," she replies. "And the white-haired Lupo is Lappland." She finishes introductions and first answers Theodore. "Pretty much. These were kind of just normal troops. You saw what Lappland was doing, or how Scavenger there lifted the car... Artes users can do some scary stuff! If one of them had shown up it'd be different. Or troops with firearms." She taps her pistol.

    Catra gets a look, ears perking. "Oh... yeah, Ancients like me are pretty common here. You look a little more extreme than most but there's a lot of variation, so you aren't weird-looking here. Most of the Tree seems to be human, but there are some exceptions..." she trails off, mildly concerned at Theo's behavior about his mouth when he's talking about eating, but she is reluctant to approach too close. There IS something weird about him, she just hasn't managed to see yet.

    There's actually a moment before Theo responds. Whatever it was he was doing, he waits until after it's done to respond to Catra. "I am a bit tired," he admits. "The healing takes energy for me, is all."

    Melog probably sees the spiders crawl up Theo's body, behind that hand over his mouth... and then they're just suddenly not there! Magic!

    Fortunately once he removes the hand from his mouth, all seems reasonably well with him. The explanation of needing to use energy to heal might suffice to offset the weirdness. Or maybe it won't. He nods, though, to Jessica's statement. "Ah, then this was good. Aside from the injuries of course."

    "Lungmen is... unwelcoming to outsiders... at times. They mean well, but especially after what happened to Chernnobog." the Zalak grunts. "Reunion has a lot to answer for." Scavenger leads the group down the main hallways, but the Zalak is clearly uncomfortable in the open. She can't exactly do what she noramlly does and expect the others to be able to follow her that way though. Hallway, turn right, hallway, turn left, hallway crossroad, straight over. The door slides open to reveal a fairly large room, about the size of a school gymnasium with rows of tables and chairs lined up along both sides of each. A canteen-bar is lined with food of various types, staffed by a couple of staff members wearing full netting gear over any and all hair/fur areas.

    "Tch, I don't mind, both of us are kinda outcasts anyway..." Catra gestures to Melog, who finally stops staring at Theodore when all of the spiders are gone. She doesn't volunteer too much more as they travel to the cafeteria and when they get there, she blinks and looks over everything. "Oh wow, this takes me back!" she laughs and makes her way to the food bar. "...food can't be any worse here then the Fright Zone too, I bet!" She perks up, her relatively-bare feet completely silent on the floor, and Melog making no extra sounds. She focuses her efforts on seeing if anything available is identifiable and looks edible, though she'll probably try a bit of everything if allowed. She does spare a glance back at Jessica a something clicks in her head, though, "If I'm gonna be sticking around a while, you gotta tell me what these uh... Ancients are. I bet they're nothing like the Ancients where I come from."

    Jessica nods slowly, "They've done a lot of terrible things... and it just makes the prejudice worse." She sighs. "I mean... oripathy is scary, so I kind of understand, but..." She gestures. She doesn't seem too scared of the infected around her at least.

    Jessica smiles tiredly, "Sure, if you tell me about this Fright Zone. We'll talk later after we've had a chance to rest."