World Tree MUSH

After everything was said and done with Star Wolf Ash needed a break. It wasn't just the memories the station brought up, or the moral greyness of everything. He needed to get awayfrom space for a time. He didn't want to go pester people for headshrinking, deal with the usual laundry list of oddities. So hee he was wandering a digital forest that grew meat.

It was not as well tended as Bewul's little orchard, but at the same time? It was interesting in its own way. Even though it was his warfrae walking this place transferrence allowed Ash every smell and feel of this land. To him it was quiet, calm, strange, and yet somehow that strangeness felt natural.

So he set his sword down and crossed his legs and started the slow process of unburdening his mind.

     Ash is by no means alone, of course, amidst the woods. There are digital creatures going about their normal lives, although they may seek to keep a cautious distance from the stranger. Some may be more curious than others, however, and it's quite possible that the Frame may get some stares from a careful distance or from behind trees. That's not to say the place is bustling with activity, either; yet, even amongst the more untamed areas, it's not unusual to see plenty of other Digimon about inasmuch as one would see animals about in the Physical World. 

     It is calm, otherwise, providing a sense of tranquility that one may be hard-pressed to encounter in more human-controlled lands. It is no great wonder, then, that such a location can provide the atmospheric peace that makes for better meditation. It's a good spot for such so long as those unused to such woodland features are able to accept the potential surreality as fact.

Perhaps it was foolish for Ash to walk into this unknown woodland alone. Even if his physical body was not in real danger he was rather attached to the frame he used, and had begun to have suspicion that it was more than a mindless automita he puppeted about. Regardless. It was relatively peaceable and the locals seemed to want to not change that as he sat there in an area away from the more often used trails. As his mind emptied of concern and pushed away the nightmares his body rose from the ground. It wasn't by much, maybe a meter or so. However even if he could not properly do this trick in any other state of mind it marked him as seperate from most of the local blend of humanity. Well that and the fact his warframe was a thing made of twisted infested flesh that probably smelled as odd as it looked.

     Time is a difficult thing to nail down to the conscious and fully aware mind. How often does one experience 'five minutes' and still not yet have an understanding of just how long five minutes lasts? Is one able to easily mark the passage of time without heavy practice? How much less capable is the meditative mind at doing such a thing? Ultimately, time means nothing in most of those cases. So, how much time passes before footsteps approach? 

     The soft footfalls pause briefly at around ten meters out, but then close the distance in as casual a speed as might have walking barefoot through the digital woods. A rattle of chain marks the movement of the individual's leaning forward to place something on the ground close by, and then the seven and a half foot tall lion man has a seat almost directly beside the floating form, crosses his legs, and then closes his eyes in his own meditative way. Before him, on the ground, is a cloth with some freshly grown meat upon it right beside a rather impressive-looking tanto short sword. Not a word is spoken in these actions.

Footfalls are noted, but seem to do little to gain Ash's attention. These were, after all, sounds of this place so there was no cause for alarm.the chain causes the cluster of lights at the frame's head to glow brighter as he looked to the bulky figure. He could speak, ask questions, or any number of things. However it seemed the digimon followed Ash's lead and was attempting to find a few minutes of calm.

Ash's head then bowed as the frame's lgihts again dimmed. Questions on if the newcommer owned this place, how well he fought with the blade he set aside, and others floated away. The whole point of thisfor him was to find calm wasn't it? Questions were antithical to the point if they caused clutter and confusion. Maybe in time he could ponder such matters in this calmed state, but as of this moment? All he could do was 'be.'

As it turns out Zen is hard.

     Now, it takes the large creature a bit of time to get into a fully comfortable position. This isn't done noisily, at least purposefully, although the chain on his coat may chime from movement now and then. His tail is curled around and he seems otherwise at ease. There doesn't seem to be a hidden guarded nature about his posture. He simply seems to get comfortable first, then...sits there. No humming. No mantra. He's just an additional presence who happens to be tall enough that even the Frame's floating doesn't rise above his head. 

     The stranger, well, he has his own issues to work through. He's a stranger in more than one way, truthfully, and getting reacquainted with his homeland, if one wants to call it that, is taking time. Time...that can fall away to the side when one reaches just the right state of mind, for a state of mind determines the state of being, and a state of being that is timeless retains youthfulness and remains healthy.

Time passes. 

While putting emotion on the state of mindAsh has reached is wholly incorrect, to say that Ash would have been loathe to end the quiet moment would be near enough the mark. Be it minutes or hours Ash eventually exhaled deeply and settled back to the ground, uncrossing his legs before looking to the digimon that had come to join him. He didn't speak, instead opting to rest hands on knees as he looked the fellow ove. Within his transferrence pod he smiled as he knew howrestive that state of being could be. Then he stretched his arms, and something, either bone, armor or something else, around the frame's left shoulder popped.

     A large pointed ear swivels at the noise although the beast man was already aware of movements beforehand. Even when the mind is elsewhere, there is still an understanding of one's surroundings. Some are more in tune with this spatial sense than others, of course. All the same, there is the realization and understanding that one has meditated enough and movement inevitably brings about noise to reveal as much. 

     At first, only a single eye opens. There's a slight tilt of the head as that one eye regards the other sitting beside him. Still nothing spoken. There's only the faintest hint of a feline smile. This ends as he moves and he does so to rise. Pushing up onto both clawed feet, the lion man turns and walks over to one of the nearby trees leaving the bundle of meat and his sword sitting there. Using his height, the Digimon plucks some wild-grown meat from the tree before wandering back over and holding it out. He won't offer from his own meal, but he'll provide with what's available. Meditation makes one hungry. At least, well, it makes him hungry. Again: no words. Just an offering of food held out.

Finally Ash broke the silence as he accepted the offered food. "I cannot right now due to this," He tapped the frame's chest lightly. "However I know the meats here are good and will keep long enough for me to get home." The 'eye' lights of his frame brightened as he looked the feline digimon over. "Are these your lands?"

     The reason for not eating gets an odd expression in return from the big furry guy. A matter of armor, then? Still, he doesn't ask. He walks back over to where he was seated previously, sits cross-legged again, and then picks up some meat from his 'packed lunch' with both hands. "No," he replies with a glance in the Frame's direction. "Why...would they belong to me?" he follows up in a question of his own before looking back to his food and bowing his head for a quick, "Itadakimasu," before taking a big bite. Then again, when you're as tall and as muscular as the Digimon appears to be, what bite isn't going to be big?

"Ordis?" As asked from within the trasnferrence pod.

"Japanese, literally 'let's eat.' Curious," The cephelon mused, "Bewul did mention this place being connected to an iteration of earth before it became part of the wider metaphysical whole."

Outwardly Ash shrugged, "I know of another roughly around here that has a home and an orchard of such trees." He gestured to the forest they were in. "I am a stranger to this place so don't know if his living arrangements are nromal, or if the land is essentaially itself and cannot be owned." For once he was grateful for that long drawn out and tiresome lecture Lotus madehim sit through headed by some wonk from New Loka. HE found their purity rhetoric more than a tad disturbing, but they were still allies so it helped to understand where they came from.

"Also in case you're concerned it's just me here." Ash was not aware of what Rez knew or did not know, but suddenly having a small army show up at your front door would put people off, and Ash did show up armed. "Least if there's anyone else wandering about they didn't come with me."

     The seated Bancho Leomon chews as he listens to the other speak, takes another big bite and chews some more as clarification is provided concerning Ash being alone, and possibly allows a bit of silence to bleed over after the statement is made before replying. He does in the same fashion is his previous reply: "Why...would I be concerned?" He passes another glance over to Ash before allowing his eyes to flit around to check the details of the surroundings. It's such an odd thing to say. The Leomon's gaze falls upon the Frame once more and his eating appears paused.

Rez's apparent ignorance of other worlds and how thigns have changed caught Ash off guard. For a moment he looked startled as he looked the digimon over. "Because i'm not from the world yours traditionally connects to, and I'd halfway thought you were here to see what was coming through since the connection to this spot is fairly new." At least as far as Ash knew it was new. He wasn't sure how the metaphysical bits worked. 

A pause before he gave Rez a small bow, "I'm Ash." Then a small laugh and a rueful shake of his head, "I come in peace?"

     The large lion-like person just stares for a good moment longer as he listens to this partial explanation. Whether or not he fully understands what is implied, he smiles faintly anyway...and then strips the rest of the meat from the bone held in his hand and puts the bone down atop the cloth beside his sword while chewing. His gaze turns away. "A stranger new to the Digital World. Ash. With your appearance I took you for a Digimon, not Human." That might be an assumption more than an observation. 

     "Do all Humans visiting the Digital World look as you do?" he asks, almost as an aside as he sorts through the rest of the contents of his meal -- more pieces of meat -- and chooses one. "Just be careful to not get trapped here. It has its own dangers. I would think most Humans ill-prepared to deal with such things without the protection of another Digimon." He takes a rather large bite of food (he's got a really large maw) and chews in thought before swallowing. "I am called Rez."

in fairness? Warframes of any sort, much less Ash's own, are nowhere near the strangest looking entities in the digital world and yet far enough removed from normal human for it to be a safe assumption to have made. Then the question on if Ash is normal looking. This caused the warframe clad tenno to laugh. "no..." He tried to get his laughter under control, doubling over at the question, momentarily unable to speak. Then, after getting his composure back he toook a much needed breath. "No sorry man, This is.... well let's just say this is a proxy I can use when poking around places I don't entirely feel comfortable with. Since I wasn't sure if the locals were hyper aggressive to outsiders I figured it for the best."

Then to pre-empt any questions on where the rest of him is. "My ship is up thataway," He pointed skyward, "Circling the moon and gettign a rather interesting view of everything since, as it turns out my ship has to be in the same world my warframe is to keep a solid connection." Ash shrugged and looked the meat trees over, "By the way have you heard of Bewul?" Ash pulled a tablet out of... somewhere and after fiddling with this and that turned it over so Rez could get a look at Bewul in his champion form complete with leather chaps. "Last time I was here he invited me over to his place with a few other tourists. Nice guy."

     In all truthfulness, there is no way that most of that explanation is all properly parsed by the large Digimon sitting there nearby eating. He listens, but that doesn't mean that sense is made of any of it. At the question of Bewul, however, the Bancho Leomon replies -- even as Ash works to pull out a tablet to show a visual -- that, "I know a Bewul. Gabumon." He pulls the mostly eaten meat away from his mouth, held by the bone-parts sticking free, and gives it a small wave in the air. "This was grown by Bewul." 

     It isn't until then that he actually tuns his head to look at the image provided. "Hmm. Interesting. You are familiar with what we are, then?" His blue eyes shift from the tablet to Ash's 'face'. "You are just here to...visit? Explore? Study?"

"Mostly I just wanted to get away from thingsfor a bit." Ash could explain his awareness was mostly centered on the warframe and it took effort to focus on his actual body, but details. He streched, pacinga small circle. "travel, life, Things get complicated and I wanted some time to let thigns settle out." Also he wanted to see how hiswarframe had held up so a nice run earlier had helped confirm a few thigns Ordis would need to patch up later. Turns out having a star try giving you a hug is bad for wellbeing and proper functioanlity.

He snorted before lookign to Rez, "What about you big guy. Just out and wandering?"

     When you're a big creature, you eat a lot of food. That's a law of nature or something, isn't it? The tough-looking digital monster certain seems to affirm such a view with how he's able to eat as much as he does in one sitting. Once he's finished, he gathers up the leftovers in that cloth, ties it up as a bundle and tucks it away, and then grabs his tanto with his left hand and rises. "I am becoming reacquainted with things from long ago that I have, in part, forgotten. In discovering what the Digital World holds for me, I discover more about myself." 

     The blade he holds shines in the ambient light of Digital Daylight. "There is much to learn and many ways to train. As a Human, you may not fully understand." After all, most mundane humans have a different kind of progression in age and health. "But that is not a fault of your kind." The reflection of the blade perfectly bridges the connection between the lion's eyes and Ash's frame's face.

A deep breath as Ash considered what Rez said, tryingot make sense of the words. The creature before him was huge and muscular, but the way he talked reminded him of an aged soldier he knew back home. Ashsmiled,a gesture his warframe could not mimic. "You I think would enjoy talking with Teshin over a game of komi." Some worlds called it Othello, others Goban. A simple to learn game with endless variation on play depending on board size, any rules on captures that needed to be observed, and time constraints.

"If he were here I'd wager he'd have some wise insightful response." Ash eyed the blade and the reflections coming from it, "All I can say is everyone has their own path to walk, but nobody has to walk alone." Too many tenno gave into the edgelord embracing of pain and glorifying of misery outright or by way of mocking everything around them. Ash followed another path, or at least he thought he did. "I hope to learn a few things. Helps pass the time and why not? Learning's fun."

     Rez's gaze shifts from sword to Frame, from Frame to sword, and then he speaks. "What kind of learning do you seek?" There is an edge of curiosity that joins the displayed edge of metal; both are extensions of the large brawler. "Are you sure you can find it here?" The blade sings as he swings it through the air, a beautiful and dangerous song throughout its arc, before it comes to rest atop his left shoulder. 

     The lion mouths on that stalk of grass sticking from his muzzle as he thinks, looking over the stranger in barely known lands, regarding his limited experiences with humans so far. They have not been good. "Or is the peaceful quiet enough for you here for now?" After all, meditation, for Rez, is over. He has eaten and is ready to progress in some form or fashion.

Ash drew his own blade slowly, letting Rez inspect the razor sharp edge of a weapon crafted from what would be taken as futuristic materials in homage to and pattenred after a design ancient even here in Rez's own time. Ash nodded at his sword, turning it this way and that as he inspected it. "My home is one of constant strife. While a bloody path with many losses, you can learn a lot about yourself from fighting." A snort as he watched the light play off of his katana-like sword. "So long as we arne't trying to hack eachother to bits I see this as good as any way of self improvement."

     There is the faintest tip of the lion man's head to one side while a subtle amused smile plays across his muzzled face. He then shakes his head a bit. "The politics of Humans in the Physical World do not concern me directly. That I was made to contribute to them is enough weight to bear as it is." The blade resting on his shoulder is suddenly whipped free to arc low before him, curves upward as the momentum carries it to come back across, yet the blade spins (in a fraction of a perceived second) a perfect 540 degrees for an inverted grip. "HA!" he exclaims, driving the sword down into the ground itself. 

     "If you want learning to be gentle, then you will not feel the weight of Otokodama descend upon you today." That leaves the Bancho with...what? His bare hands? He brushes those hands off and stares down this 'Ash' with a knowing nod.

As Ash sheathed his weapon he nodded and set it aside. "Just becuase i'm not in this wrframe proper does not mean i don't feel everythingthat happens." He looked the rather well muscled digimon over, getting a measure of just how unfair a grappling fight would be on raw strength and mass. "I would like your story some time." Ash flexed, then streached his arms, causing several loud pops to come from his right shoulder.

Within his transferrence pod Ash frowned. "Ordis? My warrame's right arm just went numb."

Ash's warframe paced as heflexed the fingers of his right hand and continued to move that arm.

"Should be temporary, but do be careful Operator. THis..> Rez looksto be twice your mass and holds a fair advantage in close quarters."

"Then I"m just gong to have to make sure he can't hit me." Ash smiled within the transferrence pod.

"Any particular rules you're partial to beyond no low blows?" His head inclined to Rez as he waited to see if there was anything in particular the digimon considered kosher in a 'friendly' fight.

     The large lion with a gakuran draped over his shoulders crosses his arms. "You can use your blade, if you feel more comfortable with it than not." See, this is a potentially confusing thing to allow. Clearly the sword sticking out of the ground is this creature's only weapon aside from his fists. The wrist coverings he wears are lightly armored, but surely he can't mean to block and parry using such. 

     "It is true that you must train in new ways in order to grow stronger, but sometimes you have to use what feels best to you. Draw your weapon and attack, Human. I am not unkind." The Digital Wind rustles his white mane and coat as he stands there waiting for this stranger to make a decision and make a move. "I am not afraid of your blade." He doesn't hold a defensive stance or anything. He rather casually stands there watching, waiting, perhaps curious how this other will react. Is it all a test?

If this was some sort of challenge then Ash would respond in a perhaps unexpected way by literally disappearing in a puff of smoke. Sensetive ears might hear his footfalls as he moved. A sensetive enough pair of eyes could perhaps see how light distorted or a sensetive nose make out how he was still there, but by normal human standards he was invisible.

And then a smoke-clone seemed to materalize bare inches from Raz's face to stab him. Someone quick enough could block or dodge, and Raz seemed unafraid of Ash's sword. It was a gamble, but Ash figured this digimon could at worst take the hit.

     The Bancho Leomon seems confident enough, but the whole ninja vanish bit does throw him off. His eyes narrow at this and his arms slowly lower from their crossed position over his scarred chest. He grunts the equivalent of 'what?' at this sudden use of trickery. He gains immediate Serious Face. 

     But, then, the stranger reappears before him only inches away and thrusts toward his chest with the sword. He narrows his eyes at the sudden strike, but the tip of the blade makes contact with the tawny-yellow hide anyway. Ash may find some surprise that there is no discernible injury at the touch alone with what effort is put behind the sneaky attack, but he may be more surprised at part of the reason why: After all, Rez does not block or dodge the thrust. 

     He reaches up to intercept the blow by grasping the sword with his fingers instead. And in retaliation? Nothing. Nothing other than the attempt to make pulling the blade away again difficult. It was a solid jab, though. A normal person taking that hit would have a somewhat penetrating wound.

Ash then reappeared a handful of steps back with his head tilted quizzically to one side. "Alright. I mean if you're not happy about the flash and bang I get it." He shrugged, "but well.." His arms spread wide as a sort of extended shrug. "I figured if you didn't mind the sword then me doing somethign creative wouldn't be entirely terrible." He could have had the clone stab Rez from behind, or he could have teleported then taken to the trees doing the whole laughing shadow i am the fear turkey routine, but this was his way of showing Rez what he had. "We good?"

     Ash gets a good long stare from the lion. A really good long hard stare. Then, Rez laughs. "You are either a very gifted Human, or... Anata wa bakadesu." He laughs on at this for a moment. It's not derisive laughter. The Digimon seems to be genuinely amused. He expected simple tactics, not flash powder and illusions. "Very well." The clap of one fist smacking into the palm of the other hand is sharp from the power behind both arms. It seems he's entertaining the idea of playing a match more aligned with Digimon training than something otherwise and he- 

     "Flash Bancho Punch!" he exclaims from where he stands some distance away from Ash, clearly unable to attack with such an announced punch without closing the distance (and he doesn't) and instead plays a bit of shadow-boxing instead. He snaps his right arm forward into a jab to punch at the air, perhaps showing off, only the end of his reach in the punch flashes with the compression of air. While not a fully instantaneous strike in distance, it might be just as invisible as Ash's poofing about, but clearly carries plenty of power in this miraculous ranged-melee attack. 

     It's not full-power. This is the equivalent of a punch to the shoulder in reply to 'we good'.

Anata Wa bak- Ash was still trying to figur out what that meant when suddenly he saw Rez announce his attack, causing an instinctive corssing his arms in front of him as even at that distance the shockwave from the blow caused his warframe's shields to degrade. Granted the shielding system took the worst beating of all of his warframe's sub-system bits but still. Even the blowback caused that bit of dip was impressive.

Ash grinned, his warframe straightening as his arms lowered. "Well I have been called a lot of things, but I'm...roughly human. Little diffrent, but yea. Now that i know here is fairly safe I'll probably leave the tin suit so you can see what I'm like without." He offered Rez an open hand. "Also if ther'es anything you'd like while i'm out and around. Books, carry bag, maybe food or trade goods? You seem like good folk."

     Rez raises his own arms, but for a different reason. He goes into what might be best called a Street-style Boxing stance. He's ready for anything that gets thrown back his way. After all, the meditation and meal has him at peak performance now. But, it seems that the other isn't as willing to continue. The lion man bounces lightly from one foot to the other, testing his weight. "I have little interest in Human things yet. Maybe food. Or milk tea. Are we done already? I understand if it is too much for you."

"I do have my ship to get back to and I felt-" He paused, trying to figure out a good way to articulate all the technobabble beneath his suit, "bits of my warframe's shoulder plating slide weird. Nothing major, but it's a bit of a walk to get where my lander can pick me up." Then an idea occored to him. "Feel like a bit of a run?" The forest and all it's obsticles might be barrier to normal men, but for ash it was an extended playground of pure speed and acrobatics.

     Now, this Bancho Leomon is not built for speed. Clearly. He's built for sheer strength and defense. However, a challenge is a challenge and only a fool, or 'baka', would believe such a creature to be altogether slow. Where he lacks agility and pure speed, Rez has strength, and since it seems this stranger would rather use individual strengths rather than establish a neutral ground for something more fair, he will absolutely use his colossal leaping ability to his advantage. 

     "Are you issuing a challenge for a race?" With a metallic chime, the lion yanks his tanto out of the ground. Any Digimon around are going to have some tales to tell at seeing this random competition grace the local area of two figures screaming with speed and ability to a distance position.

"Hey I'm built for speed so I realize it won't be fair," TO say nothing of the fact that Ash knew where the finish line was. "So I wouldn't want to say a strict challenge, but if you want to go on a run with me that'd be pretty nice."

     Rez points his sword at Ash in gesture. "Is your destination near Bewul's home?" The lion's gaze is somewhat shadowed by the brim of his cap, but his bright blue eyes peer out a playful narrowness in spite of the darkness cast around them. It would seem he's trying to at least determine a landmark of the area that could serve as a general idea for where this finish line might be.

A nod at Rez's question. "It is," And he realized what Rez was likely going to mark as their destination point. "I... actually haven't run that sort of distance before." Sure he could run the boxed in area of the plaisn around cetus in good time without feeling anysort fo fatigue, but that was only a couple kilometers, so a run further might go past what his stamina had. Still, he was the one that offered the run. "Seems like as good an end point as any. Count us off." Ash sreached, then lowered into a runner's start position, leaning forward and waiting much like a coiled spring.

     "Good training," says Rez regarding Ash's admittance. "Challenge...o uketetatsu. Accepted." The Bancho Leomon gives a slight bow as he says that last word. And, while Ash prepares himself for a good long-distance sprint, the lion simply turns away and, well, just leaps into the air through the treetops in order to land a good distance away without breaking stride. Ash might equate the technique to something similar, but...hey, he didn't give a countdown or anything! This is what happens when you show you like being sneaky and others adapt rather than complain.

At this bit of return-sneakery Ordis laughed much to Ash's displeasure and noted, "Turnabout is fair play Operator." The Cephelon's voice merry as Ash first started sprinting, then on encountering trees, simply bouncing from one tree to the next until hitting the next patch of flat ground. In spite of the unexpected start he was laughing. Rez seemed to understand the value of a good joke and returned in kind. Assuming he didn't embarass himself during the run this promised to be an interesting and fun friend.