World Tree MUSH

Technically speaking Ash had a place to stay in the Mushroom kingdom. Technically he really didn't have to do anything at all if he didn't want to while waiting either for Raven to return and likely tear his heart out (figuratively or literally,) or for Ordis to finish repairs and decide he wasn't grounded anymore. However Ash wasn't one for sitting still, so he was with a group of Toads helping them do some kind of patch job on housing at the edge of town. Ash had no idea what t odo other than the basic sort of grunt work lain out for him, but the Toads didn't seem to mind his lack of experiance. Then again the Toads didn't seem to mind much of anything as they seemed cheerful by nature.

While Ash's mind still tumbled about trying to figure out how to proceed, especially if Raven showd up, the work kept his mind busy. It kept him active and doing. Also this was a very cute little house, even if it seemed strange to him that they insisted on making the roof all mushroom-y looking.

And then Anna is jogging through the area! ... No, not running along at superhuman speeds using Windrunner, actually jogging. She comes to a stop on the road near the house, and then bends over double, panting heavily.

Spiral floats over from behind. "Oh, jeez, it's actually down to zero!?"

Anna just lets out an even-more-androgynous-than-usual groan.

"Hey guys," Ash would call out to what passed for the work site foreman as he hopped off the house's roof. "I'm gonna need a few minutes alright?"

The Foreman Ash was talking to waved to Ash before looking to another group of TOads.

With that out of the way Ash jogged over to Anna and offered her a bottle of water he snagged from a cooler near where everyone was working. He had been near enough to catch Spiral's question then quirked an eyerow. "What? WHat's at Zero?" He sounded confused. Was it something magical?

Without a word, Anna just grabs the water bottle and starts gulping it down. She's not used to being winded at all!

Spiral nods to Ash. "Negative emotions are totally deadly to Anna's powers," she says. "And right now she's feeling really guilty about the Raven thing."

Anna shakes her head. "Should've known not to touch her when she was like that," she mutters. Her voice is still a few shades closer to androgynous. "Wasn't the same as the other situation at all ..."

Ash nodded slow as he gestured to a nearby bench. "Yea look...." He looked to Anna, trying to draw her eyes to his. "I know it isn't that easy but I'm the one that messed up." His voice was firm as he addressed the mahou. "I should've known better, didn't think," And then made it WORSE.

Then to Spiral. "I... don't know how to help. I don't do emotion well, but it really isn't something she should feel bad about."

Anna shakes her head. "You didn't know," she says softly. "I knew she didn't like being touched, that it'd mess with her empathy ..." She stares at the ground. "I just jumped to the conclusion that it was gonna be the same as the time she --"

"Um, Anna," says Spiral, "Ash was there when you met her the first time."

Anna blinks. "Huh?"

Ash nodded. "I was. So I can't use ignorance as an excuse. It just looked like she was going to falter." How? Praytell HOW She gave no outward signs of anything other than maybe mild discomfort. Nothing so dramatic as wounds on her body opening up or fainting. 

His head shook. "Worst part is I had Ordis cart you and temulin off... I should have had him do the same for her."

A shrug then to either Anna herself or Spiral. "I'm not sure what to do here since normally I'd try talking thigns over with Raven. I mena... that's what i did when Miwa was out of sorts after I pulled a shotgun on the kids that tried kidnapping her."

Anna nods slowly, and opens her mouth --

Spiral says, "I should've known Anna's would be someone who just beats herself up more than she needs to," she interrupts.

Anna frowns. "What!? Hey, I don't --"

Spiral sighs. "I'm saying this to both of you, since it's clear that both of you need to hear this," she says. "Yes, you both made mistakes. Yes, you both contributed to the current situation. But yes, as you said, Ash, the two of you just need to talk it out with Raven." She shrugs. "Whenever that ends up being. We probably just need to give her time."

Ash nodded at Spiral's advice. "She'll be furious. She'll vent. She'll rage. SHe'll speak exactly what's on her mind even if she might end up regretting it." Ash was expecting a violent outburst, raw emotion from an open wound. "Just... accept it. that's the only thing i can think to do." His voice was thoughtful sounding but Spiral could probably her uncertanty threaded through. "I'm not looking forward to that meeting either, but I think that's why Ordis dumped me Here rather than somewhere else, to make sure I hear what she has to tell me."

And that just causes Anna to descend into even more gloom. "... yeah ..."

"Anna!" Spiral settles down on Anna's shoulder. "It's gonna be all right! She'll just yell at you, and the Princess will help her get through it ..."

Anna just continues not to look anyone in the eye.

Someone else has been exercising, though in Temulin's case the exercise is more of a brisk walk. Still, she's starting to resemble someone who sprained her ankle rather than took what should've been lethal wounds in terms of gait and energy. She notices Anna and Ash, and waves with her bandaged hand; the other is too busy leaning on a cane.

Ash reached over to pat Anna on the shoulder. "We're both reckless. Either we get more careful or we take our lumps." He sounded far more easy going about all this than he felt. Which was the problem when one got down to it since Anna's everything beyond just being herself depended on that emotion rather than the brave front. "For what it's worth. I'm glad you were there to get htat kid out of the way. Pretty sure he was grateful too."

Then he saw Temulin out for a walk and waved to the lady knight, "Glad to see you up and about miss." His voice was easy, but Temulin could probably see minor tells in his face, notes in his voice, or even just how he stood that suggested he wasn't feeling much better than Anna, even if he wasbetter at keping up appearances. Then again to be fair he came fro ma world where you had to look stable enough to not be worth the trouble of knocking over.

Anna sighs. "Yeah," she says softly. She takes a deep breath, which tends to be a good idea no matter what the situation is, and smiles weakly up at Ash. "Thanks," she says, bringing her tone to its normal level of only-slightly-androgynous. "No hetero or anything." There's just the faintest flicker of blue light around her legs.

She straightens up (as it were) and waves to Temulin. "Hey," she says, looking relieved that the Au Ra is at least partly on her feet now. "How's it going? Besides the obvious."

"Don't call me 'miss' call me Temulin or Your Terrifying Darkness'" The second is said in a tone of clear joking, combined with a smile. She looks over the others and shrugs a bit. "Helped out with a dragon thing yesterday, ran into Raven. She's doing fine, but we didn't talk about the whole incident. Not my place to bring it up."

Ash nodded to Temulin, "Well from what little i Know of Dragons, probably for the best since she'd need focus." Ash then looked at the Toads, who seemed to have decided now wasa good time for a break. "Since I'm sorta stuck here I figured help the locals out. Keep busy. Try doing something other than spin around in circles." He didn't mean it as an insult to Anna. it is just how he handled things, dive into something andk eep pushing because stillness was terrifying.

"Since you're standing Temulin," Ash gave the injured knight a small grin, "I guess the dragon is not a problem anymore?"

Anna giggles a bit at the 'your terrifying darkness' comment. She visibly tenses up when Temulin brings up Raven, but relaxes when it becomes clear that it didn't go anywhere. She nods to Ash. "I've mostly been busying myself with college," she says. "I mean, it tends to be what I'm busy with when I'm not out and about. I thought I'd take a vine here ... um ... just in case." She shrugs uncomfortably.

"The dragon wasn't really the problem so much as it was the mining that led to the dragon's paw getting stuck beneath the mountain." Temulin explains casually, "So we helped it out so it could sleep in peace." She tilts her head at Anna in some confusion, "Aren't you a bit old for school?"

Ash winced at the idea of sleep being disturbed by someone dropping a mountain on someone's arm. "Yea that would be an issue. Glad that got resolved.... Peacefully I hope." He added hastily, "Would be badif the poor thing got woke up from it's nap and then a fight broke out." He had no idea what was 'normal' for school or learning. Even fi he had a normal life, he would have been a colonist on another world in a new system which isn't all that normal in most 'verses.

Anna frowns. "Wow, I'm glad you got that issue resolved!" She blinks at Temulin's question. "There's higher education, like for adults," she says. "For more specialized vocations and stuff like that. For, things like, uh ..." She tries to translate it into fantasy terms. "... scholars? And the ... well, like, stuff that takes a lot of technical knowledge and skill." She hesitates. "Does that make sense?"

"Oh so it's like a guild then, gotcha." Temulin tries to interpret Anna, and turns towards Ash. "Worse, the dragon's trashing was causing tremors, which could've led to a dam to collapse; and there was a nearby town that would be right in the path of that."

"Medical, artisans, things that require more than a basic grasp." He looked Anna over before shrugging. He understood the value of an education evenif his life so far hadn't allowed for that sort of study. "So what sort of studies are you in?" He wouldn't even pretend to fully understand what her world was like, but he knew that without people willing to build, then what was the point for people like him? The world would just devolve into constant fighting over the scraps that then get destroyed by fighting over them.

A wince when temulin explained, "Yea that... Hooboy." He had seen a dam collapse once. At the time it had been a good thing since it caused a Griner manufacturing plant to essentially get washed away. However replace a place of brainwashed clones stamping out tools of war by the million with a town just going about its business. That... that would be bad for everyone.

"I should probably try meditating more, but there is a time for reflection, and a time for doing. I've had my time for thought. Hence-" He gestured to the nearly complete home. "It's a nice change of pace at least."

Anna hesitates. "Pretty much, though they aren't necessarily connected to one ... employer?" She shakes her head. "Yeah I think at this point it might be better just to leave it there before we confuse each other even more."

Spiral murmurs, "Good idea."

She nods to Ash. "So far I'm just doing general stuff," she says. "A community college isn't very ... specialized. I'm still trying to figure out my place in the world." She laughs nervously. "There, uh, there aren't exactly college courses for being a Heart Mage."

"You don't work for the guild, the guild just gets you in touch with customers and ensures the quality is up to standards." Temulin corrects Anna, "And part of that is teaching people how to do the job; though the adventurer's guilds outsource the training to various other guilds, since adventurer skillsets are so varied. I have worked a few jobs along with a member of the conjurer's guild. We didn't do the whole guild thing back home, but the Eorzeans seem pretty keen on them."

Temulin glances towards Ash, "I should probably find some time to meditate soon, too. Reflect on what I've learned, but I should get myself in better shape first. Hard to do that properly when you can feel your body screaming at you."

Ash gave Anna a reassuring smile. "There are however courses that would before jobs being a mage would be appropriate for yes?" He had no idea what the specifics would entail, but surely there had to be Something, right?

A laugh, genuine and warm, at Temulin's observation on pain. "It would be nice to work with you when you're in better condition." Another soft chuckle. "There are schools the Tenno have started to re-discover on how to use our connection to the void. I'm not even at the point of diverting into any of them. Still in...." He gestured as his brow furrowed, "in I'd imagine elementery school. The basic basics before you get to where you'd even decide." Another chuckle as he looked Temulin over. "One of these schools is healing focused. I know Teshin left notes on ship if I ever progress far enough to learn these things, but I dunno. I've got a long climb." Especially iven his reckless nature. "Right now just too... fools rush in for my own good I suppose."

Anna nods to Temulin. "Okay, got it!" she says. "I understand now." She grimaces. "Also you should really get to look into healing here, there's probably all kinds of options for magical healing. I might have to talk to Peach about this ..." Wait, is she talking about having a casual chat with the local head of state?

She hmms at Ash. "Well, the big problem is that the existence of Curse Phantoms and the magical warriors who fight them is a secret at the moment."

Spiral makes a face. "We're pretty sure the secret's gonna get blown wide open relatively soon, but even if it happens tomorrow, I'm pretty sure it'd be months or years before employers are gonna have job openings."

"I'll be fine. Too much magical healing and I bound to explode." Temulin reassures Ash without too much concern. "Just need to give it some time." She shrugs as Ash portrays his own education as so poor, "Don't put yourself down like that. You got a more practical education, doesn't make it not an education. Even the school of hard knocks is still an education." She tilts her head towards Anna talking about secrecy, "Wait, what? Why?"

"And since battling these Phantoms doesn't provide income you need a normal job." A look of understanding from Ash. "Makes sense to be honest. WIth your world opening up I do expect the whole need for secrecy will lessen, or at least it will just be one thing amongst many instead of The Thing to focus on." He had ideas on what might happen if she were outed without this whole mosh of everythign else going on to keep her from being isolated as the Only weird thing. These thoughts were not pretty.

"Maybe I'm going about things wrongly with my own power." He looked Anna over, either unaware or uncaring of any quirks to the collage aged woman, "ther'es always this small leadup where i must find calm before i can draw power. I don't need dead calm, just a moment to focus on what I'm doing, to turn the metaphorical valve on andoff."

 Only then did he notice Temulins' confusion over Anna's secrecy before facing the woman, his expression growing hard. "If Anna cam out with the fact she is unique and special and all these weird things that they don't understand." His voice started to grow hard. "She would be locked away and studied.. 'For Her Own Good.'" There was a mockingquality to those words. "Maybe she'd be lucky and the people in power there are not like my home and she would be treated well."

Truethfully though Ash had only faint memories that were like smoke. the more he reached the more theyscattered and barely existed even when the air was still. "Even if that were the case, she would still be in a cage and unable to walk the world free as she's studied like... like..." His jaw set and his hands trembled, "Some sort of damned Fungus."

Spiral gives an odd cat-shrug. "Mostly reasons which make a little more sense to my superiors than they do to me," she says. "The fact that only those of a particular magical inclination can see and fight them, for one thing, and some ... weird research, saying 'they happen less often on worlds where people aren't worried about them' which I'm a little bit suspicious of but I don't have anything to go on."

Anna is gangly and a little bit androgynous, but she has been taking good care of her hair. She nods at the explanation of his powers. "Interesting," she says. "I ... yeah, my major problem is the emotions, I guess."

And then Ash gets really annoyed. "Whoa, hey!" she says, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's not ... I mean, lots of people have magical abilities like my Windrunner in general, people know and understand about that part. It's just the 'magical warrior' thing that's a problem."

She pauses. "Not that I don't understand about wanting to hide quirks of your birth, but, uh ..." She just shrugs a bit.

"What kind of stupid place would do that?" Temulin incredilously asks Ash, "That would be suicidal. Not even the Garlean Empire is that stupid about its oppression." She genuinely doesn't seem to consider that a plausible outcome, "Anyway, if that's something you'd want to avoid. It sounds like a hassle." She glances to Anna and shrugs, "Anyway. None of my business to tell you whether or not to keep it a secret no matter the reasons. I don't need to understand, it just struck me as weird, is all."

"That's what happened to me." Ash's voice was hard when those words were spoken. Then he closed his eyes andtook a deep breath. He had to find his center, not because he was afrade of his powers getting out of hand. It was more the fact it would be easy to just rage and scream at his lot in life, which wasn't helpful to anyone. "Sorry.. sorry." He smiled, holding up a hand as he spoke, "I'm lucky in that if i get emotional things don't blow up. It seems like me and Raven are opposites. I need calm to turn the tap one way. She needs calm so it's turned the other."Then a moment of uncertainty. "I... think anyway. I'm just letting my mind run with what little detail i have. I could very well be wrong."

then his hand lowered, "Plus not much goodin wallowing i nthe past. I just don't like the idea of magical folk gettign rounded up for study like me and everyone else on the Zairman was is all." Deep breath. "Having people you can talk to would probably be helpful, but I'm absolute rubish with magic." He then looked to Spiral. "How far away from her can you get? If you have to stay with her I'll see about getting you an earpiece or tablet or something so you and Ordis can talk. I expect you two would have a lot of stories to share. It'd be good for him to have friends."

"So... to try digging out of the morass of all that? " He then trailed off. Not sure how to take the convrosation in a more positive direction.

Anna shrugs. "There's a lot of worlds out there," she says.

"Some are objectively worse than others," Spiral adds.

Anna looks at her. "Well ... uh ..." She shakes her head. "... yeah, I can't really argue than that." She puts a comforting hand on Ash's shoulder.

Spiral shakes her head. "I don't actually need to stay anywhere near her," she says. "I mean, technically I'm only supposed to work with Star Paladins, not Heart Mages. I just stick around Anna because we're friends regardless, we have the same curiosity about the World Tree, and so I can stop her from getting into trouble."

Anna opens her mouth to contradict Spiral, and then closes it. "... I have a different conversation topic, but five'll get you ten it's another morass." She shrugs and just plunges on anyway. "So, basically, the reason I don't worry about quirks of other peoples' births is because I'm transgender ... and ... I ... just realized I have no idea if either of you know that word."

"That sucks." Temulin answers Ash, and she sounds genuine but not too bothered. Like, she doesn't want to dwell on things that are in the past. She listens to Anna and shrugs, "Nope. But I know what it means." She answers Anna with a shrug, "Body and gender mismatch thingy. Wonder if that applies to the Khatun, too." A pause, before adding, "In her previous life, the Khatun was a man." Pause. "Khatun is the term for the leader of the tribe."

Ash nodded at Anna, "Heard of that. and... Huh." He actually chuckled as a genuinely amused smile formed. "Before the Dream broke?" Ash wouldn't care if the leadup made sense, but he tried anyway. "For a time we slept, remote controllign the warframes. As we had no sense that we were anything but the warframes many Tenno have ... well.." He gestured at himself. "Imagine going from two meter and someodd change tall in whatever form you wish, to. Well." He bumped his chest wit ha thumb. "Mind-Body identity issues i suspect would be much higher in tenno than in most other groups." He didn't say whether or not he was in that group or not, "So I can relate."

He then looked to the Toads house building resuming. "Either of you feel like spectating a bit?" THen a look to Anna, "I suspect a little work would do you good. Might, might not, but it helps clear my head out and these guys're great."

Anna and Spiral both relax in a way which only now calls attention to the fact that they'd been tense a moment ago. "Right, exactly," Anna says to Temulin. She hesitates, turning to Ash, and then nods. "I ... don't know the details exactly," she says, "but I feel you, dude."

She frowns at the offer. "I don't really have the physical strength for that," she says. "Maybe if I was already able to transform ... but, well, that'd still be the problem right now." She laughs weakly.

"Anyway if we're talking quirks of birth?" Temulin continues with a shrug. "I am the reincarnation of a terrible dark warrior who sew fear and despair into all she met." She shares, with a shrug. "Planning not to repeat that this time 'round." She tries to play it off as no big deal; but from her tone she obviously does think it's a big deal. She looks at the house and answers Ash, "I'd rather watch paint dry, to be honest."

One of the Toads, what passed for the foreman waved the small group over to look at hte house. No work involved, just a nice walkaround outside and in the simple structure. As places to live it wasn'textravigant by any means, but the bare bones were all there for a right cozey little home. "We'll have to get specialists in for the interrior." The little guy reached to ash wit ha stubby arm. "Thanks for helping. you gonna be around? We've got other homes to build. Businesses. This towns a Boomin!"

For some reason all the other Toads winced as if just saying the word 'boom' would make something explode. When that didn't happen they seemed to relax. They were not the most fearsom of people, nor were they the smartest. However they put their hearts into everything and there was a sort of strength they had, a quiet sort of power that might be magical, or it may just be an innate part of who they were culturally.

"Did I mention these guys work Really fast?" Ash gestured to the house that was apparently nowready for interrior and all the little touches you do after the bare bones of the place are up. 

Ash looked in awe the entire time. THose around him may at one point or other hear a soft almost awe struck whisper, "So this is what the Grineer used oto be.... I knew they built, but this...?" Somehow he comingled the Toads with what the Grineer used to be. Happy to serve, steadfast in their roles, and while often straightforward, not stupid in the slightest. The entire time he looked at the home he had a small part in building a wide smile was plastered to his face. He had helped Build something.

And that made him feel good.

Anna peers at Temulin. "... That's rough, buddy," she says after a moment. She smiles at Ash. "I guess we'll see you around, then. I'll, I'll probably be dropping by here a lot to see if Raven ... uh ... yeah." She shakes her head. "You know what I meant."