World Tree MUSH

    This scene takes place after #20: The Stratacombs.

    Following Elise's extraction from that entire mess (both of them! that sure wasn't mentioned to Vivian), the Swan had no doubt figured she should make for a safe place. If it wasn't to avoid pursuit from the "heroes" it was likely to avoid pursuit from the so-called Adept Slayer, who seemed more than a bit willing to chase them to the ends of the world. Then again with all those zombies and the incoming Sumeragi troops, he might not have time to dedicate to that.

    And so they were lead to a particular world, going from Vine to Vine to reach grounds that would be safe to the both of them. Or hopefully would be.

    Still in their battle armor, the two Elises walk after Vivian, reaching the imposing Sith constructions after an undetermined amount of walking in the rain. The dominant alter has her arms crossed, looking grumpy because of the rain. The submissive one is lagging behind, nervously looking left and right anytime something moves, whether droid or living.

    "I was hoping for somewhere nice and sunny, you know," the upright Elise says to Vivian. "Guess that's what I get making a mess."

    The skittish one just stutters a response from the back of the trio. "A-Are we... going back to a l-lab...?"

    "We can't always get what we want," Vivian says, though without any note of harshness surprisingly. She is... waterlogged, actually, but at least she's dropped the illusion. Vividly black wings, black skin, black hair... it's not like she doesn't have a distinctive appearance of her own. The weather sems to mildly annoy her, but she's more skittish for other reasons.

    Sigh, "Yes, we're going to a lab... of sorts. At least until we can find someplace better to rest up at. That retrieval did not go as planned." Her wings twitch irritably. "Can you two try to calm down? You're making me mood swing all over the place." Pause. "Please?"

    The compound that they're heading towards is actually surprisingly high-tech. The planet itself is a lot of rolling plains and hills, kept slick by perpetual rainstorms. It made underwater agriculture the name of the game for the citizens. 

    Aily-2's weather complaints aside, the compound itself is set atop a hill. It has high fences and ferrocrete walls surrounding it. Occasionally, vehicles patrol the outer rim. The buildings themselves are more ferrocrete, and in the center of the complex is a great spire that extends up into the clouds. It is almost perpetually being struck by high-intensity lightning. 

    Arriving at the gate, both of them are stopped by a few guards in bulky armor and carrying rifles. The guards are no threat to either of them, realistically, but it's procedure. Upon seeing Vivian, they seem to pull open the gates and allow both (all three???) women to enter the compound. 

    Past the gates, the interior of the compound is much drier. All three guests are immediately met by maids and servants. Mostly humans and twi-leks. They are offered fresh clothes, comfortable and warm. They are also asked if they need food, drink, or anything else? If either of them says yes, a hot meal and drink is provided immediately. 

    After all this is done, they're led down some rather nice hallways. The exterior looks bleak, but the interior is built like a warm and cozy mansion of sorts, with thick rugs and lots of artwork. Down a warmly-lit hallway, they're led to a den. 

    Aily, despite being a Sith Lord, has not seen to fit to put on airs. When they enter the den, she's wearing what... look like pajamas with bunnies on them (off-world imports are ALL the rage and status symbol) and a large grey robe with slippers. It contrasts somewhat with the lightsaber at her side. 

    "Ah! Vivian! And a new pair of guests! Welcome welcome! This is my home, here on Aily-2. Please, make yourselves comfortable. I'm Darth Calamitas, but you can feel free to call me by my actual name: Aily Starfallen. Or Aily. Or you can call me Cally." 

    She extends her hand towards the two Elises in greeting with a bright smile.

    "WE'RE making your mood swing? You try living with that moeblob in your head, see what it's like," the dominant Elise says, huffing. In the back, falling behind by another few inches, the submissive Elise squirms a bit, whining "S-Sorry..."

    That probably won't help!

    The offer of clothes and food will actually do what Vivian wants, at least. The two Elises drop the transformation (prompted by the dominant one, because the woobie one is too busy apologizing for being a burden). Even out of that purple armor, they're still identical, posture and expression aside. It's nice being out of that prisoner tunic, whatever Aily could provide in replacement.

    They're finally greeted by their host. Both Elises are now significantly calmer - the dominant one less annoyed, the submissive one more relaxed - seemingly put at ease by the luxury of the building. Beats that jail-lab for sure.

    "You have your own planet? Awesome. I want one of those someday," the dominant alter responds.
    The submissive alter makes uncomfortably noises at the idea.
    "Name's Elise," the dominant one says.
    "S-Same..." the submissive one adds.

    Rubbing her forehead, Vivian sighs again, but lets it go. Once she's inside her mood is much better, and she quietly requests something warm... before a little gesture dries her off, wings fluffing and hair lifting for a moment. Apparently she didn't want to spare the power to shield herself from the rain, but a simple cleaning up spell is doable. It doesn't even cause that queasy feeling of life being tugged at.

    "Aily. Sorry for busting in here, but my own assets are pretty small," Vivian states. The black swan moves toward a seat with a tired flop into it, looking much more relaxed. "She split into two," she explains, gesturing to Elise. "During some sort of zombie flood."

    She doesn't ignore the two girls though. "Feel free to relax here. I am Vivian, and I brought you here away from where you were before because it's safer," she explains. "Aily and I work for someone different than you would know." She doesn't mention who told her about the base.

    "Thanks," Aily says, smiling towards the dominant personality, "I worked very hard to get here. Maybe if you can help me accomplish my final goal some time, I can get you your own planet." Aily leaves what her final goal is to the wonderment of all around her. 

    The clothes that the two Elises were given are pretty basic. Durable cargo pants made of some imperial fabric or another. They're given t-shirts of two separate colors. The Dominant Elise is given red. The Submissive Elise is given Blue. And then some sturdy socks and comfortable boots. 

    Aily waves her hand a bit to Vivian, "No bother. That's the point of us all allying under that group, so that we can help eachother like this. I'm sure you will pay me back some time." As she leans back in her chair, she looks between the three woman and smiles a bit. 

    "Zombies? I don't believe I've... ever heard that term." She keeps a quizzical look on her face, "Please. Explain. And yes, it's much safer here. You should consider joining our collective. If you escaped from a lab, it would be good to have allies to make sure no one can ever take you back there."

    "Splitting into two is a pretty crude way to put it," the red Elise says, amused. She grins at Aily, giving a thumb up. "That's my kind of talk. You know how to bribe me. Not like those scientists." Sucks to be them now. Blue Elise will keep squirming over there, don't worry.

    "Zombies. Living dead. No soul, mindless, eat brains? You got any corpses around here? I can show you."

    On the matter of the collective, though... "Oh, don't worry, my bosses wanted me in anyway. Probably had you extract me because of that angry guy in white. Doubt they expected me to bite the hand that fed me but I needed something to take my frustrations out on," the dominant Elise explains.

    "U-Um... I didn't... t-that was..." stutters the submissive alter, to which the dominant one clicks her tongue in annoyance.
    "Of course you didn't do a damn thing, that's why they made ME. I was supposed to take over, not become your third part!"
    "S-Sorry!"

    An interesting thing to watch, it is. Vivian rubs her chin, then nods to herself. "I suppose it doesn't matter now. We got out of there, and now you can decide what to do with your life. Lives. Whichever." She makes a waving gesture. "Are you familiar with the World Tree? This is an important question, because it is what determines our actions."

    She glances at Aily, but Elise explains what a zombie is. "Probably not important to see right now. I don't really like them. My powers drain life, but not to create imitations of it."

    "I tend to not keep corpses around. It's rather... grim." She wrinkles her features, "And I'm not that kind of Sith Lord." She wiggles her fingers a bit and motions around. 

    "Good to see you all made it out safely. I was still recovering from some of the injuries that insufferable girl with the bow, and the one with the bats, and the one with that strange light gave me." She sighs a bit and slumps back in her chair. 

    "So. Do you need a home to stay in for the time being? I have ample guest rooms for you. All three of you, if need be." She is pointing the bulk of the inquiry towards Elise, but Vivian is also invited to stay.

    "Life," the dominant Elise answers Vivian on whether it should be plural, "Because we can't stay like this indefinitely. As much as I'd like having my own body." If Vivian can sense life energy it's probably pretty easy to tell the dominant alter's body is deteriorating, not physically, just... it's less and less alive. "Shame, though, an army of corpses is pretty hard to beat. Every victim they claims makes your side stronger, and every guy you lose makes your side stronger too. You should start stockpiling bodies and I'll show you."

    The offer of a home gets the blue Elise to speak more autonomously, finally. "Y-Yes, please, I... don't want to... g-go back there, this is... much nicer." The bar is pretty low but Aily's palace, so to speak, crushes it anyway.

    Meanwhile, the dominant alter answers Vivian. "Drain life? Can't do that. I can control it, though. Bringing the dead back to life, either as themselves or as zombies - you can guess why they were experimenting on us. This multiple bodies trick is just an extension, but I don't think it'd work if she wasn't such a mess to begin with," she gestures towards the submissive alter, indicating she's the original. "And no, I don't know anything about a fancy tree. What of it?"

    Vivian touches her stomach in sympathy. She seems to be in better shape than Aily, but also took less of the brunt of those attacks. She leans back and... doesn't answer the invitation yet. Which isn't a rejection, either.

    "Drain life... among other things. It's much more complex, but that's the easiest way to explain what I do," Vivian says. Then she gestures. "This isn't your world. They're connected by a massive organism known as the World Tree... which constantly brings these worlds closer together, mingling them and making them a part of one another. Aily and myself, for different reasons, want to see this stop. We want to hurt the World Tree. In my case, so that my world can remain away from the others."

    "Can't you?" Aily asks to Elise, leaning forward a bit in her seat and looking at the more assertive Elise, "Fate favors the bold. There are techniques. If you were to study under me while staying here, perhaps I could teach you. I cannot use them myself, but my library has Sith Teachings in it and I can teach you the fundamentals." 

    "Sith Sorcerers can drain lifeforce from others. If you could do that, perhaps you could learn to sustain your form indefinitely." She smiles and folds her hands in her lap. 

    And then Vivian explains the motivations, "My motivations are a bit more complex. I seek to make every world around mine hurt this Tree she's speaking about. In the case of my own world, I have spearheaded the initiative to integrate with the worlds outside our own." 

    She pauses, "If enough corruptive worlds around ours are connected, I can draw that power into my world using a very old ritual and ascend to the mantle of Sith Empress. It will let me bring this entire galaxy under my thumb. And then there can FINALLY be peace after all these centuries of war."

    "Well that's not any crazier than anything else I've heard. I can think of a few reasons they'd be siding with you then. Hard to rule a world when there's all kinds of people from all kinds of worlds just waltzing in. Guess I'll tag along, sounds like a sight to see at the very least," the dominant alter answers, before turning to Vivian.

    "That'd be a handy trick. Might be possible since control of life and death is my gig. Just have to figure the control part out better. Galaxy though?"

    That's quite the scale. The submissive Elise seems to be having trouble wrapping her mind around the idea of an entire galaxy of living beings, nevermind multiple universes. That's why she's standing back and not saying anything.

    "I like you, you think ahead. Maybe you can teach this runt to stand straight while at it," the red Elise says, dragging the blue one forward by her collar. "Come on, what do we say to the nice missy offering us housing and training?"

    "T-Thank you v-very much," the submissive alter manages. Barely.

    "And to the nice lady who pulled us out of that prison?"
    The submissive Elise bows to Vivian. She's trembling so she looks like she might tip over at any moment. "T-Thank you very m-much."

    "You two should probably know," the dominant alter says, "That there's a third one in here. Well... I'M the third one. You get the idea. Anyway, she's asleep. Better that way, trust me."

    She leaves it at that.

    "You're welcome," Vivian says, her wings twitching. "My world is not... accessible, so I can't show it to you. Though without wings you wouldn't be treated well anyway. Most of my kind - those in my world, I mean, not Swans - are not very friendly to the Fallen."

    Context should make what those are clear.

    "A third one, hm? Well, other worlds do get complicated," Vivian sighs. "It's good that you're willing. Unfortunately, getting the World Tree to let go is difficult. We need to damage other worlds to make it release its grip. In the long run, it's for the best, but it is unpleasant."

    "No need to thank me. Just pay it forward, as they say, and some day help me when I need it." She smiles to the two of them, "And yes. The Galaxy. The Sith Empire is quite expansive, and we're attempting to absorb the Galactic Republic and bring it under our control as well." 

    "In any event, you're an off-worlder. That means that if a Jedi were to wander in here and try to kill me again, they wouldn't be expecting you. It could help my security to keep you around." 

    She smiles and then picks up a communicator off the table next to her, "Ahem. Please prepare a room with two beds for Elise and Elise. Treat them as honor guests of a Darth Lord." She smiles and sets the communicator down again.

    "Hm. A third one. Intriguing. I will remain cautious of her potential."