World Tree MUSH

     It's late morning in the Mushroom Kingdom and a couple figures are busy near some large flying machines that don't appear to have come from the area. Some might call it a sleepy village, but the settlement of mushroom people are amazingly welcome to outsiders and the village has many amenities and access to basic supplies and services. 

     Two people busy themselves walking from a stack of boxes to their ships and back again. Each trip lessens the stack; the goods are being tucked into the secure cargo holds located underneath the jet-styled craft. Slid into place, stacked neatly, basic straps help to keep them in place. 

     The wolf and the chameleon have little to say to each other as the task is done, as the stack shrinks, as the minutes tick by. But there they are, not terribly hard to find; the locals, if asked, would surely point the way to the two visitors from another place that bartered for so many domestic goods to take with them.

Raven didn't make a grand gesutre at this time. No giant bird, no explosions, no cry of the raven. She just... walked to them. She'd come to this village looking for them, and now she made her way towards them, something clasped in her hands. A small, round mirror, and a notebook?

She stopped by the stack, eying wolf when he returned. "Wolf, may we talk?" she asked. "If you'd like, I can help you move these boxes if you like?" She didn't touch them, yet. "Assuming you're okay with magic moving them, of course." She was polite enough to offer. "I have some things for you, while you're here."

She definitely looked.... better than the first time she was here. When they'd first met in that bar, she'd been jumpy. Nervous. And... very... .skinny. Now? She looked a little plump, actually. Had a small bit more color to her pale skin. Had her hood down, for once.She still looked like she was the daughter of a boo, though. Girl desperately needed a tan.

"I figured it was best I give you these before you leave."

     The next pass has Wolf and Leon approach the dwindling stack of small boxes at around the same time. "Look who's come to say hi, Cap'n. Now how about that?" The captain so referred brushes the palms of his hands together before giving them a general wipe on his pants as he regards the girl. Wolf turns to Leon and thumbs over his shoulder in gesture. 

     "You want to take a break, Leon? Keep an eye on the ships?" 

     Leon leans over to pick up more boxes. Each box is less than a foot in either dimension. It's not terribly difficult to take a couple at a time. There is no tell-tale marking in the packaging to reveal the contents, however. "Don't you worry, Cap'n. I won't mind the exercise when we're sitting the entire flight home." 

     "Fine," he says and turns to the side to start walking casually. "Walk and talk, then, kiddo. Eh, I appreciate it, but we have a system for packing cargo. Don't sweat the small stuff. Maybe when have larger things to move." Digging into the inside of his vest, he pulls out a pack of cigarettes, although it's gotten quite crumpled and...it only appears to have one left within. 

     Digging it out and putting it to his muzzle, Wolf O'Donnell slips the space lighter free and lights up with a loose cup of his hands around the stick of dried tobacco. "What've you got?"

Raven nodded, though she gave Leon a... slightly appreciative look. Allowing her the opportunity to speak with Wolf was kind of him. She turned to walk with him, moving just enough away she didn't have to smell the cigar. "I've been traveling through the vines a lot, taking notes of different places I've seen. Looked into their history, geography, things like that. I've kept a notebook of places and information you should be able to use."

 She held it out to him. "I've also kept notes of things from this dimension as well," she mumbled. "Namely, different towns and such you might be able to make deals with, though I couldn't examine them myself." She'd hold out the notebook. "I'm... not sure how useful it'll be. But it's really the best I can do." Then she held out the mirror. "This is... something I've been working on. I seem to be a difficult person to get a hold of. So... I've been working on a spell. It will allow this mirror to contact the matching mirror I own. It's... still a work in progress. But I should hopefully have it done soon and if you need me... well... It should allow me to be contacted."

"... That was all. I just wanted to make sure you weren't... Dropped out on, again. I'll be leaving this kingdom at the same time as Ash, so I might be difficult to reach for a while as well. But I will contact you if I come up with any more leads."

     The cycloptic space pirate raises an eyebrow as the general description is given. "Notebook?" While browsing a notebook or other handwritten word is a bit unusual to Wolf, he's not above using such reference material. A well-worn hand reaches over to take the book first and, while letting that burning cigarette rest from the side of his mouth, he thumbs through it to get a general idea of what to expect when he hands it off to his employees so delegated to track matters of business in other Worlds. 

     He folds it closed once more and tucks it into his vest as he is handed another item. "Do you have notes on general tracking and location of the wormholes used to access these places?" Wormholes, Vines; what he means may be somewhat clear, at least, and immediately uses the mirror to look himself over. Muzzle lightly scrunched up as he lifts his nose, he runs his free hand over his throat with a grunt. "Getting a bit scruffy again," he remarks. "So, how's this thing work? And don't you live here or something?"

Raven had filled the notebook with.... very detailed notes. Incredibly details. Finding each vine she mentioned would be easy. She uhhh,... If she wanted, she might have a good future as a scribe. Her handwriting was impeccable. Her notes very very good.

"Yes, finding each... wormhole should be easy, assuming they're still their. I also added the notes as to how I located them, in case they move you should, hopefully, be able to find them again."

She reached into her cloak and pulled out a mirror from.... her complete lack of pockets. She then drew a few symbols on ehrs and then.... He'd get a nice, upwards view of her stomach, chest and chin as she held it like a plate against her waist. "Like this. It shows the view of the other side." It looked... like a screen, almost. Except the mirror glowed with dark energy.

"The marks you need to make are carved into the back side, so you can mimic those. With the tip of your finger, not the nail. I'm not sure... how well it will work. I haven't had enough time to fully complete the spell. But I am confident I should have it fully working soon."

He then asked if she lived here, and she shook her head. "No. I have been studying here for a while and a guest to the princess. But I have allowed myself to drain her generocity for long enough. This place... It..."

How to put it, she struggled for the right words. "It's... like... half of it feels wrong. But the other half of me feels... right. I suppose. Like this place is the most wondrous place I could ever be and I love it and I never want to see another piece of it as long as I live because it is so horrifying. I don't know if that makes much sense but... It's not somewhere I belong. And it becomes more and more apparant every day."

     The cigarette sticking from Wolf's muzzle visibly droops as the image in the mirror changes; his scrutinous critique of his personal appearance is interrupted wholly in a way that makes him pull his face back just a bit in reaction. Flipping the mirror about to follow along with what is described, the aging wolf interjects, "Ahhh. I see. Well, fair enough, as long as you don't use it to spy on me somehow. Or...I don't know, step through it and wind up where you shouldn't be? I don't have much experience with this kind of storybook stuff." 

     The fellow's one-eyed gaze turns to peer sidelong down at the girl before flipping the mirror over to look at the image again with a bit of an unsure expression. He doesn't often wear his emotions so visibly, but he can't help but process the device as being no different than a screen with a camera and a transmitter/receiver. Tech like that doesn't really work between Worlds, though. "Seriously, though, don't show up in my quarters one day by surprise, because I'm liable to shoot you, kid." That's not spoken as a threat, but as a very casual fact. Some might find the nonchalant delivery of such a serious statement rather disturbing. 

     "Well. Anyway. This place isn't really my kind of scene, either, but it is what it is. Have you seen the neighbor's place, yet? Patrolling turtles, munitions, forts built to guard the road. Pretty sure there was some fire, too, but I was only at the border."

Raven shookk her head. "Just make you you lay it face down, and then I can't see you. And no, trying to teleport through the mirror would be like... Well. Trying to teleport through any such thing. I mean.... maybe I could? But I'd need a lot more information than just the mirror could give me and I'd prefer not to risk it at all," she said with a shrug.

"Noted. I will attempt to avoid ever teleporting into your quarters. I... do not know how I would end up there, though. Granted, I ended up on Ordis' ship on accident so... I suppose... it's possible," she mumbled with a shrug. "I'll try to avoid it."

 She glanced off towards the border. "Yeah. I saw it. It's actually really amazing, the relationship they have with the Koopa's. There's so many myths nad legends about it, that I couldn't say what's true and what's made up. But it's a very exciting read. This entire realm has so much history, it's amazing."

     "I only know what I observe. I don't know a thing about this place otherwise. But from what I can see? Well, seems there is some interesting history between these lands that doesn't seem to come up in conversation. I'd ask this kingdom's ruler for a direct answer, but I'm willing to bet it would only be half the story. Trust me, where I come from I have plenty experience with people that think they're the epitome of purity and heroism...when that's just not what it appears to be when you scratch beneath the surface." 

     O'Donnell tucks the mirror into his vest beside and against the notebook, shiny surface facing the scribed material, and then reaches up to pull the cigarette from his mouth just as a stream of smoke spills forth from his nostrils. "You'll find a balance if you keep looking. Just don't overindulge. Now...I take it these items aren't just gifts. Nobody gives me gifts. I'll have somebody go over your work, transfer it to our database by hand, we'll send some Feelers out, find out what's viable, where business might be, and we'll compensate you, as per the usual, on a case by case basis." 

     "Still...I appreciate the effort. Surprised you were able to do this kind of thing what with hanging out with the pup without his robot, so...I'll consider a bonus. Not a very large one yet, but if your information is good even in part it should pay off, but, I mean. This kind of stuff does take time, and I realize the importance of having a little income. I'll see what I can do when I get back, kiddo. I can't do a thing from here." Wolf peers around at the sleepy village buildings nearby and the mushroom folk going about their lives. "Whatever 'here' is." Not wherever. Whatever.

Raven nodded. "I think... it's true here, however..." she mumbled. "At least, Princess Peach is... it's... this entire world is so... and there's the..." She trailed off and gave a sigh. "It's not easy to explain, I guess. i imagine it would be like trying to explain the sound of a beautiful symphony, to someone who had never heard anything..." she said before shaking her head.

"No, the notebook isn't. I expect payment for it. And I understand it takes time. But i trust you not to screw me. Well. Mostly," she said with just a hint of teasing. "The mirror though, is. A selfish gift, perhaps. But I don't expect anything from it. And perhaps it will allow us to talk."

She then sighed. "... Yes. Sometimes Ash is... infuriating. He wears his heart on his sleeve and with my abilities, it's like he's always yelling it. He doesn't think before he acts and frankly everything about him just.... frustrates me so. So I like to explore and see things in the world. I've tracked down so many strange just.... things. I found an enchanted pie. I am not sure what it does, but I intend to find out," she said with a laugh.

... She was joking, right?

     "Well, it's certainly not my cooking," he jokes in response. "My cooking skills are spartan. You spend enough time in the places I have at your age and beyond, and, well, you learn to eat just about anything that won't kill you." Raising his hand to his face in order to take a deep drag off that last remaining cigarette, Wolf glances over his right shoulder in the direction of the Wolfens and Leon's work loading up the remaining cargo. There are but a handful of boxes left now. 

     After a brief pause, Wolf speaks again. "And sometimes the stuff that will, when you get hungry enough. Or parts of the stuff, at least. So, good luck with your pie, I suppose." O'Donnell says nothing more of Ash at the moment, though. "Is that everything then? And any idea where you'll be off to next? This place might not be an ideal home, but it might serve as a safe place to come back to now and then."

Raven nodded. "I know what you mean. I've never been good at cooking, either. I mostly ate fruits and..." She trailed off and glanced back towards the castle. "It takes a lot to kill me..." she mumbled softly. She seemed lost for a second. Until he spoke up. "Huh?"

She then shook her head., "No. This place is safe. It's... too safe. I don't intend to come back. and... I don't know. There are entire drealms out there. Entire worlds. Maybe I'll find someplace that... suits me," she mumbled. Maybe some barren world. "Thanks for meeting with me. I do wish you good luck and best wishes, in case we don't meet again. For a while," she added quickly. She then bowed her head politely and turned to walk off, letting him return to his work.

     "All right, then. Whatever works for you, I guess. Later. Just don't forget the people that helped you along the way of your grand adventure." Wolf isn't talking about himself. He doesn't bother explaining, either. He simply takes the final pull from his tobacco before dropping the butt on the ground and stomping it out in a well-practiced motion while watching Raven walk away. 

     The middle-aged outlaw shakes his head just a tiny bit for no vocalized reason in particular before turning back to walk over, to meet up with Powalski, and pick up those last remaining boxes. After securing them, it's just a matter of closing the cargo bay ramp, hopping in, going through start-up and ignition, and then head on home. 

     Raven may not plan to be back, but Wolf never crosses options off a list. The road he travels may diverge from a person or place, but the more you want it to stay that way the more likely it is those paths will cross again. 

     Usually when you least expect or want it.