World Tree MUSH

    Tuesday evening in Natsuto finds the pedestrian traffic steady, but not too terribly heavy. The week is rolling in earnest, and people are out doing business or coming home from work. The city itself is modestly futuristic, the equivalent to the mid-late 21st century or so, but it's also a relatively recent city that prides itself on being technologically advanced; sleek and shiny, rudimentary holographic technology here and there, everything is touchscreen and often transparent. The vehicles are almost all electric.

    And Yumi is plodding her way home from school, taking a roundabout route as she sometimes does. It's a route that goes by a particular crater, still not filled in by whoever owns that particular property. The longer path gives her a chance to lose herself in thought, at least for a little while.

And then there's something quite out of the ordinary. A massive bird of prey is leashed to a parking meter, and a horned. tailed figure in black armour with a sword longer than she is tall strapped to her back is shouting at a cop. "What do you mean, parking violation? I put the coins in your stupid meter, there's still time left. Can't you see?"

    The squabble between parking officer and driver is not something that Yumi normally pays any heed to. But something about the voice is familiar, and regardless, it sounds like this one might not be quite so unwarranted? So Yumi's eyes drift over to the squabble, and...

    "...oh goodness."

    Very quickly, the redhead makes her way further up the sidewalk, coming to a stop not far from the squabble. "Ah, excuse me, er- is something the matter here?" She knows exactly what's the matter - but remaining silent and letting the involved parties 'fill her in' seems the best way to get herself involved.

Temulin looks up at Yumi, and sighs. "According to this stuck up fellow, I'm not allowed to pay the money for the spot so Denhes can have a place to sit while I take a look around." The officer repeats a statement in a tired, 'this conversation is going nowhere' tone of. "As I said, these spots are for motor vehicles. Your bird is not a motor vehicle. Now you can untie your bird from the spot and make room and I'll let you go with just a warning, or we can do this the hard way."

    Yumi looks between Temulin and the officer; though she doesn't let it out, a corner of her mind would very much like to sigh. Yep. That's about what she expected. But that would potentially upset both parties, and absolutely not help to resolve this fiasco in any way. So instead, Yumi claps her hands together. "Officer, I'm really sorry about all this. But I promise she's not trying to cause a problem, and she /did/ already pay... couldn't we just let it stay for a little while, and then we figure out something better for next time? As long as it behaves itself? I'm willing to take responsibility if it becomes a problem- ah! I'm Yumi, by the way, Tachibana Yumi."

    That's a name the officer might actually know; it's not a name that was publically released, but she was the lone survivor of the skyscraper explosion in January, and she was taken in by a kindly older police officer by the name of Shiro Yamada.

The officer is about to say no when Yumi shares her name and he pauses. "Fine, but if this ends becoming a problem, you will be held responsible." The officer still seems unhappy about it, but he walks away. "I have to finish my rounds anyway, can't spend ages on this kind of nonsense." Not the friendliest of law enforcement perhaps, but not unreasonable either.

Temulin glares at him as he leaves, still quite frustrated. Only when he leaves sight does she turn towards Yumi, taking a conscious decision to step on a taller bit of stone to get to rough eye level with Yumi. "These 'earths' have more of this nonsense than Ul'dah, and at least in Ul'dah the nonsense is just an excuse to get a bribe." She complains

    Yumi responds to the frustration with a deep bow. "Thank you very much, officer, I appreciate it." Straightening up again, she turns to face Temulin, listening with an apologetic expression. "Well, they have their reasons. Worlds like mine, we're honestly just not set up to handle riding animals in most places. Plus, most of them aren't as well behaved as yours, so they can kinda cause trouble... it's frustrating, I know, but he's just doing his job." She hooks her thumbs in her backpack's straps, then adds, "What brings you to my world? Looking for me, or just passing through?"

"Exploring, trying to find work." Temulin answers, looking up at the tall buildings. "And I was thinking maybe if I went to worlds with magitech that might get me closer to home than worlds without. No luck yet, though." She stretches some and looks around, "And I went to what looked like an adventurer's guild and they told me to go away." She points across the street towards a temp agency.

    Trying to find work? "Hmm... yeah, that might be a little tough around here. We don't really have an adventuring economy. Or magic of any sort, for that matter. Best you could hope for is some sort of day labor, or unskilled work at a store or restaurant of some kind." Yumi taps her chin, thoughtful. "Well, if you're hungry, I can treat you to a meal, at least. Call it a welcoming present for coming to visit. There's a good ramen cart that usually sets up shop near here."

"Then what do you do lot if monsters attack, or if a town has a problem with raiders? These people don't look like they're ready to handle it themselves, even that guardsman didn't look like he'd last long against an eft or a decent raiding party, let alone something worse." Temulin answers in confusion, but shrugs. "I am hungry though, and I quite liked ramen when I was in Kogane. So I'll take you up on that."

    Pause. "...we don't have monsters either, or... well, okay, not raiders as you think of them. We have civilian police forces and then the military to handle criminals or other problems like that, though. But this is a very big, very unified country. Most of the nations are like that in this world." Yumi doesn't seem to mind explaining the world as they walk. She leads the way about a block further up the street, past a fenced-off stretch of property large enough to have a skyscraper... but holding nothing more than barren earth in the shape of an unnaturally round crater. It was once unnaturally smooth as well, but nine months of being exposed to the weather have made it a /little/ more natural in that regard.

"I suppose if you're blessed with such a pleasant world, your guardsmen have a lot more time to worry about petty codes without self-enrichment as a motivator." Temulin comments, sounding somewhat incredulous at the notion; but not displeased. She follows along, notices the crater and looks over that way, and then suddenly stumbles and lands on one knee, reaching for her head and becoming seemingly unaware of her surroundings.

    The sky above is the deep dark of late night, or perhaps early morning. It's hard to really tell, and mostly academic with the cloud cover overhead... or rather, mostly overhead. There's a wide hole in it directly over the crater, slowly molding back together as the winds push the clouds along.

    The air is filled with the sound of rapidly approaching sirens; many of them, all converging on the crater. Down in the bottom, Yumi lies unconscious, but the sound of someone yelling from the rim draws her to wakefulness. "Hey! Hey, there's someone down there!" the officer calls over his shoulder. Then, down into the crater, "You alright down there? Can you hear me?"

    Yumi soon opens her eyes, sitting up with a bit of a wobble and a soft groan. The redhead looks around, and in the Echo's vision of the past, the crater is perfectly smooth, perfectly rounded, right down to the plumbing and wiring which simply stops where the crater begins, as if scooped out or erased.

    The man starts to slide down the side of the crater as she sits up. She turns to look his way, blinking in confusion. "Hey, I'm... I don't think I'm hurt. What's going on?" The officer, an older man, jogs his way up to her with concern. "There was a great big explosion. Big bright light. There used to be a skyscraper here, young lady. -ah, what's your name?"

    "Yumi. Tachibana Yumi."

    "Hello, Yumi, I'm officer Yamada. What were you doing here?"

    "I-" Here Yumi falls short, her eyes going slightly wide... and then very wide, as some quiet realization dawns on her.

    "I-I... I don't remember. I don't remember /anything/..."

    The vision fades to the voice of Yumi, one hand on Temulin's shoulder, giving a gentle shake. "-alright? Hey, can you hear me? Do I need to call a doctor?" There's clear concern in her voice.

"I'm fine." Temulin answers with a less than convincing amount of energy in voice. "Sorry, Yumi. It's uh..." She pauses, and looks at the crater. There's a few moments of thought, and then uncertainty. "Aether sickness. Happens occassionally." She lies, not trusting Yumi enough to be honest about this. "Usually doesn't happen unless there's a surfeit of aether. What's with that crater?" Her energy is back.

    The pause doesn't go unnoticed; but with nothing to go on, Yumi can't really follow the thought, and turning her attention to the crater banishes said thought entirely. Yumi herself looks at it with a complicated expression, something blending worry and irritation and a hint of confusion. "That crater is... it's where they found me, in January. That's, uh, little over nine months ago, almost ten." She closes her eyes, and shakes her head. "I can't remember anything from before I woke up down there. Who I was, what I was doing there, nothing about my past, my family... just nothing. Only thing I really know about myself before that is my name. It's complicated."

    She shoves her hands in her skirt pockets, visibly troubled, but trying to move past it and put on a warmer expression. "...c'mon, let's go. We're almost to the ramen cart."

There's a bit of guilt in her voice when Temulin says, "Sorry. I didn't want to bring up bad memories." But asking was the best way to cover up knowing what she couldn't, and Temulin didn't expect it to be that painful. "Let's go have food, and I'll tell you my story. I think I owe you that much." She forces a smile, but there's another glance towards the crater as they move on, a bit of thought. "I mean, so long as it doesn't bore you to death."

    Yumi laughs softly. "You're an armored knight from a magic world with dark blue skin, scales, a tail and horns. If your story ends up boring me, I'll be pretty surprised." She leads the way a short walk further, to a small cart where it looks like the two of them will just /barely/ fit on the two stools. The man running it is a kindly older gentleman, and greets them warmly. "Evening, Yumi-chan~! Enjoying the night air again?" The redhead giggles. "Mhm. Brought a friend this time."

"Well then, to begin it's probably best to summarize my tribe. The Dotharl tribe is one of many tribes in the Azim Steppe, all tribes share a common origin, but we have our own traits as well. The Dotharli are the undying ones, if one of our warriors dies, they will eventually be reborn. Close friends of the tribe can also end up being reborn into the tribe."

Temulin smiles at the older gentlemen, "Hello." She doesn't introduce herself to him, instead turning towards Yumi again. "That's why we're called the undying ones by the other tribes. Knowing that we will come back one day, none of us fear death. Anyway, since most children born in the tribe are reborn, the udgan examines the children to see who they were." A pause. "I'm the reincarnation of dark warrior, who sew discord and fear during her life. One so terrifying the fearless warriors of my tribe cowed before me when I was a child barely old enough to walk. And that's why I left my home to find myself elsewhere, I ended up making a decent name for myself as an adventurer in Limsa Lominsa, a port city a very long way away from home, right before I got lost."

    "I'll have my usual tonkotsu, and-" Yumi pauses, glancing Temulin's way. "Uhh... go with the chashu or tonkotsu for you, if you eat meat, miso otherwise. They're all good." After making her suggestions, she's content to listen in silence, though her expression grows thoughtful - and perhaps a bit distant. "...we make kind of a funny pair, don't we? You know who you were and what you could do in a past life, and I don't even know who I am in this one." She chuckles softly. "That's interesting, though. I've seen a lot of things heading out into the rest of the Tree, but I think a tribe like that is a new one. I kind of like that, though. So much interesting stuff out there."

"I'll take the tonkotsu." Temulin shrugs a bit at the funny pair thing. "Part of me thinks I'd have been happier if I hadn't known. If the udgan had lied and said she couldn't tell." She looks up at the sky a bit. "But I guess you can't have what you want all the time. Too often, you just have to deal with the hand you've been dealt."

"If I find my way back home you should visit some time. Gotta warn you though, we don't have most of these earth luxuries in the steppe; and there's a lot of dangerous monsters. And that's ignoring the occassional incursion of Garlean troops."

    Yumi shakes her head, grinning. "It's fine, I've gotten used to roughing it. I've been helping out in a country where you'd fit right in, I think. It's even got the monsters." Two bowls of tonkotsu ramen are dished up, and she starts in on hers, looking thoughtful. "Me, I wish I did know. Everything I find out about myself, it just leaves me with more questions. I think I might not actually be from this world. There's no records of me existing here, and that crater back there... well, a couple people told me there was only a little residual magic surrounding it back in January, but 'a little' is still more than this world has. Whatever caused it, probably came from offworld. Plus, I've got this weirdly specific magical sense, and apparently I know how to handle a sword even though I'm not built for it... just so many questions."

"I hope you'll find your answers some day. If only so you can choose whether to embrace or reject that past." The tone of Temulin's statement leaves little doubt that this is a question she's struggling with herself a lot. "If you want a bit more practice with that sword, though? I could help. My fees are pretty reasonable." She smirks at the last, and adds, "Friends even get discounts."

    "I might take you up on that some time, we'll see." Just before starting in on her ramen, Yumi adds, "I feel like I'm supposed to be using a two-handed sword, but I really don't have the strength for it. I can use a smaller one two-handed, but the shape of it just doesn't feel right. I'll figure it out, I guess." But boy, when she does start on her food, she can wolf it down.