World Tree MUSH

A monster, they said.

Gundham had been one of those selected from the Hope's Peak school to explore other worlds. And he had grudgingly agreed, only because there would be other animals to discover. During his wanderings he'd stumbled across a perfectly ordinary medieval village that had been a convenient place to stop for the night. Though, without money they'd accept, he'd ended up having to sleep in the barn, which he didn't mind -- the Supreme Overlord of Ice would rather keep company with beasts than with people anyway.

It was there that he'd overheard an effort being organized to kill a monster that had been startling people outside the town. Now, of course Gundham doesn't believe it's a monster. At worst it's a large gorilla or some displaced animal. So as night fell, he announced that he would deal with the 'monster', draw it to him and tame it, before any of the townspeople had a chance to harass it.

...Honestly, it's probably good that he left when he did, because a guy claiming to be a 'Supreme Overlord of Ice' is probably going to get burned at the stake in a medieval town. And despite what he claims, Gundham really doesn't have a lot of mystical power behind him. Just enough to get in trouble.

But. That's why he's here now, in the woods at this hour of the night -- he searches for the 'monster', which he's almost certain is some displaced animal. He's relying on the Devas' senses to get around here, and thus a large, rotund golden hamster sits upon his shoulder as he searches. He's not walking aimlessly, though he might look like it.

To let off some steam from the usual being a civilized human thing now and then, Gonta's found a place he'd thought was far enough from humans to not be a bother to either of them. As he has done, like when he met Asato and hunted with him, he's tucked his clothing save for his loin cloth away safely and he's generally rushing about, trying to parkour his over abundant energy away. The large boy thinks he sees unfamiliar movement in the foilage some distance away and pulls himself up into a tree. It's very much NOT a stealthy manuever, but it's likely to give him an upper hand on not having to have a disagreement with whatever's approaching.

"Squeak?" says the hamster on Gundham's shoulder. Of course, Gundham hears something else -- "What's that? I hear something." The hamster's ears perk, and he tilts his head up to look towards where (at least to Gundham, anyway) a dark shape hangs in a tree. Gundham tilts his head up as well, squinting to see. Unfortunately he needs a little bit more light.

Now, to someone who sees much better, he appears to be a human being of about average height, male, with black-and-white hair... and dual-colored eyes! Which might be weird! Either way, Gundham calls out to the figure -- quietly, his voice losing its usual overbearing sound -- "It's all right. The people of that town nearby are just afraid. They're going to be trying to come in and find you. But I'm not going to let them. I'm here to help you."

Gonta tilts his head. "Ah, Gonta didn't mean to scare them," the large boy states before hanging upside down from the branch, "Gonta thought he was far enough away not to bother them...Gonta's sorry...but you are trying to help Gonta, so does that mean you are ALSO friends with the ones living in the wild?" Well that was a lot of unexpected information dropping in a very small amount of space!

Gundham makes a very strange sound when he realizes that dark shape isn't an animal, but a PERSON! It's a sort of choked sound of surprise, and his eye twitches. Maybe the townspeople were right, he suddenly thinks. For what could be more of a monster than a human?! But he composes himself, clearing his throat and fixing the 'overlord' expression back into place. Nonetheless it does take him a few moments to process it all, though.

"Wait. 'Gonta'?" He recalls something. "Might you be the same Gonta from Hope's Peak Academy? Gonta Gokuhara? The Ultimate Entomologist?" Rumors spread fast, and they'd stated that Gokuhara was... something of a wild boy. Rather literally.

Gonta nods enthusiastically in reply. "Gonta is that Gonta yes," he replies, "Did you need help with bugs? Gonta knows LOTS about them. They're Gonta's best friends..."

"I see," Gundham replies, crossing his arms over his chest. "Ha... I might have known. Simpletons. Frightened of the slightest wisp of the wild." He gives a derisive 'hmf'. "Well. Hope's Peak is the place of my dark abode as well. I am... Tanaka the Forbidden One, the Supreme Overlord of Ice! I am known by mortals as Gundham Tanaka, the Ultimate Animal Breeder." He puffs out his chest as he introduces himself.

Confused, Gonta? Not to worry, Cham-P has his back. The hamster on his shoulder kind of facepalms. Facepaws? "Sorry about that," the hamster offers. "He says he's from Hope's Peak too. His name is Gundham Tanaka, the Ultimate Animal Breeder." How does Cham-P know he'll be understood? Hard to tell. He feels a weird kindship towards Gonta, in a way that he's only felt near Gundham. He just has a feeling that he'll be understood.

"Ah! Tanaka-san!" The large boy replies before dropping down onto his hands and feet. "Gonta's only a first year, but he heard you have meet and greets with animals for festival day?" Only a first year...he's so large though! Even more so when he actually stands up. "And thank you Mister Hamster!"

Gundham does seem rather surprised by that -- Gonta being so big and claiming he's astill a first-year student. Though it'd be hard to see it, because he doesn't have any eyebrows to raise. Maybe that's why he doesn't, so people won't be able to see him surprised? Well, either way, he nods, because it's mostly true. "Mortals sequester themselves away from such greater beings; I would be shirking my responsbilities as the Overlord of Ice if I did not present their glory. But only for a short while. It would not do to have their greatness corrupted by the touch of mortal humans."

As for Cham-P? "Sure! He's always like this." And he has a translation for that bit from Gundham too. "He knows a lot of people in the city don't get to see wild animals, so he likes to show them to people. But not too long, because the wild animals might get too used to people, and that's bad."

Gonta nods in reply. "That's true! Animals and humans don't seem to fit together very well," he says with a slight frown, "But...um thank you for talking to Gonta, Tanaka-san!" He bows to the 'overlord'. "And Gonta's sorry he caused trouble...sorry....he didn't mean to..." There's a small sigh. "Gonta can't even do this right though..."

Gundham seems surprised at Gonta's sudden sadness. His expression is somewhere between confused and quite shocked. "W-what? No, there's no need to apologize." Rare instance of Gundham being so taken off-guard he forgets to be an 'overlord'. Compose yourself, Gundham! COMPOSURE! Ahem. "The fault is not yours, gods' colossus."

Gonta Gokuhara scored x1 Nickname!

"Mortals cower from the slightest sounds in the darkness. Particularly those of this ilk," he notes, back in his 'overlord' persona. "Ignorance begets fear, fear begets stupidity, stupidity begets hate. Rather than open their minds, they fight against ascension from their mortal husks."

Cham-P provides a translation! "This is a pre-industrial city, so people are still superstitious. And they're too scared to go out and look. They get scared, so they want to kill the thing that scares them instead of learning." That hamster is really handy. It's probably hard for people who don't understand animals to communicate with Gundham.

Gonta nods in reply. "Gonta's usually the stupid one...but humans /do/ seem to scare easily. People are always being scared of Gonta and not wanting to talk to him. It's easier at Hope's Peak though. There's lots of nice people in Gonta's class." He smiles again on noting that. "Gonta's happy to meet Tanaka-san," he adds, "Gonta's been wanting to, but he's never happened into you until now!"

"You hear the speech of the divine beasts of nature, which escapes so many mortals. Such knowledge precludes foolishness and ignorance," Gundham offers, with a shake of his head. "It is mortal humans, who spurn the ways of nature around them, that are the foolish ones! They seek to mold the world of nature to THEIR whims, rather than accepting That Which Must Be! Do not ascribe it merely to your presence at That Place of Power. Though power does occasionally attract those worthy of it."

"If you can understand animals, then you can't be stupid! People usually are the stupid ones, since they try to change nature for their benefit. Also most of the people at Hope's Peak are just the same, but there are a few that are OK people," Cham-P notes.

Though this time... Gonta may hear more chattering.

"Fuwaaaaan~... who's Cham-P talking to?" a soft, sleepy-sounding male voice chitters.

"Get off your lazy butt and find out!" another male chitters, this one almost sounding angry.

The first male voice protests, "But I'm sleepyyyyyy...!"

and then a female voice squeaks, "Come on, we're ALL going. Get up there, both of you."

And then...

Pop! Pop! Pop! Three more hamsters pop their heads out of three different places in the scarf Gundham wears. One looks like he's still asleep, one looks rather aggressive, and one looks... well, female. If that's a trait. But they're all three quite a bit smaller than Cham-P.

"Ah. The Devas acknowledge your presence," Gundham observes. "This is a rare event indeed."

"Ah, more hamsters," Gonta says with a smile, "Thank you for talking to Gonta everyone." He offers another bow and rubs at his neck a little. "...hnn...Gonta's getting confused. Lots of people tell him how stupid he is, but a lot of the people at hope's peak don't talk to him that way...some still do but...it's mostly...Gonta shouldn't ignore his mother, right?" He tilts his head lostly, seeming honestly confounded by the contradicting informations.

Gundham actually smiles here. "Since the Devas have deemed you worthy of their presence, allow me to introduce you." He holds forth the rotund little guy who's been on his shoulder translating. "Cham-P, Invading Black Dragon!"

"Hiii!" Jolly little fella, despite Gundham's insistence that they're evil or whatever.

Now holding aloft the sleepy little one -- who, yes, is sleeping again -- Gundham proclaims, "Jum-P, the Mirage Golden Hawk!" Sleepy boi raises a paw in the air and waves, with a happy li'l snotbubble all the while, before returning to Gundham's scarf to sleep more.

Then holding the brown one that looks angry, "Meet Maga-Z, the Crimson Steel Elephant!" This one kinda seems to get into the act a little, chattering its teeth aggressively.

The other one, the brown-and white female, skitters onto Gundham's bandaged hand without needing to be coaxed. She kinda sits there like 'yeah, this is my place'. Seeming to ignore that, Gundham offers, "San-D, the Supernova Silver Fox!" She leans over as if to bite at Maga-Z, but Gundham moves his hands far enough apart to make that impossible, averting a fight.

"Together they are... the FOUR DARK DEVAS OF DESTRUCTION! Beware their power, however, and do not get too close," Gundham cautions. "Their small forms hold tremendous power in check, and sometimes they must release that power, lest it overwhelm them."

"...Yeah, we bite if we feel threatened," San-D notes. She seems pretty much over this whole 'Devas of Destruction' bit, but tolerates it nonetheless.

Gonta bows to them all, but deeper so to San-D. She's a lady. "Nice to meet you all," he replies, "You have a very nice coat San-D. You all look very healthy, Tanaka-san takes care of you well, huh?"

And of course San-D has to prance around in a circle, sitting in Gundham's hand, at the praise towards her coat. This time, instead of speaking up himself, Gundham lets the Devas speak. First, Cham-P notes, "He feeds us very well. All the yummy food...." He almost seems to be drooling.

"Yeah, and you eat WAY TOO MUCH OF IT!" Maga-Z complains, chattering his teeth.

"Aww, it's not nice to accuse things like that Maga-Z," Gonta says with a pout, "Cham-P is very big and strong. That uses up lots of energy..."

"As I said," Gundham notes, "They must release their energy often."

A sleepy voice from Gundham's scarf speaks up, "Fuwaaaan~... yeah, they fight a lot..." Snoooore.

Gundham shut his eyes, seeming taken off guard. "...Jum-P sleeps to conserve his great strength, and to hold his power in check..."

...Yeah. Right.

Gonta nods a little. "He seems very comfortable..." he replies with a little smile, "...um...so....Tanaka-san was ALSO sent to learn about these new worlds? Have you learned anything interesting yet?" He almost trips over himself suddenly as he rushes toward his bug box with his stuff in it. The little book he's been sketching in would be pulled out so he can show Gundham his various sketches of things like pokemon and other new things he's discovered....and things he knows aren't /new/ but they're new to him.

"Yes," Gundham replies, with a wicked smile. "The Lord of That Place has sent me out into this collection of worlds. I will take this chance to spread my influence further, and to draw more minions under my power!"

"He's looking to help out and learn about different animals," San-D translates.

Gonta nearly trips, and Gundham blinks. "Take care, gods' colossus. Your power may be difficult to control as well."

"Sorry, Gonta is a little clumsy..." the large boy murmurs before pointing out things in the book, "These are called pokemon. For some reason Gonta can speak to pokemon in some worlds but not other ones... Maybe some worlds have them more like animals and some do not?" He slides into murder face mode as he loses himself for a moment in pondering this. However, despite the look, there's absolutely no violent or angry intent behind it.

It's not just Gundham looking at the book either. The female hamster, San-D, also seems to be interested in this too, and scampers down Gundham's arm to look at the pictures. "That is quite possible," he notes. "Have the Pokemon in some worlds been tainted by the speech of mortals?"

Yeah, that needs translated, so San-D offers, "Can they talk like humans?"

Gundham notes this 'murder face' mode... and blinks a little bit. That's odd, but he's not going to point it out. He turns his attention back to the drawings instead.

"...no, well actually...one of them WAS talking like a human in the place they didn't quite seem to understand, but most of them just speak in parts of thier species name just like other pokemon..." Gonta seems to be considering hard over this, continuing to hold that scary expression for a moment before suddenly smiling as he changes topic with one of the pages he turns to. "Gonta knows we have beaches where we came from, but Gonta first got to be on one in this place...he likes the feeling of the wet sand on his feet."

"A fascinating phenomenon," Gundham observes, crossing his arms over his chest and rubbing his chin in thought. Of course, the hamsters move around to make this possible, re-seating themselves as necessary. It's as if they know how he's going to move. They must have been with him for a long time to be able to know this immediately. "Gods' colossus. Would you be willing to act as guide to the Overlord of Ice in these worlds? I should like to recruit more of nature's divine creatures as my minions!"

Cham-P translates. "Would Gonta show Gundham around in one of those worlds? He wants to meet some of those creatures."

Gonta nods enthusiastically. "Gonta can do that, yes...err well, Gonta can try at least, he doesn't know the areas very well yet," he states, "But he would be happy to try showing Tanaka-san around!" That said he turns away and sets his book aside as he starts getting back into his proper clothing.

Strangely, finding a half- to mostly-naked wild boy in the woods isn't the awkward part. It's when Gundham realizes there's human clothes hidden nearby that it becomes awkward. Because Gonta is symbolically clothing himself in the trappings of humanity. Which Gundham thinks is an awful shame. But, either way, suddenly Gundham turns away a bit, hiding the bottom of his face in his scarf, as Gonta gets his human clothes back on.

And not only is he clothed now when he turns back toward Gundham, but it's in a full on suit. Granted, he seems like he still hasn't adjusted to shoes, and he IS wearing a loincloth under that suit...on top of his hair being an untamed mess, so there's still some cracks in the trying to pass as human act.

Yeah, that's even more awkward. Not only the trappings of human society, but the trappings of HIGHER SOCIETY on top of that. SO VERY AWKWARD! But then... yes, the non-human stuff showing through the 'cracks' of the human act does keep it from being too much. Gundham clears his throat. "...Shall we be off then, gods' colossus?" he asks.

And with that Gonta offs to show his new friend the worls of things like Pokemon! He is indeed very happy to do as such. About the only way he'd probably be happier was if it was about bugs instead of pokemon...