World Tree MUSH

Leo could not have gone on the road with Ruri, AKA Rurirarurapa for quite that long without finally breaking down and needing to head somewhere more civilized. Unfortunately, the changeling's definition of 'civilized' is usually anything that least has running water, or electricity--the city they've actually been able to find through the portals is perhaps anything but--it looks like they wound up in some version of a pretty big city... but just /where/ it would be in that world is unclear.

What is pretty clear is that the giant 7-foot tall pandaren warrior sitting next to a bat-eared, yellow cats-eyed changeling on the subway is a rather surreal sight. Leo has his wolf fur cape rolled up next to him him, and has his black spandex-clad legs and white thigh-high wedge-heeled gogo boots dangling out as he looks at his phone. Right now they're literally the epitome of that 'THIS IS THE FUTURE LIBERALS WANT' meme picture.

    "I am still uncertain why you insisted upon using a tram to get somewhere when I have a perfectly fine flying cloud that can get us wherever you want to go."

    Trams were never something Rou-ri particularly enjoyed. They did have a few back where he came from Stormwind to Ironforge, Ulduar... gnomes and their technologies. While normally he'd love it in concept, and the first time he saw it he did. ...there was a certain smell that went along with such things. Tram tunnels were never pleasant smelling. Stagnant. The air never got properly cycled. These places needed some kind of turbine system to forcibly cycle the air so it wasn't so stuffy and damp.

    Of course, Rou-ri wasn't completely unaware of the looks he was receiving. But really, it was something he was used to, even as he was slightly hunched forward due to the seating arrangements. He did try to not disturb others. ...even if others weren't really sitting anywhere near him. At least he didn't have his weapons out at the moment, even if still fully armored. "Maybe I should buy some clothes while we're here. ...if they even have anything in my size. I wonder how hard it would be to find a tailor to do such."

"Because, I'm afraid of heights, okay," Leo sighs a little and looks over from his phone, but doesn't seem to be too heavily distracted from his phone when answering Ruri. This all looks routine and casual for the changeling, by now. Actually the truth was is that Ruri liked to really speed along on that thing--probably far too fast for Leo's liking, at least just yet. This is why they're on the subway. Not that it was that hard for Ruri to literally step over the turnstiles on the way in!

Either way, it's not like Leo isn't getting weird looks as well--the changeling /was/ a drag performer, and their wardrobe and street clothes tended toward the androgynous and eccentric. The subway began to suddenly slow down and the brakes whined as the massive car came to a stop, the doors sliding open.

"You want clothes? Sure--lets hope off here, you hungry?" Leo picked up his rolled up fur cape beside him, putting away his phone in his jacket--the cape was important, not just because it was a magical artifact--but also it was what his gun was wrapped up in. Didn't want to run around a modern, populated city with an assault rifle, now.

    "..."

    While he was in no position to give anyone guff over their fears, he wasn't entirely sure what was to be scared of. "Would it help if we got you one of your own to fly on?" His first thought was 'because Leo wasn't the one steering'. Some people didn't like to be on ships they weren't steering. Maybe it was a control issue. After all, the other logic is that he didn't feel safe enough riding on Rou-ri's lap and thought Rou-ri would drop him, and that'd just confuse the Pandaren. Maybe he should get Leo a safety strap. Not that he wore one himself, it was better in his mind to be able to jump off on demand, but to each their own. "Or maybe you'd like a safety strap, or something to hug while you fly?"

    Rou-ri meant well, even if he wasn't grasping the main issue that flying might just not be for Leo. "But food... sure. But will any of the restaurants here let me in if I'm dressed as I am? Perhaps clothes first should work, or at least let me change into something else I have. ...I have some linen and rough linen pants."

"Hey, if you wanna get me a flying cloud I can ride around on, feel free--for now though, we ride like this unless we gotta use your lakitu cloud there--" Leo peered up at the different signs and advertisement, one of which said a certain fast food restaurant was just around the corner.

"Eh, you'll be /fiiine/, if anyone asks, you're just a cosplayer, okay? great~" Leo was already dragging the 7-foot tall armored Pandaren towards the giant white and orange glowing sign with a W on it, and stating it was 24-hours.

"Just mind where you step, there could be broken glass or needles around here," Leo scuffed at the sidewalk with his boot, before opening the door to the 'restaurant', the scent of grilled beef and spicy ketchup wafted out like a siren song to those outside.

"Yeah, uh... I'll have the Whatachick'n, no lettuce or tomato--and he'll have uh... whatever it is, better make it 4 of them," Leo is of course getting a leery look from the poor person behind the counter, not just because he's standing next to a 7-foot tall bear man.

    La... nevermind. He wasn't even going to try and parse what Leo was talking about. Though he did follow Leo in, ducking once going into the doorway and even turning sideways slightly to get through. A fast food restaurant was entirely new to the Pandaren. Sure, there were places in Azeroth and where he'd been so far that were diners, or were meant to be coming and going quickly enough, but... something about this place was just weird to him.

    Maybe it was the bright lighting, or colors. It all felt artificial.

    He felt a goblin would feel right at home here if it was just slightly greasier. Though as he looked over the counter at the vats of fry oil, perhaps there was plenty of grease to go around. "I will take one of those salads, the... one that looks like it has apples in it? And..." he was trying to hide the fact he had no idea what half of this stuff was even supposed to be, "And I think this is fish, right? I will have that." he pointed to the 'lent' special with the fish. 'Fish', probably just frozen cod, the same type that was used to make fish fingers. Though at this point he really seemed caught. "And I guess whatever is besides the number 11?" An avacado bacon burger. "Do you think they take gold?" he asked towards Leo before shaking his head, "I'll just... let you handle this, I suppose." At which point he paused, "Oh, right. ...a large mug of water." and moved to sit down gingerly at one of the chairs at a table. ...he was a bit big for it. Like a grown man sitting at a kids tea table.

"Nah, they don't take gold pieces here, Ruri," Leo asided to the giant Panda man, one of the short order cooks moseyed out from the back where the kitchen was and blurted out a 'JESUS CHRIST' before swiftly ducking back inside.

"So those and two large drinks, please," Leo nodded with a smarmy grin and counted off a few 20s from a large roll of bills. The cashier wouldn't recognize that the serial numbers were all wrong, or other small details like the latin phrases over the bills being entirely different. Whatever version of Earth that money came from was something entirely known to Leo alone.

Turning around, Leo noticed Ruri trying to sit down, the chair and table creaking beneath him.

"Uh, do you guys have any larger booths...?" Ruri really did look like he was sitting in a chair designed for a toddler, it would have been funny as well, under different circumstances.

    "I am used to it." he said simply. He was in Stormwind for a good 20 years or so, getting used to human chairs was just something he did. ...even if those were typically made out of wood. Though when Leo came over with the cups, he looked at them, then back at Leo, and towards the counter. "...how do they expect us to get our drinks if they give us empty cups?"

    Yeah, he wasn't aware of modern concepts like soda fountains. "Also these are very... frail-looking." he looked at his glove and worried he might break it. Which meant he casually began to undo his glove, hoping he could avoid somehow smushing his 'mug'. "Do you know this eatery, by chance? It seems like a Goblin establishment. Just... less smoke."

"Well, the gag here is--you pay for the cups, and you fill them up with whatever you want, the fun part is being able to refill them however many times you want, so don't knock it," he filled his with cherry coke and Ruri's with water, placing covers on with straws. He then moseyed back over to the table. Leo un-did the front of his jacket and reached into it to sweep his blue spaded tail to one side before sitting down, though it was clear from how big Ruri was the feet and legs of his boots would be up against the bear's legs.

"Going to take a moment for the food... as for goblins, none here that I can see, then again 'goblin' means something completely different where I'm from--creatures of the wyrd that were born or bred in the hedge, hobs, we call them--short for hobgoblin, they're not even remotely human... or anything you'd associate with a creature like you," Leo passed Ruri his large cup of water with ice, and sipped his own, giving the Pandaren's hand a little playful prod with his long dark-nailed finger.

    Rou-ri inspected the cup curiously, gingerly holding it and taking a drink before shivering and scrunching up his nose. So cold... wasn't expecting that. Then again it does have ice, so... ice? Mmm whatever, no point in thinking over it. "I resent the creature remark, Pandaren are a people as much as humans or otherwise. As far as Goblins or Hobgoblins, we have those too. Hob Goblins tend to be large, dumb and serve the Goblins, who are typically small and smart. Though from what I gather, Goblins weren't very bright in the past until they came across something calle Kaja'mite which kind of... changed them mentally and made them very smart. Guess the Hobs didn't get that lucky."
    He could be seen trying to take another sip, but seemed to get annoyed with the ice tapping against his lip, so he wound up taking a sip with his finger resting over the open mouth of the cup and that seemed to suffice for him, even if it left his finger a little damp.

"You okay there?" Leo couldn't really tell why Ruri wrinkled his nose like that, though he was more concerned about what he said next. "Whaaat? I'm a creature too, technically, I ain't been human for years," Leo huffed a little bit, tilting his head.

"That's not how it works in the hedge--hobs are not any particular race, they can be any shape or size--usually weird things, stuff that shouldn't exist--stuff god didn't make," he sipped at his cherry coke and swirled his tongue around it. It had been a while since he'd had a decent soda.

"A Kaja'mite? sounds kinda dirty--never heard of something like that before," he shrugged. "The fae creatures of my world come from a world of literal dreams, things exist there that aren't possible in human reality--the barrier between those two planes is the hedge, where hobs live--they're not all evil, but they're not all particularly pleasant, either, like the wolves my cloak is made out of," Leo had the briarwolf cloak rolled up next to him, still--and then the food was set out for them on a tray.

"I'll get it, you probably don't wanna have to get up," the changeling pulled themselves up, carrying back the giant plastic tray of food and setting it down on the table.

    "Kaja'mite is... from what I understand, an ore thats been used since ancient times, primarily by the Zandalari Trolls in their rituals. When the vaporized ore is inhaled it has... I don't know how to describe it, from what I understand it causes you to have visions and causes you to become capable of much more intellect? Though it's only temporary, a kind of drug. Goblins were slaves that the trolls forced to mine it up, but the Goblins inhaled enough over time they got smart enough to throw the trolls on their ear, only to get addicted to the stuff themselves or else they'd go back to not being smart. Kind of a sad existence, really, but most'of em are jackasses so they don't get much pity. They'd fight their starving grandmother for a grain of rice just to know they took someone elses."

    But Leo was right, it was easier for Leo to stand up. Rou-ri watched him leave and come back as he drank some more water, only to look over the tray. "...hm." he poked at the wrapper around one sandwich. "Is that some kind of leaf, or... is that some kind of paper wrapping? It looks like paper, but the quality it something different from what I'm used to. It'd be kind of pricey to use paper too right?"

"Being a slave tends to do that to a person, mine kind were enslaved by the true fae, y'know," Leo sat his butt down with the huge tray of food being put down first, and went for his sandwich, unwrapping it.

"It's paper, you onion--you take it off first, like this," he grinned as he pulled the folded wrapper off the chicken sandwich he'd ordered, or rather, the 'Whatachick'n', he wasn't quite sure why they had stylized the name like that, but he wasn't going to ask questions--this was the South, after all, apparently. Of course he also took barbecue sauce and put it on the chicken patty before replacing the bun.

"You ordered a bunch of stuff--you pretty much eat as much as 4 people, it's a good thing you haven't been introduced to honey, yet," Leo grinned.

"Or picnic baskets."

    "...? Honey? I don't get the reference. I mean, bears do enjoy beehives, but it's not just the honey they like. ...not that I do, Pandaren are not bears." Admittedly he didn't get the picnic basket reference either, unwrapping the sandwich with the tips of his fingers and lifting it up to sniff it curiously. "Wonder what this food is..." Taking a bite, he chewed it and said, in a slightly confused manner, "Weird taste. Doesn't taste... like meat, too sweet." Rou-ri normally wasn't one to complain about food, but it wasn't that he disliked it so much as it was strange. It was like the bacon was coated in a syrup. It didn't taste like meat, it tasted like meat-flavored candy 'meat' to him. Then again he was used to eating wild animals. This wasn't remotely as gamey as he was used to.

"Well yes, bears in my world like to break into beehives for honey, too--that's the joke," Leo carefully avoids the yogi bear reference explanation, nodding to Ruri.

"Humans like sweet things and seasoned meat, that's just how they are, maybe they don't from where your from--but then I don't expect a lot of the humans there to bathe too much, either," Leo shrugged. Despite being a Beast seeming Changeling, he still retained a lot of the sensibilities of someone privileged or higher up on the social rung. Those that had been chosen by the Queen as entertainment or performers often were.

"They also like to cure and smoke that part of the pig, that you're eating there, so it probably does taste weird to you," he grinned a little, taking a large bite of his chicken sandwich. Of course, being a Beast himself he wasn't adversed to the meat either--he just wondered what the reaction to them would have been had they decided to stroll into Chick-fil-a. Likely hilarity.

"Gives me time to think, anyway--where the hell are we going to get you a jacket, or underwear... or shoes," Leo looked down at Ruri. "Sandals, I guess, maybe."

    "...why would you think humans where I am from do not bathe? I mean, I suppose the vagrants don't much, but... you confuse me at times."

    And he did like spices himself, but such things rather rather expensive! At least for the modern folks. Sure, he'd gotten used to eating such things at nicer places and when dining with well-to-do types but this didn't taste spiced so much as... sweet.

    Though the remark about clothes had him shake his head. "I suppose I would just find a tailor and have them make something for me. If this is a human town I doubt they have anything saved up for someone of my size. And I don't really wear human underwear most of the time, I have several undergarments mostly for padding purposes that I have custom made, or had one of my old tailor friends make for me. Human undergarments tend to be rather snug after all. Not that snug is bad, but..." Once he finished up the bacon avacado sandwich he placed it down and moved on to the fried fish and fries, which he opened the container of with a rough squeeze since he couldn't manage to get his fingers under the tabs provided and bit into the fish. "..." It looks as if he wanted to say something about the fish but decided against it.

"Well, it's a lot of people that live in cabins and huts in your world, right? You're still wearing metal armor and fighting with knives and swords, and all that--besides, in my world, guys didn't bathe daily till more or less the last century, and even then, some don't," he grinned, shrugging.

"The entire reason men wore hats in the 20th century was to keep their hair clean, since they only took a bath once a week, or so i'd heard, it was gross--we can discuss it another time," Leo waved it off, digging into the rest of his food.

"Most clothes in places like these are made elsewhere and mass-produced, Ruri-dear, we'll have to consult a plus-size retailer, I think," he does play footsie a little bit with the bear's feets down there, with those white boots of his, playfully.

"On the plus side, we can get showers and get our nails done, and you probably need both sets of yours trimmed and the like," he grins, teasing the Pandaren.

"So hard to manipulate small things with such big bear paws, eh?" he smiles, reaching over to help undo the tabs on his food container, rather than forcing him to tear it open.

    There was a somewhat flat stare from the pandaren as he held out his hand, flexing it open and closed before tapping two nails together at the tip. "I do have larger fingers than most humans, yes. If I want to manipulate something small..." reaching down into a satchel at his side, he fished around a moment before pulling out a pair of sloped fine-tip chopsticks. Well, they looked like that anyways. They were made of metal and had sharp enough tips to pierce, so one could call them needles perhaps. Though they were a good two feet long and he proved his point by using them... like chopsticks. They were much better, though, than using his fingers for fine things. Such as picking up the french fries to eat.
    Poking back lightly with his own feet, he was careful not to hook a nail into the gawdy boots Leo had on. "I don't need any such trimming, I maintain my own appearance just fine. The only times I do otherwise is when I pay someone to trim my coat evenly if it gets too long or am I am going somewhere particularly hot." Though the idea of having a shower after being in that nasty tram did sound appealing.

"Just be careful with those things, I don't wanna get thrown out if they think you got a pair of stilettos there," Leo sighed, sitting back and watching Ruri scarf down the fries and his other foods with the long chopsticks. It was important to just savor the moment sometimes.

"I figure we'd just get a 30$ electric razor to use on you, though we might need a broom and a plastic bag to catch all the hair that comes off ya," Leo giggled. "So how long you gonna stick with me, Pooh bear? you just that enamored by my company, or are you looking to pay off some kind of 'life debt' from when I saved your tail back there," he grinned at the poke back by Ruri's foot, apparently having fun toying with the Pandaren.

    "At this point I am just wandering. Until I find my own world, it is not like I have much else to do. It's always been what I have done, going from place to place. Just a matter of with who or why." The comment regarding the electric razor was overlooked. "Why do you ask? Was there something you intended to do on your own, or somewhere you wanted to be? If you know how to get there, then by all means, do just that." With that finished he moved on to the salad, poking at it curiously and picking up a dried cranberry to sniff it before eating it.

"Not really going anywhere in particular, not many places the true fae or their can't get to, anyway--it makes sense to keep moving, at least until I find more of my kind--however unlikely," Leo shrugged. "It's an ever present potential to be re-captured, for us, so I guess I don't mind having a big panda warrior around if they insist on bodyguarding for me," he winked at Ruri, before popping the rest of his sandwich into his mouth, slurping from the straw on his cherry coke.

"We're going to need to get you something to wear, I think--me too, of course, I haven't bought anything new for a while, you aren't opposed to helping me with a few shows here and there, right? We might need extra money," he added as an aside.

    Rou-ri seemed to stare at Leo rather evenly for a few moments before shrugging. "I don't normally act as a bodyguard, escorting others tends to rely upon them not being completely ignorant. There was this one person I offered to escort from being captured in the mountains by some gnolls back to a town, and let me tell you... never again. Fool ran back and forth the whole trip instead of just staying near me." The Pandaren shook his head in annoyance. "But as long as you stay by me I should at least be able to help? As far as a show goes, though... I don't know what you are expecting from me, or even what that entails."

    After all, Rou-ri tended to earn his income by doing odd-jobs and questing in a sense. He looked for people that needed help, helped and got paid. A bit of a hard profession to keep stability in, but he managed and had a decent reserve of income.

"Oh I see, calling me ignorant now, are ya," Leo gave Ruri a smarmy look with the tip of his tongue sticking out, before shrugging and seeming to relent. "Wait, a gnoll, you mean like a hyena man?" he grinned, forgetting that all this fantasy dungeons and dragons shit was actually real from where Ruri came from. "Oooh, I'd like to see one--do they have big red mohawks, too?" he had been more interested in these kinds of things as a kid, a bit less so after his durance--since at that point his existence had /become/ ridiculous dungeons and dragons halloween every day. But things like gnolls or goblins or other things didn't really exist in the hedge.

"It'll be fiiine, you're a pandaren, you're basically already wearing eyeshadow," Leo griiiinned.

    "Yes, Gnolls are something like that. Though I don't know about red. Most gnolls group up in tribes, Riverpaw, Shadowhide, so forth. And most paint themselves differently depending. So I imagine some have red in that way, but not all. Normally it's kind of... black and tan? Hyena colored would be the right phrase I suppose. Though they're not terribly pleasant. Cackling laugh, prefer swarms, use weapons and stink rather badly. But to each their own, maybe you do want to meet one."

    That made Ruri pause before remembering something and setting down the sticks to dig into a satchel of his. He dug around for a good while before pulling out a shoddy-looking ring and tossing it towards Leo. Looked like some kind of family ring with a crest, but it was smashed up and looked like it'd been through the works. "Got that off a gnoll years and years ago. Meant to give it back to the owners if I ever found out who they were, but as of yet haven't... and probably won't given it's been so long."

"Hyena-colored? I like that," Leo smiled, listening to Ruri explain for the most part for now, though. He blinked and nearly dropped the ring as it was tossed to him--having been holding onto his soda and using his free hand to lean his cheek against.

"Well, this poor thing has seen better days," Leo prised it between his own dark-polished, pointed nails, peering at it. "Looks like whoever owned it went through a bad time, the face of the ring's been crushed," he turned it this way and that, looking at it.

"Someone you knew then, old flame?" Leo casually teased the Pandaren, before grabbing the ring with the sides of his middle and index finger, holding it back out for Ruri, should he want it back so soon.

"I wouldn't mind meeting a Gnoll--I've seen stranger things in the hedge, I think, plus that wolf man guy, he was pretty weird," kept that amused expression.

    "No one I knew. I simply prefer to return personal effects when I can, if I come across them. It is not always possible, but where I come from there have been many wars. Be it the scourge, a plagued undead under the control of the Lich King, or the Legion, demonic beings from another realm, or even other creatures in our world that decided to band together to try and encroach - lives and homes have been lost. Rarely in my travels, I have been able to reuinte someone on the other side of Azeroth with something of theirs that was long since lost in their previous homes, by chance. It is a pleasant feeling, knowing they had some comfort again. Even the dead are sentimental, after all."

    Rou-ri took the ring and looked at it briefly before slipping it back into the satchel. "Wolf man? We have Worgen where I come from. A curse inflicted through the bite of other worgens, humans are turned into beasts and lose their minds to madness. Though a group of them was able to quell such madness with the help of the moon goddess, from what I understand."

    The sharp sticks were picked up again and he quickly ate the rest of the apple and cranberry salad before setting it down and drinking some of the water - making sure to have his finger in the way of the cups opening so the ice didn't clack against his lips or teeth.

"Your world sounds so... wonderous, and not nearly as horrific as mine. The fantastic creatures there ar emore... well, awful, than just beautiful, usually," Leo tilted his head, listening to Ruri's explanation. "I'd like to see it sometime, too," he blinked, listening to Ruri's explanation.

"Oh, werewolves--the ones from my world are... kinda similar, but not--this Wolf man I mentioned wasn't a werewolf... I don't think, he was kinda like you--not made by a curse, or something," Leo shook his head. "Werewolves are sorta like that, though--shapeshift by moonlight, even pray to spirits or the moon, it's weird stuff--not terribly familiar with it, though," he found himself thinking of his world again, and lets be fair, the world of darkness was a pretty downer place.

"Anyway, yes, you're ready for Moulin Rouge already, panda man," he laughed a little, "So, you done nibbling over there? we need to find a department store, I think," he waggled his eyebrows.

"Now then, let us be off, before they get wise that you're really a /real/ bear," Leo pulled himself up.

"In more ways than one... at least I think," Leo grinned, his fang-like incisors poking out over his lower lip.