World Tree MUSH

<STIR FRY?!> Venom's voice thundered in Eddie's head. <WHY?!>

Eddie seemingly ignored Venom's anger as he walked beside Diantha, "See Dan's... I dunno I guess he's my doctor now since Venom trusts him to not freak out, but he's dating my ex." He sounded unsure on if any of this wold make sense. "Upshot is he's vegetarian and considering the half-deer friend to all things nature I'm guessing you go meatless."

His stomach grumbled as way of interrupting what he was going to say next. "Anyway I wanted to give you a less 'everything is aweful about this world' experiance and-"

His phone rang. Which caused him to sigh then look at it, "Speaking of." He tapped the screen.

"Eddie where are you?!" Anne sounded somewhere betwene furious and worried. "There's talk about some kind of... Explosion? Wild animals? Gunfire? I don't know what happened."

Eddie cleared his throat, "Yea uh long story? We got some visitors from through the portal thing all those stalls were set up around and seems there's like... a lot of tunneling under the park. Big robot diggersuits, sonic drills-"

"Oh God are you alright?" Annes voice went straight to fear, "Venom's... Is it alright?"

"Yea, felt like I got flung through a twister full of speakers playing Eraserhead but we're fine. Bringing one of the people that helped out to get some stirfry. You able to swing by?"

there was a pause then eddie put the pone away. "Anne's my Ex... she's also handling the paperwork on Venom's asylum hearing It's... a long story, but basically I want him... it..." Eddiefrowned, "Him to have some kind of legal status."

     "Congratulations, you're the first person I've met in this crazy tree of worlds thing that has actually thought about it and guessed that correctly, or at least, the first person to figure it out and actually tell me." Diantha says to Eddie with a laugh followed by a grin. "You win... my respect and friendship for today, or possibly longer depending on how I feel after I get to know you a little better." She jokes, though is half serious at least. She quietly listens as Eddie is on the phone, then after he hangs up, she shakes her head. 

     "Still have no idea how those things work, beyond it seems you talk into them and someone else hears you and you can hear them talking back. I'm sure if someone tried to fully explain how my head would explode. Anyway, I'm sorry I thought you were a demon earlier, my world has... some bad ones, so I'm a little nervous about running into them even on other worlds, that and undead..." She says with a shudder. 

     "So you two have a sort of symbiotic arrangement, Venom helps you be stronger, and... gets something from you out of it which I hope to Elune isn't your life force."

"It's..." Eddie frowns at his phone, "It has a bit of steps to it, but if you're paying to use one of these you have a number. anyone can dial that number and make your phone ring so long as it has power." There was a pause before adding, sheepishly, "I'm greatly oversimplifying but i'm pretty sure it'd be the same if I asked you about forestry or seasonal habits of rabbits..." Ashrug. "It's... well if it makes you feel any better Venom freaks out at church bells.?"

He grinned at the mention of symbiotic relationships, "Got it in one. He's... well most of his people prefer to latch n, et, move on when you're a shrivled up raisen. So he blew up the ship they were gonna use to bring more here and turn earth into an all you can eat buffet."

Strange that he seemed to not answer what Venom got out of the arrangement when it very clearly gave up a lot to have it. "So we try being helpful. Living arrangement's kinda weird since i only got back last night after I got dumped down the rabbit hole for awhile, glad time works the same everywhere... I'd hate to step in one, come back and centuries passed."

     Diantha listens as Eddie tries to explain how his phone works, and laughs a little. "Well, I guess I still don't really know what gives it power, or how the numbers work, but my head didn't explode." She says with a grin, but grows more serious at the talk about Venom. 

     "So, there were going to be a larger invasion of beings like Venom, which would suck the life out of everyone, but he stopped the invasion of his own people? That's a surprising turn of events... As for the time being the same between worlds on the vines, I agree that would be bad, worse for humans and other such species that don't live quite so long. You come back, all your friends are dead and gone, how tragic that would be."

This caused Eddie to wince, "Yeeaa.I mean if you wantedto get away from everything it'd work otu well, but as messed up as here is. It's home."

Then a tendril formed and Venom's face popped up over Diantha's shoulder, "Here has many fun colorful New things. Eddie is a good host... though why he is so insistent we cannot just kill what gets in our way is confusing. Here we are strong, unstoppable-"

"Says the guy that wasn't able to stand up straight twenty minutes ago."

Venom blew a raspberry. "Should be another block from here," Venom licked its teeth, "I love their spiced duck."

A nod from Eddie, "The lady that works the store we go to," Seriously that little hole in the wall had to be magic to have pretty much exactly what they needed as often as it did, "recommended this place. She's never steered me wrong."

Waiting at the entryway was a couple that waved and then immediately looked confused. Diantha would hear the woman lean in, "Please tell me Eddie and her aren't..." The man would then headshake.

"Hey guys!" Eddie smiled just as Venom retracted. "Diantha, she... You said you got dumped in the middleof the road right?" THen a shrug, "She helped deal with a bunch of creeps chasing off the welcome wagon from that big hole in the park. I figure I owe her lunch, or at least try showing her around so she doens't write here off as 'they desicrated the green, they must die.'"

The man reached towards Diantha, "Hi I'm dan, this is my fiancee Anne. I'm actually kinda interested in diffrent worlds but works work... so yea. Rare for us to have time to sit down and talk."

     Diantha does hear and blushes a little. No, they were not 'together' if that is what was being implied. She would have introduced herself but Eddie does that for her, so since Dan seems interested, she adds a little further detail. "I'm a dryad from a world called Azeroth. It's a rather beautiful place with lots of diverse life, but it also plenty of wars among the various people, and even outside forces."

Dan shrugged and opened the door for everyone else, "Sadly a comon trend from what I'm seeing," This with a glance towards Eddie, "But seems good people aren't in short supply either."

The server looked from Diantha to the resteraunt proper and paled. This was a... to be blunt? This was a Situation. Loud crowded resteraunt not meant for people with four feet.

Eddie exhald sharply, "So how do we part the red sea here?"

<Ask if she's got more than just the elk transformation.>

"oh! Right thanks buddy." Eddie patted his left side, "Yea can you do anything smaller?"

Anne raised an eyebrow but waited by Dan for their table number in silence.

     Diantha smiles and nods her head to Dan as he held the door for her and everyone else. She looks around the restaurant, tail twitching slightly but she tried to stay calm, it was crowded and noisy, but so was the rest of the city, she was starting to get used to it, at least a little. She doesn't take offense to the server's look as she was used to getting strange looks, but at Eddie's question, she looks confused and was clearly totally oblivious to any problem. "Why? Is something wrong? The only thing I can shift into that is smaller is my raven form, but I can't talk while shapeshifted either, in any of my forms."

"So you can get to the table we're going to be seated at, then change back when there to avoid dealing with narrow walkways." Eddie elaborated. This wasn't an expensive place, more of a buffet really, but the initial area near the door was crowded. "I mean... just a thought, if not we'll figure something out."

Then Ann walked over to Diantha, "So tell me... just hwo reckless were they?" She quirked an eyebrow at the Drya but said nothing else, at least until she answered. Instead motioning for her t ofollow.

     Diantha nods, looking ahead, it did look like a lot of narrow paths with hard turns, and the last thing she wanted to do was knock some tables over or accidentally stick her tail in someone's food. "Alright, here goes." She offers, and this time while the same white mist covers her, she isn't in as much of a hurry, so the changes are more gradual and have a more natural flow, it almost looks pretty as she for a moment looks like a dryad with wings before her body shrinks down and the bigger changes set in. Once done, she flaps her wings, fluttering up to perch on Eddie's shoulder.

The transofrmation ahd several people pause. No screams, no thrown plates or cutlery. A few camera flashes though. Eddie merely shrugged, "Yea it's looking less dense around the buffet area," He pointed to the central area where people wee getting food from. "I'll try getting some space so you can walk around."

Dan looked to Diantha and nodded, "I'll try making sure the ydont' raise a stink about it. Anne told me about the park incident. We're really not all that horrible."

Anne and Dan walked ahead of Eddie to their table and, with some creative arrangement, a wide enough path was found so Diantha couldget to buffet and back to te table. 

<At least it isn't Karaoki Night.> 

WHich caused Eddie to shudder, remembering tht incident all too well. "So yea Foodthen we try getting a gameplan on going forward?" Dan and Anne nodded and were in the process of lining up for food.

     After hopping down and shifting back, Diantha follows the others' lead and grabs a plate when they reach the buffet. "I haven't seen this much food in one place in... Well, I spent a few hundred years in the Emerald Dream, so probably half a millennia." She comments with a tone of amazement. Of course, she wasn't going to touch anything with meat in it, but she got some stir fry, some fruit salad, some baked potato, etc. Once her plate was full she followed the others back to the table and just stood by one side since a chair wasn't really going to work for obvious reasons.

Compare and contrast time:

Anne and Dan got sensible small plates of mostly stirfry, rice, and chicken.
Eddie meanwhile got a plate brimming with food, mostly heavy on meats and starches.

Dan raised an eyebrow then loked at Eddie, "Normally I'd complain about what that woud do to your heart, but I'd looked at your charts just after you got taken to the ER after the... thing..." He chuckled, "I'd seen athletes with worse, and if it's keeping your... friend... happy."

A nod from Eddie then a look over to Diantha, "Hey I'm sure youd rather want to talk medicine with the lady here right? I'm just the shlub who Anne takes pity on."

<We are not a 'schlub!> Venom protested before asking, <....what is a Schlub?> Followed shortly by, <Ooooh yes we missed you little duckling.>

With Eddie preoccupied by eating Dan gave a patiant smile to Diantha, "Take away the fancy scanning equipment and the biggest advances we've made is mostly figuring out the exact bits are actually helpful to make medicine out of, the sort of nutrition a body needs.... mostly... And sanitation. What's medicine like from your world?"

     Diantha blinks at Eddie. Talk medicine? What do I know about medicine? She thinks to herself. Then after they've started eating, dan actually does start talking about medicine, and the only thing that stops her from laughing when he asks about medicine on her world considering how it compared to her own, is that she had food in her mouth and didn't want to choke. 

     "Well, I guess the biggest difference is my world has magic. Depending on the type of magic studied, one can draw upon the energy within themselves, or the world around them, to rapidly mend wounds, and sometimes also purge the body of poison or disease. Some very skilled healers can even bring back someone who recently died. I am such a magic based healer, drawing from nature for my power, but I never did master rebirth, the druid resurrection spell. Any area of medicine on my world that isn't based on magic is much more low tech, I mean, we actually even have enchanted bandages that have healing properties, but otherwise, it's herbal remedies and potions."

Dan blinked. THen he took a deep breath. Then he looked diantha in the eyes and with every ounce of sincerity he could muster. "That is beyond monumentally unfair." THen a half smile, "I mean there has t obe some kind of trade off or at least a reason we didn't get magic. You're able to use yours here so there's obviously nothing preventing it." He stabbed a chopstick into something on his plate, "Maybe a side effect of both our worlds being connected now and if you'd landed before then you'd be about as magical as a rock."

     Diantha nods and giggles a little. "Well, since very little of my magic is drawn from myself, I guess it's possible I could go to a world where it wouldn't work at all. As it is, here in the city where there is hardly any natural life compared to out in the wilderness, my magic is a lot weaker. I can still shapeshift fine as you just saw, but my healing and damaging magic is only a shadow of its normal power. Your world also has far more of this fancy technology. We don't even have those phone things on my world."

Dan finished what was in his mouth before responding, "Depending on if you can come back or not I'd really want ot take you to a few of the atinal parks we have.You just had the bad luck to land in the middle of a city thta's made mostly out of built up land. Even New York's got what amounts to a small forest in the middle of all the steel and cement."

Anne for her part was wathing Eddie eat. By every appearnace it lookedl ike Eddie, his shirt, and approximately five feet around him should be this cloud of splatter and debris. Yet when Eddie got up to get another plate he, and the plate itself, were completely spotless. "Dan... Remind me to try getting the life foundation's notes on what those things eat."

Dan nodded then looked to Diantha, "So... do you have to make a diagnosis, or do you just... and I'm sorry for making light of what you do," He waved a hand over his plate while wiggling his fingers, "Bitppity boppity what the hell is wrong with you?"

     Diantha was a little uncomfortable watching Eddie devour his plate of assorted food to the point of leaving his plate spotless. So, she was more than happy to focus her attention on Dan for the moment while she ate from her plate in a more methodical manner. She takes a moment to ponder his question about diagnosis while chewing her food, then after a sip of water, she nods. 

     "Well, on a basic level we look at how severe the wound is to decide on how powerful of a spell to use, as overdoing it would be wasteful in both energy and time, and using one too week is obviously ineffective. Also beyond physical injuries, it's good to learn if it's poison or disease that ails the patient, and knowing what caused it can be useful but isn't always necessary. In the end, part of the magic of it being... magic, is that you don't have to do as deep of a diagnosis as in more traditional medicine. Though I'm admittedly not very knowledgable on such things, and I'm sure medicine here is much more advanced than where I come from. I mostly have been focused on healing and restoring animals and plants in the wilds, but have used my talents in combat situations on a few occasions in more recent years, the main time being during the Third War, when the demonic Burning Legion invaded my world."

Dan, likewise, seemed grateful for anything to pay ttention to besides Eddie's eating habits. So he listened to Diantha's explaination on how she does magic, "Huh. You make it sound easy. Then again I get the feeling you're one of those races that make human lifspans look like a minor blip?" He leaned forward, focusing on the Dryad lady. "I imagine actually learning magic requires years if not decades to get a proper grasp on?" He was polite sounding, but Anne cast a sidelong glance just as she bumped his leg under the table.

Eddie's second plate was actually fairly sensable in that while there wasa lot on there, it was recognizeably presented asdistinct bits of food. "Yea uh.. I hate to interrupt but Dan We... I..." Eddie frowned as he seemed to struggle with words for a moment, "Yea this is defitely a 'we' thing. We're gonna need an apointment. Full bloodwork, diet," There wasa pause before adding, "...MRI."

<NO MRI! WE WILL NOT GO BACK IN THE TORTURE MACHINE EDDIE!>

Venom's protests caused Eddie to flinch. Causing Anne to put a hand on one of Eddie's and look at him, "He wouldn't have suggested it if there wasn't a goodreason." She sounded almost as if she were talking to a child while squeezing Eddie's hand. "He's just trying to figure out how you both can work together, and that means getting a good look at how you two..." There was a moment where she looked flustered at words, "Connect."

Then she looked to Diantha, "Sorry... Bit of a long story but Venom doens't do well with loud noises." Beat, "WHich is weird since MRI machines only make this low clicking sound, and-" A handwave as she dismissedthe thought. "So... uh... Demons. As in Hail Satan, destroy all Light and bring about darkness eternal Demons?"

     Diantha nods to Dan and chuckles a little. "Well yes, it's true that my race has a long lifespan, pretty much indefinite at least when it comes to just dying of old age, since even the first dryad, Lunara, is still around, which means she's been around for a few millennia, I'm 'young' by comparison, at somewhere over eight hundred years, sort of lost track at this point. So yes, I've trained in the druidic arts on my world for hundreds of years, but not all of it was spent learning to heal, also the shapeshifting as you saw me turn into the bird, which is just one of the forms I'm capable of, and also more offensive magic." She explains before taking a drink of water and then continuing. 

     "Of course, there are examples from some of the less long-lived races have become very powerful mages, and also druids like myself, but they usually focus on a particular branch of magic more, or have an innate talent which allows them to master things quicker than most." Turning back to Eddie and Anne, she isn't really sure what to say. "I have no idea what an MRI is of course, but I agree that with your unusual pairing, learning as much about how it works as possible is probably a good idea."

<It hurts.> Venom sulked.

Eddie shrugged helplessly, "Yea I'm not a fan either but Vee lerned a heck of a lot just from poking around and just.. .Being. I'm kinda curious on if there's anything we can figure out new," To say nothing of his bank breaking murderous dietry needs. He then held up an eggroll, "Centuries old and your first instinct even when literally dumped in the middle of the place that's like... Opposite of everything you're equipped to deal with, and you rush headlong in when you hear screaming." There's a small smile before he eats. "

Dan looked from Diantha then to Eddie, "You're... sure? I could see if we could get you in one of the Open MRI bays. Maybe not having all the machinery right against you won't set off another episode."

"Yea... Maybe." Eddie sounded doubtful. He then looked to Diantha, "So I'm with Anne here. Demonic Legions...?" He sounded curious, and more than a bit frightened. "We have texts from several relegions dealing with demons but... Just so we're clear. Demons are Bad where you're from, right?"

     Diantha nods, her expression suddenly turning grimly serious. "Yes, the Burning Legion is one of the biggest threats to not just my world, but the entire known universe where I'm from, and if it wasn't for the fact that they were recently defeated in a big way, I'd worry about them spilling out into the World Tree if my world is a blossom. Though on the other hand, I'm pretty sure they're defeated, not eradicated. Eventually, they will return." She again pauses to take a drink, then continues. 

     "Anyway, they are a vast army of demons who seem to have the goal of wiping out all life, at least besides which they corrupt into more demons. They range from imps which are dangerous and annoying, but easily dealt with, to things like pit lords, massive abominations which look like the lower body of a dragon, with a tauric torso and a face that makes an ogre look pretty, not to mention terrible tusks, and needles for teeth and dagger claws. Oh, and they have wings too but thankfully are far too heavy to fly. Having drunk the blood of one of these things is what caused many of the orcs from my world to be overtaken by an insatiable bloodlust."

"OK Demons, stil lbad. I wasn't sure if that was lke a constant everywhere or not." Eddie almost sounded relieved at the fact this was indeed an existential threatening legion of terror. Then again with a name like The Demonic Burning Legio what would you expect, girlscout cookies?

Venom only giggled at the description of these demons. Causing Eddie's eyebrow to raise, "Yea no demon blood here. Just good old fashioned natural predatory instincts and a lot of 'I'm bigger than you are' going on here." He thumped his chest before leaning back, "I'd like to think I'd gotten the big guy to mellow out."

<You would be correct.>

"But if he wasn't willing to listen in the first place," A shrug. "I mean yea, ego aside he's big and scary and got far too many teeth, but I'm grateful for the help."

<As am I.>

This affirmation caused Eddie to smile, "Make that both of us. Going to need to go poke around after things quiet down. You... didn't seem like too big of a fan. Problems with caves?"

     "If you had that kind of demonic bloodlust, I'd probably have tried to kill you to spare everyone else. I still don't know how I feel about you eating people, but you do indeed seem to restrict it to 'bad people' as you so eloquently put it, and from what I've seen so far, usually in defense of yourself or someone else." Diantha says with a smile forming on her face until he asks about the caves, at which she looks suddenly uneasy. 

     "I don't like small spaces, particularly when I can't see the open world beyond. It took me a month to work up the nerve to go into the barrow dens in Moonglade where druids sleep for extended times, sometimes hundreds of years, and enter what we call the Emerald Dream. It's a sort of paradise full of life, watched over by Ysera, the dragon aspect of nature and dreams." She explains, shedding a tear at the end as she remembers that Ysera is now dead and gone, a casualty of the war against the Legion.

"We're trying to come up with better solutions." Eddie said reassuringly.

Dan frowned, but said nothing. Anne only nodded at Eddie's insitance. 

Topic change HOOO! Cling to that as hard and fast as ya can!

"Wait so like... you go sleep and basically you dream of a paradise." Eddie sounded skeptical.

<Sounds like delusional madness to trapthe weak willed. Those that don't leave are nolonger there to beeasily swayed. Elegant, Clean.... UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL.> Venom's displeasure caused Eddie to flinch slightly. <Face your enemiesin open combat, and if you wish to crush the week do so open and honest. No Tricks! No Traps! Just turning them into dust!>

Eddie's hand twitched as he reached for his glass, "Vee... isn't a fan of all the ways that system could be abused to weed out anyone that'd prefer the dream to the mess of the waking world." A drink then, "Can't blame him really, but we only just met you so who are we to judge, especially when we don't have all the information."

     Diantha just shakes her head at Venom's overly simplistic view of the dream, though she couldn't really blame him for such ignorance. "Druids do not enter the dream to escape from the waking world and its issues. Maybe a very long time ago when it was pure, they might have entered it just to experience it, but these days, druids on my world spend time in the dream to try to fight against the spread of the 'Nightmare'. A corruption of the dream caused by old gods, which the more it spreads, the weaker druid magic becomes. So, if not stopped, eventually we would become powerless."

<Interesting...>

Eddie smiled, "I'm gonna want to do a full interview sometime. Given your connection to nature and not instantly going full on 'urge the world to save the Green... a lot of people might learn a thing or three." He smiled and even managed a small laugh, "But another time."

Anne tapped Eddie's arm, "You're sure you still want to go meet with immigration?"

A shrug, "Can't hurt to look, ask around. Get a feel on if they'd even entertain the idea based on the idea on if Drake had any othersthat survived. They say yea? Move forward. If not. No harm or fowl, work it into an op ed piece to keep people talking about Drake's Scumpire."