World Tree MUSH

    The Vine in this area spills out to a nice wooded area... a little too nice. It's neat and green, with the grass trimmed and everything arranged. The air, too crisp, doesn't have the smell of any rotting foilage or damp leaves. It's all just a little too perfect.

    But it is something natural. Something pretty. In a world where skyscrapers loom. Or, in this case, high residential condos on one side of the floating dome in the air of the Earth. The Vine is pretty new, but a little bit of a tourist trap has already sprung up.

    Athena isn't here for that, but she is around this area, just outside the park and showing a symbol holographically. Some kind of stylized Z that looks like a lightning bold. "Are you sure you haven't seen anything like this?" she's asking the falafel merchant.

     Diantha comes through the fine, not really having any idea what she was going to find on the other side, but this time she is pleasantly surprised to be dropped in a nice wooded area. However, things were not as natural as they seemed, the manicured park having that distinct touch of man, and then there were the high rise buildings on the other side of what appeared to be a glass dome. Diantha sighs a bit and shakes her head, but overall takes it in stride. 

     "Well, certainly not the worst place I've ended up so far." She comments to no one in particular as she begins to wander through the woods a bit. Today she is wearing a new blouse she recently picked up from a tailor off world. It is cornflower blue with some pink and white flowers along the edges and has a tail off the back which lays neatly against the back of her deer-half.

    That's... a really strange thing to come in on, this floating wooded area. But Lucia can't say she's altogether unhappy to pop out into a place like this. It really is pretty, and it's not something she's seen in... well, ever, really. Her world is continuously dark and scary. Even trees look like they're going to eat you there. and most of them probably could, in some way. Sucking out blood through vines or roots, eating a person with their leaves, or just plain biting into them with a mouth on their trunk. Hopefully these trees actually understand the concept of personal space!

    Assuming she remains unmolested by trees (except via pollen, nasty stuff), Lucia will sheathe her dual swords -- yes, she came through the Vine with them out. Never know when something's going to try to eat you on sight. Looking around, the red-haired woman in white and gray starts to take stock of her surroundings. Hearing the voice from outside the floaty area, Lucia moves to where she can look down to see who's speaking.

    Though the appearance of someone else draws her attention... and Lucia blinks a bit. She's never seen anything like Diantha before. Antlers, hooves, animal back half -- a new member of the Goat Clan? Hopefully not. Lucia turns her attention fully to the unknown being, watching Diantha carefully, as if trying to figure out just exactly what she's looking at, her one visible emerald eye narrowed in suspicion.

    Though it's funny that the red-haired woman should be suspicious of Diantha. Considering SHE HERSELF gives off the kind of energy that probably registers as fel power!

    Sigh. Athena strikes out again, but when she looks up, she at least sees more offworlders. This isn't a big deal to her, but a few are more interesting. After all, a centaur she well knows, from her own mythology, but a deertaur? That's odd. And attracting the attention of someone definitely a warrior type, which Athena has her interest piqued in.

    Goddess of battle as well as wisdom, after all.

    "Not a lot of room to run here. I assume you didn't know where you were going at first?" Athena decides to address Diantha, so she can see how Lucia acts before speaking to her. "Welcome to Skygarden AM-14, I guess."

     That aura of dark magic given off by Lucia does tickle Diantha's senses, as she was used to seeking out and eradicating magical corruption among the groves under her protection. She tenses up a bit and her tail twitches as she looks around, but before she can find the source, Athena provides a distraction. She laughs and shakes her head in response to the question of knowing where she was going. "Afraid not, more or less just exploring and seeing what's out there. But thank you, I'm Diantha by the way. However, I just sensed some dark magic which reminds me of fel magic from my world. I hope I'm wrong, but I may not have been the only thing to come through that vine."

    Lucia's attention is drawn by Athena's words again, and she looks in her direction. While it's true, Diantha is a strange-looking sort as far as Lucia's concerned, she hasn't actually done anything to harm her. And she seems to... 'belong' somehow, as if it was natural for her to be there. So Lucia's not AS on-guard as she would be normally. But she's still keeping her eye on Diantha, even as she answers Athena, "Is that what this world is called?" She has a heavy accent to her words, one that sounds French.

    However, Diantha's words of 'fel magic'... that gets a reaction. There's a wince, though only momentarily. Just long enough for Lucia to hide her expression in her collar slightly with a downward tilt of her head. "That... is probably me," she admits. Though she's not looking at Diantha or Athena directly. But hey, at least she admits it, right?

    "Athena," replies the Reborn. A little bleep and a drone hovers around from behind her. "And this is Little Owl." She laughs, at least at first. When the dryad talks of danger, she grows more tense. "Hm. Well, there is security here, but-..."

    Ah. Lucia gets a nod, "Bonjour, mademoiselle. Ah, this is just the park name. The world? Just Earth. Though some have called it Olympus, even though the Greek influence is pretty weak these days." She frowns. "You? Hm. Well you wouldn't be the first to carry around that aura. Just don't cause trouble and people here will leave you alone. Very few can sense that sort of thing. The supernatural is still a little rare."

     Diantha grips her staff firmly as Lucia appears and joins the conversation by asking if the name Athena gave was the name of the whole world, which turns out not to be the case. Said staff probably looks more like a decorated walking stick than a weapon though to the untrained eye. 

     In any case when Lucia admits that the magical aura she feels is probably from her, she narrows her eyes a bit. However, As Athena welcomes the woman and says that as long as she doesn't start any trouble no one here will cause her trouble in turn. So for now, Diantha decides to give the woman the benefit of the doubt as well. "Hello." She greets with a nod.

    It's not as if Athena is COMPLETELY without caution... Little Owl bleeps, and zips around to scan Lucia as well. But while the drone is doing that, Athena is trying to keep things relaxed. "This place does have security, and I suspect it has much more. But we'll see. I go out onto the Tree often enough, so if you have questions I can answer or try."

    A good idea to try to deflect things toward something mundane and harmless. Probably.

     Diantha watches the little drone as it goes about scanning Lucia. She's not had the best experiences with robot-like machines, but this was far beyond any such things on her world, and she actually found it cute in a way. When Athena asks if they have questions, she turns her attention back to her. "Well, I don't have much, maybe how are we floating, and if there is anywhere nearby to get something to eat. I'm a bit hungry."

    Lucia nods to Diantha as well, finally turning to look at her again. "Hello," she offers in return. She's being careful to keep her hands away from her swords, though. Said swords are visibly sheathed at her sides. To Athena she notes, "I have no intention of causing trouble." He voice is calm and even.

    And then suddenly... egg. Flying egg?! Lucia does jump a little, but doesn't attack the egg-thing. Scans show she's... a very healthy humanoid! Though her muscles seem a bit denser than those of a completely normal human.

    She has no questions at the moment, so she keeps quiet so Diantha can ask hers.

    Little Owl tweets softly, then wanders back to the arm mount on Athena. "He's programmed to be inquisitive," she explains. "But to answer your question, Diantha, it's a combination of different engines. Most of them are just turbines, but while we haven't conquered gravity here, we can mute it a little, so the place seems lighter for the engines."

    She smiles, "If you have no intention of causing trouble, then I think Diantha's idea is good. There are some cafes a little farther from here. Still expensive, but cheaper than the tourist fare you'll find here. This is a very wealthy area normally, so I'm afraid the prices are a little high, but if all you need is a snack I can help. Fortunately offworlders with blades and other weapons are common enough here that we should be fine, just keep them sheathed. I don't think either of you will be able to enter places of business aside from food and basic shops though, without disarming."

    Athena glances at her sidearm. "That goes for me as well, I'm not law enforcement."

     "Held aloft with engines? That is impressive, and I guess would require a lot of energy if you weren't able to lessen gravity. Where I come from there is a floating city called Dalaran, though it's held aloft by powerful magic, as it is home to many of the most accomplished mages on Azeroth, and many more who are there to study. I've only been there once or twice though." Diantha offers for comparison, smiling as Athena agrees with her idea to get some food, and at the notion of cost, she smiles. "I do have some money, but may need to have it converted to be accepted here." Turning to Lucia, she questions. "Would you like to come along as well?"

    Lucia nods to Athena's words of disarming. "I can understand that. I will need to make proper preparations for that. I was exploring, that's all. A portal opened in my world, and following it has taken me to several other places. This one being the most recent." Clearly, because. Well. She's here now. So yeah.

    She also listens to Diantha's account of a floating city. "...Floating platforms are not unheard of in my world." Though she doesn't say more than that. When invited to join the group, she nods. "Thank you... I would like that."

    Athena doesn't mind the warrior woman joining them. In fact, she might have meant to include her. "It's not common, but not unknown here. I'm not aware of anyone with enough power to float this much on magic alone, but perhaps in the age of myth it could happen. I know recently part of the underworld broke through in a city, though I don't know the details."

    She gestures, "There are a few places we can eat without catching a lift down. The Vine is still up heere anyway. Floating platforms, powerful magic... I still have to see a lot of the rest of the worlds." She starts heading toward an outdoor cafe-style place, sort of like a Starbucks.

     "The underworld broke though? That doesn't sound good. Do they still need help pushing it back?" Diantha asks, looking a little worried about the concept. She follows as Athena leads them toward a cafe of sorts, and once there, she steps up to the ordering counter and orders a large hot tea, and after looking over what they had to eat, she orders a few fruit filled danishes to go along with the tea.

    Athena's mention of a part of the underworld breaking through gets a look of surprise. "You have trouble with that here, too?" Lucia automatically assumes 'demon world', since that's the problem hers has. She will, however, follow Athena over to the outdoor style cafe thing.

    Diantha seems to beat her to the punch about offering, but Lucia does also offer, "That sort of thing... happens frequently in my world. I might also be able to help you with such a problem."

    Athena looks startled at the offers of help. "Well... this time it was taken care of. The Queen of the Underworld is stronger than me I think, even if that wasn't the case before, and she is keeping it... controlled, for now. But her methods are not very pleasant." She makes a face, but grudgingly says, "It's not really my business, but I can't argue for the effectiveness anyway."

    She orders something to drink for herself, coffee of some kind, and finds a place to sit where Diantha can be comfortable. Chairs aren't made for taurs here. "A lot of things happen here. The dead are rising and they aren't always friendly."

     Diantha was certainly used to chairs not being made for her body shape. After picking up her order she follows Athena and sets down her staff, then lowers herself onto her belly to rest her hooves for a bit while she sips from her cup of tea and has a few bites of those cherry, apple, and blueberry turnovers she bought. She gives Athena a sympathetic nod. "I guess I wouldn't expect the queen of the underworld to be among the more pleasant of people... But few things will make me join in to fight than risen dead walking around."

    Lucia seems relieved when Athena says it's been handled for now. "That's good, that it is... at least handled," she notes. "There may be more permanent ways to deal with it." Recalling the Four Arcana, of course, those items that her clan used to seal Argosax. Now that Argosax is dead, they're usable again. Though she's not going to just offer. Not on such short acquaintence.

    Tilting her head, Lucia notes to Diantha's words, "That... makes sense, I suppose..." Though she does look a little uncomfortable at it.

    Athena swirls her cup, looking... surprisingly uncomfortable. "The Queen is very sweet. She's a lovely girl. But she has a duty so she does it. I remember I felt sad for her once, but..." She shakes her head. "A lot of people are back from the dead. Myself as well, but that's a long story. They aren't always walking shades, sometimes, like me, they just reincarnate. It's a mess though.

    She looks at Lucia now to think about what to say. "I'm sure there are more permanent ways. They don't always work out, but many of... us... are looking for them. Others just want another chance at existing. And others, they want to set up their own domains again. I worry sometimes that my father is in the last category, but I haven't found him yet." She shrugs.

    "Help would be appreciated. But don't be so quick to offer it to me. There are a lot of problems across the Tree."

     Diantha almost choaks on a gulp of her tea when Athena mentions that she herself is one of these risen dead, and later calls herself a shade. "You're the embodiment of a spirit? You look very human, did you possess that body somehow?" She asks with a critical gaze aimed toward Athena.

    Lucia thinks about this... maybe it's another reason Matier sent her out here. Not just to assess the threat the rest of these worlds pose to theirs, but to try to help where she could. She'd feel bad if she didn't, anyway. "It does sound like a rather... upsetting situation. But I'm not only here to randomly offer assistance. Since my world has opened up as well, there is something in it for me if I was to help. The less problems out here, the fewer that will be around to make it to my world."

    She does look between Diantha and Athena, as the former gives the latter that critical look. "Even if she is, she seems reasonable," Lucia points out. She's had to learn the whole 'demon doesn't always equal evil'... in fact she's still learning it, particularly when it applies to herself...

    Shaking her head at Diantha, "No, not exactly. Well... sort of. The 'host' still exists and it's more a blending, but we wouldn't have merged if she weren't like the other me. I wasn't exactly dead, just... 'gone' I guess. But some of those that were dead returned in a similar way. It's kind of possession, but not one that either of us chose. We just have to live with it now, because the body is quite alive. Even I don't understand the details. We call ourselves Reborn. Usually, it works out better for the host anyway, even if they seem to lose a little of themselves. I'm not the same as I once was either though, so I guess it's a fair trade."

    She sips her coffee. "I like to think I'm reasonable. Some of the others aren't. I've had to take down a few myself. Some are utter monsters. Others just want to live their new lives. And some, like the Queen I mentioned, and myself, want to find out why this is happening and stop it. We just... disagree on the methods."

    She smiles though. "I'd be glad to accept the help. But for now, think it over. I'll lead you to the tour so you can get a feel for the world."