World Tree MUSH

    The coordinates indicated by Yumi's note do not lead to a place in her own world. It's a world near-ish by, and a very similar world, but this particular world is a more open Blossom. The specific place is a sort-of suburb of Tokyo, close enough to the city for the distant skyscrapers to loom, but far enough away that all the buildings nearby are relatively short. Before the group rises a modestly busy shopping district, a Japanese staple with a decent amount of foot traffic, and small mom-and-pop shops lining either side. It's a sure bet it extends for a couple blocks in any given direction.

    But something here feels... off. There's a hint of tension in the air. A mood of restlessness about the shopping district. People tug their jackets a little tighter as they walk, shop-owners call out a little more hesitantly or not at all. Customers don't stop to window-shop; either they get what they came for, or they just keep walking. It's not the usual jovial, relaxed air one would expect.

    The magically inclined can probably tell that something is quite wrong here.

    And Yumi Tachibana is here already. It would be hard to miss her even without her signature cream-orange hair; she's the one standing near the entrance to the shopping district, whose body language is nothing but tension, eyes repeatedly looking between a note and a smartphone. Her friends from Snowpeak would almost certainly have been either led here or given directions; others, however, could easily have wandered in, or caught her along the way, or whatever. She's not above asking for extra help, especially not knowing what she's walking into.

    Well, mostly not knowing. The one person present who was with her in Rome can probably recognize that look in her eyes, before she even speaks.

    "Yeah. This is definitely the place," she murmurs. Distracted. On edge. "...I can /feel/ it.

    The one person who was with Yumi in Rome is with her right now.
    The hustle and bustle of even a *suburb* of a giant metropolis like Tokyo is still enough to make her dizzy when compared to the tiny rural backwoods village like Mist. Or what used to be Mist, anyway.
    But yes, Rydia of Mist is here with Yumi, probably looking out of place in her green robes and the fluffy white fur and grinning skull of her wolfos cloak, shrouded in a thin mist that seems to linger around her and only her. But she can ignore any stares easily enough. She's feeling too miserable to pay them much attention.
    The Summoner is still horrendously pale, bags under her eyes. She's doing better on her feet, but she looks very much like death warmed over.
    "I know that look." She says as soon as she sees Yumi's expression. Then the girl says precisely what Rydia expected to hear.
    Yumi can 'feel' it.
    Then again, as she looks around at tense air about the shopping district. How people hurry by, or try to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible as though hiding from some unseen, nameless, faceless, malevolence.
    "I don't need to feel a thing to know something is wrong about this place." Murmured as her hand twitches to something on her belt. Hard to tell if it's her whip or her dagger.

  One more from the Snowpeak group is aso here. Zelda neither stands out nor blends in, to all appearances. She's wearing travelling clothes that are just generic enough not to stand out too badly in a modern city. Tunic and breeches, instead of a dress; no hooded robe, just a plain travelling cloak. Her hair is pulled into a plain braid.

  There's a heaviness in the air and a tension that even the Hylian can sense. She doesn't have her weapons in hand, but she has them with her, bow slung over her shoulder, quiver at her hip, sword scabbarded at her waist.

  "I feel it, too." A loose agreement of sorts with Rydia. Her eyes are ahead, searching the distance, tracking occasionally when a shopper hurries across her field of view. "It's different, but it reminds me of the Twilight. A little. It feels wrong."

  Her head tilts slightly, eyeing Yumi. "Tachibana Yumi...?" The unspoken sentiment isn't hard to pick up on -- 'are you okay?'

    Friends. Is Terra even allowed to assume that yet? She doesn't know, not really, not yet. People have been kind enough to take her in for the time being and at the first opportunity to rise to the occasion and be useful to the group she's all too eager to pitch in.

    This is a city unlike anything in her experience, she assumes and the spectacle of it, though subdued, is enough to draw her gaze hither and yon. How can she not? This place is magnificent and, as the others note, ominous.

    Not so much the people, though. She can feel the wrongness, the... Something. Not so different than what she felt mere days ago from that frigid mine a world away.

    Standing out? Dressed in red, with her green hair and wearing a sword? Yeah, Terra might just a little. Still, she's completely distracted from self consciousness. "What... Is it?"

    Yahiko wasn't present in Rome, but he has met some of the people here before. He's also sharp enough to see something is bothering Yumi, but with her friends taking care of asking the questions, he isn't going to butt in... just throw a concerned look now and then.

    Terra isn't the only one standing out. Aside from his sword - technically illegal in most versions of Japan - and his insistence on wearing an archaic kimono, Yahiko's kimono is also in pretty poor condition, all stained and patched. He's here because there's trouble, and because he has nowhere better to be with no home to go back to. "Whatever it is, I'm guessing it's nothing good."

    Boy howdy, if it's not Zelda, it's Rydia. The summoner gets another concerned look from Yumi - definitely not the first one she's gotten tonight, and almost certainly not the last. "Yeah," she confirms, responding to Rydia; not just in response to the second statement, but the first as well. 'Whatever is causing this is something I can sense.' She turns to look in on the shopping district again, frowning softly. "...I'm alright," she replies to Zelda after a few seconds' pause. "It feels different from Rome, though. Whatever that was, it was more... concentrated, I guess. This feels more spread-out. Like it's covering the entire area."

    Terra has a question; unfortunately, Yumi has only the vaguest answer. "I'm... I'm honestly not sure. I can't sense most magic. I only discovered this a couple weeks back. Last time, it was some strange orb that was... I don't know. Eating space? I couldn't tell. It was shrinking the surrounding area somehow. I don't know what this is."

    Oh. Oh hey, it's Yahiko. The swordsman gets a grateful look purely over his presence. "I think you're right. Whatever it is." Eyes sweep back around, left, right... and then fall on a particular alleyway, just to one side of the district's entrance on this street. "I think... yeah. Whatever it is, feels a little stronger from that alley over there. I don't know how to describe it."

    At least the Summoner has stopped wobbling on her feet.
    "I doubt it's anything good at all," she agrees with Yahiko's sentiment as the wandering young swordsman appears once again in her life. He gets a respectful not of greeting out of Rydia, after all the past times he's shown himself to be capable. Good and reliable, just like Cecil.
    Rydia rubs at her eyes. "Eidolon." Is the only explanation she gives when Yumi gives her that look. "I'll be fine, just tired don't worry about me." She says in the 'people seriously need to stop being so fussy' testy tone of a cranky child. "So are we gonna check out the alley, then or what?"

  The Hylian takes a flanking position beside Yumi, moving slowly as she scans the far end of the nearest plaza. Her hands stay loose at her sides. Her expression is kept carefully neutral. She can sense whatever Yumi does, but it affects her far less.

  Evidently Zelda accepts Yumi's answer at face value. Yahiko also earns a brief nod of acknowledgement. She remembers him. Her eyes flick over Rydia, next, silently assessing the girl's condition. Not gonna pass out? Good.

  For now, though, she's content to wait and see. No prompt; no prodding, just silent patience.

    Terra is in no real rush here. She's completely out of her element and would be even if she knew what her element actually /was/. This, though unsettling, doesn't quite fray her nerves like everything else the past few days! That's something. Should she feel differently? Yeah, probably.

    Rydia gets the briefest look; she doesn't want to get caught worrying for fear of rebuke but it doesn't seem right to her to not acknowledge the girl's somewhat enervated state. So, she simply lingers close. She's not trying to comfort herself any! Not at all! Noooo way.

    With nothing more to do but wait and possibly follow, the half-Esper, merely conscious of the magical oddness, stands by and does her best to remain vigilant. Ever the soldier.

    "In the alley, huh?" Yahiko tightens his grip on his sword, and looks around. "I guess it's up to me to go first." He hasn't seen Terra in action, so he's assuming he's the protector of a lot of relatively fragile types. "I'll see if I can find anything, but I'm not sensing anything..."

    Yet... the tone he says that in has doubt. Possibly he can sense the hostility, if not the actual magic. Or maybe all these girls talking about creepy magic has just started giving him the willies.

    He's not exactly patient about things though. He's already heading for the alley, just as he said.

    "We might as we-"

    There goes Yahiko.

    "...I guess we are," Yumi replies to Rydia, before moving to follow along behind Yahiko. She does glance back at Terra for a moment, concerned, but the girl has a sword and a fighter's demeanor, so she should be okay... right?

    Yeah, Yumi's not gonna stop worrying until she's a little more sure.

    As the group approaches the alleyway, there's a strange, back-of-the-neck feeling that there's... another path. Even those of no magical talent whatsoever can feel it. It's not quite actually 'changing direction', but with a tiny effort of will, they can move... 'sideways'. Change which path they follow.

    Doing so results in disconcerting sensations; a feel of something giving way, then brushing past. A sensation like pressing through cobwebs, tugging at those who push onward. In doing so, space seems to stretch, to shift. The very air - or perhaps just the 'atmosphere' - seems to shift. Returning the way one came will simply result in reversing the 'change' in one's surroundings. But for those who press on, those who walk down the alleyway until it opens back out onto the street...

    Everything seems... bigger. More imposing. The buildings loom overhead; the distant skyscrapers especially so, rising astoundingly high in the sky, casting a shadow like cold, unfeeling corporate titans. But even the shopping district seems somehow more dangerous - not in the sense of a predator waiting to pounce, but rather like a frigid mountainside, full of the promise of death by simple accident, exposure or bad luck. Hostile in its sheer indifference.

    The only exception to this is the doorways; something about the doors seems... almost inviting. As if they might provide succor from the hostility of the world. But the closer one draws to any given door, anywhere in the district, the further away it grows. To stand under the awning of a little coffee house is to look upon a door that is a full mile away.

    Perhaps that's what's creating the disconcerting feeling on the air. A feeling of... hope? A faint, needful hope, a tiny and insistent sensation that 'everything will be alright'... underlaid by a vast, gnawing desperation, a twisting and turbulent distress that threatens to bubble to the surface at any given moment. Perhaps that comes from the strange behavior of the shopping district, yes. Or perhaps it's simply a component of this 'place', whatever it might be.

    It's certainly not helped by the occasional whispers. Soft, faint susurrations, almost impossible to discern at first, but tinged with that same hopefulness backed by desperation. They only grow louder the closer one draws to a doorway, finally growing just barely, partially audible. '...just for a little while.' 'Remember that time I...' '...my friend, right?' '...on the floor if I...' 'Please, just for a few...'

    Finally, there is the 'people'. They appear as no more than strange, shimmering distortions, glowing softly at their 'core' but otherwise semi-transparent. They have a distinct silhouette, but that's about it. It's almost certainly the same people who were visible outside; there's the ramen stand by the entrance, and the distortion behind it stands right where the owner was, while other pedestrians walk on by. Watching from this strange realm a half-step removed from reality, they represent perhaps the sole point of familiarity, something that lends them the same inviting quality possessed by the district's doorways.

    When Yumi steps out onto the street, no doubt after Yahiko has already done so, she stops dead in her tracks, eyes slowly widening. "What... w-what is this?"

    There goes Yahiko. Direct and to the point, headed right for the alley without dithering, dallying, or waiting for anything else.
    If anything, Rydia approves of the young man's gumption.
    "Looks like we are." She says back to Yumi. She's about to head after Yahiko when she realizes just how close Terra is, and it makes her pause for a beat to peer at the other green-haired girl. "I'm fine. Really." Muttered as she soldiers on.
    Only to start flailing.
    "Augh spiderweb! Spiderweb!" The girl shrieks, before pausing. Rydia clears her throat and proceeeds to act like that never happened.
    That's when she realizes something is... Different. The looming buildings bring with them a sense of vertigo that she had been trying to suppress, and NOW she's wobbling on her feet, fending off a nausea she had been putting off for days as she leans more directly on Terra for a beat. "This is..."
    Aside from the doors feeling so inviting, the faint lingering sensations in the air and sussurous whispers are making the child bring a hand to her face to rub her temples. But she only looks up to see the *people*.
    "This is not normal."

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> Dsgssgdgsdf spiderweb!

  Zelda arches a brow, turning to watch as Yahiko sets off down the alleyway without any further ado. Well, that makes things easier, doesn't it?

  Silent as a ghost, the princess trails after the others, keeping her weapons sheathed but her senses cast wide. It's not very specific, owing to it being a world not her own, and she's reasonably sure Yumi can sense it, but perception is a life-saver. If something nasty jumps out at them, having that fraction of a second could be the difference between life or death. Or maiming.

  She pulls a face as they pass through the veil, lip curling in disgust and revulsion, but she pushes on in silence.

  Then come the whispers.

  Zelda's head whips around at the sound of a voice so near, but the whisper is insubstantial. Nobody's there. Thinning her lips, she lays a hand over the smooth curve of her bow. She hasn't unslung it from her shoulder, but it won't be long.

  It's the spirits that are the worst. Zelda inhales sharply thorugh her nose, lifting her head and staring at one of them in an instant of cold shock. It's a reminder of Hyrule Castle; the inconstant and shifting lights of spirits. Her people.

  Zelda stoically ignores the cold thing coiling in the pit of her stomach. It takes conscious effort.

  "A realm different than the one we had arrived through," she advises, softly, subtle strain in her voice. "It may be better to keep moving. We do not know what calls this realm home. What do your senses tell you, Tachibana Yumi...?"

    This does not look like the sort of alley Yahiko was expecting. He's struck speechless, staring all around and then grimacing at the strange feeling it gives him. Shifting his feet about, he has fallen into a wary stance without thinking... he has to force himself back to a relaxed one.

    "If this is how Edo turns out, I'm going to try to get the name changed back when I get home," he admits. Twice now he's been to a Tokyo that hasn't been pleasant. "I knew it was a dumb name. It's just Kyoto backwards!" That is surely the cause of this, Yahiko.

    Ah, if only she felt half as tough as she looks even if she doesn't look that tough. Terra shifts her stance as the sword toting man starts past. So bold, brazen - almost admirably so. She almost calls out for him to wait, be careful or something but bites it back as Yumi follows. Then Rydia, Zelda. 

    Despite the assurance that the tiny summoner is fine, Terra sticks relatively close. That cry of alarm hastens her step and with a weird, crawling transition the world is suddenly very different.

    This strikes such a deep, primal chord with the half-Esper that she visibly cringes at everything about the world as her senses are assailed. The sights, the odd ethereal and threatening charicature of the awe inspiring vista from before. Space and distance being so ill defined makes her momentarily dizzy and she sways slightly to one side as she steps from the alley. "What- It's like a nightmare Is this real?"

    Now it's her turn to look pale and shaken. Maybe this just resonates particularly poorly with her. For whatever reason. "Can a name... Do that?"

    Yumi's head shakes faintly, the girl still faintly agape at the disconcerting mockery of the shopping district before them. "No. No, it's not normal at all." It's the only reply she can give Rydia. She's disconcerted enough that she doesn't move, essentially 'falling back' until she's beside Zelda. The simple presence of the Hylian bolsters her a bit. Doubly so with a question that provides her some focus. "Huh? Oh." Deep breath, Yumi. Deep breath. Focus on that strange sense. Focus.

    "...it's... everywhere," she concludes. "It's hard to tell, I can feel so much of whatever it is." Another breath or two. The girl closes her eyes. Then, after a second or two, she lifts her arm and points down the street. "That way. It's stronger that way." Eyes open again, and she spares Yahiko a 'go ahead' glance, before falling back again.

    This time, she falls in step with Terra, where the half-esper gets to see her constantly looking this way and that. Not quite 'paranoid', but very much on alert. "I don't... I don't /think/ a name can do this. Most versions of Tokyo are relatively normal, from what I read, just... big cities. I don't know what's going on here." She sounds utterly out of her depth.

    Walking on into the district yields more of the same - more of those phantom manifestations of the people outside, more doors that offer a succor which can never be had. And slowly but surely, that sense on the air, the gnawing sense of impending doom overlaid by an increasingly hollow insistence that things will work out, grows stronger, more cloying. Even the whispers are a bit more audible, though the further they go, the more incoherent the murmurs become. Formless, muttered pleas.

    At one point, Yumi looks to one side of the street just as a 'person' leans away from the wall next to her. She makes contact with their side, causing it to shimmer and ripple for a second - and a yelp slips out of the girl, a startled noise that has her pretty much leaping away. "Hyaa-!" The person-shaped distortion continues on down the street, not seeming to notice the contact at all.

    The district has become so creepy all of a sudden.
    Rydia keeps to the center of the group like the sickly young member of the herd that she is. Protected better than she would be in the back row if something attacked from the rear.
    The phantom people have her hand close to her dagger as she follows and Yumi points the direction the feels the sensation coming from the strongest.
    Evntually she gets curious.
    And attempts to approach a random door, regardless of how far away it feels.

    Yahiko sighs, but relaxes his hand from the sword... and instead pulls out the wooden one. It's repaired and won't hold up to a real fight, but it's also not lethal. Not that his metal blade is lethal, but it's doubtful anyone here knows that.

    "Are these ghosts?" He sounds wary, but not terrified. Mostly because he's not sure WHAT they are, and that's keeping him from panicking. Besides, he has to look good in front of the girls!

    He doesn't have any magic, so he's going to slowly advance, trying to figure out the source of the problem with his limited senses. "Are they dangerous, you think? I don't like this, but is it something we should be messing with?"

    Just a momentary pillar of support. Terra doesn't draw any further attention to Rydia's quick lean. She certainly understands, even offers a gentle shoulder squeeze and a quick look. Though...

    Now Yumi gets a concerned glance. She can't imagine what everyone else's going through and she momentarily aches with sympathy. "I honestly don't know either. We have a direction. That's something, at least."

    She tries to turn her senses toward the direction indicated before but doing any sort of searching only makes her insides crawl, creating an unsettling feeling like her instincts are trying to claw to the surface- urging her to flee. Either away back the way we came or forward. Toward... Is that even right?

    Then Yumi yelps and she nearly jumps out of her skin, turning to look- Then she looks back toward the 'source' or whatever it is most of us seem drawn to. Then Rydia's off to attempt a door and she moves to follow without even thinking, a hand resting on the hilt of the saber she's wearing. "We should stay together...!" Right? That sounds right. She even glances back to Zelda. Right?

    "Ghosts..." That's possible, it /sounds/ possible. Not what she imagined, perhaps but that's irrelevant. "Are... they the ones whispering?"

  The Hylian remains silent. Her eyes are darting every which way, looking toward phantom spectres and half-imagined movements at the periphery of her vision. Her hand remains on her bow. It's all very distracting.

  Terra seems to take it much worse than anybody else. The half-Esper might feel a hand settle briefly on her shoulder, touch feather-light; just a momentary touch of reassurance. Her attention flicks back ot Yumi, following after the girl as she falls into step with Terra. No more prompts for Yumi, this time.

  Zelda shies away from Yumi at the sudden movement and noise of Yumi's startle; but reassures herself quickly that there's nobody there and nothing to threaten them. At least, nothing out of the ordinary.

  Still, the princess offers no theory of her own. She spends her energy observing; watching and listening, and casting her senses over the area, no matter how unpleasant it may be. Instinct tells her that she'd better be ready for anything.

    As Rydia approaches the door, it withdraws. Further and further away. Or rather, the space itself is drawing the door away from her, creating more distance. Every step forward draws it ten steps away. By the time she actually reaches where it would be, it's more like she's looking down a long tunnel at a distant haven she can never reach... and if she bothers to reach out, thinking it an illusion, she will discover that it isn't. There really is more space there.

    Watching this from the sidelines is probably eye-twisting. Like seeing reality itself withdrawing away from a little girl.

    Yumi glances Rydia's way, then Yahiko's, before watching the wraith wander on its merry way. She takes a look around the street at the other distorted phantoms present, what they're doing, where they're going. Finally, she says, "I think... I think that's the people /outside/. The people in the shopping district. When I touched that one, it felt... weird. Warm, but not physically. I-"

    Her head turns suddenly. "Something's /moving/."

    The humanoid distortion, the one that Yumi brushed against. As it moves past an alleyway, a hand reaches out. An arm. Bone-white, slender almost to the point of emaciation, fingers curling slightly. The hand reaches out and scoops itself /through/ the distortion before withdrawing - and bringing some small measure of that phantom person's 'inner glow' with it. It's a quick motion, less than a second, but when it happens it comes with a very quiet but very distinct whisper.

    'We're buddies, right?'

    The person-shaped distortion stops. It turns this way, and that. Like a person who's just heard something, just been distracted by something. But apparently it doesn't see anything. So it turns and continues on.

    Yumi's stare hardens. "Did anyone else see that?" It doesn't sound like she likes what she saw, at all. In fact, she almost sounds angry.

    The door, inviting and safe as it feels... Does not get any closer. In fact when it feels like- and is confirmed that the doorway pulls farther away Rydia gives up her pursuit. It would not do to be separated from the group just following a false promise, and she agrees with Terra's assessment. The group should stay together.
    "The doors pull away..." She announces for anyone that cares. For the most part she gives the phantom 'people' a wide berth but squints, as Yumi states her hypothesis.
    It's the instant Yumi says something moved that Rydi goes bolt still, hand on the dagger at her belt. And it's now that the mist surrounding her slips aside with a faint swirling motion before it coalesces into the snowy white form of a dragon hatchling, comprised entirely of mist, coiling around her protectively.
    "I missed it." She admits, having not spied the sickly looking arm, but the tone of Yumi's voice ratchets the child's paranoia up significantly. "But I heard it."

    Yahiko is sharp enough to hear something. Something creepy. He can even make out the words! He misses the actual arm, but the slight glimpse he does get is enough to make him suddenly much, much more wary. His hand tightens on the sword... the practice sword.

    "I heard something," he agrees, tucking the stick away... and actually drawing the blade at his side. The sword that is... apparently dull, but he's holding it at the ready anyway.

    Zelda gets a grateful look from the half-Esper. Terra may be struggling but there's other things at least taking her mind off of it. At least for the moment! Such as the possible danger of wandering away into this weird, incomprehensible space. If anything happens, she at least wants to be ready to snatch Rydia out of harm's way but it's just so hard to focus!

    Then space just kind of... Does something that makes no sense in her mortal, three dimensional brain and she almost looks away to avoid feeling sick. It never gets that bad but she certainly looks a shade more pale from that. "It was certainly unsettling to watch."

    She quiets for Yumi's rather reasonable explanation. It could make sense- Huh? She pulls her weapon, the slightly curved blade leaving the sheath with a faint hiss. The naked blade glows softly and catches her eye. That glance makes her miss whatever it was but that whisper gets her attention again. "Is that person hurt?" Do they seem diminished? Is she imagining it? That might subconsciously drive her unease as well. She casts looks around to everyone in turn. "What should we do?"

  The princess follows Yumi's line of sight and narrows her eyes. She stands still as a statue as the bone-thin hand rakes into the presence that passes by. Something about the gesture seems to set her on edge, too. She opts for silence and stares after the clawed fingers. Her knuckles are white around the upper limb of the bow on her shoulder.

  Zelda narrows her eyes and stares after the withdrawing spirit, considering the feel of the anomaly; turning the sensation over in her mind. It's like the spiritual equivalent of touching an oil slick. Disgusting.

  In a single understated but practised movement, she shrugs her bow from her shoulder, strings and arrow loosely, and turns so her back is to the group instead of to the unknown. "I saw it." Her confirmation is soft, but largely toneless. That she takes a half-step closer to Yumi says a lot, though. "Tachibana Yumi. What do you think is happening...?"

    Seeing Yahiko draw that sword is almost comforting in its own way. It's difficult to tell whether she fails to notice it's unsharpened, or she just trusts Yahiko that much - but either way, she makes no comment. "It was an arm. Reaching out of that alleyway, it grabbed at the person. It pulled out some of that... whatever that glow is." At least Zelda saw it - and everyone else at least heard it. So they know they're not seeing things. Terra has a question Yumi herself considers /very/ pertinent. But one to which she has no answer. And Zelda's dovetails with it nicely. "I... I honestly have no idea. Is it preying on these people? It can't be hurting them enough for them to notice, or at least not in a way they'd notice. Whatever it's doing, my gut tells me we have to sto-"

    A rustle from above. A displacement of dust. Yumi turns and backs up, eyes lifting skyward, towards the source of the sound.

    A hand grasps the edge of the roof. Pale white, slender and bony. A left hand. Then it's joined by a right. Then another right. A third. A second left hand. Another hand. Another. Another. More hands, grabbing the edge of the roof, grasping and pulling their owner up to and over the edge-

    Hands.

        'Just for a few days, yeah?'

    Arms.

        'We're friends, aren't we?'

    Hands.

        'Just until I get on my feet.'

    Arms.

        'Please. Please, you gotta help.'

    The mass that descends almost can't be called a creature. It's nothing but grasping hands, long reaching arms, emerging from some central mass so numerously that perhaps the whole thing is nothing but hands. It's impossible to tell. Especially with the whole thing descending, reaching out, every hand stretching to its limit - and perhaps even stretching /period/ - in a bid to reach out and grasp Terra.

    Yahiko draws his blade. The fact that it's blunt earns a funny look from the smaller of the green-haired girls present. But Rydia witholds any comment she may have on the matter. Edging closer to Zelda, she elbows her hatchling. Whyt, obediently, detaches from where he hovers around the little Summoner, and proceeds to coil himself around the Hylian defensively, as Rydia draws her dagger in one hand and her whip in the other. IS whatever this is preying on the people, like Yumi ventures?
    It looks like everyone is about to find out when the Summoner follows Yumi's gaze upwards.
    She sees the hand. And the next. And the next and the next and the next, and her eyes widen. Staring up in rapt revulsion, her stomach churns at the mass of limbs, but her reaction is quick when she realizes it's going to Terra.
    Rydia brings her hand to her mouth and blows a sharp whistle.
    "/UNICORN!/"
    In no time the galloping of hooves can be heard thundering down the street. Like liquid silver a figure on four legs blitzes through-- dangerously close to bashing a few party members out of the way as it charges gracefully, and with a bell-like war cry leaps up to stab at the mass of hands with its holy horn.

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> Summon: Unicorn.

  Some kind of grasping monstrosity levers itself down from the roof. It stretches, strains, reaches its appendages for the half-Esper of the group. For a few seconds all Zelda can do is just... stare, uncomprehendingly as hand after hand after hand after hand reveals itself.

  Wow, that thing is kind of gross.

  She might have done something about it but suddenly there's a unicorn charging down the street. Zelda instinctively shies back with a yelp of alarm, because instinct tells her that she doesn't want to be in the way of the one-ton animal moving at terminal velocity. It's not aiming for her, though.

  The temptation to empty her quiver into the disgusting thing is unreasonably bad, but Zelda settles for observation. Besides, everyone else probably has all of the violence well in hand. Yahiko, she knows, is particularly good at it; so is Rydia. Terra is more of an unknown. So is Yumi, in this specific situation.

  Better to observe, then, in that case.

    Good thing Yahiko has his sword out. Terra looks like she can defend herself, but... Yahiko being who he is, the boy is already dashing to try to interpose himself, sword at the ready. "Is this-"

    He never finishes, because Rydia summons a unicorn. "Is that... is THAT what you were doing with it?" It dawns on him now what she did after the beast was defeated, his sword up and his eyes on the charging unicorn. He's here in case it gets by the summon, but now he feels a lot more confident about this.

    Well, it was worth a shot. Terra glances all around. The street doesn't seem any different, not really. The strange perspective is still strange. The only partly resolved people still mill about or move on their way.

    Of course what Yumi reasons sounds right. Or good enough for her, at any rate. Even if it's not harmful it's something of a violation. Her thoughts wander and her guard slips as Yumi looks up. What...? Hands. More odd whispering. Hands and arms practically crawling into view and plummeting to the street.

    Reaching for her.

    Her conditioning screams at her to clutch her weapon and fight. Her instincts tell her to strike out with magic. A less reasonable, much gentler part of her vetos everything else in favor of not perpetuating the notion that she's some kind of monster.

    Luckily, her inaction doesn't stop her comrades from responding. She gasps, shaken as the summoned creature thunders past to smite the... thing of too many limbs to count. She raises her weapon, then, moving to stand beside Yahiko. "Sorry! Thank you. What is this thing!?"

    Just seeing that unnatural thing descend is enough to have Yumi stumbling back, alarmed and momentarily at a loss. She utters an unsettled noise, catching herself, and then just as a first step towards Terra happens-

    Yumi knows that unicorn. Yumi recognizes that thing. She saw it back on her world. She saw Rydia make a pact with it. And now it's here, charging in to attack the lunging creature, and that step towards Terra turns into a dive /out of the way/. It's probably good that she does so. Because this particular collision does not go well.

    Not for the creature, at least.

    The horn drills into the center of mass, the Unicorn's speed and force enough to get it right past any defense the monster might care to muster. There is, curiously, no 'holy' reaction - nothing to suggest that it is an unholy creature being seared away by purifying light. However, it is still a very sharp, magically-imbued horn, and when it sinks home, the creature-

    It's hard to call it a roar. There is no sound. But somehow, on the air, the thing's death cry can be /felt/, an alarmed screech that resounds within the strange other-space until it at last fades. The hands grasp and paw at the summon, but never manage to find a grip, and then at last go limp... then begin to dissolve. Whispy, shimmering smoke curls away, slowly eroding the mass of hands from fingertip right down to... central mass? Central mass, until there is nothing left.

    Nothing, that is, except a dark-purple gemstone that drops to the ground with a soft 'tink'.

    The distorted reality around them shudders. It shimmers. It begins to evaporate around them - leaving the entire group in the middle of the actual, real shopping district. Where those strange, distorted 'people' were, there are now actual real people, staring in actual real confusion.

    "I forced it into a pact like the Summoners of old." Rydia comments to Yahiko as the unicorn blitzes by and assails the creature of many hands. But she promptly rests her hands on her knees, bending forward to catch her breath as the beast is speared and... Shudders at the eerily silent death rattle on the air.
    Now Rydia is wobbling on her feet. Calling a monster is less taxing than an Eidolon, but in her current state it's enough to leave her more than lightheaded.. Which means she misses the transition back to the shopping district proper, and looks up to see all the people, as the unicorn races off into the distance.
    "Uh."
    Think quick, Rydia.
    "Anyone wanna buy unicorn scout cookies?"

    The monster dies. That's all there is to say about that. Yahiko winces, even though it was awful in appearance. "Did you just... kill it?" This obviously disturbs him, perhaps even more than the creepy appearance did in the first place. At least it wasn't human, though.

    The blade Yahiko carries is then sheathed very quickly. Even in his time, carrying a sword is frowned upon, and he has picked up on the fact that it's weird here as well. "The more time I spend away from the dojo, the more I want to go home."

    "Technically I didn't kill it." Rydia says to Yahiko. "A unicorn killed it."
    She's not wrong.

  Everything happens in a bit of a rush. By the time it's all said and done, Zelda is left staring at the shopping district around them. Wait a minute, hadn't they left that behind, when they'd gone through the...? The Hylian blinks owlishly.

  Very carefully, she eases the arrow she'd been holding back into the quiver, and replaces the bow at her shoulder. The 'remains' are eyed uneasily. In retrospect, it's easier to think about it, without primal fear instincts crawling up the back of her neck. Was it right to kill that thing, when they still know nothing about it? What was it, really? Why did it leave behind a jewel? Had the thing been bound to it, somehow? Some kind of cursed object?

  The questions flit through her mind, but there are no answers. Zelda folds her arms, the posture more one of vulnerability than standoffishness. That thing was creepy and just thinking about it makes her skin crawl in the worst way.

  So she simply shakes her head. "I'm going home." It's not really home, but it'll do, and it beats sticking around in this weird place with people staring at her. "Master Yahiko, if you need a place to stay, you would be welcome. In fact, I should like to discuss hiring you on as a guardsman at another time, if you are open to the idea..."

    That's that. The wrongness begins to fade and Terra wilts just a little. Color comes back to her but everything that happened was all so fast! She slides her sword back into its sheath and tucks a hand against her breast. "That was..." Words fail. It's fine, best check and make sure everyone's okay. The shard? She gives it a side eye but makes no move toward it. No, that's something she's comfortable with. Not one bit.

    With an apologetic look, Terra offers a nod to Yumi and Yahiko. "Sorry we didn't meet under better circumstances; I'm Terra." A bit hasty, kind of an afterthought really.

    Rydia gets a perplexed look. "... Cookies?" Now? Cheeky companions are going to take a lot of getting used to.