World Tree MUSH

     Another bright Summer day in Safe Haven, the city of mythyical beings surrounded by seemingly endless forests. While Zoo Phoenix Academy, its central hub of education for all youngsters, offers Summer classes, most students have opted to take the season off. One such student is Damian, the skinny red-furred half-demon jackal who instead prefers to spend his days playing banjo and exploring...

Or in this case, taking Raven out for an afternoon on the town. She still hasn't seen everything, after all, and there's this one book shop he just /knows/ she'll love! As he skips through the sprawling marketplace, levitating several feet above the ground, he serenades her with a seasonal ballad and a grin plastered across his face.

Benedicta looks around with an annoyed look on her face, this certainly wasn't Beacon Society. She turns around to find the vine she came on and it's already gone. It looks like she's going to have to find a different one if she's going to leave. She begins to search the area for anything that might help get her out of here but with no avail. She's going to have to find someone to ask for directions as she walks forward carefully.

Raven had, unwilling, pulled herself away from her studies. While Damian didn't like summer classes, she very much enjoyed them. She borderline taught one of them considering how often she'd answer questions for her fellow students between classes. Still, she knew it was probably best she did accept his offer, after all, despite her wishes she couldn't spend all of her time studying and reading.

She knew this because she'd asked and gotten scolded by a teacher for it.

So instead, she was walking with her fellow student and... kind of her boy friend. She was even walking, as strange as it was. Of course, he was currently 'kind of her boy friend' because he was embarassing the heck out of her with his serenading her, and he could see the red in her cheeks. He was an idiot. Even if she did kind of find it adorable and endearing... "You know, you don't need to serenade me. I've already agreed to date you..." she mumbled, turning her attention towards one of the jewelry markets. Alas, nothing seemed really old/mythological/magical enough to keep her focus more than a second.

     Without stopping his banjo strumming, Damian laughs a little at Raven's embarrassed response. "I do it because I love doing it. Singing and dancing is always fun, especially when you're doing it for someone you love~" he says with a wink, fully cognizant of that blush of hers. "Besides, it's Summer! You gotta find time for fun, because it doesn't last all year!"

His eye is soon caught by someone coming in off a Vine however, and he floats over to Benedicta with a friendly wave. "Heya! You don't look familiar, are you from another world? I'm Damian, this is my girlfriend Raven. She's not a native either. If you're having trouble finding your way around, maybe we could help you out!"

Benedicta looks completely stunned as Damian suddenly approaches her. Her horn also begins to glow yellow at the presence of magic. This certainly could be bad and she tries to turn around only to find her feet wouldn't cooperate. Damian looks like he hasn't ate in days so she's sure that's she's a rather tempting meal right now. Well, at least he isn't alone. She can only hope he won't eat her in public. 

 As far as magic goes, Raven wouldn't be able to complain about that anymore. There's plenty of magic coming from Benedicta though it wouldn't seem quite right. She's not really any position to talk about it at the moment thougyh.

Raven glanced off to the side, shaking her head. "I wish it would last less. It's too hot..." she mumbled. It had been sweltering, lately. Granted, that might have something to do with her only having dark outfits. Any temperature would be hot when she wore that color and the sun was always out. Still, it madeh im happy so she couldn't hate it too much. A little heat wasn't so bad.

However, he then flew off and started harassing someone else. She felt her cheeks burn, just a little, at the mention of her being his girlfriend. it wasn't that she was embarrassed by it, or anything. she was still just... not used to it. Dating. It was still a strange phenomenon to her.

She walked towards the other girl, cocking her head slightly to the side. The girl didn't respond to Damian. Though the girl had obviously focused on him. Raven, at least, appeared... actually, with her hood up, it was hard to tell WHAT she was. Only her mouth could be seen, and her hands. She was pale, at least. And appeared to be human.

"Don't be alarmed, we won't harm you. This is a city of peace," she said in a calm, controlled voice. "I assure you, Damian is physically harmless."

     Damian notices the strange glowing horn, but he doesn't know what to say about it, if anything. Instead, he just lays on his back in the air and starts floating in circles. "Not much of a talker, eh? It's okay, we have a few people like that here. Don't worry, you'll fit right in!"

As Raven comes over to reassure Benedicta, Damian nods and winks. "Yep. Totally harmless. Not a spawn of Satan at all~" he adds with a little giggle that shows off entirely too many of his teeth.

Well Raven seems to reassure her and Benedicta finally speaks up, "I have to agree, summer is way too long. Well, it would be kind odd for the spawn of satan to look like a skinny hyena." Benedicta thinks the devil's son would certainly want to look more imposing. "Do either of you know another way out of here, the vine I came in on kind of disappeared?" They might not be dangerous but that doesn't mean she wants to spend all day here either.

Raven sighs, glancing at Damian. Of course, then he says spawn of satan and she almost smacks him. There was a light crackling of her magic before she buried it back down. Control. "He's just childish, is all," she said, her voice soft and monotone. "Please forgive him."

Of course, then Benedicta went off and called him out on his lack of imposing. She gave a light chuckle, eying the little hyena. "He's actually more of a jackal, they're more scavengers. If you require an exit, I can assist. I often travel through the vines on my explorations and helping you leave would not be much of an issue. However, where are you trying to go?" she asked, her voice calm and careful.

     "So she /can/ talk!" Damian responds with delight, prancing through the air around Benedicta. "Oooooh she's just so precious! Can we keep her, Raven? Can we, can we?" However, Raven's crackling magic warns him that maybe he should take this a little more seriously, so he settles down next to her and nods. "Okay, okay, sorry, okay. Yeah, we can help you leave, but don't you wanna at least look around a little? Safe Haven is a really cool place! We've got lots of people around here like you, you'd fit right in!"

"My world's version of California but I'm sure there's multiple Californias so that doesn't really near it down." Benedicta knows that wasn't very helpful. "I'm not a pet, and even if I were I wouldn't stick around. Though it sounds like I might be stuck here for a bit." She sighs a bit. "But yeah there's monsters on my world so I shouldn't spend too along away, they might attack while I'm gone." There's a reason she wants to leave.

Raven sighed and shook her head. "He's joking. He doesn't want to keep you. You're not much different from the other people of this world, though. So I wouldn't worry too much. Fortunately, most of them are nothing like Damian." ... HEY! "But he really does mean well."

She then shook her head. "I've... seen a few california's. It is often found in a country called america, correct? Though I have seen a few that are in england and one that was in russia. Then there was the space station known as California. And the underwater kingdom known as California. On top of..." She trailedo ff. "You would need to be more precise."

Raven frowned, then. "If you could give more details of this... world and place. These monsters. I can try and locate it. I do try to keep an journal of different worlds I've seen. Your world may be one I can help you return to."

     Damian gives Raven a mock-hurt look, lip wibbling and everything, but then returns to the matter in question, resting his chin on one hand as he thinks. "There's a California in this world, but I don't think that's the one you're looking for. I wouldn't be surprised about monsters there, though. Even my dad calls it a hellhole." He snickers a bit at the pun (which Benedicta probably won't get), but then nods to Raven. "Anyway, a roadtrip sounds like it could be fun! Especially if there's a new pet- er, friend to be made~"

Cheeky wink.

"Well, it's more of a earth in the year 2019, but I'm from California. I'm pretty sure it's not the one here though. As far as monsters go artifical magical beings..." Benedicta stutters a bit as she realizes that she would qualify as that and her horn blinks. "It's in America though...underwater California? So it actually split off and sunk into the ocean somewhere?"

     "So the same year as this world. And artificial magical beings... are you /sure/ this isn't your world? One of my best friends was made in a lab, and magic's pretty widespread around here." Damian muses, glancing Benedicta up and down. "But you fight them to protect people? What, are they like vampires or something? We've got those in this world too, and it was kind of a big deal when one showed up a while back, since the barrier around the city's supposed to stop things like that."

"I don't know all the details, I've only been fighting them for about a year and a half. I'm sure there's people who know a lot more than I do." Benedicta doesn't want to blow her cover, especially around strangers. "One of them just showed up in Milibrae one day and I was told I was the only one who could stop it. Oh my name's Benedicta, that should make this slightly less awkward."

     "Uh-huh, I see. One of those magical hero types. There's a guy I know who tries to be one of those. He's fun to mess with." Damian says with a grin, then nods and extends a hand for Benedicta to shake. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Benedicta! Can I call you Ben for short, or Benny, or maybe Arnold?"

Raven kept glaring at Damian, before glancing back to Benedicta. "There's.... a few worldsl ike that. But yes. It had sunk into the ocean and was ruled by underwater.... anyway. It's a fairly common point across different universes, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to find it. I'll see if I can find it. What do these monsters look like, could you describe them to me?"

She then glanced to Damian. "The magical hero types are quite common, to be honest. At one point in my life I'd even considered trying to be one. But I'd have likely been a terrible hero. I think most require teams, as well."

"... Why... Arnold?" she asked. "Is... that... another thing from one of your shows?"

"Benny works, being a rabbit I tend to call that a lot anyway. There's no sense in fighting it." Benedicta shakes Damian's hand. "Can we go somewhere cooler? It would be kind of awkward if I passed out on some strange world. "I think he's referring to Benedict Arnold he betrayed the American colonies for the British in the REvolution War it's complicated." Her eyes turn towards Raven. "They can look like pretty much anything from what I've been taught. You don't seem too threatening, I mean goth girls are a dime a dozen in California and most of them keep to themselves." She can sense Raven is magical but not much more than that.

     Damian is about to explain, but Benedicta beats him to it. "Yeah, that. See, I pay attention in history class." he boasts with a proud chest thump and a smirk. As the bunny complains about the heat, however, he starts leading the both of them to a nearby bookstore, the one he'd initially intended to show Raven. "Okay, let's get inside then. This place has air conditioning, plus all the books Raven could ever want to bury her beak in. Metaphorically speaking~"

Raven nodded. "Ahhhhh. Benedict Arnold, right. Sorry. Where I'm from there isn't... quite... an america. Well, there is, but there wasn't one I ever saw. I only ever heard of it, the monks of Azarath had long since left that dimension behind when I was born," she said before walking with Damian.

"I'd... offer my hand to shake as wlel, but I am an empath. Physical touching is... not good, for me," she said gently. "And... thank you. I try not to be threatening."

She glanced back to Damian. "You... made a history joke. I... think I may be proud of you. Just a hint, though. Do not let it go to your head," she warned before walking in.

And her eyes lit up. She flew off a moment later, gliding through the air as she went through the many, many tomes. She was excited. Of course she was excited. there were BOOKS! She always loved books!

"Yeah, I can imagine that would make being a hero awkward, you try to punch someone and you suddenly understand what they're feeling." Benedicta nods in agreement. She makes her way inside and watches Raven off. "Does she always get like that? I mean I like gardening but I don't run up and down the aisle at the hardware store." Her attention turns backs towards Damian.

     Damian does give Raven's hand a brief, gentle squeeze just before she runs off, a gesture that could easily communicate his intent even if she weren't empathic. "Don't have too much fun, Raven! I don't think dad would like it if I blew my entire allowance on books." he calls after her, giggling lightly as he watches the goth. Despite her attempt to act all serious and grim, sometimes she and Damian are more alike than she'd probably ever admit.

"Anyway, yeah, she gets like that a lot. I've never met a girl with a bigger appetite for learning. It's kind of cute~" he answers Benedicta with a wink, then gestures at her horn. "So what's that horn for, anyway? It was glowing earlier."

Raven stopped and then glanced back towards him, giving him a flat stare. "One, i have my own money. I still do jobs for Wolf. Two, if you were to bring home any books that weren't comics, I'm pretty sure hell would, literally, freeze over," she said. the worst part? She said it so stone faced and calm.

Then she plucked a book out from the air and started flicking throughi t... Then a second. And a third. A dozen books floating around in her magic as she looked through them. Yes, she had a whole library she'd been going through... But there was just something different about OWNING a book. She picked up an old tome, giving it a soft sniff and sighing. "I think this is a first edition in this dimension... I actually managed to acquire a first edition in seven different dimensions so far..."

... Okay, so she was a bit weird. Her hood had fallen back in her excitement, revealing her rather human features. That did kind of make her the odd one out.

"It can sense magic and I channel spells through it. Raven seems to have a ton of magic. OF course I think anyone with working eyes can figure that." Benedicta knows that it doesn't sound too impressive. Raven's appearance doesn't phase her, she just figures she doesn't get out much. "I'm sure hell has already frozen over in some places. I guess it's kind of hard to cast spells from an eReader huh?" There must be some reason people still kept books around after all.

     Damian oooohs at the explanation, reaching out to poke at Benedicta's horn before stopping himself. "That sounds neat! I think Raven can do that too, but I haven't figured it out yet. Dad said it'd come in time, just like my fire powers." he says, then conjures a top hat from thin air and flips it up onto his head with a grin. "I can do stuff like this, though! No books or eReaders required. Raven, though... I think she just loves books that much, whether they're magical or not."

He then glances over to Raven and sticks his tongue out, just like a child. "Yeah, shows what you know! I read more than just comic books."

Raven blinked and glanced over. "What's an... ebook?" she asked. "And no. I am usually careful about which books I cast from. There are a lot of... difficult spells. Dangerous spells that can and will destroy both the user and everything around them if done dangerously."

She glanced over. "Books are jsut... special. I've always enjoyed them. You can learn so much from them. That and... well, in Azarath, they were the only form of entertainment we had. We didn't... have video games and the like. Don't let Damian fool you. His magic is different from mine, but can be powerful and useful. He just needs to practice more. Perhaps try some of my meditation techniques..." she said idly, eying the jackal and seeming to be lost in thoguht for the moment.

Benedicta looks at the top hat, "Just don't try and pull me out of that, it would be rather painful." Especially to be compressed in a tight space. "An ebook is basically a book on a computer, it's a lot easier than caring a bunch of books around and takes up less space." She tries to keep it as simple as possible. "Well, I guess having books were better than nothing, that was what was like 200 years ago after all."

     "Yeah, my magic comes from a very different place than hers. I don't need meditation or chanting or fancy gestures to use my magic, I just think it and it happens." Damian says, showing off a bit more by replacing his weirdly dress-like shirt with a tuxedo and summoning a cane into his hand. "Like that, see? I doubt I could sit still long enough for Raven's techniques."

He winks at the goth, then does a few stretches and floats over to a clearer part of the store with more room. While glancing around and shuffling some chairs and book stacks out of the way to make sure there's nothing in his immediate vicinity, he continues, "Yeah, some of those books can be pretty thick too. Major Styx kept trying to get me to read Mein Kampf, but it's like seven hundred pages or something, and it's BORING."

Once Damian's done cleaning up the clutter, he clears his throat and settles down in the center of the clearing he's made. "Anyway, yeah, they didn't have TV two hundred years ago. Which meant they didn't get classics like this..." he says as a lead-up, then shifts his body into the form of a small anthropomorphic frog, and begins dance-kicking across the floor while singing. "Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal~"

Raven nods. "Ah. Right. Computers. Those are... interesting. I've tried one." She was a find and peck typer. "I prefer wolf's. My magic doesn't tend to work well with technology of that sort, though. they keep... breaking. A few things have survived, though. In some dimensions, books may be an old or new invention, as well."

She paused when Damian started doing... things. That was all she could say. She wasn't familiar with Mein Kampf, fortunately. She likely would have had words to say on it... However. For now?

Her eyes widened and a dome of darkness covered the frog. "Damian! Hush! You're going to get us kicked out!" she hissed at him, her cheeks burning. The barrier disappeared a moment later, though she was glaring at him heavily.

Well, Benedicta supposes she could have it worse, at least she's not a small anthromorphic frog. "Yes, it might be best to avoid reading that." As strange as DAmian is, it might be a good idea to avoid exposing him to Nazi idelogy. "I just channel it through my horn, there's not much more to it then that." Benedicta isn't going to go into more details about that.

 Her attention then turns towards Raven, "Well, it's a bookstore not a library. And I guess in some places, the printing press is a new invention. Does he have a short attention span or something?"

     The bespectacled face of an elderly satyr peeks around the corner, giving the three teens a glare as he puts his finger up to his lips. A moment later, he disappears back to whatever he was doing before, and Damian, shifting back to his normal appearance, returns to Raven's side. "Nah, I just like messing around with people. Raven's adorable when she blushes, isn't she?" he says with a smirk, gently elbowing Raven's ribs. "It's okay though, I know the guy that owns this place. There's no way he'll kick us out while I'm here."

Raven cringed at the sight of the man hushing them. She sighed, then turned her eyes on Damian. "It's not about getting kicked out or not," she whispered in a hushed tone. "It's about being polite. There are people reading and studying here, so you should try to be quiet. they--"

And then he called her adorable. Her cheeks went red and she quickly lifted the hood back over her face, hiding her features. "N-no I'm not..." she mumbled softly.

Benedicta smiles a bit at Raven's reaction. "Well, maybe it's not so bad here, but I do eventually need to get back. I wonder if anyone these books explain better how the vines work." She begins look through them. If people are able to come here from different worlds, books should be able to do so too right?"

     Damian has a cheeky grin as he leans in to give Raven a very brief peck on the lips. "Of course you are. Being all shy and trying to hide it only makes you even more adorable~" he teases her, then turns to Benedicta and shrugs. "No clue. Magic's pretty widespread around here though, like I said. Some of them should be able to give you a few pointers on navigating interdimensional wormholes or whatever."

Raven blinked a few times. "You know, I've found plenty of books that... seem focused on magic. But I haven't seen many that focus on vines themselves. Perhaps I should write one..." she said idly, tapping her chin in thought.

Then Damian kissed her and she stumbled back. "S-stop that!" she hissed. "I'm not... I don't... Grrrrr..." She didn't... want to admit she actually liked it when he did stuff like that. The little flutter of her heart, the way her stomach tightened in knots. Better to just pretend she hated it.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea, I would certainly buy a copy." Benedicta can't help but to wonder how they work. "Maybe I should give you two some privacy." She makes her way towards a different part of the store so they can be alone.

     "Ooh, you wanna be a writer too, huh? Now I'm curious what a book written by Raven would be like~" Damian teases a little more, in full mischief mode. However, as Benedicta moves on and Raven protests his actions, he sets down on the floor and gives the goth a worried look. "Er... sorry, did I go too far? I know sometimes I get a little too into it, but..."

Raven shook her head. "No... worse than normal. But you should go apologize to her," she said softly, hugging one of the books to her chest. "And I don't know. Writing might be... fun to try. If... I manage to avoid doing that... other thing, we talked about." Destroying the multi-verse and all.

She then glanced back to Benedicta and started making her way after the other girl. "So then. How did you end up here, anyway? Do you remember anyo ther worlds you may have passed through?" she asked the girl.

Benedicta turns back towards Raven as she's addresses, "The vine I usually take lead to here instead of where I was trying to go. Maybe it moved?" That's all she can figure. "It could somewhere around here, if there's a different vine where it should be?" It could have become a triangle for all she know.

     Damian sighs and follows after Raven, tail sagging behind him. As they reach Benedicta, he gives her a weak smile while rubbing his arm, sheepishly muttering an apology. "Sorry, I... yeah. I went a little too far there. I guess I was just trying to impress a new friend and got carried away." Another sigh, then he starts heading back toward the entrance. "We should try to find another Vine, then. It might not lead home, but maybe it'll take you somewhere more familiar."

Raven nodded, giving the girl a small nod. "Indeed. New vines seem to pop up all the time. Eventually, finding your way home shouldn't be too difficult. If it comes to it, I can likely transport you to one of them, to get there faster."

She did glance to Damian. "Don't be too hard on him. His heart is in the right place. His actions... not always. But he does always mean well," she said gently, reaching out and gently patting his head.

It was part of the reason she enjoyed her time with him so. The way he just... cared... about others. IT was so endearing... Loveable, even.