World Tree MUSH

    It had been a bit as Rou-ri began to scout up and down the coastline of the village with petrified residents. At first he had searched on-foot with the Thunderfuries in hand, going from rooftop to rooftop while searching alleyways and such, but eventually he realized it would be more efficient to simply ride his cloud. Thus, he pulled it free and stepped onto it as he began to fly along the coastline and above the oceanfront, looking down from above what he can in the limited moonlight. While it was hardly the best way to look for monsters, he was doing what he could while not knowing much of the circumstances. His thoughts were on the events that took place. Were the monsters natural, or horrors of some kind? He'd seen them turn to ash, but was that just a quality of the creatures of this world or what?

    It annoyed him beyond reason that he didn't get a good answer before they were killed. He didn't know if they petrified victims simply by looking at them and they froze up, or if there was an energy or magic attack from their eyes, or if there was some curse involved with matching their gaze or something else entirely.

    But he knew that killing theme would revive the victims, so that was... nice, at least. Though all he had to go on was Murlocs, similar, albeit much smaller, creatures that tended to form groups and hung out on or near sources of water.

Luckily for a certain concerned Bear man, there was another non-human individual out there looking for him--one that apparently knew what to look for when it came to his personal mount.

A certain half-fae performer came over a hill, his cloak rolled up like a sleeping bag and slung behind his long coat, white boots tromping about through the grassy area along the coast, rifle casually slung over their right shoulder. At the very least, the bear might happen to spy a pair of yellow reflective eyes peering out from the gloom.

"Well well well, look who it is--a certain Rurirarurapa~" came Leo's voice, dripping with their usual flamboyance and glee. Hopefully, this would be enough to get Ruri to stop, if he already wasn't somewhere.

    "..."

    He did see the reflection of the eyes, and not knowing what it was, decided to scout it out in case it was a local monster. No harm in clearing up the wildlife since the seaside town was already having a hard enough problem. But as he got close, Rou-ri just kind of stared as he stood there atop the cloud with his right leg slightly ahead and bent a little, those two electrifying swords remaining in his hands. The air around the seaside still had a subtle energy in the air, that kind of ambient sensation that there was a disturbance in the area. "What are you doing here?" he asked before deciding to finally put the things away as there had been nothing of note left. Grabbing both hilts with one hand, he reached over to a satchel, flicked it open and slid them in. And the sky and air seemed to clear up once they were put away, though a close look at him would reveal that a lot of his coat - at least what was visible(not much) was fairly fluffy and static-filled. Even his normally well-kept hair was a little frizzy as a result.

"What am I doing here?! Making sure /your/ ass is okay, you wandered off and soon as I catch up I hear there is some kind of bloody battle? People getting /petrified/?" As usual, they sound like an old married couple when they argue. Or at least when Leo argues at Ruri.

"Electrified to see me as always there, I see," Leo crossed his arms, tilting his chin towards Ruri's thunder swords as he put them away.

"What happened back there, anyway? There was a lot of commotion and people were super suspicious, so I didn't stick around along," the half-fae shook their head, long black hair swishing back and forth.

    There was a soft huf of air as Rou-ri rubbed one wrist with his other hand and said, "I can't say I was aware you were nearby, but to sum it up... the village was beset by some kind of fish beasts that were petrifying the residents for some reason. The group I was with was going to check on the residents that got depetrified, and I opted to put my time to better use as I had already withdrew those swords and look for any remaining beasts that may be in the village, or the seaside, beachfront and ocean."

    It sounded rather simple, but Leo could likely tell Rou-ri was a combination of annoyed, and sore. Though physically he looked fine, actively using those weapons clearly wore on him. "Don't mind me, I'm going to take some of my armor off since I have a moment, and try to get some feeling back into my body." At which point he began to peel off the layers of armor, starting with the gloves, wrist plates, shoulders and chest piece, leaving himself in the armor on his lower half and the padded linen undershirt.

"I'm a beast changeling, remember--I just have to follow the scent of the shampoo you use," Leo grinned a little, fangs showing over his lower lip as he neared to give Ruri a few teasing pokes in the arm with a long tapered dark nail. Leo rocked on the heels of his boots and made cat-calling whistle noises as Ruri de-armored, teasing him a bit more.

"Uh-huh... and why are you bothering to help these normies, I wasn't under the impression they seemed to like our kind too much," he tilted his head, peering at the Pandaren.

"D'aww.. are you that much of a softy, Rurirarurapa?~" he grinned, replying before the bear could answer, and was in the middle of taking his shit off. "Am I wrong~?" he slunk down on the grass, using his rolled up cloak as a pillow.

    "...normies? I don't even know what you mean by that, but..." Touching him was not a good idea as Leo would have realized the moment he got close enough. An arc of visible electricity would discharge with a loud crack from the Pandaren. "Hey now, careful. Those damn blades don't agree with anyone, even if they were forced to come to an understanding a while back, with me. Feels like I'm trying to finger a thunder elemental every time I touch the damn things, let alone use them. I even have dinosaur-leather gloves insulated with rubber and enchanted to try and help."

    He didn't want to imagine how much pain someone would be in if they grabbed the damn things without protection. "But why wouldn't I help? They clearly need help. Maybe you wouldn't help anyone, but if someone asks me for something, I'm not going to tell them no."

    Despite the teasing, Rou-ri didn't really seem riled up by it, instead working his joints and trying to rub some sensation back into his arms. "Though I suppose it's... nice to hope I at least smell pleasant, given I try as hard as I do."

Leo looks up at his own hair, which is now frizzed up, like the guy on the cover of Eraserhead. "Ugh... I think it seems like you were trying to do worse than /that/ to a thunder spirit," the half-fae is quite distracted now, trying to fix their hair, meanwhile letting Ruri talk.

"Because, they're mortal, humans--you don't think a huge panda bear man fits in with a settlement like that, do you? I'm impressed you'd try to help them," raising a brow at the bear's reply. "I help people all the time, I just know better about humans--we're not in Azeroth, sweety," Leo explained with a calm and somewhat forced gentle tone.

    Rou-ri shook his head and added, "To be honest, considering how I came to have the weapons, I can't say as he was any happier to have it happen. So you're not far off. But no, I don't really... care what they think of me when I come, I care what they think when I leave. If I can make life around me a little better simply by having come and gone, then at least I accomplished something. That is more than can be said by many people, and I have seen enough war and death in my lifetime to last me an eternity. These creatures, they... did not simply petrify to consume, like the basilisks of my home world do. It was not self defense, or some kind of curse on a tomb against the greedy. They petrified... and then left. I cannot say as to why. Scavenger,s perhaps, but as strong as they are they could have easily hunted. I don't know their purpose, and now that the ones in the village are dead before I could figure it out, there's a lot of risks."

    He stopped at that point and stepped forward, only to sit on the ground nearby. "Does that answer your question as to why I would help? Or what I was doing when you found me?"

"Humans are naive and think all animals kill just for food," Leo waggles a long-nailed finger. "Not the case, take this bucko," the changeling gestured to the roll of fur that he leaned against on the grass. "Briarwolves are said to be escaped convicts, murderers--or real wolves that fell into the hedge. They were transfigured by the glamour there and become werewolves--their howls cause fear and dementia, their bite paralysis--they killf or sport as much as they do for food," he sets his rifle down, pointing off to the distance with it. "So do normal animals, so do those things that attacked you," the performer crossed his legs and kicked them back and up, one foot planted against the grass.

"As a saying they have down in the southern country from my world... 'when the varmints start picking off the chickens, then you start pickin' off the varmints," he gestured with his rifle again.

    "...right."

    The idea of skinning those who were once human, but have become wolves, caused him to look aside. "You should be careful about killing those things without asking first, by the way. At least if you can't tell instantly. There are those from my world known as Worgen. Once a mixture of races - humans, Night elves, so forth. But they were cursed and changed into worgen. Wolf-like creatures. While most you can't reason with, there are a group that are entirely sentient like you and I. So I suppose look and see if they're wearing clothes? Unless your kind wear clothes too then no idea." Rou-ri brought up a hand again, flexing it and looking it over, a bit more satisfied that he could feel again. His riding cloud still floated nearby, not having been put away yet. "Do they have elementals in the world you are from? I heard you say spirit, but... don't know what to even imagine, given the worlds you are familiar with are completely foreign to me."

"Please honey, a briarwolf is not even remotely human, nor does it give a shit about eating you," Leo peered over at Ruri. "Not that it would just be one, it'd be an entire pack, skeletonize ya," the changeling sat up. "You think this is my first rodeo there, babe? I've met humanoid wolves before," he grins, shaking his head.

"We have spirits, and sometimes fae creatures can take on the appearance of elemental beings--they like to create more of my kind with like features, but those were humans that were transformed--probably not like yours," he shrugged. "People with bark-like skin, or their hair is constantly buffeted by the wind, or their skin is wreathed in fire, things like that..."

    A shrug was the answer Leo got from Rou-ri. "Just making sure. Not all of us know a lot of other worlds, so there's no harm in sharing to be sure. But no, not at all like our kind of elementals. Our elementals are composit beings of the elements they represent. Tornado-like wind elementals, several styles of elementals have upper bodies that are vaguely humanoid, but are comprised of their respective elements. Rocks, magma, water, so forth. But there is no turning others into their kind or anything like that. Those weapons used to be one weapon, the personal weapon of Thunderaan. When he was reformed, he tried to fight me and a group of others and lost, and went back into dormancy. He was too weak at the time, but like a lot of elementals he has an attitude a country wide. It was somewhat decent back then, but when I used that weapon to try and contain his father - /the/ strongest wind elemental, the Elemental Lord, it got pissy with me. And eventually I split the bastard in two and got it reforged, and Thunderaan got revived as the new Wind Lord after his sire was deposed. He wasn't too happy to see his weapon on someone else, but we came to an understanding. Still hurts like hell to use the damn things, but seems we're both getting a jab at each other while still being civil."

    He paused and added, "Oh, and even the big ones are composit beings of their elements, but they're much larger and tend to have a somewhat novel appearance. Usually some kind of decorations or adornments. Ragnaros - now Smolderon, Neptulon, Al Akir - now Thunderaan and Therazane. I suggest if they're ever brought about to the World Tree or you hear about them, keep your distance. Not worth the trouble."

"You seem to have that effect on people," Leo nodded, listening to the story, folding his arms behind his head as he leaned back on the rolled up briarwolf cloak. "Taking other people's toys too, my my my, Ruri, you've been naughty way before I got to you, I see," he uncrossed his white-booted legs and pushed to get up from the grass, using the butt of his rifle to help himself up.

"Can't say I've entertained too many beings like that, usually just a lot of humans or anthro critters, like yourself--it's still somewhat weird to me to see things like you around--anything that's not human from my world does a good job of looking human enough in public, or staying out of sight," he re-slung the rolled cloak behind him.

"But like I said--animals can hunt for sport, too, I'd know, believe me," he gestured to his bat-like ears and fang-like incisors. "Whatever those creatures were they probably didn't like the humans being around, maybe they have a nest somewhere."

    "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. See, there's creatures from my world called Murlocs. Ugly little bastards, about knee tall for me, kind of frog like, mouth full of sharp teeth and two bug eyes. Stand on two feet, flippers, and have arms and hands. Tend to carry spears and stuff. Kind of tribal like and all, but they're pests to an extreme. Breed like rats, swarm everywhere and eat anything in sight gurgling like the menaces they are. They're rather similar to the things in that village, except the ones in this village petrify people somehow, and are much, much bigger and only have the one eye. But the Murlocs? They have these little villages along waterfronts and underwater sometimes."

    That explains what he was doing. "I was going to rain down an Elemental Lords worth of judgment on any I found, but didn't find any. Might have looked in the wrong areas, though, or maybe they're hidden. ...or maybe they're underwater and we'll have to flush the things out or go to them. Can't say's I'm enthused to go swimming, already had enough of Vashj'ir for a lifetime, but I'll do what I have to I suppose."

"You really want to protect these dumb humans, huh? Hmm... well, fuck it, guess that's what we'll have to do then," Leo reshouldered his cloak and rifle, nodding upwards to Ruri, who was a fair bit taller than the half-fae.

"For right now though, thinking of heading back into that place, see if I can't find something eat--one damn thing I hate about these low-tech worlds, no places for food open at night," he clucked his tongue and sighed, before looking back at the bear.

"You wanna come with? Or you afraid of making them uneasy?" he tilted his head, raising a brow. "Unless you wanna camp out here... msut say it'd make me a little nervous with these... basilisks, you said, they were?"

    He thought before shaking his head, "Not going to play the lone hero and try to solve it myself, it's a fast way to stir up trouble when there's others around. I'll head back, but what do you say to finding and killing something to eat? I'm sure they would appreciate it. Terrified as they were, they were shut in their houses, didn't even want to keep the shutters open when we walked by. Can't imagine they've had much in the way of chances to fish or hunt. Sure there's something in this area that's edible anyways. Plus if I didn't come back the rest might wonder what happened to me, so will need to inform them too just so nothing goes wrong."

    Rou-ri went to grab his removed armor and start stuffing it into his (seemingly) bottomless satchels before pulling out a rather ornate-looking bow. About as tall as he was, golden and gilded with flowery feather decorations, looking like someone had a fetish for birds and gold and was like 'You know what would make a good bow? If I glued feathers to it and dipped it in gold.'

"Well, sure, I mean--but is there anything to hunt out here? Looks like some plains boardering a huge desert, hon," Leo nevertheless made sure the cloak was rolled tight and against his back, while unshouldering and checking over his magical assault rifle. He wasn't to make sure there was no debris stuck in it, and unfortunately that archaic model of rifle didn't really come with a dust cover--not that it technically needed it, but...

"...And just /where/ were you hiding that?" the performer looked a tad alarmed, as he hadn't seen Ruri ever pull a huge golden bow out of his Link-esque pack of holding over there before.

    "There's got to be something. And... oh, these satchels are enchanted and engineered to let me hold a hell of a lot more than what looks like it'll fit. Suffice it to say, I've got an entire armory with me at all times, in addition to traveling supplies, clothes, textiles to sell, money, food, so forth. Basically whatever I could want." he paused, "Did you not see me put the Thunderfuries into the bag earlier?" as if demonstrating, he takes the bow as tall as he was, lifts the flap and proceeds to insert it into the satchel which was barely a foot and a half deep. Then pull it back out. "See?"