World Tree MUSH

The world called Van Patissierie was ravaged by nanoprobes, but the windswept town of Bon Bonne managed to avoid the damage. It's an older-style town, maybe eighteenth or nineteenth century or thereabouts; there's an open air market, everyone showing off their wares, in much higher spirits now that the end of the world has been averted (and there's no longer any Roshtonari causing shenanigans).

Emily Nyx is on a chair near the outskirts, munching on a pastry she bought here; she's in her 'default' form of an auburn-haired woman with robotic-looking eyes, dressed more-or-less in the older dress-style of the locals. Uncommonly for those who know her, she's looking fairly subdued -- perhaps even troubled.

In fact, she hasn't actually left Van Patissierie since she disembarked from the Kaguyahime after her self-repairs were completed.

    Uni wasn't part of the events that unfolded here, but travelling to offer aid in return for some faith has finally led her here... not because someone she considers a maybefriend was last seen here, no that's not it at all, don't read so much into it, b-baka.

    She's wearing a long duster-style coat, heavy boots, and a slight frown as she approaches Emily... she'd have stuck out less if she just wore her normal goddess outfit, or even her (wear more clothes) outfit...

    Luke kind of likes this kind of old fashioned places, even if he tends to be affraid to let most of his pokemon out, some people might find a orange, red and cream grizzly bear sized... fire bear, to be a bit of an intimidating sight. So, he was actually on the outskirts, letting some of his pokemon out to enjoy the fresh air, but heading to the town for snacks. 
     The boy is shadowed by a large (for cat standards) black cat, with golden 'bands' near each of it's paws, and what looks like a bell attached to it's tail tip. It even rings as the cat pads around!, and as they approach, Luke spots a familiar face, smiling and waving his hand happily towards Emily, not quite noticing how subdued she seems at a distance, but does spot another person approaching a well, and offers Uni a polite wave a swell, "Hi!".

Emily looks up as Uni and Luke make their respective approaches, and nods in greeting. "Hey," she says. "How've you guys been doing?" She doesn't sound like she's in top form. "You missed the fun, Uni, around this time about a month or two ago, this particular world was ending." She gestures with the half-eaten pastry. "The atmosphere's way better now, though!"

She regards Luke's black cat with interest. "Oh, I'm ... pretty sure I haven't met your cat before. Who's this?"

Yeah, there's definitely something halfhearted about her tone.

    "Sorry I missed the party." replies the goddess, crouching down nearby, and giving Luke and his companions a little wiggle of her fingers. "Something's got you worried though..." she says "I can tell. Don't try to deny it either, my big sister can't even hide when she's worried from me." she adds quickly, holding up a finger. It's about then that her Shinki pokes her head out from Uni's collar, blinking a bit owlishly for a moment or two.

    The boy smiles for a moment, aiming i tto Uni, while the musical cat lets out a melodius noise that sounds like 'berurun', while it's tail flicks a few times, the bell chiming softly, following a steady, slow rythm. "Oh, this cute girl is Berurun, I tend to not bring her out on adventures because hse i snot quite ready for combat!... Berurun, that is Emily, she is very, very strong, stronger than any of my pokemon." he tells teh cat, who looks a bit impressed, adn moves a bit closer!. It's then that Luke, just like Uni, notices that their mutual friend seems... off, "Are you ok?" he asks, "You seem a bit..." then Uni speaks more, "Yeah.".

Emily raises her eyebrows at Uni's pointedness, and lets out a chuckle. "Let's just say I'm going through some stuff after the climax of that adventure," she says. "Well, nice to meet you, Berurun! But, uh."

She grins, and looks between Uni and Luke. "I'm gonna level with you guys," she says. "Ever since I took my little acid bath to protect Astra and the Professor, I've been trying to figure out ... why." She looks up at Uni. "Oh, uh, we were fighting the final boss, I turned myself into a shield in order to stop its acid-attack from hitting a couple of VIPs." She gestures with her free hand, and the silvery glitter of her nanomachines swirls around it. "Must've damaged like twenty percent of my nanomachines, I had to do an emergency-shutdown after the fight was done."

She pauses to take another bite out of her pastry. "The thing is," she says, and somehow she doesn't sound like her mouth is full, "I know perfectly well that they were vital to the success of our mission, and putting myself in harm's way was the most expedient way to protect them, especially since I can self-repair well enough that I am now, physically, as good as new." She shakes her head. "But for some reason, that ... isn't satisfying me as an answer. If that makes sense."

    "You need to reconcile the mental reason you purposefully put yourself in danger." remarks Uni with a tap of her finger against her cheek. "I remember you told me that Eudaemon are naturally cowardly, for lack of a better term, and tend to avoid harm where possible... that, combined with the very real threat that the acid could have permanently damaged your core functions, likely has you in an infinite loop of cost versus benefit." she muses out loud more than anything. "If only Nepgear was here... AI and robots and stuff are her forte, not mine... If you were a gun, I'd be able to figure out the core reasons like 'that'." with the last word, she punctuates with a snap of her fingers, which makes her Shinki jolt at the unexpected sound... then the little robot lifts up, and floats over towards the musical cat, peeking at it curiously.

    Luke tilts his head just a bit, looking at Emily curiously, "So... you are trying to... understand why you decided to risk yourself in such a way, not just risk, but actually get hurt, if that was the best course of action." he says. "It's a hard thing to really answer... everyone has their own reasons, some do it because they like helping, and can't stand the idea of someone else getting hurt if they can do something to help it, I like to help because I can... well, me and my pokemon... It's nice to be able to help, risk or not." 
    "I seen some... disturbing stuff... and situations, still can't quite... wrap my head about some of those, but still... I think you did the right thing, I wish I had the prescense of mind at that point to help you, rather than try to hit at that worm thing." the boy just rubs the back of his head, "I mean, you helped this place a lot, saved a lot of people, not just those VIPs, not just me adn the others there, but everyone around here...." then chuckles, "I wish I knew about this... psychology stuff." 
    The musical cat 'meows' to Emily, before the little Shinki approaches and looks curiously at the small floating 'person', sitting down and simply looking at her.

Emily shrugs at the 'cowardly' comment. "Well, it's more that we were built to serve the Masters of our world, not take risks," she says. "It's just that the Masters are extinct." Her trademark amused and faintly smug smile shows signs of returning. "I'm pretty much the only weirdo who bothers to stick my neck out. But. Hm."

She reaches out and strokes Berurun. "Yeah, Luke, I was there for some of the 'disturbing stuff and situations'," she says dryly. "Like in the desert." That still elicits an involuntarily shudder. "But ... yeah. When you get right down to it, I did, in fact, save the world. Didn't even stop to think if it was worth the risk. And don't sell yourself short, either, you definitely helped bring it down in time."

She tosses back the entire rest of the pastry thoughtfully. "I think you both might be onto something there," she says. "I mean. I'm no hero ..." Notwithstanding all evidence to the contrary. "... but ... hmm. I do think there might be something wonky going on with my priorities."

    "When you boil it all the way down, what is a hero, really? Some cynics would say there's no such thing as heroes. Just the right person, in the right place at the right time to make a difference." Uni shrugs. "I'll never know, I was born from the faith of Lastation's people... I was literally created to do this kinda thing." she gestures vaguely to the world around them. "I never got to do anything here, but it had people like you, in the right place at the right time." Uni reaches over, and places a hand on Emily's forearm, nearest to her.

    "You made the difference." Uni offers a smile, while Bravette flits down, hovering in front of Berurun's face, and tilting her head curiously.

Luke Gray nods slowly, "I mean, I am not sure tehre is something... wrong with your priorities?, but... I don't think I am the person to talk with, maybe a psychiatrist?, someone that is better for this kind of thin?" he says, chuckling a bit. "You mean Bewear did, but thanks, i just wanted to do everything I would to stop that thing.". He steps aside letting Uni and Emily talk, simply listening to the 'Goddess' curiously, a bit of an unusual meeting for him. 
    The black cat purrrs and continues to swing that tail, making that steady chiming noise, which combined with said curious purr, sounds almost like the cat was humming or singing something, quite content when petted!. Once Bravette gets closer, the cat suddenly looks up, quite curious, and raises a paw slowly towards the Shinki, iiiiinching slowly.

Emily regards Uni as she speaks, and actually tenses up slightly when the goddess puts her hand on her arm. But she does listen, and shrugs slowly, taking a moment to digest what Uni said. She does seem to be relaxing a bit more.

She does smile at Luke, lowering her hand when the cat takes an interest in Bravette. "Well, at that exhibition in your world, I skimmed several brochures and looked stuff up online," she says flippantly, "and my half-baked cursory glance has left me with the conclusion that the trainer is as much a participant in the heroic stuff as their pokemon. So you're a hero, too."

She pauses, then frowns. "A hero ... too ..." She shakes her head. "Well, uh. I meant that these priorities, both programmed-in and the ones I've found myself with, are the reason I'm feeling like there's some sort of ... objectively-nonexistent weirdness. I understand that the results of my actions are a net positive. But ..." Her voice trails off, and she glances at Bravette, once again seeming troubled.

    Uni glances to Bravette too when Emily does. She doesn't speak further, retracting her hand and just crouching there, watching the Eudaemon and her own Shinki partner.

    Bravette, for the timebeing, is oblivious, watching the cat's paw raising. The Zelnogrard does seem a little tense. An animal this big could do some serious damage to her shell, though not much can punch through the outer casing of the CMS in her torso so she's not exactly frightened, more worried about repairs. "Warning: If you attempt to attack me, I will defend myself." she states in a stoic, almost emotionless tone.

    Luke nods and goes quiet, nodding slowly to the two, seeming to blush a bit at being called a 'hero'. The pokemon is at best, the size of a dog, medium maybe, so not tiny, but not agiant beast either. The black cat pauses, black paw hovering in the air for a moment, tilting her head at the threat and meowling, tail chiming a few times before slowly retreating the paw and starts grooming it.

    Bravette nods a little at the cat as it 'stands down'. Her figure untenses at that, and then the little Shinki reaches over to gently scritch behind one of Berunrun's ears. She then lifts up and flits back over to Uni, settling onto the goddess's shoulder.

Emily chuckles at the byplay between Bravette and Berurun. She shrugs, and gets to her feet. "Y'know, Bravette," she says, "I've been tempted to be envious of you and the other Shinkis for having masters to serve, but ..." She shrugs. "Honestly, I don't feel the need for that sort of indulgence. I gave that hope up ... a couple hundred years before the halcyon remnant Blossomed."

She looks between Uni and Luke. "... Thing is," she says, "to a Eudaemon, serving the Masters is meant to be the be-all and end-all. Anything we do that isn't serving them is supposed to be just ..." She materializes a second pair of arms, and gestures vaguely. "... idle amusements, pointless things to for fun, in order to occupy our time during the specific moments that we aren't fulfilling our purpose." Which might explain a lot about why Emily is ... like that.

She shrugs. "I'd be lying if I said it was a perfect substitute for the Masters, who have a specific definition in my programming, but ..." She smiles. "Thank you both for reassuring me that what I've done isn't idle pointlessness."

    The big housecat just purrs at the petting, flicking the ear and then watches when the small person flies away, abit dissapointed, forepaws kneading the ground as if ocnsidering 'batting' at Bravette, but decides not to. Luke just seems content to listen to what Emily says, and while he is not really sure he can follow all that was said, he assumes that at least they helped Emily feel a bit better about the situation, "It's not." he says softly.