World Tree MUSH

    It's not the first time she's tried to get into a shinki city. They're almost everywhere shinki can be found. Collectives of homeless, masterless shinki that fall through the cracks- literally- and form tiny societies under city streets, siphoning rogue power flows and living off the junk and refuse of the world above.
    "Are you kidding me? We'd never let you in here!" A battered old Arnval shouts.
    "You're the Angel of Death! How do we know you won't try and kill us all?" A dirty Zilvern declares.
    "I am sorry. But you are just not welcome here." Says a Xiphos in dented armor, brandishing her blade.
    Needless to say, the city sewer grate that rattles open on its own might not catch the attention of an untrained eye. But the battle-scarred little Altines that gets unceremoniously launched out of it might garner a little more attention.
    "Uwah!" Alty squeals as she's hurled out of another shinki city and onto the cold, unforgiving, curb.

    Clattersqueal. "-eh?" Hyouka wheels around, squinting in the direction that sound came from. Her eyes settle on a familiar little figure, and then widen. It couldn't be. She's in the city to go looking for Alty, she expects the search to take a few hours (if it's successful at all), and then the shinki just... gets chucked out onto the curb, right there across the street.

    "...Hyouka." "I see her." "Your luck beggars belief some times, you know that?" "I-I'm not /that/ lucky."

    With a little sigh, Hyouka turns and just... vaults across the street. One side to the other, right over the top, completely bypassing the problem of jaywalking laws. She lands with a heavy thud, and then turns to walk the several steps it takes to end up near Alty. "Not getting into too much trouble, I hope?" she greets, a faint and playful smile on her lips.

    Sigh. Alty sits herself up to assess the damage. Aside from some slight scuffing here and there she at least finds herself mostly in one piece after that brie flight and rough landing. She's so absorbed in running a quick diagnostic, that she only notices Hyouka after that heavy landing nearby.
    "Dssfgdfsfsdsfds!"
    She's still as jumpy as the last time Hyouka had run into her, but recognition comes much faster this time as the little Altines settles after a beat and begins rubbing at her scarred eye. "O-oh. ... Hyouka. It's you." She says, cheeks puffing out. "I don't really like getting into trouble."

    "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry about that." Hyouka hadn't meant to startle the poor thing. But the pouty reaction is adorable. "I don't know a lot of people who do, no. But sometimes you can't help it. And sometimes, it's worth it for the payoff. Like freeing people from somewhere awful." She crouches down there on the curb, resting her arms on her knees casually. "I actually came to look for you, as it so happens. Wanted to see how you were doing."

    "She's been worried for weeks," DARGN chimes in, helpfully. "But she didn't want to look clingy."

    Hyouka immediately reddens, and utters a hasty, "Shush. Don't go giving her the wrong idea." Cough cough. Throat clear. "How are you?"

    The sad truth of the matter is, a passing breeze could probably startly the jumpy little shinki.
    "Trouble always seems to follow me, though. I hate it." Alty admits sourly, while still rubbing at her eye. But then her nose scrunches thoughtfully.
    "You were looking for me? ... Again?"
    DARGN probably doesn't help, there, considering the funny look that crosses the Altines' face; somewhere between a grimace and a sheepish frown. "I'm... Fine, really." She half-truths through her teeth as scarlet eyes flit to the grate she had just been shunted from.

    That prompts an amused look from Hyouka. "Your poker face is as bad as mine." There's a look towards the grate, before the cyborg shifts her purse a little and adds, "But I won't pry, unless you want to vent a little." She takes a glance around the street, and then looks upward, towards the rooftops; one thumb points in that direction, and she glances back at Alty. "You want to go up onto the roof where there's less people? We can sit and talk for a little while, won't be bothered."

    Alty's poker face is pretty bad, it's true. And the little shinki heaves a tiny sigh before Hyouka suggests the roofs. She nods.
    There's a flare of white light around the shinki as her armor is pulled from Slipway storage and locks into place.
    This means she can start puttering up towards the nearest roof on her own power. Even if that armor does look like something forged right out of Mordor.
    It's A moment later that she perches on the edge of the roof, armor vanishing in a similar flash of white as she sits herself down.
    "I got kicked out of another shinki city."

    Hyouka's ascent is a little more lumbering, by comparison; she just hurls herself up the side of the building, grabs something to hang on to, and slings herself upward to repeat the process. It's also probably not the most graceful sight. She takes a little bit longer than Alty to climb up, but when she does, the cyborg turns and parks herself on the edge of the roof as well, then starts fishing in her bag. "Are they just holding a grudge over who you were? You don't seem like the type to get kicked out over bad behavior..." Rustle rustle. Dig dig. "Now where did I put them..."

    "Yeah." Alty's answer is sounding pretty disheartened. "Everywhere I go, it follows me. As soon as they see this, I'm turned away everywhere I go." She says motioning for the scar dominating the right side of her face. "It's just Angel of Death this, and Angel of Death that, and they all think I'm out to get them." She huffs. But she is side-eyeing Hyouka, trying to see what she's rummaging for.
    "I never asked to be the boogeyman of all of shinki, you know."

    "No, you didn't," Hyouka agrees. "And you don't deserve it. And I wish I could just march down there and chew them all out, but the most likely end to that is it just terrifies them even more, or they dig their heels in. It's human nature to go on the defensive when you're attacked, even if the person attacking you has a point. And all of you... you're made of parts, but you all act pretty human. I- ah, here they are."

    She's found what she's looking for, and out they come one by one. "I seem to remember a promise I made, last time I was here." One after another. An array of colors, a full spread of flavors. Every variety of jelly can offered at whatever the most popular dedicated Shinki shop is. "I even got you another strawberry one, since you seemed to like that. Ah, but no nitro jelly. I didn't think being drunk would be the best thing for you."

    "Mn." No, no going down into the shinki city and causing a stir like that would not be good for Alty. Even if Hyouka is too big to actually fit down there and do it. So the Altines focuses on what the cyborg is doing and-- Hyouka retrieves a selection of not one but multiple jelly cans.
    If Alty could salivate...
    But she reins herself back. "A-ah..." Though she reaches for a can there's hesitation. It is with the confused eyes of a beaten puppy that the battered old fighting dog asks:
    "... W... Why are you doing this...?"

    Hyouka blinks once. If her elven ears could twitch, they probably would have done so. "Why...? Well, I promised, didn't I? Next time I'd bring a whole spread of them, and you could figure out which flavors you liked best." She folds her arms and hmphs, eyes closed. "I don't make promises I don't intend to keep." Nod nod. Though one eye does open after a second, and she adds with a smile, "Go on. They're yours. No strings or catches."

    She unfolds her arms and opens her other eye, sitting back on the roof and planting her hands. "There's another present I'm thinking of buying, but I wanted to talk about it with you first." Judging by tonight, it's a good thing she's already had the idea; it looks like Alty's having a rough time finding a consistent place to rest her head, so to speak. "I was thinking about buying a charging station, for my place."

    "That's- that's not what I mean." Alty mumbles, going back to rubbing at her scarred eye. The act is like a soothing tic of sorts, one she falls into when stressed or in this case clearly confused. "No one has ever been this... Nice to me before, I just. Don't get it." She says.
    Of course under a master like her previous one, she would never know the simple concept of human decency, let alone kindness, judging from how he treated her. She looks to the jelly cans, vacillating between hesitant and confused before she plucks one up and holds it in both hands. Up until Hyouka raises her next idea. One that makes the little valkyrie freeze briefly.
    A charging station.
    But as far as Alty knows, Hyouka doesn't have a shinki of her own.
    Which means it's clearly intended for...
    "That's... I..." She stammers, barely registering the heat of a single dollop of coolant leaking from her eyes and running down her cheeks.
    "I mean... If you don't have a shinki. Maybe I could. ... S-sometime..."

    "Any time you need a place to stay," Hyouka replies, drawing up her legs and wrapping her arms around her knees. "It's on another world, so I know it's a bit of a hike, but you're welcome to come and crash any time you need to. Whether that's because you can't find anywhere here, or just because you need to get away, don't worry about it. I'll show you how to get there, then add you to the lock."

    She pauses, and gives Alty another side glance, then adds, "Humans... we're busybodies sometimes. Can't help it. We don't really need a reason. Though I guess if I had to pick one..." The woman bites her lip for a moment, thinking about it. "...after all the bad stuff a human put you through, you deserve to have a human dote on you a little, I guess."