World Tree MUSH

The desert nights may be dark and cold, but the weary traveller will always find a warm welcome in Cosmo Canyon. Literally. The stone canyon soaks up the sun all day, and even at night, those rock walls are radiating. The sand and bare stone underfoot seems warm even through shoes or boots. It smells like earth and wind, a hint of distant sage; it smells, if you ask any resident, like the desert.

Cosmo Canyon's Village is but a small part of the labyrinthine systems of arroyos, box canyons, and mesas that make up the greater region. Normally they're dark as pitch on a moonless night, but tonight, the desert is lit up in an eerie procession of bobbing, flickering lights.

Candles. Dozens upon dozens of candles, tiny flames shielded by the hands of the people who live here, all following in single file from the village north into the canyon-maze.

At their head walks three old men; in their midst trudges an enormous quadruped hewn of stone. Powerful limbs take slow but long strides; a long, slim tail swings behind in counterbalance. At its end gutters a hazy blue flame. Clamped in the stone jaws is a thick chunk of braided sage, one end dipped in pitch and set ablaze, smoldering more than burning, trailing fragrant smoke.

The column is mostly silent, and they pass right by a side canyon where a convenient Vibe leads out of. They're not looking at the offshoot as they pass, so someone could theoretically fall into the procession without even being noticed.

    Once in a while, Hyouka just plain needs a vacation. Even work as a mercena- ADVENTURER can fall into a drudgery trap after a while, especially if she's not getting offworld. And with no need for a huge food budget, travel is quite a bit cheaper for her than it might otherwise be. So she's decided to get offworld and take a trip somewhere relaxing for a few days. Somewhere interesting, somewhere on a world she'd like to know more about.

    Somewhere that, apparently, is having a candlelight procession...? Huh.

    As Seto ambles by the side canyon, an elven-looking woman falls into step beside him, looking up at the huge stone guardian with curiosity, then shifting her travel pack on her back a bit. The whole thing is solemn enough that the cyborg doesn't speak; and despite her statements otherwise the last time they were here, DARGN is polite enough to keep silent as well. Hyouka doesn't make any effort to conceal her presence, however, just walking with the column.

The sun is still setting, but most of the canyons are plunged into shadow. It's an excellent opportunity to see the candles.

The elders turn their heads to note Hyouka, but the stone-hewn guardian lads along in silence. Well, relative silence. His feet still raise puffs of dust and leave hairline fractures in the more brittle parts of the trail.

"I remember you." His words are pretty muffled around the torch, but he's understandable... mostly. His low-slung head swings sidelong, flickering light and warmth cast over Hyouka, shrouded in the fragrance of burning sage.

Seto rumbles is evident cheer, ears flicking forward with little crackling noises. "You came to the canyon some time ago..." His voice is a basso rumble that sets pebbles underfoot to vibrating. The big, boxy head tilts slightly; those blank stone eyes fix on Hyouka as both ears prick further forward. "What brings you back to our humble desert home?"

    Ah, there he is. Hyouka turns her head at the sound of Seto's granite-deep voice, looking up and a bit forward to meet the guardian's eye. "Hello~," she greets, lifting up a hand to wave lightly. "It's good to see you again." She adjusts the strap of her backpack one more time, then just lets one hand hang idly from it by the thumb, the other swinging loosely at her side. It's heartening that she's remembered. "I needed to get away from my world for a while. No trouble or anything, just taking a little break. I really enjoy learning about other worlds, so I thought I'd come here."

    There's a soft chuckle from the faux elf. "I'd meant to come out here when there was no festival going on, but it looks like I stumbled into another one."

"Learning is always a worthy pursuit. We value knowledge here in Cosmo Canyon," Seto comments, clutching the torch awkwardly in the side of his jaws. "Many come here from far afield to study the Planet."

His tail continues to swing in time to his stride, casting wild, dancing shadows on the faces of the walkers behind him. "New things are always a worthy cause. Oh, don't worry about that," the stone giant rumbles cheerfully. "We have many festivals, here. Visitors are always welcome to participate."

"I go to my vigil to light torches and thank the Planet for my life. My people come, too, to do honour to the Planet." He bristles his stone whiskers forward, each tiny line picked out in mica. He tilts his head to the old man walking beside him; one of the elders. "Bughe."

The old man obligingly snaps off a twist of smoldering sage, knotting it on the end of a length of wood and offering it to Hyouka. "There," Seto rumbles, jovial. "One of us."

"What do you wish to learn, here?" Seto fixes those blank eyes on Hyouka, ears pricking. "It will be some time before we arrive. Time enough to talk."

    A ceremony to honor and thank the Planet... in some ways, not all that different from some of the religion of her own country. Hyouka smiles faintly, reaching out to take the makeshift torch with a polite bow of her head to Bughe. "Thank you very much." She holds it aloft with her free hand, other thumb still hooked in her backpack strap. "I would have made one myself, but I brought lightning today, not fire," she admits, with a soft shake of her head. "Ah well."

    She cants her head briefly at the question Seto puts to her, thoughtful for a moment. "Ah, that's... that's a really broad question. A little about everything, I guess. More about the Lifestream, if you can teach me. The magic on this world, and the technology. And the beings here," she adds, releasing her backpack strap at last, to instead reach up and tap one pointed ear. "I haven't seen any elves around. ...ah, I'm not actually an elf, by the way, she adds hastily. "I just liked the look."

"My pleasure, young lady." Bughe smiles pleasantly. His breath smells a little questionable, like he's been hitting the festival booze a little early. "It's rare to find outsiders with a healthy respect for the Planet."

"Bughe is right," Seto rumbles. "So we are glad, then, to have you walk with us." He slows as the path begins to climb, switchbacks weaving their way up the canyon wall. It's steep but not impossible climb; stars glimmer cold in the vast sweep of sky overhead. "The Planet always welcomes those who show respect."

"Hou...?" Seto arches a stone brow, the mica hairs of his whisker-like eyebrows twitching. "You bring your own fire and lightning? You might like to visit the materia shop, later."

"The Lifestream..." Seto's ears flick again, and he shifts the burning brand in his jaws, unperturbed by how close the flame flickers. He can't feel a thing. "The river of life energy that circles 'round the Planet, giving life to the world, and all within it..." Flat stone eyes blink, slowly. "It is from the Lifestream we come, and to the Lifestream we go, when our time is up."

He looks up, to the stars. "Some of us are closer to the Lifestream than others. The Ancients, as the two-leggers call them... the Cetra, as they called themselves... but they are gone, as my kind nearly are." Another cheerful rumble, but the tenor isn't quite right, like it's forced cheer. "And at the end of all things, we will meet again in the Lifestream."

His head swings around to study a Hyouka; something in the fall of his jaw and the drop of the torch suggests confusion. "...What is an 'elf?' I have not seen ears like those."

    Talk of materia sets the cyborg's eyes to lighting up, recalling something. "Oh! That reminds me, I-" Here, Hyouka stops herself and backs up verbally, starting over again. "Ah, last time I was here you actually gave me a piece of materia to take home. I brought it with me." She points her thumb at her backpack. "I tried using it at home, but it didn't really work for me." Here, DARGN finally speaks up, adding, "She was able to form a link and transfer mana to the materia, but as I thought, Hyouka's lack of talent for spellcasting made using it impossible."

    Hyouka pouts faintly.

    "Ah, I remember you talking about that last time," the woman adds. "You mentioned the Cetra believing in a 'Promised Land', that they return to when they die." It sounds at first brush like the typical religious afterlife, but... well, on worlds like this - and technically, worlds like her own - such a thing could very well be front and center in peoples' lives.

    But that's for later. Now they're wondering about elves. "They're a race from my world. My body was made to look like one. Slender, ephemeral, graceful, they can live close to a thousand years." DARGN adds, "Elves are very strongly touched by the magical world. They often have prodigious power and skill in magic, if they so choose. Rather ironic," the AI adds, deadpan.

This time both of Seto's stone brows furrow, a disquietingly human gesture. Maybe he picked it up from a lifetime among the human part of his tribe.

"Speak," he offers, at Hyouka's excited false start. She does, and he turns his ears sideways to listen, still padding up the steepening path. Materia. He gives a thoughtful rumble that sets the dust and pebbles to shivering. "Oh? Forgive me. It must have slipped my mind."

At her explanation and DARGN's addition, he flicks his ears again, almost frowning around the burning brand in his jaws. As before, there's an odd humanness to the gesture. "No? Well, they are not for everyone..." Another basso rumble, both cherry and thoughtful. "Keep it. Practise some more. Maybe you'll have better results. My son uses materia, too. He has a talent for using them." Did his chest just puff out a little? "I find I cannot, like this. Elder Hargo has mine in his safekeeping... I will not be stone forever."

Ascending the rise, the procession comes to a flat tableland of stone, ending in a short drop that overlooks the village beyond, and the heavy blast doors guarding the gate. A perfect vantage point for a guardian... or a dangerous overlook for an invader.

"Yes." The word is awkward around the torch. Seto's strifes are fast only for their length. His limbs don't seem to move that fast, but there is a majesty in his deliberation; the affected, ritual solemnity of a chieftain. "It is not for us to know where that may truly lie, though my kind hold a similar belief. I am to understand there was quite a controversy over it while I slept on this very spot." His paws come to rest in indentations that fit them perfectly, down to every paw pad; the tip of every diamond claw.

Slowly, smoothly, he slinks forward and sits back on his haunches. His head twists sideways to drop the torch between his front paws, tail curling around them. Its flame joins the torch, shadows flickering beneath his jaw.

He bows his head, nosing the torch into place with clear reverence.

Straightening, he arches his back, tail lashing, the blue flame flickering crazily. He opens his jaw, and the sound that comes from him is nothing short of a deep, thunderous landslide. It rings from the canyon walls and even brings some of the villagers to flinch at its power. The roar, and its echoes, seem to go on forever.

The echoes fade and die.

Seto roars again.

Only after the second roar's echoes stop ringing the canyon like a bell does he turn to regard Hyouka with tilted head.

"So too does my kind. I have seen five or six hundred turns of the seasons... my son has seen nearly half a century, and he has grown and changed while I slept in stone, but he is still barely grown from a cub." He looks up to the stars, tail switching. "My kind is often skilled with materia. We are closer to the Planet than most humans..." Seto's head tilts again as he regards Hyouka curiously at DARGN's aside. "Why is that ironic?"

    Why is it ironic? "Because she chose the form of one of the most magically-gifted races on our planet, and she doesn't have an ounce of talent herself," DARGN replies, her tone filled with dry amusement.

    The whole ceremony, Hyouka watches silently, keeping hold of her torch. She remains still... for the most part, at least. The first roar catches her off-guard, and there's a bit of a visible flinch there. She's not particularly scared - just a bit startled, as all. The second one causes her much less trouble; even if her hearing is more sensitive than a normal human's, she's also a lot more durable. Setting aside DARGN's remarks, however, the woman decides to focus on the topic of materia. "Ah, it's not a matter of spiritual affinity, or at least it shouldn't be. Most humans have at least a little, and some have a lot. And from what they told me, this body should have a really high spellcasting potential regardless. It's just..."

    Hyouka shrugs a little. "I guess it's like how some people are bad at math, or can't cook to save their lives. I just can't seem to get the hang of casting spells, and I've definitely tried." Then, she holds out her right arm, and carefully uses her left to tug back her sleeve, taking care not to dislodge her torch (or set her hair on fire). "But this body does come with some neat features. Like..." Her arm starts to come apart like a machine, from fingertips to elbow, panels lifting away and shifting aside to reveal a swirling blue pocket-space, from which many larger components begin to emerge and assemble themselves around it. In the space of about two or three seconds, it's become a massive, sleek black gauntlet, with a beefy fist larger than her own head. "Built in weapons~. And with all the mana my power core generates, I can equip an elemental crystal, like, say..."

    Lines along the gauntlet begin to glow a bright, vibrant purple, and little arcs of lightning begin to dance along the surface. "Lightning~. I can throw some pretty powerful elemental punches. I do have to pick an element in advance, though. Swapping crystals is a bit of a process."

"Ah... yes. Forgive me. I am distracted." Seto flicks an ear, low-slung head swinging back to look out over the canyon. The low, heating sound he makes is hard to place, at first, but... it's laughter. "I wonder if that was a conscious choice, hmmmm...?"

Materia. He curls his tail over his paws, the tip twitching with slow deliberation. Flickering shadows chase each other under the bristled stone fur of his jaw.

He watches as she tugs back her sleeve, head tilting slowly. And as her arm starts to deconstruct itself, his eyebrows arch again. "An interesting trick. Modulated elements... like using materia, in theory... hmm. Interesting."

    "Well..." Hyouka's arm transforms back in much the same way as the gauntlet formed to begin with; a clattering, clacking series of mechanical components compacting and folding in on themselves before hiding themselves within the machinery of her normal arm. She reaches up to scratch the back of her head, a bit embarrassed. "This body was kinda designed to my specifications. It actually looks a lot like my old body, just... I think elves are pretty, is all."

    It's here that DARGN chimes in again. "It's simpler than the function of materia, though not dissimilar. If you think of the flow of mana as water, then Hyouka's internal element crystal is like adding dye to that water. It's not being shaped to any specific effect - just turned into fire energy or lightning energy or ice energy, and then pumped through the FISTEAU system to add power and an elemental effect to her strikes."

Though he sits much like a big cat, Seto seems to be more like a chimaeric combination of several animals. He moves like a cat, but the slope of his heavy shoulders, low-slung head, and stiff mane seem more like a hyena.

Then again, everything about him is kind of stiff and unnatural, what with the stone body and all.

New body? The stone creature shakes his head, but where one would expect the mane or whiskers to bob in time, they do not move, and his motions carry the grinding sound of stone. If Hyouka's eyes are good, she might notice dust sifting from the joints and folds of his body. "...I will not pretend to know what all of that is, but I believe I understand the gist of it."

Seto tilts his head, looking down to the dark, silent canyon below. Wind may ruffle Hyouka's hair, but it doesn't seem to affect him at all. He shifts with the sound of boulders ground together, trying to keep the stone spears jutting from his torso from accidentally jabbing too far into Hyouka's personal space. "My kind have always been talented in the use of materia. My son has a knack for it. I onced did, but since the curse, I cannot make use of the Planet's energy as I once did." He falls silent, blank eyes looking out to the canyon. The stillness of his body is absolute; his torso doesn't even move with the rise and fall of breath. If not for the slight movements of his head to indicate he's watching Hyouka as much as the canyon vista before them, he might seem the statue he appears to be.

"I will find a cure, but the arrows and spears of the Gi were potent."

He doesn't sigh, but the low, reverberating sound carries the same exasperation. "...I suppose I should have left some of them alive."

    Hyouka might take a relaxed air towards life - and maybe tune out a little when boring things like paperwork or bureacratic process are involved - but she's not inattentive to those around her, not by any stretch of the imagination. Seto still looks a tiny bit puzzled, and she thinks she knows where the disconnect lies. "Ah, basically... this body is a magical machine, it's not the body I was born in. Where I come from, they've figured out how to make magic and technology work together. And the absolute height of that is, they figured out how to build new bodies for people." She holds her hand up, wiggling fingers. "Even five years ago, they wouldn't have been able to do this. And it's kind of a long story, but... basically, I earned a wish from someone."

    "She could have had wealth beyond her dreams, or true immortality, or power. She wished for a new body so she could go out and be an adventurer. Really, humans are something else." That comes from DARGN, who for once sounds... genuinely amused? Maybe even a little wistful. Hyouka, meanwhile, just looks bashful. "W-well, I mean..."

    Footscuff. "A-anyway. Maybe we should go out and visit their old tribal grounds. If they didn't keep written records of their tribal secrets, there might still be clues or something. Old arrowheads we can have examined. Or maybe someone else in this world came up with something similar, and they did keep records. If one tribe can figure it out, someone else can too."

  He might blink if he had a need to.

  Instead, Seto only continues to stare, blankly, because he has no mechanisms by which to show the same kind of emotion that truly living creatures do. Those triangular ears are pricked forward, though. He's certainly listening. The explanation must be satisfactory. He doesn't ask any more questions, nor does he seem to be quite so outwardly puzzled.

  It's as good an explanation as it gets. Gaea enjoys a certain level of high technology, although most of that comes out of the major cities, and much of it was lost when Midgar was destroyed. It's enough to know, though. Despite his bestial appearance Seto is just as intelligent as any humanoid. He's familiar enough with human technology to understand how things work. More importantly than that he knows how to extrapolate.

  To DARGN's observation, Seto doesn't sigh, because he can't... but the low, reverberating rumble he makes might as well be. "Yes, humans are certainly something..."

  "The Gi? Perhaps. They did not write, not that I am aware of, but it is worth investigation. I would need the assistance of yourself and other offworld allies. My people will not go there, and the vengeful spectres of the Gi may still be about." The creature flicks a stone ear and twitches whiskers picked out in delicate, silvery mica. "As to arrowheads..." One bulky shoulder moves in a motion that might be a shrug in any human; jostling the shaft jutting out from behind the shoulder blade. "Perhaps. By this time, though, any residue would have decayed." He rumbles to himself, thoughtfully.

"It has been many years, under the blazing desert sun. Still. It is worth an investigation. Yes... I should like to have a look around."

    Blink. "Vengeful spectres?" At that, surprisingly enough, Hyouka breaks into a grin. "Well, now we're definitely talking my area of expertise. This body was made for fighting supernatural and magical monsters. Ghosts are right up my alley." She brings her torch-bearing fist over, and presses it firmly into her other palm. "In fact, visiting a haunted tribal ground, looking for traces of ancient secrets... this is exactly the kind of thing I became an adventurer for." She actually sounds kind of excited.

    "You got her started. Thank you," DARGN deadpans.

    Even her onboard AI's snark can't shake her stride, though; Hyouka's already glancing between Seto and the distant desert, and stroking her chin thoughtfully. "Well, surely they didn't just leave everything out in the sun. Tents might collapse over time, but anything inside them is still covered. And then the wind blows sand all over it, covers it up... it all depends how lucky we are, I guess. Maybe I'll see if I can rent a metal detector from somewhere near here." Ground penetrating radar would be even better, but also more expensive - and they might not even have such a thing here. And if she brought it from another world, it might not even work... no, no, metal detector is the best bet.

"Vengeful spectres," Seto echoes, with a nod of his head. Whiskers picked out in mica flick again. "Very vengeful. What tales my son has told me of the Gi! I still do not know why they chose to target Cosmo Canyon... territory, I suppose. Or a need to battle."

The stone creature picks himself up, switching his long tail. The flame on the end gutters as it casts bizarre shadows on the stone plateau around them. It seems to be a gesture of consideration.

"I would assume their territory included caves. These canyons are riddled with them; even our own village is built atop natural catacombs. This egress, in fact, is only accessible by tunnel... when I left to confront the Gi war host, I instructed the village elders that it be sealed. I wished for my people to forget the Gi... to forget our war with them, that they might live in peace after my sacrifice."

Of course, he never expected to come back.

"In any case, we will see what we will see, I suppose." Doubling back on his long torso with a sound like mountains moving, Seto files past Hyouka, gesturing with a jerk of his chin. "We go now to the village, back to light and warmth. A grand feast awaits, if you care to join us! Tiger Lily has roasted a number of delectably fat desert antelopes, and the gardens have been good to us this spring."

To a metal detector, Seto shakes his head. "Not in this village... the humans here consider such things useful in survey work from time to time, but we do not mine, here. We do not scar the Planet, nor exploit it. We take from it only what we need, and give back what we can."

Seto pads back down the steep incline and switches that long tail, painting the canyon walls in flickering shadows. "What do you hope to find with such a device?"

    The prospect of an adventure into spooky caverns haunted by vengeful invader ghosts has Hyouka jazzed already - and then Seto mentions food. "Oh-?!" She's glad to shift aside and make room for the guardian, and then follows along with an energetic step. "Well, ah, I don't actually need to eat with this body, so I probably shouldn't take too much, but I'd be glad to sit and have a bite or two with all of you! I still love delicious food." DARGN chimes in, "It is one of her primary expenses. Food and alcohol. Despite needing neither food nor drink."

    Once again, Hyouka looks a little embarrassed. But there are other topics to hit as they head back. "Ah, the metal detector? Well, if they had copper arrowheads or something, or made any metal jewelry. Those would be a good way to find where they lived. Still have to dig around, but it's an easy way to narrow down our search."

It seems the Guardian of Cosmo Canyon manages to find all the right things to tempt the visiting adventurer with. Seto's expression never moves, but the low rumbling that issues from him sounds suspiciously like laughter. He's sure-footed for a thing wrought of stone, placing each paw like he could walk the path blind. If he's been around as long as he claims, he probably could.

"Take all you like," the chieftain rumbles cheerfully. "We have what we need. It will not be putting my people out... and perhaps I am biased, but it is all delicious." His mien droops a little. "Truth be told, I wish I could but taste it, still..."

He comes to the steep incline, crouching, that over-long tail lashes as he judges the distance, and if he were flesh and blood, he might narrow his eyes as he did. He'll wait long enough for Hyouka to make her way down--

--and then make his descent in a single mighty leap, slamming into the ground at the bottom with enough impact to leave a shallow crater where his paws meet the earth. Seto picks himself up and continues right along like it's nothing, trudging alongside Hyouka. If he were flesh and blood, it might be the slinky, sinuous padding of a predatory beast, but there's no subtlety to his limbs right now.

Stealth is absolutely not in his wheelhouse any more, that much is for sure.

"A reasonable enough assumption. Yes, bring one if you like. Perhaps next week we will investigate. If you know of anyone who may be capable of handling themselves responsibly, bring them, if you like." He rumbles to himself as they continue along. "In the meantime... the feast awaits. Eat! Drink! Make merry, under the desert moon -- the Planet itself welcomes those guests who honour it, and you are a friend to Cosmo Canyon's chieftain." Seto's rumbling laughter echoes through the canyons. "Stay as long as you like. If you require lodgings, I am certain we can find a room for you at the inn, free of charge.