World Tree MUSH

    It's a bright, sunny day in the city. Birds are chirping, the occasional dog barks. The sounds of engines are ever present, cars and motorcycles making their journeys across town on whatever errands their drivers are running.

    A certain Rider is in this city, for whatever reasons he may have. Despite the weather, he can feel an odd chill. It's as though someone is watching him, or perhaps he's caught in the midst of an unseasonal cold snap.

    Kian is not a big stranger to the whole 'something watching' sorta sense. But seriously, this was getting to be annoying. He'd even called other Riders to check it out, but nothing. It was all together odd for Kian Armstrong.

    To that end, he had his hands in his pocket as he kept eyeing the area. The chill is obviously just him, too, and well... weirdness. Yep. Definite weirdness. Instead of taking it in stride, however, he began to go down the different streets. Back alleys wide enough for a fight, car parks, and other places that would normally be good for ambushes.

    In a way, perhaps, he was trying to trap the hunter much as the hunter might try to trap him. All around a dangerous sort of prey for anyone trying to come after him.

Emily is standing sideways on the side of a building, reading a newspaper.

She's taken a form which obviously looks like a silver android with visible seams all over her skin, glowing purple eyes, and sandy blonde hair which somehow manages to clash with her skin tone. She's wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and oversized steel sabatons, and there's a faintly-glowing white flower in her hair.

Her sideways position is clearly somewhat awkward; notwithstanding her hovering capabilities, there is definitely a "down" for her, and that "down" is directly to her left. Nevertheless, in spite of the things that have been weighing her mind down lately, she manages to have her trademark amused and faintly smug smile.

Temulin isn't here for any particular reason, but the giant bird comes circling down after she pots the rider. "Armstrong." The dark knight greets Kian neutrally. "How are you doing? Got any leads on a job for me?"

    So far, Raphael's pretty unimpressed. The city doesn't seem all that crazy different from his hometown. Which means he's playing on the safe side and keeping out of sight whenever possible. If humans made such a big fuss and freaked out about mutants back home, that's not the kind of attention he wants to draw around here. 

    He keeps to the rooftops, swiftly darting across and into whatever shadows and cover he can find, stopping here and there to have a look around and see if there's anything interesting. Or maybe a pizza place. ...except how's he going to get pizza without showing himself here? Ugh. Complications.

    The mutant turtle crossing the rooftops is the first to spot Tirsiak. The spirit is standing on the edge of a roof, bare feet curled slightly to clutch at the concrete. The apparent young girl turns her head suddenly, staring just slightly off from where the ninja is hiding. "...You aren't my quarry," she says, her voice reverberating slightly, carrying much further than its quiet tone really should allow. "Take shelter, unless you want the cold to consume you."

    But it's sunny. What cold is she talking about?

    Clouds suddenly begin to gather. A layer of mist falls over several city blocks, and the sun's rays grow dim and weak. The temperature plummets, and what few trees and animals can be seen seem to... shudder, and shake, and throw off their forms for ones much better suited for an arboreal climate - trees replace their leaves for needles, dogs grow thick winter coats, birds transform into entirely different species.

    What's even weirder is that Raphael suddenly finds himself wear a nice, snug, warm parka. Other people out and about find themselves wearing warm clothes, as well, and before Kian's very eyes, Tamulin Dotharl is suddenly covered in a thick, black pelt of some manner of bear.

    Temulin herself also finds that the padding inside her armour has gotten a little fuzzier...

    "Death approaches," comes a sudden, soft voice, reverberating through the area Kian and Temulin find themselves in. Snow begins to fall... as does the strange spirit, leaning forward and just falling off the rooftop towards Kian and Temulin.

    Kian frowns, glaring at Temulin, "Don't believe I ever said I would look for--" About that time, the fact that Temulin's not looking normal, and the cold dropping has Kian stepping back a good couple of feet before he reaches to his coat. Looking up as he notices the change in the environment, his face looks annoyed.

    "Demon? No... not Theta... what is this?" He pulls out a fancy looking revolver before spinning the barrel on the gun and firing off a rapid series of shots upwards, "Henshin!" The resulting bullets curve back around.

    And strangely, they don't really hit anything but Kian himself. Who is quickly turned into his Kamen Rider form. The gun is stuck in the belt buckle as it appears and he looks around. "Alright... whatever is doing this, come on out so I can kick your face in!" He hasn't spotted the falling spirit coming towards him and Temulin as of yet.

Emily looks up as she catches sight of Temulin flying by, and starts walking along the side of the building towards her. Even if she isn't the friendliest face, she's a familiar one, and -- oh, there's Kian. Might as well see how he's holding up in the World Tree!

But then she raises her eyebrows at the weather, and for a second, her mask slips, revealing her troubled demeanor. She perks up slightly at the sound of the voice. "... Well, that's new." A staticky portal opens up, and she slips the newspaper back into the vending machine she stole it from for the purpose of this little stunt. "Releasing ... mm ... capacitor seal 3!" she calls out in the same voice she always has.

She's surrounded by three distinct auras, one silver, one gold, and one pearlescent; the silver one shatters, and the other two fade, and in a swirl of glitter, she's wearing an expensive-looking form-hugging winter coat. And there are now legs sprouting from her back which look suspiciously similar to a certain wasp-scorpion as she starts galloping across the side of the building. "Steed!" she calls out urgently to the Kamen Rider, gesturing skyward. "Look alive!" ... Yep, that's Emily Nyx's voice, all right.

"I recognize that voice. She's some kind of murder demon." a pause, "A worse kind than me. Don't fight her, she nearly killed me once, but I held her off before." Another pause, "If it turns out she's here for you, we'll figure out payment later." She draws her blade and begins to gather darkness around her, looking towards the source of voice and yells, "I don't know who you're here to kill, or who hired you. But we've got unfinished business, you and I. I'm not going to let you lay a finger on anyone until I've gotten my vengeance." Yes, she's rationalizing her decision to get involved with a contract Heroism in denial.

    It's not that the possibility of anyone else up here surprises him. ...okay no, it totally does. Raphael freezes- not from the menton of the cold, but from being suddenly noticed in turn. Antlers aside, this kid doesn't strike him as normal. It seems to finally sink in, her words, her warning, gaining from him a quirk of a brow beneath his red bandanna as he gives her an odd look.

    "Wait, what??" Was that a threat? Because if it was, it made no sense. Although he doesn't openly take up a defensive stance, he's plenty on guard, tensed and eyeing the strange girl, at least until the area begins to darken above with clouds, and he can feel the sudden chill that sweeps into the area. "Huh?"

    Even stranger is the fact that he finds himself suddenly equipped for the abrupt snowfall, and the ninja turtle stares at his parka, baffled. Well, at least it's red and black, so he can't complain. That does little to field his questions. Unfortunately the person he wants to ask them to is suddenly dropping off the rooftop with an even more ominous statement. Raphael dashes towards the corner of the roof to look down after Tirsiak's fall, and those whom she might be addressing.

    Gunshots are definitely not a sound he's unfamiliar with, having been on the receiving end of them before. Oh wait, he technically is in the line of fire, which has him duck behind the ledge. "...okay, not maybe not so different from home," he mutters, stealing another look just in time to see the man below...change? "What is this, an episode of Super Robo Mecha Force Five?" It doesn't look like the guy's alone anyway, although the lack of giant robots and matching uniforms is kiiind of a disappointment.

    Tirsiak sails down through the air towards her quarry, heartbeat quick, a grin spreading across her face. Humans were always such fun prey- GUN.

    Tirsiak hugs her knees to her chest and enters a tight ball, minimizing her profile so that whoever is shooting at her has less of a target to aim at... She doesn't feel the familiar bite of lead sinking into her flesh, however, and doesn't even feel bullets whizzing by. Either the shooter was a terrible shot, or they... weren't aiming for her.

    Tirsiak reaches the ground... and stops dead two feet above it, still in her tight ball. She rotates in the air, uncurling and letting her feet gently touch down on the floor. She appears to be standing directly atop the thin layer of snow that's building, not sinking into it at all.

    Her eyes literally flash with anger as she sees Temulin and hears Emily. "...Do not interfere," she mutters, even though she knows Temulin absolutely is going to interfere any moment now. Still, maybe she can get her prey before that happens...

    The anltered 'little girl' suddenly lunges in the Rider's direction, teeth bared in a snarl and fingers extended like claws.

    The Rider looks up as his name is called, and... stares as he sees what looks like a little girl with antlers stopping above the ground. "... okay, that's new. Theta-Wave's getting pretty--"

    Then he has said little girl flying at him! Well, even a hero's not about to shoot a little girl. But he's not about to just stand there and get clawed or something either!

    Instead, he brings back a fist since she's so helpfully coming at him, and just tries to aim a punch at the girl's midsection. Even if he does pull the punch so a normal girl's not about to be well... yeah.

    And internally, Kamen Rider Steed only has one explaination that makes sense. And he sighs, "Blasted World Tree. Why do I get the feeling those portals are to blame for this!?"

In another swirl of silvery glitter, Emily conjures up a third arm with which to facepalm at Temulin's flagrant mercenarying, and a fourth which is attempting the cumbersome task of holding four falchion swords at once. Which she then distributes among the rest of her arms.

"Hm." She glances up at Raphael, focuses a moment, and then opens up a staticky portal directly "beneath" her feet, which causes her to land right next to the Ninja Turtle. "Hi," she says. "I'm Emily Nyx, the masked man is Kamen Rider Steed, and the Dark Knight, uh, just introduced herself. Need a lift to the ground floor?" The other end of the staticky portal visibly becomes the entrance to the alleyway, with Tirsiak, Temulin, and Kamen Rider Steed directly ahead.

She pauses. "Wolf ears and a tail ... and antlers," she murmurs. "Hmmm ..." The top of her head pops open for a second like a Terry Gilliam animation, revealing literal gears which are actively spinning, before closing up again.

Temulin, unlike the Kamen Rider, knows that treating Tirsiak as just a little girl is a big mistake. She immediately rushes forwards to try to catch the teeth going for the Rider with her blade, darkness enwreathing the weapon. "I told you, Tirsiak, we have business to settle, you and I. You can go after the rider after we're done." She insists, before asiding to Kian. "Run. Run for your life."
    Temulin is already pouring darkness into her armour, to a degree Kian has never seen before. "Remember me, Tirsiak? Temulin of the Dotharl Tribe, Adventurer for Hire. I have stopped you once before, and I will do it again."

>> SUMMARY[Temulin Dotharl] >> Special Dark Knight Technique: Carve and Advertize

    Well the guy in armor sure talks like the guys on that TV show he and his brothers love to watch. Raphael's otherwise still trying to get a handle on the situation. It doesn't seem too difficult to figure out that the fight looks terribly one-sided, but then the weird girl had instigated, so clearly she's got something more to her. Yeah, like the antlers and the weather shift wasn't a big enough hint!

    Of course, it just makes him anxious there on the sidelines. He does love a good fight, after all, but was Tirsiak all that bad? She did warn him and give him a parka.

    "-whoa!" That's when he finds himself with company again. He jumps back at Emily's appearance, fists up and on guard, green eyes wide. "Uh. Hi?" He tries to keep up with the casual introductions given, glancing between Emily and the others below. A suspicious look is cast towards the portal. He's had his share of portal hopping and has mixed feelings about them. Getting down from such heights is hardly a problem for him, but he supposes it can't hurt to take a shortcut, if to get closer to the action and maybe work out what's going on. "Sure, thanks," he says, nodding at Emily, hoping he won't regret it as he steps on through and down.

    Kamen Rider Steed discovers two things as he reaches out to punch the 'little girl' in the stomach. Firstly, her abs feel like steel, holy shit this girl must work out.

    Secondly?

    She catches a blade between her teeth and barely flinches, the growl emanating from her throat far more beast than human. She curls back and reaches out with her feet, trying to kick off the Kamen Rider's stomach to send herself flying a few feet backwards - and possibly sending the henshin hero tumbling if he doesn't brace for impact.

    No matter where she winds up, she shoots a hateful glare up at Temulin.

    And then a black bear materialises from nothing and tries to clobber Temulin about the head as Tirsiak scrambles to charge at Kian again.

    Tirsiak is paying absolutely no attention to Emily Nyx or Raphael, and only cursory attention to Temulin, despite how much she clearly loathes the Dark Knight.

The black bear's claws sink into Temulin's back; but the dark knight just does her best to ignore that; as she suffers pain, the darkness seeps from her wounds and strengthens her protections, there's a bubble of darkness around her that's as black as a clouded night in the wilderness during a new moon. That bubble bursts when she intercepts Tirsiak's charge at her, and the dark knight stumbles, felling to a knee. "Thal's balls, you fool. Run. Run for your life." She tells the Kamen Rider, raising her blade and clearly intending to block Tirsiak's next attack aimed for Kian as well.

    Kamen Rider Steed goes flying as the girl kicks off of him, and the Rider tumbles before coming up. That it felt like abs of steel when he hit makes the Kamen Rider tilt his head before getting up. "Right... not a normal girl."

    The Rider picks out one of the odd objects at his waist as he pulls the revolver off. Pulling the literal barrel off of the gun and changing it quickly as the other is placed back. The barrel is spun before he looks up at the sudden intervention of a Dark Knight and has to dodge out of the way of that potentially. Sliding on one knee, he brings the revolver up and... shoots what looks like one big blast of water at the little girl? Said water definitely has the force of a normal bullet, though.

"'Tirsiak'," murmurs Emily, when Temulin says the spirit's name. She lets go of one of the swords, which hovers in place in midair, and gives Raphael a thumbs up as he goes through the portal. Through it all, her mind is still racing. "Single-minded about target ... yeah I'd better go in." She leans almost into the portal, peering at Tirsiak with ... a more cheerful grin??

And then, in the space of the brief moment that Tirsiak is scrambling back to her feet, a staticky portal opens up behind her, Emily's free hand reaches out, swings down --

-- and attempts to pat the hunter-spirit on the head. "Well aren't you a cute one!" says Emily, as she leans out of the portal.

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Emily's ridiculous sense of aesthetics strikes again.

    Raphael comes out of the portal and immediately throws himself into a roll once on street level, crouching in the snow (Gaaaah cold toes!) as he takes in the fight now that he's closer. He winces as he sees Temulin take the hit, pushing to his feet as the Rider continues to fight despite the woman's advice. Well, it's not like he'd take off from a fight so easily himself. The turtle reaches behind his shell for- ...oh sewer apples, stupid coat! He tugs it off so he can grab the pair of sai from his belt. 

    Half expecting Emily to have followed him back down, he's more surprised to see her pop up by the antlered girl. What follows isn't at all what he'd expected. 

    As she scrambles to her feet, Tirsiak grabs something off of the ground, murder in her eyes. She swings her arm back, and then forward with enough speed to make a crack of air being split in two.

    Temulin is struck with a rock travelling at the speed of a bullet, directly to her sword... but it just passes straight through and beans her in the forehead, leaving a nice jagged hole in the blade and rinning her head like a bell.

    If a concussion is all she gets from that, she's lucky. She ain't getting back up in a hurry in any case.

    As Tirsiak finishes getting to her feet, she suddenly finds herself... patted on the head. Her ears and tail frizz up and she goes very, very still...

    And then she gets beaned in the side by a water bullet and ends up off her feet and sprawling in the snow again. At least that was done by her quarry. "D-don't... interfere..." she manages to snap at Emily. She sounds... more embarassed than angry this time. Is she blushing? No, that's ridiculous. She locks her eyes on Kamen Rider Steed, and gives an audacious grin of excitement. Her side is bleeding from the hit but she doesn't seem to care.

    Kamen Rider Steed looks at the blood on the ground, then to Temulin, then over to Emily. "I do not suppose you can tell me what she is? I would honestly like to help her, but she seems to be stuck on trying to kill me?"

    The gun is holstered back into the belt buckle as the Kamen Rider adopts more of a brawler looking stance than anything else. He's not about to escalate things if he can help it. But yeah... the fact that the bleeding's not bothering her is definitely a bit unerving for the Rider.

    "I mean, at least she's bleeding red instead of yellow or green or whatever, so I know it's not something from my end of things."

Emily grimaces as Temulin goes down, but her smile quickly returns. She lets out a giggle which, partway through, shifts into a cackle. "Sorry, kiddo! I think the boat's sailed on that one," she says. "Releasing capacitor seal 2!" The gold and pearlescent auras appear again; this time, it's the golden one which shatters, leaving only the pearlescent one, which fades once again. More falchion swords appear at the end of her wasp-spider-legs, and she floats into a defensive position in front of Kian.

But it isn't until Kian asks the obvious question that it clicks in Emily's head. "She's a spirit of the hunt, I think," she says. "Hunting down 'something' or 'someone' is simply her nature. And notice how she doesn't just have the traits of a predator -- those sort of antlers are a prey-animal thing, at least in the wildlife where I'm from. Hmm ..."

In a larger swirl of silvery glitter, her swords all transform into hunting-knives. Each of which has a hologram hovering over it that says "Unregistered DOE KNIVES Hunting Knife - 177953 days overdue"

    "Spirit of the hunt?" That's a new one to Raphael. For a moment he's distracted from the cold as he looks at the three. And then he's looking back at Emily because she does something impressive. Aw, he wants awesome swords that can change shape! -but that's not the point here.

    "So is she like, bad?" he asks, moving closer towards where the Kamen Rider is. No big deal, nothing weird to see here, just a mutant ninja turtle casually twirling his sai around in each hand. Trying not to freeze his shell off.

    Tirsiak's excited grin suddenly transforms into a grimace of frustration. "Why... do you... insist on interfering..." she growls through gritted teeth. She stands up straight, and begins to levitate off the ground. "Just when it was getting interesting..." Wind whips up around Tirsiak's body. "You pitiful creatures do not know your place. I miss the old days."

    She glares at Rephael and Emily. "...My quarry has not yet satisfied the Hunt. Continue to interfere and you will die."

>> SUMMARY[Tirsiak] >> It suddenly dawns on everyone present that Tirsiak has been holding back...

    Kian looks carefully at that, then seems to consider before he looks at Raphael and Emily. Then he double takes at Raphael. "Demon!" The revolver gun is brought up to point at Raphael.

    What do you expect from a guy who's not used to the World Tree and now sees a giant mutant turtle whenever past mutants have been invaders of his world?

    Of course, he is also firing as he brings the gun up. Fortunately it's just water. Right? Right?

Emily shrugs at Raphael's question. "I don't think so," she says. "Whatever world she's from, she's probably part of the natural balance of the world."

When Tirsiak seems to get stronger ... Emily smiles. "... Oh, this is getting interesting," she says. "What, you just want us to drop everything and let you -- wait, what?" She glances over her shoulder as Kian suddenly chooses a new target, and facepalms. "... I'm not detecting a demonic presence, Armstrong!" she says firmly. "Oh for ..."

    "Uh-oh..." Yeah, don't underestimate the girl with the antlers. Spirit? Whatever! Obviously not good to be on her bad side. Or anyone's bad side, really, not that it's a position Raphael's never been in. Because of his brothers he's the nicest turtle. Said no one ever.

    But suddenly this dude's aiming his gun at him and the turtle hasn't even done anything! Or more specifically- hasn't done anything yet! "What the heck?!" he growls, turning with his weapons raised. "Do I look like a-" 

    OH LOOK WHAT YOU DID KIAN YOU SHOT OFF HIS HEAD--

    A second later it pops up again, out of his shell. Because, turtle. "-DUDE, you are asking for it!!" 

    Who was fighting who again? Because Raphael lunges right at the Rider then.

    Tirsiak stares.

    Her face contorts as she tries to hold it together. She's not laughing she's not laughing she's not-

    She's laughing. And curling up on herself, kicking her legs in the air, just cackling giddily in a way that is completely unlike the serious fascade she was just pulling.

    Kamen Rider Steed moves away and to the side from the angry turtle. Yep. Not going to stand there and be shiskabob for said turtle's dangerous pointy weapons which can probably go through his armor. Especially as said turtle appears to be a demon.

    The revolver is put back in the belt buckle as he brings his hands up ready to literally throw down with the turtle at least until he hears... laughing?

    That causes him to turn and look back at the crazy hunting spirit type little girl. Stare. Then he looks to the turtle and Emily. "... okay, what the hell?"

A look of panic crosses Emily's face, because she did, indeed, momentarily forget the whole turtles-and-shells thing. She opens a staticky portal which leads to the rooftop Raphael was previously on, and opens the other end directly beneath Kian's feet, with the intention of dumping him onto the roof. "Can you settle down for one second?" she says. "He's not a demon from your world!" A slight pause, before she looks at Raphael. "Are you?" she adds quietly.

She sighs theatrically, and turns back to Tirsiak. "Can we take a rain check on this whole 'hunt' thing?" she says flatly. "I mean. Presumably from your reaction, the answer is 'yes', but."

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> De-Escalation, Thy Name Is "Shove Someone Through A Portal"

    Throwing yourself bodily at someone makes it difficult to shift your momentum, but at least Raphael can see as the Kamen Rider prepares himself to prepare in turn. He's not letting a simple manuever catch him off guard- that'd be just embarrassing!

    He goes with the throw, twisting so that he can get some leverage with foot or hand to help him land upright. "No! I'm not a freakin' demon! I'm a turtle!" he shouts back in response to Emily. For a turtle he's no slowpoke, that's for sure, light on his feet and already tensed to make his next move against Kian. Or at least that had been the plan, but the laughter from one previously upset Spirit of the Hunt kind of throws him off. "Uh..?"

    Tirsiak flops down onto the ground, into the snow - which promptly begins to melt. The temperature raises, and the clouds part to let the rays of the sun shine down. Dogs shake off their winter coats like they were never there, trees transform needles back into leaves...

    And Tirsiak is just laying there on the ground, staring up at the sky. "...The Hunt has been... called off," she says, sounding slightly confused.

    Kamen Rider Steed was about to do the really sensible thing and listen a bit. Then... well... there's a portal.

    Under him.

    The Kamen Rider disappears to land on the rooftop way the hell up there. Fortunately on his feet, but now he's looking around confused. How did he get up there?

Emily nods to Tirsiak. "Okay, cool," she says. "Just making sure. Reapplying capacitor seals 2 and 3." The pearlescent aura reappears, the gold and silver ones reconstruct themselves, and then all three fade again.

Emily peers down at the portal she just dumped Kian into, and reconfigures it so it's upright. "Are we good to not shoot each other, Kian?" she says through it; the other end of the staticky portal should be right behind him, and it's clearly visible two-way.

... She reaches into another smaller portal, and pats Tirsiak on the head again.

    Oh good, the snow's disappearing. Standing in it was really starting to numb his toes, and with Kian suddenly being banished to the rooftops, Raphael had no real excuse to move around to keep warm. He lowers his hands and his weapons just a little, maybe not completely convinced that things are over, at least with the Rider.

    For the time being, the turtle looks towards Tirsiak as she lies there, and he seems just as confused as she sounds, not that he'll argue if she's decided to stop with attacking the other guy. Even if other guy was a paranoid jerk. Finally he tucks his sai back into the loops of his belt behind his shell, glancing at Emily as she at least seems willing to play mediator. Maybe the Rider will listen to her at least?

    Raphael walks over to Tirsiak, looking down at her before holding out a hand.

    Tirsiak freezes once again as Emily touches her. "...The Hunt may not be overwhelming me currently, but that does not make me a pet. Remove your hand."

    Once released, she stands back up, glancing at Raphael's hand curiously and... sniffing it. She looks up at Raphael, then shakes her head.

    "The Temulin woman requires medical attention. Make sure she receives it. I would not enjoy being forced to eat her should she perish." Tirsiak then promptly begins to walk away. "Oh. Also: if you wish me to avoid hunting humans in the future, I require an offering of food. Then I will consider sequestering myself in the wild places the next quarter-turn of the moon, when the Hunt overwhelms me again."

    Kamen Rider Steed, meanwhile, turns to look at the portal that's behind him. And actually seems to glare at Emily. "Fine. I will listen. But I still say that's a turtle based demon or something." He points a hand at Raphael through the portal.

    Looking around, he then looks at the portal, "Can I come back through?"

Emily's hand promptly dematerializes in a swirl of silvery glitter. "Done," she says, actually looking awkward and embarrassed. "Sorry." Then she glances around and dematerializes her weapons and wasp-scorpion-legs, and her clothes go back to being summer clothes. She keeps the extra arms, though.

She takes a step back, but not so far back that she couldn't jump between Kian and Raphael should that become necessary. "Yeah, sure, Kian ... uh, hang on, lemme steal the wifi and call emergency services for Temulin ... oh wait, I can just do cell roaming here instead." An expression of intense concentration crosses her face for a moment, and then she shrugs. "Okay, got an ambulance. I ... hope they can handle Au Ra in this world." She grins. "Also I cannot believe that someone as ridiculous and misanthropic as me is going to play the mediator here. Even if it's only in a simple and vacuous sort of way."

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Emily is also a hero-in-denial.

    The ninja squints at Tirsiak as he lowers his hand. "What??" Is she being serious? She's not just addressing him on that whole offering thing, is she? He scowls a little, folding his arms. as he watches the girl start to walk off. "...think she'd eat pizza?"

    Really, is it his fault if the girl hunts some dumb human? He's not playing babysitter! Spirit-sitter. ...whatever! Boy is he glad Leonardo's not here.

    Hearing the Kamen Rider speak up through Emily's portal, he scowls and looks over. Right, that guy. Raphael stays where he is, not without a glance in the fallen woman's direction. Better Emily than him calling in help at least. The last thing he needs are more humans flipping out about a monster or a demon.

    "I'm a mutant, genius," he clarifies as he turns his attention back towards the man on the other side of Em's portal.

    The Kamen Rider eyes the turtle it seems. "Mutant just means you're from the ATP instead of the Underworld where I come from." The Rider says as he steps back through the portal.

    The Rider looks over at Tirsiak, then over towards Emily. "Are you sure it is safe to do so on this world? I know I probably stepped through a portal by accident before she showed up." He thumbs at Tirsiak. "But I do not know where we are now. At all."

Emily considers Raphael's question. "At a guess, I'd say there'd be a preference for something that was hunted, but I dunno," she says. She conjures up another overdue-for-registration hunting knife. "I'll see if I can't catch something in the Halcyon Remnant either way."

At Kian, she shrugs. "Well, I checked a bunch of things, and I was looking through the news when Tirsiak made herself known," she says. "All I know is that we it's most likely safe here, and that I don't know how to take care of someone with a concussion."

She puts a hand on the Rider's shoulder. "Listen, Kian ..." She shakes her head. "There are several worlds out there on the World Tree." A massive understatement, there. "If you try to assume that everything works the same way it does in your world, you're gonna sound like Temulin did when she assumed that Saber's giant scorpions were something related to her world's Bloodborn kingdom. And this turtle-guy was just chilling when I first caught sight of him, and I am one hundred percent certain that he was joining in to help defend you from Tirsiak."

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Emily attempts diplomacy.

    "I have no idea what the heck's an ATP. I'm from New York," Raphael snorts, not bothering to hide a glare from Kian. Getting shot at kind of makes you grouchy, who knew!

    He's still frowning even as he nods at Emily once she circles around to when she'd first seen him. "It's Raphael," he says, since it seems everyone else knows each other and getting referred to as the resident mutant turtle gets a little annoying after a while.

    Kamen Rider Steed looks at Raphael, then shakes his head, "Figures it'd be someone from New York. Texas here."

    He sighs, then looks to Emily. "Yeah, problem is, you saw what my world's had to deal with. Well, sorta. It gets a bit worse. So, when you're one of the guys who escaped 'em and basically makes their plans go to hell in a hand basket, sometimes literally, you kinda get jumpy. Y'know?"

    Kamen Rider Steed considers, then looks at Raphael before he looks back at Tirsiak. "So, you're not going to try to kill me or something now?"

    Tirsiak hasn't stopped walking away all this time, although she's not in any particular hurry. So, she catches what the Kamen Rider is saying to her, and stops. She looks over her shoulder, and gives a predatory grin. "Not today. Unless you force me to." And then she continues off on her merry way, tail wagging now.

Emily nods when Raphael introduces himself. "Raphael, sorry," she says. She considers Kian's words for a moment, then nods simply; these days, she has her own 'jumpiness' to worry about.

A glance is spared towards Tirsiak; she privately starts pondering plans for how to make this offering. And how to get it to its intended recipient, for that matter.

    "Jumpy..." Raphael mutters. He'd seen what damage that gun could pack, water or not, all the more thankful for being a turtle, not that he ever isn't. He tries very hard not to smirk just a bit at Tirsiak's reply to the Rider.

    To the other girl he nods back. "Emily, right? Thanks for...that whole portal thing." Helping him down and getting Kian out of his metaphorical hair before the turtle did something he might regret.

    Kamen Rider Steed shrugs, "Not my place to kill unless you're going after people." He says towards Tirsiak.

    Then he looks to Raphael. Considering, he looks at Emily, then looks a bit begrudgingly like perhaps he is considering her words.

Then he reaches to the revolver and pulls it off, switching the barrel to what looks like the one he had at first as his transformation fades. He looks over to the turtle, then to Emily, then shakes his head, "Sorry, Raphael... I guess I am a bit jumpy, but well... if you ever visit my world, you'll see some of the stuff they've caused. I should go and try to get back." He moves to exit the alleyway, sticking the revolver inside his jacket as he goes.

Emily rematerializes the hand that she'd been using to pat Tirsiak, and gives Raphael a thumbs-up. "No charge," she says. She glances down at Temulin's prone form, opens her mouth as if to make a snide comment, but then says nothing.

She nods to Kian. "See you around," she says. "I'll stick around here to make sure the ambulance gets Temulin all right. And to pay for medical expenses," she adds under her breath. Ambulance sirens are audible in the distance ...

    The ninja regards the Kamen Rider before finally nodding at him. "At least if I ever go to your world that means there's stuff to punch." He manages a little grin, looking between Kian and Emily. The sound of sirens quickly makes that expression slip.

    "Guess I'll get out of here before someone else decides to pull a monster hunt." He gives the two a wave and then turns, darting off for the nearest alley. No slow turtles here!