World Tree MUSH

    On the north side of Natsuto, where the skyscrapers start to peter out, there's a block or so that has been converted into an assisted living community for the elderly. The buildings are sleek and graceful, the apartments are single-story, wheelchair ramps are plentiful, there's quite a bit of greenery even outside of the park area at the heart, and it's even convenient to a nearby shopping district and hospital. The standards of care are quite high around here.

    But you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at the place. Not today. All those seniors who are out and about seem to have dozed off for naps. None have simply collapsed where they were standing, thankfully; but grandpas on benches have nodded off, grandmas in wheelchairs have stopped on the sidewalk to rest, there's even an old oba-san over at a picnic table, stopped in the middle of lunch to lay her head down. And it's not just the elderly that have been affected. The facility's caretakers walk as if dead tired, their steps urgent but strained, as if checking on everyone is taking all they can muster. All the more concerningly, a couple of parents are bustling around in obvious distress, calling out for children that seem to have wandered off.

    A careful eye might see it. Between two apartment buildings, a shadow seems to deepen, to lengthen - or is it stretching out? It's hard to say. A ripple like an illusion, or a cloak... or a hand? Something reaches out. Something grabs. Something tugs a passerby in, and they just seem to... vanish.

    For the one who is pulled, it's like being grabbed sideways from reality, and pulled that way. Disconcerting and vertigo-inducing. For the one who follows, it's like... feeling another path. There is no physical change in direction, but with an effort of will, one can 'change course', move at an angle to reality. For both, there's a sensation like passing through cobwebs, a disconcerting tickle along the arms, the face, the back of the neck... and things are Different.

    Those that have newly entered, find themselves under an overhang of rock, where a small handful of children lie unconscious, their breathing shallow. Around them, rocky spires tower in the rough position of the buildings outside. A few overhangs here and there provide shelters, casting shadow over the dirt and stone of the canyon floor, deep and dark shadow that nevertheless provides succor from the harsh, merciless sun beating down overhead. To step out from under the overhang is to feel the harsh, stinging heat; it does not immediately cause harm, but it shines down more cruelly than a Death Valley summer, and staying out in it for any length of time is Not Wise.

    But harsher than that, is the mood that hangs about the place. A complete and utter sense of crushing desolation, of total emptiness and distance. A solitude that bites bone deep, a feeling that desperately longs for even the vaguest hint of another life, another soul... but something rests over that longing. A thin, fragile veneer something less like 'hope' and more like 'resignation'.

    Nevertheless, across the canyon floor heat shimmers can be seen, in the vague shape of humans, moving as humans do outside. Some shapes are slumped over stone, some are bustling about across open, sunlit spaces. The most attentive may notice that they're in roughly the same relative locations as the people outside. There's one shimmer that's brighter, moves along more energetically, almost as if jogging or running... until a shape darts from one of the overhangs. From deep within that dark, shadowy respite, something lunges. It might be a mass of black liquid. It might be a cloaked figure. It's hard to see. It darts right through the more energetic shimmer, continues on, and disappears into another shadowed overhang... and the shimmer seems to lose some intensity. It slows down. Its gait grows closer to the others still moving about.

    And as the shadow passes through it, reality itself whispers. A soft, sussurant sound that is less 'heard' than 'felt', like a murmur in the back of one's mind.

    'It's better this way.'

    Lex Brando is not having a good day today.

    First, she blundered into a different Blossom from her intended destination, and she's legitimately not sure whether it got redirected, or if she actually went through the wrong Vine. Next, she got lost in the city trying to find the right Vine.

    And now, in a moment of distraction, she's gotten pulled into some kind of eldritch nightmare heat-space. The tall young woman is on her knees under one of the overhangs, trying to support herself with her wheeled sports bag bearing the "Monadnock A.G." emblem, teeth clenched as she struggles to remain conscious, her glasses crooked on her face. "What ... the ... heck," she grunts, her voice even more scratchy and androgynous than usual.

    And then she sees that shadowy thing move, and she sighs weakly, furrowing her brow. "Should've stayed in bed this morning," she mutters to herself.

    he blond girl with the odd glow behind the bangs that cover her left eye went in deliberately. That doesn't mean she is immune to the oppressive influence, far from it; but she grits her teeth and continues forward. She overhears Lex mention that she should've stayed in bed, and reaches upwards for the other girl's shoulder. "No. This feeling isn't right." She says gently, and when she hears the murmuring, she throws her head back and declares firmly. "No. It's better if you let these people go, this is /wrong./" She insists, opening her left eye as she speaks and revealing the bright flame that was glowing through her eyelid previously.

    It happens once, twice more; that strange, rippling darkness darts from one shadow to the next, passing through someone. Each time, a soft and resigned, 'It's better this way,' reverberates through reality itself, as if a whispered mantra. But after Lucianne speaks, there's a space of several seconds where nothing happens. Utter silence, not even whistling wind. A quiet so abiding the two still conscious might hear their own heartbeat.

    'It's better this way.'

    The attack comes suddenly. From the nearest overhang, the shadowy figure erupts like a missile, hurtling straight towards the shelter Lucianne and Lex are huddled in. The darkness around it ripples and shifts; it's like a cloak, but a cloak made of inky blackness, a hood in which only the vaguest, faintest suggestion of glowing eyes might be seen at just the right angle. It moves swiftly, its angle taking it low and to one side, but as it passes by, there's a sudden flash of steel, the crescent of a scythe lashing out in passing. If it manages to land, there's a sudden upswelling of exhaustion, as if the mere touch has stolen some energy. It disappears into the shadows behind the two of them.

    Meanwhile, outside, a figure in white, gold and blue comes bouncing off a high rooftop, down to a lower one. Yumi's hop to the street is almost casual, her urgency enough that she doesn't even bother to conceal herself from the stares of passersby. When she realizes all the people looking exhausted, her expression turns to a deeper frown, and her head whips back and forth, looking, searching... and then locking onto the alleyway where both Lex and Lucianne disappeared. "...there!" With one hop, two hops, she's suddenly up and over, diving into the space between those apartments and vanishing from reality. It would be easy enough to see her go - and to follow after, if one were brave...

    Lex jerks in surprise and looks up at the unfamiliar girl. "What?" she says blearily. At first, she doesn't even register that fire in the girl's eye, and then she does a double-take.

    But then they have a monster to worry about. "W-what!?" exclaims Lex. "N-not this guy again ..." She pushes aside the sports bag, revealing a cutlass resting on top of an empty duffel bag with the same logo ...

    ... and almost immediately gets hit by that scythe.

    She slumps over onto the bag, out like a light.

>> SUMMARY[Lex Brando] >> Lex cannot withstand two hits from the youma.

Lucianne gets hit by that scyhe, the wound looks painful but not too bad. The girl doesn't seem to be too bothered, until she notices Lex has fallen. Her eyes go to the cutlass, and she picks up the weapon, holding it unsteadily with both hands. She clearly does not know how to use any kind of sword, but that doesn't stop her. "I said." She yells, right about as Yumi enters, "Let these people go." And then she swings the blade, it's a clumsy attack, unlikely to do much good. She's in trouble, and she knows it.

    Clad in heavy armor the color of sunset gold, Aurelia follows after Yumi, emerging into the desolate world. She pauses to regain her senses and to ward off a wave of nausea. Then, after a moment, she summons a diamond-bladed gladius to her hand, a clapping sound signaling the weapon's arrival. The blade glitters and shines with reflected light even in this subdued place. 
    "Wow, this place is awful." The young woman glances around as she trails afer Yumi.

    There is a thing flying slowly through the sky there on the outside... it's small, human-sized. Shrouded in an unnaturally small bank of fog held together very well. It too follows Yumi, slowly and quietly... revealed when the heat from this nether plane of hellish sun evaporates the fog almost instantly.

    It's a human. Male, younger. Black hair with a bluish cast to it, Asian in appearance, dressed mostly in white and dark blue. He's surprised on suddenly finding his fog bank disappearing, and looks around in a confused fashion. And that's when the hellish heat hits, and he seems to wilt a little, slouching, his eye twitching. "Augh. That's... unpleasant," he comments, rather unnecessarily.

    "Bravette, I want you to stay out here, and keep an eye on the locals. See if you can't help them somehow... whatever's in that other place... it might drain out your battery and I'd never forgive myself if that happened to you." Uni says, sending her companion off to help the locals, explain what she knows of the situation and to try and stay together as much as possible.

    Meanwhile, Uni follows Yumi and the others, shuddering at the sensation. "Ugh, that feels worse than the portal that opened to the Ultradimension before we stabilized it... Anyway, I've got a bad feeling about this, eyes open, heads on a swivel." she says, summoning forth a bullpup rifle and adjusting the selector to a flame symbol, the piping along the barrel shifting to a dull red.

    Lex is down. Someone else to protect, although perhaps the shadowy figure isn't so interested in targets it's already drained to the point of passing out. The swing from Lucianne passes through empty air, her target already diving into the inky blackness at the back of the overhang.

    A heartbeat later it emerges from an entirely different overhang, lunging at Aurelia, gliding across the space like a specter of death. 'It's better this way.' This time, when it swings that scythe, it veers in a different direction, cautious and unpredictable. It seems to have recognized that gladius as some degree of threat. But it's still attacking the intruder. Still emerging for strikes, again and again. This time, it hurls itself across the searing sand at Jun. It's slow enough that, if you're ready for it, there's time to strike, time to deflect and counterhit, to line up a shot. But it emerges from a different overhang every time.

    'It's better this way. It's better this way. It's better this way.' With every attack, the tone behind the whisper grows more desperate. Almost as if trying to convince itself.

    The emergence of Uni's bullpup rifle draws its attention. 'It's better this way.' It picks an overhang a few paces down, skimming across the sand in a zigzag pattern, aiming a glancing swing for the CPU's center of mass, then retreating to a nearer shelter to disappear again-

    And for a second time, Lucianne finds herself in its sights. 'It's better this way.' The attack comes from the next overhang along the canyon, the shadowy reaper emerging and launching itself towards the canyon wall to rebound and come straight at her from an odd angle. Swift and whisper quiet, like an owl diving for its prey-

    CLANG.

    White armor, trimmed in gold and blue. A huge sword, engraved with runes, blade longer than its wielder is tall and wider than her ribcage. Yumi Tachibana intercepts the charge with a frantic, last-second dive, interposing her weapon between the youma and Lucianne; there is one clash, two, and it sneaks a slash under her guard before diving away to safety. Yumi grits her teeth and hisses quietly, but then falls into a defensive stance, and speaks aloud for everyone's benefit. "Quick rundown. We call it a 'youma'. It can't understand anything you say, ignore the whispers. Gotta take it down as fast as we-"

    CLANG. Another attack, barely deflected. This time, the whisper is slightly different, a cut-off snatch of a longer thought.

    'Better if they don't see-'

Others who can fight, Lucianne seems relieved, a sensation that seems to get reflected by that eye growing brighter, if only slightly. "Ok, got it." She answers Yumi, shaky hands still holding onto that Cutlass. It seems despite her clear inexperience and weakness, she's intent on fighting. When it goes for Yumi again, she steps to the side and thrusts the borrowed blade at the Youma. Otherwise, she does her best to stay in between the Youma and Lex.

    Uni's eyes track where the spectre vanishes, and where it emerges. Everything has a pattern, and if she can figure it out---

    Incoming, shift stance, track the juking, BLAM. One shot, fired where the juking is expected to send the youma as it approaches. Whether or not she hits, she hops back, and takes the scythe hit across the shoulder, stumbling as her energy drains away a little. "Blitz it, take it down before it sucks out all your energy. Got it." she grunts, teeth gritted. "Wish I had a Light shot setting now."

    Jun becomes aware of the shadowy figure lunging at him, and acts instinctively -- he conjures a blast of magical steam at the thing as it approaches! Though it's more that he leaves it behind in the space that he was in as he dodges out of the way of the shadowy thing's lunge. He definitely prioritizes not letting the thing get close to him over making an attack.

    Furthermore, realizing that everyone's effective area might be being limited by that hellish sun, Jun gets an idea. Rather than press the attack against the shadowy thing -- a 'youma', the girl he followed into this space calls it -- he should try to give some breathing room to the rest of the crowd while THEY press the attack.

    He concentrates, pulling at whatever water he can find in the air around him -- or if he can find none, his own body's water -- and pushes hard at the weather. It'll be slow, little by little, but he tries to create a raincloud big enough that the heat won't instantly make it fizzle away, trying to provide some relief from the oppressive heat.

    If Lex was conscious, she'd probably have words to say about Lucianne's sword form. She'd be too nervous to actually say them, but still. The cutlass isn't a bad sword; it's just very plain, very standard-issue. Probably relatively cheap, as far as swords go.

    As it is, Lex just lays there, unconscious, one scratch on her right arm and a deeper cut on her left. She clearly isn't going to be contributing to the fight any time soon.

    Aurelia's inexperience means the scythe hits the sun-kissed orichalcum armor more than she would like, leaving long gashes in the armor. New weak points in the heavy plate for it to attack. The few times the metal mage's blade connects with the scythe though, the glittering adamant attacks the weave of magic the shadowy weapon possesses.
    Aurelia loses her senses for a moment as she hears the whispers speak in the voices of her dead family. She distantly hears Yumi's explanation, and seems to acknowledge it with a nod of her helmeted head. Losing her energy seems to be the least of Aurelia's problems in this battle, as she hurries towards the fallen form of Lex in case the youma tries to go for the easy target. She feels like she is sleepwalking.

    Unfortunately for Jun, the youma swings only its scythe through the steam, not its body. His raincloud is an impressive idea, though; while it takes some degree of effort to get going, it eventually wins out against the searing sun, and slowly but surely the blistering desert heat begins to die back. It's a near thing, though, and good grief he'd better keep focused, because the Web itself is fighting him on it. The youma is, too; its next attack takes it right past him, a slash on a veering course towards Yumi and Lucianne. This time it readies its scythe for a much more head-on attack, and the magical girl preps her guard-

    A hit. A good, clean hit. The youma's distracted enough with Yumi that Lucianne manages to drive that cutlass home. The entire Web reverberates with what might be a cry of pain, if it were an actual sound. It's more like reality shuddering in the vague 'shape' of a sound.

    '...break their hearts...!'

    Yumi shifts her grip on Prominence and hauls the weapon around, lunging right out into the harsh sunlight to swing a heavy slash at the youma. It dodges, barely, and comes around with another slash at her midsection - but this time she's prepared, and the scythe only glances off her armor. It retreats before she can follow up, diving through one shadow and emerging from another in a bid to swing at Uni. That attack is cut short when the CPU unloads a bullet that clips it along one side, and another hissed, 'It's better this way,' accompanies its sudden flight towards a shadow.

    And then it emerges from the shadows behind Lex, Yumi and Aurelia directly, making a straight swing at Aurelia. It's not intelligent enough to swing for the weakpoints it's left behind, but it does know to go after the more exhausted prey.

    But in the next heartbeat, Yumi snaps her hand around and, open-palmed, fires a burst of searing sunlight at the thing. It darts to one side, avoiding... but for that one instant, the shadows under the overhang are banished. And the youma decides to dart off and fly into another shadow instead. Yumi's eyes narrow briefly. "It-"

    Hey look out Uni, here it comes again, this time looping around from behind to swing at your back.

"This is insane." Lucianne states, steel in her voice even if her arms are shaking with fear. The rain causes a faint scowl, and the drops that come too close to her left eye evaporate, there's real heat to that flame. Though her form is terrible, getting that one hit in is a cause for some confidence, and she stays near Lex, making sure to strike if the Youma even thinks of going after Lex again.

    Uni spots the shift of the youma's path as shadows are purged. "It's using the shadows..." she summons a canister into her offhand, thumbs a button on the top and shouts. "SHIELD YOUR EYES!"^

    She throws the grenade out into the center of the area, and it detonates in a blinding flash and sharp cracking sound. Not a flash-BANG, more a Flash-pop. This does leave her completely exposed to any back attacks, though.

    Aurelia is mired in her own doubts while the others are battling it, the cool rain washing the tears hidden behind her helm. "But why is it better that you're dead?" She keeps mumbling. The youma gets a nasty swing of the scythe in on her, drawing blood from her arm. The enervating pain brings her into focus briefly, mustering up enough to take a lunge at the thing.
    Aurelia hears Uni shout and throws her arm over the eye holes in her helm, falling over with the sudden movement due to the fatigue she's experiencing. Worse, she thinks the wound isn't closing like they usually do.

    If it's all he can do, then by God he's gonna give it his all! Doubtless he's not strong enough to actually fight the Web itself, but he can push and change this little thing, just for a bit.

    Jun concentrates, putting everything he can into changing the weather, into bringing the relief of rain to the parched, hot, dry place, even if it's made by the youma's power or emotions (or lack thereof). But it's not just rain. Rain is water, and water is life. And Jun is powered by the Pearl of a dragon of life.

    Fortunately once he used his own body's water to make the cloud, the cloud itself made rain without Jun having to use any more of the water of his own body. So not only is he trying to dissipate some of that oppressive, will-stealing heat, but he's giving himself more ammunition.

    Which he demonstrates when he finally releases the concentration on the rain cloud -- hopefully it'll linger a bit before it completely dissipates, so he'll have ammo for a while. Uni's shout gets his attention, but the moment before, he sees the youma coming up behind her. He has no choice but to shield his eyes, but just before he does, he aims a few of those magical steam blasts, each about the size of a small dart, in the direction of the youma.

    Unfortunately he's not going to be able to help much to save Uni, not with his eyes covered. He'll have to keep the number if steam blasts low, since he can't aim throughout the firing, otherwise he'll hit Uni, and he doesn't want to do that.

    The youma isn't above taking that opening at all; there's a kind of animal cunning to it, if nothing else. It swings the scythe straight upwards along her back, before retreating - only to have the flashbang go off just as it's swooping into the shadow of an overhang. For a moment, it reels back, confused. But the bright light of a flash, whether bang or pop, lasts only a moment, and then it quickly dives for cover again. '...just hurt them more to see...'


    But after seeing that, someone with the same suspicions as Uni has them confirmed. "I have an idea. Cover me!" Yumi yells, dropping Prominence to one side and crouching down... to start picking up rocks. One, after another, after another. Once she's gathered up a good seven or eight, she cups them all together and takes on a look of intense concentration... and they all start to glow, dimly at first, but then very brightly. Warmth and gold-white light roll off them, but it's a much less hostile light than the sun above.

    The children at Lucianne's feet utter a soft groan, but other than that faint stirring, they do nothing. It seems to draw the youma's attention, though, as it comes gliding out of another shadowed alcove nearby and swings straight for her. '-couldn't take the pity in their eyes-' She manages a glancing hit off it this time, but that's still one more hit, one more to make it wary of approaching Lex and the children.

    So it goes after Aurelia instead. It's growing a little more frantic, enough that for the first time it actually stops to trade swings. One slash, two, until she manages to clip it with her Gladius, whereupon it banks around and turns to head after Jun. It seems to have finally recognized the fact he's removing some of its home-field advantage, or at the very least that an interloper is altering its personal space. It's magic against magic, but if the youma can take a swipe at him in passing- but no, before it can even do that, it takes a steam blast head-on.

    Its 'voice' reverberates through the canyon, a muttered, '-can't let them see me like-' as it turns, a ghost repulsed to head towards another shadowy portal-

    Until a brightly-glowing stone clatters to a stop under the overhang. The bright sunlight of Yumi Tachibana clings to that rock, making it a portable light source, banishing the shadow entirely - and keeping it that way. She hucks another rock into another alcove, another under another overhang, over and over until she's tossed a light into every single patch of deep shadows nearby.

    "No more running," she grunts. All its escapes are cut off. It floats, uncertain, seeming to turn this way and that. It doesn't know where to go.

Lucianne isn't used to this, but she realizes what Yumi is doing. And as Yumi traps the Youma with light, the girl removes one hand from the blade and brushes her hair aside once more. She opens her eyes as wide as she can, that blight orb of flame in her skull bright enough to be at least somewhat uncomfortable to stare into, and she walks slowly towards the youma, trying to get into position to drive that cutlass home and end this thing, whatever it is.

"I'm no hero." She says, calmly, her fears seemingly gone "But I can't let you get away with this. The light will always banish shadows." There's a pause, briefly, as though her own words surprised her, but not long, and she lunges forwards with the blade.

    Aurelia watches Yumi trap the thing with light, pulling off her helmet to breathe better and let the rain cool her off. The light makes her feel better, somewhat. She realizes the whispers are still there, talking. She realizes they are right about precisely one thing. "I'm better off this way! I can fight back! I can protect people!" She stands, shaking as she rouses herself to throw off the enervation. She's not a light mage, but she possesses one thing that's radiant, and it happens to be somewhat anti-magic as well. The gladius' blade is brilliant, reflecting the lights that Yumi has created as well as Lucianne's blazing eye, a rainbow halo around it from the rain. She throws it at the youma, knowing she can recall it to her hand afterwards.

>> GAME >> Aurelia Argent spends an Edge for: Shaking off Shadows

    Well, steam is just steam, magical or not. A physical presence very much will be able to move through it when already in motion. Particularly the scythe. The steam blast may hurt the youma, but between concentration and having his eyes closed to avoid the flash from Uni's grenade, he's unaware of the coming attack. He opens his eyes just in time to see the attack, and there's just not enough time to get out of the way.

    Slice!

    It's worth noting that Jun, functionally, is a dragon now, the dragon's Pearl now imbedded in Jun's throat as it would be in the throat of a dragon that was born with it. That energy drained from him by the scythe attack is wholly life, pure and holy, for whatever that means for the youma.

    For his part, Jun staggers back with a pained cry, stumbling to a knee, a wound opened up on his torso by the scythe. That hurt!

    Uni lets out a grunt, and stumbles forward, a nasty looking red gash up her back, showing broken, damaged red code as she falls over fowards.

    The youma is already confused. All of its avenuse to escape and attack are gone. It looks like it's about to go on the attack in a rage, but then Lucianne steps forward and shines a light directly on it. The merciless sun of this strange other-space never seemed to perturb it, but putting it on the spot with a directed light like that? After it's had all its exits methodically sealed by a magical girl with a bunch of glowy rocks? It doesn't know what to do about that. It drifts back, then forward, uncertain. It looks like it's just about made up its mind to attack Lucianne when she lunges forward to stab at it.

    The cutlass goes right in.

    '...no matter how much I want to... better if they don't...'

    Aurelia's gladius sinks in right beside it, and the youma reels back in the air.

    '...don't want them to remember me...'

    And Yumi steps out, hefting up Prominence once again. She takes one bounding leap out, whirling the massive blade around herself, creating the momentum for a single spinning slash delivered right as she lands-

    '...this feeble old husk of a body...'

    And the youma comes apart. Cutlass and gladius fall to the ground, as does the mass of shadow, already melting into a formless puddle. There's a last, shivering murmur that might be a final 'better this way', and then wispy trails of smoke begin to curl upwards as the youma dissolves. From the outside in, it fades to nothing, leaving behind only a dark purple gemstone, which Yumi bends down to pick up.

    Shortly thereafter, the Web begins to dissolve around them, shimmering and twisting until reality has reasserted itself - leaving them all near some of the apartments for the elderly. Lex and the children are deposited on the ground. Yumi immediately turns to run over towards Uni. "Hey- hey, are you alright? Is there somewhere we need to get you?" There's a concerned glance Jun's way too.

    Uni isn't quite out, yet. A flicker of light puts a bottle with a stylized N on it in one hand, and with effort, she brings it up to drink from. Her body shimmers and one may be forgiven for thinking they see a set of green numbers rise off her. The code fragments knit back together, turning blue before the 'skin' seals up again. "That... was less than ideal... did you get it?"

When it ends, Lucianne just falls onto her behind on the ground and closes her eyes. No longer fuelled by adrenaline, she's exhausted and hurt. She is aware enough to realize that the others can probably do the job of looking after the victims and the wounded. "That was insane." She reiterates. "I ... I stabbed something." Pause, "Killed something." She sounds like she doesn't believe herself.

    Jun remains where he is -- injured combatants need to stay out of the way, he figures; more so because he has no idea what he's doing, and these people do -- and watches as Yumi destroys the youma, then picks up the strange, dark gem it leaves behind. Yeah, he wants no part of that, whatever it is. Once the Web dissipates, he stands again, slowly, with a wince. If the concerned glance to him is meant as a similar question, he gives a shake of his head. "I'm fine," he insists.

    No, he's more concerned about Lex -- he didn't know when she was unconscious, but because she is, there is definite concern. Uni seems to put herself back together with a potion, too -- and Jun's not even sure he could have done anything to help her anyway -- so he moves toward Lex, to see if he can do anything to help. There are kids there too, so he'll move to see to them as well.

    Lex stirs in her sleep. She lets out an incoherent mumble, with "Goldenhair" audible in the middle of it. She's still got those scratches, and she's still energy-drained.

    Aurelia first sees about helping the other victims, making sure they're otherwise uninjured. She pulls a kit of bandages and antiseptic from her personal hammerspace and does her best to apply basic care to any cuts from the scythe. She doesn't know how to stitch any big wounds, but she does have a few bottles of superglue for a temporary fix...
    The gladius just lays on the ground for now, looking nothing like a magical blade and more like an ordinary antique Roman gladius now that it isn't being wielded.
    After a bit, she flops down near the other people who fought the thing and offers bottles of cold water. "You're right, that was nuts." She says to Lucianne.

    "We got it," Yumi confirms, holding up the little gemstone, then moving to put it in her pocket. Uni seems to be recovering well enough. The redhead gives her a little squeeze on the shoulder, then turns her attention elsewhere. First to Jun, then to Lex and the kids. "...I think they'll be alright. I've never seen a youma this... this hungry. But if they're not dead, it should be okay." Examination seems to confirm this. The children, at the very least, are sleeping like kids who've been awake 48 hours. From the sound of it, Lex is too. That's a relief. She'll have to talk with the other girl later.

    "I don't know all the details yet myself," Yumi replies to Lucianne, "But... I think it was already dead. Or near enough." A soft shake of her head, and then the senshi starts heading towards the fire-eyed girl, concerned. "...it's still not easy, though. All of them I've dealt with so far have been kinda like that." She glances between Lucianne and Aurelia. "Are you two gonna be okay?"

    Lex's injuries almost seem superficial. But there's clearly something wrong. With the energy drain from that scythe, can only assume it's that. Hopefully he can heal that too. Either way, he places his hands near Lex and concentrates, the area in front of his hands lighting up with a green light. It'll look to heal the scratches, but whether it can restore her lost energy or not, Jun doesn't know.

    Once he's done this, he sits down near the rest, with a wince. He accepts the water bottle from Aurelia. "Thanks," he returns gratefully. He takes a deep drink of it, to replenish the water he'd used from his own body. Yumi's words get a nod, though he keeps nearby in case he can be of some assistance. And now that things seem to have resolved and there's not much more he can do, then he starts to heal himself. A hand hovers over his own wound, glowing with that green light, and the wound starts to knit together. Slowly, either because of the magical nature of the wound or whether he's... well, drained.

Lucianne nods to Aurelia, keeping that left eye of hers closed shut; but the lid can't conceal the light entirely; and it still glows much like a flashlight being shone through a hand. "Well, I just woke up this morning not knowing anything beyond my name. So, uh... I have no clue whether I'll be fine. We'll see, I guess." She answers Yumi with a slight shrug. "I don't think going in here was smart, but I had to." The last is said more to herself than to anyone else, a quieter statement, but still loud enough to be heard.

    Aurelia offers Yumi a bottle of water. "Dunno. Probably going to nap when I get home. I'm sure my cat'll join me. That thing... rattled me." Aurelia is not the most self-confident person, nor was she before she became a mage. "Made me think of all the things people would say when comparing me to my sister. And things... I thought while in dark places."

    Lex lets out a louder groan -- even more androgynous than her usual voice -- and she slowly blinks awake. She glances around at the others; Yumi and Jun are familiar, but they're the only ones she recognizes. She clears her throat, and adjusts her glasses. "So ... I'm ... guessing that wasn't just a weird dream?"

    She glances around, and her gaze alights on the dropped cutlass. "... Why is my sword over there," she says flatly.

Lucianne seems relieved when Lex wakes up, and smiles faintly. "Sorry, I didn't have a weapon, so I borrowed it. I hope you don't mind." She does sound worried that Lex might mind. "It ended up getting a bit stuck inside the ... whatchamacallit and I had to let go, haven't had the energy to pick it back up."

    Yumi watches Jun curiously, keenly interested in what he's doing... oh. Healing magic. That's probably a good thing. She looks like she's about to say something, but then Lucianne speaks up.

    And Yumi turns around to look right at her like she's seen a ghost. "I... that's, um." Pause. "...That is worryingly similar to me. Did you wake up in this city?"

    When Aurelia passes across the bottle of water, Yumi takes it, and drinks greedily. The mage's revelation draws a perturbed look. "I... I don't know for sure what they mean. But I think it's echoes of whoever the youma was. I fought one down by the docks, it... it sounded a lot like a girl furious over being taken away from her old life by someone. Like she had to move to a new town or something. I still haven't gotten answers on what exactly they are. But I think they were people, and being a youma seems to bring out whatever was most bothering them."

    Oh. Lex is awake. Yumi gives her a tiny little wave. "Hey, fancy meeting you here. Sheik and Rydia tell you how to get here?" She's assuming the girl came to the city specifically to see her.

    She's about to say more, when there's a distant sound of sirens. The redhead glances out towards the sound, then at the kids still lying there. "...let's get these three over to some adults, then get out of here. I can see about getting you guys a place to crash if you need some rest." She turns to head over towards the kids - and, just for a moment, winces faintly, hand moving halfway to her abdomen before she forces it down. She can be in pain later, now is Get Stuff Done time.

    Aurelia squints in thought at Yumi's explanations. "... That kind of sounds like this house that turned out to be a ghost? It really missed the person who made it and was keeping people that entered it trapped inside. That's not like my mentor, who is a coherent ghost. Most of the time. She's kind of a space case."

    Lex considers Lucianne's comment. "It's fine, it's fine. At least you actually got the chance to use it." She flops onto her back. "And speaking for myself, I'm not, y'know, surprised at all about the lack of energy, and all that. Thanks for that healing-magic, by the way, Jun!"

    She frowns as Yumi offers her explanation about what youma are, and Aurelia has a theory. "That's ... worrying," she mutters. But she blinks as Yumi speaks to her directly. "Oh. Uh, no, I came here by accident, kind of thing," she says awkwardly. "The World Tree works in mysterious ways, and stuff. Or maybe I just got lost."

    She staggers to her feet. "I think a place to stay will be just, y'know, excellent," she says. "Man, Ezella and Dalér are gonna wish they'd been here, after Dr. Goldenhair's had a chance to look over me."

    She pauses, and glances between Lucianne, Uni, and Aurelia. "I'm Lex Brando, by the way. What are your names?"

    Jun nods to Lex's thanks. "I'm glad you're all right," he offers. "It didn't look like you were too badly injured, but take no chances, right?" Fortunately his own injury would be healed by now, so it wouldn't be too bad. Though the cut in his clothes would still be there...

    He'll stay quiet after that -- Lex said his name, so those here who don't know his name... they do now, so introducing himself isn't really necessary. Besides, he has no idea what's going on here!

"Yeah, and I'd just been wandering until I noticed something odd, and I knew I had to look into it." Lucianne's stomach growls now that the excitement is over, but she ignores it. Then Lex asks the all-important question, and she offers a faint smile. "If my memory can be trusted, my name is Lucianne Helia." She offers, in the wry tone of someone who just admitted to pretty much complete amnesia. "And in that case, thanks for letting me borrow your sword. Are you sure you're going to be fine?"
Between the sirens and Yumi's response, she gets up, still keeping her left eye shut tight. "I probably need a place to sleep, if that's what you mean." Her stomach growls again. "So, does this kind of thing happen a lot? You seem used to it."

    Huh. "That's some luck," Yumi replies to Lex. "This is my homeworld. Either way, welcome to Natsuto, I guess." A soft snort. What an introduction to the place.

    Oh. Speaking of introductions. Those are probably a good idea. "Lex and I already know each other. I'm Yumi Tachibana, I'm a magical girl, and I don't have any memory before I woke up in a crater here in Natsuto about... a year and a half ago? I don't know. Time between here and the Tree desyncs sometimes. It's been a year and a half for me."

    "This is my third youma now," she adds in reply to Lucianne. "Plus I've done a lot of stuff offworld, fighting weird things. I think I was a magical girl for a while before I lost my memory, it's... it feels routine I guess." A shrug. "Anyway, let's all get off the street, so to speak. Let me get in touch with someone and see if she can help us get you somewhere to lie down."