World Tree MUSH

Lucianne has very little to her name, but thanks to Yumi and her friend, at least for now she has a roof over head. One that she's abandoned with the crack of dawn, choosing to take a seat on a bench outside relax and bask in the rising sun. Both eyes closed, the glow of her left eye hidden best she can behind her hair; it doesn't do a great job at it, but it's nowhere near as obvious as the bright light it is when she opens that eye.

    It's normally far too early for a school student to be out and heading to school, even in Japan. But Yumi Tachibana has somewhere to be - a couple somewheres, in point of fact. Neither of them are school, for which she feels a bit guilty. But first of all, she can hardly go to school with a wound, and more importantly, there's someone staying in the city as a guest.

    It's a bit of a surprise seeing Lucianne outside, though; Yumi had at least expected to be visiting inside the hotel. But it works just fine for her. "Hey," the redhead greets, lifting an arm to give a wave. "Sleep alright?"

As she hears the voice, Lucianne cracks open her right eye and looks over. "Morning. Well enough, I think?" She doesn't sound terribly sure. "How are you?" She asks in return, picking up her glass of water and taking a sip. "I don't know if this is an odd question, but it's important for some reason, so when is the next full moon?" She doesn't entirely sure about why this is important.

    "I'm doing good," Yumi replies, turning to sit down on the bench herself and unshoulder her backpack. She can't quite hide the little wince as she moves, but shes doing a good job trying. "Well, that is a little odd, but I've been asked much weirder, trust me. It's... I think the beginning of next month?" She whips out her smartphone and starts tapping as she says this, and after a short dely, adds, "Yeah, the fifth. Can't speak for other worlds, though."

Lucianne notices the little wince and frowns briefly, but doesn't mention it. "Thanks." She offers to the explanation, and leans back somewhat to think, "Thanks for getting me a place to stay, but... I probably should be getting on my own two feet at some point. Any clue how I'd go about that?" She asks next.

    The question is a good distraction for Yumi, though her answer makes her feel a little bad. "I'm not sure I can offer much help, there. When I woke up at the bottom of a crater, the police were already there. I'm living with the officer who found me. He's the one who made sure I got set up to go to school and everything. You could see what the police can do for you, I guess?" A faint shrug. "If you want to make money, your best bet's probably off-world."

That gives Lucianne some pause, "I guess you got lucky to be found and taken in by the captain of the guard." She offers, an answer which clearly reveals some underlying assumptions about society that don't match Japan, she doesn't quite answer the suggestion of talking to the police, just thinking about it.

    "'The captain of the guard'," Yumi echoes, unable to keep back a little giggle. "Not quite. The police chief's a fair ways further up the ladder. He's just a really nice officer, is all. Really understanding," she adds, smile growing a bit guilty. "I think... I think he knows to some degree or other, I'm involved with offworld stuff. That I'm... different. He's never hassled me for disappearing for days at a time, or running out of school in the middle of the day. ...Feel kinda bad, to be honest."

"So how can he afford to send you to school?" Lucianne asks, clearly confused by it; before adding, "He sounds like good people, though." She takes another sip from her water. "I'm not keeping you from school, am I?"

    "If anything, I'm keeping me from school," Yumi replies. "I'm headed elsewhere after I'm done here, so no school for me today regardless." Shrug. She might be able to make it back in time for Saturday's half-day, but no telling. "To answer your other question, we have an extensive public school system. There's a few private schools here and there too, but their education's really not any better."

The girl tilts her head sideways, as through trying to make sense of what Yumi is saying by literally looking at it from another angle. Eventually, she shrugs and gives up. "I don't get it." She admits readily, with a shrug, "But if it works, it works, I suppose."

    Yumi watches Lucianne's reaction curiously. "The basic idea is, having everyone educated in basic stuff like reading, math, it gives people more opportunities to find work that suits them. Makes the standard of living better, too. That's good for the country. So the country covers the cost of basic education." While she talks, the redhead tugs over her backpack, unzipping it to dig out a box of strawberry pocky. "Here, want some? It's sweet. I pack lots of snacks when I'm heading offworld."

"But who will work the farms?" Lucianne asks with clear confusion, before apparently coming to a conclusion and frowning. "Wait, don't tell me. I don't think I want to know." The offer of sweets seems to do a decent job at distracting her, "Sure, I'll try it." She holds out her hand. "I'm afraid I can't offer anything in return just yet, I'll pay you back some day."

    That gets another laugh out of Yumi. "Some other time, maybe." She tears open one of the inner packets, then draws out two sticks; one to hand over to Lucianne, and one to eat herself. "Don't worry about it. Everyone's gotta eat." After taking a bite of hers, she adds, "...well, alright, I guess there's a few people here and there that don't. The Tree's a pretty strange place sometimes."

"Not maybe. I will." Lucianne answers, closing her eyes briefly as she considers her words, before coming to a conclusion and quoting something out loud, perhaps even more to herself than to Yumi. "'Leave no debt to which you are party unpaid, neither as a creditor nor as a debtor. Those who do wrong whether by intent or accident owe a debt to their victims.'" She shrugs faintly. "That seems important to me." That last said in a tone of voice that makes it clear she has no clue why, to distract herseef from the confusion, she takes a bite of the pocky. "Wow, that is sweet." She offers up after clearing her mouth.

    That's an interesting, and very old-fashioned sounding maxim; and to judge by the tone of Lucianne's voice, it's pretty deeply ingrained. Yumi feels a little bad about accepting payback for something like pocky, but when it's important to someone else... "Alright. In that case, let's at least make it a debt worth paying back." The girl passes over the rest of the pocky, then pulls the other packet out of the box for herself. "So how much do you know about yourself? Anything other than your name? I woke up with a lot of general knowledge, but... well, nothing about me but my name, more or less."

Lucianne takes the offered pack, "Thanks, but I wasn't talking just about the sweets." She gestures at the hotel behind her, "I owe you for helping me when I was in need, the sweets are just a little extra." She clarifies, "Won't say no to some sweets, though." She smiles, but the question causes some thought. "Well, there's my name. I know this city feels unreasonably big, and the buildings impossibly tall." She explains, "And when I looked up last night, the sky felt wrong. I don't know why, couldn't even tell you what was wrong with it, just that it made me feel sad." A pause, "But none of that is really about myself, is it?"

    "Oh, that," Yumi says, before shaking her head. "No, I'd call that one paying back my debt. I'm responsible for this city, for taking care of youma that pop up in it. You were hurt on my watch, protecting people, including children. And you helped me take it down before anyone died, even any of the elderly people. For all that, a hotel room to rest up is the least I could do."

    She tears open her own packet of pocky and starts in on it. "I dunno, there's some clues there if you think about it. I suspected I was from off-world, but Natsuto never really felt strange to me, everything seems normal. And one of the other senshi here, Elizabeth, she confirmed I'm almost certainly from this world. But you... it sounds like you expect a different sky, a different society with different rules and norms. That at least makes it more likely you're from elsewhere." She cants her head, looking up at the morning sky. "You should find somewhere you can see the stars without city lights washing it all out, see if that seems more right."

"No I can't count that." Lucianne answers in turn, "'Defend those in need of protection from crime, villainy and disaster.'" She quotes, "I think that Youma counts as disaster, so I had to help just as much as you did, so I still owe you for helping me." The rest gets her to nod, "You might be right. I wonder, will I ever be able to find my way home?" A pause, "Would I even recognize it if I did?"

    'Is this what it's like dealing with me from the other side?' Yumi wonders, privately amused. Aloud, she only says, "Alright, alright." She settles back and works on her own bag of pocky, pondering the question. "That's hard to say. But at least you know, if you're somewhere that's definitely not home, you can tell. So even if you don't know for sure if a world is yours, you can at least figure out what your world is like by where you feel more comfortable."

"Yeah I suppose that's true." Lucianne answers, taking another bite from the pocky. "I suppose if this isn't my home, and I don't think it is, I ought to get wandering." The girl considers something, "But I think I'd still need something to make sure I end up having some place to sleep and something to eat, I have no clue how I'd go about getting any of that."

    Yumi taps her chin, thoughtful. "...That's a tough one. My recommendation would be to get some camping gear, a bedroll at least. But that one's a little out of my budget, and yours is definitely more limited than mine... mm. I can only suggest seeing if you can take odd jobs. Might be a little tough here in Natsuto, but on other worlds they're more relaxed about that sort of thing. Especially worlds with adventurers running around. That would be my best recommendation." Pause. "Aside from me handing you another box or two of snacks to last you a little while."

Lucianne considers this. "You happen to know anyone who might be better able to help me with that?" A pause, "Not that your help is bad, but it's obvious that you've got less experience with this than people from some other worlds." She takes out another stick of pocky and takes a bite.

    It takes Yumi a moment or two to consider this. "...I know a few people, but don't really have any way to get in touch with them. I have friends in Hyrule who'd be good, but... I'll have to talk to them before I can send you their way. We're keeping our home base there quiet." She gives a bit of a guilty look at this. "Sorry, it's not that I don't trust you, but it's not really my secret to give. They're good people, though. I think they'll be alright with it."

"It's fair." Lucianne doesn't sound like she cares, "If I were you, I wouldn't trust me." She points out. "You barely know me, I appreciate all that you've done despite how little you know about me, that means you're good people; but it's definitely a big deal to break a promise like that for someone you barely know." She offers, "You know where to find me when you get an answer from them."

    "Might be one of my flaws, I guess," Yumi replies. "But I can't really help myself. I want to help people, it's in my nature. But yeah, I don't break promises. On the bright side, that's where I'm headed next anyway. They're my easy source of having injuries treated, and I don't want to deal with awkward questions at school. I'll be in touch, and in the meantime..." She fishes around her bag. "Here, some more pocky, and also some melon bread. These should get you through the day, at least. Not very nutritious, but if it's just one day you'll be alright."