World Tree MUSH

Sometimes, an adventurer's jobs are long, boring and kind of keep the adventurer out of the loop. Sure, not much of an adventure; but what job does live up to the idealized version people think of? In Temulin's case, she's been performing double duty as guard and bouncer at the Svartalfar embassy in the great mountain dwarf citadel of Dhyg'oll. She's made sure some people know where to find her in case they need her.

Right now, she's sitting on a stone chair that someone crudely shortened by two inches to make it fit her stature at the entrance to the embassy. She's yelling at a drunk svartalf and a drunk mountain dwarf, "Thal's balls, if you two cause any more trouble. I got permission from both your bosses to shave your beards off. Pray give me the excuse, it would be so satisfying."

    Uni's head peeks around the doorframe, red eyes blinking at the curious threat. Must be a dwarven thing, the closest she has from her homeworld are the weird gnomes in the Link Caverns with their weird pointy green hats. She doesn't say anything, waiting for the others who know this particular battle lizard to arrive. Bravette is already taking notes on a holographic screen: 'If dwarves becomes troublesome, threaten to shave their beards...'

Duncan is also here, though he's staying out of things, as per his usual m.o. He's not sure what's going on, and it really doesn't concern him, so he isn't getting in the middle. He's no meddler. They do need to talk to Temulin, though, so he waits out of the way until she's finished doing her thing.

He's wearing that armor again, with helmet on, and leaning his back against the wall, out of the immediate path. He's a pretty big dude, though, so it's not easy for him to just 'disappear'.

    Emily is wearing her "default" form as she comes out from behind Uni, the form of an auburn-haired woman in a midnight-blue business suit and a mining helmet with a plastic Lunar Tear flower covering the lens of the lamp. ... Except that she has six arms right now. "I'll help!" she says, bearing her amused and faintly smug smile. "I have no idea what's going on, but I'll help!" In a swirl of silvery nanomachines, her left hand transforms into an electric shaver. It lets out a threatening buzz.

    "She'll do it," Yumi confirms, unable to keep the laugh out of her voice as she steps into earshot of the auri woman and her threatened discipline. Temulin could probably put both of them on their backsides with little effort; really, a threat of beard shaving is probably more gentle than usual. Probably. ...unless their beards are a serious part of dwarven honor. In which case that might be a pretty scary threat. Oh dear.

"Ritter. Nyx, Yumi." Temulin has only met Uni once and doesn't remember the name. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" She glances to Emily, "Alas, I have only just given the warning. I have to wait for them to transgress again before I get to do it." She plays up a bit how disappointed she is by that restriction for the sake of the two so threatened, both of whom are smart enough to just scamper off. "I assume this isn't a social call?"

    "Uni." offers the goddess helpfully when her name isn't mentioned. "Unfortunately not, we're here in regards to a group causing trouble around the World Tree. Emily thought you might be able to shed some light on the matter."

Duncan nods when his name is mentioned. "Greetings," he offers. "Sadly no, it isn't." Uni starts to explain, so Duncan remains quiet and leaves his own words at that.

    "Darn." Emily returns her hand to its former state. It's not quite clear how serious she's being.

    "But yeah," she says. "Baaaasically there's a dude who says 'Thal's balls' a lot and has access to chocobos, figured you might be interested in this fact." She shrugs cheerfully. "His name's Ungust, and the first time we met him, he was in the business of stealing oil which serves as a source of magical energy. Then we found out he's apparently starting a cult of some sort."

    She seems to reach directly into her own torso, right through her clothes, and pulls out the leather tube with the map which Ungust dropped during his getaway. "Have you ever heard of a location called the 'Ring of Fire'?"

    Yeah, it's not a social call at all. Yumi remains quiet, letting Uni and Emily do most of the explaining. She does, however, add, "The cult was preying on destitute, refugees. Recruiting people, then their families never hear from them again, and Ungust refused to talk to them. He tried to sic fake guards on us. Theft is one thing, but this is basically armed kidnapping."

Temulin simply listens until the name Ungust is mentioned, at which point her voice is as cold as Ishgardian justice. "I see the little creep has graduated from extortion." She considers what else is being said, "I have, but that's back in Eorzea. The Ring of Fire is where the Amal'jaa summon their primal, Ifrit." A pause, "And to be sure, it does kind of sound like he's trying to arrange some kind of primal summoning."

Temulin pauses, to consider. "We should try to come by before they get a chance to summon Ifrit. Treat any non-Amal'jaa besides Ungust as victims to be rescued and see whether we can liberate their supply of crystal-substitutes." She offers, already thinking about it. "If they manage to summon Ifrit before we can get there, it'll be too late." She glances to Duncan, "Ritter and I can handle them, then."

    Absently, Yumi shifts on her feet, lips tugged into a little hint of a frown. Something about Temulin's reaction has her feeling a tad anxious, though she's not quite sure why. But she knows Ungust, for sure, and her tone says a lot - as does the word 'Primal'. She's heard that word from Temulin once before. "Primal... you mentioned those before. They're a lot like what Rydia summons, right?" On its own, that sounds dangerous, but not so... wait, didn't Temulin mention something else? Something about... warping... minds...

    Yumi listens quietly to what Temulin says about rescuing the victims. And about getting there too late. That last statement prompts the redhead to look between both dark knights, a sinking feeling developing fast. "...what do you mean?" She's fairly sure she already knows what Temulin's saying. But she can't quite stop herself asking.

Duncan notes the reaction to the name being mentioned. "A historical troublemaker, hm?" he inquires. At the mention of his own name, offers a nod. He's not quite sure what's being talked about, but... he has a thought. At Yumi's question, he notes, "The people kidnapped are being used to summon Ifrit, most likely. So if the summon is successful, they'll be... beyond help by that point. Perhaps dead, perhaps turned into something no longer human."

    "Right, that too," Emily answers Yumi, in reference to the kidnapping aspect. She raises her eyebrows at Temulin when she and Duncan promise to handle things themselves. "What am I, chopped metal?" she says dryly. "... I mean. I know it's not exactly the most 'heroic' thing to do ..." She seems to hold the word in metaphorical tongs. "... but, y'know. Gotta be done, right?"

"Finely ground metal, I thought." Temulin answers Emily, though her words are clearly joking, the subject matter makes it sound strained. She considers how to answer Yumi, "Something like that." She nods to Duncan. "These primals, they are gods of a kind. They drain the land of aether and their servants are tasked to find them more aether and more servants." She doesn't clarify any further, confident this gets the point across. "As for your help, Nyx, I'll take it. I don't want Tachibana there, though."

    It's... it should be obvious. It's grim, it's awful, she definitely wouldn't want to be there for it, but Yumi recognizes what they're saying. And yet, some corner of her mind insists that can't be it; they can't just kill all these people. Isn't there anything more? Maybe there's something somewhere in the Tree that can save them? It's just wishful, hopeful thinking. But it won't simmer down. "That's..."

    Yumi's voice trembles. Since when does Yumi's voice ever tremble?

    Something inside her twinges.

    Sniff.

    "...that's awful," the redhead finally says, her voice cracking as a sob catches her off guard. Is she...? Yes, she's crying. "A-all those people... there's got to be something you can do if we don't get there in time! We can't just..." This is quite probably the first time anyone here has seen her composure just shatter like glass.

Duncan pauses as he notices Yumi just... fall apart like that. "That's why we have to stop this person before Ifrit is summoned," he offers. "To stop that from having to be necessary. Otherwise it would be a kindness to those people."

    "Something like that," says Emily quietly. Temulin's strained tone is reaching her, however, and her smile falters; it seems that she's no longer as enthusiastic about the idea as she was a moment ago. Or maybe she was faking her enthusiasm to begin with? "... y'know what, calling me 'Nyx' sounds weird. It's my model-type, not my family name. It's like calling ... you ... 'Dotharl' ..."

    She stares at Yumi for a moment. "Uh ..." She awkwardly pats her back, with the expression of someone who has absolutely no idea what they're doing. "There there ..." She grimaces, and lowers her hand. "... y'know what, Temulin, never mind. If it comes to that, you and Ritter can keep it."

Temulin gets up from her chair and walks over to Yumi, arms reaching out for a hug. "I don't want to have to do it. It's harsh, it's painful. I'll do everything I can to make sure we won't have to, and I know you will too." She offers, trying to sound encouraging, "But me must have the courage to change what we can, the serenity to accept what we can't, and the wisdom to know the difference." It's clearly a quote she picked up somewhere and liked. She nods to Emily. "Sorry, Emily it is."

    "It's- it's always killing with you people, that's always the answer! I just- I just want to protect people, just once I want to- there's got to be some-"

    Yumi barely reacts to Duncan's reassurances, and even Emily's back-petting only draws a faint, startled twitch at the contact. But when Temulin hugs her, the magical girl just absolutely latches on, clinging to the dark knight as if her life depended on it. "I don't want to kill anyone! I- I just... wh... what the hell am I doing...?"

    It's like a switch has been flipped. The sobbing doesn't immediately cease, but it does start to taper off pretty quickly, and the little murmur from Yumi comes with a bewildered tone. "...what the... what was that?" Abruptly, as if realizing what she's doing for the first time, Yumi lets go of Temulin and backs off a pace or two, somewhere between 'alarmed' and 'embarrassed'.

Duncan is not a physically demonstrative sort, and he doesn't know Yumi that well (despite fighting alongside her more than a few times). And he's just generally bad at comforting people anyway. So he gives a grateful not to Temulin when she goes to try to comfort Yumi. Though then Yumi just... switches off. Duncan looks at her with confusion. "...Are you all right now?" he inquires. A pause. "Not that it wasn't a perfectly understandable response, mind you..."

    Emily quickly lowers her hand. "I ... also have no idea," she says. "I mean, yeah, what Duncan said. Perfectly reasonable reaction, from where I'm standing ..." Her nervous awkwardness doesn't even slightly abate. But then she narrows her eyes. "I'd venture it was some kind of magic affecting your mind, but I didn't detect anything external." She shakes her head. "I'm not the best at detecting that kind of thing, though, I'm not a military or industrial model. Uh. Have you been ... eating properly? I don't know how biology works ..." She sounds like she's trying to hide her nervousness by grasping at straws.

"I don't want to kill people either." Temulin answers gently, before Yumi detaches quickly, and she quietly walks backwards towards her chair and sits back in it. "I dunno, Yumi. Looked a lot like what you've been accusing me of, you sure that wasn't projection?" That last note is clearly a joke, Temulin knows full well it isn't. Temulin closes her eyes and her next words are harsher, "But that kind of thing is why you need to leave this to people with the stomach to do what needs to be done, Tachibana."

>> SUMMARY[Temulin Dotharl] >> Not helping, Fray.

"It's not just 'stomach'," Duncan insists, as Temulin speaks of Yumi not having it. "If someone doesn't have to go through it, they shouldn't. Doing something like that changes the person who does it. You can't go back. It's not a change I'd wish on anyone."

    There's still a trail of dampness down Yumi's cheeks, but she seems almost wholly recovered from the sudden fit of sobbing. "I'm... I'm fine. I think. That was... I don't do that. I don't fall apart like that over something that bothers me. I know it's necessary, I know you've probably looked into this problem plenty already, it was just..." She flexes her fingers, staring at her hand as if it might hold answers. "Like something snapped." Then Emily mentions magic affecting her mind, and nothing external.

    Yumi glances up at Emily, eyes widening. "...magic affecting my... oh god, I think I need to talk to someone back home. I have a suspicion."

    What Temulin says, though, that stings a little. "Temulin, you know I'm normally more steadfast than this. Do what you have to, it's not gonna be a problem." She can't quite keep the faint note of pain out of her voice. "...we'll just have to try and get there before anyone can be affected."

    Emily considers Temulin's "joke." Then she carefully opens a staticky portal, reaches through it, and lightly bonks Temulin over the head.

    She raises an eyebrow at Yumi's response. "Well, uh ..." She shrugs. "I really don't know anything about your stuff, so all I can do is wish you luck there." She shakes her head. "But yeah. You guys are making killing people sound less and less appealing by the minute!"

    ... Again, it's not entirely clear how serious she's being.

"You're right. That's why it should just be the two of us." Temulin answers Duncan, eyes still closed as she seems to be trying to concentrate. "But it'd be trouble to bring someone who can't handle it. You know this." She says next, a slight difference in tone to it. "Though you're right, Yumi. You can handle it, that wasn't a fair assessment." She opens her eyes and sighs. "Let's focus on trying to not make us need to do any of that, shall we?"

"It's not something I'd do unless I had no choice," Duncan replies to Emily's mention of killing people being 'unappealing'. "It does something to you that you can't undo. Makes you care less about the people around you." Temulin's words of get a nod. "Agreed. The fewer people that have to do it, the better. Though yes, I'd rather just see that it wasn't necessary in the first place."

    Emily gets a soft, "Thanks," with a halfhearted smile. "If I'm right... eh, no point speculating for now. I'll be fine, though." At Temulin and Duncan's words, a different sort of frown settles onto Yumi's face; fainter, more melancholy. "...I don't like killing. If the two of you are willing, I'll leave it to you. But when it's the only way to save lives, if I'm ever on the spot..." There's a pause, and she turns around, as if not willing to look at the group when she confesses something. "...I'm pretty sure the youma, the monsters in my world... they used to be people. Ordinary, normal people. I think destroying them is a mercy. I don't like to think about it, but I'll protect innocent lives no matter what."

    Emily shrugs at Duncan's rejoinder. "Yeah," she says. "But I agree with Temulin. Plan A is stopping it from needing to happen in the first place."

    When Yumi voices her theory ... Emily frowns. "Well, that's interesting," she says, and the usual air of amusement she puts on is nowhere to be found. She shakes her head. "Sometimes I wonder if there are any worlds out there that are more depressing than the halcyon remnant. Oh well." She materializes a small plastic glowing Lunar Tear flower, and stares at it for a moment.

"Anyway. I think we've said all that needs to be said. I'll wrap this job up, and then we'll go over all the details we have and take action." Temulin suggests, clearly prepared to move. "I doubt we have a lot of time, but rushing in without a plan won't do much good either. So let's make good pace and take action. Ok?" She glances towards the others.

Duncan nods to Yumi's words. "I can understand. I think it's similar situation here." But he also nods, a backward-tilting thing, at Temulin's words. "That's the idea, to keep it from happening in the first place." He also offers to Temulin, "Thank you for helping us with this. Your expertise might be the thing that keeps the worst from happening."

    "Agreed," Yumi says. "On all counts. Stopping off in my world can wait until after," she adds. "If my suspicion's right, there shouldn't be any problems on my end." At least, not until afterwards. But she'll cross that bridge when she comes to it, and it won't interfere with the rescue mission.

    Emily nods, and gives six thumbs up to this course of action. "Agreed and agreed and agreed," she says. "Let's get ready, and then let's get this show on the road!"