World Tree MUSH

    Yumi Tachibana is a meddler and a busybody. There's just no getting around it. She's ever determined to keep an eye on the folks up Snowpeak, if only to make sure there's no big disaster striking up in such a remote place where almost nobody knows to check. And it's not like snow bothers her, even in positively arctic amounts. Not when she can just transform. So when the young senshi comes to visit and brings this or that, it's really not that much of a surprise... usually.

    It's rare for her to bring a whole pot of food, though. It's kind of a lot to lug up the mountain. But today she has done just that; when the redhead heaves closed the huge front door of Snowpeak, she does so with one hand, as the other is occupied carrying a deep pot. Only once that's closed does Yumi release her transformation, returning to normal. "Hey Rydia, it's me~!" she calls out, just to assuage the summoner pre-emptively. "I'm headed for the kitchen!"

    By now Rydia is used to Yumi being a meddlesome meddling meddler. What she's not used to is now the fact that she's older than said meddling senshi. It's so strange to have come back after a decade and see that some things just haven't changed. ... Then again, to Yumi, Rydia was only gone for a week.
    It's not too long after the senshi calls out that Rydia appears; the green-haired, green-clad Summoner poking her head into the kitchen, brow furrowed.
    "Yumi. ... What's with the pot."
    It looks like food. It smells like there might be food. But is it food?

    "It's food."

    Yumi sweeps into the kitchen with the big pot, and goes about starting a fire in a stove while she talks. "A club at my school had a big group dinner thing, and they ended up with a lot of leftovers. I helped out a lot, so they were willing to let me take it." There's a pause, and her cheeks color just a little. "...might've told them it was for a shut-in friend who I wanted to make sure was eating well. Not totally untrue, but..."

    Well, that much hasn't changed either. Even 'stretching the truth' has always been hard for Yumi. She's just not a good liar.

    The fire finally catches, so while she's waiting for it to really get going, Yumi carries the pot over to the stove and sets it on top. "Anyway, it's curry. Chicken, lots of vegetables. Might be a little bite to it, but it shouldn't be very strong, some of the girls in the cooking club don't do well with a lot of spice. It's still a little frozen, but it should be ready... eh, hour or so? You'll smell it when it is."

    "A shut-in friend?"
    That earns an arch of the Summoner's brow. "Last I checked, Zelda wasn't much of one to stay locked in her chambers, with everything going on." She points out.
    The sass never dies with this one.
    Nevertheless, Rydia steps fully into the kitchen now, on hand settling to rest on her hip. Food sounds good right about now, but Rydia can wait the hour for the curry to thaw without much problem.
    Notably, she doesn't flinch when the fire starts. Though she does stare quietly at it for a beat longer than what is normal, she manages to pry her attention from the flame and clears her throat, lips pursing.
    "Well that's good." She muses. "Too spicy and it'd be a meal fit for Lord Ifrit."

    "Well no, but especially this time of year, it's harder for you guys to get out and get decent food with the weather up here," Yumi insists. "S-so it's not totally inaccurate." Is she... pouting? She is, just a little. She really is bad at the whole lying thing.

    Ahem.

    "Ifrit likes spicy food?" she asks, seizing the chance for a change of topics. She can't help but chuckle a little. "That seems... I don't want to say 'stereotypical', but a fire being liking spicy food seems so expected I almost didn't expect it, if that makes any sense." The redhead glances at the fire in the stove, then turns to lean on a counter, regarding Rydia with a curious eye. "...tell me about him?" She's curious what a being who could get Rydia to tolerate fire would be like.

    Poor Yumi. Though Rydia notices how fast the senshi changes the topic as soon as she can, the Summoner lets it go, arms folding under her chest in a lazy fashion.
    So what is Ifrit like?
    That certainly is a question that makes the green-haired girl purse her lips.
    "It was... An expression." She says at first regarding spicy foods and the Lord of the Inferno. "But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he did." She adds on after a second of thought.
    Nevertheless, Rydia rubs idly on a small burn scar on her upper arm.
    "Ifrit is wild. As wild and uncontrollable as the fires he commands. A fierce and unstoppable warrior of blazing heat and passions." She describes the Eidolon with a slow hiss of breath through her teeth.
    "Learning under him was no easy feat, let me tell you. "

    "That sounds..." Yumi trails off for a moment, considering. "...traumatic."

    Really, for Rydia, that might have been the worst possible personality to get her used to fire. He sounds like the 'throw your kid in the water to teach them to swim' type. "But I guess I'm a bigger fan of the more positive side of fire. A campfire to keep travelers warm at night, beacons to guide ships into safe harbor, a candle to banish the darkness, bonfires to gather around and be merry..." She curls and uncurls the fingers of her right hand, staring into them. "...I guess that's pretty 'me', isn't it. Even something as potentially dangerous and destructive as fire, my gut instinct is to look at the ways it can be applied to help people or lift their spirits."

    Traumatic is... Certainly one way to put it as Rydia continues to brush fingers over that small scar. But the Summoner simply remains quiet for a moment longer.
    "I understand that fire has its uses, necessities, and benefits." She says after a beat. "That is very 'you'." She agrees with Yumi and her point of view. "But I'll always remember the smell of burning flesh as my village was reduced to cinders."
    Some things will never change.
    "I'll never forget that. Not at least until I put a knife in Vivian's back for what she did that day." Uttered as her fingers ball into clenched fists.
    But Rydia calms herself with a slow breath. "Lord Ifrit was temperamental and a violent teacher. But his teachings won't be easily forgotten."

    Yumi listens, and then nods her head. "Yeah, I don't blame you." She finally decides to grab a couple of stools, dragging them over near the stove so that both she and Rydia can sit, and so that she can still keep one eye on the fire. "And I'll be right there with you, for that matter."

    The girl settles into her seat a bit, resting her arms on her knees. "What was it like over there, anyway? The place where all the Eidolons live, the... 'Feymarch'? I'm kinda curious."

    Settling into a seat of her own when the stools are brought over, Rydia's hands fold together on her lap. Jade eyes fall half-lidded as she calls back the memories.
    "It was... Different." She admits.
    "The Eidolons are not like humans. Though some of them like Leviathan and his wife, Queen Asura can take on human forms- and many did to try and ease my transition in living there for a time... They have an almost alien mindset. Like gods compared to humans. Though Leviathan and Asura treated me as they would have treated their own daughter."
    "The Feymarch is almost idyllic. A place of peace for monsters that still retain their sanity and the Eidolons alike. I was the first human to live there for an extended period of time in a long, long, time."

    Idyllic. Peaceful. A stark contrast to the hellish training to master fire. But also a good thing for the summoner in general, Yumi thinks. Getting to spend that long somewhere safe and welcoming, without a threat over her head... even with the other things on her mind, it had to have done Rydia some good. "I'm glad it was a nice place," she decides. "Though now I'm kinda curious what it's like to be raised as a daughter by beings like that."

    She sits herself up straight, and reaches over to grab a poker, nudging at the wood in the stove a bit. "Although I guess a less trivial question would be, what all did they teach you? Aside from getting used to fire."

    "It was..." Rydia pauses for a beat, searching for words to describe exactly how that went. "Different." She finally settles on.
    "Being the king and queen of the Eidolons, Leviathan and Asura did not have much time for me, but what time they did, they clearly did their best to ensure my comfort. Thet cared in their own way, even if they struggled to show it in a human manner, for my sake. I eventually began to see them as my own parents though."
    Then the Summoner purses her lips again. "What do you think they taught me?" She asks bluntly. "They recognize that the worlds beyond Blue Earth are a cold and dangerous place, and that Blue Earth is no safer with Baron rising in power. They taught me everything there is to know about Black Magic and combat. My tutoring was harsh and endless, and did not end until I beat each successive teacher in their own art. Lady Shiva and ice, Lord Ifrit and fire. King Titan and earth, Lord Ramuh and lightning. Each of them stronger and more demanding than the last."

    "Mm..." A mixed bag, Yumi muses. At least Leviathan and Asura tried to be a comforting presence for Rydia. But that kind of harsh training for someone as young and traumatized as Rydia was seems... cruel. She doesn't comment on it out loud, but the young knight has never been good at keeping a poker face about such things. "...I'm glad you got to live somewhere peaceful for a while, at least," Yumi finally says, reaching over to take a poker to the fire in the stove again. "Even if you didn't get to enjoy it much."

    Rydia has always known the world to be a harsh, judgmental, and cruel place. To be swooped off for endless training by the Eidolons for their harsh and rigorous training, giving up her childhood in order to learn nothing but war, in retrospect, doesn't even seem to be surprising anymore for the Summoner.
    "That's not quite right." She does admit after a moment of looking back on it. "I did get to enjoy it. Though they were harsh in their teachings, the Eidolons were like a new family to me..."

    Yumi listens quietly, then nods. "That's good, then." At least all of them took good care of her. "Maybe we can go visit some time, if that can be arranged. I'd like to see the Feymarch for myself, and meet your teachers." She pauses, and then her brow wrinkles. "...I'd still like a word or two with Leviathan, though. Whatever else may be true, he put a lot of people in danger just to retrieve you."

    But Yumi shakes her head, as if to dismiss that. "But enough of me being a grump." Her expression warms up a touch, a hint of impishness sneaking in that can only mean one thing. "I bet I know one thing they didn't have there. Do you remember your favorite flavor of Pocky?"

    "Maybe." Rydia ventures at the thought of Yumi getting to see the Feymarch. "It's not exactly and easy place to get to." She says, running fingers through that long, green, hair. "But I should probably go back at some point anyway. There was still a lot I needed to learn so..." So maybe next time Yumi can come with. At least for a little while.
    "Technically you already have met some of my teachers." She points out. "Lord Ramuh at the very least." The Summoner reminds.
    But then... Pocky. Jade eyes flutter in a quick series of blinks before Rydia scrunches her nose in thought, trying to remember. "I think... It was the green tea flavor."

    Yumi's hand is already disappearing into her jacket - and out comes a familiar green box. "It hit me you haven't had any in a really long time, from your perspective. I still need to stock up again, but I figured I could at least bring you this much for now." She gently lobs the box over to Rydia. "I don't know if I can call that 'met', though. Seeing him in massive form calling down a bolt of thunder that could split a tank apart is a little different from getting to sit and talk."

    Once again the redhead settles back against the counter; for the moment, she's left with nothing to do but keep an eye on the fire, and to watch Rydia. There's several years of growth there; it's a whole different set of body language and mannerisms to get used to.

    Rydia catches the box with a slight fumble. It's true, there's so much growth that's happened and the unsure way in which she carries herself with her newly aged body is very different than the active and rambunctious seven year old that used to sass off to everyone in sight.
    Not that Rydia still doesn't sass off when she can.
    It takes the girl a second to wrestle the box and wrapper open before she starts to nibble on a pocky stick slowly. Savoring it.
    "I think you'd like him, if you got the chance to do that, yeah. He's very gentle and wise. I always went to Lord Ramuh whenever I was struggling with something, and he always took the time to see me when I needed it."

    Gentle and wise does sound like her kind of person, but it also has Yumi giggling a little. "Gentle and wise... almost sounds more like water than lightning. Then again, I guess I'm not one to talk. I'm sort of fire, but I try to keep a cool head even in fights." Here she shakes her head again. "...still weirds me out. All my teachers keep going 'oh, you're so mature', even the other girls notice how different my mindset is. I just have to wonder what I went through to think like this at my age." A pause. "...just the fact I can think of it in terms of 'at my age' is pretty worrying, when I stop and think about it."

    "Water is Leviathan's purview." Rydia reminds lightly while nibbling on her pocky. "Mn." She falls silent for a beat, though.
    "You still don't remember?" Rydia does ask after a beat. Though it makes sense; Rydia had been gone for, from her point of view, a decade. She just assumed the world passed by without her, even though it had only been about a week of realtime.
    "Sorry. I just thought you would have found something out while I was gone..."

    Yumi chuckles. "It was only about a week from our end. Not a whole lot of time to unravel deep mysteries." She turns to look out the window on the far side of the kitchen, frowning faintly. "I don't think I'm going to get answers until I can track down Mei Sakamachi, unless someone else shows up who knows something. Vulpes isn't talking. Elizabeth only met her once, years before whatever happened. And the other magical girls involved in the blast sure aren't around to give their story."

    The redhead blows a soft sigh. "I've got my suspicions, but I just don't have enough info to go on, I could be way off-base. So I'm trying not to think about it much." Her eyes track over to Rydia. "I'd rather focus on the present. Like the fact we're gonna have to get you a whole new wardrobe now. I've heard kids outgrow their clothes fast, but this is a little extra, y'know?" Is she... teasing?

    "It felt so long for me." And it was so long for the Summoner. But that's what happens in a place where time passes differently, huh.
    "Whether you think about it or not, it's still something you're going to have to resolve." Rydia points out rather bluntly. "... But for now I guess there's nothing to be done about it until you find out more." Admitted sullenly. Before the topic gets changed to her wardrobe. It's true. She doesn't have much, and none of her old clothes will fit her in the least.
    ".... I've got some gil and rupees saved up. Maybe we can... Go shopping?" She ventures after a beat of thought.