World Tree MUSH

A pair of white and gray sneakered feet are plodding through a copse of trees--a rather normal set of terrain if it were not for the subtle lack of birds, insects, and other small animals. Mirage Mouse peered up at the sun that blazed down from the sky, the rays penetrating the tree tops in places, holding a hand in front of her face. Where had that portal let her off at? Where was she this time? This definitely wasn't any sort of populated area--and definitely not an urban or residential area. Hrm. No people meant no easy transportation, so apparently she was going to be taking a hike. Guess it was time to put these basketball sneaker-boots to work!

She picked up speed as she began to trot through and around trees--coming out of the copse of trees in the blinding sunlight--grateful for the red-tinted visor she wore over her eyes. Just because she was a mouse didn't mean she was a bat--but she had to admit she did spend more times indoors at times than out. Bah.

    There does not seem to be many signs of animal life or activity, there is rustling on the trees, but it's hard to see if there is anything there, or if it was just the steady, pleasant breeze. If someone managed to see on the distance, they might notice something floating around in the distance, and suddenly, a couple of small orbs, casually roll and float between the trees. That CERTAINLY is odd. 
      Suddenly, there is a far louder noise on a tree near Mirage, and a large pink bird takes off, speeding towards the east. A few moments later, there are noises from the nearby bushes, this time at the ground level, russet fur and ears barely visible as a voice speaks, "Hello?, anyone here?".

To be fair, Mirage did not have what would pass as 'outdoor survival skills', though unlike most of the other denizens of her world she was not 'head blind' as she liked to call it. Though it was not some omniscient sort of sense that allowed her to passively feel minds--it instead required concentration. So it was a whole lot of no-good it did her when she was out here by herself, alone in the woods.

Suddenly, orbs. Well, that was... different. Though not quite what she'd call unusuall--rather more unusual to see out here in the open. Anti-gravity was a thing on her world, after all--so the main weird thing here was well... what was powering such a thing?

"Hmmm?" Mirage tilted her head, her large ears providing momentary shade from the sun at that angle--before she stepped closer.

"Hello, yes? Who is it?" she replied, her voice light and feminine.

     Since her last trip through a portal ended with her tumbling to the bottom of a sand dune in the middle of The Frontier, Miwa was a bit more careful this time, poking her head through the portal for a peak before going all the way through. She wound up on a large patch of grass and flowers among several trees. "Well, at least this place isn't trying to roast me alive." She mutters as she looks around briefly, then begins walking through the trees, ambling along on her flippers, somehow looking awkward and well practiced at the same time. The fact that there wasn't much in the way of signs of life around did unnerve her a bit, but then she finally heard some voices and began moving toward them.

     The figure goes still when the reply hits those ears. There is a fair bit of movement, and suddenly a snout pokes in through the plants, and... it keeps poking far beyond what one might consider normal, those fangs look sharp too!. Finally, the whole head pushes through, brown/red eyes focusing on the visitor for a moment. The suddenly, that scary muzzle seems to smile a bit, "Hi!." he yips enthusiastically before he walks all the way into the other side. 
     Things that keep going for more than they should seems to be a theme on this creature, with lanky limbs, oddly covered in what seem to be a multitude of black belts, a long, slender torso, and a long tail that seems busy on a slow wag as the 'fox' sizes up the visitor, sniffing the air, "I guess you must be a visitor!, you don't smell like a digimon, or look like a human... welcome!" he says cheerfully. He talks loudly enough that Miwa can certainly recognize his voice, but his attention is on the mouse person in front of him right now.

Now, thankfully Mirage is not too quick to act or judge folks, and it does help that she is from a world full of anthros--though one might suspect that most people's reactions to seeing a Fangmon would be 'AHHH WOLF SHOOT IT' or something of that sort. This is not the response Mirage has, however.

"Err, hello there to you too--and what are you supposed to be?" Mirage Mouse stepped back for just a half-second--before standing her ground and eyeing the creature, trying to figure out if this was really the source of that rather gentle and unassuming voice she'd just heard from the brush.

"I don't smell like a digimon--that would be because I am not--I'm a mouse," she grinned a little, showing said large ivory mousey buckteeth overhanging her bottom lip.

"You're a digimon then--and your kind can speak?" she asked, brushing her longish hair back.

Ash had been meditating in the woods. Noteably he had been doing so as himself out of his warframe, which meant Ordis was extra worrysome the whole time. Things started to happen, which caused Ash to abandone his crosslegged position. THe noise had been near, but not on top of him so his movements were unhurried as he stood and flexed the fingers of his right hand. It was now that he thanked Darvo for bothering to sell Tenno actual clothing, as he really wasn't a fan of meeting people dressed in the suit he had worn on Lua. 

Ash saw Fangmon and blinked. Was..... was that a giant Kubrow?" FOr an instant he missed Waffles. She was big, fluffy, loyal, and unfortunately the mechanism to get her out of cryo-stasis wasn't functioning. Then voices snapped him out of his fit of nostalgia. Wait what? Was.... He blinked slowly as he took a few cautious steps closer. He had precicely zero training in wilderness survival, woodslore, or the like, and while he knew the basics of not sticking out like you had a brightly painted sign, his warframe is what handled most of the details. In other words Ash probably really did stand out like a sore thumb to the anthro and otherwise enhanced hearing, smell, and so forth the chatty sorts likely posessed.

"Please tell me I'm not trespassing..." He made no attempt at hiding now, deciding it better to get the inevetable hello's out of the way since it didn't look like anyone was in a shooty stabby mood. "I thought this was publicl and and it was fairly quiet."

     Mirage was about to have a second dose of strange 'monster' creatures that can speak, as Miwa approached from behind. She recognized Bewul's voice, and was very happy to have some familiarity to hang on to in this new place. Now she could see Mirage also, and the woman reminded her a bit of a Rattata, only not purple and with a human-like body. Before she could even say anything between the conversation Bewul and Mirage were having, another appeared, He looked human, though she had to admit that his boots looked funny and didn't really go with his fancy jacket with all the buttons, or whatever those were. Moving closer to Bewul, she turned to mostly adress the others as she offers a greeting. "Hello. Bewul I know, otherwise, I don't think I've met the rest of you."

     Bewul tilts his head a bit and licks his nose, apparently not quite realizing this shape was perhaps a bit scary or bound to make others nervous, at least he keeps wagging and tries to smile!. Darn predator fangs. "Right, I am... a Fangmon, the creatures that live in this place are all Digimon." he says, before tilting his head, "Mouse... I heard of mice, back at the human world, but did not expect them to be so big, or speaking." he says. As he hears the question he nods, "Most of us at least!" he answers. After another moment, he bows his head politely, "My name is Bewul, nice to meet you!." 
      The big 'fox' thing perks his ears again and turns towards the new arrivals, greeting Ash with a curious sniffing, "Hi!." he offers cheerfully, "Nah, you are not, there aren't many digimon in this forest, and usually they don't mind visitors, as long as you don't cause trouble." he tries to reassure the human (or at least human looking creature.), "Maybe I should invite you to my home, it's not too far, and I guess you might feel more comfortable there?". 
      Miwa's arrival seems to kick that wagging into gear, and he quickly bounds towards the seal pokemon, "Miwa!, it's quite a surprise to see you here." he nuzzles her side with that long snout of his, seemingly quite happy to see his new friend, before turning around, to face the visitors, "Sorry for that, like I was saying, welcome to the Digital world... at least this layer of it."

"If you're trespassing it's not on my land," Mirage tilted her head towards Ash and then her tail drew up behind her--wagging it at him as one might do their finger, as to say 'no no', before turning her head back towards Bewul. She seemed much more concerned with the large wolf-like monster with the set of teeth that looked as if it was trying to put a coyote to shame, vulpine perhaps? It seemed like a blend of a few different types of animal to her. She seemed far more concerned with him--though the mermaid-esque Primarina approaching did get her attention also.

"Is there some higher force at work here? Suddenly I'm a magnet!" Mirage exclaimed with some surprise, peering at all the 'strange' characters suddenly surrounding her.

"Nice boots," Mouse found a moment to glance down at Ash's footwear.

     Miwa smiles as Bewul greets her warmly with a nuzzle, and returns the affection by petting his back with her right flipper for a moment. "Good to see you too. Guess I found your world without your help." She says with a soft giggle, knowing he had planned to have her visit sometime. To Mirage she grins a bit. "I don't know about anyone else think there was any power drawing me to you other than the fact that this is the only direction I heard voices coming from, so I came this way instead of wandering aimlessly. As Bewul already stated, my name is Miwa." She offers to the two she doesn't know, then giggles a bit at Mouse's comment about Ash's boots, as she thought they looked funny too.

     The big thing leans into the petting and nods a few times, "Indeed, remind me to guide you to the lake later, I am sure you might enjoy it there." he replies with a grin, long tail twitching!. He is not one to think about fashion, given how weirdly some of the humanoid pokemon looked like, so he just takes their word on Ash looking odd, and turns back to Mirage. "I was just nearby when a Biyomon was chirping about a visitor, so I came to check and found you." he says with a grin. "Would you like to come to my home?, I think I have tea, and some meat to eat, if either of you are hungry. I also have some apples." he does not mention what 'kind' of meat, odd.

Ash tilted his head at Mirage as he wondered what sort of experimentation might have done... this, and not realizing he was actually right this one time. Then he glanced to Beowul and stared at this rather canine being even more animalistic than Mirage. Miwa similarly got wide eyed curious stares.

"You're not the magnet," Ash corrected, "I'm the magnet. Happens every time I find osme quiet spot. I get comfortable, start to clear my head and..." He made an expanding gesture with his hands, "Poof." Beat. Ash looked about sheepishly, "None of you are planning on shooting me are you? Generaly that's what happens. Peace nad quiet. ANd then gunfire." A laugh as he babbled onward, "Then again I'm not fishing so...."

Then ash remembered something Mirage said and raised one of his feet, showing off a clawed boot. "Darvo-Deal. If I ever find a way home I'll see if I can get him to exten a new customer discount. They're quite comfortable." Nevermind Darvo's deals tended to be scattershot at best, and his idea of a 'new customer discount' was a one time non-transferrable plat credit, but at the same time Darvo would smell the opprotunity oozing from all these new worlds.

At the invitation Ash quirked an eyebrow. "Tea sounds nice but.... what are apples?" He has limited exposure to fresh foods.

"I'm Mirage Mouse, it's a pleasure," Mouse smiles back, walking around the large wolf-like being and the Primarina.

"Oh, so that's what that pink bird was--I didn't realize it could talk," Mirage admits, shaking her head a little, till she comes closer to Bewul and notices the collar and... leather chaps? That the wolf appeared to be wearing. This at first made Mouse both excited and a little confused--if he was wearing clothes and could speak that might mean they were civilized--might be her train of thought.

"Well well, look at you--did we just come out of Hot Topic?" Mirage got a little braver after seeing Miwa pet Bewul and approached around the side of of him, her hands on her hips.

"And the collar, it's a very 'goth' kind of look, I like it," she grins, before apparently recalling Ash was standing there.

"I don't have a gun," Mirage replies to Ash's question about being shot, as if she was disappointing him, then shrugged. "As long as you're not scratching my boots with them you're fine."

     "Oh, yes, a lake would be wonderful, as would tea, though I can't help but notice you didn't mention what kind of meat you were offering as food." Miwa replies to Bewul, as she continues to keep her attention on Mirage and Ash. She couldn't help but feel sorry for Ash, hering his story, and when he mentions shooting him, she decides to make a joke at an attempt to lighten the mood. "Only if you give me a good reason to, though even then, all I've got is watergun." She says with a laugh, shooting a quick jet of water from her mouth and knocking a fallen twig off of a nearby tree branch. Mirage's Hot Topic comment gets an odd glance from her. "What is Hot Topic? Never heard of such a place.

Bewul seems glad to listen to the others talk, taking the chance to itch his left ear, those are long claws on his paws!. Still, he tries his best to look friendly, and chuckles a bit, "I know the feeling." he replies to Ash, before he shakes his head, "Don't worry, I am not going to shoot you, even if I was able to." he says playfully, "I don't plan on attacking any of you." 
      The question about apples gets him to tilt his head, "It's a red fruit, sweet, I think it's good, got a couple from Shinjuku in my last visit to the human world." he explains, before turning to Mirage, his tail twitching as he hears the quip, he might not know what hot topic is, but can guess, "Actually, I was born with these things on, I am not sure if they can come off, never tried to get them, never stay like this long enough for them to bother me." he chuckles a bit. 
      The question about the meat makes him wag, "It's good, I grow it near my home in a small field, I smoke some of it and roast it too, it's quite good." he replies. Once again, he seems to miss the question about 'kind'. He glances up, following the display of ability, "Nice aiming!, I wish I would do precise things like that at a distance."

"If I have to explain it then it isn't necessary," Mirage grins a little, her tongue sticking out a little beneath the large buck teeth, shrugging a little in amusement.

"Mmm, how do you stay out of the water, anyway? You seem like you're... aquatic," she was looking at Miwa, apparently curious and intent on asking questions.

"Huh, so you /are/ civilized, then, still, I love whoever designed your outfit," she grinned again, "The lilac nail polish is also a nice touch," she walked around the wolf-like digimon again, looking him over, before returning to Ash, peering up at the bespectacled man... well, boy.

"So what's your story then? you just like to hang out in forests with strange weirdo creatures like us?" she grins.

Ash looked over at Mirage, just as confusedas Miwa at what this 'hot topic' is, since shopping opprotunities for Tenno are rather limited. The watergun caused him to smile and point at a twig, double checking to make sure nothing was there that would disagree with what he was about to do. Then he extended hsi right arm out, pointing palm first at a spot before firing a green beam of light accompanied by a low THRMMMMMM. THis beam only lasted a moment, long enough to scorch a branch. 

Then he bowed to Miwa and smiled. "Hey Ordis you getting this?"

THe others might hear a tinny voice from a device clipped in Ash's ear, "Facinating! You're making friends with the locals. Ordis is grateful combat seems to not be nessicary." Ash gave a sheepish smile and shrugged helplessly.

"Grow it?" Ash was curious. "Like... vat grown?" He sonded genuinely excited, "I know the ostrons prefer to hunt, but apparnetly plenty of colonists do protine farming and some of it apparently is really good." He offered his right hand to Beowul, apparently not outwardly phased by the fact he was talking to a rather large biker-dog-wolf-thing. "Always glad to meat a friendly face." He looked then to Mirage and grinned at the Mouse-woman. "It is a rather LONG story, but I am far from a home I canot find and still unused to having moments like these." A brief bit of laughter as he looked at the trio before him before he gave a waist deep bow. "I am Ash." No last name, no home location, no occupation, just... Ash.

     "You grow the meat?" Miwa asked Bewul, wondering if she didn't hear him right until Ash speaks up, seeming to have heard the same thing. "Well now I'm not sure whether to feel nervous or curious." She shakes her head and looks back to Mouse as the woman asks how she can stay out of water. "Well, I am aquatic, but I am perfectly fine being on land for a while. I can walk on my flippers, even if it isn't as elegant as my swimming. Also, being a water type Pokemon, my body can store a lot of water, so I can keep myself from drying out too much, and even create floating water balloons to travel above the ground. Even took Bewul here for a ride once." 

     To Ash, she grinned a bit at his demonstration of shooting, even if his was a little more destructive to the tree than her shot of water. "I hope you're not planning on shooting me either." She joked, grinning a bit at Ash. "Seriously though, I'm glad to meet you both also. Haven't been off my own world much so far, and it's always nice to meet some new friends."

     The big fox enjoys the display of abilities, and after watching that beam, he pads closer to the twig, "Nice!, I can only think of one thing that might be flash for this form." he says. There is a blur of movement, and poor, scorched twig was no longer on the ground, instead, now was poking from his muzzle. "I am pretty good at moving fast adn grabbing things." he says, raising one paw and wobbling those long claws with surprising dexterity. He pauses that paw as he hears the comment on the polish, "Well, glad you approve of it, like the belts, it kinda came with this form... how to explain... this form is born with these acessories and colors." he replies with a chuckle. 
      He carefully lands his paw on the offered hand, attempting to shake like he saw humans do, surprisingly careful with that big paw, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ash.". He listens to Ash's story, "That sounds bad... I don't know how I might handle being unable to return home.". He seems to enjoy staying next to Miwa, twitching his tail in a wag. The digimon points towards the east, "The forest edge is really close." he says softly, "My home is nearby.". 
      The tone of surprise from Ash and Miwa seems to remind him of something, "Oh right... that's not how it works for humans or other worlds I have seen." he says, before trying to clarify, "We grow meat from the ground like plants and vegetables." he says, hoping that was more clear. "You can see that once we get to my place." the forest finally ends as he walks through the edge. 
      The house is fairly close, and seems fairly rustic, no power lines or visible technology, not even a road!. There is a garden next to it, and indeed, there are pieces of meat growing from the ground, the easiest way to describe might be legs of ham, of varying sizes, oddly, the grown ones seem to look almost 'cooked' already. The house seems to be made of stone, dome shaped, and fairly well built, with a small chimmey that is producing smoke.

"You look like it," Mirage replied to Ash's comment about being far from home, her eyes darting over the double-breasted jacket he was wearing. Course, one might argue her bodysuit and boots was also a bit out there.

"Is it like... cloned material, then? The meat?" she seems interested in this too, though not at first as entirely weirded out as perhaps her cohorts are about the revelation of 'grown meat'. Technically you could grow yourself a new organ where she came from.

"Ah, amphibious then, like a frog, I just hope you won't... you know, dry out," she mused aloud, peering at Miwa.

"Ahh.. Bewul, your name was, yes? Where we are now... it's not exactly a normal sort of place, is it? You mentioned a 'human world' earlier, is this place part of a dimension that is different from the norm, then?" she asks, tilting her head and mousey ears to the side, to make sure she catches the fox-wolf's reply.

Ash quirked an eyebrow at the speed display. Definately faster than Volt, could pose problems if it came to a fight even with his warframe, so he was quite happy everyone was being peaceable. As weird and exposed as he felt, it was a nice sort of strange.

After the handshake Ash flexed his fingers as he listened. "MEat... grown like plants. As in put meat in ground, and harvest season instead of fruit or berry... meat?" He sounded confused, not disbelieving, more instead trying to wrap his mind around the idea. He's seen enough strangeness to not rule the idea out, and this was not his home. Things it seemed worked diffrently. Maybe he hadn't somehwo stumbled on someone like the Myconians growing and rending flesh from cancerous infested growths... or maybe he was. Ash was... curious as he followed Beowul....

It wasn't what Ash thought of when he envisioned 'meat growing on trees.' This was cured prepared meat ready to eat. Not grotesque infested flesh growing like derranged buds or tumerous lumps. Then the house caught his attention which caused Ash to smile, "Is this your work? It looks quite well made."

Meanwhile Ordis was, for lack of better word, trying to get a handle on the situation and clearly failing. Sensetive ears might hear the poor cephelon half-speaking half.... almost mouthing sounds in flabbergasted non-comprehension.

Then almost offhandedly Ash glanced over at Mirage and smiled, "I like the outfit. Seems to suit you."

     "Don't worry, as long as we're not planning on relocating to a sweltering desert, or depriving me of even drinking water, I'll be fine. Really it wont kill me even if I do get totally dried off, just think it's healthier for my skin if I don't." Miwa reassures Mirage as she walks along with the others. When the house came into view, she looked it over and nodded in agreement with Ash. "It does look like a nice house, and sure enough, a garden of meat. Don't see that back home, that's for sure, though, the thought of getting meat without having to kill something to get it is a nice concept."

     Bewul does not seem to care about keeping secrets, or hiding details, so as soon as Mirage asks about the nature of the world, he answers swiftly, "Pretty much... I think they used the word plane... or dimension...." he says, "I know it's connected to the computers of the human world, and we can travel to there, and back." he says softly. "But for the most part, humans don't really know much about us." he adds, nodding, "I visit it every now and then, I have a couple friends there, and I learn about the human world, and the differences the two worlds.". then he adds, "if you want to know more... science things, you might have to ask the scientists back there, they know a lot more of details." 
      He wags his tail, "I had some help from some friends." he replies to the compliments to his house, and moves to the front door, ears twitching at the odd voice speaking near Ash, "Is that some kind of computer?" he asks casually, before nodding to Miwa, "Yeah... I was not sure how to feel when I was told how humans get their meat." he muses. He makes his way to the front door and something odd happens to the large fox, his frame glowing brightly, before being replaced by a far smaller, chubby bipedal lizard wearing a fur quite similar to the giant fox, it even has the many 'belts' on the forelegs, "Please come in." he asks as he opens the door to the group. 
    The interior seems rather simple as well, some chairs and other simple furniture, like a table and a mostly empty book case. There is a small kitchen too, which contains a wood stove and a sink, no fridge!. There is a radio near the main table, a simple battery operated deal, the kind with a cd and cassette players, but otherwise, nothing involving electricity can be seen inside. He simply walks to gather some water in a teapot and begins heating it.

"It's alright, I wouldn't want to do that to someone," Mouse shakes her head to Miwa, picturing the mermaid-type morph in a dry, baking desert--eww, that would make a horrid smell, at the very least! Not counting the other horrid effects.

"So what is the story with your little navigation program there?" Mouse finally asks Ash, speaking about Ordis, apparently. At least 'navi-type' program is what she thinks he is.

"Ah, so I was right then--this place didn't seem... natural, when I first entered it. There are no birds, insects, or seemingly other creatures besides a select sort--namely beings like yourself," Mouse nods to Bewul. She raised her hand to block the shine from Bewul devolving into Gabumon from her visor'd face, though she seemed interested still.

"And you can change shape--your form is malleable?"

Beowul's explaination is... Well Ash isn't sure wha tto make of it. Ordis whispering, practically hissing to learn more when chance allows. 

When Beowul acknowledges Ordis speaking in his ear Ash nodded, "Ordis. Pretty much runs the ship I live and work out of, and has been against me visiting the worlds without my warframe since i'm kinda limited in threat response without it. I don't like being rude to him since even if he sorta kinda has to follow my lead... he's a friend. Y'know?" How limited he didn't want to let on, but as of right now he only really had the hand beam as a way to defend himself. 

Then Beowul shrank down. Causing Ash to openly stare. "What.... was that?" He looked at the now much smaller lizard-like being. "SOrry just... er..." He took a breath "About all I'm used to dealing with back home are humans, cloned humans, Machines.... Sentient Robot Killer Things from Beyond the Stars." Note the lack of laughter and the seriousness of his expression. He wasn't kidding.

Ash looked around, frowning at the sparseness of the book shelf, "Not much to this place. Teshin would come up with some kind of moon zen speak that amounts to that being for the best.

     Miwa smiles at Mirage, but sheepishly admits. "Well, actually I have some recent experience there... Learned the hard way to be careful what world portals I jump through when the other day I found myself tumbling down a sand dune. I'm not sure which was more uncomfortable, the searing sun above, or the blazing hot sand below." 

     "I'm lucky an Armadillo found me, told me I was in a place called 'The Frontier' and brought me to a town with a well to moisten me up a bit... Needless to say I don't want to repeat that ordeal." She heads inside while listening to the others talk about the tiny voice speaking to Ash. She wondered what that was, but wasn't very techy, so a lot of the discussion went over her head.

"It must have been traumatic for you," Mirage replies, looking at Miwa again with a calm, almost sullen sort of tone in her voice. From the sound of things, stuff almost got bad--but she was fortunate.

"While apples and a place to bunk would be nice--I should probably keep moving for the time being, you two are welcome to come with though, if you wish," Mouse would continue to keep marching along, at least until she found another 'vine' or portal, whichever one might prefer. She'd be back here though--this place intrigued her way too much.