World Tree MUSH

    It's the the end of spring in the northern hemisphere; in the halcyon remnant, it is barely distinguishable from a world which has never had human life or technology. It's all green, all beautiful lush and verdant.

    Except for, y'know, there's a region in the former England where gravity has stopped working. It's ... still verdant, but there's a lot more unhappy noises. The animals don't even know which way to proceed.

    The Eudaemons quickly put the word out, requesting for assistance. At the edge of an open field, there's an RV with antennas on the top, with the edge of the effect visible at the opposite end of the field; there's a faint shimmer in the air, and leaves and detritus and the occasional panicked animal float above the tree line. Cal, a Helios-model in the form of a young man with gray skin and blonde hair in a green business suit, leans against the RV waiting for arrivals. DBE4, a Nyx-model in the form of a lean auburn-haired young man in a midnight-blue tank top and black jean-shorts, stands on top of the RV watching the antigravity through a pair of high-tech binoculars.

    Emily is way up in the sky directly above DBE4; it's hard to see what form she's in at this distance.

    This would be Hyouka's first time visiting Emily's world! It's an interesting place to see.

    Especially the part where everything is floating.

    "So that's the whatsit, then?" the elven cyborg asks as she approaches, hands in her pockets. She regards Cal and DBE4 with curiosity, before looking straight upward and waving. "Yo, Emily~!" There's a pause, and she glances at DBE4. "...that is Emily up there, right?" she adds, embarrassed.

    Uni wanders up, from the direction of the nearest Vine. She's got a few holographic displays open syncing data from Bravette who's currently flying pretty high up, not quite as high as Emily, but still pretty high up, so she's only just a tiny spec to most eyes from the ground.

    She walks up and stops next to Cal. "What's the situation, other than something going screwy?" she asks, peering around the RV to observe the area affected by the antigravity? Nullgravity? "Bravette, area scan, see if you can pick up any heat sources, other than animal life."

    The Shinki pings confirmation, and goes flying into the zone to do a gridpattern search.

    At Bravette's height, it's ironically easier than it is at ground level to see the faint outlines of the former urban area this once was; gaps in the trees which are arranged like roads, or the shapes of parking lots, all in a city-like pattern. The heat signatures she would quickly detect make them even more obvious, of the dying remains of the technology which once suffused this whole world. The epicenter of the effect, at least at ground level, appears to be in the middle of a medium-sized "building", with slightly more intense heat-signatures beneath it.

    Cal nods to Hyouka. "Yep, that's the thing," he says. "And, oh, uh, yeah, that's Emily up there. I'm Cal, Helios-model CAL3, and this is Nyx-model DBE4."

    "Charmed," says DBE4, watching for a moment before turning around. He smiles thinly at Uni. "Unknown, aside from your summary," he says. "Everyone had a use for antigravity before the Disaster -- could be anything from a spaceflight training facility with broken limiters to an aircar factory gone hog-wild with construction. We only found this because Cid Harley had Zeus-model 8ELH into the area to look for Eudaemons."

    At this point, Emily opens a portal to ground level which starts out staticky and turns black from the center out. She's in the form of a silver-haired woman around the same apparent age as DBE4 with glowing purple eyes, wearing a black T-shirt that says "BOY" with a female-sign for the O, and white hotpants. "And luckily we caught it before it turned into a second Disaster," she says cheerfully as she slips through. "I'm here, naturally, because I'm the only Greater Eudaemon Cid knows how to contact reliably."

    "Yo, Uni," Hyouka greets, offering a casual wave. With Bravette way-up-there, she'll greet the shinki when she has a chance. The briefing is happening now, more or less, so it's time to listen. And for once, the briefing is fascinating stuff - antigravity! Sci-fi tech! It's the kind of thing that keeps her focused easily. When Emily portals in, the cyborg greets her with a cheery, "Ah, here she is," before turning to lean against the RV herself. "So what's the plan?" DARGN chooses this time to chime in, "And have you brought any sort of zero-gravity maneuvering gear, or will we have to rely on our own bodies for propulsion in the area of effect?"

    Uni nods a bit. "So, much like a lot of other stuff, probably some old automated system gone wrong." She taps her chin, then looks over to Hyouka, giving a wiggle of fingers in a greeting wave by return. "Bravette should give us a narrow-down search area, at least. All tech produces heat as a byproduct of its operation so her thermal optics should be able to pick ou---"

    PING. A holographic display opens for Uni, Cal, Emily DBE4 and Hyouka. Bravette's face, obscured by her visor fills the screen. "Found, possible location of epicenter. Medium foundation area, heat signature below ground level. Interesting terrain formation, can see the old city layout through gaps in foliage... will have to study more in detail lat--" "Okay, thank you." interjects Uni before the Shinki can continue her rambling. "Mark the location for TacNet intergration... I might have to Transform to operate inside the zone, I can't exactly fly like this." she looks down at her largely 'normal human' form.

    DBE4 blinks, glancing between Hyouka and Uni. "Oh, right," he says. "Well, uh, Emily's going to be our guinea pig to see if Eudaemons can fly in that region, and then ..."

    "And then I'll give you a lift," Emily says, gesturing expansively; in a swirl of nanomachines, harnesses appear wrapped around her arms, with handles. "Or I mean I could turn into a hovercar with seatbelts or something. One of the two."

    Then, the update from Bravette. "Okay, cool," Emily says, as all three Eudaemons connect to the TacNet. She nods to Uni and Hyouka. "You guys ready to go in?"

    DBE4 nods to Cal. "Let's go inside and get ready in case the expansion accelerates," he says, heading to the driver's side of the RV.

    "Oh, yeah," says Cal, moving to open the door in the side of the RV next to Hyouka.

    Hyouka looks genuinely thoughtful about Emily's suggestions. "Mmm... I think the harnesses would be more fun, though." Like some kind of crazy sci-fi theme park ride, really. -ah, there's Bravette! "Hello, Bravette~," she greets, then listens intently. Having DARGN to handle all the back-end syncing of data is really nice. "I'm set whenever you are," the cyborg replies to Emily. "I'll keep the FISTEAU off unless we need them."

    Bravette pipes up. "Standard directional thrusters function within the field,--Hello Hyouka-- Eudaemon levitation technology unfamiliar, need more data to provide more than speculation."

    Uni then gives a half sweep of a hand, closing the holographic windows in a series of little 'blinks'. "Sorry, I need to talk to her about that." says Uni, looking between the three Eudaemons and Hyouka. Whatever works for everyone." she remarks, on the harnesses, or the hovercar or whatever.

    Emily nods to Uni and Hyouka. "Harnesses it is, then," she says promptly. "All righty, let's go!"

    << Godspeed, guys, >> says DBE4 over the TacNet.

    Emily strides across the field, making a beeline for the area marked by Bravette. The ripple in the air becomes more pronounced as they reach the edge of the area; it is oddly silent, aside from the distressed animal noises.

    Emily nods slowly. "All righty," she says. "Here goes nothin'!" She rises off the ground, and floats directly into the effect. She wobbles a few times, holds her hands out as if to try to steady herself, and then rights herself and straightens up. "Okay, my own stabilizers could compensate easily enough," she says. "No actual force applied anywhere, just zero-G. Soooo!"

    She floats backwards to the very edge of the effect, and straps extend out from each of the harnesses on her arms, nanomachines swirling around them; one set forms a harness around Uni, and the other around Hyouka. Nothing really extensive; just enough that they won't get shaken free. They also have obvious buckles which the wearer could use to remove them on their own.

    Hyouka doesn't dive right into the zero-G area, but she does approach a good ways across the field, so that there won't be far to move if and when Emily confirms it's safe. She watches with a good deal of curiosity, and as soon as it looks all-green, the cyborg steps right up to the edge of the field and spreads her arms open. Once the straps are on, she tugs at them lightly just to be sure, then gives both Emily and Uni a thumbs up. "Nice and tight. Think I'm good to go."

    Bravette is using herself as the 'marker', hovering over the area she detected... she also seems to be pouting at being cut off.

    Uni looks at the harness, then nods lightly. "I am in your... metaphysical.. hands." She checks the straps are secure, then gives the thumbs up also.

    "I think you mean 'metaphorical' hands," says Emily. "All righty, then!" She starts flying towards Bravette at a brisk pace; she seems somewhat surprised, however, at the fact that she's ... well ... weighted down by Uni and Hyouka. "Oh, whoops!"

    << Careful, >> says Cal. << Just because your weight is gone doesn't mean the mass is gone. Otherwise, a Shinki's thrusters wouldn't work. >>

    "Yeah I got that," says Emily, accelerating more carefully. "Bravette, mind looking around for stairways or elevator shafts? If it's an underground facility, there must be some way of getting up and down."

    Cal directly transmits Bravette an image of himself looking similarly pouty with his fist held out, captioned "Solidarity Fist Bump".

    As Emily's LIFDOFF goes a bit more shakily than expected, Hyouka blinks. "DARGN, could we feed my internal gyroscope data to her, or whatever? So she can keep track of my mass, or something?" DARGN says, "Technically, something like what you're asking is possible. However, the data involved is very bandwidth-intensive. It would either introduce a lag time in the feed to your brain, creating an unpleasant disconnect, or it would require me to cease the feed to you entirely, creating an even more intensely negative sensation."

    "...so... no."

    "No."

    "Darn," Hyouka says. She was hoping she'd get to technobabble a solution to something. Keep reaching for the dream, Hyouka.

    Bravette pings a confirmation, then flits upward to get a better vantage point. She can't really 'see' contours of terrain, at least not better than a human eye could, but she does a quick grid search, then flits down lower to confirm possibilities she's spotted. Once she's found one, she pings and projects a marker from her position to guide the group in.

    Uni, meanwhile, seems a little disconcerted by being moved outside of her own control. "This, is new. Not sure I like it." she muses, grasping the straps of the harness, as if that would give her some control.

    Emily grins at Hyouka, and implicitly at DARGN. "Now you've got me tempted," she says, "but if it's a technological problem, it's a technological problem, ah well. She glances back over her shoulder at Uni. "Just gonna be another couple minutes!"

    She sets down right by Bravette, then promptly rises off the ground again. "Oh. Right." She snickers at her own expense. "Lessee ... yeah, I think this is an emergency staircase, not a shaft. Really hard to tell the difference when the stairs are all collapsed, but oh well."

    Straps materialize around her legs, and connect themselves to the branches. "Think we've got a gap there," she says conversationally. She projects a bright hologram into a deep shadow, revealing a dirt floor of sorts. And the corner of an underground wall. "As soon as we get through here, I can let you two go," she adds. "We can just pull ourselves along by the roots hanging down -- there should be plenty, this ain't my first underground facility rodeo."

    "Think of it like a roller coaster," Hyouka suggests to Uni. "Like, one of those hanging ones. Except we're not really hanging, I suppose. A... floating coaster?" Shrug. She's happy just to be along for the ride, really. "It is strongly recommended against," DARGN confirms for Emily. "When humans are deprived of their sense of balance and momentum, or even experience a lack of sync, it tends to result in intense vertigo and-or nausea. Preventing such issues is part of my primary function, as it happens."

    Hyouka, meanwhile, just kind of takes in the scenery, particularly the staircase - and the area Emily stops to illuminate. "Could we bounce our way down off the walls? Might be a bit faster."

    "Good thing I took a ZG course in Star Hurrier." muses Uni, nodding to Emily at the briefing. "Simple enough, don't try to 'swim', there's not enough resistace to get any velocity, yuou'd just end up flailing.

    Bravette moves down into the tunnel, lighting the searchlights built into her armour. It's a big shoulder-mounted swing-lamp that follows her head movement. <<Beginning mapping protocol. Syncing data transfer to TacNet, 20second delay on updates to save bandwidth and extend battery life.>>

    Emily grins. "I can fly on my own power," she says. "You two can get around however you want!"

    She considers this a moment, and then ... dematerializes in a swirl of nanomachines and floats into the gap after Bravette. "Releasing capacitor seal ... 3 ..." There's the three auras, the silver one shatters and the other two fade, and then Emily rematerializes in the form of a lavender-skinned demoness with long sleeves and jeans and holding a sword, cutting a hole in the overgrowth from inside.

    The only thing to distinguish the vertical passageway from a cave is the corners of the walls, and even then they're covered in roots as expected. Parts of the walls are broken off here and there, revealing hallways and ruined rooms. Debris fills the air, floating this way and that, ranging from dust to larger chunks of wall. With less to obstruct them, the infrared signature is clearer: there's definitely a cluster of technological heat sources further down, floating and bumping around.

    Emily augmenting Bravette's lamp with her own holograms. "Hmm ... you know what," she says, slightly uneasily, "there's an awful lot of floating rocks in here. Let's hope we can turn off the antigrav effect slowly."

    Once they're in, Hyouka does exactly as she herself suggested. She pulls herself towards one wall, holds there long enough to figure out where she's going next, and then bounces off at an angle. Having handholds in the form of roots and damage to the walls makes it easier for her to semi-pinball her way through; course corrections would be a lot harder if there were nothing but smooth walls to bounce off of.

    She still manages to bounce off a chunk of floating debris once or twice.

    "Well, if the debris gets in our way, we can always just smash our way out. I only brought my wind crystal today, so I don't hit as hard, but it's still more than enough to act like a wrecking ball."

    Bravette nods a little, making the light-cone bob. "Alternatives, unpleasant to contemplate. Rocks fall, everyone dies, etc." she jambles in that clipped, rapid-fire speech pattern that comes out when she's stressed. "Localizing heat signatures, multiple contacts, free floating in a chamber nearby... attempting to pathfind, standby."

    Uni grabs onto roots, and uses them to swing along, aiming for outcrops to 'relay' herself along, going from root, to solid-looking outcrop. Much like Hyouka really. If a little more elegant due to the less massive frame of the Goddess... all that metal and cyberware must be pretty dense, mass-wise.

    As the group descends, an irregular clanging of metal becomes audible. It's muffled by the moss and leaves, but it's definitely in the same direction as the infrared signature.

    Emily shrugs grandiosely. "Yeah, Hyouka, like Bravette said, I'm more worried about standing under 'em," she says. "... hmm ... the local intranet's down. Can't ping the central computer, if it's even still working ..." She shakes her head, floating upside-dwon for a moment. "But yeah. Hm, maybe I should form some armor. Or, like, a shield for the two of you. It'll do twice as much damage to my nanomachines that way."

    << Just so you know, we're losing your signal, >> says DBE4. << If you go much furth ...... on't be able to contact you. Uh, whoops, like that! >>

    "Thanks for the heads-up," Emily replies.

    The source of the heat-signatures is behind a cave-in. It happened long ago; the fallen detritus is packed together enough that not much of them are floating away, leaving only Shinki-sized gaps. Should Bravette make her way through ...

    She'd find a large factory chamber, filled with a massive number of hovercars floating ponderously around the chamber in an irregular orbit. All of them are connected via a wireless electrical charge. The clanging is from the occasional midair collision.

    At the far end, there's ... two human infrared signatures?

    "Path found." announces Bravette, slipping through one of the gaps, then opening a holographic window to the others in the tunnel, showing the room. A second window opens showing the overlay of her thermals. <<Possible sensor glitch... humanoid thermal signatures on the far side of the chamber, moving in to positively identify.>>

    Hyouka stops on a wall, then blinks once or twice. "...then we just have to make sure we're not under anything when we shut off the gravi... um... shut on the gravity? Shut off whatever's shut off gravity." She pauses for a moment to try and follow her own winding conversational thread, then just shakes her head and moves on - both figuratively and literally.

    Of course, all she can do once they reach the cave-in, all she can do is wait for a moment while Bravette scouts.

    Then the shinki mentions possible human contacts.

    "W-wait no, it could be dangeorus, don't-!" And now Hyouka is planting her feet as best she can, and trying to apply her superhuman body to the task of shifting the rubble. With the strength to lift and throw a couple of tons, she'd normally be a pretty good fit for this... but the lack of gravity means that her first attempt just sort of flips her end-over-end.

    Emily grins at Hyouka. "Shut off the antigravity," she says cheerfully, settling down an inch above the ground.

    She peers curiously at the hologram sent by Bravette. "Humanoid?" she says. "Well, that's not what I expected here. Uh ..." She frowns as Hyouka sends herself flying, and conjures up a pair of boots around the cyborg's feet with straps connecting to the walls. "Here, there you go ..."

    There's a faint light as Bravette approaches the source of the thermals.

    Surrounded by a faint silvery glow is a pair of women -- one young lady with long sky-blue hair, with a glitchy rose-red halo and glowing eyes the same color; the other noticeably older with short red hair, and silver eyes. Both of them are wearing identical silver frilly dresses. "No, the antigravity fields are just multiplying each other," the redhead is saying. "Sorry, Géraldine, there's no more actual magical energy than they have individually."

    "Darn," says the blue-haired girl. "Well ... let's tell Antoinette anyway -- wait, is that some kind of maintenance robot coming this way?" Seems she caught sight of Bravette's lamp. She peers directly at the shinki now.

    "What the ACTUAL SHIT," exclaims Emily, as soon as Géraldine's halo is clearly visible in Bravette's hologram. Her voice carries through the chamber, startling the two women.

    Oh. Held in place. That works. "Thank you."

    With a proper anchor, the cyborg is more than strong enough to start shifting debris - especially with no gravity fighting her. It won't take long until she's made a gap big enough for her to lunge through - and after unstrapping herself from those boots, that's just what she does. She manages to catch herself on a hovercar not far inside... and that's roughly when Emily starts yelling behind her.

    Blink.

    "Er... Emily, is... everything alright?"

    <<I have been spotted, shifting to defensive posture. Engaging Rampart defense shield.>> The Hologram display gains a grainy blue-white 'film' effect as the Shinki activates some kind of ablative shield. She also seems to find somewhere to set down, a soft TNK TNK TNK TNK, of her anchor pitons latching into the surface.

    Uni summons one of her guns, settling a foot on an outcrop to launch herself through, once Hyouka gets the way unblocked. <<My weapons are recoilless, unless I use the special custom slugs.>> she preempts over TacNet. <<I take it you know these two, Emily?>>

    The two women stare at Bravette; neither of them moves to attack. Or to defend, for that matter. "That is not a maintenance robot," says Géraldine. "That's not even ... what is that, Colette?" Her attitude suggests that she does think that Bravette isn't sapient ... nor does she seem bothered by the sudden weaponry and shield.

    "I ... don't know," says the redhead. "Something from the ... 'World ... Tree'?"

    Meanwhile, Emily shoots a manic grin at Hyouka and Uni. "All right?" she says. "Sure I'm all right!" There's a flicker of red above her head, a cylindrical marquee visible for only a split second -- did it say 'Danger'? 'Glitch'? "I'm doin' just goddamn ducky. No, Uni, I don't know them -- it's can't be my worst enemy somehow back from the dead even though I smashed his CPU core. But I do know that halo!"

    Her line-of-sight unobstructed (not that this was really necessary, she knew their exact relative positions thanks to the TacNet, but Hyouka looked like she was having so much fun breaking the wall down Emily didn't want to interrupt her), she opens a staticky portal right behind Bravette, facing Géraldine. "Hello, Pollux," she says sarcastically. "Didn't expect to see you wearing a woman's face! And if you aren't Castor Pollux, you'd better explain why you're wearing his halo and eyes right fucking now --" She stops herself, and stares. "Wait. You aren't Eudaemons! What the fuck."

    Géraldine and Colette are looking utterly confused right up until Emily says the word 'halo'. "No, no, no," says Géraldine. "You've gotten very confused, mortal Nyx-model." She hesitates; both she and Colette look like they don't even know where to begin.

    At all this, Hyouka just sort of falls quiet - her head rapidly turning back and forth between Emily, and the duo of Geraldine and Colette.

    Finally, the faux elf just turns to give Uni a silent look that says, 'Help, I'm completely lost.'

    Uni just shrugs back at Hyouka. The energy of 'I'm as lost as you are'. right there.

    Bravette glances over her shoulder, the motion obscured by the visor of her helmet... she then speaks up. "Humanoids... Human-adjacent at least. Identify. Conversation overheard suggests you are responsible for the current area of nullgravity. Rectify this situation, many local fauna are in danger due to this negligence." she speaks, and her mouth then sets into a grumpy thin line... she's clearly not amused by these people assuming she's some dumb automoton.

    Colette peers at Bravette. "... Blast it all, it spread to the surface already?" she says. "I'm impressed. Géraldine, our experiment has failed badly enough that we revealed ourselves to mortals."

    Géraldine goans. She looks up at the cars, and one by one, they start to sink to the ground. Slowly, gravity begins to reassert itself; rocks collide and land in the building above them.

    Colette pauses, and regards Emily. "As for the halo," she says, "I will say that the boy known as Castor Pollux, the Eudaemon who claimed to be a Master and controlled you ... my sister's halo isn't an imitation of him. His was an imitation of us." ... Somehow, as she says that last sentence, her tone sounds dishonest. But then she concentrates a moment, and then a glitchy rose-red halo identical to Géraldine's appears, and her eyes begin to grow the same shade. And her attitude seems colder.

    "... Okay," says Emily. She takes a deep breath. "Okay, okay, okay. Sorry. Shit. Uh." She shakes her head. "Who are you guys, anyway?"

    Colette nods. "I am Colette Asphodel, the third-eldest of the five Asphodel Sisters," she says. She places a hand on Géraldine's shoulder. "This is the youngest sister, Géraldine Asphodel." She smiles coldly. "To put it simply ... each of us is beyond all of you, mortals. But we have no desire to harm you."

    Well, at least they're both equally lost, Hyouka decides, turning her attention from Uni back to the new people.

    Something about Colette's statement nudges at Hyouka's instincts; while she's not a traditional conniver or social manipulator, she spent a good number of years navigating office politics. But she knows better than to poke at it. "Forgive the ignorance of an offworlder, but I can't say that I'm familiar with the 'Asphodel Sisters'... but, does this mean that the antigravity field has been disabled?"

    Of course, she blithely ignores the assertion of superiority. Some things you just don't call someone on. But DARGN does under a very soft, "Hmm," over comms, as if she's contemplating something.

    "Uh, actual Goddess over here. Not mortal, so you can shitcan that." remarks Uni as gravity finally reasserts itself, and she gets her feet under her again.

    "Processing, logged." is all Bravette says in response.

    Gravity is, indeed, beginning to return, and soon the room is filled with the regular clanging as the cars settle to the ground. "I've never heard of 'em," Emily answers Hyouka, still looking rattled.

    Géraldine smirks. "No," she says. "You wouldn't have."

    When Uni identifies herself as a goddess, both sisters stare at her for half a second, then straighten up. "Apologies," says Colette, suddenly looking like she's addressing ... well, if not an equal, then someone close to that. "However, we are not yet comfortable revealing more about ourselves without first speaking to the Eldest Sister, Antoinette Asphodel. For now, I will say only that we are The Null. In the meantime ..."

    She looks between Hyouka, and Bravette, but not Emily. "... the two of you ... should probably not hope to meet us again. Come, Géraldine."

    Géraldine nods. "Bye, then!" she says archly. And with that, the two transform into surges of silvery shadows, Géraldine surrounded by blue iris petals and Colette with red rose petals, their halos still visible. They both spiral off down another passageway, the light vanishing with them.

    Emily stares for a moment, and fixes her holographic lighting back on. Then she says, "I have several questions, but pretty much all of 'em boil down to 'what the fuck'."

    As soon as they're gone, Hyouka lets the 'office diplomacy' mask slip, leaving a sour look on her face.

    DARGN, meanwhile, merely snorts softly. "'Beyond us all'. It is a hollow confidence that needs to assert itself."

    "Hollow or not, they clearly have some power, and if their oldest sibling is in that position not just because of age but strength as well, we should at least be cautious." replies Uni, to DARGN.

    Bravette meanwhile unlatches her anchors, and floats back over to Uni, landing on her shoulder. The Shinki is oddly quiet, but she's clearly going through all the information she's gathered so far.

    Emily laughs. "Yeah, DARGN, you think she's arrogant, you guys should ask around for what Castor Pollux was like!" She ... doesn't seem interested in volunteering the information herself. "But ... hnn." She grimaces. "You're probably right, too, Uni. Seemed human, but could turn into shadow like that ..."

    She glances back at the TacNet mac, then opens a staticky portal back to the surface. "And she didn't say I wasn't gonna meet 'em again, either. Let's just head back home. Hey, Cal, DBE4 ..."