World Tree MUSH

    Peacely is a small hamlet with a population of roughly a hundred folk. It's a quiet little town known for its mining and industry, built around the walls of a rather large fortress, in the event of attack the populace can retreat into the fortress itself, assuming they have the time to do so. Most of the folk living here are halflings! But the locale itself is popular with humans and elves alike, and as of late the local halflings have been getting a little tense with the increasing number of outsiders in their little town.
    The local inn, The Warm Hearth is a little active around this time of evening, with people coming for dinner and drinks, and road wery travellers looking for a place to settle down for the night.
    One group of adventurers HAS found a demonic portal under the town, and have been given lodging and board until they handle it, and one of those adventurers is a young teen girl; settled in a corner of the tavern, hooded cloak drawn up to cover her face as she rhythmically drags a whetstone over the woodcutter's axe situated in her lap with a soft shhhink... Shhhink... Shhhhhhink... as she gently rocks herself in her seat, singing softly to herself in the goblin tongue.

    "Bellows of pain
    and scraping of chains
    The echoes they taunt and deceive me
    Oceans of blame 
    And rivers of shame
    The fury it never leaves me..."

    "Grief in the snow 
    The winter of woe 
    Has come here to
    judge and bereave me 
    Lock up the rage 
    It rattles the cage 
    The fury it never leaves me..."

     A dark-skinned woman in very casual and very modern (and very yellow) wear steps into the tavern, taking a deeeeep sniff of the place's scents. "Sweat, alcohol, vomit, yep it's a bar alright." she remarks aloud, immediately turning to head toward the singing teen girl. Pulling a chair from a nearby table, she turns it around and sits in it backwards, arms folded over the back of it with her chin resting on them as she leans toward the younger girl.

"Hey there. Pretty morose song you're singing. Need a nickel?" she asks with a wink, flicking a silvery coin to the girl with the axe. "I'm new around these parts, checking things out and stuff. You bardy types know stuff, right? What's shaking around here?"

    And another one of those adventurers happens to be someone who came to the hamlet in the first place with this same hooded girl sharpening the blade of an axe and singing in foreign tongue.

    And Shirou Emiya, as it turns out, had all the intention to approach her, to bring her tea and a warm freshly-baked pastry courtesy of the tavern-keeper. But he halts in his approach when he hears that soft singing. He can't understand goblintongue, but... he can feel the sorrow behind the words, at the very least. But even if the words weren't so sad, perhaps there is something vaguely entrancing about the voice of the singing Berserker Princess regardless.

    And further delayed, then, by this unfamiliar woman in modern clothes approaching her first. The japanese young man - himself in a very modern jersey jacket - watches from afar for a few seconds, curiously, before finally deciding to step over.

    "Anna-san," he calls to the hooded girl, thus, stepping around her seat and settling the tray with the tea and the pastries down in front of her. "Thought you could use something like this."

     Miwa has been feeling like she should get out more, and so she went looking for some adventure, and a bit of aimless wandering winds her up in the inn of this little mining village. She was pondering ordering some food when she hears singing, and her eyes drift over to Anna as she listens for a bit while moving closer to Anna and attempts to sing along, not quite nailing the words at first, but she picks it up as she goes, She nods in agreement with Celesta. "Had a rough time recently?"

Misaki is not one of the people who came here to deal with the well. She's here to check up on a ... well friend is a bit presumptuous maybe, but Misaki prefers that over victim or the like. She's brought with her the greatest of all gifts a Japanese teenager can give to another teenager. "Your highness." She bows in the western style, ... she looked up how to do that online. "Please accept my humble tribute." She may have lifted that phrasing off of a light novel. Regardless, she offers a box of strawberry pocky.

    "... Pour out the anger and hide it away
    Lest it spill to the blameless and lead them to pain
    In the steel and the rags I will cover the shame
    So the innocent need not be judged in my name..."

    It's on pure reflex alone that Anna Primrose catches the coin tossed her way. Before she twirls it in her fingers and flicks it back.
    "I am no bard." She says matter of factly as she resumes sharpening the axe on her lap. "You'd best be on your toes. Peacely seems at peace, at the moment, but it suffers a rot from beneath. A demon curse runs through the town." She says simply as Shirou makes his return, with pastries in tow no less.
    "Ah... Thank you, Sir Emiya." The girl murmurs, setting her axe down and scooting aside for the youth to join her at the table as she helps herself to a small bite of a scone and a slow sip of tea.
    It is the sound of Miwa trying to sing along with her that makes the runaway princess' face twitch slightly, glancing up at the Primarina with a curious look.
    A rough time.
    That's one way to put it.
    "Mmh. Something like that."
    It is when Misaki arrives that Anna inclines her head in a dip of recognition, though she bites on her lip. "Please, don't call me that. Just Anna will do, now." She implores gently before... "What is this?"
    Uh oh. The pocky has intrigued her.

     Celesta nods to Miwa and Shirou as they approach as well, then snickers at Misaki's offering of pocky. She doesn't say anything though, instead opting to catch the coin out of the air as it's flicked back, pocketing it again in one smooth motion. "A rot, huh? We talking metaphorical on the demon curse thing, like drugs or something? Illegal body mods? Jaywalking?" she asks, rocking back and forth on her chair.

    "How are you feeling?" Asks Shirou, even though... well, the both them probably already know the answer to that question. But still, it comes with a brief, companiable squeeze to her shoulder before he turns to sit down besides her, since she's made the nonverbal offer for a sat-down by scooting to the side like that. 

    There's a very visible wince on his part when Misaki calls Anna a 'princess', and he even tries to mouth something to the effect of 'noooo!' at her, but the damage is already done. At least Anna isn't... too offended by it. And hopefully theres no one around who they wouldn't want to hear that, either.

    The reaction to the pocky brings a brief smile from him, but he's quickly distracted by Celesta's questioning. And he... frowns faintly, before telling her outright, "Quite literal, I'm afraid."

     Miwa shoots a curious look back at Anna at the 'your highness' greeting coming from Misaki, then nods at the answer about having a rough time but decides not to pry, though Shirou later saves her the trouble of asking about it further. Talk of demons does draw a more serious look. She's never actually seen one in person but heard about them, and well she figures if she was looking for adventure she very likely found it. A grin does form as she sees the offered pocky. "Oooh, those are good." She offers which probably only encourages Anna's curiosity of what they are. "Speaking of good, what would you recommend to eat around here?" She asks as she moves to grab a seat nearby.

Misaki awkwardly bites her lip when Anna asks her to use the first name, "... how about your surname?" She asks, clearly uncomfortable using first names for people she barely knows. "It's pocky. It's delicious." She explains, "And within my budget." She pulls out another box of pocky and takes out a stick for her own to take a bite out of. She looks towards the others, "I don't believe I've met some of you." She makes a stance and showily transforms, "I am Misaki Sakai." And above her head appears the text 'Brilliant Senshi Misaki Sakai.' This is not normally how she introduces herself, she makes a V-sign and then drops her transformation.

    "Literal." Anna echoes Shiro in the same moment he says it. "There is a demon infestation. A portal leading to the Abyss has been found under the town." She explains, taking a sip of tea afterward. Then her attention returns to the pocky at hand.
    The Primarina says they're good.
    Brilliant Senshi Misaki says it's delicious.
    It takes Anna a second to get the box and wrapper within open, and take a bite from one of the strawberry coated biscuit sticks within.
    "M... Mm." That's an appraising sound at first, before the girl is quickly nibbling away at it. And the kicker is? It goes good with tea, too.
    "That... That is fine yes." She concedes to Misaki amid starting to munch on a second stick. Oh huh looks like she likes it, chuckling mildly at the senshi's flashy introduction.
    How is she feeling though?
    "I am fine, Sir Emiya. I think I am fine, now." She finally replies to the youth as he settles down into his own seat.

     "Ah. Yeah, outta my realm of expertise, I'm afraid." Celesta responds to Shirou and Anna with a shrug, then glances over to Miwa. "What are you, a sealion? What do sealions eat? Fish or something?"

Then Misaki brings up introductions, in the flashiest way she possibly could have. With a small 'pssh' noise, Celesta mutters, "Great. A magical girl. Bad enough with the caped crusaders running around in bird robots, turns out anime is real too." After that though, she waves her hands in the air, making fireworks noises with her mouth as she introduces herself too. "Celesta Jones, NYPD. Pshew, boom, pow."

    "I used to eat those every now and then," Shirou notes to Anna while she indulges on the pocky -- and he even gives a briefly grateful look to Misaki, for giving this gift to her in the first place.

    Her being fine... well, he does not necessarily seem *fully* convinced of that, but he accepts that answer from her anyway. 

    "Yyyeeaaah, I can't say it's in my expertise either," he admits to Celesta on the other hand, with a sheepish scratch made at the side of his face. And... he frowns, when she mentions that 'anime is real too'. Huh. He hadn't thought of that. Some people from other worlds might really end up seeming awfully similiar to things seen in anime or videogames in other worlds, wouldn't they? ...Maybe something like his life appears in an anime in some world, too?

    This line of thought is going to end up causing an existential crisis in the poor redhead later.

    ANYWAY.

    "NYPD...?" He repeats Celesta's words, though, cocking his head curiously to one side. "You mean, like... a cop from America, right?" He at least vaguely recalls hearing that said in some western movie. "I am Emiya Shirou. It's nice to meet you." At least he thinks it is. He's not necessarily entirely sure what to make of everyone, yet. Much like Celeste, he's a bit dubious about Miwa's appearance, too.

     After Anna echoes Shirou's confirmation about the demons, Miwa looks concerned. "Never seen a demon, but uh, that sounds real bad. Is the town requesting help dealing with this infestation?" She asks with the intent to join any attempt to help but not foolish enough to go and attempt to quell a demon infestation on her own. Misaki's transformation draws her attention as she's never seen a magical girl transform before, at least not an actual one in person. Flashy indeed, but she figures she'll go ahead and answer Celesta and introduce herself at the same time. "I'm Miwa, a Primarina, which is a kind of Pokemon, a bit like a sea lion I guess yes, and I do enjoy fish, but I will happily eat other kinds of meat too, even fruit and such."

"Anime lies." Misaki answers Celesta, "It makes it sound like being a magical girl is an easy fun time. It's not. It's being a child soldier used by entities who care little for your well being who use the promise of a wish to get you to dive into something you don't understand, which will probably kill you, and which they only explain in as much they deem it necessary." She sits down, "But I can't complain too much. Everyone's got problems, right?"

"I would offer to help, miss Primrose, but I'm still not feeling too great, and I ought to preserve my strength in case a youma shows up." The girl explains, "But with mister Emiya here I'm sure you've got people to help."

    "Pokemon are creatures that are trained by trainers for battle or as companions." Anna further elaborates. "It is... Rare to see one so far from home and alone." She does muse while side-eyeing Miwa, pursing her lips. "Especially without a trainer."
    She's read books about offworld stuff!
    "Yes, well, I am rapidly learning to make demons my area of expertise." She mutters at Celesta and Shirou in turn before grumbling something under her breath that sounds like 'silver weapon'.
    Silver weapons can come later though, more pocky comes now as she nibbles away, nodding gently in Misaki's direction.
    "Do not trouble yourself, I understand. There are larger things in play and you cannot be everywhere at once. Just visiting me was a kindness in its own right that I am grateful for."

     "You know, that sounds an awful lot like a job." Celesta remarks to Misaki, then shrugs at the explanation of Pokemon from the others. "Cool. I'd love to have a pet, but my apartment doesn't allow them. Then again, I deal with enough animals as it is thanks to those Alter guys."

Then, aside to Shirou, "Yes. New York City, the Big Apple. Lots of crime, underequipped cops, and now children in colorful costumes playing superhero." Her voice has a tinge of irritation at that last part.

    "Trained for battle...?" Shirou echoes one particular part of Anna's explanation on the matter of Pokemon. Apparently that's not something that pleases him particularly, and he gives a relatively sympathetic look over to Miwa. But then it occurs to him-- "Ah... I guess you've read about it...?" She certainly knows more than he did!

    "...You mean just playing at superhero, or like... actual superheroes?" He asks of Celeste, then. You know, because with how different these Worlds are, it can be kind of hard to tell just at face value.

    And it all comes back to Anna again. He purses his lips faintly at her grumbling, and reaches over to settle his hand on her shoulder again, giving a gentle squeeze. "Hey," he says, voice softer now. "It'll be okay, yeah?"

     Miwa is impressed by how much Anna knows about Pokemon, and to her comments, she grins a little and nods. "Right on all accounts, it's also rare to find one that can speak. I like to travel, and I did have a trainer, but now I live on my own." She explains before adding a little more after catching the way Shirou looks at her. "I do sometimes feel for the Pokemon of trainers that are really focused on being the best at battling, it seems like a really hard life even if the trainer is otherwise kind and cares for them, but at least we're beyond the days where Pokemon were trained for use in actual warfare. I was trained not for battle, but for performances. When I started learning about the other worlds the vines connected mine to, I didn't really know how to fight. I've learned a lot since then, but I'd still much rather use my abilities to put on a show rather than for battle, but we don't always get what we want."

"If it was a job I'd get paid for my time. All I get is a promise of a wish if I keep at this long enough." Misaki tells Celesta, taking another bite out of her pocky. She listens to the talking about Pokemon, "I recall fighting alongside a kid against one robot dinosaur and one weird dinosaur, he had a bunch of these strange critters fighting for him. Don't recall his name."

    "I've read about it." Anna confirms to Shirou. "I've read about many offworld things." She says, being the token local. "Of cars, and machines, and robots, and other such things." She rattles off the details while stifling a small yawn into her palm.
    The hand on her shoulder makes the girl's eyes droop half-lidded, head dipping in a slow nod, before her eyes slide over towards Misaki.
    "That sounds like it would make for an interesting tale." Murmured as... Her head tilts. Her eyes droop... And...
    Oh.
    Oh it looks like she just dozed off on Shirou's shoulder right there.

     Celesta just shrugs at Misaki, then stifles a yawn as Anna falls asleep. "Ugh, it's contagious I swear. May as well get a room while I'm here." she grumbles, sliding off of her chair and returning it to the table where she found it. "Good night, folks."

    "...*If* you keep it up long enough...?" Shirou echoes Misaki, with a very visibly concerned frown. "Hey, is... whoever is taking care of all that for you really looking out for your best interests?" Well. Just going to staright up ask that without any sugarcoating, aren't you Shirou.

    And then he suddenly feels... a weight on his shoulder? What the-- Oh.

    "...oh." Shirou's face flushes with some red when he realizes just what exactly has come to pass-- but makes a point of staying very, very still where he sits. "Uh... I guess I'll have to figure out a way to get her upstairs without waking her up..."

     "I like learning about other worlds, and it does often come to be useful." Miwa agrees with Anna's sentiment about reading up on other worlds. The yawn is indeed contagious and Miwa yawns as well, covering her mouth with her right flipper. "Hmm, a room does sound nicer than sleeping outside, that's been a while for me... I guess I can skip having something to eat right before I sleep also and just have a big breakfast. It was nice to meet you all." She says with a smile, then gives a respectful bow as she briefly sort of stands on her tail, then heads off to see about getting a room for the night.

"No it is not looking out for my best interests." Misaki answers Shirou bluntly, "And I've known that since before I agreed, but I need a miracle and that fox knows it. Odds are that I'll die before I manage to earn my wish, and I'm not helping those odds by sticking my nose into the business of other worlds." The magical girl gets up, "I did what I came here to do, better get home before I get my parents worried."