World Tree MUSH

    Once in a while, it's nice to get out and do something different for a night. Head offworld not for any vocational reason, but simply for the sake of going somewhere new and having an interesting night out. Tonight is one of those nights - specifically, it's the kind of night where Hyouka Kiyama is heading out to have dinner on another world entirely, and to meet and chat with someone interesting!

    Of course, her clothing sticks out like a sore thumb. It's not her usual 'could be out jogging' adventurer's outfit, but it's definitely offworld fashion somewhere along the lines of 'near-future trendy'. On a world trending more to the medieval-fantastical... it's different. Especially on what looks like an elf. But the waitress doesn't seem to mind that much! In short order, Hyouka is greeted, and guided to a table.

    Valerian is not one to criticize the fashion of anyone else, considering he's always wearing that outfit of his that makes him look like a mix between an adventurer, a janitor, and someone who works in a welding shop. And he is still wearing that today when Hyouka is guided to a table! Since he arrives not more than a couple moments after her, sitting across from the woman. 

    "Nice to see you again! It's not often I meet another dragon-powered individual. I was hoping out paths would cross again, Miss Hyouka." He gives a friendly smile and holds out a glove-covered hand towards her for a firm handshake, "I hope the travel wasn't too much of a hassle. I spend a lot of time on this world lately."

    "Ah, just Hyouka is fine," the cyborg replies breezily, reaching out to shake Valerian's gloved hand firmly. "To be honest, I kind of enjoy travel across the Tree. You always see so many interesting sights, and it's never quite the same twice with all the subtle vine shifts." Now that they're both there, she settles back in her seat a bit, perusing what passes for a menu in a simpler tavern like this. "How's that young lady doing, anyway?"

    "I'll be honest, I'm not sure she will ever be completely whole again. What she went through is hard to come back from all the way," Valerian says candidly, "But I think she will survive. At least for as long as it takes her to finish the fight she has involved herself in." He scratches the underside of his chin a bit, "I'm hoping to get some people to teach her how to live after the demon business is wrapped up." 

    He browses a menu in front of him and looks it over, "Ale and a hunter stew." He says to a waitress as he passes her a couple coins, "And whatever she wants." He waves towards Hyouka, "So how long have you been adventuring?" He asks conversationally.

    Talk of Anna leaves Hyouka looking troubled, a frown settling in for a few moments. At the very least, she'll survive. That's... something. It still rankles for someone so young to go through something that awful, though. "That's good. Thank you for looking after her. If there's any way I can help, I'd be happy to pitch in." She can't think of anything she can offer, but hey, you never know.

    After a second's consideration, she decides, "I'll have the roast and potatoes, and the ale as well." With their orders set, the faux elf folds her hands in her lap. "Mm? Ah, a few years now. This body was pretty much custom-made for that purpose. Before I got it, I was an office lady."

    "So you're a full-conversion, then? I knew a couple friends who took that route. It's interesting to be able to build your own body. They were braver than I am," He laughs a bit awkwardly as he leans back in his seat and looks her over once, tilting his head a bit, "It's rare to see a full-con job that flawless. You really could normally pass as a flesh-and-blood." He considers it, "So what made you decide to throw away the life of a bureaucrat for the rough life on the road?"

    And then a pause, "Actually, you can help me with her..." He taps his finger on the table a bit, "I'm a great guy for giving her advice on how to use her powers and mitigate the downsides. I'm terrible for most things that aren't related to combat or ostensibly sketchy business dealings." He sighs a bit and lets out an awkward chuckle, "I was hoping to find someone that can be a role model to her."

    "Mhm. My body's a work of art," Hyouka replies, a cheeky smile tugging at her lips. "It's pretty cutting edge technology. My world's been developing combined magic and technology for a few decades now. You'd have to ask DARGN for the specifics, but I know they've worked enchantments into the armor plating, the artificial skin, just about everywhere, and it all runs pretty much directly off mana. This up here's still grey matter, though," she adds, reaching up to tap her forehead. "And I decided to base it... mostly on my old appearance. I wasn't an elf, of course. Or quite so pretty. But high school classmates would recognize me if they saw me, probably."

    As to the question of why, her expression gets a little more contemplative. Not wistful, quite, but thoughtful. "I needed out, if I'm being truthful. I lived in a world full of fantastical things, but my life was utterly, totally mundane. Then I was lucky enough to save a dragon's life, and she offered me a boon. Anything in her power. So I asked her to make me a body fit for adventuring." Here she chuckles softly, shaking her head. "I know how childish it sounds, but... well. I needed it, I really did. And she granted it to me... and then had her own thought processes used as the basis for my onboard AI."

    DARGN chimes in, "She needed someone suited to doing the thinking for her." Hyouka huffs.

    "As for Anna..." Hyouka laces her fingers together. "I don't know how good a role model I can be, coming from a society where we've left the whole feudalism and swords thing behind. But I'll absolutely do my best for her sake."

    "I don't think it's quite as childish as you think," Valerian says as he takes a sip of his drink and watches the woman explain, "There's all sorts of reasons that a person craves power. As far as they go, 'Wanting to actually matter in the world' is fairly benevolent. You're not subjugating anyone, you're not leading a bloody empire, you're not wiping out a group of people you don't like. Those are childish uses of power." He points out. 

    "That said, I /am/ pretty sure that after I left my version of Earth, I read a manga about an office woman who befriended a dragon." He contemplates it, "I think it had a different moral to it. And she didn't get a cyborg body." He grins a bit, "Besides, if your reasons for wanting power are childish, so are mine. I came from a world with Gods and Robots and Wizards and an apocalypse. I wanted just..." He pinches his fingers together, "A little iota of power. Something to let me affect the world at all. So I sold out and became a Juicer." 

    "Anna's a good girl. I hope someone can train her to be a good princess. She's already a good killer." He folds his hands behind his head and watches Hyouka, "I just don't want her to reach the end of her road and find out she has nothing left. That kind of thing sucks. She's gonna need a life beyond just revenge."

    "Mm." Hyouka muses, reaching out to take up her own ale and look into it contemplatively. "I wouldn't say it was so much about affecting the world, so much as... wanting my life to be something more. Outside my window there were elves and dragons and magical girls and so many amazing things, excitement and interesting people, and I was there stuck in an office, managing records and attending meetings. When you see a girl save the world on national television as a kid, it rankles having to settle for the office worker life."

    She takes a good long slug of her ale, then sets it back down. "I can agree with you about Anna. I'll do my best to help her learn to be a person. I've already helped two little robots some, in that regard." It's her turn to kick back a little, though, and give Valerian a nod. "How about you? What exactly is a 'Juicer'? What all can you do?"

    "Well. The world I grew up in, the version of Earth, was kind of a blown out shithole. It had been through at least one apocalypse and uh... Never really recovered." He waves his hand as he supplies backstory, "Now there are a few ways to get power on my world, but most of them have a cost. One of the easiest ways is being what is called a 'Juicer'. They're people who embed themselves with a rig and control system that pumps high performance stimulants and steroids through their system to induce superhuman performance." 

    To show Hyouka, Valerian lives up his shirt a bit. She can see parts of his rigging, but it looks like a lot of his is subdermal except for a few ports or tube sections that are above the skin for maintenance purposes on his upper body and across his torso, "Here is where a Juicer would inject the drugs into their rig and then later dispense them into the body. The downside is you suffer from withdrawl without the drugs and after like five to seven years, you just sorta die." 

    "Where I grew up, the Federation of Magic, someone invented a version of those who instead ran specially treated dragon blood through their system. It makes you inordinately stronger than almost any other kind of Juicer. But Dragon Blood isn't cheap or easy to come by. About 10 years ago, I underwent the procedure. Did some time in their army, struck out on my own. I was a government fixer. Now I'm a small business owner who does work for the Gardeners sometimes." 

    He makes some jazz hands at the table, "And that's my dramatically seinen backstory."

    Hyouka listens with absolutely rapt fascination. Pretty much anything related to the fantastical is interesting to her - but even among interesting topics, Valerian's story is engrossing. She even leans forward a bit to take a peek at his rigging when he shows, before sitting back again and picking up her ale. "...amazing. So you're literally hopping yourself up on dragon blood..." She can't help the snort that slips out at his final remark, though. "'Seinen'... well, at least you're self-aware. I don't want to think about what kind of nonsense manga my life story would be."

    Their food arrives, and Hyouka sits up a bit straighter, looking at her food with delight. It's here, however, that DARGN speaks up, contemplative. "Dragon's blood... I won't ask how you acquire it. But as you pointed out, no power is without price, whether it be hard work, great financial cost, or what you sacrifice in exchange. It sounds as if your time limit is longer than one of these common 'Juicers', but what does it cost you, Valerian Railton?"

    Hyouka blinks once or twice. Her AI is usually content just to remain quiet, or exchange low-key barbs. This much talking is a bit rare.

    "After I left, I got big into reading about pre-apocalypse Earth Culture. Including Manga. I love hero stuff like that, it's like a guilty pleasure," He admits as he gives her a big smile and then looks down at the food. He idly stirs his food with a spoon and considers it as he looks down. Like any Hunter Stew, picking out the ingredients is a crapshoot. 

    "Haha. My cost. A question a lot of people wonder. Like her, I am weak to anti-dragon weapons." He admits, "Plus most dragons who find out about me find me their enemy. And having an enemy at the top of the food chain makes life interesting, so to speak. Most people try to stay off their radar. But my real cost is..." 

    He looks towards where Hyouka's heart would be. Which looks a lot like staring at her chest, but a bit less lewd, "Well. You're a smart AI. The longer you're on a drug, the more dependent on it you become. What do you think are the side effects if I were to stop taking a substance that so drastically alters my physiology. It's not like I can become human again. So there's only one other outcome." He leaves it nice and vague. 

    "I like your AI. It's smart. It knows the questions to ask. And it has your back." He smiles a bit and then looks towards Hyouka's eyes, "And I'll answer what I think it's trying to suss out. If you don't have blood, I'm not a threat to you. And your body is... like... I want to guess ninety-eight percent metal?"

    It's DARGN that responds to the question. "Less than that, actually. A fair amount of polymers and ceramics involved as well. Crystal in various places to conduct and manage the flow of mana. Even I don't quite grasp the precise composition of the artificial musculature, and that isn't something I say lightly. And I believe there's even some clay involved in the artificial skin, though that's for alchemical reasons rather than material science or technology. She did request lifelike skin."

    Hyouka nods in agreement, then after swallowing a bite of food, she says, "DARGN is sharp. She's part of the system that interfaces my body's reflexes with my brain, but she also acts more or less like a personal assistant besides. It really is like having a dragon's mind onboard... including the secret keeping, sometimes." DARGN huffs. "I have not hidden any further black box systems from you, Hyouka."

    "Fair. Mostly artificial, though. And no real blood to speak of. So no threat from me." He takes a spoonful of food and puts it in his mouth, ripping apart a piece of bread and dipping it into the stew, "It's good to have a system like that, though. Otherwise the senses can make you motion sick when filtered through a human mind until you get used to it." He stirs it a bit and then eats the piece of bread. 

    "I never expected to meet someone who was so similar to me, but also so different." He smiles widely, "The Tree is a really interesting place for encounters like these. I appreciate you taking the time out."

    "Oh, it's beyond just that," DARGN chimes in yet again. "Artificial limbs on our world have reached the point where they can outperform what the human brain can keep up with. Ordinary people don't need anything superhuman, but for anyone going a bit above and beyond, Digital-Assist Reflexes were the solution they came up with. For a more complex system like Hyouka's body, you need a true AI to keep up with it - they have dubbed such programs 'Guardian Nodes'."

    The AI lets that explanation settle, and Hyouka continues devouring her food - but she does nod firmly in response to Valerian's statement, beaming happily around her food. After swallowing, she replies, "Likewise. This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted this body for. There's so many amazing things and amazing people here. It's never a dull moment, at least until the paperwork is due."