World Tree MUSH

Misaki has asked to meet Shirou. She's told him to come to the roof of a particular skyscraper in Natsuto City. She may have neglected to mention this rooftop is not publicly accessible, and forgotten that Shirou can't just leap across the rooftops of a metropolitan core. While waiting, she sends a text.

M: ur not lost, rite

    Shirou, indeed, cannot leap over whole buildings in a single bound. Not even a single-story one -- much less an enormous skyscraper.

    The fact that the roof isn't publicly accessible just... makes things more difficult, since he can't even use the elevator. Actually, it might have turned out *most* of the floors aren't publicly accessible, even! So what is Shirou to do?

    ...Sneak into the maintenance stairway, of course. And walk.

    ...Yup.

    It's roughly ten floors before the rooftop proper when his phone buzzes, and without stopping his stride, he peeks at the screen. "...Seriously...?"

    ES: Almost there

    == TEN FLOORS LATER ==

    "Oh come on!"

    The red-haired teenager yells out the complaint at the rooftop access door at the very end of the stairway -- on account of the fact that the only response the door gives to his attempts at turning the handle is insistent thunking of the lock not giving way. "Fine then..."

    Roughly a minute later, Misaki will actually hear the sound of metal *shattering*. And when she turns to look, the... entire handle of a door leading down underneath the rooftop has just *exploded*.

    Incidentally, this is not actually a *successful* use of Shirou's magic. Rather, it was an act of deliberately failing at Reinforcing the lock in the door, since the results of failure with his own particular method of magecraft are... well, er. You can see for yourself.

    The door swings open, thus, and through it steps... a sweaty, somewhat panting Shirou Emiya.

    "I'm... here...!"

Misaki blinks when the handle explodes, and she summons both her guns, pointing them at the door until Shirou comes out and she dismisses them. She takes a few moments to wrap her way around what just happened before answering, "... you could've just asked me to pick a better spot, mister Emiya."

    Shirou should probably be somewhat concerned about basically being greeted with guns (even if for a somewhat understandable reason in this case), but he's a bit too exhausted to properly process all that.

    "I... assumed... you had some... oh sheesh... specific reason for... this place..." He pants out in answer to her, while leaning himself against the doorframe for a support. He just needs a few seconds! It's not that he's out of shape; he *did* just climb upwards to sixty floors without pause.

Misaki puts her head in her hands, "And I assumed you wouldn't have an issue making it here. ... I guess that teaches us to make assumptions." She answers, and takes a look over the city. "I do like being up here, to look over the city I promised to protect." Her gaze eventually falls upon a hospital window, and lingers there, and she doesn't explain that.

    "I'm.... not actually... a superhero..." Shirou points out. He just *wants* to be one. And, uh, has a *lot* to go before he gets there.

    He recovers soon enough to the point that he can walk up to Misaki, wiping some sweat away from his brow. "I figured this would be where you lived. I don't think I ever got a good explanation of your situation, but... I thought it might be something like that."

    He stops to stand besides her, and wiggles a hand in the air. "You know. Like in all those anime? ...Although I suppose I might not have had the same anime back home you have here. Alternate universe stuff and such..."

"I'm not a superhero either. I'm just a stubborn fool who accepted a bad deal and decided to make the most of it." Misaki explains. Her gaze stays on that particular hospital window, "I live in an apartment with my parents. Go to school." She pulls a crystal out of her pocket, "Collect these from monsters that will kill a lot of people if they're not stopped, and probably die before I get enough of these, because I doubt that fox actually wants to hold up his end of the bargain. So, depends on what anime you've been watching"

    "You were... right about on the amrk there up until that last part," Shirou admits with a wince. He eyes the crystal in Misaki's hand, but he doesn't ask about it -- for now, at least. She might notice him staring, though. "What's that about, exactly? Did... something get done to you when you made a deal?"

"To me? The deal made me a magical girl. There was a slight hint of duress as someone was trying to kill me before I could make the deal, and though it pains me to admit it, I don't think the fox actually wanted that to happen." Misaki puts the crystal away, "So besides some magic powers, I'm just fine. But it's a risky business and if I want to earn my wish I need to actually do the job." She finally looks away from the window, "And hope no other magical girl decides to rid themselves of the competition or steal my spoils."

    "That sounds... difficult," Shirou offers, quietly. He takes a step over, and sets a hand on Misaki's shoulder, squeezing gently in a quiet offer of solidarity. "So I take it the deal was like... You get a wish fulfilled if you take on teh duties of some kind of magical warrior? ...Just in this case you also need to work for that wish. Uh... Is it okay if I... ask what your wish was?"

"More or less." Misaki agrees, she lets the squeeze happen, "And don't make that kind of deal unless you know exactly what you're getting into. I don't regret it, but I really wish I'd had more time to think about it." She looks back to the hospital window, "Haven't made my wish yet. With my luck, I won't earn it until after there's no point. Don't ask me what for, though."

    "Why would there not be any point?" Asks Shirou with a slight closer furrowing of his red brows as he pulls his hand away. He studies her for a few seconds, and then turns his head to try and follow her gaze. He might need to pour some mana into his eyes to Reinforce his eyesight to get a better idea of what she's looking at, but after a moment he asks, "...Is it for someone else?"

"I told you not to ask." Misaki answers, though with her tone of voice, it's clear he hit close to the mark. The girl's not great at hiding what she's thinking. She sighs. "So what's your story, mister Emiya?"

    "...Sorry," Shirou winces, turning his eyes away from her with that. "I couldn't help it."

    He keeps looking off to the city below even after she asks that question of him, and he... shrugs. "I am... ostensibly a 'magus'," he tells her. "Most people where I come from would call me a 'magic-user' instead, though, since I don't really... live like Magi do. I ended up into a fight over a wish-granting artifact by pure chance, but... something happened with that artifact itself, I think? I'm not sure on the details. I'm not even sure if my world *exists* anymore."

"Would you like to live like Magi do?" Misaki looks to to the horizon, "And I wouldn't trust a wish granting artifact if I were you. Wishes don't come free. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to take advantage of you." She pauses, "Do you want to go home? If you could, I mean."

    "Not really," Shirou admits with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "My father didn't live like one either. And he always told me expressly to not live like one, because they tend to be... too self-centered. Too closed off from the rest of the world and focused on their insular research instead of concerning themselves with the rest of the world." He stretches one arm out in a slow circle while he speaks, hand rubbing at the arm's shoulder in the meantime. Relax the muscles. "Not that any magi would accept me as one, anyway. I barely have any training and I didn't inherit a Magic Crest."

    As for the value of wishes themselves? He lowers his arm, and then shrugs. "I didn't, really. I didn't trust that thing at all. I had... some idea of what it could do if someone with bad intentions got their hands on it. I just wanted to make sure something like that didn't happen."

    Does he want to go home? That question... brings him to lower his gaze, and bite down at his lower lip.

    "...Yeah," he says, eventually. "I feel like I left responsibilities behind. The event that lead to me being spat into the Tree was... violent. At the very least, I want to make sure people I left behind are alright."

Misaki listens, and reaches out for Shirou's shoulder. "I guess your world is what they call a bud? Maybe it'll blossom soon." She suggests, "And you know if you need any help, you can call me, right?"

    "I think so?" Shirou suggests, with his hand going to Misaki's hand on his shoulder -- not to push it away, but rather to give a light, companiable pat there. "If it's even there anymore. Things did not... look good when I last saw the place." He turns to look to her, and offers a small smile to her, but... the smile itself might not look entirely *right*, not with the momentary empty look in his eyes. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind... though I don't really have any idea where to even start."

"I'm not just talking about your home." Misaki clarifies, looking towards the older teenager, "Though I do know a thing or two about being away from home. This is where I live, but I'm from the countryside and a big city like this will never really feel like home."

    "Right, well... I do have your phone number now in case something comes up, right?" Shirou offers with a nod of his head, glancing away from her after that. "The city I lived in... wasn't this big. I lived in the older suburbs, though, so I suppose its not the exact same either, even if I did go to the city center for work sometimes."

"You do." Misaki gets up. "Well, it was good to talk to you, but I should probably head home before my parents get worried. Want to try the staircase again, or trust me to get you down?"

    "...I mean..." He peeks down over the edge of the roof, with a vaguely nervous sound. "Does your transformation come with physical strength, too? I don't know if there might be security guards down below this time around..."

"Some. Not as much as speed, but I am stronger than most people." Misaki answers straight away, "And down is easier than up."

    "Well..." Shirou hesitates visibly for a moment, and even gulps audibly before giving a nervous smile to her. "Well, I suppose I did carry you once before, so... something about fair play and all?"

"I'm not saying you should. If you want to take the staircase, that's your call. Just offering." Misaki answers, but she reaches out to pick up Shirou anyway, and if he accepts, she jumps to another rooftop, and another, until the rooftops get low enough she can safely get to the street level. "See you around?"

    Shirou does end up accepting! Uh, though... he pretty quickly discovers that getting carried around through the air is VERY UNSETTLING. He does manage to keep his composure until they reach the street, but... at that point MIsaki would notice that color has drained a bit from Shirou's face. "Y-yeah. See... see you around..."