World Tree MUSH

    LineBase 82; A medical and bio-tech research facility hovering at the L5 point of a neutron star sits on the egress point of both a major Leyline route and, conveniently, has a nearby Vine for ease of access for outer-universe sorts.
    Sorts like the sleek purple gunship that comes through the Vine and, eventually, after presenting the proper identifications and clearances, docks with the station and offloads its passengers.
    Samus Aran is dressed far more casually than her usual suit of Chozo power armor. The Hunter is clad in a dark bomber jacket worn over a sweater and jeans combination, boots making clipped and efficient strides through the halls to the location given to her by the welcome station clerk.
    Soon enough the Hunter finds herself staring through a glass window into an observation room; the girl on the other side unaware of her presence for the moment as she plinks at hologram screen. And Samus... Finds herself hesitating at the door.
    "Mm..."

Bryllu, in her infinite wisdom, has decided to go for a disarming look today. So, she's three feet tall, humanoid except for the cat ears and tail, and covered in obviously fake fur. Like some kind of obviously mechanical catgirl doll. "What are we waiting for?" She asks Samus when she notices the bounty hunter hesitate.

    Matsu, meanwhile, is dressed just as formally as she ever is. At least the ride through space is more gentle this time. Her attendant for the moment, a late-teens girl named Teru, also doesn't seem to mind; in fact, she's positively enamored of the stars, going through a repeated cycle of amazement and realizing she's supposed to be attending to the Phoenix Maiden.

    Strictly speaking, there's no reason for Matsu to be here. No money to be made, no official obligations. But the girl's predicament had struck a very, very deep chord with the young healer. She'd done her best to offer healing, but very little of the difficulty the girl had could be solved by healing fire. Maybe some of the marks left behind by various electrodes or needles, but that was about it. So she's been wanting to check in.

    Teru is at least good about keeping pace once they're on the station, though she does keep looking this way and that. When they reach the observation area, however, Matsu holds up a hand in a simple, wordless 'halt' gesture, and the attendant bows her head deferentially. But when Samus stops, Matsu moves as if to go on past her...

    ...only to hesitate herself, right before hitting the door control.

    "I... it's just..." She's not sure she can put into words a proper answer for Bryllu.

    The head doctor of the facility meets the group at the observation room. He is a willowy Elf with silver hair, and sharp grey eyes. He steps up to the group, and lightly clears his throat. "Captain Aran. Captain Zibhu. Lady Shuzenji, Miss Kyras. I am Ulthran Willowsong, Consultant and Commander of this station. You came to visit Miss Aesland, yes? You may enter at any time, she was informed she would be receiving guests today."

    He smiles, before leaning over to press the intercom to the room. "Hope, your guests have arrived."

    Why is Samus hesitating? Matsu seems to be in much the same inability to put it to words- at least for a moment longer.
    "That's... Complex." The Hunter replies to the digital human softly.
    "She's lost practically everything." Home, family, much of her childhood. Samus leaves these unsaid for a moment longer, as she purses her lips. "It just strikes a little too close to home for some of us." She murmurs before the head doctor arrives to greet and announce them.
    "Mn, thank you Doctor." She says, turning back to the door. She hits the control and it opens smoothly, allowing the party to make their way in.
    Naturally, Hope glances up from the holoscreen in front of her and puts on a smile for her guests.
    "Ah... Hello." The girl says in a soft tone. "You all must be who I have to thank for waking me up."

Bryllu nods to Samus. "I lost everything, too." She mutters, "But I gained a future. Let's try to give this girl one, okay?" She offers before addressing the doctor with a nod. "How she's doing?" After getting an answer, she heads in. "Hello." She greets, approaching the girl. "I'm Bryllu." She doesn't go with her full name this time, "Nice to meet you, Hope."

    For once, Matsu is staring openly; there are many strange and different races on the Tree, to the point where the reaction quickly fades to 'oh, that's interesting.' But elves? Elves are something that exists on Matsu's world, but are extremely rare to see in her country. So the doctor is getting a lingering look of surprise and interest - before the little healer is reminded where she is and why they're there. "-ah." Ahem.

    But now the door is open, and there's no reason not to go in. So, after a second or two, Matsu takes a hesitant step in. "...yeah. That was... I'm Matsu. Matsu Shuzenji." She seems to flounder for anything whatsoever to discuss, before coming up with a somewhat lame, "...how's your body?"

    "Thankfully quite well. The muscle atrophy has largely been reversed thanks to our facilities here." replies the Doctor to Bryllu, following the others inside. "Hope has also been quite a help to us in turn, a veritable prodigy when it comes to technology. She built that holopad herself, using parts we provided of course." He smiles at Hope, then bows politely to Matsu at the lingering look he's given.

    Indeed, it's as the doctor say, Hope is looking much better than she did when she was found; less pale and much less gaunt, she even blushes faintly when her skill technology is praised.
    "Eheh... It's not much. I just remember a lot of the things... Dad taught me."
    But on to introductions, and Samus, taking a bit of a backseat to things sets her hand encouragingly on Matsu's shoulder.
    Beginning with Bryllu, Hope is staring just a bit, interested and intrigued.
    "It's nice to meet you, Bryllu-- what exactly are you?"
    The cat ears and fuzzy tail make it hard to tell, clearly.
    To Matsu, next. "Mm! I'm doing a lot better than I was, now. I think it won't be too much longer before the doctors here clear me with a clean bill of health."
    "That's... That's good." Samus says somewhat distantly from behind Matsu. That's where she's sticking, for now.

"I'm human." Bryllu answers the question, "My ancestors abandoned organic bodies a very very very very long time ago." Beat. "Longer than you're thinking." Beat, "Still longer." She looks like she could continue this pattern for a while, "I made this body for myself, do you like it?" She twirls around, "You know, I have a spaceship full of cool tech. Do you think you'd like to take a look when you're better?" She neglects to mention it's broken and she doesn't know how to fix it.

    Matsu ends up looking kind of embarrassed when the doctor acknowledges her staring - and then Samus rests a hand on her shoulder and she jolts in quiet surprise. But she doesn't push it off, at least.

    However, being face-to-face with Hope leaves her somewhat lost for how to proceed. Her response would have been roughly 'that's good', but then Samus beats her to it, leaving her even more lost! Fidget. Fidget fidget.

    Well, Bryllu has something to occupy her attention, maybe. That tech stuff probably means more to Hope than anything Matsu has to offer. But at the very least, she can ask. "What are you going to do when they clear you? Do you have any plans?"

    "We have a few more tests to run before we can properly clear you, Miss Aesland. That issue of the latent magical potential I mentioned, for one thing." remarks the Doctor. He then pulls up a holotablet of his own, and taps away at it for a few moments, until he's addressed directly at least.

    It's a beat longer before Samus retracts her hand from Matsu's shoulder.
    Bryllu being human though gets a bit of a quiet giggle.
    "Sorry! I had a hard time telling because of the ears and tail, I guess."
    See?
    But then she purses her lips. "I'm not sure about that." Admitted a little candidly in regards to plans, folding her hands together on her lap. "If I can prove I'm good enough, maybe I can start going to school again here on scholarship or..."
    "Oh- maybe I could look at your ship, yes." Asided to Bryllu, that IS super interesting after all, but she sheepishly rubs a hand at the back of her neck as the Doctor says there are still some tests to run.
    "... Magic?" Samus asks, brow clearly arching up a bit somewhere between skeptic and curious.
    "She's from a planet from my universe, there's never been any magic there as far as I know, how is that even...?"
    She's looking at the doctor for this one.

"From what I've seen and heard from you, Samus Aran, your universe treats the laws of physics as a suggestion, too." Bryllu points out drily, her usual phrasing when it comes to supernatural abilities, faster than light travel, and similar. "I can't let you touch the main power generator on my ship, matter-energy conversion engines can be a little dangerous, but most everything else should be harmless to tinker with." She smiles cheerfully.

    Magic?

    Matsu blinks, shooting confused glances between the doctor and Samus. That's definitely a curious turn of events; she wasn't aware it was possible. She doesn't have anything to add right at the moment, so she remains quiet.

    "That is what we're testing for. We know her origin world had no magic, but the preliminary scans indicate a latent magical potential. It may be due to Tree integration, some kind of bleedover effect, or your universe may have some latent potential, but nothing to power it." surmises the Doctor, looking up at Samus with a quirked brow. "Who is to say, after all. I am merely stating the facts as presented."

    He looks up to a camera in the corner, it swivels down to 'look' back. "Dolce, what were the odds we calculated of an out-verser displaying magical potential?"

    A synthetic male voice replies, "Two Quadrillion, four hundred and twelve trillion, ninehundred and eighty three billion, seven hundred and eight million, nine hundred and four thousand, three hundred and sixty to one, Commander."

    The Doctor then looks back. "There you have it."

    "My universe is perfectly ordinary." Says the power armor wearing mercenary to the advanced human.
    This matter of fact statement seems to get another giggle from Hope, however. Those sure are some odds the Doctor's AI companion gave though.
    "Oh, well if you don't mind me having a look around..." She says to Bryllu, before the girl's focus shifts to Matsu.
    "Um. Where exactly are you from?" She latches onto the obvious anachronism in the room curiously. Oh yeah she's staring.
    

"So you should expect at least a couple from each world, then, Dolce?" Bryllu asks, clearly thinking that she's being conservative with her estimate. She smiles to Hope, "I'm sure you can't do anything too bad even if you tinker a little." She promises, well aware that most things are already quite broken. "She's from some kind of stratocratic hierarchical state, from what I've seen."

    When the synthetic voice offers up the odds, Matsu suddenly turns, looking around in surprise. After a second or two of trying to find the source, she instead switches over to trying to comprehend what it said... at which point she fails utterly, and turns to give Samus a slightly helpless look. She doesn't say 'what did all those numbers mean', but it's written all over her face.

    But Hope speaks to her, rather unexpectedly; the young shrine maiden turns, red eyes blinking in mild surprise. "Me? Ah... a country called Arashi-no-Moto. We... we don't have technology. Not like this, anyway. We're a land of magic." There's another fidget, this time under the girl's scrutiny. "W-what is it," she mumbles, not sure how to respond.

    The Doctor resumes tapping away at his holopad, leaving the guests to talk to the young woman recovered from the rescue pod. Dolce remains silent, a stoic support AI for this station.

    Sorry Matsu, Samus cannot help you here, you are on your own.
    "Maybe I can see what magic is like in your country then." Hope ventures... Hopefully.
    "I'd really like to see it- and the ship, and... A lot really. Everything is really different and new now that I'm not locked in stasis and the simulation dad created while I was inside it." She says, before stifling a yawn into her hand.
    "That's probably our cue." Samus murmurs, slowly turning for the door.

"Sleep well, Hope." Bryllu sends a packet of info to Dolce to enable future contact easily. She takes a few steps back, and once out the door glances towards the others. "Hope, huh. I guess that's what my people have been missing."

    "Ah, I can show you some myself, some time," Matsu replies. She's a little surprised to be asked about magic, but quite ready to offer. "Next time I visit. I'm a healer, and a shrine maiden. I can do purification, banishment of evil spirits, and create wards and barriers." A pause, and then, "...You'll understand if I don't want to demonstrate banishing evil spirits. But I can show you the others."

    "Take care, all of you. Do feel free to return any time. Myself, or one of my staff will be more than happy to give a tour of the facilities. I will inform you once Miss Aesland has been released." remarks the Doctor. "You should sleep, Miss Aesland... I will have Dolce wake you when we have the next battery of tests prepared. That will take a few hours at least."