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The Wishing Tree (2) : Your wish is only said to come true if you grant the wish of someone else; when you write your wish, you must also take one off of the tree and do your best to grant it. What wish do you pull off, and how do you intend to ‘grant’ it? Do you work with someone else to grant this wish, or do you work alone? You may get approval from another player to use the wish their character hung up, but no names are attached so your character may not ever know who wrote it!
After Cinta bid Safiya farewell for a job well done with the scavenger hunt, mysterious building aside… that has long since faded, Cinta meandered to the Town Square and towards the Wishing Tree. She couldn’t help but marvel at the swaying multi-colored wishes that hung on the tree… they’re as myriad as the wishes that contained them. They’re much like a cluster of stars that would dot a clear sky at night. Moreover, the tree had a multitude of purple flowers dotting all over with some petals streaming along the path. ‘How romantic!’ Cinta couldn’t help but think to herself. ‘No wonder folks are willing to share their wishes to the world…’
The faint breeze continued its trajectory until a few wishes helplessly fell from a nearby branch. Cinta didn’t fail to notice, gasping.
“Oh! That’s no good!” Cinta uttered to herself and no one else in particular as she briskly walked over to pick up one of the fallen wishes.
What she found was a neatly written wish on colored paper reminiscent of origami paper, at least in her eyes. Naturally, she couldn’t help but examine the strip of paper first. They reminded her of how ephemeral this sort of gesture was, and how ephemeral these wishes are. ‘Perhaps that’s why wishes are given year after year,’ she mused. ‘It’s not dissimilar to a person folding a thousand stars all in order to make a wish…’
With that thought running through her mind, Cinta realized that she could, well, examine more than just the paper itself. What she found, besides the neat handwriting, was a wish that she herself could fulfill, at least, that’s an action she heard that could be done for wishes that were hung on the tree. The wish simply stated, ‘I wish the stray cats nearby would keep on being fed.’
“Ah! That’s a wish I can grant… I do it daily, even!” Cinta puffed her chest with pride. She was proud of feeding cats with enough frequency that these cats would acknowledge her existence. They’re generally aloof, and may have befriended other folks, but Cinta gave herself a round of applause for having gained their trust. Speaking of other folks… the fact that this wish was written meant that there ARE others like her. Her heart brimmed with excitement and naturally, her mind wandered to the very question that may or may not be answered, ‘Will I get to befriend this person who feeds cats like me?’
Armed with the wish in one hand, a stick of churu-branded cat snack with the other, Cinta paid a visit to spots where cats tend to linger. Fortunately, she was alone, so Cinta could beckon cats with her own meows without feeling embarrassed.
After a few meows, a calico cat meowed in return as it appeared before her. It was a stray that Cinta befriended fairly early on in her stray cat feeding career. Cinta felt that this cat had multiple folks feeding it day after day, since the cat was fairly rotund and seemingly comfortable with its state of being.
“Ah, there you are, Waffle!” exclaimed Cinta. “Come here, I have a treat for you today…”
Cinta cooed and meowed the cat to languidly come to her side and eat the snack she has readied.
“Wow, hungry, aren’t you? Well, hopefully this is enough,” she giggled. Before long, the entire snack was consumed and the cat decided that it was done with her. ‘I guess Waffle’s busy today,’ Cinta remarked to herself.
Afterward, Cinta figured she’d go and finish her wish-granting duty. She strolled to the park and buried the wish she had fulfilled. She made a small smile as her heart warmed at the thought of this wish becoming a sapling of a sort someday.
