The Wishing Tree (1): A Destiny City Star Festival Tradition to be held every year; In Town Square, there is a beautiful tree with spreading branches. It is tall, but the lowest branches are easily reached. The city has decorated the tree with small, starlike ornaments and glistening lights. Thick leaves and beautiful purple flowers dangle from the branches, along with a myriad of different colored papers with handwritten wishes. Next to the tree is a stack of blank paper with twine attached, and a handwritten sign that explains:
Write your wish on a sheet of paper and tie it to the tree. Take one wish off the tree and do your best to grant it. When you have granted the wish, bury the paper in the park.
The papers are biodegradable and filled with seeds. There are no rules for wishing, but you are encouraged to wish for something vague enough that it can be interpreted in many ways so that it can be granted; you do not write your name on it, but it is encouraged to write something that doesn’t wish for self gain, but rather something that can make the world a better place. Some wishes dangling from the tree already include things like “I wish there wasn’t so much litter in the park,” “I wish someone would clean the graffiti off the old historic buildings,” and “I wish there were more volunteers at the shelter.”
If you choose to use the Wishing Tree, what do you wish for? If your wish is private, you may write it on the paper and choose a spot in the park and bury it yourself instead of hanging it on the tree.
If he wanted to follow Axinite's advice, he needed to learn how to be around people again. He needed to do people things. Act like a person. Say people things. The whole charade was overwhelming to a fiery General who spent the last two years in the Rift, but he could do nothing for that. He need only succeed.
And then make friends. Somehow.
For now, he wanted to acclimate to human places without the context of energy draining. He never had much love for being idle since Schörl got ahold of him, so the idea of going to Destiny City to do nothing left him restless. He asked Yuuri to go; the state of their damaged relationship was enough of a distraction to keep him from focusing on energy draining. That's what he told himself, but neither one of them looked each other in the eyes when they departed Negaspace.
The city was dead at its earliest hours, and part of Faustite's willful venture was spent in quiet travel. Rooftops were easiest for their privacy, and Faustite defaulted to them whenever signs of life appeared, but as the minutes went on, he started to spend more time on the sidewalks. He thought it strange to see the stretching buildings as people saw them — towering things full of more people, full of shadow — but he kept such thoughts to himself. Their time together was a meander, and Faustite's alertness steadily climbed while they were navigating all the concrete and rebar.
A half hour had passed before all that concrete gave way, and they met with nature again. At this, the line of the General's shoulders tightened and he spared more glances at his surroundings, but his pace slowed, and finally he drew to a stop in front of an enormous, ornamented tree.
Its leaves were purple. He'd never seen that before.
"Kama," he said at last, as he squinted up at the fettered branches. His tendrils of smoke touched the lowest boughs. "What's all this s**t?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:03 pm
Kamacite kept a respectable distance. Not so much that he was obviously trying to stay away from Faustite, but enough that there was room for him to get out of the way in case Faustite’s anger flared up.
He didn’t want to avoid his friend, but he was only just starting to feel better from having his ribs probably broken.
When addressed, Kamacite felt himself swallow back the anxiety that had been building up since the start of their casual walk through the city. He kept his arms tucked in the sleeves of his robes, hair trailing behind him in shadowy rivers.
“I think it’s part of the Star Festival,” he said quietly, as if afraid to disturb the silence. “They started it a couple years ago… I… didn’t go the last two years.”
He’d been too depressed to even leave the warehouse. Any noise meant he was checking to see if someone returned, and then when it was nothing, he would go back to curling up under the blankets.
Living with Misha meant he could no longer do that, although when he fell into any kind of mood, Misha was there to offer him hot chocolate or a freshly laundered blanket. Whatever he did to deserve that kindness, he was still trying to figure out.
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Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:41 pm
"Bullshit to wish for anything," he muttered to himself. Faustite reached for one of the lowest hanging papers and plucked it from its branch, then thumbed it apart. I wish Destiny City was a happier city, it read. Rankling at it, Faustite wadded up the delicate paper and tossed it away to the grass. The tree was full of such things, he saw — the residents took this festival seriously enough to participate in it — and he wondered if that wish was an oddball.
He picked another, then another. Each he opened with a pair of daggered nails, and each held a similar wish. I wish for my mom to get better, read one. I wish the children at the hospital could have a great day, said another. I wish for a cancer cure, said a third. I wish nobody had to work, said a fourth. Selfless, trite things, the lot of them. Easier to stuff them away in his gut, he figured.
Pity that anyone wished for anything. Faustite shut the grate on his front, dusted his hands of any evidence.
He turned to Kamacite, who trailed behind, whose wan form disappeared into luxuriant lengths of hair and cloth. "What would you wish for?" He asked, nodding up toward the tree.
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 9:20 am
Kamacite watched Faustite sadly, but he didn’t try to stop him from taking other people’s wishes and tossing them into the fire. He knew Faustite was still angry, and he had every right to be. He was missing a part of himself that he’d been used to for years. And Kamacite still felt the weight of blame heavy on his shoulders.
“There’s nothing I’d want to wish for,” Kamacite said quietly. Nothing that was realistic, at least. But he supposed the purpose of wishing was for unrealistic things to come true, right?
If that was the case, Kamacite would have to agree that it was bullshit to wish for anything. Wishing wasn’t going to bring Lauri back from whatever fate befell him. Wishing hadn’t brought Faustite back either. He did that, himself.
He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, knowing he was only tempting Fasutite’s ire with vague responses. It was easier to speak when he wasn’t having accusations thrown in his face, and could actually breathe.
“I would wish to be more useful to the Negaverse,” he shrugged. “To not be a disappointment,” he added, as Fasutite had helpfully pointed out to him the night he must have decided Kamacite was as pathetic as he felt.
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 10:03 am
They could agree on something, then — no reason to want what they couldn't get for themselves. Youma adhered to that rule steadfastly, thus no youma laid claim to any territory or energy scrap or starseed without proving they had the strength, the merits, to wrench it from anyone else. He'd seen youma that far outclassed him: youma that could have anything. Here, people left out wishes so others could solve their problems for them. He wasn't sure if he agreed that only the strong should have what they wish for; he only knew that he found youma more sensible, and that this ridiculous festival idea preyed on the goodwill and resources of others.
And they were letting themselves be used. At least, with youma, it wasn't a choice.
"Quit pitying yourself," Faustite responded tiredly. Feeling the need for a rest, he leaned against the tree's trunk and sat down. Wan embers fell from him, mostly fizzled out before they touched the dewy grass. "Just be better."
Like it was so easy.
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 5:54 pm
Kamacite didn’t respond to Faustite’s words of wisdom. It had been years now, but they’d already had a conversation like this before. Once upon a time, Kamacite might have actually believed that he was as much of a disappointment as Faustite told him he was. But the only reason he mentioned it then was in the hopes that maybe Faustite would recant.
That didn’t seem to be the case.
He kept his arms tucked comfortably in the sleeves of his robes as he watched his friend settle against the tree trunk. Kamacite knew that his decision to call the operation to an end likely saved more than just the lives of agents, but helped retain the purpose of the mission. He still had no idea why Faustite’s personal youma decided to follow him instead of its master. Or why Faustite hadn’t trained it to not attack high level threats.
And the more he thought about it, the more he wished he could have spoken his mind the other night.
It seemed pointless now. Just digging daggers deeper where they didn’t belong.
“What would you wish for?”
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Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:16 am
"That I was less of an a*****e." His dimmed gaze canted toward the shriveling bits of ash from the earlier papers. Seemed impossible to change natures, especially with a youma fused into his body. But if he had a different nature, he could've been the person he wanted to be, back when he was human. If he had a different nature, he wouldn't have backhanded his friend, or threatened his starseed.
"Here." Folded out of subspace, he gripped in one hand a piece of metal. Tossed it toward Kamacite, where the ribbon affixed to it sailed like an orange sunset. It would look good on Kamacite, he thought. Matched his colors, too.
"Don't have to keep babysitting me," he added as he slouched against the tree. "I'll go back eventually."
Maybe he'd write that wish on his own, hang it up in the tree. But Yuuri would recognize his daggered handwriting, might call him on his hypocrisy. Or he wished his friend did, because the silence he would inevitably get was somehow worse.
guine
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:56 pm
Kamacite stared in surprise when he was tossed a medal. He had his arms tucked into his sleeves, and couldn’t pull them out in time to catch the object being thrown at him. But he managed to duck out of the way--
Only to realize it was one of the medals he’d seen Cymophane and others get who were at the operation where Faustite blamed him for getting his personal youma killed.
Carefully, Kamacite bent down to pick the medal off the ground and brushed it off, although he was still reflecting on Faustite’s apparent wish.
“Then just don’t be an a*****e,” he countered with the smallest bite to the words, but his voice was so soft that most people would probably miss it.
“I’m not babysitting you,” he frowned, holding the medal between his hands. “You’re the one pushing me away.” He paused, still frowning when he said, “Thank you. I’m glad I was remembered.” Because it would probably be easier to pretend like he didn’t exist.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 3:54 am
Faustite perked; he thought he heard something spicy coming from his friend. But that didn't make any sense to him, so he settled back, and assumed he misheard one of Kamacite's characteristic mumbles.
"I'm not." Which was to say, that wasn't the goal. But, Faustite couldn't explain what he didn't understand, and he didn't understand why he needed to keep taking chances. Why he needed to dare this world to take him out of it. He hadn't reasoned out why he didn't want to die, but he didn't want to be alive, either. He always thought that being a youma would be better for him, but after Squiddy —
Faustite chewed his lower lip. Stood with the help of the tree.
"And I didn't forget you." He looked down at himself, picked bark out of his split cape and the back of his pants. "I was just… pissed off at you." Now he had to live with feeling like he ruined what friendship they had. It would sit unsaid between them. Easier to apologize for simple mistakes made in the Negaverse than something like that, and Faustite doubted that he could do it.
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:12 pm
“You were pissed off at me,” Kamacite repeated, as though he was trying to understand exactly what Faustite was saying. “So you withheld something that had been given to everyone else involved. Making it seem as though my efforts meant nothing. Maybe they didn’t to you. You weren’t there to signal the end of the mission. You took off after that Super Senshi, leaving your youma with me, a Senshi.”
It was ridiculous, really. Now that Kamacite had enough time to process what happened. He hadn’t been able to formulate how things worked out the way they had, but assumed that Faustite was right and that it was his fault for his youma dying.
“What about the two years you were gone…? Were you pissed off at me then, too? Because I didn’t forget you.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2021 4:16 am
There wasn't much he could say to that, Faustite knew, so he stewed in the burn of his own shame and embarrassment. Small wonder he didn't have any subordinates. Small wonder people like Chambersite, or really, half the damn meeting, didn't want to follow him. When Kamacite put his conduct to words, Faustite stared at the dew-laden grass, at the long-dead ashes, and kept silent.
He knew he was a fool and a ********. That he should've been youmafied. Schörl would've seen to that by now, wherever she was.
"Didn't send my youma with you," he admitted at last. "I think…" He breathed a steady sigh, shoulders dropping as the breath left his body. "it followed you because it intended to protect something important to me. Make up for my shortcomings." Obviously there were too many for the squid to handle.
"Don't want to talk about the Rift." He pushed off from the tree, circled around it, started on through the field and away from his friend. If he gave any ground on that topic, even answered Kamacite's question with a definitive no, there would be more questions to follow.
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Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2021 2:30 pm
Kamacite was silent when Faustite answered him, and he watched as he breathed and as he sort of explained why his youma followed him, and then moved away from him.
He wanted to follow. He wanted to check on Faustite, to make sure he was okay. That maybe his questions were too much, because Kamacite hadn’t intended to make things worse for Faustite, or to bring up bad memories.
He took a few steps forward to follow, and then stopped himself. Faustite had already admitted that maybe Squiddy followed him because it wanted to protect something important to him. He was important to Faustite? He doubted Faustite would have said it otherwise.
Kamacite chewed at his lip for a while longer, and then took a step backwards.
“Let me know if you want to talk then. Have a good night, Faustite,” he said softly, and then turned to leave.
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Fin a million years later? QQ At least they're sort of talking now?
