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!
They were dating.
At least, Nataniel thought they were dating. It was difficult to say with perfect certainty due to the somewhat flexible nature of “two friends going out and doing activities together.” Having only “dated” anyone twice in as many years, Nataniel was far from an expert. But it didn’t seem like a stretch.
When they had last gone out, it had been casual. They met at a coffee shop, they walked around downtown, they came upon the Star festival wishing tree.
Nataniel didn’t care much for the premise of the tree: if you wanted something done, go do it. There was no reason to expect someone else would have any more drive or ability than you to do your task for you. So Nat considered the whole affair more of a prompt to just do something good that you wouldn’t normally do. It just happened there were virtually no things Nat wanted to do that would benefit the “community.”
So why had he found himself here, again?
Alone, this time. And in the evening. Not so late that no one else was around, but not so early that the crowds were exhausting. He’d considered coming as Rakovanite. When powered, he could flick in and out of places easily and quickly.
But that felt much too conspicuous. More to auras than to eyes, but auras had the potential to cause more of a scene. At least if someone spotted him as Nataniel, they would think nothing of a normal boy out in the park by the trees, following the typical customs of the festival and its bizarre wishing rituals. Nataniel swallowed as he walked, pocketing his keys with the procured red charm of the day. His steps felt stiff, forced. He knew what he wanted, but something nagged that it was inappropriate.
He and Basyl had made wishes together, and buried them in the park. Secret and private, even from each other. Nataniel thought it was intended to be playful, and he’d accepted it at the time because Basyl smiled about it.
But it didn’t feel so playful, afterwards. Even as soon as they’d left the park, Nataniel had wondered what the point of the exercise was? Why keep such unnecessary secrets from each other as knowing a vaguely worded community wish? Knowing would surely hurt neither of them. And it would really be a glimpse into what sorts of things they expected and hoped for from others. It could only benefit their blossoming relationship.
As he crouched down to where they’d buried and left their papers, it still felt suspiciously like a breach of trust.
But he wanted to know, and he doubted Basyl would be so foolish as to write anything too personal. It would be easier to give the other man what he wanted if Rakovanite knew what it was. This was just saving the time and effort of uncovering it more intimately. It was fine.
He uncovered the papers, both tied with string and set his own off to the side.
Basyl had dotted the edge of his paper with a little blue five-pointed flower. When Nataniel unraveled it, it was to see- completely illegible doctor’s script. He huffed softly and squinted at the mangled cursive. It didn’t matter that no one could read it because no one was supposed to read it, but Nataniel persisted.
’I wish we could all get along.’
The message was signed with another small flower, not unlike the metal-molded one on the side of his tiara…
The breath Nataniel released was quiet, resigned. It would please him to please Basyl. He wanted the other man to trust him and enjoy his company, but… this was not something he could oblige in the way Basyl- Narcissus- wanted him to. It was a happy wish, but something so futile to try and accomplish.
