Curious Findings (17) : Maybe it’s got something to do with the weather, or the construction, or all the other general oddities that seem to occur in Destiny City, but for the first time in nearly fifty years, the historic tree in one of Downtown Destiny City’s parks has woken up. While the tree was known for being alive and growing despite a lengthy hibernation, this is the first year that it’s sprouted leaves–but that’s not all! The unique tree has now also started growing strange pods. Because of the trees legacy–and not at all because of the oddity–the area has been taped off, but that really hasn’t been enough to stop anyone curious enough to investigate. The tree itself is several feet wide and stands roughly fifty feet tall; it’s branches spread significantly and seem like they can hold a lot of weight–which is good, because the pods growing on it have a hard brown shell and can grow up to the size of a soccer ball. Sometimes, the larger ones seem to tremble and shake in place. Maybe it's an animal trying to nibble? Maybe it’s just the wind? Maybe it’s something else. The pods can be pulled from the tree or collected from the ground; the shells are incredibly difficult to crack open, and some of them leak a strange, acidic sap that is strong enough to cause skin agitation–and in some cases there are even reports that it’s burned through wood or fabric. Sometimes, the healthier looking pods that aren’t leaking anything even seem to shake on their own, which is a mystery in itself. Another mystery is why Almadel seems so keen to trade for them…
"Tama. Calling in that favor." And Tama wasn't going to like it. That pleased him, and Faustite smiled smug near the microphone on his tablet. "Need you to meet me on the corner of Twelfth and Ivy. Come as a cat."
Faustite was delighted already, and business hadn't even begun.
The boy that waited against the wall of a Dunkin' Donuts looked dressed for a different season. Unlike those who sported tank tops, shorts, and sandals, the black-haired kid wore a windbreaker, flocked leggings, and sneakers. He kept his arms wrapped about his body as if afraid all his heat would escape him, and more than a few passersby shot him strange looks or treated him as if he was diseased. For anyone dressed so had to have a fever, or Raynaud's syndrome, or something strange that shouldn't be allowed outside.
Despite his perpetual chilliness, Eion was terribly excited. He struggled to wipe the smile off his face, even when a stranger asked him if he had a fever. His mind was thus ever on his goal: to nick some of the fruit off that ancient-a** tree and try it for himself. If it was good, and he truly hoped it was, then he would gorge on it and take a few home for his later enjoyment. If not, he could pitch it into the grate when they both went home.
All he had to do was wait for his trusty sidecat that he fully intended to yeet into the tree.
meighei
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 1:37 pm
Favor time, already? Tama thought as he looked at his communicator. The boy knows how to call them in, that’s for sure.
The cat had hoped he would have forgotten, but he knew how unlikely that was from Faustite. Sooner or later, he’d be called in for the favor. And this time, it was sooner. Still, he was a bit surprised when the meeting spot wasn’t anywhere in Negaspace…
Tama didn’t come to Destiny City much anymore. There just wasn’t much up here for him. The streets felt like they were made for a different cat, one he stopped being a while ago.
His little paws took him down streets he remembered. It was a busy time and no one seemed to notice him except one kid with sticky fingers who tried to pet him. But he managed to slip on by without getting grabbed. Children were so rude!
It was easy to find Eion. Not only because he had told him the exact location, but also because the boy stuck out like a sore thumb.
Eion wasted no time in scooping Tama up, bodily autonomy immediately revoked. He carried the cat in his arms, much the same way he learned to do when he had the larger Tiberius to tote around. Wandering around with a cat was bound to give him some looks, but perhaps if he played shy enough, or standoffish enough, people would get the hint and give them some space.
Eion's mind was on the weird fruit, regardless. "Fill you in, then," he murmured to the puff in his grasp. "Tree downtown just bloomed. Grew leaves or whatever. Been dormant for something like fifty years — heard about it from Prehnite. Grows this fruit, now, that I've never seen before." He felt silent afterward, as if concentrating on how to navigate to the tree without the help of Waru's cell phone GPS.
It wouldn't take more than ten minutes. Eion walked fast, owing to his infinite energy, and a couple blocks went by quickly when he was small enough to dart around slower, ambling strangers with his feline cargo.
By the time they saw the tree, the crowds of people had begun to thin. To Eion's displeasure, the festival meant people were outside for longer, and in greater amounts than in the off seasons, so many were still loitering around and talking to their friends and having no ******** situational awareness so they all clogged up the closed streets like a blood clot in an artery. Sometimes Eion had to push bast them or use his back to gently bump into someone while trying to keep Tama from being squished into hot dog filler. But, eventually, they were able to make it to the caution tape.
"Want those fruit," he murmured to the cat. "Toss you up there, you knock a few down, we run if the cops see us. Clear?"
meighei
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 4:31 pm
Tama let an out a slight mew in protest as Eion scooped him up. At least, this time he wasn’t in a harness and the boy wasn’t on fire. He supposed, given prior circumstances, he really couldn’t complain.
He listened as he was filled in on the situation. That famous tree downtown — he knew the one as he had been there before with that someone from his former life — had bloomed. Fruits, too. It was odd, he’d admit. He knew the story that the tree had never bloomed for centuries. But he failed to see what that had to do with him.
Until he realized he was being used like a baseball at a carnival to knock down prizes.
“You’re not really going to throw me up there, are you?”
"Course I am," he said with a smile as he ducked under the caution tape. Eion spared only a cursory look back at the dwindling crowds, though he caught the eye of a do-gooder who stared at him, then started to approach the barrier. Eion was shift his attention to their goal and pick up his pace.
It was an old and gnarled thing underneath all those fresh leaves and fresher fruits. Enormous, twisted branches with their sprawling fingers fanned out over what must've been a hundred feet, dwarfing the size of the youth and his cat. Even if it would take no more than one of Faustite's burning attacks to dispose of the tree, it still felt far older, greater, and more timeless than anything he'd done. It was a curious, humbling feeling, and if they weren't essentially breaking the law by scalping some fruit off the tree, he would've liked to visit it just to visit it. Perhaps if he was still human and not a bottomless pit of hunger, he would have done just that.
At present, they didn't have time for such sentiments. Eion dipped low with his feline cargo. "Don't dawdle up there."
It was all the warning Tama got before Eion straightened up and used his inertia to underhandedly launch the cat at the tree's canopy.
meighei
Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 3:38 pm
“This is the most undignified assignment completely unbefitting for a Mau—-”
But before he could finish his protesting he was airborne and it was time for his feline instincts to take over. Righting yourself after being tossed wasn’t much different than righting yourself after being dropped, the destination was just reversed. Instead of making sure you were feet-first, it was more about getting a good grip with your claws.
Now that he was in the tree, he could get a good look at the fruits. They were definitely odd. Smelled odd, too. His pink nose sniffed the air around one and his whiskers practically curled.
He looked down at Eion expectingly. Which one did he want? He couldn’t exactly ask with out people noticing. He’d just go with the largest one he could carry.
Gripping one in his teeth, he began to climb back down the tree, a much less graceful affair than his landing. Perhaps if he had a tail it would have helped him balance. But instead he shimmied down butt first.
Eion watched with vested interest while Tama caught the branch and started hunting for fruit. The thought alone excited him — it was something new, something he'd never eaten before, and he was still human enough to taste it without it boiling on his tongue. He would be human enough to eat it as long as Tama didn't waste all that ******** time dawdling up there, and as long as Eion could stay ahead of any particularly motivated security guards.
"Hurry up," he hissed up to Tama while the cat looked for the ideal fruit. What the ******** was he doing up there, sniffing it? Did he want Eion to get caught and kicked out?
As he looked behind himself, he spotted one of the guards sauntering purposefully toward him, flashlight pointed ahead. Eion squinted at it and immediately ducked behind the tree, which prompted a frustrated yell from the cop. All the while, Eion heard scratching and clawing as bits of bark rained down from on high. Tama must've found a worthy specimen and was making his way back down the tree.
Eion was quick to make his way back around to the front of the tree, where he spotted the great white blob of Tama and immediately ripped him off the tree by the torso. He tucked the cat under an arm as he sprinted for the caution tape barrier, the cop proving fast enough to be gaining ground.
"Sorry, got my cat, leaving now!" He shouted over his shoulder. He ignored the response that the cop saw him throw the cat. Should've just left it at that.
Once he ducked under the caution tape and stumbled into a walk, Eion spoke to his furry cargo. "Best we head back to the office. Don't want anyone getting too curious."
meighei
Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2023 10:39 am
My cat?! When did I become that b*****d’s cat?!
Tama scoffed. But there wasn’t much to do then be man-handled off the tree and to duck and run. He’d have to wait to see what was so special about that fruit that it was worth the effort (and indignity).
Eion would likewise have to wait to see if the fruit was worth the shenanigans it took to claim it. He had to run for a pace, holding Tama like a furry football, until he got to a block of town that was run down enough that most people avoided it. It was here that he felt safe enough to duck into one of its abysmally narrow walkways between the dilapidated (and often vacant) structures.
He gave himself a minute to catch his breath from the run, sagging just far enough that his knees touched the greasy wall opposite him. Then, gathering his concentration, he dropped his glamour and vanished them both back to the annals of the Dark Kingdom.
