Quote:
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.
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.
Monoceros really should not have been out as this version of himself, but he feared what would happen to himself (again) if anyone managed to see any of what he planned to write down for his wish on the wishing tree. He couldn't lose another self again, not after it happened twice. That was enough times for one lifetime, thank you very much! He didn't want to get caught writing down powered up names while just being Robin Archer.
Especially this one.
I wish Ashanite would come home, he wrote. He set the pencil down and stared at the little slip of paper and seeds for a long while. His skin prickled and he sighed as he picked up one of the star charms the city gave out this time of year.
He still hated the way he'd left.
In the dark of the night, Monoceros had stolen away, leaving Ashanite with a piss-poor note that explained he needed to leave, but he still loved him. God. He hated himself for it. He just... didn't know what else to do. He'd felt so helpless. The person he loved so much, maybe the most in this world, gloried in the pain and suffering. Desired to cause others the pain and suffering that Monoceros had gone through. Nobody deserved that. He wish he'd had the courage to try and talk to Ashanite first, but he'd been so afraid of being... controlled again, or locked up, or even outright killed for his treacherous thoughts that he'd just fled.
Ashanite had trusted him. Of course Ashanite wouldn't have done anything horrible like that.
And still, Monoceros ran away without a whisper. Just a silly note that probably felt like a ******** slap in the face.
He hadn't wanted to hurt Ashanite, but he had. Hurt him badly, unequivocally. His heart wept for whatever Ashanite must have been feeling, when he woke to find that note in place of Monoceros. Empty home, empty heart.
He just wanted a happy life, but it seemed he would never get that. Not as long as the Negaverse was around, anyway. Not when Ashanite was still trapped in there, likely sad and angry and living a tumultuous existence that only strived to make others suffer for some nebulous being of Chaos that wanted to suck up the entire world in an endless, yawning hunger, uncontrollable and reckless.
How could he make Ashanite see sense? Was there even anything he could do? What kind of words could he say that would penetrate the thick fog of Chaos that clouded Ashanite's mind that that Whistle guy or whatever his name was hadn't already tried? Monoceros wasn't sure. Hell, he wasn't sure of anything except that he wanted to keep on living. Keep on trying. What else was there? If he didn't try, he'd always fail. He wouldn't cut himself off at the starting line, no matter how many times he was pushed back from it.
This, at least, while silly, was something easy enough to try. He kissed the paper gently as he dug a small hole and planted the paper and seeds, gently covering the hole with dirt—almost reverently.
"Please," he whispered. "Bring him back to me, little tree."
