Destiny Village ~ Parfait Way

[Cresselia92]

Petram nodded. “Yup! I’m a familiar! Name’s Petram and I’m my Daddy’s son!” he chirped with enthusiasm, throwing his paws toward the sky and scattering some crumbs around. It didn’t seem like he had noticed, however. “Nice to meet you, Seyka!”

He lowered his paws and tilted his head. “Huh, I heard you talking about trees. What trees are you looking for? Maybe I can help!”

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"Oh, that?" The Skarmory smiled. "I was just wondering about that Tree of Life everyone's been talking about. I just don't get why one tree is just more special than others. And- I guess beyond that, why not have all trees be like it."

"Take good care of your dad though," Seyka added, "You only get one shot at that. I should know- I killed mine. Ahah."

"Anyway," Seyka continued, "There was something about someone inside the tree, it's all very confusing. Then again, it's not like I have to do much. Everyone else figures it out anyway."

 

[Cresselia92]

Petram nodded furiously. “Oh, I’m gonna take care of Daddy, yep! He died once! Or, well, not actually died-died, but he might as well have been dead for a few days!”

He shrugged. “It’s kinda hard to explain! Something about having his soul dragged to hell, I think? Even though that’s usually done to bad guys and Daddy’s a sweetheart, so… I dunno! This world is weird!

“And someone inside the Tree of Life? Could that be… a big treehouse, maybe? Otherwise, how can someone live inside a tree?” He rubbed his chin. “But, well, if it’s a Tree of Life, then maybe people can simply have a life inside? Maybe this is why it’s called Tree of Life, yeah?”

 

[RJR Basimilus]

“Maybe it is a tree house. I know I’d like to live in a tree, and I suppose I have one way or another.”

Seyka frowned. “They said something about sucking the energy out of it. I guess it only has so much life in it, maybe if we left it alone, it would be a tree of death. That would be interesting.”

The Skarmory shrugged. “I don’t really know about the dragged you hell part. I guess it doesn’t matter if they’re okay. But if he went there, I’d it fair to call it hell? I’m guessing that’s a bad place.”

 

[Cresselia92]

“I mean, if you suck life from a tree it will die, no? So it would become a Tree of Death, anyway. Kinda spooky, but I bet it would be a nice place for ghosts. Even they deserve a good place!”

Petram wolfed down the remaining cupcake, then patted his paws.

“And yeah, I’ve heard it’s a bad but not too bad? It used to be much worse, apparently. So it’s… between bad and good? Mediocre? Average? Bood? Gad?” He shrugged. “I can’t really say. Never been there, after all.”

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"If it's a tree of life, then it's all life, for better or worse," Seyka said idly. "It's hard to tell if a tree is dead sometimes though. A tree can lose all its leaves but still be alive. The important part is the roots. Maybe it's the tree of life because it's roots extend everywhere. Or you know, the rest of the planet is just a big root system. But that would mean the tree is getting its nutrients from all of us. Unfortunate."

"But, would this mean the tree excludes ghosts?" The Skarmory frowned. "Ghosts should have their own tree then."

 

[Cresselia92]

“Nutrients… from all of us. Huh.” Petram scratched his head, pondering hard about that. “I… guess it makes sense, yeah. So we’re like soil? Are we living earth golems, then? But if we are golems, who created us? And who created the creator of us? And who created the creator of the creator of the creator of us? And—”

In that moment, the spectral Vulpix fell on his back, dazed. That was too much thinking for a brain that didn’t even exist.

“Oof! Questions, questions, questions! So many questions without answers! Why do questions exist?”

Then, Petram jumped back to his feet and shook his head. “But… yeah. I’d say that ghosts deserve their tree, too. Should we go plant a dead tree for them, maybe?”

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"If you know how to do that, I'd be happy to help," Seyka said. "It's a good change of pace too, creating life instead of ending it- even if it's a ghost tree..."

The Skarmory frowned. "Oh that's going to be confusing. But I wouldn't worry about the creator thing. If you try to connect everything to the idea of a beginning, it's just a headache. After all, like they say, the conscious mind conceptualizes infinity. Forever is only as bad as you make it."

 

[Cresselia92]

“Well! For a ghost tree I suppose we would need a ghost seed, no? So, maybe all we need it’s to find some ghost shopkeeper who could sell ghost stuff!” Petram tapped his forehead with his paw. “That’s foolproof logic, don’t you agree?

“And forever? Huh. Forever is such a funny word. Beginning and ending are irrelevant, with only continuity as the constant factor.” Petram blinked, wondering where that thought came from. “Though, it’s also true that nothing is eternal, so… maybe even infinity is not eternal?”

 

[RJR Basimilus]

Seyka nodded slowly. "I wish most things were that simple. But what makes a ghost seed a ghost seed? Can't we just kill a seed ourselves? What do ghosts have that we don't?" The Skarmory stuck his tongue out. "Thinking about it, ghost retail sounds like a scam."

"Ghosts probably know more about forever than we do too. I don't think I've heard of a time when ghosts just stopped being ghosts. But we've had beginnings right? Don't know if I'll see an ending, but that's on me. Saying infinity is not eternal is asking for an argument though. To me at least infinity and eternity are more or less the same, but eternity is when you're bored."

 

[Cresselia92]

Petram shrugged. "Well, ghosts surely know more about ghost business. But... yeah, I agree, ghost stuff seems shady, especially if they can make things disappear. Though, how do you kill a seed? You just... dehydrate it?"

The spectral Vulpix rubbed his chin. "And, huh... infinity is eternal, but eternity is not infinite? How does that even work?" He contemplated that question for a few seconds, before tilting his head in confusion. "Heeeh... I guess this is something that only ghosts can say for sure, huh? All the more reason to look for some ghost." He glanced at Seyka. "What do you think? Should we go to the marketplace and see what they have to offer? Maybe somebody has dead seeds, and if they are alive seeds we can... make them less alive?"

 

[RJR Basimilus]

Seyka smiled. "By your leave then. As it turns out, one of the few things I can do well is making things less alive."

The Skarmory straightened up. "In all cases, I defer to you. You're the expert after all."

 

[Cresselia92]

“…Am I…?” Petram blinked, before puffing up his chest. “Well! If you say that, it must be true! Fear not, as the Expert Petram will lead us to victory and success!”

And without another word, the spectral Vulpix and the Skarmory traveled toward the marketplace. They had seeds to find and ghosts to bust!

 

[Adamhuarts]

<><><^<>

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian took deep breaths as she strolled the streets of parfait way. In her bouquets was a wrapped up box adorned with black and white ribbons. She inwardly hoped that receipt of the gift would like it. The gift also doubled as an apology...

Having walked past the small frontyard garden, Cynthian stood in front of the door and prepared to knock. Her flower exuded a whiff of lemon, but she fought it down and knocked a few times on the door.

"Leg, it's me. Are you home?" Cynthian asked, before taking another deep breath.

 

[Namohysip]

"Khhh..."

Like usual, Leg was inside their home, looking quite cozy in her little pile of dolls. Two pinpricks for eyes stared back at Cynthian, eyes twinkling. She seemed happy to see Cynthian again.

 

[Adamhuarts]

After not having been to the house since she was still a Roselia, everything looked smaller now. Still, Cynthian found it pleasant to be back in that dark doll filled room once again.

"Hey Leg. Sorry for not visiting sooner, but I'm here now," Cynthian said, keeping her voice gentle as she walked into the room, allowing Leg to close it behind her.

"How have you been?" Cynthian asked, her flowers giving off the faint apple fragrance of concern.

 

[Namohysip]

More whispering breaths in reply meant that Leg was doing alright. It was a routine to answer, even if it had been quite a while since Cynthian had asked. Cynthian being gone for so long had been a worry for her...

The shadows and darkness of the room churned, and then she reappeared next to the Roserade and skittered around where Cynthian stood, studying the roses and the new form.

"...Big..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian chuckled, her heart easing up upon seeing that Leg appeared to be okay.

"Yeah, I had a bit of a growth spurt when I evolved." She turned and swayed her cape with a smile. "A lot still feels new to me now, but I'm getting the hang of it."

Cynthian set the gift wrapped box aside and sat down to face Leg more properly.

"I'm so glad I get to see you again," Cynthian said before pulling Leg into a gentle hug.

 

[Namohysip]

Leg hissed back and wrapped a few tendrils gingerly around Cynthian, careful to avoid any poisonous segments of her body. Then, she pulled away and dived into the pile of dolls, rummaging around before returning with another craft--this one looked like Ivy.