RUMORS: THISTLE

[crittersheep]

WELCOME TO SILVER STAR, YOUR SOURCE OF THE BEST OF THE PASTURE NEWS! From Newspapers, magazines, radios and more, we at Silver Star are determined to bring you the best as it happens live. ... Is what we normally say but you work here today! So it's not like you need the big run down. You heard the boss though, we need you to get to WORK.

Your editor is... ... ...

Is that a pastel green lilywog in a noir-style fedora?

Uh.

YOUR EDITOR IS DETECTIVE WADDLES.
 

Comments

SUBMISSION

[crittersheep]

Entries are due at 4:30 PM EST, unless an extension is required.

Re: SUBMISSION

[reportinastorm]

Did you know, if you call out someone's name 20 times in a row, it can awaken them no matter what kind of state they've fallen into? One time there was a man whose memories were carved out of him, leaving him a mindless shell. His power was out of control, and it grew into something that threatened to destroy the world.

But someone kept calling out to him. They called his name over and over even as darkness fell over everything. And eventually, he turned to face them. He heard their voice, wherever he was, and he wrestled control back, of his mind and his power. He opened his eyes, and stepped forward to defend the world again.

DISCUSSION

[crittersheep]

Re: DISCUSSION

[pictureimperfect]

[................................oh no]

Re: DISCUSSION

[leonheartedly]

Yata? What's wrong?

Re: DISCUSSION

[papartner]

Um? What is it?

Re: DISCUSSION

[crittersheep]

The pastel purple lilywog slides him a water bottle with his tail.

Re: DISCUSSION

[reportinastorm]

...What's the matter?

Re: DISCUSSION

[leonheartedly]

I'm not creative enough for this . . .

Re: DISCUSSION

[reportinastorm]

[now THIS is more her style than rock-paper-scissors brawl]

...It's not really news if we're just making the story up, though?

Re: DISCUSSION

[crittersheep]

"Not with that attitude."

Re: DISCUSSION

[leonheartedly]

So we're a tabloid.

Re: DISCUSSION

[papartner]

Nothing saying that we can't have some truth to it, right? Every good story has a little...

Re: DISCUSSION

[papartner]

Why is our editor a detective? And why am I questioning this, at this point?

Re: DISCUSSION

[crittersheep]

"Well, it's the title I wanted."

Re: DISCUSSION

[leonheartedly]

[his lips twitch]

Why are you questioning it at this point?

PHASE 2

[crittersheep]

THE BROADCAST

[crittersheep]

The radio sparks to life, and a man speaks. It's a long one, so buckle in... because he sounds absolutely delighted.

"They say there's a corpse under one of the cherry blossom trees at the hot springs. The blossoms of that tree are a deeper pink, almost the red of blood...but that color only comes out at night when the moonlight shines on those blooming petals. How'd that person die, and when...? No one remembers, not even the person buried there. What the corpse does remember is what it felt like when it wasn't buried. It could breathe easy, it could see with its own eyes, it could touch whatever it wanted to...

You can't do that sort of thing when you're buried in the ground with roots growing through you and dirt in your mouth.

Still, those wishes came up through the soil. What a tree feeds on is half what it becomes, you know? With strong, fertile soil you get strong, fertile trees. When it's barren you get somethin' less hardy and more fragile. When you grow on top of a corpse with bitter regrets and wishes, that's what you get, too: a tree that wants, and wants, and wants, endlessly hungry...but even a tree can't see anything. It can't feel the things a human could, once. There's sunlight and moonlight on branches and a breeze through the leaves, but that just can't compare to living your life out as a human...can it?

There's a corpse under one of the cherry blossom trees. They say if you go to that tree and put one of the petals in your mouth and make a wish, that wish will come true. It has to be something you really want, something you would do anything for - but as soon as that petal is on your tongue and you make a wish, it'll come true for you, they say. And they aren't wrong, but something else happens too...

Wishes don't come free, do they? There's always a price to pay. They don't tell you that part at the start of a story ever - it always comes after you make the wish and have to pay up. So every petal you put in your mouth and make a wish with...you're giving something away to the corpse that tree shelters. ♪ Maybe a blossom will grow out of your eye, and your eye will be down there in the corpse, looking up at the dark damp dirt. Maybe your fingers will become roots, grasping for nutrients with sap flowing through those "veins". Maybe your hair will be leaves and twigs, growing to the sun. Every wish you make gives that corpse one piece of yourself, giving back a piece of the tree...and once enough wishes have been made, it'll claw itself up out of the ground, wanting to breathe that air again, see the open sky. ♪

Made up of all the pieces of those that wished upon the corpse's tree, it'll stand there. Sometimes, it seems like there's more than one, because there's so many wishes, so many parts...your hand that was once flesh, you see it there - even though yours is now bark and blossom. It's made up of the things you regretted and wished for. And maybe that's always been the case.

Time and again, humans will wish for things they don't have. When you see that corpse you realize what died to make it: dreams, hopes, desires, things you never could get but desperately wanted. This is the corpse of you and those who came before you. If you take those pieces of yourself back your wishes stop being true...but if you don't, you become part of the story. You're the corpse under the tree, you're the thing that dreams of something more and wants more, forever after."

Re: THE BROADCAST

[pictureimperfect]

[slaps a hand over his mouth at 'endlessly hungry' and as the broadcast goes on he... he's just going to back himself into this corner.]

Re: THE BROADCAST

[leonheartedly]

[Do Not Like what the fuck, why does it have to involve corpses]

Re: THE BROADCAST

[reportinastorm]

[She also doesn't like this, especially having just been thinking about their story. Why do people have to make plants creepy!!]

Re: THE BROADCAST

[papartner]

[ why why why ]

AND: SCENE

[crittersheep]

The room goes dark, and it's almost as if you're in a void for a moment. The air is hot and wet, but perhaps not uncomfortably so. And soon enough, moonlight shines, illuminating everything. A hot spring spreads before you, and overhanging the water? A cherry blossom tree as red as blood.

Some of you may already have a petal in your hand. And those that don't may feel the desire to reach for one.

At least one of you will want to make a wish, more than anything. And the tree is waiting.

Re: AND: SCENE

[pictureimperfect]

[immediately shuffles forward from his corner to reach for the blossom I wish I was a normal living human]

Re: AND: SCENE

[leonheartedly]

[ahahahaha

Petal in hand already, he's puttin' it in his mouth - "I want her to have the life she was supposed to have".]