thehometree | [Amber: 003]

[Someone has enough energy to address the amber today! Yoshitsugu has recovered from his illness for the most part, just needing a little more rest to get his energy levels back up; right now he is in fact still in bed, lacking his usual hat but with facecloth still firmly in place. He wants to offer some advice to the tree, though considering it's him giving it? It's not necessarily offered in a straightforward way.]

The magic of this world is interesting, isn't it? And dangerous. Something to remember if you wish to take part in any future quests which lead you outside of the mist; you never know when the flow will deliver you to a malevolent being who might decide to reach deep into your heart and soul, tear at old wounds and drag your weaknesses to the surface so it might attack them in a cruel yet extremely precise way, leaving you awash in nightmares and haunted by the most painful and unsettling of memories.

[It's certainly said calmly; Yoshitsugu's expression doesn't betray much either, remaining serene except, for those really, really looking closing, when he says 'painful.' The flinch is slight, but real.]

Or you might simply have a quiet and pleasant journey.

[Moving on to better things and a more pleasant memory, Yoshitsugu relaxed against the back of his bed a little more; his smile isn't visible, of course, but the pleasure he feels when recalling this memory shows in his eyes.]

The most interesting magic was that which brought chocolate cake to us. Those of you who come from a time and place where you can eat it whenever you like are very fortunate.

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Uh huh. [She looks highly unimpressed, at least at his first statement. She isn't sure what to make of his wording for the second, 'a part of me'? Glancing at him askew, she carries on, baldly stepping around that comment until she knows better.] Well, I'm getting mixed signals here. Some people think we got stuck here because this tree for whatever reason desperately needs our help.

Other people, like you, think it's yanking us around because something or someone here's got a hard on for making our lives harder...

But I guess it doesn't matter when you can't do shit about it.

I didn't say I thought that, though it is a possibility. Whatever entity tested myself and my companions during our 'quest' was certainly willing to put us through the most nightmarish scenarios possible, tailored to our individual weaknesses and fears, before we could claim a piece of the crystal sword.

[He leans his head back and taps his facecloth a few times before continuing.]

It will happen again; some of us will be tested in this kind of dark manner. Or we shall face battle against invading creatures as has happened before. But the food that appears and the more light-hearted moments suggest a caring presence exists around here, or one that at the very least needs us to survive and be well.

You're right that it doesn't matter much, however. Whatever happens, happens.

So either there's two... presences or else there's one who's got a fucking sense of humour.

You know what, this is why I never bought in to all this 'god is good' bullshit: people talk him up so much and then expect you to just believe it's some mystical plan when shit hits the fan in a big fucking way. Now you and me and every other dumbfuck is stuck inside this rotten old tree and we have to settle our beef with the same kind of shit but worse...

Fuck 'whatever happens, happens', I want some fucking answers and I want to know who is getting flung over a barrel! It's not Chime, and it doesn't seem like it's that Gongshow up in the crystal caverns there, but someone's going to fucking pay for this eventually and they'd better start making their peace if I have anything to say about it!

Do what you like. Anger and the desire for vengeance are as valid as any other feelings, but you might want to consider the fact that attempting to unleash it against the power here would currently be very stupid. In terms of your own survival, if nothing else.

[He shrugs, apparently not bothered by the display.]

I was brought back from the dead in order to be pulled here; it wouldn't surprise me if I could be dead again in an instant at its whim. Death might even have been the fate of some of those who have disappeared from the tree. Like it or not, our lives are intimately tied to the power here and we currently have little to no way of forcing answers from it.

[Jo snaps her head to one side, shooting her glare off somewhere not visible in the amber. She carefully touches her nose, which is only now slowly beginning to heal from her unfortunate encounter with the physical misty barrier surrounding the tree. She'd learned the hard way that trying to go head on against the powers that be here was an unfortunate mistake, but it had only served to make her more angry, not less.]

[His admission, however, leaves her gobsmacked. She stares at his tiny amber-hued face (dead?) and then her frown dissipates. She looks more concerned than anything.]

What happened to you?

War, and the consequences of being on the side of a battle that lost.

[Yoshitsugu's eyes slide shut.]

[He won't talk about the exact way he died. Yoshitsugu feels no regret over the choice to commit seppuku, considering the circumstances and limited options left to someone who refuses to submit to the victor, but he knows how much that moment impacted Takatora and has no wish to speak to anyone else about it, least that get back to his partner and cause him more harm.]

I chose to fight the flow and support an army I knew would fail, for the sake of a hopeless friend.

So what's that mean now? Was it worth it?

[Despite herself, she's confused and very curious. Of all the strange and unusual things she's heard of since she arrived here, Yoshitsugu's is the strangest of circumstances. It casts a lot of other things in doubt... no wonder he talks like a damned riddlesome spirit.]

Yes.

[He got to fight for an impossible dream right up until the end, and Yoshitsugu is actually grateful for that. It's not like he ever had a natural death of old age to look forward to; if not war, sickness would have eventually claimed his life.]

[In truth, he's not the kind of man who regrets much anyway. Thirty-plus years of life and Yoshitsugu only has one, very odd regret.]

It was worth it. As for what it means? Nothing much, beyond the fact that I died there but am 'alive' here.

Shit. [She can't help but stare at him and his strange, half-covered face.] Shit, that's fucked up.

So you got... whatever happened on that quest, or whatever it was, they made you work for it, huh?

I'll tell you right now, while you were gone life was hell in this tree; that beam of light was this pissy blue colour that felt like a full-body cat hitting a baby experience, but you probably knew that. What you and everyone else brought back changed that. I guess... well, I'm grateful for that. [This is embarrassing to admit, but at least it is very true. Before the lifestream could be changed to a happier medium, Jo'd found the tree completely untenable for reasons she couldn't voice. Now, yellow, it feels like the saving grace of being here. The psychic parasites rooted in her mind have been quelled for a while, but all she knows of that is that she can function like a real human again.]

[Amber: 003]

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