I called out

[bearshermark]

WHO: Eleven and OPEN to anyone around the Tree, chained to the Tree, or otherwise in search of one tree-hugger.
WHEN: May 31-June 10th-ish
WHERE: The Tree
WHAT: Tree simping/vibing
WARNINGS: tba?


It's simple curiosity that leads Eleven out to the tree when he hears of it. He doesn't expect more than a worn, old pine tree sticky with sap. But the moment he sees it, with wide-stretching branches held tidily up from its trunk and twining beneath the weight of a trim canopy, his breath catches.

Caught up in staring for several heartbeats, he becomes aware of a cold aura that the tree itself seems responsible for. Moreover, he senses the beginning stirs of life, entwined with another feeling that takes him too long to place: death.

Cold forgotten, his heart tumbles through his chest, tripping up his feet in his haste to reach the trunk of the tree. His marked hand touches first, palm thrust forward, fingers embedding into deep grooves in the rough bark. The whole of his awareness and focus narrows to the tree beneath his hand, seeking a connection that fails to immediately manifest.


A.

He wouldn't give up.

Over the next several days, Eleven spent considerably more time at the tree than the farmhouse. There was some connection to be made there, he was sure- it was just a matter of forging it. An effort well-worth his time if any of his suspicions or hopes came to fruition.

He spent hours circling the tree, prodding around its roots to extract visible shards of embedded glass with gloved hands, and occasionally stopped to examine an oddly shaped fallen leaf with focused intent. Sat between its roots and leaned back against the trunk to simply rest and attempt to feel for something else through the cold wafting from the bark.

Eleven spoke to it when he thought he was alone- voice soft with apologies, reassurance, or quiet concerns. Then near the end of the day, bent himself in prayer for lengthy spans of minutes, still and silent, willing his mind open to the brush of another consciousness until the sun began to set.


B.

Of course he's heard of the trials of Anurr and how he'd had to chain himself to this very tree for three days and three nights (or something?) and while he isn't surprised that Anurr's most fervent supporters have elected to follow in his footsteps, it does surprise him to discover slightly more familiar faces in the mornings he comes to visit.

Eleven crouches near them, tentatively reaching out to try and wake them if they don't appear to be conscious and anxiously hovering when/if they are.

"Hey, are you all right? Do you need help?"


C.

His persistence pays off.

Pressed fully into the trunk, Eleven knows when he's found it- a subtle feeling, but one that's reaching for the energy he's poured into the tree. The back of his hand shines with a soft glow just before he loses time and external awareness between one breath and the next.

He exists in a quiet, floating awareness, attached to a sense of aged perception. Understanding slowly permeates his mind quite without words, in the same manner his own questions reach out. It isn't much, but it's enough and he's grateful up until something within the tree pulls at him and leaves him cold.

Eleven starts back to reality with a sharp gasp and shivering breathlessness, cold and fatigue plaguing him with quaking arms and unsteady footsteps as he moves to peel himself away.



[ooc: action or prose is fine!]

Comments

[unswervingcompanion]

Hearing the Luminary speak as if there had been that small glimmer of hope made the knight angry. That anger wouldn't be directed at his charge of course, but for whoever or whatever power that there was here. Eleven had a rough start to his life and he'd done as has been expected of him. He brought the hope and light back to their world so the boy deserved nothing but happiness and rest.

Except he was here. And somehow fate had aligned their destinies once again so that Hendrik could pick back up the role of protector.

"This is not Erdrea. So I would not think anything resembling the World Tree would be here." He wished his words were ones of hope, but that wasn't how he saw this place.

[bearshermark]

Eleven forced himself to stand on his own power.

"It's not Erdrea," he allowed, "But a power like- like Yggdrasil's must exist somewhere." Surely, though he was beginning to have doubts. If only he knew more of this world's history. "Maybe- maybe it just needs help."

[unswervingcompanion]

"And yet you have said it does not have the same cycle." Hendrik replied carefully, looking at the tree itself. "Would every world have such a tree that exists to regulate life on it? Is it that you hope to awaken a power in it such as ours has back in our world?"

He really isn't sure how to help, but he sure wants to try.

[bearshermark]

Eleven thought about that a moment, then took a halting step away to head back toward the farmhouse where surely there would be a fire in the hearth.

"Mmn. Maybe, if I could." If he had his power, he wondered if it might be possible.

"This tree doesn't- isn't a cycle, but there must be s-something somewhere that does- or should."

[unswervingcompanion]

He wasn't convinced at all. "So you believe that regardless of time or place, there has to be a life cycle regulated by the trees of the world?" Was that Luminary knowledge? If so Hendrik of course would bow to it.

But to the last he nodded. "If that is indeed the case, I must wonder if there are large repositories of knowledge such as libraries here, like the large one located in Sniflheim."

[bearshermark]

"N-not in the Citadel," Eleven said, steps halting and slow as he worked to manage the cold shuddering through his limbs. "I checked. Can't- can't read the language anyway."

It would be a long walk back to the farmhouse. "But I'm sure there must be a force that does. Might not be a tree." Though given his only experience with such things, it was difficult to imagine what else it could be.

[unswervingcompanion]

The tall knight nodded. "Then that would indeed present a problem." And idly he wondered if somewhere somehow Jasper would be adapt enough to read the language here.

Somehow he doubted it.

Concerned blue eyes looked over at the Luminary as they walked. He kept pace easily enough of course but he wondered if the boy could be right about a source regulating the place. Still, he lept to his task of keeping the other safe as they walked on.

"Death and chaos seem to be the order of the day in this place."

[bearshermark]

"Yes," he shuddered with the acknowledgement. Weeks of living in a place frozen over with undeath left him feeling vaguely ill at times. Warm tea or a visit to the garden helped.

"I really don't like it here. I hope we can move swiftly on soon."

[unswervingcompanion]

His eyes kept shifting around, staying alert to any danger that would threaten his charge because woe to anyone who dared. But he heard the twigs and things crunch beneath his boots paying it little heed as they continued on.

The knight gave the tiniest nod. "The sooner the better."