Meanwhile, in the Two Faced Forest....

[thequestgiver]

Characters: Any hero brave enough to walk into the utterly normal looking woods.
Open? Yep
Where: The Two Faced Forest (tm)
When: Whenever you'd like, I've got all day here.
What: Time to get hero-ing, oh heros.


The Two Faced Forest isn't far at all from the walls of the Kingdom's capital, something that vexes many of the locals. You see, there's a witch in those woods, a horrible creature who lures children to her gingerbread home and eats them!

...not that anyone's ever lost a child that way. They've all taught their children to be cunning and crafty, you see, so their children won't be caught and eaten so easily! It's just all the other children that they worry about! Especially now that the Cruel and Terrible Witch has a horrible Dark Mastermind at her disposal; a dark cloaked figure who commands terrible minions of unspeakable horrors! And what's worse, they gossip so loudly whenever a Hero is near so they're sure to overhear, this horrible figure was once a Hero whom the Witch ensnared and corrupted! Surely someone can do something about this terrible situation! A line delivered over and over with such a complete lack of subtlety that many a hero will find themselves being outright stared at with expressions varying from moon stuck smiles (the younger lads and lasses of the town) to expectant annoyance (the older grannies and gumps who want to see some proper hero action before they die already, so get on with it, would ya?)

The Forest (the capital letter is very important, you see) itself... is honestly very unremarkable. There's trees, there's rocks, there's birds, there's squirrels (you can even bless them, if you're of a hero class that's so inclined), and deep in the heart of the woods, there's a cottage that's made entirely of gingerbread, complete with piped icing shutters and decorations. Around this cottage is a gingerbread fence with the piped icing reading: "Private Property. No Solicitors."

... so maybe it's not entirely unremarkable.

Comments

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Doing anything stupid?" Tachibana guessed, tone a bit wry.

[chalicejoker]

"I never said that." Hajime shrugged. "Just making sure you weren't doing anything I might do in a similar situation."

So, something stupid.

[triggerhappytraitor]

A small, almost amused huff escaped. "So, something stupid," he interpreted, shifting how he was sitting to be more properly upright. "Sent Garren off to check on Sayoko. I'll.. have to find a way to explain the situation to her," he all but sighed, shoulders slumping.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime grimaced. "It's...awkward, yeah." Pretty awkward. So awkward. Incredibly awkward. A level of awkward that simply should not exist. "Ryo went to check and see if anyone else has shown up. He enjoys talking to new people." And the townspeople; their idiocy never seemed to bother the mantis much.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"I don't know if awkward is even the right word for it," Tachibana reflected, expression distant. With an almost distracted motion, he reached into his hammerspace, pulling out his deck, looking down at the jack of diamonds card. "You'd think sealing the bastard would have been enough. And yet..."

[chalicejoker]

"He's not...not like the guy you sealed." Hajime is just going to remain firm on that point. "And he doesn't want any trouble."

[triggerhappytraitor]

"I'm not talking about your damned cousin you goddamned thick headed moron," Tachibana sighed, utterly no anger in his voice. "Isaka isn't like you, or Shima-san, or the Tiger Undead. There was no goddamned humanity in that bastard, and yet, his existence...!"

His fingers tightened around his deck. "One more goddamned life he can ruin..."

[chalicejoker]

"You're automatically assuming the worst thing is going to happen." Hajime scowled. "I get that our lives kind of tend to skew that way, but still..."

[triggerhappytraitor]

"He has Isaka's memories!" Tachibana glared. "The hell don't you--"

He broke off, looking away with a curse. "You don't even know, do you?" he realized, shoving his deck back into his pocket. "You were barely there, when he pulled all that shit, you don't--" He ran a hand through his hair, cursing again. "Bad enough just remembering the shit I did in that bastard's power, but to remember being that bastard...!"

[chalicejoker]

"Know what, that he was into murder? That he tried to bomb the Jacaranda?" Hajime was definitely missing something here. He just had no idea what.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"That when I kicked you off the goddamned bridge, it wasn't because I didn't like your goddamn face!" Tachibana snapped, getting to his feet.

[chalicejoker]

Something belatedly clicked.

"Oh." Hajime looked away, because, well. That.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Force your way in through all those goddamned memories and you fucking forget them the second you've hauled my ass out of there," Tachibana muttered, starting to stalk away.

[chalicejoker]

"Don't tell me you've never been so happy to see someone you kind of stuck your head up your own ass in the process." It's sort of a clumsy way to handle that, but Hajime was trying.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana looked down, fidgeting with nothing for a moment. "That's something different..." he muttered uncomfortably.

There was an awkward pause before he continued. "...that life... it's stronger for you, isn't it? Because it was more recent."

[chalicejoker]

"...yeah," Hajime admitted. "The other memories are strong, don't get me wrong, but these are...they're powerful. More solid, I guess you could say. Not from a lifetime ago."

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana fidgeted a moment longer, twisting his ring around on his finger. "...Sometimes I forget. That you had that other life," he admitted, voice quiet. "And when I do remember, I can decide if I'm jealous or just infuriated that this bullshit went and ruined even more lives it had no right reaching."

[chalicejoker]

Hajime considered reminding Tachibana that there had been another Tachibana running around Locke, and he decided against it. No point in getting the other Rider riled up, which was a possibility. "That other life is probably the reason we're even getting along remotely well," Hajime pointed out. "I learned things. Social things." And so had Jack...but he'd learned enough social things not to say that right now. "Even if I'm still kind of crap at it."

[triggerhappytraitor]

"You got to live a human life from the start, rather than learn it half way through," Tachibana pointed out with a faint shrug. "But if that was all you needed to be good at it, I wouldn't be as bad as I am at it," he added with a small, rueful huff, shaking his head.

"...The past should stay in the past," he continued after a moment's pause. "But it never does."

[chalicejoker]

"Would be too easy if it did," Hajime said, shaking his own head. "Hard enough when you're not throwing reincarnation into the mix."

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Yeah," Tachibana nodded, letting out a long breath as he ran a hand through his hair, mussing it slightly. He paused, as if just realizing what he'd done and pulled his hand away to look at it. "Trying to distance myself from just things like Takuya's life..." he sighed deeply, shaking his head. "I can understand it a little, how that kind of shit feels. Which is why I'm pissed that Isaka's echoes are still trying to wreck things. Not because I think your poor bastard of a cousin is going to turn into him. But because of those goddamned memories..."

"...and if he keeps wearing those stupid sunglasses I'm going to wind up punching them off his face on reflex," he admitted with a faint, rueful huff. "How the hell did he wind up wearing that kind of crap anyway?" He paused, glancing back over at Hajime. "...and why haven't you changed out of that armor?"

[chalicejoker]

"We've all got memories we don't like and don't really want to deal with." Hajime shook his head. "I guess at least here, we won't end up in a dungeon for it."

He scowled at that question about his clothes. "Because I haven't been able to find a good place to change or normal clothes." It's a normal sort of irritation (relatively speaking) that he was glad for the potential change of topic.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"...you can't just... break the transformation?" Tachibana asked, blinking. "When I tried using that outfit changing skill Kinji had taught me, mine went from those stupid robes to this," he gestured at his far more normal looking outfit.

[chalicejoker]

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as Hajime looked down at his belt buckle. "I..."

Dammit. He swiped the Two of Hearts down the belt buckle--which looked much the same in all that--and behold, he was no longer wearing armor. Just knightly clothing in black with a few overdone gold and red accents in a heart motif.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana blinked once before a grin cracked across his face. "Didn't even think to try it?" he chuckled.