The apology twisted his stomach with worse guilt. What right had he to expect, or even hope for, apology from someone who couldn't even remember what they were apologizing for-? He started to mumble something, head turning away and ear-tufts flattening back, but Rift's question left him wincing instead. "A goose?" came the blurted response, and he shook himself and blinked. "I mean-... A goose, but she did--bad things. Killed and hurt a lot of Gembounds and... made kids to do it too. Children. Made a-" What do I even call it? A murder army? "...It was bad," he settled on, shaking his head again, as if to push the thought away.

But then, Rift remembered Mercy. "White!" Oliver echoed back, perking up with bright eyes. "He was! I mean--is! White. Daisy petals--that's pretty," he mused. "You can probably find him in Orion, still, if you want to talk to him. Maybe he can help you-? To remember, or something? He's smart," Oliver added. Not like Oliver, who often had trouble sorting out all his own thoughts. Mercy always seemed to gently stride straight to the core of a problem, rather than meandering or fighting his way the way everyone else did. "I can show you the way if you need to go there, it's through the tunnel that way-" and a nod of his snout indicated the direction.

"You can borrow it now-? We can both go, if you want. I'd rather stay with the compass though, so if you want to go later you can find me here, in Orion--sometimes Canis. It's also bad. With fungus, I mean. The forest is-..." and here he trailed off, glancing about. "It's going to be a lot of work. A lot of us have been trying to fix it for awhile but it's slow going. I don't think there's much point in rushing it." He paused, glancing back to Rift. "If that's what you mean by the forest needing you?"

@Rift

A…goose? He could imagine what a goose looked like in his head. A bird - a large one, yes, but still a bird, with no sharp talons or curved beak. How had she been able to murder and manipulate when she had no natural defenses to back it up? Magic, maybe, but still, Rift wanted to laugh at the idea.

He didn’t, though, because something twisting in his gut told him that it was serious. It had truly happened and he had suffered the consequences. He shivered, dreading the idea of a ruthless dictator sending children to murder on her behalf. ”That’s…awful. And I let her go?” There had to be some reason. He wouldn’t just let a murderer loose back into the caves to cause more and more suffering.

But BlackBerry was in the past - right? - and there was the prospect of finding something of himself that he longed to remember. He looked at the image of Sebastian once more before Oliver took the compass back. There was Mercy, as well - he noted to himself to go and talk to him as well. Oddly enough, he glanced up in the direction of Orion before Oliver pointed it out. It seemed he knew where that was…but hadn’t he never been there before?

He nodded. ”Yes, I’d like to help here first.” He glanced at the edge of the clearing, where white rot was threatening to creep over and into his garden - yes, his garden. This place was his home. ”At least until I know the garden will be safe from that stuff for a little while. I don’t intend to cleanse the whole thing, of course, but just…put up some defenses, you know? It doesn’t look like anybody ever has…” And that was another mystery to add to the pile. Who had been caring for this place? There’d been no signs of life, nor any signs of fungal defenses, yet here was the garden, pristine and flourishing.

@Oliver

He remained solemnly silent to that first question; only a faint nod. He couldn't answer why. Maybe if he'd had an explanation he could've understood, he'd have been less betrayed and hurt by the decision. But so far as he knew, it'd been unilateral, and nobody else had been given any say. So he had nothing he could add, only that grim quiet.

As to the rest? Oliver glanced around, trying to take in the forest through Rift's eyes, to imagine it how the cougar must see it. To remember green, and waken up to this sickly, web-strewn filth-? Or does he even remember? Hm. "I don't know if anybody has cleaned it, here," he answered, unsure. "But it definitely feels like even where we do, it just... grows back. We've been trying," he added, softer, and he wasn't sure if it was guilt he felt at having made so little difference, or if he wanted to reassure Rift that his efforts wouldn't be made alone.

"I can help a little, anyway, if you want. But when you're ready to look for Sebastian come and find me, too."

This offer was gentle. So far as Oliver was concerned, Sebastian was probably also asleep in his chrysalis somewhere--as Rift so obviously had been. 'Horrific murder and magical resurrection' wasn't exactly something he was familiar with, on any front.

@Rift

Rift hummed thoughtfully as he looked out at the sea of fungus, how it was already creeping towards the edge of the garden. There had to be a way to get rid of it, or at least hold its advance from here at least. He was already very fond and very protective of the garden here and he swore in that moment to keep the cursed white from even touching the roots of his plants.

Thinking up a number of different solutions to it already, Rift looked back at Oliver, eyes misty from thought. ”Hm…maybe there’s just a trick to it. Something that hasn’t been tried. There must be a way.” It was spoken with so much innocent confidence, almost like a child proclaiming that something couldn’t Be, because that wouldn’t be fair. Still, it was a refreshing positivity, not unlike the Rift that lived near 70 cycles previous. Before that optimism had been beaten down by tragedy and calamity and trauma.

This Rift bore none of it. He was the Rift that should have been, had Eridanus never been sickened or burned, had Astraea never appeared or the Kingdom threatened. Perhaps less cautious, but the optimism was there once again. His heart was eager, his knowledge humble. And it was with pure delight and innocent love that he looked at his garden, his friends!, and back at Oliver. To him, a stranger now a friend that he could trust wholeheartedly. ”Thanks. I’ll find you - I’m going to try setting up defenses here at the very least. But we’ll get rid of all this someday. I’ll make sure of it!”

He stood taller, his vow sealed by the appearance of little sprouts and budding wildflowers springing up across his fur. He was excited and ready and so full of life and energy, already turning and springing towards the edge of the garden to investigate and plan further. No worries holding him down - he was simply alive!

@Oliver

Oliver's return regard was far more wary.

He'd only briefly known a hopeful Rift. That hopefulness had turned into a naivety, of sorts, that had wound up forming what Oliver had come to think of as a grave injustice. Admittedly, he had no idea exactly what had happened between the cat and the goose. But it did mean that Rift's happy-go-lucky, or maybe oblivious, cheer did not reassure him.

It left him quiet, pensive, staring after the departing surge of green (familiar, at least; almost reassuring, if he hadn't still borne that kernel of unusual fury)... hoping that history did not repeat.

If Rift had lost his memories, then he'd lost the lessons that he'd learned, too. Oliver didn't know what might come of that, but... exhaustingly, he knew that he'd be unable to refuse the cougar. If Rift needed help? Oliver would be there.

Not necessarily because he wanted to; but because that now-shared streak of violet and gold compelled him to.

For once, he wasn't sure how he felt about that help.

exit Oliver

Unaware of Oliver's apprehension, Rift was already making to start his project with a youthful vigor. Twisting plants from just outside the garden to create barriers of leaves and roots alike, determined and optimistic that his ideas would work. He turned back just for a moment to see Oliver watching him, but why would he worry about what Oliver was thinking? What need did he have to wonder if Oliver was doubting him?

He had not experienced doubt, after all. He didn't remember it.

He turned back and purred at the magic flowing through his body and into the ground. It still felt weaker then it should be, but it was so familiar and so right. Nothing else in the world seemed to matter.

*exit