Quest 175

[primrosella]

[Private//Hackable by Friends]

I don't like this feeling of foreboding that seems to have come over the City since yesterday. Events like that--the curses that aren't really curses at all, since no one is affected except the City itself--are rarely good things, no matter how pretty they are. And I don't deny that it was rather pretty, going out and watching those little bits of color come tumbling down like shooting stars, but...well. Perhaps it's just that I've been in the City too long, hm?

Or perhaps it's not at all, since it seems I'm not the only one that's been feeling this way. Cain certainly thinks so, too, and he's been here much longer than I have. Ahiru was anxious all day yesterday, even if she couldn't quite explain why. It's as though we all know something is coming, even if we can't say quite what it is, and we're all trying to prepare for it as best we can in the time that we have. But that's for the best, isn't it? Better that we're all prepared, and have these instincts to guide us when things like this happen, rather than remaining entirely oblivious to it all until it's too late.

It was something like this last year, wasn't it, when that hair monster and its mother arrived here? The tides kept shifting then, too, when she came out from over the water, and right before the monster began to terrorize the City, there was that earthquake and the chasm out in the forest, as well--and the day of absolute darkness, too. I was trapped outside that day, as I recall, and thinking I was back in the troll's cave, and I was absolutely scared to bits...

Is it happening again?

I'd thought, after that strange man arrived back in December and said he could send us all home, and the barriers began to come down...I'd thought that would be the end of it for a while. Will they hold this time, after we patched them all up with strings and paper and everything else we could think of? And if not, what will come through to haunt us this time, and how long will it stay?

March isn't supposed to be one of the bad months. August is a bad month, and October is, as well. December was a bad month, but it was all supposed to be over when the new year came. Is two months all the respite we get, and now things are going to start being horrible again?

I hope I'm jumping to conclusions. I don't want to be right about this, I want it to be all something harmless, like--like the sky will rain coins again, the way that Cain and Rue say it did that once, or it'll just make rainbows all through the sky for us to look at, or something as silly and harmless as that. But everyone is feeling as though there's something bad on its way, and those earthquakes...

It's never a good sign, when the earth quakes. Nothing good comes of it. There were earthquakes when the dragon came, and earthquakes before the hair monster, and there have been earthquakes now. And that much is more than enough evidence that something bad is coming, as far as I'm concerned. And Mojo knows it, too, I think. It's odd how animals can tell that sort of thing, when something awful is lurking on the horizon, and they all grow so agitated at it. And he can certainly tell that it is, if the way he was acting yesterday was any indication.

And yet today seems quiet. Perhaps it's too quiet out, like the calm before the storm. Like watching October's dark clouds creep over the horizon, all those months ago.

Perhaps it's my turn to be agitated today, the way that the animals were yesterday. I feel as though I want to get everything done that needs doing as fast as I can, and to stock up provisions in the Warehouse, and batten down the hatches and make sure we have everything we need to last for several days at a time, and to bask in the fresh air and the sun for a few hours, just in case I end up locked up in the Warehouse and can't get out to see them again anytime soon. I suppose it might be silly that I feel that way, but we've done this before, and as the saying goes, it's better safe than sorry.

Whatever it is, we'll manage it, won't we? We have to. Whatever it is, even if it's nothing at all...we'll manage.

...I suppose I ought to get to it, then. There's no time to lose, is there?

[/Private]

"And even the like precurse of fierce events,
As harbingers preceding still the fates
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen."

There's an old belief, and one popular in quite a few of Shakespeare's works, that upheavals in nature can serve as warning signs and bad omens of oncoming peril. And I suppose, in a sense, there's some truth to it, too. After all, oncoming peril rarely moves swiftly and silently; rather, it's often like a storm looming over the horizon, where one can see it coming before it ever arrives. And I can't help but wonder if this is one of those moments, when all the trouble going around the City yesterday wasn't a curse in and of itself, but rather a warning sign for worse things to come.

I have a feeling I'm not the only one that's been feeling that way, either.

It was like that last year when the hair monster came, wasn't it? First we had that day where the sun never came up and the City was plunged into darkness for the whole of the day, and then there was an earthquake that opened a chasm in the forest. And then while the monster was wreaking its havoc, his mother came out of the sea to look for him, and then there were two apparitions to deal with, instead of just the one. It wasn't an experience I'd ever be eager to repeat, what with the measures we all had to take to try to keep ourselves safe, and the monster stealing lemon cakes, and his mother appearing out of nowhere at the most inconvenient times to frighten the daylights out of us as she looked for him. And yet, in her own way, she turned out to be one of the nicer powers I've met in my time here, really. Fearsome as she was...I did believe her when she said she cared about us. I still do, in a way. I don't know why, and perhaps I never will...but still, I believe her.

Something hit the barrier last night, that much is clear. But at least it seems to have held; after it came tearing down a few months ago, and we all had to patch it up again with whatever we had lying around, I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be strong enough to withstand the--well, whatever it was. They looked like shooting stars, in a way, except in a whole rainbow of colors. And in and of itself, it was lovely. But in combination with the tides acting up and the earth quaking beneath us and nearly every animal in the City all in a fright? Lovely or not, I don't like the feel of it all.

Perhaps it's only nothing. And believe me, I want so very much for that to be true, and that we're all just being silly by getting concerned over all this. Still...this is the City, and many of us have seen events similar to this one before, and I'd much rather be ready for something that never comes than I would be unprepared for something that does. It's only prudent, after all.

Please be safe, everyone, won't you?