primrosella | Quest 212

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I'm all right. I'm all right. I'm scared and this is a wretched curse and he's a monster, that doctor, he's nothing but a monster but--but I'm all right. I am. I'm safe in the Warehouse and the spells are all up and he can't get me so long as I'm in here. He's not welcome in here, and the Warehouse won't let him in. It threw him out before. It'll throw him out again.

So I'm all right. I've done worse before. Dealing with Lolotte was worse than this. I was alone in Tamir and I managed all right, even when I had to face her myself. I've held Pandora's Box in my hands, and that was worse than this. He's a monster, and he's a madman, but I'm safer here than I was then. I have friends here. I have defenses here. And he's no different than--than an ogre or a troll. He's just a monster.

And a monster can't love, so if it's cursed to do just that--

Because that must be it. He must be cursed, just like everyone else has been cursed, because he wouldn't have listened to me if he weren't. If it were just a matter of scaring me, taunting Cain--then why would he listen? It wasn't like that the last time, when we thought Cain's father might've found me. He talked to me, but he didn't--listen. Then, it was as though I were just a puppet in the midst of a greater game, and my strings were being pulled every which way. But this...

~~A boy with white hair who couldn't get warm, and sat in an alley covered in blood--~~

But what in the world am I going to do with all that--all those things he left? Goodness knows I wouldn't eat that candy if it were the last thing on earth, and I'm certainly not about to put up those flowers anywhere. And that--that jar of--I don't even know what--

It's the sort of thing I'd expect to find in a hag's cave or an evil wizard's laboratory, not on a doorstep. Not on my doorstep! And if he got it here--then where did he get it from, and--

Honestly, why would you ever?!

Ugh. As if I needed any more reason to hate August. Peter's still--there's still no word of him, and I haven't gotten anywhere at puzzling out how to call on Adrastus's mother for help, and Penny's upset and Cain's in an awful mood and I'm in an awful mood, and why shouldn't I be, when there's a madman delivering parts of people to my doorstep? Ugh, this is always such a terrible month. At least now I know about that...oh, what was it? Tanabata? That story about the Sky Princess and the husband she loved, which explains why there are always troubles with love around this time of year. But it certainly doesn't make things any easier to put up with in the meantime.

I've always managed so far. I can manage now. I just have to get things figured out.

Now, if only all this utter silliness would just be over...

[/Private]

One of the first lessons I ever learned in this City was about the importance of understanding. In a place like this, with so many people from so many different places, it's easy to find ourselves caught in the middle of misunderstandings simply because we see things in different ways, and because we've all had different experiences that have shaped the way we approach things now. A word from one place might be the same word in another, but the two words might have completely different meanings. A reality in one place might be nothing more than a story in another. A monster in one world might not be a monster in the next.

The curses bring about a lot of misunderstandings, too. That's the whole point of them, really, to make us do things we normally wouldn't, and to try to make us miserable because of it. And oftentimes, they succeed--especially so with curses like this. The ones that make us act differently are the ones that are hardest to be understanding about, both during and afterward, because they turn us into people we're not, make us do things we wouldn't, make us hurt people we ordinarily love. These sorts of curses are some of the worst to endure, and the hardest to forgive.

And yet, these are the ones when forgiveness is needed the most.

I'm still not certain yet if yesterday's curse really ended at midnight, or if it's decided to persist through today as well. Last year this sort of thing ended at the stroke of midnight, and in a rather humiliating way for everyone concerned. This year, it's much harder to tell.

However, when it finally does come to an end, I hope that we can all find it within ourselves to be understanding about the circumstances, and to be open to the people we've hurt, and to forgive the things we said and did when we couldn't help ourselves. And it's a duty that both people need to engage in--the people that were hurt need to find the strength to forgive, and to not hold those actions against the person that hurt them, and the person that was cursed needs to do the responsible thing and ask forgiveness for the things they did, and apologize for hurting their friend, even if they couldn't help it at the time.

I'd hate to see more friendships needlessly ruined over something as silly as a curse.

I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid I won't be coming in to the Library to help today. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and so I think I'll be staying in and getting some rest until I start feeling a bit more like myself.

[OOC: My, Rosella's certainly putting on a brave face for someone who found a human heart on her doorstep yesterday. Sob. She'll just be over here hating this curse and hiding inside her magically-warded Warehouse until the world stops being crazy, thanks. ♥]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

When was the last time you had a better day?

[Whoops. Time to carefully dodge the question.]

Well, this month has had its ups and downs, just like any other one. It's just a matter of hoping the good things outweigh the bad things, really. And there have been some good things lately, too! Just...well, the past few curses have been a bit tedious, haven't they?

I think most of the time they do, and when we can never tell it is good to hope for the best.

The last I can remember is helping Lucy with cakes.

That does sound like fun, helping with cakes. I suppose it's difficult not to have fun when sweets are involved, though. ~~Though I do hope they weren't cakes meant for Peter's birthday, or that'd just be...nn.~~

How is she? Lucy, and Ed, and...everyone?

You are very right about that. When sweets are involved things are a little better.

Everyone is well as we can be. Together.

...

Caspian, do you--do you remember, a little more than a year ago, when that hair monster invaded the City and caused all that trouble?

I most certainly do.

[Gosh he kind of even sounds offended, though hardly offended by Rosella. It's the grease trap of a monster, really.]

[Yeah, well, his hair is too nice to be a part of a marauding beast like that. Edmund and Rosella both agree on that.]

And then his mother came by afterward, to collect him?

Yes, I think I remember that too, although we didn't talk...I mean, if it was the kind to talk.

I did. Er, speak with her, I mean. She was terrifying, but...well, motherly. Kind, in her own way. Lately, I've been trying to think of a way to speak with her again.

[SPUTTER.]

What for?

[Right, um. Awkward. Have like...thirty seconds of silence.]

Because she outranks the deities. And because-- [Oh, look, there's an elephant in the room. Nope, better keep ignoring it for the moment.] --because strange things have been happening in the City lately, and she's the only power I've ever met here that really seemed to be concerned with our well-being.

[Oh.....Oh.]

Do you think she would be kind to you again?

She did say she'd come back if she was needed. I remember that much. And I think she might be, if I could explain things.

It sounds dangerous, Rosella. You may have spoken once but what if she--

They are fickle people, all of them. We don't need to lose anymore.

It is a dangerous thought. Which is why I haven't done anything more than think about it, yet.

But I just think...it might be something to keep in mind, even so.

I have thought about talking to the ones called the Deities too.

And I don't know if it would help or not, but I do have one of those curse tokens, that they gave us a while back for writing those essays? If there's a chance that might be of some help, too.

I think that is very kind of you to think about it, Rosella.

It's only right to try. If there's something I can do that will help, even just a little bit, I will, and gladly.

That means a lot to me Rosella. It really does, and I think to all of us too. But please be careful.

Don't worry. I've done far too many hasty things already, and I have no intention of rushing off into more trouble, believe me.

Quest 212

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