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...

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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. ♥]

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No, he isn't. But the Warehouse will keep him out, won't it?

I'll come collect what he left and get rid of it for you.

He said himself he tried and couldn't get in. It's keeping him out, so as long as I stay in here, he can't get to me. Of course, I can't just stay in here forever, but I ought to be safe for the moment.

And I am. I'm all right, just...rattled. Of all the things I might've been expecting to see on my doorstep, that certainly wasn't one of them.

No, of course you can't stay in the Warehouse forever. We shall have to find a better way to guard you when you're not there. I'm glad you're all right for the time being, though.

I don't think anyone would expect to see these things on her doorstep.

If it's not one thing, it's another. I'll start going through my spellbooks to see if there might be anything of use in there, and I'll get my bow replaced as soon as possible, too.

The worst part is thinking that he must've gotten it from somewhere. Or someone, rather.

I'd rather that you didn't have to live in such a way, Rosella.

He likely did, but don't dwell on that.

I don't suppose we could just turn him into a frog and have that be that, could we?

Believe me, I'm doing everything I can to think of something else. Anything else.

If he were a frog, then we could simply keep him in a jar. I wouldn't object to that, but I don't know that it would work especially well.

I'll put my mind to it as well. I won't have him troubling you, not when he's cursed and not any other time.

I could do it if I wanted, but it wouldn't take him long to figure out how to reverse it, anyway, so it wouldn't do much good. And I'd have to get much too close to him, besides.

He's only doing it to bother you, isn't he?

He could reverse it? Well, then, we'll have to find a different solution. I've defeated him before in my world. I know it can be done here too.

It's entirely possible that that's his motive for it all, yes.

~~And it means that he knows that we're acquainted--~~

That one, he could. There are other things I could turn him into that he couldn't reverse, but it'd take more time to get them set up.

And I don't suppose there's much I can do myself to keep you from being bothered, is there.

I'm not sure any of them would work as expected in the City. We'd do better to find another way.

No, nor should you try to do as much. I'd rather he not bother you. I can endure whatever he might try.

I'll just stick with being as careful as I can in the meantime, then, and see what else I might be able to come up with.

I just don't want to be an easy pawn in some plot to make you miserable. That's all.

I'll put my mind to it as well, as I said. We'll think of something between the two of us.

You won't be. I won't allow that.

So much for a brief respite from all the trouble. I just hope this isn't the start of another stretch like last year, where it was just one thing after another for months on end.

All right. I believe you.

The City is always one thing after another for months on end. It's only the kind of things that happen that change.

We'll endure this as we've endured everything else.

Well, then, there's nothing to do but face them, I suppose. And to try to keep our spirits up as best we can in the meantime...although sometimes that's easier said than done.

You can't give up now, Rosella. If you do, August might win.

...It rather has gotten the better of me in the first half, hasn't it? I suppose we'll have to see if I can't turn that around in the second.

You've still half the month left yet.

And you're right, I'm certainly not about to lose to August, of all months. Otherwise October might start getting ideas, too.

Quest 212

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