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. ♥]

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I don't think many people think about the strength it takes to forgive people. I know a lot of feelings get hurt during curses like this... I guess I'm just grateful that a lot of people do manage to forgive.

No, it's difficult to really understand just how much strength it takes until we've done it ourselves, isn't it? That's why it's such an important thing to remember, I think...that it isn't easy, but that's just what makes it so necessary.

I don't think I've had to forgive much-- I mean, not really, but... I think just trying to understand it helps you appreciate it when others do.

That's a lucky thing, though, that you haven't. I hope it stays that way for you, too. This is always a trying month, after all.

I know. I'm glad that I haven't, and... well, even more glad that I've been on the receiving end of forgiveness.

It's not so bad, compared to July, is it? Though I do hate curses that change the way you think or feel... sometimes those can be the worst.

Well, not so bad compared to this past July, certainly. But in general, August tends to attract those sorts of curses, the ones that change how we think or feel. It's been that way the past two years now, and now this curse makes it a third.

Really, I think I'd rather another day of bad luck, instead of all this.

Does it? This is only my second one... I do remember that, though. And ones that decide to share your feelings for you. [Not that he associates August with anything.]

I think I would, too. Did... did something happen, yesterday?

Yes, like the one last year that kept us apart the whole day and then threw us together right at the end. I could've done without all the trouble that followed that one, certainly.

I...well. I've acquired an admirer, I'm afraid.

Quest 212

thiiiis is a placeholder because i have to sleep but ilu

go get some sleep i will hold this place foreeeeeever

<3333 i do not think i like this moving thing.

i think i do not like it because it takes you away from meeeeee :(

well after it is done i should have much more poly time. home life will be less crazy XD

oh well that is okay then. i will keep a stiff upper lip. <3

i will get everything packed away and moved as fast as i can so i can come right back <333

the packing is the worst part. i completely sympathize. :(