primrosella: (Brightly Burning)
Princess Rosella of Daventry ([personal profile] primrosella) wrote2010-10-18 05:19 pm

Quest 226

It's interesting, really; we've been having weekends like this past one for more than a year and a half now, and even though they're always quite ridiculous and often full of the same sorts of curses, no two weekends are ever just alike. I've been a bird quite a few times now--which is rather a shame, since I was thinking very hard about dressing up as one for Halloween, but the idea seems a bit less appealing now that I've just spent the whole weekend as one--and I've been a child, too, and I've felt compelled to write my name all over things, and I've acted...well, quite unlike myself at times, as well. And sometimes my friends turn into animals themselves, and other times their souls come out for a visit, and other times still it's memories on the Network or red letters on their clothes or something else equally silly and uncomfortable. But they're never just the same as the last, no matter how many times we have them.

This was the first time I'd been turned into a bird with a cat in the house, actually. Which isn't to say that I haven't done my share of staying away from cats when I've been turned into a bird, but usually I can manage to reason with the cat in question when it comes up, and Snowdrop didn't seem particularly interested in listening to reason at the time, anyway. So it's lucky that she didn't manage to get me, though I am rather pleased that she saw fit to come into my room at all, since it wasn't so long ago that she wouldn't even dare to set foot inside the door.

But in any case, it was no harm done and it's all over now, so that's that.

Let's see, then. Today is the eighteenth of October, which means two weeks from today is November first--so it's only two more weeks until October is over with for another year. It really does seem to be going fast, doesn't it? Or at least, faster than it did last year. And a bit milder than it was last year, too, which could mean one of two things--either this month is going to be milder all around than we've been expecting, or the past few weeks have been the calm before the storm, and the next two are going to be terribly troublesome. But there's really no way of knowing until they come, of course, so the most we can do is to hope for the best and plan for the worst, and simply ride out the next two weeks however they may turn out.

Oh, but speaking of which, that reminds me. A few months ago, when the deities had us all writing essays about one word or another, they rewarded those efforts with a sort of coin or token that was said to have the power to undo a curse. I know it's been a while since then, and we've had some rather awful curses in that time, so I was curious to know--has anyone used one of those tokens before? And if so, what ended up coming of it? Did it really manage to undo a curse that had already struck?

That's the sort of thing that might turn out to be quite useful to know, after all, and especially so considering the tricks this month often likes to play on us.

Mm. Two more weeks of October. I suppose that also means it's just about the time to start expecting Peg-Fist Jack and his ghostly crew, isn't it? Goodness, that legend has been around a long time now--pirates and lost treasure and a ship full of ghosts said to appear around Halloween, looking to claim it again. It's just the sort of spooky thing that goes with this time of year, isn't it? And at least ghosts, I should think, would be much more harmless than most of the things we tend to run into when this month comes around.


[OOC: Sob, nostalgia. So two years ago, Rosella and a friend invented a Halloween legend about a ghost pirate named Peg-Fist Jack, his first mate Leonard the Barnacle, and his ghost ship, the Wandering Hangman; it's evolved into a sort of running joke for her by now, so bringing him up this time of year is tradition. Longtime residents, feel free to note the fact that she does this every year. After all, it's all in good fun. :D]
wandbreaker: (Edmund - joker)

[personal profile] wandbreaker 2010-10-18 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Peg-fist?

That sounds completely useless.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
You're not still going on about Peg-Fist Jack, are you?

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, some pirates have peg legs, and others have a hook where their hand ought to be. This one, it seems, got them a bit mixed up and ended up with a peg for a fist.

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
It's the right time of the year for him to come back and haunt us, you know.
wandbreaker: (Edmund - competition is my life)

[personal profile] wandbreaker 2010-10-18 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Not particularly bright pirates, then?

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, he was quite the terror of the City seas! Or so the stories go, anyway. He's supposed to have some buried treasure around here somewhere, too, which is why he keeps coming back to haunt the place.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Rosella, there are no such things as ghosts. Even in the City, we know better than that.

Yes, granted, things aren't quite as clear as they once were, but I rather doubt Peg-Fist Jack exists at all.
wandbreaker: (Edmund - don't laugh don't laugh [laugh])

[personal profile] wandbreaker 2010-10-18 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
What kind of treasure?

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
What about his scurvy crew, then? Leonard the Barnacle and Morgan the Lurch and all of them?

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
The usual sort of pirate treasure, I think. Coins and gems and even a queen's necklace, if I remember correctly, which is rather what got him into all the trouble in the first place.
wandbreaker: (Edmund - focus on my smirk)

[personal profile] wandbreaker 2010-10-18 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, trouble is usually what pirates are after, anyway.

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Trouble and riches, certainly. And he certainly found them both around here.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I rather doubt any of them are real.
wandbreaker: (Edmund - explanations)

[personal profile] wandbreaker 2010-10-18 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
And now he just haunts?

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps so, but it's a fun story, just the same.

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
And now he comes back every year to try to get his treasure back from where he buried it.
wandbreaker: (Edmund - ohhhh)

[personal profile] wandbreaker 2010-10-18 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
But he can't because he's a ghost, is that right?

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, that's right.

And he couldn't very well dig for it, anyway, with a peg for a fist.
wandbreaker: (Default)

[personal profile] wandbreaker 2010-10-18 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
He could try.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I suppose.

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Do you suppose Merry would believe it? She's clever, but I do wonder if we couldn't have a little fun with it and her.

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I doubt he'd have much luck at it, though.
wandbreaker: (Edmund - joker)

[personal profile] wandbreaker 2010-10-18 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
He might surprise you!

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[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, does she like pirate ghosts? I have a feeling she might, if she heard about it in the right way.

[identity profile] primrosella.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Why, are you championing his cause now, Edmund?

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[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2010-10-18 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, there was a time when we were going to stay in a town that was supposedly troubled by a vampire. She was quite excited by that. Pirate ghosts don't seem so far removed in that sense.

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