primrosella | Quest 236

~~I wasn't just dreaming all the commotion--it really is them. They're really here! Oh, I thought it would be the end of last month, but this...this is even better.~~

Oh, hello, everyone! It's just lovely to see you all again! I do hope you all managed to dress warmly before coming here, since it's the winter season now. Or, well--it is for us, anyway, since I know time does seem to move differently from one place to another. And it was summer the last time you stopped by, wasn't it? So it's been quite some time now, since we all saw you last.

But you're here now, and that's what's important. And if you have, er, found yourself in a bit of a predicament with proper clothing and whatnot, there's a Welcome Center in the Square that I'm sure can be of some help with that. And do say hello to Penny while you're there!

~~Does this have something to do with that train? All the things we saw out the windows, the people trying to get in--and now this?~~

Oh, it's a good thing I saved all those leftovers. If anyone would like some--we just had Thanksgiving a few days ago, you see--there's plenty of cold turkey and cranberry sauce and rolls and things to snack on while you're here!

Sam? ...Blue? If...are you by any chance out there somewhere, too?

[OOC: Canonically, she's from just after the end of Perils of Rosella, and with some very disjointed and vague knowledge of Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder. If something comes up that I don't want her to know, I'll just have her forget it, so have a party--anything goes! HIT HER WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT. Troll, threadjack, have a ball!

And of course, I am totally okay with backdating. ♥]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Every opportunity missed makes me hunger for the next.

[ Those wisps of smoke begin to curl again from his lashes, framing black eyes. ]

What do you hunger for, Rosella? To be free? To be given chase? To live?

You won't catch me. I won't--I won't let you.

[Which isn't quite the same thing as being caught whether she likes it or not. Which is, of course, going to happen eventually.]

I want... [And she seems to shake all over.] What does it matter to you what I want?

[ Only a matter of time, Rosella. The Black Dog knows, though it hasn't been made clear to him exactly when. Your resilience is precious and aggravating to him. ]

I'm denied your throat. [ A small growl. ] Give me your answers instead.

[Why is she answering? She doesn't know, but she is. There's something about the way he says it that just...bids her to reply.]

I don't want to settle down. To stop adventuring. To...to stay tied down and never...

[...see you again? There are so many ways that sentence could be finished.]

Edited 2010-11-30 06:24 (UTC)

[ He finishes it for her. A held breath. ]

...know Death.

But I don't want to die.

[Don't look at her like that, Blackie. You make it so hard when you look at her like that.]

Very few do. And so many fear me for it. But not you, swift Rosella. [ He blinks at her slowly. ] With your long skirts and your finely made shoes and your still-beating heart, so in love with tempting Death.

[ A pause. ] No lies, now.

[ The Black Dog dares you to utter one now. ]

I'm afraid when you come for others. My family. My friends.

[But she won't say "but not me". She's not sure, herself, whether that's a lie or not.]

They will each have their time and you as well; none can be exempted for such is the Balance. [ The Black Dog is not cruel, not always. And not now. He is quiet and murmuring, like a slowly smoldering fire. ]

Turn me from them, but never yourself.

Only once, every hundred years.

[She'll never have another chance at that fruit, not in her lifetime. But it did its work, and her father is alive. That's what matters, that everyone else is alive. Isn't that why she volunteered for the dragon? She went, knowing what would happen. What would've, if Alexander hadn't intervened in time.

She was ready to meet him then, wasn't she?

How long will he chase her until they meet again for good?]

Does...it hurt? [What you do?]

The Black Dog is not always unkind.

[ It's true, what he says, he has no need for lying. Many died in their sleep, surrounded by loved ones, lauded for long lives and much accomplishment. But just as many went quickly and cruelly and far too soon. Ignoble deaths, wasteful ones. Violence and inhumanity. Perhaps those are the ones Blackie liked best. ]

But you always enjoy it, don't you.

[It's so much easier to recoil from a monster when it's being particularly monstrous; it's far more difficult when it's civil, deceptively subdued. She's always had a weakness for confidence and charm, and it's hard to hate a monster when she has to remind herself that it's dangerous.]

Quest 236

video; WELCOME ROSELLA TO YOUR BRITISH SCHOOLBOY DOOM <3

video; and a handsome black dog will suddenly start appearing in her nightmares >>

video; it's hard to be the princess

video; it IS hard to be the princess

video; you realize now he will have to visit her EVERY FOURTH WALL DAY FROM NOW TO ETERNITY

video; I NEED THIS LIKE BREATHING.

video; YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND

video; i am BOUNCING IN GLEE i kid you not

video; and so an unholy union was born BETTER SHARPEN THOSE DIAMOND TIGER CLAWS BB

video; they can fight next time idk also is it bad that i kind of want fic of this now

video; lkajsdlhfklawjeklfajs; fuckingsignedkja orz

video; sobbity sob