Princess Rosella of Daventry

( Written Correspondence: Sir Mal Heymer )

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( Written Correspondence: Sir Zuko Flamel )

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( Written Correspondence: The Most Honble. The Marquis of Cloverfeld, Nigel Colbie )

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[Video | Open Action]

[It's far more pleasant to spend time in the garden at Versailles; the palace itself is cramped and stifling, and such enclosed spaces have never sat well with Rosella, who much prefers open spaces and clear air. So at the moment she can be found lingering near the marvel that is the fountains, admiring the sculptures and the scenes they depict, and carefully calculating her plans for the evening.

Any passerby who stop for a word and a moment of her time will be received with her most charming smile and her full attentions; she's not about to waste any opportunity to gain advantage that may arise, no matter how slight, and the more she impresses, the better.]


[OOC: See HERE for the details! TL;DR, Rosella de Brus, Princesse Royale of Daventry, is large and in charge in your Versailles! Muns of her entourage, I hope the names and titles I've randomly bestowed here are cool with you; if there's a problem with any of it, let me know and I'll fix it right away! Let's have some shenanigans. o/]

[Accidental Voice Post]

[The audio clicks on with a snap, presumably from the device impacting against the ground—]

—u don't! Sparkling Fairytale Transform!

[—and is promptly heralded with a determined, feminine shout, accompanied by the sound of snarling and growling. An eerie, vaguely whining noise fills the air for a brief moment, then fades away into the more pleasant sound of bells and what appears to be...theme music?

(Really, it's a shame this isn't video, or the Network would almost certainly be treated to a highly entertaining transformation sequence.)

However, after about thirty seconds, the music gradually fades away, and the growling abruptly becomes audible again.]

Your reign of barnyard terror has gone on long enough! Now I'm putting you out to pasture! Dazzling Cupid Rapture Dart!

[There is another whine of magic, another jingling of bells, and then a vague roar and explosion as the barnyard terror winks out of existence.]

And that's the word straight from the horse's mouth.

[Now the microphone picks up the sound of footsteps swishing through the grass, gradually growing fainter as they gain distance from the microphone...and shortly thereafter, the audio ends.]


[OOC: City, say hello to PRETTY ADVENTURER MAGIC PRINCESS ROSELLA. ( Extended OOC Notes )

:D]

( All animals understand love and affection, but only man shows the propensity to place himself into the shoes of another lifeform... )

( Private || Hackable by Friends )

[Accidental Video Post]

[The video opens on the Warehouse kitchen as viewed from the countertop, slightly obscured by the edge of a cookbook; a short distance away, busily assembling ingredients near a yellow mixing bowl, is Rosella. She's got her hair braided back as usual, keeping her hair off her face, and there's a bit of flour smudged along her cheek and dusted on her dress.]

Let's see...butter, sugar, eggs, flour, milk, vanilla--oh, and the lemon, of course, mustn't forget that--

[Any baking-inclined viewers in the audience might note the ingredients in question are all for baking something distinctly lemon-flavored. A cake, perhaps?

Any baking-inclined viewers that were around two Mays ago might have a very good idea why she's chosen to bake a lemon cake on this particular occasion.]

That's half a cup of butter, one and a quarter of white sugar...

[But then she stops, rolling her shoulders uncomfortably for a minute. She shrugs it off, resumes stirring, but then stops again and reaches behind her, frowning as she presses her hand against the apparently offending place on her back.]

Sugar...yes, that's right, and five minutes mixing them together.

[She begins to put the ingredients together, finding a spoon and stirring them a bit, before stopping and rolling her shoulders again--as the video ends.]


[OOC: With May comes lemon cakes! Because really, it's just a standard precaution by now, for a month when Adrastus is most likely to come to call. The game is afoot! Preparations are being made! And Rosella's old wound from the Ides of March last year is beginning to twinge up. The first part is a solo log for reference purposes; the rest is open to Network. ♥]

( Private || Hackable by Friends )

My, it's a lovely day out, isn't it? It's nice, really; I've gotten into something of a habit of separating curses into one of two kinds, either the sort that are awful or the sort that are ridiculous, but it's days like today that remind me there's sometimes a third kind as well--the nice variety. And I know it's rather against the point of a curse in the first place, being so nice when it's a common theory that the curses are there to breed misery to fuel the clock. But there's also been the theory that the clock doesn't only run on misery, but on any emotion so long as it's strong, so I suppose it's all right to have a nice one every so often. Certainly it makes us enjoy the nice ones more, knowing how much worse things could be.

The clock still isn't ticking. Why isn't it ticking, even now? Could it have stopped forever, somehow?

In any case, there seem to be cherry trees all over the City today, and all in full bloom! It's really just magnificent to see, and it seems quite a few people have had that very idea; on my way home from the Library, I saw all sorts of people just walking around in pairs and groups, enjoying the view and admiring the flowers. Quite a few of them were wearing the most lovely outfits, as well, rather like fine robes with very wide sleeves. There was a shop in the Square selling them, even, and when I stopped to admire them because they were so very pretty, the shopkeeper told me that all this is meant to be a festival of some sort, and that outfits like that were the proper thing to wear when viewing the cherry trees in bloom.

She was wonderfully kind in helping me find one I liked, too, and even said that if I came back a little later when she wasn't so busy, she'd show me how to pin up my hair and help me with the proper way to wear it, since it seems there's quite a bit that goes into it. I'm still a bit confused by it all, but it's such a lovely offer to make that I really can't resist giving it a try. After all, I haven't yet kept to my resolution and worn my modern clothes for the month, and if it's the proper thing to do for a festival anyway, then so much the better. Even if an outfit like that does seem a bit difficult to move around in at times.

But that's a fine way to spend an afternoon, isn't it? Dressing up and enjoying the flowers. I think it's just the sort of afternoon I need, really.


[OOC: Disclaimer: I am in no way an expert on (or even particularly familiar with) Japanese culture, and yes, Rosella's being almost completely superficial in wanting to wear a kimono just because it's different and pretty. So she's being kind of a poseur today. But at least she's not trying to dress herself, having never done it before. >> Anyway, feel free to spot her out and about if you want to action; if not, she's got her device with her.]

( Private || Hackable by Friends )

Well, it's been a week since the harpies were dealt with, and the barrier is back up again--or, well, a barrier is back up, at least, though I think it's not quite the same as the one we had before, somehow? Which is rather something to ponder over, really. We'd fixed the other barrier before, when it started to come down in pieces and we were all made to put it back up again, but that's a bit different than having the whole thing disappear completely and leaving us without one at all, and having to put a new one up in its place. It certainly was pretty when it all came together, though, wasn't it? All the lovely shifting lights in the night sky.

In any case, it's up now, and keeping the harpies out again, and yet there still isn't any ticking to speak of. I suppose that rules out the idea that the two of them were connected, the clock and the barrier, and that ruining one disrupted the other somehow. Still, even if they aren't connected, it's still curious that the ticking's gone silent, isn't it? If it wasn't the barrier falling that caused it to stop, then I wonder what it could be.

Yes, Cain, I know, I think too much about that clock. Though I suppose it's only fitting that it's driving me mad whether it ticks or not, isn't it?

Still, I'll try not to let it bother me for the moment. I have a few things to get done yet today, and some errands to run, and something to see to this evening, besides. And that's quite enough for right now, I should think.

[Filtered AWAY from Godchild Cast (Yes, Jez, That Means You Too) | Unhackable]

Though I do wonder--if it's not too much trouble, please, I'd like very much to speak with someone who's visited London, if you have a moment to spare. Edmund, Peter, you've been, haven't you?

[/Filter]

( Filtered to Iacho | Attempted Unhackable )


[OOC: TL;DR forever! She's not cursed today, but she's getting things done: getting stuff off her mind, going to Claire's birthday party, dropping off a box containing shiny pebbles, a shoe, and a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers for Iacho at the Deity Office, conducting a little super sekrit stealth research...good times!]

They do say history repeats itself, don't they?

This isn't the first time something has happened to the barrier. It was a little over a year ago, now, the first time I recall it happening; it was December, and Sam had been in the hospital, and the animals came off the carousel and started to lead the way out of the City. The barrier started coming down in bits and patches, and people saw all sorts of things through the holes--mostly visions of home, bu some people saw other things, too. Horrible things. And there was a man, one who claimed to be an architect, who arrived and said he'd done this to set us free and encouraged us to leave while we had the chance, but it turned out to all be a trick, and people who tried to escape only found themselves--trapped, instead.

And something happened to it just a few months ago, when we were all on that horrible train, didn't it? I remember looking out the windows and seeing things there, and there were monsters that jumped at the windows. Something went wrong with the Network devices then, too--they didn't seem to work properly while we were underground, and people had trouble calling out. And there was something wrong with the barrier then, too.

This isn't the first time harpies have come here, either, though I've never been here to see them myself. I've heard word of them, though. A cat, a harpy, and Adrastus all came to call a long time ago, and the clock stopped ticking then, too. I wonder if the barrier came down back then? There aren't many people around who would remember it, if it did; still, it'd be a useful thing to know, either way.

Adrastus has come several times, himself. I was expecting him this time of year last year, wasn't I? I always expect him when things like this happen. Last year we were waiting for an angel of death, and I thought he might be the one to come, and he did. I saw him, just for a minute, and gave him the lemon cake I'd saved for him. And then no angel ever came at all. That was this time of year, wasn't it? Which makes Spartacus a year old now, already.

The trouble always comes first, and then a stranger arrives. That architect, the shepherdess. Adrastus and his mother. We've had the harpies for two days now; if a stranger does arrive, it'll be soon. And they'll tell us we're all free to go, and we'll be left to decide, as always, if they're really telling the truth or if it's all just another trick to make us miserable and leave us as trapped as we were before.

The Carousel opens; that's how they got rid of the shepherdess last year. It opened into cogs and gears and they drove all the sheep into the hole it left behind, and the wool came back out of the mountain like an explosion. And the Carousel has something to do with the clock, and if the clock has something to do with the barrier, then the Carousel might be the way to find it. It's all tied together somehow, it has to be, and there must be a way to fix it all. The deities haven't spoken about it, and there's no telling if they will. They have before, but that doesn't mean they will again.

But what matters is staying safe until we figure out how to manage this. It seems as though the harpies are keeping their distance from the city proper today, doesn't it? There are more of them, one can see them flying about in clusters, but for some reason they aren't as quick to come swooping in as they were before. I'm not certain why that might be, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take advantage of it while it lasts. So.

FOR ANYONE IN NEED OF REFUGE FOR THE DURATION:
Anyone is welcome to take shelter at the Warehouse for the time being. We're well stocked with provisions and have plenty of room for anyone in need of a safe place to stay in the midst of this chaos. If the Warehouse is too far to go, please feel free to call me and we'll find a way to bring you here safely; if it's still too much of a problem, I know we're not the only ones offering shelter in the midst of this, so there are plenty of options.

If there's one thing I've learned from history, it's that we all need to pull together in times like this. And if there's a second thing I've learned, it's that things always get better, if one can just hold out long enough to see it through.


[OOC: Yup, she's cursed today; her horoscope for the day is "Today is a reflection of the past, but that doesn’t mean you’re trapped in a loop. If you don’t like where you are, perform acts of kindness to improve your karmic balance. Things should pick up soon!". Hence the tl;dr. Enjoy this blast from the City's past? >>]

( Private || Hackable by Friends )

Last year, Penny told me that the holiday today is St. Patrick's Day, and that it's celebrated with all sorts of things, like green beer and shamrocks and four-leaf-clovers. It's a holiday I'll have to take back with me to Daventry, I think, when it finally comes time for me to go; I'm sure the King of the Leprechauns would be absolutely delighted by it. They're very fond of four-leaf-clovers, leprechauns, and the king in particular is quite partial to them. We'd always make certain to wear them when he came to call, back when I was only a girl.

He was rather fond of me, too, back in those days. I have a feeling it was something to do with the fact that we were the same height.

Though I've heard tell of people being pinched today, and it's something to do with the color green? I suppose that's not so difficult a thing to avoid, really, if all one has to do is wear a bit of green. Tuck a clover into one's cap or tie a ribbon in one's hair and that's that. I have a few green dresses I could wear, myself, but I haven't met my resolution of wearing a modern outfit yet this month, so I suppose I might as well manage both at once today, just the same. I'm growing quite attached to those sweaters with the hood and the zipper down the front, even if they don't go very well with a dress.

Only four more days until the first of spring! If that's not something to look forward to, I don't know what is. The party's coming along well, too, or at least as well as I can make it; it may not be the grandest of events, but I think it'll turn out nice, just the same.

[Filtered AWAY from the Deities | Attempted Unhackable]

But of course, there's still the matter of the tower near Building Three.

There's sand everywhere now, and unlike some other times when damage has been caused to a part of the City, it hasn't gone away on its own. I'm told that people found writing inside the tower, as well? The verses to a song about a bridge falling down, I think--which isn't so different from a tower falling, really. I'm also told that there's talk in those verses about how to build the tower back up again, to keep it from falling further. If that's so, I think it'd be wise if we all set about getting some of those materials together, in case this wasn't the only building that should chance to turn to sand and fall.

But that leads to the problem of what might've caused it. Has anyone spoken with a little creature named Iacho? He was on the Network playing with a sand castle just the other day, and he told me he lives in the Deity Building--which, I think, is a few too many coincidences to truly be one.

To say nothing of the fact that the tower fell on the Ides of March. I do wonder about that, as well.


[OOC: Whew! My apologies for the infodump; Rosella had a lot to talk about today. Yes, she is wearing green and therefore is safe from pinching, because she actually bothered to read the Network in advance for once. FRIENDS OF HERS, please feel free to assume you received an invitation to her birthday first-of-spring party this coming Monday; if you've spoken with her once or twice, you probably qualify. Also, if memory serves, there's really no such thing as filtering away from the deities on the Network, but she's trying it anyway. ♥]

( Private || Hackable by Friends )

"And the prince came to rescue his princess, and with a kiss, the two of them set out together, off to his kingdom to live happily ever after."

That's a fine ending to a story, isn't it? One thing I've pondered many times over is whether or not there really is such a thing as living happily forever after, since most stories end that way but most lives don't. Lives tend to be more like a storybook full of chapters, with each one ending so another one can begin, on and on with no ending in sight; sometimes, it seems as though it'd be more proper to say that they all lived happily ever after until the next adventure began.

But sometimes it's nice to have things end neatly with a "happily ever after", too.

Yesterday's curse was a terribly odd one, wasn't it? But I do think we managed all right, just the same, even if we never did make it to...er, wherever we were headed. And I'm sure my grandfather would be pleased to know that his advice came in handy yet again, even when traveling around in wagons like gypsies in search of parts unknown. One never knows when a dead fish might come in handy, after all, though it's certainly never pleasant to carry one around in one's pockets.

But today is the seventh of March, and that means it's only two more weeks until the first day of spring! In past years, we've usually had some sort of event for it--two years ago, Blair held a very lovely garden party, and last year Penny had one down by the lake with the ducks. This year...perhaps I'll try my hand at one, myself. I've never been much at planning parties--that was always my mother's area of expertise, not mine--but it's something I really ought to learn sooner or later, and there's no way of improving unless I start to try in the first place. So...once I give it a bit of thought, shall we have a party for the twenty-first? I suppose I'm a bit biased, but I think it'd be a fine day for a party, really.

It is, after all, only fourteen days away.


[OOC: Spoilers: March 21 is also Rosella's birthday, hence the obligatory countdown. Party, anyone? I'm thinking party. :D]

[Voice Post]

--oses, what in the world? Oh--

[A throat clears, a little hesitantly.]

I...suppose this may seem a rather odd question, but did anyone else have something, er, go missing in the past few days, while the visitors were here? Yesterday morning I woke up and found that all my red roses were gone, from the ones on bushes in my pots to the miniature ones in my window box--and now here they are, and I can't for the life of me puzzle out how they might've gotten all the way out here! I'm certain they're mine, I recognize a few of them, but why would someone take a whole great bunch of roses and move them out somewhere like this? Really, it's the strangest thing! And honestly, what an awful damper that would be on an otherwise pleasant day, to go around taking people's things like that while they're occupied with visiting their friends. Why would anyone ever?

[A small huff of exasperation, followed by a brief pause.]

Which, er, brings me back to my question: has anyone lost...let me see, it looks like...a writing set, or a very fluffy white rabbit, or a stopped clock, a book of poetry, or a teapot and china to match? If you have, it seems they're all out here by a table in the Square. You can't miss it, really--it's surrounded in roses and all set for tea, of all things.

[A pause, a whisper of wind--]

Oh, what's this?

[--and then, a faint rustling sound.]

...A letter? Addressed to--

[And with a click, the audio ends.]


[OOC: Just a little Fourth Wall aftermath~ Please assume this is backdated to early this morning, a little after six or so--and thanks for playing, everyone!]