Quest 267
[Private || Hackable by Friends]
Five days of pondering, now, and I still haven't the slightest idea how I managed it.
That's not meant to happen, is it? That's not how magic works, not the sort that I can do. Mr. Harry Dresden tried to show me once, tried to help me with some of the magic from his world, but he said I couldn't do it because it wasn't the right sort. My sort has always been so deliberate, so...methodical. Like preparing a recipe, one gathers the ingredients and reads the instructions and follows them as exactly as possible, and then it comes out in the end. And when one doesn't, one gets oneself into trouble, and ends up sleeping on the hard stone floor of a cave for a day or two.
I shouldn't have been able to do it. Honestly, I'd almost be tempted to think it was all a dream, if not for the clues that said otherwise. The mud on my dress, the way the wand felt afterward. It seemed...less powerful, somehow, as though I'd used up some of the magic and there wasn't as much left afterward. I wonder, then, if magic is as much of an ingredient as anything else? All my other spells just meant waving the wand to set it, but perhaps there was more to it than that--perhaps magic was one of the ingredients, itself, and a little bit came out of the wand whenever I tried to use it.
It's not the first time I've changed myself into something else, even without the City so often doing it for me. I've been a frog before, of course, but that was different. That had to be done, and it was as simple as putting on my little crown and taking it off again. That was before I thought I'd gotten myself trapped in between-- I've had wings before, but that was a curse. It's strange, that I don't mind whipping things around with my rope or putting myself to sleep or even teleporting myself around from place to place, but I mind this. I mind the thought that I might make a mistake and end up half one creature and half another. It's a horrible thought, and a frightening one, and I've ruined enough other spells that...
And yet I managed this one and I don't know how.
If it takes magic to do it, though--using it from the wand, that is, since some of it was gone after I did it--then I ought to be safe thinking about it so long as I don't have the wand around while I do. I don't recall how it ended up in my pockets that day, that I had it to fiddle with. Had I put it in there by mistake? ...No, that's right, earlier I'd had it out for my ten minutes of practice, and then the oven chimed and I stuck it in my pocket while I went to go fetch the cookies. I ought to have put it back where it belongs, but I didn't. That's how it ended up there.
All right, then. I had the wand out and I was frustrated that practice wasn't working, and I was picturing it in my head, and the next thing I knew, I was on my paws and claws on the ground. I was certainly thinking about it. I had the wand. But what made that time any different from all the other ones? What was it that finally made it happen? It had to be something. And whatever it was, I need to puzzle out what it is and...and do it again.
I don't know if I want to do it again, honestly. Well, no, that's not true, exactly, because I do, but--
...If I were a better magician, I'd have answers to these sorts of things, wouldn't I?
There's so much to do and hardly enough time to manage it all in. The clock still isn't ticking and I'm certain that means no good for all of us. May is coming around in another week and that'll be a good two years since we last saw Adrastus's mother, and one since the shepherdess. And May is Cain's anniversary, too. Four years. He'll be upset about that, I'm sure, even if this time he'll have Riff and Merry with him for it.
My first May without Sam. And at the end of it...it'll be a year already, won't it? A whole year since. Some days it feels like forever, and others it seems as though it's been no time at all.
So much to do and still I'm thinking too much. It's beautiful out today and I ought to be enjoying it, rather than moping around like this. May is still a week away, and it's a holiday tomorrow, and there's time left. I'll manage it somehow. We always do, after all.
[/Private]
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.]
Five days of pondering, now, and I still haven't the slightest idea how I managed it.
That's not meant to happen, is it? That's not how magic works, not the sort that I can do. Mr. Harry Dresden tried to show me once, tried to help me with some of the magic from his world, but he said I couldn't do it because it wasn't the right sort. My sort has always been so deliberate, so...methodical. Like preparing a recipe, one gathers the ingredients and reads the instructions and follows them as exactly as possible, and then it comes out in the end. And when one doesn't, one gets oneself into trouble, and ends up sleeping on the hard stone floor of a cave for a day or two.
I shouldn't have been able to do it. Honestly, I'd almost be tempted to think it was all a dream, if not for the clues that said otherwise. The mud on my dress, the way the wand felt afterward. It seemed...less powerful, somehow, as though I'd used up some of the magic and there wasn't as much left afterward. I wonder, then, if magic is as much of an ingredient as anything else? All my other spells just meant waving the wand to set it, but perhaps there was more to it than that--perhaps magic was one of the ingredients, itself, and a little bit came out of the wand whenever I tried to use it.
It's not the first time I've changed myself into something else, even without the City so often doing it for me. I've been a frog before, of course, but that was different. That had to be done, and it was as simple as putting on my little crown and taking it off again. That was before I thought I'd gotten myself trapped in between-- I've had wings before, but that was a curse. It's strange, that I don't mind whipping things around with my rope or putting myself to sleep or even teleporting myself around from place to place, but I mind this. I mind the thought that I might make a mistake and end up half one creature and half another. It's a horrible thought, and a frightening one, and I've ruined enough other spells that...
And yet I managed this one and I don't know how.
If it takes magic to do it, though--using it from the wand, that is, since some of it was gone after I did it--then I ought to be safe thinking about it so long as I don't have the wand around while I do. I don't recall how it ended up in my pockets that day, that I had it to fiddle with. Had I put it in there by mistake? ...No, that's right, earlier I'd had it out for my ten minutes of practice, and then the oven chimed and I stuck it in my pocket while I went to go fetch the cookies. I ought to have put it back where it belongs, but I didn't. That's how it ended up there.
All right, then. I had the wand out and I was frustrated that practice wasn't working, and I was picturing it in my head, and the next thing I knew, I was on my paws and claws on the ground. I was certainly thinking about it. I had the wand. But what made that time any different from all the other ones? What was it that finally made it happen? It had to be something. And whatever it was, I need to puzzle out what it is and...and do it again.
I don't know if I want to do it again, honestly. Well, no, that's not true, exactly, because I do, but--
...If I were a better magician, I'd have answers to these sorts of things, wouldn't I?
There's so much to do and hardly enough time to manage it all in. The clock still isn't ticking and I'm certain that means no good for all of us. May is coming around in another week and that'll be a good two years since we last saw Adrastus's mother, and one since the shepherdess. And May is Cain's anniversary, too. Four years. He'll be upset about that, I'm sure, even if this time he'll have Riff and Merry with him for it.
My first May without Sam. And at the end of it...it'll be a year already, won't it? A whole year since. Some days it feels like forever, and others it seems as though it's been no time at all.
So much to do and still I'm thinking too much. It's beautiful out today and I ought to be enjoying it, rather than moping around like this. May is still a week away, and it's a holiday tomorrow, and there's time left. I'll manage it somehow. We always do, after all.
[/Private]
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.]