Entry 610; Day 1524

[misterblackbird]

[Filtered from Known DELILAH Members || Unhackable]
I should have known this curse will come upon us sooner or later this month: mistletoe growing from every corner and doorway. I can hardly think of a better sign of the season in the City than this. Truly, it is splendid. And one must, of course, observe the custom of the mistletoe. And the City shall, indeed, enforce that custom.

Yes, laugh at it for the moment, if you like, but it's never as amusing as one might expect. It's tiresome and it's frustrating and I'm quite sure the Network will be full of apologies tomorrow. But there's no stopping it, of course, as there's no stopping any of the curses--neither the growth of the plant itself nor the compulsions that come with it. It's a wonder we're not all strangled or poisoned by the stuff by the end of the day. And it is quite poisonous, you know.

It's sprouting from the ceiling and from the side of my desk at the moment. I can fairly watch it growing. I almost think I can hear it. And, of course, it's in every archway and on every lintel and hanging from every lamppost. So there's no avoiding it and its effects. The City has seen to that very handily.

One could, in theory, avoid this curse, if one tried--if one were to keep indoors or avoid the mistletoe itself or others. Of course, one could find a plant growing from one's hat, as has happened to me before, which can undo all of one's efforts.

But I almost wonder if it's quite worth the effort.

I don't care. I've things to which I must attend. I've endured this curse and all the curses of this City long enough to begin to cease to care about any of them. I'm going out anyway.

~C.

[ooc: Yes, he is going out. He'll be around the City in lots of ways today, so feel free to action it up in the comments~]

Comments

action;

[sleepingstar]

[Pai sits outside a cafe, nibbling on a parfait, bored beyond belief. She watches the people walk by, some getting caught in the mistletoe. The variety of reactions is strange. Mildly interesting, if only because everything in this city is so interminably dull.

She perks up a little when she sees Cain.]

action;

[misterblackbird]

[And Cain passes by, tipping his hat to her slightly as he goes--as one does.]

action;

[sleepingstar]

[Pai shovers down the rest of her parfait and leaves some money on the table before jogging after him.]

Where are you going?

action;

[misterblackbird]

[He looks over his shoulder at her...and recognizes her, of course.]

Nowhere particularly. Does your brother know you're wandering loose in the City?

[sleepingstar]

My brother left. [There's no sign of sadness in her voice, or any emotion at all. She's cool & matter of fact.]

[misterblackbird]

I'm terribly sorry to hear that.

[Cain also approaches these departures with a sort of matter-of-fact take--publicly, anyway.]

[sleepingstar]

[She shrugs, and continues walking with him in (what strikes her as) perfectly companionable silence. Who knows how comfortable he is being followed by a creepy little preteen.]

[misterblackbird]

[Right. Well. He just proceeds along apace. What else can one do? He has things to do, errands to run, Christmas to prepare (however small that celebration might be).]

[sleepingstar]

[And Pai will watch in curious silence. She's familiar with the idea of Christmas, but she's never really seen it in action.]

[misterblackbird]

[After a time...]

Young lady, I do beg your pardon, but to you mean to follow me for the entire afternoon?

[sleepingstar]

[With an honesty that would probably make her brother flinch]

I have nothing better to do.

[misterblackbird]

I see. I rather think you ought to find something better to do.

[sleepingstar]

Like what?

[misterblackbird]

Perhaps you ought to find someone else to follow. Have you considered that?

[sleepingstar]

No. Who would you recommend?

[misterblackbird]

Someone besides me. I don't care beyond that.

[sleepingstar]

Why don't you just ask me to leave?

[misterblackbird]

Because I thought perhaps you might have some notion of how people talk to one another.

[He takes off his hat.]

I do beg your pardon, but would you be so kind as to leave me be for the afternoon? I've quite a few things to do and I can see that I'm very poor company for you.

[sleepingstar]

[Now why would she have that? She doesn't even like people. Besides, she was trained to kill, not make conversation.]

All right.

[Her stomach is starting to grumble again anyway. She should grab some more food.]

[misterblackbird]

And I do bid you a good afternoon.

[He tips his hat and off he goes on his errands.]