☤ ninety-six

[as_damaged]

[ prelude | early this morning ]

It’s not every morning that sees Cameron out running; but the weather’s right-- cool enough to be comfortable but not cold enough to leave her shivering-- and right now she craves the distraction as much as the exercise. It’s hard not to be on edge at the best of times, in the City; right now, with exploding curses and the looming threat of... well, of whatever the City might do to retaliate... she’s seen trouble enough here to know it’s worth worrying about.

It’s sheer chance that something off the path catches her eye, that she decides to go investigate, warily walking a short distance into the woods to find herself beside an old, yawning well, trying to make out a shape in its depths. She gives the half-rotted rope an experimental tug to see if it brings anything up, rolling her eyes a bit when she manages to make out a pair of shoes.

She doesn’t trust the Anonymous organization much more than she trusted the Deities... but she can’t in good conscience leave the broken curse here, to destabilize the City. Whatever that might mean.

Her mistake is obvious the second she touches the shoes and her feet twitch, carrying her away in a wild and irregular waltz, so sudden she nearly drops them.

[ text; ]

All right, Anonymous. I have a piece of your curse. You could have mentioned what would happen, by the way.

Now what?



[ open action; ]

Work is out of the question, of course; going home, apparently, is no easier. Cameron carries the cursed shoes with her until surrendering them to the self-appointed authorities; after, she’s not entirely surprised to find her condition is unchanged.

And so, all morning, all afternoon, and long into the night-- she dances, twirling quickly and erratically through the streets, barely (and not always) able to avoid running into people.

She’s not happy about it.


[ooc; CURSE PIECE FOUND. Feel free to find Cameron near the woods or, later, anywhere in the City proper; she’s trying to get home but really has no control over where she goes. if your character touches her, they will catch the curse, and for 24 hours from time of contact will be cursed to dance in any style you like, without stopping. Also, they will be contagious! General event info post here.]

Comments

[willworkforexperience]

I'm on my way!

[Huffing]

Ohhhh noooo did it go off?

[Because a minute later there he is on a little green vespa]

[as_damaged]

[She's spinning in small circles, as close as she can come to staying still. It's not very close, though; the less she ranges, the faster she spins, still clutching the shoes.]

I'd have called someone to pick it up for me-- [whirl, whirl] if I'd known.

[willworkforexperience]

Ohhhhhhh.

Well.

[He takes out of his pocket a little cloth shopping bag, the kind used to save on plastic, and holds it open]

If you please.

[as_damaged]

If I can.

[She sways a little, tries to turn back toward him.]

Who are you, anyway?

[willworkforexperience]

Katstros, I'm the intern-

[He has some fly moves of his own (no he doesn't) but he's dancing around her to get the damned shoes]

[as_damaged]

[She's trying to help-- sort of-- and wondering exactly how you end up as an intern for a questionably progress revolutionary group in a chaotic pocket dimension, holding the shoes out and trying to snag their heels on the lip of the bag to drop them in.]

[willworkforexperience]

[+1 pair of shoes]

Perfect, thank you!

[He ties the bag up and puts it on his little vespa and-]

Oh!

[And he takes out his PDA and reads off:]

Thank you for your help, Cityzen! We are happy to extend a gift of one item from home for your service! Please think about what you would like and place a request in your mailbox, and we will get it to you as soon as possible!

[And then he smiles.]

[as_damaged]

Great. Thanks.

[She was halfway hoping she'd be able to stop once she got rid of the shoes, but she's still in motion, managing to at least keep a straight line of sight, doing an awkward little jig from side to side.]

Is there anything you can do about this?

[willworkforexperience]

[Pause]

Oh, well.

I had actually kind of thought it would stop once you stopped touching them.

[as_damaged]

Great.

[Because, you know.

The worst part is she's not all that good a dancer.]

TEXT »

[medicos]

Let me guess, nothing good happened.

TEXT »

[as_damaged]

Amazingly, grabbing a curse? cursed me.

TEXT »

[medicos]

Sounds like a riot.

Nothing life threatening though, right?

TEXT »

[as_damaged]

I've had this one before. Dancing. I think I'll be all right.

TEXT »

[medicos]

Dancing? As in it makes you want to dance or you just start dancing out of nowhere?

TEXT »

[as_damaged]

Have you ever heard the fairy tale about the red shoes?

TEXT »

[medicos]

That the one where they had to chop off her feet because her shoes wouldn't stop dancing?

[ very morbid. ]

TEXT »

[as_damaged]

I think I'll just try waiting it out

TEXT »

[medicos]

Yeah, I suggest that, too.

Good luck.

TEXT »

[as_damaged]

I just hope turning them in was the right thing to do, honestly.

TEXT »

[medicos]

Not a whole lot of trust to the Anonymous, huh?

TEXT »

[as_damaged]

We only have their word that something will go wrong if they don't recover the curse. I'm not convinced there's been that much of a change since they took over.

[vengefully]

Something happened when you found it?

[as_damaged]

When I picked it up, I was cursed. Be careful, if you find one.

[vengefully]

Cursed? How bad was the affect?

[as_damaged]

Dancing.

[vengefully]

Sounds annoying, I suppose it could have been worse though.

[as_damaged]

That's essentially how I look at it.

[vengefully]

There have been worse curses, after all— unless the affects of that one last longer than midnight.

» text

[thenormalsquint]

Uh oh. What happened?

» text

[as_damaged]

Were you ever cursed to dance all day?

[dr_conscience]

Cameron? You all right?

[as_damaged]

Cursed, but not dangerously so, I don't think. Luckily I was wearing running shoes.

[dr_conscience]

{Running shoes?]

What did you get stuck with?

[as_damaged]

Dancing.

I have to assume until midnight.

[Not really, though. She should be so lucky.]

[dr_conscience]

Presumably. {Or not.] I suppose it could be worse, though knowing that never does quite negate it.

Which did you find?

[as_damaged]

Red shoes.

[dr_conscience]

Oh. Of course.

[The curse.]

They really just... looked like ordinary shoes?

[as_damaged]

They looked out of place, but the shoes themselves looked normal enough.

[dr_conscience]

Huh. I'm not sure what I quite expected, honestly. Not that, somehow.

[as_damaged]

Less mundane, or less relevant to their effects?

[dr_conscience]

Both? Though maybe more that I expected something less mundane. The fact that the curses are apparently made up of random items is already an odd enough concept to accept.

[as_damaged]

I think we're looking at it the wrong way. I think it's just-- symbolic.

audio;

[vicodincrutch]

[ABBA plays. Just the intro. Just a few moments to a certain song. It stops though.]

What if we sedate you.

audio;

[as_damaged]

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.

audio;

[vicodincrutch]

How comfortable are you right now?

audio;

[as_damaged]

Ask me again in a couple of hours.

[She's not very comfortable, though. The edge of her exhaustion is starting to show in her tone.]