Quest 313

[primrosella]

[Accidental Voice Post]

[The audio opens here with a clatter, as a Network device accidentally knocked askew goes tumbling to the ground and switches on by mistake--]

Oh, that horrible--it's ticking!

[There's an aghast pause, and then a shuffling flurry of movement, and then--]

Oh, no, no, no, it can't be, it--no, no, it can't--

[And with a little more rustling...]

--a machine!

[And it's quite impressive, really, how much horror and disgust and loathing she manages to compress into that one single word, and in the silence that follows before the feed switches off, the very faint sound of clockwork gears clicking can be heard.]


[OOC: Posting kind of early because I have an exam on Monday (ugh) but I didn't want to risk missing this curse because machines. TL;DR, Rosella (and everyone from Daventry) canonically loathes machinery, specifically of the clockwork-and-gears variety, so being turned into a clockwork princess today is...well. Subtle body horror at its finest? WELCOME TO OCTOBER IN THE CITY, I suppose. o/]

Comments

[primrosella]

[She's practically shaking, but it's from sheer disgust rather than any sort of fear. Which is probably also why she is perhaps holding on to his hands a little too tight.]

I can't stand it...it was bad enough the other times when it was all around but this time it's me...

[misterblackbird]

[Squeeze away. It's why he came over, pretty much.]

It isn't you. It's the City's illusions. It can't hurt you--I won't let it hurt you.

[He's of the opinion that the times before, when it was all around, acting as traps or real nightmare machinery, that was far worse. But...]

[primrosella]

[Well, then. Clinging in an overly familiar and vaguely unladylike fashion, go.]

There aren't really...

[Wait, no, okay, this might be a bearable hope to put her faith in.]

It only sounds that way? There aren't...really, inside me, any of...

[misterblackbird]

[By all means, go. We'll run with this logic a while...]

You haven't seen them, have you? So you haven't really any proof besides hearing something. And there's ticking enough in the City. It wouldn't be a difficult trick for the 'deities' to make it seem like the source of the ticking has changed.

[primrosella]

[She's always been able to count on him to lie to her when she needs it most.]

It didn't sound like the usual ticking--I remember that too well, all those months I listened to it at night, and this was different, and this--this thing in my back, I...

[She gets one hand free to kind of pat at her arms and neck, like she thinks she'll be able to feel the wheels turning if they're there beneath her skin.]

It's only a curse. It's only a curse.

[misterblackbird]

[He's rather good at it by now...]

It is only a curse.

[As best he can, with his free hand, he holds her face gently.]

And if the point of the curses is to make you--and everyone else, I suppose--miserable, I daresay this one has succeeded.

[primrosella]

That's just October, isn't it.

[She leans into the touch.]

I should've known it was just October but then I woke up and things were like this and I just...it was just so awful I couldn't...

[misterblackbird]

I'm afraid it is. It's been especially bad this year, I think.

[If she weren't so miserable, he'd be rather happy right now...]

Don't think on it so much. I'll sit here and chatter at you about the weather and everyone's health if it will keep your mind off of it.

[primrosella]

Someone told me if it...that it might run out. The...the winding. If one lets it go too long.

[She can't bring herself to mention the second half, the part about them both having the winding key in their backs.]

[misterblackbird]

I suppose that is possible, yes.

[Because, so help him, he will wind her all he has to if it keeps her from running down. But he wonders if the winding might be worse than the ticking for her...]

[primrosella]

[He might just have to, with all the energy she's used up panicking.]

It's just horrible, the whole thing. I shouldn't be surprised in the least but it's just...horrible.

[misterblackbird]

[He'll do it. He's not sure how he'll distract her to do it, but he'll do it.]

I think it's perhaps the cruelest thing they've ever done to you.

[primrosella]

It's about time they did. It's been too easy...I was just starting to think I'd seen enough that even October couldn't...it's as though I mustn't forget they can still do this, even after all this time.

[misterblackbird]

But you also mustn't forget that it's a curse, and it will be over soon. You know well enough how to stand in the face of their curses. You and I have both been here long enough to know something of that.

[primrosella]

I know. Just until midnight. It's just a matter of lasting until then.

[misterblackbird]

[He's going to be bold now:]

Shall I stay with you until then? Or would you prefer to be alone?

[primrosella]

[Bold is as bold does, and her forehead is coming down to gently rest on his shoulder.]

Don't go. Please? Please just stay, I don't...

It's better. When you're here with me.

[misterblackbird]

[Gently, gently, he rests his hand against her hair.]

I should be glad to stay. Especially if it would be better for you.