[the way Marina and the Diamonds was the wrong soundtrack for this
Rosamund is no stranger to horror. But each kind elicits its own unique fear. And these worlds are vast and terrible and strange, just as much as they are wonderful. She doesn't think they'll ever stop surprising her.
The creature of smoke that comes for his kingdom makes her pulse spike. Because how would you fight it? You'd have to be an incredible witch. No magic she herself knows, save maybe a barrage of well aimed guiding bolts.
Rosamund looks to Rupert, mortified.]
Did you find it? The book? Were you able...oh, Rupert. [she will take his hands, shaking her head with wide eyes.] I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.
[there's silence for a moment - it's not the first time he's relived these moments in either thoughts or nightmares, but it's different to see it so vivid and realized again. the terror in the air, the aching sense of loss, and the thought of everything that came after that encounter. how things kept getting worse from that point onwards.
it's her hands gripping his that brings him out of it with a sharp shudder, a harsh intake of breath. he blinks a few times, shaking his head to clear it. once he's actually able to process that question, but it's as much as he can do immediately to answer that exact question.]
It's... The book didn't help. We had to... [backing up a little, taking a deep breath. making an effort to calm down enough to tell her the most important thing about what happened.] I mean - they were alright. They came back.
[but it's the same as place like this; sometimes a happy ending, while nice, doesn't quite erase the things you've had to see and hear along the way.]
Even if they did, that doesn't make it any less horrifying.
[something about the screams slowly tapering. It chills her to the bone. He's having trouble even speaking about it, bracing for it. Swallowing up. Her thumb rubs over his knuckles, soothing.]
[after a moment, the easiest way to explain it is probably:]
That thing... It was created because of a curse, kind of. The person who cast that curse in the first place - we were able to convince them to call it off in the end.
Well... It wasn't really their fault. Someone kind of forced them into it. [...] I don't mind telling you, but it's a little bit of a long story. Want me to start from the beginning?
[giving her a nod, and a little smile. he appreciates it - he does seem to be coming out of the worst of those emotions, breathing more steadily now. anyways it's time for a long story sorry for the tl;dr here.]
It was a curse, but... It came across because of what should have been a blessing.
[ok fantasy tropes. anyways.]
A boy back in my world - well, I say that, but he's older than I am. He was still a boy when this all started, though, and something terrible happened to his country. A sickness that killed everyone but him - his parents, his friends, everyone else. He was left alone.
[he has so many mixed feelings in this person, but - the sympathy in his voice here, at least, doesn't waver until he starts to move on.]
There are higher beings where I come from, magical creatures that can grant wishes. One of them assumed a physical form and came down when she saw the pain he was in. She asked if there was a wish she could grant him to give him any consolation, but the wish he gave her was for eternal happiness. Not really surprising, given what he was going through. She told him that was a wish she couldn't grant, but he begged. When the begging didn't work... Since she'd taken physical form, he trapped her. Hurt her, made her agree in any way he could.
She granted his wish, and he let her go. What he didn't know was that the reason she refused his request was because a blessing like that would have another side. A consequence. But after what he did to her, I guess she thought he deserved it - that all of us deserved it. She was disillusioned. I can't really blame her for that.
From then on, every moment of happiness he had, of joy and luck - it came with a direct opposite. A balance of darkness to the light he had been given. Something connected to him that went everywhere he did, that fed off negative emotions and grew stronger with every person who fell to those feelings. He would never be hurt, but everyone around him, every person who he befriended, would die because of his presence. As for the person who granted his wish... The nature of that curse meant all she saw whenever she looked down was more people cowering and acquiescing before it. But... What you saw there - it wasn't where it ended, not entirely. This time when she looked down, she saw everyone trying to protect me. Every single person, until it was just me, and I didn't run either.
Rosamund listens, rapt as she would be with any of Timothy's stories. There's the outsized tragedy. The divine intervention. The twisting of it, curdling the magic that was meant to help. Wrath that spreads like wildfire and consumes all it touches.]
...How so? [She cants her head, curious.] Did she stop her rampage for a time?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
w3 monday
which means wherever they are, a wind picks up and puts the both of them in a memory. yayyyyy.]
no subject
Rosamund is no stranger to horror. But each kind elicits its own unique fear. And these worlds are vast and terrible and strange, just as much as they are wonderful. She doesn't think they'll ever stop surprising her.
The creature of smoke that comes for his kingdom makes her pulse spike. Because how would you fight it? You'd have to be an incredible witch. No magic she herself knows, save maybe a barrage of well aimed guiding bolts.
Rosamund looks to Rupert, mortified.]
Did you find it? The book? Were you able...oh, Rupert. [she will take his hands, shaking her head with wide eyes.] I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.
no subject
it's her hands gripping his that brings him out of it with a sharp shudder, a harsh intake of breath. he blinks a few times, shaking his head to clear it. once he's actually able to process that question, but it's as much as he can do immediately to answer that exact question.]
It's... The book didn't help. We had to... [backing up a little, taking a deep breath. making an effort to calm down enough to tell her the most important thing about what happened.] I mean - they were alright. They came back.
[but it's the same as place like this; sometimes a happy ending, while nice, doesn't quite erase the things you've had to see and hear along the way.]
no subject
[something about the screams slowly tapering. It chills her to the bone. He's having trouble even speaking about it, bracing for it. Swallowing up. Her thumb rubs over his knuckles, soothing.]
How did you get out? What did you have to do?
no subject
That thing... It was created because of a curse, kind of. The person who cast that curse in the first place - we were able to convince them to call it off in the end.
no subject
Curses. [why is it always like this.] Why did they make it in the first place?
no subject
[:handshake: terrible curse experiences]
Well... It wasn't really their fault. Someone kind of forced them into it. [...] I don't mind telling you, but it's a little bit of a long story. Want me to start from the beginning?
no subject
And to help kind of ease up how terrible that all was. Let's narrate you out of trouble, not just into it.
no subject
It was a curse, but... It came across because of what should have been a blessing.
[ok fantasy tropes. anyways.]
A boy back in my world - well, I say that, but he's older than I am. He was still a boy when this all started, though, and something terrible happened to his country. A sickness that killed everyone but him - his parents, his friends, everyone else. He was left alone.
[he has so many mixed feelings in this person, but - the sympathy in his voice here, at least, doesn't waver until he starts to move on.]
There are higher beings where I come from, magical creatures that can grant wishes. One of them assumed a physical form and came down when she saw the pain he was in. She asked if there was a wish she could grant him to give him any consolation, but the wish he gave her was for eternal happiness. Not really surprising, given what he was going through. She told him that was a wish she couldn't grant, but he begged. When the begging didn't work... Since she'd taken physical form, he trapped her. Hurt her, made her agree in any way he could.
She granted his wish, and he let her go. What he didn't know was that the reason she refused his request was because a blessing like that would have another side. A consequence. But after what he did to her, I guess she thought he deserved it - that all of us deserved it. She was disillusioned. I can't really blame her for that.
From then on, every moment of happiness he had, of joy and luck - it came with a direct opposite. A balance of darkness to the light he had been given. Something connected to him that went everywhere he did, that fed off negative emotions and grew stronger with every person who fell to those feelings. He would never be hurt, but everyone around him, every person who he befriended, would die because of his presence. As for the person who granted his wish... The nature of that curse meant all she saw whenever she looked down was more people cowering and acquiescing before it. But... What you saw there - it wasn't where it ended, not entirely. This time when she looked down, she saw everyone trying to protect me. Every single person, until it was just me, and I didn't run either.
And she changed her mind.
no subject
Rosamund listens, rapt as she would be with any of Timothy's stories. There's the outsized tragedy. The divine intervention. The twisting of it, curdling the magic that was meant to help. Wrath that spreads like wildfire and consumes all it touches.]
...How so? [She cants her head, curious.] Did she stop her rampage for a time?
no subject