Charles

[rosebleed]

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[riverbeans]

[he gives her a little smile.]

Yeah, I'm fine. That's what I should be asking you, Princess.

[rosebleed]

Oh, no, I'm fine. [She waves it off, smiling bright.] That was all a while ago. And as you can see it's not like...I'm okay now. So. It's all okay!

Everything worked out.

[riverbeans]

I... see. Does, uh, that kind of thing happen often?

[rosebleed]

...Dying?

[Her lips press tight together. Maybe she should have tried to cover but that was a an inescapably departed soul there. Eyes wide open, didn't even flinch when she got trampled.]

Um. Well. Who doesn't? Eventually. I try not to. Same as everyone else!

[riverbeans]

[he holds up his hands.]

All right, I get it—very personal, I won't ask further.

[rosebleed]

[Now she feels a bit like a jerk. Rosamund shifts on the spot, tucking a hair behind her ear.]

It's not that I don't trust you Charles. I just... I don't know how...

[She gnaws at her lip.]

Actually, can you come with me for a moment?

[riverbeans]

Sure, I've got a moment. Though I'm not taking it personally, if that's what you're worried about—everyone has things they find hard to talk about.

[but he will go with her if she wishes.]

[rosebleed]

I wouldn't blame you if you did, though. [Particularly when he's sat through so much of her whining and hand-wringing, and she's done so little to be of help to him.

For now she leads him back to their rooms, dipping quietly into hers and coming out with a book.]

Do you remember how Totty looked different the trial? And he said he was some sort...I don't know, animated. Thing. [She sighs.] I'm a little like that. Only much more old fashioned.

[And here she presses the book into his hands. Though sapped of its power it still gives an aura of potency. Something about the too-fine finish maybe. The title is scrawled in a golden embossing: Sleeping Beauty.]

[riverbeans]

[he reads the title and flips through the book, examining it with a thoughtful gaze.]

So you're... a character from fiction, or something like that?

[rosebleed]

Fairy tale.

[She grimaces.]

I don't know how it works for anyone else, but for people like me, we can live as many times as our stories have been told. If I die, I start over.

I just didn't realize it until...well. Until that very time. Cinderella told me.

[riverbeans]

[...]

That... sounds useful, but also extremely unpleasant.

[rosebleed]

It's not useful. [She shakes her head.] It means I start in a different version of my story, and I couldn't even remember my other lives before. And now that I do remember, those memories double. I'm lucky that not a terrible lot has changed, but the things that do, I have trouble...I can't always remember which is true right now, and which was true before.

And it also means I don't get to go back and finish anything I started. And lately, each time I wake up, the worse my story gets.

[She points to the briars wound at her gut. Emerging from her gut.]

These aren't supposed to be here at all. And they weren't half so bad last time.

[riverbeans]

... I'm sorry, Rosamund. That's a horrible thing to have to go through, again and again.

[rosebleed]

I don't have it as bad as some people. [She smiles, thin but gracious, giving his arm a soft squeeze.] Thank you for listening Charles. You're a really great guy, you know that?

[Also...]

You're going to make someone very happy someday.

[riverbeans]

Even if you don't have it as bad, pain is still pain.

[but at the second comment, he gives a sheepish grin.]

I certainly hope so. Thank you, Princess.