misterblackbird: (So Newly Charming)
Cain Hargreaves ([personal profile] misterblackbird) wrote2008-04-30 11:05 am

Entry 157; Day 363

The Network is fascinating today: it seems people are saying too much again. At least the zombies are gone, but we've been hit immediately afterwards with a curse. That's City timing for you, yet again. I think this one, or some variation on it, has come around before. It's one of the more tiresome ones, and requires far more mopping up after the fact than some others. That is, if things go wrong.

There's a lot to be said for tact and politeness--two of my favourite tools, or weapons, as the case may be. One can say nearly anything without lying if one knows how to go about it. But from what I've seen of the residents of the City, it seems tact is a lost art in most worlds. Granted, a curse could make one blunt, but it seems like some citizens are like that most every day. And the ones who aren't are invariably schemers.

I suppose there's a difference between being blunt and being honest. One may be a blunt liar, or one may be blunt and still keep secrets. Still, there's a fine art to simply not saying something while still being perfectly honest. It's a shame it's not a better practiced art here.

For example, I can say to you quite honestly that I have done extensive, though not entirely scientific, experiments in chemistry. I'm no chemist, but I've dabbled in it. I've also assisted the medical community of the City on a few occasions with that chemistry.

In my own world I had quite the reputation and I'm both relieved and saddened that it hasn't followed me here. I am truly and sincerely concerned for both Merry and Riff and thoughts of them occupy my mind most of the day. I am likewise concerned for the other residents of the Opera Abandoned, but mostly that they should not get themselves entangled in my confused affairs: they are my concerns and I don't want anyone else harmed by them--which makes me consider moving out of the opera house quite a bit, but the barricades and protection we've arranged for one another are far better than I could establish in a flat of my own. I miss London, but in part because I miss the amount of power I could wield there--reputations do wonders, as much as tact can. I miss the things reputation could garner me.

I have greater concerns than petty day-to-day City business. I am bound and determined to kill my father in City and trap him here. Then Merry, Riff, and I will escape back to London and abandon him here. I've had this plan for the better part of a year now. Perhaps the final battle is getting closer. I still hate the smell of roses.

I also like getting the last word, better if it's a witty one.

~C.

[ooc: He's reading the Network, hoping for an opening. Maybe someone will drop some information. Oh wait, he's cursed too, and doesn't quite realize it yet! Come ask him embarrassing questions :3 Work demands my soul soon, but I will tag as much as I can before, (during,) and after.]

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
If I may interject: my father is likewise a monster. How is her situation any different than mine?

[identity profile] freakyfanboy.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
He's human, isn't he? The Raven was an actual Raven the size of several buildings.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
His humanity doesn't make him any less of a monster.

[identity profile] freakyfanboy.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
Personality-wise, yes. But just take one look at Rue--it's obvious she's not the child of a Raven. She must have known somehow.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
Dealing with one's parents--even if they are not truly one's parents--is a complicated matter. You yourself should know that, if your father was left abandoned. How did you think of your mother?

[ooc: Is it, like, a rule that anyone who lives in the opera house has to have issues with his or her parents? XD]

1/2

[identity profile] freakyfanboy.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
...I didn't know what to think. My father wasn't an easy man to deal with. Even if his theories turned out to be right, he must have sounded like a madman. Even I thought he was, for a brief period of time. So I understand why she would leave him, but...I don't understand why she'd leave--

[identity profile] freakyfanboy.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
You're taking advantage of this curse! It..it doesn't matter what happened. It may be complicated, but...I don't care about what she thought. It's no use dwelling on it. Rue shouldn't dwell either.

((OOC: LOL. XD Well...Chrono would like to point out that his issue is with his twin brother, not his parents...? ...Of course, he doesn't know what happened to his mother yet.
...As for Autor, last time I had him I said that he had a very good relationship with his mother, but I decided that since he's so cynical and...even bent on world domination, he'd be more likely to assume when she disappeared that he was abandoned or....somesuch.

...Knowing me I'll probably go "No! Never mind! I decided on something else!" and retcon it in six months.))

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not taking advantage of the curse in the slightest. I'm only pointing out the obvious.

[identity profile] freakyfanboy.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I'd rather not speak about my mother or my father. And I don't appreciate being tricked into talking about them. But I suppose I forced Rue into the conversation about her father, so I...

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
We're all guilty in this.

[identity profile] princess-crow.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
Even worse... The Raven... was created to be that way. He had no choice.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
I admit, I sometimes wonder what it was that turned my father into the beast he was--the beast he still is.

[identity profile] princess-crow.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
You are worried to become like he is, Earl? Sometimes I have nightmares I turn into a real monster like the Raven.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
Either that I'll become like him or that I'll have to live under his rule again, that he'll win.

[identity profile] princess-crow.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
I have the same... the same fears. If he returns, what if I'll be under his influence? What if he wins this time?

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
Now you understand why I mean to finish my fight here.

[identity profile] princess-crow.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I never said anything against, Earl.