misterblackbird: (Blue Roses Bone Knife)
Cain Hargreaves ([personal profile] misterblackbird) wrote2008-08-20 11:28 am

Entry 201; Day 473

[Filtered from DELILAH || Unhackable]
So that's two curses I've seen before that have missed me again, first the handcuffs and then this one for the duration of the weekend. I'm still trying to piece out what happened over the weekend, since it seemed a combination of amnesia and uncharacteristic action. Somewhere on the Network, I read an idea that it was a sort of variation on a theme, that it was what might have been or could have been traced out to its ultimate end.

And that end was more than a few peculiar posts on the Network, that's for certain.

Still, for certain people I knew, it was both unsettling and interesting to see how things might have been for them. I sometimes wonder if I'd like some of them as much as I do if they'd ended up differently. Even after that curse, I'm still not sure.

After having to endure that stupid curse with the bizarre pictures and misspelled words, I should be glad I've been missed by these last two.

And now this one today, because there's undoubtedly a curse today if the Network is anything to go by. I remember this one too, and it's another one that can swing from good to bad. The last time it struck, I recall that there were some who were more than happy to seem older than they were, and equally many--perhaps even more--who weren't happy.

That's nothing new with curses, though, really.

Riff, I hope you're not aged beyond recognition or use today. But, then, you're not so old, not even by comparison. Still, I had to put up with this once before, and it's neither comfortable nor enjoyable.

[Private || Unhackable]
In my case, it was far worse than simply finding myself aged, and with no false memories of having aged, either.

All those times Uncle Neil had said I looked like my father came to pass. To look in the mirror and see his face looking back--I can't explain the horror of it. It was like a bad dream, to suddenly find oneself looking like one's worst enemy. The only parts of me that seemed myself were my eyes, and despite how much I hate them, that was an odd comfort. I was not him, though I might look like him. My eyes proved I was myself. Even if my eyes are, in part, his doing.

If that's the inevitable, then I'll promise myself again that I'll undo him, and then undo the horror of seeing his face for my face. If I can claim it for myself, then I can grow old easily.

I'd always thought I more resembled my mother--so I'd been told the other half of the time. I suppose it's little surprise I might resemble them both.

I'm more than glad it's missed me this time around again.
[//end filter]

[Private to Crehador || Viewable to Riff || Unhackable]
I must speak to you, and soon. If it isn't yet safe, then don't respond, but know that I must speak to you. With luck you're not turned into a old man, or worse, a pile of bones.

There are more than a few people following after the evidence you gave me. I don't doubt that the police will follow the letter of the law, and how unsatisfying that would be.

I must know some clue as to where he is, Crehador. I must get to him first.
[//end filter]

I wonder if the carousel isn't representative of the curses too, since certain ones seem to come around again in cycles. Or perhaps the ticking is the sound of the clockwork mechanism that brings the curses around again and again. Imagine if there were sets of hands, more than on a clock, and certain alignments brought about certain curses--imagine if that were the source of the ticking.

Although, we've been told what the ticking is. Whether that's true or not is, as always, up for debate.

Miss Himawari, I'm glad you enjoyed the ghost story last night, though I don't think I told it as well as I could. Still, it does show that ghosts in my world aren't often ghosts, but they can be something far stranger.

I hate to walk about like youth and beauty incarnate today, but I'm sure I can't help it. Just remember that it will end by midnight, and then, hopefully, you'll not have to endure it again for many years.

~C.

[ooc: Someone has to be young so the old people can scare him, right??? I hit him with this one last time to great effect, but...wasn't feeling the shooped!Alexis icons this time. Crai, I know. That DELILAH filter can only keep out known members, so, White Owl? Since Cain doesn't know who or what he is, only barely that he's here at all after that violin post, Cain doesn't know to screen him out. Usual exceptions apply: Crehador and Megumi Yamamura.]

[identity profile] monochrome-mind.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Indeed. Even if it's a small thing, perhaps one day, we can start predicting the type and day for curses.

No, I'm not. I've been unaffected by the last two curses, actually. Although, that doesn't mean I'm not concerned with them, especially after at 'alternate path' one.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I wonder how difficult the 'deities' might make that for us? Still, it's a fantastic idea and I'd pursue it, certainly. We've records of what curses have come before and when.

The same as I have been--or not, rather. Was there some possibility revealed that you were unaware of, or that you're grateful did not come to pass?

[identity profile] monochrome-mind.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Knowing them, they'll try to make to make it impossible. I find myself fascinated with the idea as well, along with a possibility of finding a way to reverse curses as they happen.

A little bit of both, actually. I was grateful to have skipped over, however, a few people I know were less lucky. My ex-partner was one of them. She was entitled to live a life, in which she corrected a critical mistake. It was both pleasing and depressing to see her like that.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 08:56 pm (UTC)(link)
No one's yet found a way either to predict the curses or reverse them, although from time to time someone will seem to 'wake up' in the middle of a curse and realise what's going on. I don't think the 'deities' want us to completely solve that riddle.

I can see how that would be bittersweet for her, and for you.

[identity profile] monochrome-mind.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Understandable. If one could figure out all of that, then the Deities would have little control over us.

...I do not wish for any sort of sympathy in regards to that incident. There was no way I could take control of the curse and win. Would I have really wanted to as well? I'm still trying to figure out which is worse: ruining someone's false happiness, or being unable to do anything at all?

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
And that is the one thing they absolutely do not want.

Then I apologise for having offended you so. You do make wise point, besides curses being unstoppable and unavoidable, would anyone have wanted to undo it?

[identity profile] monochrome-mind.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Without a doubt.

You didn't offend me. It's just a personal preference of mine. I know the feeling, as I wasn't sure what to do myself. I doubt I'll come to any sort of resolution for a while, nor will I be talking to my partner about her feelings.

[identity profile] misterblackbird.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Sometimes that's the best solution, though it's often the most difficult. I had been speculating that the curses might be designed to teach us, but now I'm less and less certain of that.