Open RP post for Rosie (Spindle's End)

[inasmithsyard]

Small spider weave on a silver sleeve
Oh weave your grey web nearer.
From a golden crown let your silk hang down
For lost, lost, lost is the wearer.

Comments

[followthewolf]

His stomach twists and he gets a shade paler as she warns him of things that he wishes he'd been aware of before now. There's nothing magical about him, he can't sense it the way Rosie might, but he thought that he'd been around it enough to see the signs. It wipes away any comfort he'd taken by staying out in the woods.

"That's good to know." How he wishes he could recall every meal he's had over the last several days. It's a terrible thing to second guess. He tries to be calm as he speaks, but he can't hide his concern. "Magic exists where I come from, but I haven't been many places where it's so widespread. Is it something in the land or the sorcerers here?"

[inasmithsyard]

"Oh, the land. There are magicians and there are fairies, but the thing about this kingdom is that the magic is so thick that it settles like dust and we have to clean our houses twice as often. My magic is just baby magic, like a handful of ordinary people get." If much more intense and long lasting.

"Most people grow out of things like talking to animals. I've always been afraid I would." She hasn't yet, and she's old enough that she probably ought to have. The admission isn't one she would make to a friend. Somehow the fact that Graham is a stranger not just to her but to the Gig and the kingdom makes it easier.

[followthewolf]

It's fortunate that he ran into her before he experienced anything more alarming, so he nods in gratitude while he absorbs these new facts. His lips twist in a small smile at the way she calls it 'baby' magic, as if it isn't extraordinary at all. Graham has spent more of his life with animals than people, at least when he had the choice, and actually thought that they communicated quite well. Suddenly he feels like a novice standing in front of someone like her.

"I can imagine they wouldn't forget you, even if you had." Graham considers her for a quiet moment, then takes in a breath and asks something that he knows he needs to get to. Even if he's not sure which answer he prefers. "How often do you get visitors from other lands?"

[inasmithsyard]

Rosie can grasp, just barely, what it must be like to be unable to talk to animals. She can't begin to imagine what it's like for Katriona, who used to be able to, but then lost it. Kat became a real fairy, though, while Rosie is just... Rosie. With beast speech, and so grateful for it.

"Less often than I think most kingdoms have. Everyone who comes here either loves it and stays as long as they can, or they hate it and leave as quickly as possible. And I think they might forget, or stop believing, just how magical the land is once they leave it."

[followthewolf]

He nods and absorbs her answer, nearly following it with a question about how long it's been since she saw another outsider, but he feels that she may have already answered that. For his part, he never planned on staying longer than he needs to. It's just that as directionless as he is, as lost, he's not overly anxious to head out on his own again. At least, not when the wolf seems so willing to trust their new friend.

When she mentions forgetting a magical place, his expression hardens, but his tone is still tentative when he continues. "Why would they hate it?"

[inasmithsyard]

"It's just that it takes adjustment, I think. We're all well used to the quirks of living here. Anyone who doesn't have a fairy to descale their kettles of magic has to grow a vine that can do the same, for instance, so they don't end up with something besides water in their teacups."

Rosie makes a face. "Pruning one of those is like going into battle; I've been taking care of our neighbor's dja vine since we moved into the wheelwright's house and Kat and Aunt's magic made it grow like crazy. I think I know how armies felt fighting fire wyrms all those years ago."