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[crittersheep]

WHO: all
WHERE: all
WHEN: Day 9, evening into night

[the sun goes down; the two moons rise.

it all looks...quite different. the laundromat lengthens and transforms the silhouette of Woolietown in the distance. the lighthouse beacon comes to life for the first time, throwing strong, brilliant light and stark shadows across the meadow and into the barns. the lazy river encircles the pasture in a glittering band, the bobbing shapes of the pool toys a little bit eerie until they drift into full view.

perhaps some of you are winding down. perhaps some of you are just gearing up for a wild adventure in the shadows. perhaps some of you, regardless of if you sleep or stay up, find your dreams and nightmares crawling out beyond the bounds of your own head tonight, drawing others in...

the night is full of possibilities.]

Comments

[endsjustified]

I will not make you do so, if it is not what you want.

[does he want to invade her privacy any further...? maybe it's not that so much if this is an elaborate metaphor, he decides]

May I ask, what makes you less happy than you could be here?

[beathollow]

... My friends cannot cross into the forest. But it's the only place she can't reach me, either. And I don't know how to heal alone.

[endsjustified]

You need not tell me if it is not for the ears of strangers: but what are you healing from? Her grip upon your life and how it is lived, or more than that?

[beathollow]

... If you've lived your entire life on strings, how do you learn to walk on your own? If your entire self-worth was built for one person and her alone- when you break free, how do you pick up the pieces? Everything in my life- it was all at her whim. The books I kept. The hobbies I had. She would come in and pick and choose- throw away precious memories and items like they were garbage, simply because they didn't suit her, and thus, they did not suit her princess.

I'm not a person. Not yet. And it hurts.

[endsjustified]

[ah. she is not the first such person he has met, though she is a much more extreme case than the ones he is encountered, if this recounting is true and not exaggerated...

no, even if it's exaggerated, the scenario is true to her, he reminds himself, and he should respect that.]

So what do you feel you need? Further barriers against her, so that she cannot come back in and interrupt you as you heal, as you learn to grow and find your own preferences instead of hers? How may I assist? If the answer is 'peace and solitude,' I do not mind leaving; you clearly have at least something of what you require here.

[beathollow]

( the princess is quiet, before her shoulders fall. )

I don't know. I never considered life without her. All of this is so strange and overwhelming.

... I would... like adults that I can trust to not hurt me. And to not ever go back to the castle. I know that much.

[endsjustified]

[a small, thoughtful noise...he'll lower himself to sitting instead of standing awkwardly, here, if nothing stops him]

Most of that's beyond my own control. But I'll offer you a moment's candid honesty, if you like.

[beathollow]

... You may.

[endsjustified]

[takes a deep breath, thinking, and lets it out.]

Unless you have not told me something -- and if so, I am making assumptions here, and apologize -- you are human. You are young, and quite mortal, and quite vulnerable.

But if you take something from me, let it be this. You are also stronger than you think. Everything objectionable and bad that you will encounter in your life, no matter how impossible it seems when you are caught in the thick of it, is fallible. There is a way to surmount it. That way may not intristically lie within yourself -- it is important that you not fall into the trap of solving all your problems alone, that you find those others who will help and not hurt you. However, there is a power simply in looking at these obstacles, and saying 'no.' If you take that step, and continue to take it, everything can go from there.