Event: Curses!

[applesaucemod]

The twenty-seventh of August dawns bright and clear, but when your characters wake up, they will immediately notice something wrong. They've woken up the wrong size, or species, or age. Or perhaps everything seems normal until they take a bite of their apple-flavored toaster strudel, or attempt to speak, or wander into the woods, or bump into that old crone in the subway and fail to adequately apologize. However it happens, there's no getting around it: your characters are cursed, like an unfortunate out of a fairy tale.

On the bright side, many curses can be broken. Unfortunately, none of them come with user manuals, so how they might be broken isn't clear. Perhaps true love's kiss will do it, or a heroically sacrificial act, or some serious reflection followed by revelatory insight into your own soul. Or, y'know, whatever. But it's far more likely that your character will just be stuck with whatever it is until sunset, when any and all remaining curses will be broken.

[OOC: Feel free to use this post for initial reactions to whatever curse your character has found themselves suffering. Any additional posts for more specified shenanigans can go up under the 'events: curses' tag. Sunset is a little after 7:30 PM. Backdating and backtagging are the best and you should do both of those things if necessary.]

Comments

[peeta_mellark]

Frozen with horror, Peeta watches Katniss and the Daines as if from underwater. He has the sudden, overwhelming urge to tear up the drawing, to undo what he has done. But though his hand twitches slightly, he can't look away from Katniss, much less pivot around to grab the sketch. And as quickly as it came, the urge passes.

It isn't until Katniss turns her eyes back to him, gaze snapping to his at Daine's suggestion of drawing a mouth, that he can move. Katniss's eyes are the right color, and the look in them - questioning, uncertain, afraid - is so painfully familiar it makes Peeta's stomach twist. But there's something of Daine in the shape - around the edges, in the brow - and he quickly turns away, using the retrieval of his pencil to cover his discomfort.

"Yeah, I can do that," he answers, spinning back around and rising from his chair in one smooth motion, pencil in hand. He approaches Katniss with a small, gentle smile. His eyes say I'm sorry and I've missed you, but all he says out loud is, "We'll see if this works." He raises the pencil. "Might need a pen."

Katniss, however, steps back as he approaches and throws up an arm, eyes darting between him and the Daines, confusion and anger in her gaze. Peeta stops his progress, arm dropping back to his side. "I know you're confused and scared, but I can fix this," he says in a soft voice. "And then you can yell at me properly," he adds in a gently teasing tone, hoping it help calm Katniss's fears.

[wildmage_daine]

One of the Daines - the one who can't speak aloud, anyway - sits down heavily on the bed. She can more easily comfort Effie from there (and it's just as well she won't be saying the puppy's name aloud; that might just make things worse), and neither of the Daines want Katniss to feel crowded. She pats the bedspread, and Effie slinks out from beneath the bed and hops up onto the bedspread, all but crawling into Daine's lap.

"It's all right," says the other Daine, as if to soothe a hurt, frightened animal. "I know this feels mad - the same thing happened to me, earlier today - but I promise we can explain. It'll just be easier if you can talk back, so we'll... we'll fix that, first." Glancing at Peeta, she allows some of her simmering disapproval to leak out into her tone. "Then we can both yell at him."

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta glances back over his shoulder at the Daines, flinching almost imperceptibly at the sight of Effie in one of the Daines' laps. His guilt swells again momentarily and he makes a mental promise to himself to make it up to Effie later with a long walk and something savory from the kitchens.

But for now his focus is on Katniss, and he turns back to her.

"Daine's right. This is strange and terrifying, but we can explain." He pauses then, waiting until Katniss gives him a sharp nod. They both take the final step toward one another and Peeta raises his hand again, the empty one joining it this time. Gently, he takes Katniss's chin in the free hand and carefully attempts to draw on her face.

Nothing happens. Believing that he might simply be applying too slight a pressure (out of fear of hurting Katniss), he presses more firmly. No new lines appear and Katniss pulls her face out of his hands, the frown on her face deepening with signs of pain. "Just a second," Peeta says, crossing to his desk and back in just a few strides. Pen now in hand, he reaches for Katniss again.

She glares at him for a moment, but eventually steps forward and consents to let him take her chin one more time. Peeta tries the pen with similar results. Faint tendrils of panic stretch inside him and he mutters a "Hang on" before retracing his steps to retrieve a marker from the desk.

This time, however, Katniss jerks away from his touch. Her expression is a livid mixture of frustration and fear and she gives him a shove that causes him to stumble backward into the chair he made earlier. "Katniss," he starts, "just let me--" But she pushes him again before slapping the marker out of his hand and jabbing a finger in his chest. He can see how badly she wants to yell at him, and her anxiety about not being able to so hurts him more than the sharpness of her finger against his ribs. "Katniss," he tries again, attempting to take her by the arms. He only receives another shove for his troubles.

[wildmage_daine]

Both Daines look dismayed as the plan fails to work - particularly the one on the bed, who'd indirectly suggested it. Maybe if he just drew a portrait? But that might result in just Katniss's head showing up, and that'd be worse than what they're already dealing with.

And now she's getting violent, lashing out like a cornered cat. Daine doesn't entirely blame her, at least not for the frustration and fear, but it's not helping matters. And she won't have anyone hurting Peeta, old friend from home or no. Not while she just stands idly by.

"No," she says firmly, stepping between them and shifting her arm into the shaggy, well-muscled shape of a chimpanzee. She's much stronger this way, and it only takes a gentle shove to move Katniss back until Peeta's out of her arm's reach. "Leave be. I know, this is bad, but he can't fix it if you hurt him."

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta - used to Daine's transformations - is far less concerned by Daine's change then he is by Katniss's state. Katniss, however, stumbles out of Daine's push until her back is against the wall, eyes bugging as they dart from the Daine with animal arms, the Daine who still has not spoken, and Peeta. Her gaze finally locks on Peeta, and he imagines it's because, at the moment, he's the only familiar thing around.

He holds her gaze for a moment before raising one finger and stepping over to his desk. Quickly, but carefully, he attempts to finish the sketch he started. To his dismay, the pencil makes no mark when he draws it across the place where Katniss's lips should be. He tries one more time before giving up.

When he turns back around, frustration and guilt are clear on his face. "Katniss, I -- I'm sorry."

[wildmage_daine]

Once Katniss backs off - stumbling, putting Daine in mind of Jay and Tim's reaction to a similar shift - Daine steps back as well, letting her arm lapse back into its usual shape. Then she steps back to the bed, because the room isn't so large that she couldn't be across it in a moment if Katniss went after Peeta again.

She frowns tightly when Peeta's attempts to fix things another way fail to work. As if things aren't bad enough already - what happens when Katniss gets thirsty? She can't live long without a mouth.

"Maybe there's someone else who could help?" she ventures, glancing between the two of them. One of the angels? The Doctor? She doesn't exactly relish the thought of bringing more parties into this mess, but her magic is useless, here, and the rift doesn't seem inclined to help out, either. "There are lots of clever, powerful folk here."

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta glances around at Daine's suggestion, hope welling within him. "You have someone in mind?" he asks. Daine knows a lot more people than he does; there is every possibility that she knows someone who can help.

His gaze flickers between the Daines and Katniss, whose expression also shows a glimmer of hope beneath the ever present frustration and fear. "I'm sure there's someone who can help," he tells her, voice soft but firm.

[wildmage_daine]

The Daines consult in silence for a moment before the standing one nods. "Aziraphale. He's an angel. We don't have those in my realm, but I think it's a bit like being a god. He ought to be powerful enough to make you a mouth, and if he's not, there's at least one other person we could try." Gabriel could probably do it, too, but Daine doesn't want to ask him unless Aziraphale turns out to be a bust.

She glances back at the Daine on the bed, who digs out her phone. At least she can text without displacing any of the People, and Aziraphale might still be in the base somewhere if he's working today.

Her eyes are on her smartphone's screen, but she still notices the moment the other Daine vanishes. To her mind's eye, it's as if someone's snuffed out the sun, and she jerks her head up in shock as Effie lets out a little yelp.

Daine - the other Daine - is gone.

And so is Katniss.

Her phone drops into her lap, and she gapes at the conspicuously empty spaces where two people used to be. She couldn't make a sound even if she wanted to; it's as if the other Daine's loss has sucked all the air from her lungs. Effie's whimper breaks the ringing silence, and then Daine swallows. "... Peeta?" she says tremulously. No animals fall from her mouth. Whatever has happened, it's over.

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta's focus is on the Daine speaking as she talks about Aziraphale. He isn't sure what an angel is, either, but from what Daine has told him of Aziraphale, Peeta has no trouble believing he's powerful. His gaze flickers to the other Daine as she pulls out her phone, but immediately he shifts his focus back to Katniss, convinced now that they have a plan.

As such, he has a clear and direct view of the moment Katniss vanishes. She's throwing him looks - half glare, half terror - between inspecting his sparse accommodations, and then suddenly she isn't there any more. There is no warning for her disappearance, and the vanishing act is so sudden it takes Peeta's brain a moment to catch up. His body reacts first, and he is already on his feet by the time he registers what has happened.

An instant later he also realizes that Daine is gone, the shock of her loss compounding that of Katniss. Temporary panic makes his knees go weak, and he drops back into his chair with a heavy thud. The impact jars his thoughts straight again, and he turns to the Daine he remembers he still has even as she calls his name.

"You can talk," he says dumbly, mumbling the first coherent thought he has.

[wildmage_daine]

"Yes." Her hands, half-lifted in an automatic gesture to catch anyone who might have fallen out of her mouth, drop back into her lap. There's no need for that, anymore. "I... I guess it's over."

She probably shouldn't even be surprised. It's not so different from when all the rabbits disappeared, except for the part where it was her own self that vanished just now.

And Katniss. Peeta just lost her again. It never would have happened if he hadn't conjured her up in the first place, on purpose, but saying as much would be no help at all. Besides, he's doubtless figured that out for himself.

The room feels so empty.

"Are you...?" she starts to ask before cutting herself off. Of course he isn't.

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta gives an absentminded nod as he turns to stare once again at the spot where Katniss once stood. Of course it's over. The Katniss who wasn't Katniss, who had more than a touch of Daine to her, who had no mouth is gone. So is the other Daine, who was completely Daine. The rift never seems to torture them for too long.

This time, he only has himself to blame. Self recrimination does little to dull the ache that tightens his chest, or the lingering horror of what he created, of what he did. His hands ball into fists, the one gripping the back of his chair tightening until the knuckles turn white.

He turns his head sharply and looks Daine in the eyes. It's both easier and natural for him to focus on someone else's pain. "I'm sorry." With Daine, he hadn't known what his drawing could do, but he still caused her pain. "About the other Daine."

His gaze shifts to Effie, still huddled next to Daine, and he rises from his chair. Gently lowering himself onto bed, he gives Effie's head a careful stroke, an assurance that everything's okay. She twists her head to lick his wrist before crawling into his lap.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine shakes her head, a startled, twitching movement, as if a bug had flown into her face. It had been nice having another Daine, here, but it hadn't been... it hadn't been right. There was never supposed to be another one of her. She hasn't spent the better part of a year missing herself. And some part of her had expected her disappearance, or at least known it might happen.

It had been a happy accident, the two of her. It hadn't been something she was wanting.

Peeta sits down beside her, and that feels a bit better, like the emptiness in the room is an enemy they're facing down together and not something hanging between them. She shifts, turning towards him once Effie's relocated to his lap. "I'm sorry about Katniss," she says quietly. After a beat, she reaches out a cautious hand and lays it on his shoulder.