Video // Day 358

[littlesoul]

[The world fell back into focus rather suddenly and River finds herself dropping to her knees with the feeling of the world overwhelming her.

She takes a few sharp breaths, and her hands are shaking a little as she fiddles around with the bracelet, trying to get it to turn on again.]

The world went out of focus. [She sounds apologetic and a little scared.] Blurry and cold. Everything fit right but the world was wrong. Found a place in a different puzzle, the one next to this one.

[Her hands are shaking little and she looks around her, uncertain of what to do now. Of what she's missed and how to slip back into the new old world she's found herself in again.]

Comments

[littlesoul]

[She shakes her head.] Didn't know. She thought he would see what happened and she got lost, faded into the background and lost her way.

[madcuriosity]

How did you find your way back?

[littlesoul]

Not sure. The bracelet found her wrist again and the world came into focus.

[madcuriosity]

And... why is Miss River referring to herself in such a way to me of all people? Have I done something wrong?

[littlesoul]

[She shakes her head, gesturing to herself.] It's for her, not you. The world isn't as jagged when she's farther from it. Miss Alice did nothing wrong.

[madcuriosity]

Is there a way for me to help her make the world seem even less jagged? I don't want you to be so far away for so long...

[littlesoul]

[She shakes her head.] Not now. maybe soon. She's getting used to the feel of the ground on her feet again. Wind and sun and bodies moving around her. She'll come back to a softer world soon, just not yet.

[madcuriosity]

Oh... well, alright. I'm still here though, would you like to do something, Miss River? I'm very good at nonsense things.

[littlesoul]

[The offer makes her smile and she nods.] Go through the motions, pretend to be a person. Remember, remember. You'll learn the steps soon enough. Nonsense songs are still music.

[madcuriosity]

Would you like me to recite a poem?

[littlesoul]

[She nods her head, smiling a little.] Poems work. Anything you want is good. Something you enjoy, something that makes you feel alive.

[madcuriosity]

I have one then. Here, I'll recite for you.

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "As I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—
Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment—one shilling the box—
Allow me to sell you a couple?"

"You are old," said the youth, "And your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"