entranceway | [video]

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[video]

[Hazel's hands are partially shaking as the camera turns on. Not even when she first came to Wonderland...not even when she second came to Wonderland...or any other Event, to date, had her so flustered as the poor 14-year-old looked at that very moment. Her cheeks seemed to be shaded a permanent pinkish-red, and she was glancing around nervously. At the ground.]

If anybody sees any gemstones laying around...diamonds, rubies, emeralds...whatever you do, please don't pick them up. Please. I can't...I can't explain. Just trust me. I don't...

[To say she was close to tears might have been a slight exaggeration, but only just slightly. She had to take a deep breath in order to calm herself; an observant onlooker would notice two more palm-sized objects appear in the background, made all the more visible as their shimmering surfaces glimmered in the sunlight.]

Frank? Where are you? I need your help. It...it's happening again.

[She hoped he would remember, because she could barely bring herself to admit it aloud. After all this time, all the control she'd managed...she'd almost forgotten that she was still Cursed.]

((ooc: As part of the event, Hazel's Curse has come back with a vengeance...I say, as if it ever really left her. To put it simply, there will be random gemstones appearing from the ground at random throughout the Event. Each and every single one of these gemstones is cursed. Anyone who picks one up will suffer deadly bad luck. There is no specific time limit, however, so one might simply suffer a few mishaps during the Event itself and not perish until afterwards. There is no limit on gemstones, so anybody who wants can pick one up; if you have any other questions feel free to PM me or poke me over at plurk. Otherwise, gem-finding is a free-for-all))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What...?

[He's usually way better at paying attention to her. Even when he had Ares and Mars screaming inside his head and basically ruining his life by making him look even more like an incompetent fool, he could still focus enough to listen to her.

But right now it's just... so hard to focus, to actually pay attention.]

What is happening again?

[He didn't know. How could he not know? She'd even said it on the transmission and--]

[Please Frank I need your help.]

[Her camera lowered to the ground. There were two stones by her feet. A diamond and a sapphire.]

That.

[Up the camera went again, back to a close up of her face.]

They keep appearing. It's even worse than before. I can't stop them.

The... jewels. The curse.

[Hazel's curse. Hazel. Somehow just thinking of her helps him feel better. His body stops twitching for a moment and he actually looks at the network with his entire attention.]

It's okay. I'll come over, we'll work it out. [He actually shifts, on his way over as he speaks.] Your magic doesn't work the same in this place as it does back home, right? Maybe this is different too.

[She nodded at first, but a second later, was shaking her head.]

No.

I mean...I don't know. My magic works by manipulating the Mist. But there's no Mist here. I don't know if it's the same or not because I have no way to try it.

Maybe if there's no mist, there's also no curse?

[Which sounds weak even to his ears. He wants to believe everything will be okay, he wants to convince her everything will be okay. But when have things ever gone okay with them?]

You did all you could, warning everyone. It doesn't-

[There's a slight gasp or surprise, a little 'thud', and suddenly Frank's phone is on the floor. The kid is nowhere to be seen.]

[If there was no curse, then why were the gems--]

...Frank?

[That...wasn't like him. At all. He never disappeared on her mid-thought. Hours had been spend in one another's company in the past without either of them losing interest. Even if the topics had ranged from the mundane to the borderline boring.]

Frank, what happened to your communicator?

[There's no reply, just what sounds like dolphin whistles.

They can be heard through the communicator and through the door. Frank was right in front of her room when he flopped.]

[Oh, Frank, you crazy dolphin, you.]

[...wait...]

[Dolphin?]

[Hazel ran to the door and practically threw it open, only to find...yes, that was definitely a dolphin flopping on the ground.]

...F...rank?

[The Frank-phin (Dolfrank?) flops around a bit, making frantic noises for a second longer and doing his best to roll towards Hazel...]

[Until finally, somehow, he's back to being himself in the blink of an eye. He takes a deep, deep breath as he lies down with his back on the floor.]

Wow. Wow. I was... I had never been so out of control of my own body.

[There were so many different shades her skin could turn at that particular moment, except she was too busy feeling an immense worry. First, her Curse...now Frank's shape-shifting...]

[She wanted to hug him, but with everything, she could only momentarily settle for bending down, arms lightly wrapped around her torso just beneath her ribcage, and staring down at him with a look of pure concern.]

What's happening to us, Frank?

[He stood up, slowly- as if afraid whatever had happened to him could happen again. It had been a dolphin this time, but what if it had been another aquatic animal? A goldfish?

He could have died.]

I don't know. But it will be fine, okay? We'll figure it out, we always do. Can we- let's go inside, maybe?

[Hazel, meanwhile, was trying very hard not to think about any of those thoughts.]

[Fortunately, with Frank now by her side--and back to his usual demigod form--she felt...better. Not quite her usual self, but some of the nervousness from the last time she'd seen those gems piling up around her had passed.]

Good idea.

Just be careful of the bags on the floor. I've been collecting for the last couple of hours.

[Diamonds and rubies and emeralds, oh my....]

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Hazel? Hazel, what's wrong?

[ He's not touching the jewels because she said don't and he does trust her, but something's wrong. ]

[James!]

[Her eyes widened slightly. Anybody picking up a single stone would have been bad enough, but James was a friend. If something happened to him because of her...]

You haven't seen any jewels popping up around you recently, have you?

No. Why? What's going on?

They're cursed.

If you see one, don't touch it. Definitely don't pick it up. Come find me, and I'll get rid of it myself. I'm the only one they won't affect.

Cursed? How?

...please don't make me explain.

[She didn't want to relive those memories. The how. The why. What it had done to the entire childhood of her first life, and why she had remained so secretive for the first part of her second.]

You have to trust me.

[ He's not sure he can do that, but he can see how upset she is. That's not on. ]

I'll trust you.

[ He wonders if she realizes how big a concession that is for him. ]

[Not entirely, no. But her shoulders did slump in visible relief once she was certain he was telling the truth, and not just saying so for the sake of continuing the conversation.]

The curse only activates if you physically touch it. With your bare hands or bare skin, or if you carry it around for long enough. Accidental touches shouldn't do anything...I don't think.

Even still, who knows if that could change or not here.

[ He's glad she's more relaxed. He's just curious, but he's also cautious. He's not going to risk himself. Not right now, anyway. ]

This happened to you back at home, didn't it?

...yes.

[There was no point in hiding that much. How else would she know as much as she did?]

I'll be careful. I'm sorry this is happening to you.

So am I.

[Frank was coming, and she felt a little better carrying that knowledge, but still...]

Have you noticed anything else strange around here? I mean, strange for Wonderland?

[Any weird fog popping up? Monsters? Giants? Aphrodite having tea with Alice?]