entranceway | [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

So we're both feeling weird, and both our 'gifts' [He said the word carefully, he wasn't so sure Hazel would agree with it.] are going overdrive. I'm feeling ready to jump out at anyone's throat, and you're- afraid?

[Frank bit his lower lip, trying to connect the dots in his head. What he felt... anger? but no, it wasn't quite that. He wanted to smash stuff around, but do it with a purpose. He wanted to come out victorious, he wanted everyone to know he'd won the battle even when there wasn't any battle to fight- he'd assumed it was because of his powers malfunctioning, his body's way of getting rid of all that nervousness and frustration.

But if Hazel was also having weird... feelings, weird urges, then he was not so sure.]

Well, as cheesy as that might sound it could be because we're together?

[...if one were to use the phrase gift very, VERY loosely...then, yes; she nodded, albeit reluctantly, at his assessment. At the suggestion that their mutual presences were beneficial, however, her expression improved noticeably.]

It could be. Either because we're from the same world, or we know about each other's abilities--[actually a solid theory, given that a large portion of her anxiety had always come from trying to keep everything hidden from the rest of the world]--or just because we're...us.

"Us".

[He repeats with a bit of a shy grin, and the fact that he can be slightly amused at something like that makes his improvement very clear.]

We could try to stay with the others, see if we still feel any kind of improvement... or we could try to go together somewhere else, to make sure we're really making the other feel better.

But- maybe you don't want to risk leaving a trail of gemstones. I don't want to make things worse.

[She pressed her lips together hesitantly, glancing back at the bags still on the ground. Part of her wanted to kick those stupid things. But then the bags will spill over, and then that would be a mess she'd have to clean up again...]

We could head to Leo or Annabeth's room. [Nico was still MIA, Percy was still...complicated...and, in fact, Leo had been the first person to come to mind. She had spoken to him the most recently, save for Frank, so she knew he was still around. And he did have a way of cheering her up. A very Leo way.] If we know where we're going, that'd kill two birds with one--

[Wait.]

...nevermind.

[Long ago he'd have said he wasn't sure seeing Leo when he felt like punching everyone on sight was a bad idea. Mostly because as much as he'd grown to like Leo and even call him his friend, he had a very natural way of making Frank want to punch him.

After going home, after all he'd seen and lived through... honestly he wanted to hug him more than he wanted to punch him. Still.]

Can we go to Annabeth's first?

[Later on, she would look back on this conversation and laugh at his predictability. Right then, all she did was smile.]

Annabeth's it is.

[He's always been pretty predictable, except for when he makes a 180º turn and he isn't.

He takes her hand, both to try to reassure her and to reassure himself. The dolphin thing... he can't shake it out of his head, can't stop thinking what would have happened it if had been some other animal. He hopes he was right and Hazel's somehow the clue.

It doesn't take long for them to reach Annabeth's door and knock.]

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