"I asked you earlier what 'destiny' was for you for that very reason. Your answer referred to it as 'all that other stuff' and you asked me if it mattered. So I assumed it didn't. I can't know these things if you blow me off."
"Of course," he says with a snort. "Cassandra, a children's book nearly killed me once. I'm hardly about to go deciding what is and isn't real in someone else's world, considering. I'm not trying to disrespect the reality of your world. I just don't know it yet."
"I don't know," she says, and shrugs, throwing her hands up. Fortunately
she put the teacup down first.
"Some people are meant to do certain things. If I did know how it worked
then maybe my life would've been easier, but I haven't cracked all the
secrets of the universe. Sorry."
"What I mean is, how is it determined. If there's books that say so, or a mural or -or some sort of crazy old woman who lives in the woods who says these things and people write them down." He continues. "Whether... someone feels that destiny, like a physical force. Or if events will bend themselves unreasonably to make sure it happens. If it's real, then surely there's... well, a method to it. Ways that it's real. Hopefully, that makes more sense."
"Even though you were... I mean. I'm assuming you didn't want your friend to die. And she was determined to do so because... destiny. They didn't... think that perhaps your motivations were reasonable?"
"No. They didn't. But by then I didn't really care about the risk to her,"
Cassandra says. "I was just so sick of following her around, trying to
keep her safe, tolerating her acting like we were friends when when it
really came down to it? She was the special one and I was just staff. She
never cared about me."
Perhaps she's looking at his face. Maybe she gets a view of how fucking insane that sounds to him.
"So... she does something foolish that she knew she couldn't control, maims you, and all is well. And you do something that will save her" and he does not say 'stupid' but it's so clear he's thinking it "life. And you're enemy number one. Do I have that right?"
"Yeah, well, I'm not sure logical is a word anybody uses to talk about
business-as-usual in Corona," Cassandra scoffs. "The heir to the throne has
fifty feet of unbreakable hair. I once spent hours trapped in a magic
mirror while my evil double stalked everyone I showed up with. We all got
turned into birds one time. 'Logical' isn't a thing."
"I sold two of my ribs to a man made of a hundred people's parts to hear his story and ask him some questions inside of the living embodiment of being disoriented," he answers back, "which makes my life bizarre. Weird. Full of strange and supernatural phenomena. But that doesn't mean 'logic' doesn't exist."
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"That's not - never mind. It matters. Okay?"
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"...Okay. Great. Glad we understand each other."
She wishes he'd just read her file already while simultaneously being incredibly glad that he hasn't.
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"I don't know," she says, and shrugs, throwing her hands up. Fortunately she put the teacup down first.
"Some people are meant to do certain things. If I did know how it worked then maybe my life would've been easier, but I haven't cracked all the secrets of the universe. Sorry."
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"What I mean is, how is it determined. If there's books that say so, or a mural or -or some sort of crazy old woman who lives in the woods who says these things and people write them down." He continues. "Whether... someone feels that destiny, like a physical force. Or if events will bend themselves unreasonably to make sure it happens. If it's real, then surely there's... well, a method to it. Ways that it's real. Hopefully, that makes more sense."
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Cassandra sits with that question for several moments.
"I felt it," she says finally, voice quiet but firm. "I felt it when it was taken from me. And I felt it when I took it back."
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"I've never heard of destiny being something someone could take. Is that... if you could explain how that works."
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"No," Cassandra says bluntly. "No, I couldn't."
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"Even though you took it back?"
No compel; he's being careful but he can't stop wondering.
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"Yeah. Even though."
You do not need Entity-given powers of observation to tell that she is getting very close to the limits of her tolerance for this line of enquiry.
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Moving on.
"Have you trusted anyone since Rapunzel?"
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"...No." She laughs bitterly. "Convenient, really, because nobody trusts me either."
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There better be.
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"That they didn't trust me? Because I took the Moonstone. I claimed its power. And that made me the bad guy."
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"No. They didn't. But by then I didn't really care about the risk to her," Cassandra says. "I was just so sick of following her around, trying to keep her safe, tolerating her acting like we were friends when when it really came down to it? She was the special one and I was just staff. She never cared about me."
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"So... she does something foolish that she knew she couldn't control, maims you, and all is well. And you do something that will save her" and he does not say 'stupid' but it's so clear he's thinking it "life. And you're enemy number one. Do I have that right?"
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"...Yes."
She finishes her tea.
"I mean, I did go back to her kingdom and conquer it, but that didn't happen until later and they'd already very much decided I was a lost cause."
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She pulls a face at him.
"How many people do you think I've been talking to? You're the first person who could have any opinion on this."
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He's never hated a character from a fairy tale before. Something new and special for him.
"To be fair," he says at regular volume, "some people are more open than others. I can't imagine a person on board-"
Beat.
"All right, I can imagine one person but he's a bit weird. But! Most people would not see that as a logical string of events. Not even a little."
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"Yeah, well, I'm not sure logical is a word anybody uses to talk about business-as-usual in Corona," Cassandra scoffs. "The heir to the throne has fifty feet of unbreakable hair. I once spent hours trapped in a magic mirror while my evil double stalked everyone I showed up with. We all got turned into birds one time. 'Logical' isn't a thing."
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