To: Palmbrand666

Thank you. 

Do you think we're like them? 

To: ClawsThatCatch

I've thought about that a lot. And I think we have something they don't. 

The difference between hurting and harming, if you know what I mean.

To: Palmbrand666

I don't. What do you mean? 

To: ClawsThatCatch

People can want to be hurt and that's okay. Pain is just a signal. It's when people suffer that it's bad. Does that... does that make any sense?

To: Palmbrand666

What if I want people to suffer?

To: ClawsThatCatch

I think you're confused, there. Different meaning of suffer maybe. I don't know. This is hard.

To: Palmbrand666

Yeah, it really is.

Palmbrand666 doesn't reply back.

She goes back to her job. Work wears, but at least she's making money. It won't be so long before she can afford even the Bowers' price. 

Eventually, her savings are large enough to support the trip. 

To: Palmbrand666

I've got enough together to visit the Bowers, now. Should I take the plunge?

To: ClawsThatCatch

Yeah, you should. There's an argument that you should practice first, but... The Bowers is pretty decent at giving you a crash course into stuff. 

GLHF

She googles the acronym. 

"Good luck, have fun", huh? Well, she'll try. 

The circle station near her apartment is quiet, but it'll take her to the Rose Bowers just like any other one. 

To: Palmbrand666

Thanks. For everything.

She takes a week's paid time off from her job.

Even then, the day comes faster than she expects. 

The local circle station is dead quiet at 6 AM. Only locals come here, and everyone else is asleep.

She wishes distantly that she had someone to say goodbye to. 

She pulls her phone from her black leather purse, and taps it against the turnstile before the teleportation circle. 

It beeps, and she's let through. 

She walks onwards, her short, everyday heels clicking against the tile floor. 

The glass of the building around her is lit with fairylights, glowing golden orbs that hover just above head height. 

The circle warms up with a low hum, light cascading through the etched runes.

She steps over the border of runes, and waits.

There's a moment of transition, and she's -

In a darknened wood, brambles all around her. Luminescent moss clings to the trees, lending a little light. 

A small table nestles into a tree trunk in front of her, just large enough to hold an envelope and two wooden bowls. 

The envelope is black, and stamped with a rose design; the left bowl is piled high with strawberries, while the right bowl is piled high with blackberries.

She looks around. This... was not at all what she was expecting.

Something small skitters through the underbrush. A crow caws distantly. 

A single dull red fairylight appears over the table.

She steps forwards and picks up the envelope, slitting it open with one claw.