Really? That's fascinating. So it's like its own form of media, entirely like prose novels in that they can be about a large variety of things. Though, I must admit a curiosity about the mysteries. I enjoyed them, but mother said novels would rot my brain, that if I was in such a hurry to read, it should be the Bible.

Yes, many of them seem to represent what could or should be positive or at least neutral, but the reality is not so neat and tidy.

I don't think I'd like the horror ones, either, not the ones with actual ghosts, but the Sherlock Holmes stories are fascinating. It's like glancing into a brain with far better cognitive skills than almost anyone else, it's wonderful. I can't imagine being able to think so clearly and cleverly. Though, your mother and my mother would likely agree with one another.

Yes, it seems that way. I'll have been here a full year in February. If I may, how long have you been here?

There's nothing wrong with that. Each of us have our own gifts, according to whatever may be divvied out between us. Ami-chan may be good at one thing, while you excel above her in another category.

That's still fairly new. Were you---were you here for the end of the dream?

[Rose grins brightly] See, there you go! [Rose knew she lagged behind most people when it came to the use of her Paleblood abilities, but she was afraid that if she started using them regularly--like the telepathy--she'd be unable to turn them off.

and she picks up on the hint] That's a very long time. I suppose there's no getting used to any of this. [because it will be a full year in February and Rose still has a hard time believing it]

Yes. It's a precarious balance between being able to accept the times when we are relatively free as normal and an acceptance of the times when things are truly falling apart as normal as well. Neither are normal, not as long as we stay here. A wary calm seems the best we can hope for.

[and despite herself, Rose laughs] Oh, I'm sure we would be! The very notion of nothingness makes my skin crawl. But at the same time, I'm unwilling to let it stop me in my love for Snow. It will have to wait in queue.

[Rose was raised Catholic, so the thought of nothingness, not even Purgatory, is genuinely horrifying to her. she wants to believe there's something else, something better]

Exactly! She's worth...well, she's worth everything.

[Rose grins, looking completely assured of Usagi's talent] I know you will. Because I love her.