The Edge of Disaster
Dec. 7th, 2007 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unforthToday was ridiculously busy, but I got done almost everything I needed to. I was completing the last thing - packing the last of my belongings - when disaster struck. True, unmitigated, disaster - pretty much the worst thing that could possibly have happened.
My passport was missing. Oh, no, it was worse than that. My passport had been in a pile of papers in my suitcase. A pile of papers I had removed from my suitcase, put in a box, and said box had been mailed this morning. So my passport was being shipped to NYC. And I was in Japan.
I panicked. Who wouldn't? My day's been long, it was 10:30 PM, I'm utterly exhausted. I didn't even have the ability to think about it rationally. I KNEW my passport was in that pile of papers, and I had NO memory of doing anything with it. I checked the only place I MIGHT have put it, and it wasn't there.
I called mom and fell apart on the phone completely. I cried a bunch. She agreed that I'd have to go to the embassy first thing in the morning, and I began to hope that it might not be such a disaster. I mean, we live in an age of computers, surely it wouldn't be that hard to fix. So I'm feeling okay again, the tears slow, and I go over the Embassy web page to see if they say what I need to do.
In order to replace my passport, I need to have my original birth certificate. I fell apart again. I mean, it's patently impossible that I could have my birth certificate by Monday. And with the holiday season, if I don't get on my flight, I won't be able to get another without paying an insanely high fee until after New Years. Another month in Japan, when I'm ready to leave on Monday!
I panicked again. Mom was on the phone with me this whole time. I decide, though, that before I freak out (more), I should check my backpack (the only place I thought it might be). It's not there. And then I realize something.
The papers were originally in my suitcase. My suitcase is right in front of me. There's a chance - the smallest chance in the world, but a chance none the less - that my passport slipped out from amongst the papers and is in the bag. I resolve to empty the whole thing to check.
Halfway through unpacking it, and I've already checked the part of the bag where the papers were, and I begin to lose hope again. Why bother unpacking the whole thing? It's definitely not there. One more place, I'll lift this thing in the bottom of the bag, maybe it slipped underneath...
And there it is in all of it's dark blue with gold leaf glory.
I was so happy I started crying again.
I don't really believe in higher powers, but these evening I kind of found something that resembles faith, because this was a miracle. I don't know how I'm going to recharge my karma, but it's going to be the most fantastic thing I can think of to make it up to whatever powers caused this. Which I know is a weird thing to say, but it's how I feel.
I've never thought of myself as a lucky person, but if this wasn't luck, the best luck in the world, than nothing is.
I was too tired to write much today; I had planned to finish when I was done packing; read the above to understand why I'm not doing so, I'm just too tired after all of that, and it's midnight now, and I'm going to sleep. :)
Despite the assertion by the Headmaster that we had two hours to prepare for the attack, I noticed as soon as I went outside that it already seemed to be getting dark. There should still be an hour, but I didn’t think it would be that long. Professor Patronius gave me a wry look, and said, “Celestine will fill you in on the plan.” He turned back to what he was doing – arranging a line of what looked like cannon arrayed on the wall. From the way he was going about it, I suspected he would be operating all of them himself.
I went over to Celestine. She and Lycia were engaged in intense conversation, and I heard as I went over, “…send the signal?”
“Yes,” Lycia replied simply.
“And will it…” Celestine looked up suddenly. “Oh, hello, Delia. Lycia says she thinks she can use the necklace we’ve got to send the werewolves away!”
“No,” corrected Lycia, “I can.”
“That’s great!” I exclaimed. “What will it do?”
“Whatever I program in,” Lycia sounded like she felt as if she were explaining to a child. I feared, with my limited knowledge of automata, that I would prove her right, and so I didn’t ask again.
“Professor Patronius said I should ask you what the plan is?”
“Ah,” Celestine nodded. “It’s quite simple. He’s going to operate the machines on the wall to drive them back. Any time they start to emerge from the forest, we’ll go to where they are and do whatever it takes to stop them. We’ll manage as long as we can, and then we’ll flee. We’ll all ride brooms, so that we can escape easily. And Caius has that mirror; I don’t really understand what it does, but I think that the idea is that if things get really bad, he’ll pull it out and drive the werewolves again.” She looked at me curiously, but I shook my head. I didn’t understand how it worked either, only that it had something to do with moonlight.
I looked around at the others. Everyone was standing on the wall, looking at the forest. The woods were black in the slowly failing light, and not a branch stirred even when the wind blew. The atmosphere was oppressive. The minutes seemed to crawl by.
Not long after I got there, the Professor snapped an order, and we all mounted our brooms and began to patrol the stretch of grass between the East entrance and the forest.
My passport was missing. Oh, no, it was worse than that. My passport had been in a pile of papers in my suitcase. A pile of papers I had removed from my suitcase, put in a box, and said box had been mailed this morning. So my passport was being shipped to NYC. And I was in Japan.
I panicked. Who wouldn't? My day's been long, it was 10:30 PM, I'm utterly exhausted. I didn't even have the ability to think about it rationally. I KNEW my passport was in that pile of papers, and I had NO memory of doing anything with it. I checked the only place I MIGHT have put it, and it wasn't there.
I called mom and fell apart on the phone completely. I cried a bunch. She agreed that I'd have to go to the embassy first thing in the morning, and I began to hope that it might not be such a disaster. I mean, we live in an age of computers, surely it wouldn't be that hard to fix. So I'm feeling okay again, the tears slow, and I go over the Embassy web page to see if they say what I need to do.
In order to replace my passport, I need to have my original birth certificate. I fell apart again. I mean, it's patently impossible that I could have my birth certificate by Monday. And with the holiday season, if I don't get on my flight, I won't be able to get another without paying an insanely high fee until after New Years. Another month in Japan, when I'm ready to leave on Monday!
I panicked again. Mom was on the phone with me this whole time. I decide, though, that before I freak out (more), I should check my backpack (the only place I thought it might be). It's not there. And then I realize something.
The papers were originally in my suitcase. My suitcase is right in front of me. There's a chance - the smallest chance in the world, but a chance none the less - that my passport slipped out from amongst the papers and is in the bag. I resolve to empty the whole thing to check.
Halfway through unpacking it, and I've already checked the part of the bag where the papers were, and I begin to lose hope again. Why bother unpacking the whole thing? It's definitely not there. One more place, I'll lift this thing in the bottom of the bag, maybe it slipped underneath...
And there it is in all of it's dark blue with gold leaf glory.
I was so happy I started crying again.
I don't really believe in higher powers, but these evening I kind of found something that resembles faith, because this was a miracle. I don't know how I'm going to recharge my karma, but it's going to be the most fantastic thing I can think of to make it up to whatever powers caused this. Which I know is a weird thing to say, but it's how I feel.
I've never thought of myself as a lucky person, but if this wasn't luck, the best luck in the world, than nothing is.
I was too tired to write much today; I had planned to finish when I was done packing; read the above to understand why I'm not doing so, I'm just too tired after all of that, and it's midnight now, and I'm going to sleep. :)
Despite the assertion by the Headmaster that we had two hours to prepare for the attack, I noticed as soon as I went outside that it already seemed to be getting dark. There should still be an hour, but I didn’t think it would be that long. Professor Patronius gave me a wry look, and said, “Celestine will fill you in on the plan.” He turned back to what he was doing – arranging a line of what looked like cannon arrayed on the wall. From the way he was going about it, I suspected he would be operating all of them himself.
I went over to Celestine. She and Lycia were engaged in intense conversation, and I heard as I went over, “…send the signal?”
“Yes,” Lycia replied simply.
“And will it…” Celestine looked up suddenly. “Oh, hello, Delia. Lycia says she thinks she can use the necklace we’ve got to send the werewolves away!”
“No,” corrected Lycia, “I can.”
“That’s great!” I exclaimed. “What will it do?”
“Whatever I program in,” Lycia sounded like she felt as if she were explaining to a child. I feared, with my limited knowledge of automata, that I would prove her right, and so I didn’t ask again.
“Professor Patronius said I should ask you what the plan is?”
“Ah,” Celestine nodded. “It’s quite simple. He’s going to operate the machines on the wall to drive them back. Any time they start to emerge from the forest, we’ll go to where they are and do whatever it takes to stop them. We’ll manage as long as we can, and then we’ll flee. We’ll all ride brooms, so that we can escape easily. And Caius has that mirror; I don’t really understand what it does, but I think that the idea is that if things get really bad, he’ll pull it out and drive the werewolves again.” She looked at me curiously, but I shook my head. I didn’t understand how it worked either, only that it had something to do with moonlight.
I looked around at the others. Everyone was standing on the wall, looking at the forest. The woods were black in the slowly failing light, and not a branch stirred even when the wind blew. The atmosphere was oppressive. The minutes seemed to crawl by.
Not long after I got there, the Professor snapped an order, and we all mounted our brooms and began to patrol the stretch of grass between the East entrance and the forest.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 02:59 pm (UTC)I'm glad it all worked out! (:
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 03:15 pm (UTC)Wow, you were insanely lucky! I'm glad you found your passport :-)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 03:22 pm (UTC)I've had scary travel problems, but never that one. I can imagine the panic it must have induced, and I am so very very glad for you that it worked out.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:22 pm (UTC)Though I would have certainly gotten to see you and
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 01:42 pm (UTC)*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 01:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 02:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 11:33 pm (UTC)