"Yes, but no person could have passed it on through touch or sharing air. I was working with the essence of the disease. Much more potent than it would be in any other form, because we were manipulating the disease directly." Which is why she should have been more damned careful.
That isn't the important part, though. What matters more than how she got sick is what happened after she died. Usually, Rosethorn would downplay this. She talks about it matter-of-factly, referring to her illness rather than her death, and glossing over the details when she absolutely has to address the latter. Papyrus, though, will get much more of the truth from her. "My fever rose too high. I started having seizures. My body shut down, and my soul moved on. My afterlife... it was a big unruly garden. Years of my favorite kind of work, just waiting to be done. I settled in immediately, and I wanted to stay. My son, Briar, wouldn't let me. He had used his shakkan, which is a magical tree, and his sisters for anchors, and followed me when I died."
Her heart broke when she saw him there, because Rosethorn wasn't sure he could get back out. And then he issued her an ultimatum. "I told Briar that I was too tired to keep fighting and I didn't want to go back to all that pain, and he scolded me for it. I could have refused him. It would have been hard, but I could have done it. I'd already made my peace with dying. Then he started severing his ties to the girls. He told me if I was staying, so was he. I couldn't let him die just so I could get some rest. He pulled me back with him. I felt... trapped... for a little while, however grateful I was to be surrounded by the people I loved. I couldn't speak. It was like I'd lost all of my words."
She's glad to be alive, but oh, was it hard at first coming back to her damaged body and a mind that wouldn't cooperate in quite all of the ways she needed it to. She recovered everything that mattered most. Rosethorn is well aware it could have been worse. Her slur has even faded now, except when she's completely exhausted. She's still very slow and careful with her speech.
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That isn't the important part, though. What matters more than how she got sick is what happened after she died. Usually, Rosethorn would downplay this. She talks about it matter-of-factly, referring to her illness rather than her death, and glossing over the details when she absolutely has to address the latter. Papyrus, though, will get much more of the truth from her. "My fever rose too high. I started having seizures. My body shut down, and my soul moved on. My afterlife... it was a big unruly garden. Years of my favorite kind of work, just waiting to be done. I settled in immediately, and I wanted to stay. My son, Briar, wouldn't let me. He had used his shakkan, which is a magical tree, and his sisters for anchors, and followed me when I died."
Her heart broke when she saw him there, because Rosethorn wasn't sure he could get back out. And then he issued her an ultimatum. "I told Briar that I was too tired to keep fighting and I didn't want to go back to all that pain, and he scolded me for it. I could have refused him. It would have been hard, but I could have done it. I'd already made my peace with dying. Then he started severing his ties to the girls. He told me if I was staying, so was he. I couldn't let him die just so I could get some rest. He pulled me back with him. I felt... trapped... for a little while, however grateful I was to be surrounded by the people I loved. I couldn't speak. It was like I'd lost all of my words."
She's glad to be alive, but oh, was it hard at first coming back to her damaged body and a mind that wouldn't cooperate in quite all of the ways she needed it to. She recovered everything that mattered most. Rosethorn is well aware it could have been worse. Her slur has even faded now, except when she's completely exhausted. She's still very slow and careful with her speech.