"The thorns and stems are what protected them. Roses are only able to be so soft and beautiful due to that protection." Her pupils dilate, and I hate that she's letting ridiculous concepts like this get to her. "They wouldn’t last long without the stems. The thorns. It's funny, isn't it?" she says, without a hint of mirth. Climbing to her feet, she stares at the roses as though they are responsible for everything wrong with the world. Perhaps, by design, they are. It's a shame that something so soft and beautiful needs so much protection to survive. "Without the spiny stems and thorns, they'll
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