oversized shoes and long luxurious locks

[thesundrop]

After the Dawning event, Rapunzel had received some advice on where to purchase shoes. So now the previously barefoot woman is proudly wearing a pair of men's shoes, that are two sizes too big for her. She sits on the edge of a fountain in the Nexus, admiring a lily that had floated by.

The long, long, long cascading length of her hair is wrapped around the base of the fountain a few times.

"Did you know that some flowers have meaning to them?" She excitedly asks someone who was walking by. "I just learned that the Oenothera means wine seeker. Which is funny... because I don't even know what wine is..."

"Should I be seeking some wine?" She asks again, just as excited.

"There are so many things I have never tried before... if you had to experience something for the first time, all over again... what would it be?"

Comments

[vliste_staba]

Deet is frequently just as barefoot as Rapunzel is, though in the Nexus she's gotten used to wearing soft boots. They fit, because she made them herself, but she can totally relate otherwise. People are a little strange here, but they all seem very nice!

She circles around the fountain slowly, studying the glow of the woman's hair. It feels like the reverse of the Darkening, perhaps not as strong, but getting too close pushes a little, like the same poles of two magnets being butted up against each other. She's fascinated!

"I love flowers, but I don't know the names of most of them," she tells the woman when she reaches to a point where she can see her face. "My clan lives mostly underground so we didn't see them often. There are plants but they don't bloom so much; mostly mosses."

"Wine is delicious, but if you drink too much you'll feel lightheaded or sick. Just remember that and keep to only a glass or two." She giggles softly. Deet isn't one to judge about being drunk, but people should know what they're getting into.

"But I think if I were going to choose, I would want to fly for the first time again. Maybe without running into the walls of the caves quite as much."

[thesundrop]

"Oh!" Another exclaim of surprise, this time one of admiration, at the arrival of the smaller Deet. Rapunzel steadies her legs, so not to scare off the other person.

"I would imagine living underground is similar to living in a Tower. That you see a lot of the same things over and over."

"That is good advice. I will be sure to take it easy, since I have not drank any before."

"You can fly?" Rapunzel is raptured.

[vliste_staba]

"If you stay in the village, yes, it's all very same-y," Deet laughs a little. "But I used to map tunnels and explore a lot. Have you ever been in caves? They can be huge."

"Yes, I can fly! I have wings." She keeps them under her cloak for comfort; the sun is a little too much on them sometimes. But now she lets them flare behind her; they look a little bit crystalline, like a dragonfly's wings, but they're more flexible than they seem. "I guess you've never seen a gelfling before? My name's Deet."

[thesundrop]

"I have never been anywhere outside of the Tower, until a few months ago."

"Eugene and I were in a cave. We had to get out of it, before it filled with water. So I didn't have time to appreciate any tunnels."

"No... you are amazing..." Her voice is tiny.

[vliste_staba]

"Oh." That doesn't sound healthy to Deet, being stuck in a Tower all the time, but she also doesn't think it's her place to judge. "Well, I'm glad you're here now!"

"Ooh." She winces. "It's scary when they flood. You have to be very careful with low ceilings underground. My fathers always told me to stay in the big chambers in the rainy season. You can't hear the rain coming down outside, so it's always a surprise when the water gets high."

The compliment makes her blush, which makes her cheeks glow a little with blue light. "Thank you! I'm a pretty ordinary Grottan gelfling, really."

(No, she's not. Not any more. But she doesn't think of herself as extraordinary, that's for sure.) "What's your name? Do you want to tell me about flowers?"

[thesundrop]

"It was scary. We could not find a way to get out. And then the water was over our heads. And if it wasn't...." Rapunzel pauses. Then touches her hair. "I used the magical powers of my hair to give us light."

Rapunzel sings a little. And the length of hair wrapped around the fountain starts to glow with her words.

"Rapunzel."

[vliste_staba]

Deet blinks a little, because magical hair is a new one on her. Though as much magic as there is in her own world and in the Nexus, it's not a total shock. Unfortunately, when the glow starts up, she feels that pushing sensation again and has to take several steps back. A pulse of violet light swims along the veins in her hands and face, and she winces a little, ducking her head.

"A-ah...could you not...do that, please? It's nothing personal, I promise. I want to be friends, but...the Darkening doesn't like it."

[thesundrop]

The glow stops as soon as Rapunzel stops singing.

"I am sorry. I didn't realize that it would be bad to you."

[vliste_staba]

Deet smiles at her apologetically. "It's...complicated. There was a blight, a kind of dark force, on my world. And I was given the power to purify it, but too much of it sort of...overwhelms me. And now I can purify the darkness, but I also am the darkness."

She holds up her hands so Rapunzel can see the violet glow along the veins in her fingers. "I can control it now, mostly. But I think your power is sort of the opposite, somehow. Can't you feel it? It feels like it's pushing me back a little."

"It doesn't hurt me much; I don't mind. I just don't want there to be any accidents."

[thesundrop]

"I am still learning more about my abilities. Mother always told me that there are people who might try to take my hair away from me."

"But it has this ability to heal. And if someone was to cut it... it never grows back." Rapunzel gestures to a small brown lock behind her ear, where someone had tried to cut off a length of lock.

"I didn't feel pushed away from you. Maybe I am not as tuned to my abilities, as you are to yours."