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

[thesundrop]

"You explore and walk around with your hair. Your clothes. Why does it seem impossible for me to explore with mine?"

[diabolical_adonis]

"My hair and clothes don't get caught on things." He waves a hand at the current configuration around the fountain. "Not to mention they don't drag on the ground and get covered in filth."

A-ha! He smiles and raises an index finger before pulling out a dagger. "Here. I'll cut it for you. Easy!"

[thesundrop]

"My hair does not get caught on things either."

Rapunzel stands, and with a spin collects all her length of hair around her.

"No. I do not want it cut." She says it loud enough, that even the Nexus itself would consider the act as violence. And prevent any violence to her hair.

[diabolical_adonis]

Well, that's new. He's never seen hair move like that. If he's unnerved, he does his best not to show it.

"Oh, calm down, girl," he says with rolled eyes and a careless wave of his dagger. "It was just an idea."

The blade is grudgingly returned to it's sheath with a metallic hiss. "You're just as weird as the rest of this place, aren't you?"

[thesundrop]

"I will take that as a compliment..." Rapunzel keeps her hair around her, a little nervous about him right now.

[diabolical_adonis]

"It's not a compliment," he snaps, looking pointedly away. His hand returns to his cheek, dragging fingers up and down compulsively. "This place is awful. I'd sooner be anywhere else."

[thesundrop]

"Then why don't you leave, if you do not like being here?"

[diabolical_adonis]

"What, with one of these things? I tried. They're garbage." He fishes around in his coat and pulls out the sad, smashed remains of a PINpoint. By some miracle the mishandled device didn't teleport all or part of him into some kind of shrimp dimension. It's the least he deserves.

He tosses it into the fountain, frightening away some milling fish. "No doubt the witch is blocking me from going home."

[thesundrop]

"Sounds like it is a problem that you have to face, somehow." Rapunzel gives him a slight nod. He still unsettles her, especially with the threat of cutting her hair.

[diabolical_adonis]

"Of course. I'm no idiot. I'll find my way back and make them regret this. And everything else they've done." As much as he isn't used to problems that can't be solved by brute force, he isn't about to admit when he's stumped. Definitely not to someone he's just accused of being stupid. Repeatedly.

Rapunzel's careful distance is duly noted. His head cocks to one side. "If you're afraid of me, why don't you just run away?"

[thesundrop]

Rapunzel steadies herself. And notes softly. "You have been hurt before. I don't think that I am the person who you should be mad about."

She is not running away either.

[diabolical_adonis]

He jerks the hand away from his face, even as the wound has been irritated by his attention. "You don't know anything about me."

He stands, sputtering, gesticulating. "Augh! You don't ... you don't even know what wine is!"

[thesundrop]

"And I am fine about that. Fine with myself, even without knowing what it is." Rapunzel responded. "You seem to not be happy with who you are."

"Is that why you are so mad at me?"

[diabolical_adonis]

"What are you talking about? I'm mad because of all your nonsense!" Even if her statement hits the mark, it'll take more than that to breach his armor.

"Why would I be unhappy? I'm a commander in the most advanced, most powerful army in the world!"

[thesundrop]

"Oh? Where is your army then?" Rapunzel looks around.

[diabolical_adonis]

If he was irritated before, he's properly fuming now as he paces closer to Rapunzel. "I don't need them!"

A lie. Without an army or a guymelef, he's barely more than a lonely, petulant child.

"I'm happy!" Another lie. This time said with a bitter snarl.

[thesundrop]

Rapunzel stands her ground when he paces closer, this time. Not sure what he wants to hear. Or what to say to him anymore.

"I hope you are..."

[diabolical_adonis]

For what it's worth, Dilandau isn't used to people wishing him well. Especially not strangers he's shown only unrelenting disdain.

Maybe it's Rapunzel's sentiment, or maybe it's the reality of the situation sinking in on a deep, subconscious level... either way, the taut anger in his face relaxes. Slightly, slowly.

"You're a waste of my time," he says blandly, after an awkward silence. All the earlier venom is gone, and he glances away. "Go find your stupid lanterns."

[thesundrop]

"Thank you. I will..." Rapunzel gives him a slight bow, and leaves.