[OPEN] Flower Blooming

[hairiest]

Who: Rapunzel and YOU
When: her arrival, early morning through evening (if you want to meet her at a certain time of day, please make it known!)
What: A CHALLENGER APPEARS. Rapunzel is new and very, very alone in a strange place on her 18th birthday.


She was sure she'd heard Flynn yell. That was what had initially roused her from her peaceful sleep. Yet, when she sat up, Rapunzel had found herself alone. No Flynn. No Pascal. Just her, lying on hard, cobbled ground. But... they had fallen asleep in the forest!

At first, she wondered if her mother had moved her. She wouldn't put it past her, after the disheartening conversation they'd had the previous night. Gothel had been so furious with her. When Rapunzel thought about it, it made her stomach hurt. She rose to her bare feet and looked around, called out for her mother, for Flynn, but no one answered. Rapunzel folded her arms around her stomach and began to walk.

Further venturing revealed the girl was now in a crumbling city. This certainly wasn't home. Even though Rapunzel had not been outside her tower for very long, she could not imagine that the kingdom was in shambles. Wide eyes frantically searched for the two people she knew. Her long blonde locks trailed behind her, gathering dirt and dust. Rapunzel could care less about that right now, though. She was scared. She'd wanted to leave the tower, but she needed a guide! How would she do this by herself?

Comments

[scorned_progeny]

Perhaps it wasn't home but it was as crumbling as all that was it? No, not really. There was even music if one listened, wailing and a touch sad, but what did one expect in an empty city? Yes, a high, wild violin playing through the echoing streets was perfectly appropriate wasn't it?

The girl playing could have a been a statue, perched on a low wall that was only a few shades paler than her white lacquered skin, the violin tucked under her chin a dark contrast to everything else.

She stopped when a newcomer stumbled around a corner, the music echoing a moment before silence fell completely. That wasn't good was it? Too many things could happen in a silence. "You look lost."

[hairiest]

The music was easily picked out by Rapunzel's ears once she got further into the city. Everything else was so quiet. Where were all the people?

She followed the music, hoping it would lead her to someone. Then, maybe Rapunzel would be able to ask for directions. Hopefully she would run into a kind person. She almost fell over she jumped so high when someone spoke. That person was... well, she was white. Like the color. Rapunzel did not think people came in that color.

"Oh! You startled me!" Startled was mildly putting it. Rapunzel's heart was racing.

[scorned_progeny]

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," she admitted, tucking her knees to her chin rather than standing from her wall, violin held loosely in her hand. "The city seems mostly empty so far, I guess seeing anyone else could be startling." Probably?

Although it was kind of peaceful too, really. But she was weird.

"You're going to get dust in all your hair though."

[hairiest]

Rapunzel blinked at the statement and then turned around to look at her hair. She was used to dragging it along clean floors, not a desolate city. Almost apologetically, she began dragging the hair closer to her, gathering it into her arms.

"Thanks," she replied, a smile actually coming to her face. So there were friendly people here. "Um. Do you know where I am?"

[scorned_progeny]

"Fairy tale?" she asked, tilting her head to look the girl over better. Medieval dress, yards of hair, seemed plausible right? Sure her 'mom' had been a dress form stuffed with organs and given a rudimentary personality but the thing could read kids bedtime stories. Even the failed kids.

"And you're here. I know that's not helpful but all I've figured out is those who've been brought here came from other worlds and now we're in a very big, pretty empty city. It's alive, it talks sometimes, and sometimes there's monsters. I just call it City since it hasn't given me a better name to call it."

[hairiest]

Fairy tale? What did she mean by that? Rapunzel tilted her head in response, about to ask when the other girl continued talking. So she just listened instead, still holding onto her bundle of hair.

"It talks?" she repeated, eyes narrowing. "How's that even possible?" And monsters? Rapunzel did not want to deal with monsters! The more she found out about this city, the less she liked it.

[scorned_progeny]

"I'm guessing AI, incredibly advanced machinery that is advanced enough to be 'alive'. It talks over the speakers." She pointed at a grill set in a nearby wall "and I thin-", and like clockwork...

"Hello Citizen! I see you're very proud of your hair would you like to visit one of our fine salons?!"

"...I'd say ignore that one. You need to take a deep breath. Now."

[hairiest]

The sudden loud voice caused Rapunzel to shriek and clutch her hair tighter. Her eyes darted around, even though the source of the voice was clearly pointed out to her. Eventually, she pointed her frying pan at the speaker. Was someone in that box? Was the box alive?

[scorned_progeny]

"....nice pan." What else was she suppose to say? If she hadn't been a violin girl she might have meds she could share? "I meant it about the breathing thing. I'll explain everything I can but if you don't breath you'll pass out and I suck at trying to keep people from hitting their heads when they go down."

[kuromu_dokuro]

"Wha...?" Chrome watched the hair for a while and then trotted along towards the direction it was going, eventually finding a girl, "Ah, hello? Are you okay?"

[hairiest]

When the hair finally stopped inching along like a worm, that was when Rapunzel had paused to peek inside one of the stores. The door was wide open, and inside it was empty. Well, there were things inside, but no people. She wondered what the store would look like if the lights were on and it was busy.

And then, suddenly, there was a voice coming from behind her. She actually yelped before spinning around and covering her mouth. That... wasn't very ladylike, was it? Then again, that was the least of Rapunzel's concern right now.

"I... I was just looking around," she told the girl, who did not look to be much younger than she was. She seemed safe... "This place is so quiet."

[kuromu_dokuro]

"It's pretty weird, isn't it?" Chrome agreed, wryly, "I'm used to huge crowds. Not that I like them very much, but I'm used to them. My name is Chrome. Chrome Dokuro. I'm...well. I'm the police. Is there anything I can do for you?"

[hairiest]

"The police! Oh, thank goodness!" Rapunzel exclaimed, all but sighing with relief. She seemed to relax instantly, clasping her hands to her chest. And then the words came tumbling out. "My name is Rapunzel, and I'm supposed to be home. Well, not home-home, but home, as in the forest near my home but now I'm not, and I'm sure Flynn and Pascal are really worried about me and I have no idea how I got here, and..."

Suddenly, she stopped, as a thought occurred to her. She leaned back a bit, canting her head one way, and then the other as she eyed Chrome suspiciously. "Uh... Aren't you a little young to be the police?"

[kuromu_dokuro]

"Tell that to whatever hires people here." Chrome said dryly, "I'm a professional assassin and I guess that's enough for this crazy place to decide that I'm the police. If you'd like I can leave you to wander around until you meet someone older, buuuuut..." she waved at all the empty.

[hairiest]

Rapunzel nodded, feeling somewhat sheepish for her question. "Sorry," she said, wringing her hands. "I still don't understand how things work around here. It's nice to meet you, Chrome."

[kuromu_dokuro]

"It's okay." the younger girl said, "I don't either, this place is very, very strange." she was able to take the apology with ease and a smile, "Ah, I have a maybe silly question but...do you need help with your hair? It is getting very dirty."

[hairiest]

Everyone was so concerned with her hair! Rapunzel was still not used to it. All she knew was that her mother wanted to keep her locked in a tower because of her hair, so when people started commenting on it, it made her antsy.

Still, Chrome was right. Rapunzel turned her head over her shoulder to look at the length trailing behind her. Dust, rocks, twigs, maybe even bugs had found a cozy place in her blonde locks. She turned back to look at Chrome again and nodded. Chrome was the police, right? That meant that she was good and obeyed the law. Surely, she wouldn't do anything malicious to Rapunzel's hair!

"I would love some help. Earlier, the City told me to visit a salon, but I don't know if I trust it yet."

[erfingi]

The first think Loki saw was the hair. And actually, he did not see the body it was attached to, since he was at the very far end of the hair. He considered being cruel and stepping on it to see if the person on the other end would fill it, but rejected the thought. Instead, he followed the hair to young woman it was attached to... or who was attached to the trailing hair. He was fairly certain that the woman had to have supernatural neck muscles.


"You do realize it would be easier to move about if you did not allow your hair to trail behind you so much?" he asked. Really, someone should teach her how to put her hair up.

[hairiest]

Again, Rapunzel was startled by someone approaching her. Really, it was too quiet in this city. It made it so easy for someone to sneak up on her, whether they meant to or not. Rather than get upset, she seemed surprised when the stranger said that her hair was in the way.

She stopped walking and began pulling it to herself immediately. "Oh, gosh! I'm so sorry!" she stammered as she collected her locks. "I-I live alone, sort of, so I wasn't thinking!"

[erfingi]

"Sort of?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. Oh by the Norns this was painful to watch. He knew some hair spells... well... he had a really good spell for cutting off hair, but she seemed really attached to it. And that was a horrible pun.

[hairiest]

"Most of the time," Rapunzel said with a small shrug. Soon, she was holding all of her hair in a bundle tightly to her body. Now it was out of the way! "I mean, sometimes Mother comes to visit, or stays over. But most of the time. I'm by myself." She sounded so sad to admit to it. Right now, Rapunzel felt more alone than ever. At least when she was in her tower, Pascal or Gothel were around.

[erfingi]

He huffed. He was always so lonely on Asgard, and it wasn't until Penrose that he wasn't lonely. "Let's get your hair cleaned up and out of the way." So trying to sound reluctant, it probably wasn't working. There was the spell he used to keep his hair out of his eyes. And he had seen his mother do her hair up enough to know a few of those spells, too.

[hairiest]

Oh. Oh no. A man was interested in her hair. All at once, Rapunzel was backing away from Loki, extending her arm and frying pan in his direction. "Don't you touch my hair," she warned, eyes hardening.

[erfingi]

Raises his hands. "What do you think I want with your hair?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Has no one ever offered to do your hair up so it's not trailing the ground?"

[hairiest]

She kept her pan trained on Loki, though her gaze softened a bit when he asked the question. Maybe he really wasn't interested in her hair, but she couldn't know that for certain yet. All she had to go on was what her mother had told her, and Rapunzel had known her mother far longer than she'd known this stranger.

"Not really," she admitted, never lowering the frying pan. "But then, I haven't gotten out much..."