( t e x t ; open to both courts)

[sundroplet]

how many people does it take to braid hair?

assuming there is a lot of it?

think before you answer this is REALLY important!

Comments

[wilder]

[He wasn't expecting to get his arm hugged, so there's a surprised look before he just tries to laugh it off]

Heh...yeah yeah, sure my darling.

[Nnngh no girl, don't do that. You'll make his icy heart thaw from sweetness. He follows her along, bending over to pick up the hair and start trying to sort out...where it actually ends. He's almost surprised to hear that she hasn't seen any of the castle- but with this hair that's probably why.]

Yeah, there's plenty of cool stuff. The gardens are gorgeous too. Can't say I've seen too much though, I'm pretty new myself.

[sundroplet]

You're new?

[ she looks back, an easy smile on her face. ]

welcome! I'm sorta new. I'm here a while but I couldn't really leave. I've never seen the gardens! I mean, I haven't been there, I saw them through the window. I'm kind of really excited to go. I've never been in a garden.

[wilder]

Thanks- but hold still, okay? [DON"T MAKE THE GIANT MASS OF HAIR MOVE]

And...seriously? What, did they not have gardens where you grew up?

[sundroplet]

Sorry -

[ lamely. but she's still smiling as she talks. ]

oh well, there might have. but I've never seen them. I sort of - never left home. ever. So I've never really seen anything except for my tower and um. the grass and tress and the forest around it. You know?

[wilder]

Really...

[Except for her tower? Like, she was stuck in a tower all her life? That's...rough. He frowns.]

Is it 'cause of the hair?

[sundroplet]

Yes, sorta.

[ a small sigh ]

I sort of left for the first time without permission before coming here? I came here on my birthday and I was going to make my birthday dream come true and then -- well, I've never seen a fairy so of course I followed and then I was here.

[wilder]

Seriously? The first time you left, you got taken by fairies? [He makes a slight click sound with his tongue] Talk about bad luck.

[He starts working on parting her hair now that he's got a sense of how far it goes]

What's your birthday dream?

[sundroplet]

Well, I suppose it's also my fault. I did say I'll come to help them, I just - I never figured they will take me this far. Mother must be freaking out.

[ but she has at least two panic attacks a day over it and this won't be the third. ]

I want to see the floating lights! every night of my birthday there are lights in the sky and I just - I really want to see them from up close.

[wilder]

Oh. Well... [A pause because honestly, he has next to no experience with parental concern. His parents are dead. Most of his friends' parents are either dead or a deadbeat.] I'm sure it'll be alright. Venturing out on your own's all part of growing up!

[Or something. He thinks he's read that somewhere in a book once]

The floating lights? [That's a new one] Don't think I've heard of that before, what are they?