( 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]

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?