[Closed] In which everyone but Rapunzel has a tail.

[healingincantation]

Who: Rapunzel, Dust, Dewey, and Kuja
What: They're Lost!
Where: Anastara
When: July, some point after the bodyswap event.
Warning: None anticipated, will update if needed.


She hadn't been able to figure out what the event that day in Anastara was, but it was sure making traveling through difficult. She'd just wanted to pick up some new school supplies; replenish her stock after midterms, and had headed out with a few friends to do just that...

And now she just wished she'd bought a map, although she imagined she'd have needed a highly detailed one to navigate these narrow, winding alleys. She'd thought about unbraiding her hair to and using it to keep track of where they'd been, but she was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

But she did, at least, have to draw attention to problem at hand, so they could set to solving it. She turned to her nearest companion with a sheepish smile.

"I think we're lost, unless you know where we are?"

Comments

[mithrarin]

"It was exactly my style. Since I was created to have it," Dust said with an amused smile. "To be honest, I feel a little off here because I'm not constantly either exploring or fighting or both."

[healingincantation]

"One second," Rapunzel requested as they turned another corner. She cast another spell to mark a wall, then turned to Dust. "Created to have it, huh? Then... I guess I can see why a different kind of lifestyle could feel off. But is it nice, at all? To do something new?"

[mithrarin]

"Honestly, it feels really weird. I'm trying, but I'm not entirely settled into it yet. Part of being the way I am, doing the things I'm supposed to, is really liking those things..."

[healingincantation]

Of course, while Rapunzel could do her best to sympathize with Dust, really understanding where he was coming from was far more difficult.

"I guess that makes sense...?"

She was, if nothing else, glad to hear him opening up a bit more about the whole "what he is" topic.

[mithrarin]

"Aren't you a little out of your element too?" Everybody was to some degree or another, right? And honestly, Dust wondered about Rapunzel's world quite a bit -- thanks to that incredible wealth of hair she had. Was that normal?

[healingincantation]

"Absolutely," she answered without a thought. "No, the part that I'm a little confused about is how you were made for something. I can't relate to that, I guess?"

[mithrarin]

"I'd be really, really surprised if you could." Boy, does Dust hope no one else has to be anything even close to the Sen-Mithrarin. To need to exist in order to stop an atrocity that could be opposed no other way... "It's hard to explain, since I don't have anything to directly compare it to."

[healingincantation]

Rapunzel frowned, concerned. "I see... Well, it's okay if you can't explain it. You don't need to, or anything." A pause as another mark went up, on another wall. "Besides, some things are private. I understand that."

[mithrarin]

"Oh, I'm not trying to hide it from you," he said quickly. "Just -- well, you know things like a family, a childhood, growing up? I don't have any of that stuff. I remember my souls going through that, but me, Dust? No. So it's very different from anyone else."

[healingincantation]

"No, I didn't mean- Oh... Oh, Dust."

She was going to set that "his souls" thing aside for later, but for now... She carefully reached out toward his arm, intending to rest her hand there.

"I'm sorry."

[mithrarin]

"Thanks, but I'm not saying I'm bad off." He smiled at her from beneath his hat, though he wasn't going to push her away by any means. "It's just really different. If I can think of how to explain it all better, I will."

[healingincantation]

She gave his arm a gentle squeeze, and nodded. "That sounds nice. If you do figure out a way to share it... I mean, I am curious."

[mithrarin]

"I'll keep it in mind." Though he wasn't entirely sure telling Rapunzel he'd lived for a few weeks only was the best way to keep her smiling. "It does mean some adjusting here. I'm envious sometimes of how well other people can adapt."

[healingincantation]

"I understand. Some people do seem to take to this sort of thing better than others," Rapunzel agreed, removing her hand and rubbing her own arm sheepishly. "I've already done it once, sort of, so I guess it's a little easier for me now."

[mithrarin]

"You had something like this happen to you?" On her own world, he figures, but nonetheless he wanted to hear the story.

[healingincantation]

"This is actually the second time I ended up in a new world," Rapunzel explained. "A few months ago, I was in a town called Verens. It was the the farthest I'd ever been from home-" An understatement if there ever was one. "-so it took a lot of getting used to. But I made some friends there, and I learned so much."

[mithrarin]

"The second time?" Dust straightened up slightly, the better to re-appraise Rapunzel. What about her had caused her to move between worlds twice?

Maybe her hair attracted that sort of thing, Dust thought, and had to stifle a grin.

"That's something."

[healingincantation]

"That's right." Her smile was still present, if not a bit awkward. "It was another world with magic, too... I wonder if magic is just more common in worlds that aren't mine."

Most of the people she'd met here, after all, seemed to already have some experience on that front. And of course, she did too, albeit rather passively. But no one knew that just yet.

[mithrarin]

"Your world didn't have anything like that?" Even Falana had its own quirks -- the Flameless Light of the Moonbloods, and Fidget's little tricks. Plus Ahrah, of course, who was his own kind of special.

[healingincantation]

"Oh, well..." Rapunzel began with uncertainty. "There was some magic. But it wasn't a very common thing, at all."

[mithrarin]

"Not like here." All right, Dust understood that. Falana had its wonders, but Dust knew he'd encountered more than his fair share of them. "Aside from maybe you."

He meant her hair, of course!

[healingincantation]

"I... What was that?" Rapunzel asked, looking at Dust with clear confusion and surprise. Her time in Verens, and here in Anastara, had helped improve her self-esteem, sure. But after eighteen years of being put down in a passive way, it was hard to break free of certain patterns - like thinking that there was nothing remarkable about her at all.

[mithrarin]

"I don't think humans can ordinarily grow hair like yours?" he said, motioning to the braid.

[healingincantation]

"Oh. Right, well..." She paused, trying to hide her discomfort, because normal-haired people didn't get uncomfortable talking about their normal hair. "I think they can, they just... Usually don't."

[mithrarin]

She was hiding something, he was pretty sure anyway, and honestly he was a little hurt. He'd been open with her about, well, everything.

"I guess they don't," he said, and then changed the subject quickly. "You recognize anything yet?"