[rapunzel]

[thelittlegirl]

Something isn't right with Rapunzel.

Roy knows it'd be pretty bold of him to assume he knows what a real life Disney princess is like most of the time, and under normal circumstances he wouldn't, but under normal circumstances, he wouldn't know her at all. Darrow isn't normal and this weird bloody life he's found himself in isn't normal and something is off with Rapunzel, even if he feels a bit presumptuous to be thinking so.

If someone did this to him, he'd be pissed. He doesn't like having his space or his privacy invaded, might even headbutt someone who presumed to show up at his place completely uninvited and unwelcome, but he's here anyway. A few half-hearted answers to his texts haven't done a bloody thing to assuage his concern.

"Oi," he calls softly from the other side of her flat door. He raps his knuckles on the frame, wondering if she'll answer. Someone else let him up when he said he was trying to check on the girl with all the hair, some neighbour who also seems a little worried, which doesn't exactly make Roy feel any better.

"Are you in?" he calls. "Come t'the door."

Comments

[fatesdesign]

Rapunzel had always known that it was a possibility. People disappear from Darrow all the time. She’s helped friends who have lost loved ones.

She just never thought it would happen to her.

So much so, that she isn’t even sure what to do in this situation. Does she call Peter’s school? His work? Or do they just know because Darrow knows? This place took him away. They can deal with him not showing up.

She gets a few texts from Peter’s friends as they start to notice his absence, and she has to confirm that yes, he’s gone. Yes, she’ll be okay. No, she doesn’t need anything.

Rapunzel doesn’t like to lie, but she doesn’t know else to do.

For the first week or so, she does very little. She sleeps on the sofa because the bed is too big and empty, and when she’s awake, she stares at the television and seems to be able to do little else. She’s loved two men, and they were both snatched away from her. This one hurts so much worse, because she and Peter really had something. She had pictured getting older with him.

Now he’s just suddenly gone, and she doesn’t know what to do. It doesn’t feel like he’s dead, but it doesn’t feel like a break up either. She tries not to feel much of anything at all for a while, and then she tries to move on. She finishes up her commissions that were nearing completion, and then contacts clients to ask for extensions on the rest because her creativity is gone. It’s like she can’t see colors at all.

She goes to get groceries, tries to get some sun in the park, but eventually she winds up back on the couch again, energy depleted. Pascal does his best to comfort her, snuggling up under her chin, and she is relieved to still have him.

There’s a knock at her door and Rapunzel looks over at it, considering being rude and ignoring it, but then she hears Roy’s voice and she bites her lip. People have been texting her, but she hasn’t wanted to see anyone.

But Roy is here and sending him away wouldn’t be very nice. Maybe it’ll help her to talk to someone. With a huff, she stands up and looks down at her outfit, a yellow tank top and purple sweats, and figures that it’s good enough. At least she took a shower today.

When she opens the door, the sunlight makes her wince and she leaves it open as she turns away, letting Roy follow her inside.

“Hi, Roy,” she says tiredly. “I’m afraid I won’t be good company today.”

[thelittlegirl]

They're not best friends, but Roy is pretty sure he's never seen Rapunzel flinch away from the sunlight before, especially not when it seems like she's bloody well made of it. She sounds tired, she even looks a little tired, and her words seem wrong coming from her, but they don't surprise him either.

He'd been right, something is wrong.

"Good thing I'm shite company myself," he answers, following her inside. He wishes he'd brought something, though he has no idea what the hell he might have brought that might make things better, especially when he doesn't even know what's wrong. "My expectations aren't very high."

[fatesdesign]

"Well, that's good." Rapunzel sits back on the sofa and tips her head against the back of it, sighing a little and furrowing a brow. Usually, she is full of energy. Her magic keeps her healthy and strong, but what is weakening her now isn't any sort of medical ailment. She feels every bit of her grief, and she's tired in a way that she so rarely is.

Roy is looking down at her with concern and she realizes that he doesn't know what's wrong. Summoning up the strength just to say the words feels like it takes a decade.

"Peter's gone," she tells him, biting her lip as Pascal crawls up her side and presses himself against her neck, scales shifting to a melancholy blue. "I woke up a few days ago and he was gone."

[thelittlegirl]

He sits when she does, waiting for her to tell him. Maybe it's presumptuous, but he's got a feeling she'll say something eventually and he wants to at least give her the chance before he starts asking her all kinds of questions.

Not that he would do that either. He'd probably just sit here in silence.

But she speaks and Roy's brows draw together and he says, "Fuck. Christ, Rapunzel, that's fuckin' shite."

Maybe not the most sympathetic thing to say, but he's not sure what else to say. It's shite.

[fatesdesign]

The declaration makes her huff out a little laugh despite herself. She doesn't know how she made such a habit of befriending big, burly, foul-mouthed men, but she's glad for it. She probably needs it.

"Fuckin' shite," she repeats quietly, imitating his accent a bit as she forces herself to sit up next to him, slumping back against the sofa. Her hair is in loose tangles around her face because she just hasn't had the energy to brush it. Her eyes hurt from crying. She hurts in so many ways that her magic can't fix.

"I don't know to process it," she says as she tips towards him a little, breathing in deep as she keeps her eyes on the television, though she couldn't tell him what was even playing on it. "He-- he didn't have a happy life back home. He died. So it isn't like I can pretend that he's back home and happy. If he isn't here, he's dead. It feels like he died."

[thelittlegirl]

Roy has to figure it doesn't just feel like it, it is that he died. He's gone. If he's dead back home, that's the end of it, and it's so fucking final that it makes a pit open up in his stomach.

He hadn't even known the kid. Hadn't even met him once. It still feels like a blow, the finality of it, and he can't even begin to imagine how much worse it is for Rapunzel.

"Who knows how to process this sort of shit?" he asks. "I sure as fuck don't."

[fatesdesign]

"The only way out is through, I imagine," Rapunzel replies, and then looks over at Roy with big eyes before tipping forward to rest her head on his shoulder. He doesn't seem like much of a cuddler, so she keeps it at that, leaving her hands sitting uselessly in her lap.

"I know that he wouldn't want me to be sad," she says thickly, swallowing against the quivering lump in her throat that won't seem to go away. "But I don't know how to not be sad. Usually, I try to find a silver lining in everything but this-- this sucks. It isn't even a cloud. It's just a big pile of horse poop."

Perched on her shoulder, Pascal lets out a squeak of agreement and turns an unappealing shade of brown.

[thelittlegirl]

People always say that. They always ask it, too. What would they want? How would they want you to feel? Roy doesn't think it fucking matters what they would want. Keeley wouldn't want to think of him being a sad fucking sack moping around this city over her, but he is anyway, because it's what he wants. At least for now.

"Fuck that," he says, almost a growl. "If you want t'be sad, you should be fuckin' sad. There's no rules for this shit."

[fatesdesign]

Rapunzel shifts her head back to look up at Roy's face. There's something familiar in his expression, a pain she might not have recognized a week ago. She sighs and reaches over to take one of Roy's hands in her own, squeezing tightly as she rests her chin on his shoulder.

"You lost someone too, huh?" She asks quietly. "When you came here." She takes another deep breath and squeezes his hand again, pressing in closer. "I'm sorry, Roy. Life can be so cruel sometimes."

[thelittlegirl]

"Life can be fuckin' shite," he agrees, since she'd seemed to like the expression earlier. It's still a bit strange for him, sitting here with bloody Rapunzel, but he's at least gotten mostly away from thinking of her as a Disney princess. She's a human, just like he is, and right now, she's fucking sad.

He might not be much of a cuddler, but he squeezes her hand back all the same.

"At least you haven't stopped showering," he adds. "Figure that's the real danger point and you don't stink." He makes a show of sniffing the air, hoping to maybe make her laugh. "At least not yet."

[fatesdesign]

"Fuckin' shite," she repeats, just as she had earlier. She likes the expression. She doesn't curse a lot, but it's jut vulgar enough to properly express just how much everything sucks. Which is a lot.

"Hey," Rapunzel says, letting out a rusty sounding chuckle as she pushes at Roy's side. "I went eighteen years without a shower and I smelled just fine. It isn't the only way to get clean."

She sighs and then looks down at Pascal, who is sitting patiently on her thigh, and reaches out to rub the top of his head with her index finger. "Pascal has been making sure that I take care of myself."

[thelittlegirl]

"Good lad," Roy says to Pascal, sometimes still unable to believe he's talking to a bloody lizard. But whether he wants to believe it or not, it's happening, so he figures he ought to at least be respectful.

"You feel like going out?" he asks. "We could sit on a patio somewhere, get a drink. Might be good to get out in the fresh air and sunshine."

It sounds like a stupid fucking thing Ted would say, which probably makes it the right thing to say.