First Prank: Grand Entrance

[doeswhathewants]

[A charming smile with wide and innocuous green eyes, though the glitter in them is something less than harmless and innocent. When he speaks, his voice is light and engaging. Ignore the fact that he’s soaking wet.]

Hello out there!

[The volume is a bit loud and he winces before catching it and allowing his features to adjust back into that beguiling smile. He fixes the volume, teeth catching his lower lip in an expression that really is innocent. His charm does not fade as he speaks again]

Let's try this again? Ah. Better. Now. It seems there has been a terrible mistake, a grave error, I am entirely unsure of where I am, only that I woke up here- yes! woke up!- after being dumped in a fountain and er- found this Stark phone on my person. .

Obviously, whoever has done this has the wrong person entirely. I am no one at all of consequence, a Parisian orphan.

[He frowns and the expression is solemn, pious]

Now, if you please, could someone tell me how far back to Paris?

[OoC Note: Serrure speaks in the All Tongue (he understands every language, anyone he speaks to will understand him) but he thinks he's speaking in French and will assume everyone else is, too.]

Comments

[doeswhathewants]

It really is, you should go someday, the most beautiful city in the world.

[Most vexing when the heroes are trapped, too.]

Yes, I have heard. But, this sort of thing happens often in my world, so it is no big thing. [Not that he has first hand experience, but it sounds way cooler than knowing nothing at all.]

[tangledintower]

If I'm lucky enough, I'd love to see it in person.

[Chances of that happening: less than zero. But hey, a girl can dream.]

Well, it is sort of an interesting place to be stuck, I guess. I know that I'd rather be trapped here, with plenty of places to explore.

[doeswhathewants]

A person makes their own luck, miss. You can only rely on yourself to accomplish the things you want. [Voice of experience, here.]

It is a large city, so I am told. But, personally, I think I would rather be trapped somewhere a bit more fun. With better energy drinks.

[tangledintower]

[That...is good advice.]

You can say that again...I've only ever done that once, but I'll never regret it.

Energy drinks? I don't know much about them, and I know that tea isn't exactly the same, but...well, there is really good tea here. And a zoo with dragons.

[The dragons are really cool.]

[doeswhathewants]

[He's good at that.] What did you do?

[And that might be a gleeful expression] Dragons? Well. Now that is something I am quite sure does not exist in my world. In a zoo? That ... seems a bit crue, though. Are their enclosures quite large? [Zoos make him sad, all those animals behind bars.]

[tangledintower]

Ran away from home.

[Best decision she ever made.]

I know, the idea of being locked up in a cage...it's not good, not even for dragons. Though the enclosures here are really big....and they don't seem unhappy, at any rate.

[Zoos sort of make her sad too. Being locked up in one place, never allowed to leave, it hits a bit close to home.]

Maybe I should ask them if they're doing okay...you know, just to be sure.

[doeswhathewants]

You can speak with dragons? [Perhaps she is some kind of fairy? Or alien? Or something?]

I like the way you think. Those are my feelings precisely. This is why I think school is a punishment meant to drain all heart and creativity out of children and instill in them enjoyment of the banal and ordinary. [A grin.] So why did you run away?

[tangledintower]

I wish. I have a chameleon, though, and he translates for me.

[Apparently, reptile is a univeral language. At his question, she smiles, a little nervously, running her fingers through her hair.]

Well...because I'd been locked in a tower for 18 years, more or less. I wanted to see something for myself, something I'd wanted to see all my life, and my mother...

[She sighs. By this point, she knows Gothel wasn't her mother, and her whole life was a lie meant to keep her trapped, but...]

[doeswhathewants]

...you speak chameleon? [He arches an eyebrow.] That is not a pseudonym, is it? For some costumed hero friend? Or do you really mean a small lizard that changes colors? Which is still cool...

[Eyes widen. Well. That.... seems terrible.] Ah. That seems... extreme, your mother the one who did it? I'd run away, too, if I had parents like that.

[tangledintower]

[As if on cue, Pascal pops out on her shoulder.]

This is Pascal. He's basically my best friend, and if you live with somebody long enough, you learn to understand them...even if they're a chameleon.

[Pascal goes a bit pink at that. She nods and sighs.]

It's a long story...Mother always kept me locked up to keep my safe, but...there was more to it that I didn't find out until I came here.

[doeswhathewants]

That... seems quite cruel. People do not keep their valuable things locked up for safety, they keep them locked up because they are afraid of losing them. Perhaps they consider it the same thing, but I see it as more selfish. I see myself as a liberator. I liberate those poor oppressed things. [In other words, he's a thief.]

Ah. Well. Hello Pascal, a pleasure to meet you. [And there is no trace on his expression of how silly he feels speaking to a lizard.]

[tangledintower]

[Man, he gets right to the heart of the issue, doesn't he.]

...that was exactly why she kept me locked up. I was just something she used and couldn't afford to lose. I didn't know that until I got here...and it explained a lot of things. Still hurt, though.

[Pascal goes blue at that, patting Rapunzel's shoulder reassuringly, before nodding slightly, smiling. He's a very smart lizard, clearly.]

[doeswhathewants]

[He likes to unsettle people. Though he might feel bad if he did it to her. She seems nice.] Used how? I mean, do you grant wishes or something? I could see how a person would want to keep a cork on that.

[Creepily smart lizard.]

[tangledintower]

Not exactly, no...more like...

[She always feels weird telling people about her hair, after years of being told not to, that people would abuse it and use her. And they still could. But...]

I have magic hair that glows when I sing, and it heals people. She was using it to stay young, I think.

[doeswhathewants]

[There's a skeptical look but-] Okay. That is actually not the weirdest thing I have ever heard. Ever thought of going into the hero business?

[And here it goes, pushing boundaries and having no tact.] So. Was it hard, finding out she was basically using you? Most people, I find, have an idealized view on parents and families.

[tangledintower]

I don't know if I'd be a good hero. I mean, the magic hair is one thing, but...don't you need to be good at something useful in fighting off bad guys to be a hero?

[Says the girl who can lift humans with her hair, can swing around like Tarzan, is talented in multiple areas, and is stronger than she looks. Somebody's selling herself short here. She shrugs, sighing and nodding.]

Well, it was pretty awful, but it explained a lot of things, too. I'm trying to get past it and just live my life. She's not here, she can't control me or use me here, and that's enough for now.

[doeswhathewants]

What happens when the heroes get hurt? Someone needs to heal them. And the innocent bystanders that the villains have maimed. See? Heroine material already.

[He would probably be impressed with that.]

Out of one cage and into another, I am not sure whether you have excellent luck or poor luck.

[tangledintower]

Huh. You think so? I mean, I guess it couldn't hurt to give it a shot, considering how dangerous this place can get...

Well, at least this is a bigger cage, and there's other people here.

[doeswhathewants]

You should. It's an excellent idea because I thought of it.

[He's a bit smug.]

And dragons.

[tangledintower]

[Oh, she likes him.]

Next time the City is in trouble during a curse, I'll make sure to give you all the credit for my heroic deeds.

Yep, and dragons. I think there's unicorns at the zoo too, but I like the dragons more.

[doeswhathewants]

[That isn't difficult, because he's charming.]

Ah- no need. Just act justly and become famous. Introduce me to plenty of people to liberate shiny things from.

Unicorns, too? Poor creatures. What about tigers? Perhaps one day I shall liberate them, too.

[tangledintower]

[Ah, yes, 'liberate shiny things'. Sounds like somebody she knows.]

Promise.

They've got tigers, too. They're beautiful...I think the zoo needs to be bigger, maybe make the cages huge, like how the City is. So they don't feel as trapped, you know?

[Liberating them would be great, but potentially dangerous.]

[doeswhathewants]

I wonder where they come from, the dragons and the unicorns and the tigers. Whether they were running- or flying as the case may be- free, then one day they are plopped in a fountain and find themselves chained and locked behind bars. How terrible that must be. [Danger? He laughs in the face of danger.]

I'll hold you to that promise, you know. [A grin]

[tangledintower]

This place is really strange. Half of the things here still don't make sense to me...all I know is that the zoo and the animals were here when I got here, and unlike the people here, they never leave or arrive like we do. And they're not affected by curses, most of the time. So they might be a native thing to the City. It's hard to tell.

I wouldn't expect anything less.

[She grins right back.]

You know, I realized I've been rude. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Rapunzel.

[doeswhathewants]

If they are native, then who put them in the zoos? So far, I have been told that no one has ever met a native person from this place.

[That awkward pause. You know what. Of course. Of course you are Rapunzel.] A pleasure to meet you, then, Rapunzel. I am Serrure, the roguishly handsome hero of his own story.