Day 54: Lunch

[full_score]

All things considered, last shift had been pretty low key. After this morning's disaster, though, that was perfectly fine by Claude. Some fresh air and a chance to make sure Guy and Okita were all right weren't things to take for granted. It was also good to have a fairly normal, conversation with Guy that didn't slip off into awkward territory

Comments

[kingdomless]

Kairi still smiled, despite Rapunzel seeming to be taken aback by her compliment. "Well, it's very pretty, either way." She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have that long of hair on the beach, though. Would sand get stuck in it? And how long would it take to dry? Crazy.

Why am I thinking about this.

Kairi's smile turned warm and understanding at the comment about her hair becoming her friend, and she nodded her head. "Reliable, right? I understand. When I was separated from my best friends for a while, I used to write notes in bottles and send them into the ocean. It was my way of talking to them, I suppose, though I don't think they ever got any of them," a small laugh, and she sighed. It was true; they never mentioned any of her notes, so she supposed she never got any of them. Which was okay, she decided, since most of them were written when she was feeling lonely and sad, and she didn't want to explain to either of them what they really meant. "So I guess I could say that my notes were my friends, too."

However, at the returned compliment, Kairi couldn't help but blush. "Thank you," she replied happily, brushing her hair behind her ears. "I'm letting it grow out; I used to keep it short, but now I want it long. It's so hard; I'm so impatient!"

And now her curiosity was getting the best of her. "Where are you from? If you don't mind my asking. I always like to ask, because there are so many people from all of the different worlds, and it's all so fascinating! I'm from Destiny Islands, by the way. Are you from Earth, too?"

[hairraising]

Rapunzel tried to imagine Kairi sending out the bottles, wondering how closely her vision of the ocean matched the real one. Oceans, farmers' fields, deserts, mountains - they were all places Rapunzel had only read about or heard mentioned in passing. The ocean was blue, right? And big. Really, really, really big. The water was supposed to move and crash a lot, too, unlike the water in the lake she had sailed on with Eugene. Was that how Kairi's bottles got carried out to her friends? It sounded like that was the idea. Though, she was disappointed for the other girl if none of the messages had ever reached their destination.

"That's a really sweet idea, actually. Maybe I should try writing messages like that sometime," she remarked after Kairi finished. "I've never really had anyone to write to before, but now... I think I do." If Eugene was all right and he was out there somewhere, then maybe she could contact him that way. If she could hail down a passing bird or chameleon (was it too much to hope that Pascal might find her here?), she was sure she could get some assistance sending a note out there. That would at least be more reliable than ocean waves, she was sure. A slightly more hopeful smile touched Rapunzel's lips at that. It might not have been much of an idea, but it was better than just panicking. She was sure she would think of other things to try as she got a better sense of what was going on, too.

It was odd listening to Kairi go on about hair like this, considering what Rapunzel had just woken up from, but it felt okay somehow. How skilled was this girl in the art of friendship that she could make a person feel so much better in this kind of situation? Respect for the other girl was fast bubbling up inside her. "Hey, you know, hair grows faster than you think. At least mine does, anyway," she assured Kairi with a puff of air through her nose - almost a laugh. "I'm sure you'll be able to get it out as long as you want someday. And it won't take a million years, either, trust me."

Her head raised and tilted when the words "different worlds" came up. What did Kairi mean by that? Did she mean kingdoms, countries, continents...? "Uh, I'm pretty sure the kingdom I'm from is called Corona. I only learned that just the other day, though. My..." She paused, correcting herself. "Someone I was close to never mentioned the name before. I had to find out by going to the capital city myself. We were both always pretty far on the outskirts of that world before that."

No thanks to her, thought Rapunzel, a flash of bitterness crossing her expression then. Her fingers clutched tighter around her hair, memories of the immediate past frothing back to the surface.