Lou had been in and out of his painting classes the past few months. He did not, necessarily, want things to be this way. Despite the fact his mother had placed him in these classes as a volunteer at just 14, Lou quite liked helping teach art. It was generally calming (unless some of the children (and especially the adults) were being assholes.) He was comfortable here, after it being ten years.
However, the inconsistency of his schedule meant that his students suffered.
Like Rapunzel. She was not untalented, but her style was childish and sloppy. It needed quite a lot of refining. The kind of refining that could not be done when Lou missed several classes in a row and was then spotty in his attendance when he reappeared.
It was not his fault that two twins had been recently added to his family. They were a special and wonderful addition to his life. His students could probably not say the same for themselves.
“Make sure you are sketching your lines softly, Rapunzel,” Lou said as he drifted between students, stopping by her desk to look down at the portrait she was working on.
“It will show through the paint and looks far too harsh to be reality elsewise.”
Attina could not find the netting that she needed for the wings of the flying monkeys. It was this lovely grey pearlescent fabric. One would think it would be easy to find, but Attina had looped around the tables where fabric was strewn this and that way about four times now.
Things were well underway with the play. This was about the time where things started coming together. Practices became more intense. There was now deadlines to get certain costumes done so that fittings could occur and dress rehearsals for some of the more complicated pieces could begin.
Attina thrived on the organization and flutter of it all. Being busy kept her mind from wandering and that was all that mattered to her at the moment.
“Oh! Rapunzel, hi!” Attina said, coming around a corner and seeing the younger woman at one of the tables.
“You haven’t seen that pearlescent string we are using for the flying monkeys have you? It seems to have walked off somewhere.”
Belle was in the library, thanking whatever gods or goddesses that her morning sickness was waning and besides backaches and dizziness, she was feeling much better than the last few months. Not as tired, not as agitated. But fine. With classes in full swing, it was the best news that she could have had. Still, she was trying to take it easy, not stress too much--as that would just be counterproductive.
But telling Belle Acheron not to stress was a sure fire way to max her out on stress. She was actively trying to combat it. And how did she do that?
By going to the library and getting a headstart on her syllabus. The more books she read for class, the more she studied, the more notes she took, the better she felt.
She had just gotten off a stool and slipped into the stacks with a few books written down on a piece of paper. N, NA, NC--
NC.
Belle stopped, glancing down the aisle and blinking as if she’d seen a ghost. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if she was going absolutely batty--
But no, she knew that girl as she turned just slightly towards Belle.
“Rapunzel?” Belle said, so shocked that she used the normal volume of her voice. She winced a little having realized and then hissed it again--“Rapunzel?”
:text from Rapunzel:: 'hey terk!!! sorry I didn't get back to you earlier! I had a question -- where is the best pizza place in town, if there Is one? you seem like the authority on fun places!' ((💖 I'm on mobile so I can't reply to the chat, and I still wanted to say hello!!!))
Terk: pfft, girl!! i’ve only been here like 2 months. but chippamunka has some dope spinach puffs--not pizza but still delicious??
A continuation of the Christmas tree lighting chatzy...
@zel-interrupted
Snow blinked a little at the question and tilted her head. My, what a curious little thing. And my, what a difficult, difficult question. "Hm, a good question," Snow complimented, and compliments from Snow were very rare indeed. Perhaps this little thing was sparing herself with her glittering-eyed curiosity, those pupils of hers catching several different shades of light--blue and green and reds all dancing in her iris. It did not take long for Snow to settle on her answer, in fact, she had known it almost from the first moment, but it wouldn’t do to make it look like she picked favorites.
“I’d have to say my original Stradivarius violin, it’s from 1712, and it is one of only 500. It is the most beautiful thing I own.” Snow sighed a little. Eva had bought it for her on her first birthday (both her regular birthday and her first birthday as a vampire, which, for the record was a very big deal in vampire society—was the equivalent to a debutant ball.) She had always wanted to learn how to play music, and it was the first instrument that she owned.
“That, or my dear Frou Frou,” Snow amended. Could not forget Frou Frou, the dear would never forgive her such a slight, and Snow did love her fiercely.
Summary: Rapunzel celebrates Christmas alone, visits an “adult” store for the first time, and finds holiday cheer. Takes place three years past.
Rapunzel had heard about Christmas before. She read about it in books. But she never actually celebrated until after she had escaped her Mother. She had asked Mother about holidays before in the past, but she had never gotten a straight answer.
“Why Rapunzel, those things you read in books don’t actually matter here! We don’t celebrate Christmas, because we don’t belong to any religion.”
Rapunzel didn’t really feel like she had been missing out on anything there. After all, she had never before had friends, and they never talked about Christmas. But now that she was out in the Real World, with stores, shops and billboards all announcing holiday sales, and people dressing up as elves and Santa Claus, she had no choice but to try it out. She had asked about it, with a sales lady at the store, and she had said that you didn’t have to be religious to celebrate the holiday. Christmas meant different things to different people.
So, Rapunzel set out to find out what Christmas meant to her. She went to the store and bought a plastic Christmas tree, with some decorations. It took her hours to figure out how to put the tree together, but once she did, she realized it was worth it, because the tree was tall and bushy and she would have tons of fun decorating it. The decorations she had bought were yellow and purple. There had been tons of colors at the store, and even though purple and yellow weren’t really Christmas colors, or actually colors that went together, they were colors that she really enjoyed, and it made her house look absolutely beautiful. She got white lights and gold garland to go around it, and it was totally beautiful. She had gotten another set of holiday lights and she hung them around the arch to her living room. When she set the lights down low, it made her apartment look like magic!
Once the decorating was done, she really wasn’t sure what she should do next. Christmas was supposed to be about giving. She had to give out gifts. But the problem with that was, she really didn’t know many people. And she didn’t have that much money. So what could she do to celebrate? She decided she would get Gaston a gift. He had helped her out a lot, so it only seemed fair. She didn’t have much money, and Gaston was the type of guy that had everything he wanted. She would have to think of something unique, or funny.
This led her to go to an adult store. She had never done something like this, but she had heard about magazines with naked girls in them. She didn’t have an interest in anything like this, but she knew that Gaston was pretty open about his sexual activities and interests. He would probably find it funny that she was giving him a gift like that. She picked one with a skinny blonde on the cover, and one with a girl dressed like a naughty police officer. She also got him a bottle of Jack Daniels to go with it.
She went home and put them in a glittery pink gift bag with lots of tissue paper. When she gave Gaston the gift, she couldn’t help giggling a little bit. He opened it up, and, as she had expected, he had found it funny as well.
She wrapped up a few presents for herself and put them under her tree. Since she didn’t have much money, they were all things that she kind of needed. She got a set of body wash and shampoo and conditioner (the latter two she went through quite a bit of), a new set of coffee cups, two new books, some new paints, and she even splurged a little and got some chocolate. On Christmas Eve, she rented a few Christmas movies and wore a thick sweater with thick socks. She curled up in front of her small TV with hot chocolate, and fell asleep in the living room.
Although she had been a little more shy then than she was now, and she really didn’t know anyone, she still considered this to be a beautiful Christmas. She felt that she was able to learn a lot from it. It was peaceful and tranquil. It was a memory she would never forget.
