And They Lived Happily Ever After (Lottie)

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Giselle loved gardens. She really loved them. They were lovely and beautiful and they always smelled delightful and they were warm and cozy. And she could sing to them. Plants were such lovely things to sing to because it was really quite good for them. Or something like that. Giselle had never bothered to learn much about plants.

It was a little strange that there were no animals around so Giselle opened the door of the greenhouse and gave her musical call into the afternoon air. Soon enough birds and squirrels and butterflies and even a chipmunk or two were through the door and into the greenhouse. Well, this was much better now that she was surrounded by friends.

Giselle sighed contentedly. This was just right. To make things better Giselle found that a song was bubbling up in her chest and she just had to let it out, otherwise she would burst. “I’ve been dreaming of a true love’s kiss,” she sang as she walked through the row of greenery, reaching out to touch leaves and flowers and stems as she passed. “And a prince I’m hoping comes with this. That’s what brings ever afterings so happy!” Giselle twirled then turned back to the plants. “And that's the reason we need lips so much, for lips are the only things that touch.” She touched the leaf of a plant and a chipmunk scuttled out behind it. Giselle bent down and held her hand out for the chipmunk. “So to spend a life of endless bliss,” she sang to the chipmunk softly as it sniffed her hand. Then she straightened and held her hand out to one of the park birds, which perched on her finger. “Just find who you love through true love's kiss.” Then she sighed contentedly again. Today was such a lovely day!

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Now if this place just didn’t have it all. It had it’s own pool that was indoor and heated, it’s own theatre, a cafe, and Lottie just couldn’t wait to put on a party dress and try out that big ballroom! As if that wasn’t enough, there was even a garden, but not just any ol’ garden, but one all glassed in on the roof! It had to be the ritziest place she had ever been, and she was no stranger to living the high life.

Stepping out into the greenhouse, she was dazzled momentarily. The sun shone in through the glass panels brightly, seeming to make the very air around her glimmer. It was warm, yet not unpleasantly so, and it smelled wonderful! Then, of course, there was the beauty of the place. There were plants and flowers of every shape, size and colour, some of which Lottie was sure came from some exotic country somewhere. Oh, and if all that wasn’t enough to impress a person, there was also music.

Well, not music so much as just singing. Singing that suddenly stopped. Curiously heading toward it, Lottie was surprised to find not a radio but a girl... along with a bunch of birds and, eek, rodents!

“Don’t worry, sugah, I’ll get it!” she yelled, throwing her handbag at the chipmunk that had surely been about to bite the poor girl’s ankle.

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Giselle hummed at the bird that was perched on her finger. This was just like at home in Andalasia! Well, almost. The animals at home talked, but it was almost like home and these animals were just so friendly! Not at all like that squirrel in the park the first day. No, these animals were very friendly. A much more welcome change.

She hadn’t expected that someone would come up here too, so she was very startled when she heard another voice. She twirled around to face the other girl only to see a handbag being thrown at one of the chipmunks. “Oh,” she cried, her eyes going wide with fear and confusion. The bird on her finger, also startled by the sudden commotion, flew off into a tree. Squirrels and chipmunks darted away and all the rest of the birds flew into the air around Giselle, then disappeared into the treetops. “Oh,” was all she managed to cry. “Oh, oh, oh!”

She was very afraid for her new friends. They hadn’t done anything wrong and there were things flying at them, trying to kill them! Oh! This was terrible. She blinked, still getting over the shock. Then she looked over at the other girl, her eyes still very wide. “I hope you weren’t trying to kill the chipmunk,” she said. She didn’t know what else to say.

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With a battle cry that would scare even they heartiest soldier, Lottie flung her purse at the offending creature. Unfortunately, her screaming had made the animal run instead of freeze in terror and she just missed it as it scurried off.

Chaos ensued.

Birds were flying everywhere, screeching loudly; rodents scurried this way and that, unsure where to go and what to do, and Lottie... well, Lottie did a lot of screaming herself, waving her hands about wildly and trying to protect herself from all the possible attackers.

Finally they were all gone and she was left standing there, breathing heavily, and looking a frightful mess. To make matter worse, after all that the other girl just stared at her and didn’t even offer a simple thank you! Maybe she was in shock.

“Well, I certainly meant ta hit tha darn thing. They got diseases, ya know, filthy rodents.” She gave a shudder.

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Chaos. Utter and total chaos ensued. And while Giselle could only manage to cry “Oh!” the other girl was screaming. Between the two of them they could scare off anyone with the range of a mile. Either that or they would send hordes of people running to their rescue.

“Oh,” she said, yet again as the girl explained. “Oh, I’m sure they don’t. And they would hurt me either. They’re my friends.” She smiled at the other girl. The animals were friends, they just couldn’t hurt her. Surely the other girl could see that.

“My very best friend is a chipmunk and he would never hurt me. Pip loves me. And he’s not filthy and I’m quite certain he doesn’t any diseases.” Pip most certainly didn’t have diseases. And he cleaned himself regularly. He was actually one of the cleanest animals Giselle knew.

“You know, if you’re quiet and you promise not to hit the chipmunks they might come back out,” she said cheerfully because in her mind the other girl couldn’t possibly refuse to meet the so called ‘rodents’ if she knew they weren’t filthy and had diseases.

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Lottie was beginning to think that it wasn’t shock after all, and this girl was just a little bit cuckoo. Animals weren’t friends, they were animals. Sure, some people kept cats or dogs or even birds as pets, and sometimes these people talked to them, but they weren’t friends. That was giving the animals’ little pea sized brains just a little too much credit, unless they were enchanted animals, like the story about the frog prince.

Oh, but Little Miss Crazy wasn’t done, oh no. Not only were all the animals her friends, but her ‘very best friend’ was a chipmunk. A chipmunk! Either this girl lived an unspeakably sad life, or... well, it was back to the ‘crazy’ theory. Maybe both.

“If it’s all tha same to you, I’d really rather not,” Lottie replied, giving the girl a clear ‘I think you are a total loon’ look, or what would be clear to anyone observant. “Unless kissin’ one’a these creatures is gonna turn ‘em into a prince, I think we’re better off just stayin’ outta each other’s way.”

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Lottie just didn’t understand. Animas were friends. Especially the ones that could talk, like the animals back home in Andalasia. But maybe she’d just never met any talking animals before. That would certainly explain why she thought they were filthy and had diseases. Giselle was very sure that if the other girl just met a taking animal (but not a rodent mind you, that wouldn’t turn out too well) she would understand that animals were friends.

But Giselle supposed that not everyone could love animals the way she could. “Well alright then,” she said brightly, disregarding the look because she wasn’t sure what the other girl meant by it. She’d never been looked at like that before. No one thought she was strange back home in Andalasia.

“Kiss them?” Giselle asked, her eyes going wide, her face slightly horrified. “Oh, no, don’t kiss them. Don’t you know that you’re only supposed to kiss your one true love? I would never dream of kissing anyone unless they were my one true love. In fact I’m waiting for my Edward to come find me so we can go back home and share true love’s kiss. Then live happily ever after of course.” She smiled at the other girl. “True loves first kiss is the most powerful thing in the whole world.”

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Lottie could have sighed in relief when the girl chose not to push the topic because, honestly, had she insisted on calling those creatures back out here then there would have had to have been a fight, and that simply wasn’t proper behaviour for a future princess.

For a modern (in her time) southern gal, though, anything went. People learned quickly back home that you just did not upset Charlotte LaBouff.

Relaxing a little now that the threat of disgusting, disease ridden rodents had passed, Lottie was about to make an excuse and hightail it outta there when the girl really showed how naive (and still possibly crazy) she was. Either that or she read way too many fairytales.

(Ahem. Pot, meet kettle.)

“And just how are you supposed ta know they’re you’re true love without a little... samplin’? Now I been kissin’ potential ‘true loves’ since I was knee high to a grasshopper, and I ain’t found one yet that been able to curl my toes,” Lottie replied, waving her hand to dismiss the idea of never kissing anyone. Where was the fun in that? Besides, there were more important things to talk about. “So this Edward... how do you know he’s your ‘true love’?”

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Giselle was horrified! She had never in her life kissed anyone because she had always been waiting for her true love to come along. True love’s first kiss was the most powerful thing in the world! She thought everyone knew that! But apparently not! You couldn’t just go around kissing people to try to find your true love!

“Well he has to be special,” Giselle explained. Then she smiled. “Oh, I just know that know that Edward is my one true love,” she told the other girl. “I knew it the moment I saw him. It was love at first sight. And he saved me from an ogre. I fell out of a tree trying to get away from the ogre, but Edward caught me and we both realized that we were made to finish each other’s duets.” She sighed happily. “It was magical.”

Perhaps the best way to explain would be through song. She could feel a song on the tip of her tongue anyway. “I’m all aglow,” she sang, the birds in the trees twittering and tweeting along to the song. “And know I know, the key to heaven is mine. My heart has wings.” Giselle made fluttering motions with hands. “And I can fly. I’ll touch every star in the sky. So this is the miracle that I’ve been dreaming of. So this is love.”

(Lyrics are So This is Love from Cinderella)

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“Wait, wait, wait, did you say Ogre?” Lottie asked, but the girl was already off singing leaving her to puzzle it out on her own.

Well, to be fair, this was supposed to be some magical school full of princes and princesses, and the stories she had read as a child always had ogres and dragons and all kinds of scary beasts that the charming princes had to kill to save their... well, their ‘one true love’. She had read that about this school, but she hadn’t really believed it, like when you hear there’s an incredible sale going on, but until you get there and see the price tags for yourself you don’t really realise how true it is.

And now, here she was looking at the living embodiment of all the princesses she had dreamed to be as a child, and suddenly her whole demeanor changed. This girl was living the dream, her dream, so surely she could put up with a few disgusting rodents and screeching birds for a bit of important intel.

Waiting impatiently for the girl to finish her song, barely keeping herself from tapping her foot, Lottie turned her full wattage smile on the unsuspecting princess. “Oh, that’s such a wonderful story! Just like I’ve always dreamed about!”

Clasping her hands in front of her, she took a step closer to the other girl and batted her lashes slightly. “I... don’t suppose your prince has a single brother?”

Hey, it was worth a shot.


((I’m setting this before she met Caz, if you don’t mind. ;D ))

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Giselle smiled back at the other girl. She had a really lovely smile. “Oh, you’ve been dreaming of a prince too?” Giselle asked. “Oh, that’s just lovely! I have always dreamed of finding my one true love, but I never thought it would Edward!” Of course, she hadn’t even known that Edward existed before she fell out of that tree, but that wasn’t the point.

Giselle had to think for a moment about Edward having a brother or not. She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I’m not sure if he has a brother. I don’t think so. I believe he only has a stepmother.” She didn’t want to disappoint the other girl though. “But I’m not sure. I don’t know very much about Edward’s family. We were only together for a day before I was sent here.”

Then Giselle got an idea and her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh, but I’ve heard that there are lots of princes here at school! I’ve heard of Prince Arthur! And I heard that he’s a prat and I don’t know what that means, but he might be nice. I think there’s another prince here at school too, but I can’t remember his name. And there might be more that I haven’t heard about.”

Giselle was rattling on now because she wanted this blonde girl with the lovely smile to be just as happy as she was. And that obviously meant a prince! Everybody needed to find their one true love but it helped if they were a prince right?

(Nope, I don't mind!! XD)

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Now to most people, hearing someone claim that they had only known the man they were going to marry, their true love, for a single day, would think the person insane. How could she love someone she had just met? How could she love someone she knew nothing about? It was crazy... right?

Well, Lottie didn’t see it that way. In fact, in this instance she was right on the same page with this strange girl. Why waste time? When she went and finally met her prince, Lottie was not going to give him chance to get away. One romantic evening and she would be expecting a proposal right away, and who really wanted a long engagement, anyway? She was all for planning a quick yet extravagant wedding. A full week was definitely long enough for a courtship in her mind.

Sadly, though, in this case Lottie couldn’t help but be disappointed in the lack of knowledge. It appeared this girl knew as much about this place, and princes, as she.

“Oh honey, why do ya think I’m here?” she replied, propping one hand on her hip, and waving the other about carelessly in the air. “This place is ‘spose ta be just crawlin’ with royalty, and I aim ta become one’a them. There’s a prince here just for me, I just know it!”

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Giselle hadn’t realized that people came here because they wanted to. She thought they just ended up here like she had, in some unconventional kind of way like falling down a well. She just thought that no one else knew how to get back home. Giselle didn’t know she could get back home actually. The idea of portals was as foreign to her as the concept of divorce. Those things just weren’t real.

Needless to say Giselle looked at the other girl with surprise, her eyes wide and innocent looking. “You mean to say you came here on purpose?” she asked, tilting her head slightly to one side. “I didn’t think people came here on purpose! Oh, this is very confusing,” she declared with a perplexed look.

But she wasn’t perplexed for long as her thoughts turned towards much more pleasant things. “Oh, I do hope you find your prince though. I think that’s positively lovely!” She graced the other girl with a smile. “True love is the most wonderful feeling in the world. And every girl needs her Prince Charming! It’s so wonderful that you’re looking to find yours! I do so hope that you’ll be very happy!”

She did hope that the other girl was happy. Giselle wanted everyone to be just as happy as she was and believed very strongly that everyone could if they wanted to be! It was good to be her.

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Lottie was about to counter with “You mean to say that you didn’t come here on purpose” but something told her to hold her tongue. Sure, this girl seemed to be the living embodiment of all the princesses she had wished to be as a child, but that didn’t change the fact that she also seemed to be more than a little unstable. Lottie just wasn’t sure she wanted to know how the girl got here instead if she didn’t come by choice; she wasn’t sure her little ol’ heart could handle it.

“Oh, I certainly aim ta be happy, sugah,” she replied to all the gushing instead. The princess really could go on and on, couldn’t she? Yet all that talking and she really wasn’t saying much, but it certainly boosted Lottie’s confidence. Surely if this girl could find a prince then it should be a cinch! “And what Charlotte LaBouff wants, she gets, and there ain’t nothin’ gonna stand in my way.”

She was determined, that was for sure, and she knew how to use all her abilities to get exactly what she wanted. Her daddy was easy, he never could resist her, and all them boys back home hardly kicked up much of a fuss either. She hardly saw some place full of people like this being much of a challenge.

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Giselle wasn’t technically a princess and she wasn’t really inclined to call herself that. She had other things on her mind like how cruel it was to separate true love. She was supposed to be married and living out her own happily ever after. But being that she was separated from her one true love and really couldn’t do anything about it she would just have to have a lovely time here while she could.

She beamed at the other girl. “I’m so glad for you!” she cried, clapping her hands in excitement. “I’m sure you’ll get your prince very soon!” And she was quite sure she would too. After all Giselle had known the moment that she met Edward that it was love at first sight. And he knew it too. And things had been just wonderful until she’d been pushed down the well that horrible old woman. Giselle hoped that the other would have just as much luck as she had. Only, she certainly didn’t wish for her to be pushed down a well and magically sent to another place.

“Oh, is that your name? That’s a lovely name. My name’s Giselle.” It really only struck at that very moment that she hadn’t given the other girl, Charlotte, her name. But that had been easy to forget. There had been quite the chaos at time. Exchanging names hadn’t exactly been appropriate. But now she knew Charlotte’s name and that was the important part.