Once Upon A Time... (Lottie)

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The girl just wasn’t seeing the humour in this at all, but Lottie had to bite her lip when she - Danielle, apparently - spoke of her stepmother and stepsisters. Oh gosh, this was just too much.

“Your stepmother and stepsisters... were they very wicked?” Lottie asked, with a wicked grin of her own. “Did they make ya do things like mend their clothes, cook their meals and clean the fireplace?”

She really shouldn’t be teasing the girl so, and would probably feel at least a little bad about it later if she ended up really upsetting Danielle (she couldn’t bring herself to call her Cinderella), but for now it was entertaining her immensely.

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Cinderella stared at her with wide eyes, first there was the prince charming thing and now this! She had heard of people here having magical powers, perhaps Lottie could read minds or just knew things about people in some way.

"Yes!" She replied, too shocked to be particularly hurt by the reminder "They did, that's what I meant when I said it wasn't so terribly busy here as it was at home, I don't have all the chores to do..."
Perhaps Lottie had already worked that out, and she was just using that to try and sound extra-knowledgable... but that would be sort of a mean trick to play, and Cinderella immediately scolded herself for thinking badly of her new friend (because, apparently, after five minutes of conversation she was ready to call anybody a new friend).

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Oh. Well. Lottie hadn’t expected that response. Her amusement fading, she stared right back at Danielle with a rather dumfounded look. So this girl had lived with her wicked stepmother and wicked stepsisters and they had made her do all their chores including cleaning the cinders from the fireplace, which was why they had nicknamed her Cinderella...

No way. This had to be a case of life imitating art, right? Because those were just fairytales. Sure, she had met Prince Arthur, and she had read about the marriage of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, but they were legends, they had really lived, but fairytales were supposed to be made up stories!

Then again, there had been articles in that paper about dragons, calling for knights and princes to fight them, and dragon were supposed to be fantasy creatures as well. Gosh, the school itself was hailed as a ‘Fairytale Academy’, but Lottie had never thought that it meant the fairytales she had grown up reading, that it meant those particular characters. She had thought it was a place she could come to live her own fairytale. This was... completely unbelievable and silly!

Maybe the girl was just delusional.

“So you’re tellin’ me that you’re Cinderella, the Cinderella with the Fairy Godmother and the glass slippers and tha whole thing?” she questioned, her voice taking on a completely different tone than the amused one from before.

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"Oh! You've read the stories too?" She beamed at Lottie, still not quite clicking that the other girl had been mocking her for the similarities just moments before, but that was because she didn't like to think that what Lottie had been doing was at all mean-spirited. "That's me. Well, I haven't met my Fairy Godmother yet, but that's why I'm here, to find her, or to find my prince on my own, that would probably be more helpful, and then my Fairy Godmother won't have to do any work at all." she finished, still beaming, although this time at her own cleverness for thinking how nice it would be to do the hard work so her Godmother didn't have to.

Suddenly, she was glad that the stories hadn't quite been accurate, who knew what other people would do if they knew her carefully hidden secrets.

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This was really Cinderella, the Cinderella, the supposedly fictional character from one of her most loved storybooks. Lottie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or scream or some other such reaction that she couldn’t think of right now because thinking involved, well, thinking, and her mind just was not currently capable of it.

And not Cinderella was going on about her Fairy Godmother and her prince and Lottie was on the verge of an aneurism. This simply couldn’t be real... could it? She really should have read the pamphlet for the school closer so she could have been prepared for this moment, but she hadn’t, so she wasn’t. So what was she supposed to do?

Shrieking, clapping her hands, and jumping up and down seemed an appropriate reaction, so that was exactly what she did.

“Golly, I know they said this was a school for fairytales but I just never thought they really meant all the stories I grew up reading and imaginin’ myself in and, Gosh, Cinderella! When I was a little girl I actually wanted my daddy ta marry some horrible woman ‘cause I thought then maybe I could be like you and find my prince and live happily ever after!”

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"Oh! But that would be terrible! I certainly wouldn't wish-" she stopped, backtracking slightly as she actually took in what it was that Lottie had said, and suddenly she flushed absolutely crimson.

"You... you wanted to be like me?" she asked in a small, amazed voice. That someone would think so much of her they wanted to be like her, why, she could hardly believe it! Of course, it wasn't so much her as her story that Lottie wanted for herself, but it was still more than anybody had ever wanted of hers before.

"Oh I'm sure you will, find your prince I mean, and someone as nice as you will definitely get their happily ever after, I'm just sure of it!"

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Lottie simply didn’t know what to do with herself. This was like meeting a celebrity, only more unbelievable and amazing. And people liked to talk about how some celebrities were really not very nice people in real life, but Cinderella was very sweet and nice and humble, and it suddenly didn’t matter that she was saying pretty much the exact same thing as Giselle had said because Lottie had never heard of Giselle and didn’t like all her creepy critters, but this was Cinderella!

Breathe!

Finally remembering to breathe, Lottie beamed brilliantly. “Ya really think so? ‘Cause so far I just ain’t havin’ any luck! I mean, I thought I had him at first, right off, but it turns out he wasn’t even a prince! He’s a really sweet guy, though, but not a prince.” Which was all that mattered to her right now. “But if you’re still lookin’ when we all know you’ll find him, then maybe it’ll just take a little longer than I expected.”

Considering she expected to move here, meet someone and have a ring on her finger within a week, it was taking much more than a little longer.

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"Of course I think so!" she beamed back, her expression turning sympathetic when Lottie told her about her not-prince "That's a pity, but you'll know the second you meet the right person, that's the sort of thing you just know." As she had discussed with Giselle, that was exactly the reason she didn't think anybody she'd met so far was her Prince Charming, it wouldn't be possible for her to meet him without knowing for sure.

"Of course it won't happen right away, your happy ever after wouldn't be worth it if you didn't have to wait just a little while." She added with certainty "But it will come along eventually, oh! It just has to!"

Everybody got their happy ever after, right? Unless they were villains, then they got their just desserts... which she supposed everybody got, but if you were nice those desserts were much sweeter.

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Did all princesses think that way, that everyone always fell in love the second they saw someone, and knew right then and there that this person was their destiny? It was a really nice thought, and Lottie really did want to believe it, but she found it rather far fetched. Sure, it happened in all the storybooks, where the prince and princess would meet for but a moment, but it was enough to make him fight dragons for her so they could be together, but was life really like that? Truly and honestly?

“I sure hope so, ‘cause I’d hate to miss my prince because I didn’t know it was him,” she said with a chuckle, the starry-eyed excitement settling slightly, at least enough for her to function without acting like a complete crazy person.

She really hated the idea of waiting, though. That phrase that ‘good things come to those who wait’ had always sounded like a lazy person’s excuse to do nothing to her. She liked to go out and grab life by the... er, horns and take what she wanted from it. Waiting around for the right guy to just stumble across her path wasn’t enough for her, she preferred to make it happen.

“I suppose, though I think it would be just as worth it if it happened right now. I’m gettin’ a little tired’a waitin’, ta be quite honest. I don’t do waitin’ well, it makes me fidget and sometimes I even bite my nails, and then they just look terrible! and it takes a real miracle worker ta fix them after that.”

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"Oh you'll know." Cinderella said firmly "Otherwise, well, that's just terribly... messy, really, isn't it? People could go running around and missing their true loves all over the place, and that doesn't make for a very happy ever after at all." she shuddered, the idea being as patently ridiculous to her as love-at-first-sight was to most other people.

"Well maybe you'll get a fairy godmother as well," Cinderella went back to beaming as the idea struck her - after all, if she got to have one, why shouldn't everyone else? Sometimes people did need help, after all, and where else were they going to get it from? "And she can fix them for you!"
Miracles were no sweat at all to fairy godmothers, at least if the stories were to be believed, what were a few bitten nails to someone who could turn pumpkins into coaches?

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Lottie supposed Cinderella did have a point: if this place was supposed to help them with their fairytale endings, then it would be downright silly if people didn’t find their true loves, not to mention the false advertising. But really, how big was this school? Did she have to go around and meet every single prince here until she found the right one? And what if Cinderella was wrong and she simply didn’t know?

Of course Lottie never considered the possibility that she wouldn’t meet a prince here, because as far as she was concerned that was her destiny, plain and simple.

She completely lit up again at the next suggestion thrown her way.

“My very own fairy godmother? Oh my gosh, do you really think so? Well wouldn’t that just be the bee’s knees!” she practically squealed, incredibly excited at the very idea. It would just be so... Golly, she couldn’t even think of a word wonderful enough for how it would be!

“And just how does one go about gettin’ herself a fairy godmother, anyhow?” she asked, looking at Cinderella with interested, hopeful eyes.

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Cinderella was thrilled she could make someone so happy, and she truly hoped that Lottie did find a fairy godmother, if the very thought of it made her that excited - Cinderella knew she couldn't wait to meet hers.

Her beaming smile faded a little into awkwardness at the question though, because she very much wanted to help her new friend in whatever way she could, but unfortunately she just couldn't help with that - even all the stories didn't give her any hint, it wasn't like she knew of anybody actively finding one.
"Oh, well, I don't know..." she admitted apologetically "I think they just... turn up..."
She hoped they did anyway, because she hadn't seen hers anywhere yet, and she really hoped there wasn't anything she was supposed to be doing to meet one.

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For a moment Cinderella was smiling too, and Lottie was practically hanging on the very air the other girl breathed, waiting for the tips, tricks and explanations that she was sure were coming. Then the smile faltered and Lottie felt her heart sink.

So they just showed up. Oh, well, wasn’t that just ducky?

“So what you’re sayin’ is that not only do I gotta sit around and wait for my prince, but I also gotta wait for a fairy godmother, that is if I’m spose ta get one at all?” With a frustrated sigh, she slumped down to sit on the floor, her dress billowing out around her, and propped her chin in her hands. “Ya know, I’m startin’ ta think all this fairytale stuff just ain’t what it’s cracked up ta be.”

It was never like this in the storybooks, she was sure of it, but then maybe the stories were just condensed versions that cut out all the boring waiting to keep people interested. Lottie knew she sure as hell wouldn’t have sat through a story of a princess waiting around constantly unless it was sped up a little.

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Well, if she put it like that it didn't sound very encouraging, even though technically she supposed that sitting around and waiting was what she'd been doing until she came here - it was quite possibly the busiest sitting around and waiting ever, but she hadn't exactly been actively looking for her fairy godmother or her prince.
Maybe that was the key, it wasn't so much waiting as it was passing time, it wasn't so passive as sitting around doing nothing. Besides, maybe whatever you did in the mean time helped, like how Cinderella had done all that hard work, maybe that encouraged her Fairy Godmother to see her as deserving - not that she did it for that, of course.

"I don't think it's just waiting." She said, as encouragingly as she could "You just have to keep yourself busy... dance lessons and things like that are good, I think, because they'll come in really handy when you do find your prince..."

She hadn't quite grasped the revelation that perhaps life did not revolve around your true love and finding them, but she was on the edges of it.

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Sitting on the floor, pouting, Lottie just didn’t want to hear it anymore. Her excitement over finding out that Cinderella was not only real, but standing there talking to her had faded now that there was nothing useful to come of it. It was just so disappointing! If the princess of all princesses could only say that she should do nothing and just wait until her prince finds her then what else could she do?

Well, Lottie wasn’t some prim princess, not yet. She was going to do this her way.

“Ya know I really do appreciate all the advice,” she said, getting back up to her feet and brushing off the back of her dress. Just because she thought the girl was full of malarky didn’t mean she should burn any bridges. She was pretty sure Giselle was crazy and had a rodent fetish, but she had still ended that meeting as pleasantly as possible. Never hurt to have friends, whether she actually liked them or not. “But I think I gotta do this my way. There’s usually something in fairytales that push the two lovers together, like a dream or a song, so what’s to say I can’t do a little pushin’ on my own?”