When My Life Begins (open)

[Rapunzel]

“Hello?”

Silence.

The moment Rapunzel had stepped through the glowing light, warmth and sunshine had been replaced with cold and darkness. The room was empty save for a few more glowing circles like the one she had stepped through. It was tempting to try another one, see where it led, but she found herself crossing the room to the door instead. Was this the kingdom where the lanterns came from? Had she found some sort of secret passage in?

Slowly she moved along the corridors, keeping as quiet as possible. This was certainly not what she expected. She had thought to find a great, bustling castle, not one that was empty and, frankly, falling apart. One of the doors she passed was even caved in and blocked with stone!

Maybe she should go back, find Flynn. Clutching her frying pan tight in both hands, Rapunzel gave a little squeak when she heard a sound up ahead and dove into the first doorway she reached, waiting ready to attack if need be. This felt like the perfect place for ruffians to be hiding.

[Della Miller]

Right now, there weren't a whole lot of solutions to her current issues, but after discussing things with Alyss, letting herself get some down time by playing with Tori, and trying not to drink herself into a stupor, Della had come to a conclusion. If Panic was still around, he would be trying to leave soon, and the best way to do that was through the Portal Room. If she did stakeouts there as much as she could, between all the clean ups and trying to find a proper place to live, she might run into him, and try to talk about this.

...it wasn't the best plan, she knew that. He was going to either run for the hills or quite possibly try to kill her again. But it was all she had right now. She had taken some books out at the library, but she knew she couldn't rely on that. She had to be more proactive than that.

So, armed with her AD52, her knife, a flashlight, and a couple of those books (what? Stakeouts got boring, she might as well get stuff done while she waited), she tiptoed out of the staff room that she and the Hearts had been staying in, and headed towards the portal room. She wasn't terribly far from it when she heard a squeak. She paused, listening, and now she heard footsteps, confirming she wasn't alone.

She pulled out her flashlight and her gun, and turned the corner towards the sound. Eventually her flashlight hit what looked like...a whole lot of blonde hair.

She let out a sigh. Unless this particular fairytale princess was actually evil and only squeaked in pure terror to lure unsuspecting victims in...actually that wouldn't surprise her too much, better keep the gun up. Still, she wasn't all that nervous as she called out, "I can see you, you know. You don't have to hide...I won't hurt you if you won't hurt me."

[Rapunzel]

Rapunzel waited in the shadows, heart racing and frying pan held firmly in a white knuckled grip. Was it one of the bad men her mother talked about, with the pointy teeth that would want to eat her? Someone with the plague? A rhino? It was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

A beam of light rounded the corner, slowly growing brighter as it carved a path over the floor, lighting up her golden hair. A Ruffian that wanted to steal her hair! But the voice that spoke out suddenly didn't sound too scary, and she claimed not to want to hurt Rapunzel. Slowly she peeked around the door frame to see a woman caring a strange lantern, the darkness mostly obscuring her from view. “Is this the palace?” Rapunzel asked, trying to sound strong and confident. Sticking one bare foot out into the hallway, she slowly followed with the rest of her body, making herself stand as tall and imposing as her small frame could.

[Della Miller]

Della arched an eyebrow at the girl's question, but softened when she realized just how much she was trying to covering up the fact she was practically tiptoeing. You'd think she was a newborn deer that had just learned that it could be intimidating with practice. "Well, I mean...it is a palace, kind of. I'm not sure if it's the one you're looking for, you'd have to get more specific than that..."

She lowered her gun, placing it in its holster. "Sorry about that, you'd be amazed what I've run into around here. Can't be too careful." Then she lifted her flashlight so she could let the girl get a better look at her face, and offered her a little smile. "Welcome to Tintagel."

[Rapunzel]

Rapunzel's eyes widened. There was more than one palace? How far had she traveled? How big was the world out there, really?

Curiously she watched the woman lower and conceal whatever it was she had been pointing before turning the light to illuminate her face. She was very pretty, and not scary looking at all, although Rapunzel couldn't see her teeth so wasn't sure if they were pointy and dangerous. She could still be a cannibal.

“Tintagel?” The name sounded magical on her tongue. Anywhere sounded magical, honestly. “It's very... dark here. Where are all the people?” She had expected more people, and less... rubble.

[Della Miller]

Della was usually pretty good at reading people, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what was going on in this poor girl's mind, except that she seemed almost...fascinated by her? You'd think she had never...oh wait. If she was right about who this was, it was entirely possible she was one of like, three people she had seen before, one of them including this girl's reflection. That would explain things. And would also cut her work out for her.

She chuckled a little at the question. "Well, it is nighttime. People aren't usually around, I'm just...looking for something. Hence the flashlight. Plus almost no one's been here for a long time, a lot of us just got back...if you're looking for more people, I could take you there. If you want...I'm Della."

[Rapunzel]

Flashlight? Rapunzel was especially fascinated by this. It gave off light, much like a lantern, but brighter and more concentrated, and the way Della moved it around she couldn't understand how the flame was staying so steady!

Wait... did she say night time? How late?

“Oh, I really need to find Flynn,” she said, starting to gather up her hair. “We need to be at the royal palace by tomorrow night, but I think I took a wrong turn. I have to see the floating lights, it only happens once a year, the same day every year, and that's tomorrow.” Stopping to look at Della again, her arms loaded with golden hair, she gave her a pleading look. “Can you please help me get back to where I may have come in? The door was sort of... glowing.”

[Della Miller]

The wide eyed innocence of the girl probably would've irritated Della at one time, back when she thought she had to be as judgmental as she once was for...seriously, why? Why was she like that back then? Point was, right now it was weirdly heartwarming. Though that cuteness meant that Della found herself incredibly concerned by the girl's pleas.

"...well damn kid, I hope I can help, but the portals have been a little faulty lately..." She nodded and motioned for her to follow her towards the portal room. She hadn't quite had a reason to visit it yet, though come Thanksgiving and Christmas she would certainly try to make it back home, no need to make Harry and Kira miss her after all. But this poor kid clearly wanted to get back to whoever Flynn was (so she supposed that meant she was one of four people Rapunzel had met), and she had to at least try to help.

She felt safe to turn off the flashlight once they got there, since even the faulty portals glowed a little, giving just enough light to get a good look around. "Which one was it? I'm pretty sure if it's working you can just walk through."

[Rapunzel]

Faulty? Rapunzel felt her stomach flip a little at Della's words, but she was nothing if not full of hope so she didn't let it get her down. With her hair bundled in her arms she followed her new friend through the dark castle until they reached a room that had a glow of its own about it. Stepping inside, her face lit up to find the glowing doors much like the one she had stepped through.

Then came the question, though: which one?

“Umm...” she looked around, but they all looked the same to her, and she hadn't counted them or taken note of which one had been hers. She had been too surprised and full of wonder at it all to pay attention or even think that maybe, just maybe, she might want to make sure she knew which one to go back through.

Her smile fell. “I don't know.”

[Della Miller]

Della's own stomach twisted the moment she saw the confusion on Rapunzel's face. That was never a good sign in these situations, and when Rapunzel looked around without a single flicker of recognition on her face, she knew there was a problem even before she admitted she didn't know which portal was hers.

"Well damn...and I'm certainly not letting you test them out by yourself...you never know what kind of world you end up in." Should she escort her? It seemed like the right thing to do, but what if, gods forbid, the portal in question wound up breaking down before they could make it back? Then they'd both be stuck...but was it worth it, if there was a chance to help this girl?

"I'm open to any ideas, I'd hate to leave you hanging here if you don't want to be here, Rapunzel..."