i have a dream.

NAME: Rapunzel Corona.

FACE CLAIM: Lucy Hale.

PRONOUNS: She/Her.

BIRTHDAY: June 20th, 1995.

SEXUALITY: Heterosexual.

NATIONALITY: American.

JOB/SCHOOL: Florist at Garden Grove.

RESIDENCE: Benbow Apartments.

MAGICAL ABILITIES: Glowing hair with healing properties. 

Flynn had to physically fight the automatic desire to snap his head back around to her with a wide, delighted grin. Was she quoting Casablanca at him? Fuck friendship, he’d happily marry this woman for that.

No, bad Flynn. No flirtatious offers of marriage to the lady you tried to court in your sleep. Not unless she starts to be cool about a lot of things very quickly.

Instead, Flynn laughed. “You know, I think we are,” he said, setting their food down on one of the small cafe tables before pulling out her chair. He didn’t quite pull his hand away fast enough when she sat, and for a moment her back was pressed against his fingers. Something electric shot through him as the ends of her hair brushed against his skin, the sparks seeming to gather beneath his breastbone where they took up temporary residence. Only the steady, familiar weight of the opal necklace that sat against his skin kept him present in the moment, and stopped him from jerking his hand back. 

He hadn’t responded to anyone like that in ages. He thought he had lost that years ago under the careful tutelage of the Baron and his daughter.

Weird. Also, worrying. Maybe that dream was still affecting him more than he thought.

Pulling his hand away with a forced ease, Flynn sat across from Rapunzel and held up his drink in a toast, grinning easily. “Here’s looking at you, kid,” he joked.

Rapunzel expected a chill to run down her spine as Flynn’s fingers pressed up against her lower back, however the simple gesture (accidental or not, Rapunzel wasn’t sure) elicited an entirely different reaction altogether. The blonde felt warm. She wasn’t sure if her body was buzzing, humming, or...glowing. It felt similar, but not quite akin, to what it felt like when she utilized her powers. 

Weird. 

Flynn didn’t doubt that Rapunzel was always nice; she had that sort of sunshine-and-puppies-and-window-gardens vibe. It just sounded <i>exhausting</i>. Flynn could be nice when he wanted to be, but he was equally as often a petty contrarian brat who enjoyed nothing more than to piss people off.

<p>It was a rough gig, being a catty jackass, but he did it so well and looked so good doing it.

<p>But today was not a day to be mean, especially not to Sunshine over here, so at Rapunzel’s proclamation, Flynn just laughed with a good-natured smile. “Asserting your dominance early, huh? I can respect that. Conditional pastry it is.”

<p>Flynn took half a moment to admire the proud jut of her soft jaw before looking away casually so as not to make her uncomfortable. Luckily, the Hatter’s staff cosmically spot-on timing kicked in and that was the moment they were presented with their food and drinks. Seriously, there had to be some sort of enchantment or spell under the wallpaper

“Sure, we’ll call it that.” Rapunzel wished she had control of her blush rather than the magical properties of her hair --at the same time, she was lucky that her hair only glowed with the help of an incantation and not based upon her emotions, otherwise she’d often betray herself a little too easily. 

When Flynn looked away, she allowed herself to really get a good look at him --and though she felt sheepish about it, she was sure that he wasn’t unfamiliar with being looked at, ogled even. Most of his good looks and charm had translated over well into her dream; Rapunzel was impressed with her subconscious. 

Paw-don Me || Hollpunzel​

~*~

The moment Holley said it out loud, she regretted it. Nothing made one seem younger, really, than expressing how exciting it was to feel grown-up. But Rapunzel didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she agreed, which made Holley’s smile become warmer and more genuine. She ducked her head a little.

“I only just graduated a year ago,” she admitted now. That was not entirely false — she’d graduated from the RAS Academy a year ago. “And I guess I’m still in that stage where I don’t completely feel like an adult, you know? I mean, maybe you don’t know, but little things like fresh flowers really help me feel, well, if I can take care of them, I can take care of other things!” 

Rapunzel would have loved to go to college, but it hadn’t even been a remote possibility. “Congratulations on graduating!”

“You and me both.” There was still so much that Rapunzel had yet to learn about herself --her magic, especially, but that was a whole other subject. Her upbringing didn’t allow much room for growth. In a strange way, she felt as though she’d had to grow up fast given the circumstances, but still very much felt like a naive child.  “I mean, in not feeling completely like an adult. Sometimes, I forget my own age. Then I look in the mirror and it hits me.” 

Paw-don Me || Hollpunzel​

~*~

Something about Rapunzel’s face looked vaguely familiar, but then again, a lot of people in Swynlake looked vaguely familiar to Holley, who spent hours upon hours pouring over RAS database files. Swynlake did have quite a dossier on it. Of course, the actual explanation was probably just that Holley had recognized her from the Garden Grove — after all, she did pop on by every few days or so to get fresh flowers for the apartment!

“Oh, I love the Garden Grove!” Holley said. “I always love to have fresh flowers in my flat. I think it’s just such a nice touch, you know? Really makes me feel all grown-up.” 

“All grown up,” Rapunzel repeated as she mused on the sentiment. Holley had a point --when she brought flowers home to her apartment, she did feel rather sophisticated, especially when she managed to keep them alive for longer than a few days. “You’re right,” she smiled. “It’s a very adult feeling to be able to keep a living thing alive... Plus, it’s lovely to look at!”

Paw-don Me || Hollpunzel​

“Evelyn!” said Holley, brightly. “I named her after the character in The Mummy – the librarian who goes on a whirlwind adventure!” She shook her head a little as Evelyn took another dainty little sniff. “Oh, she’s usually so shy – I mean, she still is a little shy…”

Evelyn ducked her head down, but blinked her large dark eyes up at the young woman.

“But this is such a big moment, my goodness. She usually just shakes around new people.” Holley shook her own head. “Sorry I didn’t mean to be rude and forget to introduce myself – “ She stuck out her hand. “Holley Shiftwell, Swynlake Squire.” 

.

Without very much trepidation and a gentle outstretched hand, Rapunzel knelt down to scratch the dog behind her ears. A smile bloomed on her face; she was convinced that it was pretty impossible to feel gloomy around a dog. “I might have seen that on television one night,” she chimed. It was a lie, but harmless one. Rapunzel didn’t want to seem outlandish. “Evelyn is a beautiful name... It’s nice to meet you,” she grinned before standing back up. 

“I’ve got a way with animals,” the blonde shrugged. “Rapunzel Corona, Florist at Garden’s Grove,” she murmured, slipping her hand into Holley’s to shake. “Nice to meet you too!”

Once Upon A Dream || Eclipse

“That’s the good thing about non-conditional pastries,” Flynn said with a grin. “You don’t have to be nice after if you don’t want to. Thus the ‘non-conditional’ bit.” They took another step closer to the counter, Flynn keeping his eyes on the menu although he’d been there so many times at this point that he should know it by heart.

“And if you do decide you want to talk or hang out, we can grab a table,” he said, not looking down at her. “But if you don’t, you can just leave and everything will be fine.”

Flynn did want to talk to her, but he didn’t want to be pushy. Rapunzel, he had gathered, was rather shy. If this were a con, he’d let her talk herself into sitting with him so he had more time to wriggle his lying ass into her confidence, but this wasn’t a grift.

When they reached the counter, Flynn quickly ordered, chatting amicably with the barista as he paid. With their order in and their food being prepared, he gestured for Rapunzel to head towards the end of the counter in front of him.

It’s not that she didn’t want to talk to Flynn --it was that she was scared of talking too much to him and spilling everything about her regency dream. “I’m always nice,” the blonde quipped, though it was with a good natured smile. Rapunzel was always nice, albeit a little awkward and quiet at times --perhaps too nice to a fault at times. 

Along with her chocolate croissant, she’d ordered a chai latte, which was a departure from her usual coffee. Perhaps today was about tackling new things --ordering a different drink and talking to the guy she’d had a strange romantic dream about. Rapunzel followed him to the pick up spot at the end of the counter, her head slightly bopping along to the soft music playing in the coffee shop. 

Language of Flowers | Taps

-

“That’s resourceful of you,” Tiana said, thinking back to what she had known about Rapunzel before. Coupled with what Rapunzel had mentioned about not being close with her family, she had to wonder… oh, but it was really none of her business. “You always wanted to be a florist then? Or did you just stumble into it?”

Rapunzel pursed her lips. Flowers had always been of interest, but purely out of boredom. When you lived your life in seclusion with access to only certain information, you tended to soak it up. “The latter,” she replied. “--Don’t get me wrong... I enjoy it, I really do. There was an opening when I moved to town and I took the first opportunity to make some money. But, I want to be an artist, which I guess a florist is in a certain way.” 

/./

“Weddings are very fun to plan, but also very stressful,” Simba said with a little chuckle. He was gonna leave out the part where the wedding planner had kidnapped his husband, as that was a very Simba-and-Berlioz wedding planning problem, but that wasn’t the only thing that had made it hard! There had certainly been times where they’d fought or had to make compromises for things.

It certainly hadn’t been the rosy, carefree concept that Simba had always imagined planning his wedding was going to be. That was just marriage in general, though, and being in love. It wasn’t always perfect. It especially wasn’t when you were Simba and Berlioz. 

“We had a good time, and all our guests did too. I think anyway,” Simba laughed a bit louder. “To tell you the truth, we actually, uh–ditched our own wedding. So, I can’t tell you if the pay off is really worth the stress, but I think everyone had fun so…maybe.”

“And, yeah–flowers could be nice. I always get him flowers, though. It’s our first anniversary, so I’m trying to think of something special.” 

“Isn’t a wedding supposed to be about the two of you though,” she mused. Though Rapunzel hadn’t quite experienced anything in the romance department (aside from a few outlandish dreams), she gleaned enough from books and movies to understand that. “Sure, the party aspect is great, but it’s a celebration of the couple, not your guests. I can’t blame you for ditching.” 

With the last of the filling in the pie pan, she began to work on the crust, gently lifting the raw dough onto the top of the pan. 

“First? That’s a big one. Aren’t there guidelines for anniversaries like that? Diamonds or silver or something... I remember reading about it.” 

Paw-don Me || Hollpunzel

Slowly but surely, Evelyn was becoming acclimated to Swynlake. Holley was very proud of her! They were going on longer walks now without Evelyn getting too skittish and sometimes they could even pass people without her letting out a little whine.

Today, they were going on their longest walk so far. They’d nearly crossed town and were circling back and so far, Evelyn was doing a splendid job.

“Just a little bit further!” Holley said to her dog. So far, since it was quite early, the streets were empty, but up ahead, Holley saw a girl walking. Oh no! How would Evelyn react?

As it turned out, Holley had little to worry about, for Evelyn trotted forward and gave the young woman a gentle sniff on her hand before barking once in greeting.

“Oh! She’s saying hello to you!” said Holley, smiling at the girl. 

@gleamdncglow​

There were a lot of things Rapunzel loved, considering most things were new to her after spending majority of her life locked up in a cabin, however there were few things that evoked the same feeling in her as seeing a dog. Growing up, it was all she ever wanted, but her mother never relented. She’d promised herself that once she got an even footing and her magic under control, she’d get her very own. 

The dog coming towards her was very cute --as to be expected. The blonde knelt down to scratch them behind their ears with a smile. 

“Well, hello! It’s very nice to meet you...” Rapunzel looked up at the other girl. “What’s her name?”

Once Upon A Dream || Eclipse

You know how some people are natural born liars? Yeeeah, Rapunzel was not one of them. She had Big Ol’ Innocent Eyes, which made it far too easy to read her. He almost didn’t need to look for any of her tells.

But she wasn’t a mark, she was just a pretty woman who had done him some irrevocable brain damage with a frying pan. And so Flynn let her get away with it. Usually he’d tease her a bit first, but she already wasn’t very comfortable with his flirting- nevermind after whatever the hell that dream had been.

“I am an expert negotiator,” Flynn agreed, slipping his own hands in his pockets. “Pick your poison. I promise that if you want me to, I’ll buy you your pastry then we can part ways.” Non-conditional meant non-conditional; if she wanted him gone, he was gone. But at least then he could say he tried in case it ever came up. He could see Tony ribbing him about it in the future.

(Maybe Belle, but he didn’t know her nearly as well outside of the dream. Regency Belle would have teased him about it until the fuckin’ Rapture, given the chance. Man, he missed her.)

If Flynn had picked up that Rapunzel was lying, he was nice enough not to call it out. Her cheeks were still burning from her blatant lack of regard from the truth --that she couldn’t look at him without imagining what Regency Rapunzel had been up to. It felt weird. 

“Anything... Hm...” The blonde’s eyes flitted back towards the menu, grateful to have a slight distraction despite being wildly aware of him standing behind her. A second longer and she would’ve been able to see herself, dolled up in a regency gown, meeting him in the town square, dancing at a ball, sneaking around an opera house...

God, maybe she needed to get on a dating app. 

/./

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”

Usually, Simba would say exactly that. Okay, not exactly that, but he was normally very open about launching into whatever he was up to these days. For a while it had been planning his wedding, always fun to talk about. Or his students, which he loved. Or the new stuff that was up and coming with the Swynlake Board. 

Right now, there were so few things going on that were good…he really had to scrounged about in his head as he went over to the sink, washing the apples they were going to need to cut.

“Uh, well, let’s see–helping out at the hospital with Bowie. I started back at school this semester, only a few credits left. I had to leave the high school, which was harder than I thought. My anniversary is coming up, so I have to figure out what we’re doing for that. I’ve been helping the Acherons with their new babies whenever I get the chance. And planning Tina’s wedding with the Tritons.” 

He smiled over his shoulder. “The shoppe is sure to get super busy here soon. Spring must be intense for the Grove.”

.

“I’d love to plan a wedding,” Rapunzel murmured with a dreamy sigh. When her mother had allowed her to watch television, she often favored re-runs of Say Yes to the Dress. She loved every single one of them, even the gaudy, overly beaded ones. They represented a dream coming true, which was something she always envied. “It seems like so much fun... A lot of hard work, probably,” she mused. “But still, a lot of fun. Tell me it’s fun.” 

She continued to slice a couple apples for the filling. “It’s my first spring here... I’m kind of excited. From what I’ve heard, it’s a little terrifying, but... Think of all the fun arrangements I’ll be able to make! --Oh, you could always get a nice arrangement done for your anniversary. I’m happy to brainstorm.” 

Language of Flowers | Taps

-

“You know, it’s funny, I never even realized water lilies could go in bouquets… Just goes to show, I am not the expert here,” Tiana said, chuckling. “But I really like the idea of that. Sounds unique. And really nice for spring. I’ll put in an order of those. How do you learn so much about flowers, anyway?”

.

“Trust me... I wouldn’t say I’m an expert by any means.” Rapunzel had an eye for colors and shapes and a thirst for knowledge, which made her good at her job. A botanist she was not. “Let’s just say I had a lot of time on my hands growing up... A lot of time, a couple of books, and parental controls on the internet,” she laughed. “Sometimes, I just picked a topic and went full steam ahead with research.”

Coffee + Conversation | Raquata

-

Aquata was hardly in the business of trying to suss out other hidden Magicks– she knew how stressful trying to hide her identity was, so if people said they were Mundus, Aquata believed them. No questions asked. She was interested in what Rapunzel was talking about, though, because this did seem like a story people might be interested in. “That sounds horrible. Is this someone you know? Or did you just see it somewhere? Because if there are any services the Board should be making available, I would love to talk to them about it.”

- 

Rapunzel pursed her lips, trying to conjure up the best way to explain her past without actually revealing that it was hers --a difficult feat for someone who was chatty and prone to word vomit. “Yeah... A friend of mine.” A good start. “From when I was in New York. Her mother wasn’t a Magick, but she was, and her mom kept her hoarded away for her own personal gain... Manipulated her into thinking the outside world was a horrible place filled with people who’d take advantage of her when her mom was doing the very thing.” 

Flynn and puppy love were close, personal friends. It had been puppy love that had inspired him to chase after the thief at the orphanage, running after her with no plan. It had been puppy love that had agreed to  life of crime and stolen luxury at her side. It had been puppy love that convinced him to stay with Stalayn for so long in the first place.

If anyone asked, after that particular disaster of a break up, one could say that Flynn had sent the very concept of puppy love to live at a farm upstate.

No one had told Regency Flynn that.

He needed to start looking for a new place to feed his caffeine addiction soon, because when he walked into Hatter’s, his eyes were quickly drawn to his dream lover pointedly Not Looking At Him. It had been a few weeks, and the confusion had thankfully faded, but there was still a small twinge in his chest. He almost missed the innocence of it; Love at First Sight had always been a favorite trope of his. But he couldn’t deny the relief that he hadn’t been confronted by her after.

He liked Rapunzel, she was fun, but he did nooot want to deal with the fallout from that romance when it was fresh.

Now though, seeing her actively avoid him, made him frown. Would it be easier to pretend he didn’t see her and let that blooming friendship die? Infinitenly.

So of course, in Flynn’s ever-ongoing quest to make his own life more difficult, he came up behind her in line and said low enough for just the two of them, “If I offer to buy you a non-conditional platonic pastry, would that be enough for you to stop avoiding me? Or should I also be checking my phone? I’m adaptable.”

.

Shoot. 

He’d noticed her. 

It wasn’t as if Rapunzel wanted to avoid Flynn --despite their run in with the frying pan, she found him to be a rather pleasant person to be around. However, looking at him brought up a bit of embarrassment and confusing feelings because of her regency dream. Rapunzel knew she was projecting, so why did it feel so personal? 

“I’m not avoiding you.” A lie. “I didn’t see you come in.” She hoped it wasn’t obvious.

Per usual, Rapunzel found herself waiting in line at Hatter’s, her usual haunt either before or after --sometimes both, if she was really needing the pick me up. She found herself to be an energetic person, although there were some problems or energy dips that only caffeine could fix. 

As she mulled over the menu, trying to decide whether or not to order her usual or try something different, she spotted him. 

Since having that strange regency era dream, Rapunzel had done her best to avoid Flynn around town out of sheer embarrassment. She hardly knew the man, yet managed to have an outlandish dream where they were the stars of her very own regency romance and though he had no idea, she didn’t trust herself to keep her mouth shut. Rapunzel had a tendency to ramble. 

It seemed inevitable, though she ducked her head down and fished out her phone, hoping to appear inconspicuous as she waited her turn. 

Coffee + Conversation | Raquata

-

Aquata hadn’t really thought about that, honestly, since her initiative was really about mermaids (even if she had brought in other Magicks to try and obscure that fact and avoid casting suspicion on herself. But now that Rapunzel had mentioned it… there was a potential here to bring in more Magicks by expanding the language in the petition. Not to mention, obviously, how horrible the idea of kidnapping a Magick to use their magic sounded.

“Oh, absolutely– I mean, honestly, I think any crimes committed against a Magick because of magic, either to oppress or exploit them, should be punished even more strongly than regular offenses. Because what I’m trying to do here is create an environment where nobody should have to hide who they are. And that is definitely the sort of thing that makes people afraid,” Aquata said, trying her best to keep her tone even. She was a concerned Mundus. Not a Magick with a stake in this. Or, at least, she was going to have to make it seem that way.

. 

“I agree,” Rapunzel replied with a softened expression --she was close, perhaps too close to betraying herself. “Not that I’ve ever experienced it, I’m just regular old Rapunzel,” she murmured with a laugh. A bold faced lie, but she hoped it was convincing enough. “Still, I’ve heard some horror stories, like one about a Magick abducted at birth for her...” She cut herself off, hoping that Aquata didn’t pick up on her error. “I mean their abilities. Just awful, awful stuff.”