#bdrpnani

@pelekaikuahine

Rhiannon had made all the necessary preparations. It had been quite a long time since the last time she had chosen to do this, and this time...well this time she had to be more prepared. It wouldn’t be right to unleash her child upon the town. That would give them away in a heartbeat...in a manner of speaking anyway. Rhiannon’s heart hadn’t beat in over a thousand years.

But if it could, it would likely race at the sight of Nani. The woman was gorgeous, her face molded so perfectly, it was truly the kind of wonder that should stay with her. Rhiannon had barred every door and window of her enormous home. She had prepared two different types of menus for her to choose from. Fresh or donated, it was there in ample supply.

@pelekaikuahine

Rhiannon believed that it was about time that she let herself truly indulge. After all, the woman was not celebrating her 1,541st birthday, and she was still going strong. Not that it was particularly shocking. Even before she had become a vampire, Rhiannon had been incredibly resilient. And even now, with the heartache she had been given seeing her former lover with that bitch Snow, she was managing. No, she had caught sight of an exquisite creature.

This person had captured her attention, and truly was a captivating presence. It had been a while since Rhiannon had felt any sort of stir within her in the direction of another. Oh sure there had been brief dalliances, brief whimsical amusements for her that never touched her soul on the level that she would have liked. And never had she truly considered replacing her family as she had now. Not once until she met this beautiful woman. Nani Pelekai, who was hardworking, devoted to her sister, likely a willing participant as long as Rhiannon could supply her with the money she needed to succeed.

Rhiannon had more than a thousand years worth of wealth at her disposal. She invited Nani over to spend the day with her, where the only interruption would be the rendezvous with her former lover. A small break that would hardly be as self-indulgent as what she had planned for her and the Hawaiian woman. “Darling, I’m so glad to see you again,” she said upon catching sight of the one she had really been desiring to see. “I was hoping we might talk. And celebrate my birthday in proper fashion if you have the time. Don’t let money be an issue. You know I’ll compensate for your time if I have to.”

Belle had, objectively, had a rough few months. What with her best friend getting kidnapped and his sister falling apart and, oh yeah, she’d been turned into a bird at one point and all of it had been a bit of a mess.

But, things were looking up. Hades was home, and Seph was happy and she was happy and while things weren’t exactly back to normal, they were much, much better than they had been. And Belle was very good at clinging to that and trying to ignore the ugly of it all for just a little while. Just enough to let herself breathe. 

There was the matter of rent being raised and Hades being back adding a very slight additional cost to her overall living expenses--but that was fine. It was fine. She was sure of it. She’d make sure of it. 

And, now that her own crisis was being dealt with, she could turn her attention to another one that had been brewing right under her nose for a long time...and that was Nani. 

Sweet Nani, who had a bit of fire to her and who loved books and was quite too but more chatty and definitely more social than Belle. Belle liked her very much, could even see herself becoming good friends with the other woman, but she didn’t know much about her and she’d been too wrapped up and sad in her own thoughts to...really pay much attention, honestly.

Though, to be fair, she did notice and she just--didn’t know how to approach it. Noticed the tired look in Nani’s eyes and how she sometimes moved a bit sluggishly or downed the coffee that Belle got for them in the mornings from Hatter’s (well, coffee for Nani and tea for her). It had just...taken her a little while to gather the courage to say something about it.

She had that now and she sat at the front desk, twisting her fingers together, waiting for Nani to enter. When the bell chimed and it was Nani who appeared in the doorway, Belle smiled nervously and practically shoved the coffee at the other woman.

“Nani! Good morning! I, uhm,” she blushed, “there’s something I need to talk with you about if you’ll--come this way...” Belle took her tea and wrapped both her hands around it before turning and wandering farther into the stacks of books, leaving Persephone to man the front.  

Since his best worker disappeared, Gaston found it was time, more than time to start looking around for new employees. The truth of the matter was that he liked working at his business, but he preferred to run it from behind the scenes and hire gorgeous people to work the bar and to wait tables and whatever else needed to be done.

Doing it all himself was a hassle, and he was tired of it. So now he found himself going around town, putting up flyers of hiring at the Haunted Deer, putting up a job opening sign at the front of the tavern, and then continued to post ads wherever he thought the people of town might see them.

The night before had apparently been a bit too much fun. Rapunzel had woken up at one o’clock, with a headache and a lingering grogginess. She didn’t feel like it was actually time for her to wake up, and after a minute she realized that there was loud banging outside her door that had caused her to regain consciousness. 

Realizing the time, she decided to make coffee instead of attempting more sleep. The noises continued outside, and she realized someone must be out there moving things around...

She decided to put the coffee into a travel mug and step outside. She was still in her clothes from the night before, a purple skirt with a stylish white blouse. Her makeup and hair were a bit disheveled, but all considering she didn’t look as bad as she could.

She peaked her head out the door, and saw a girl, probably around her age carrying cardboard boxes up the stairs. “Oh, I’m sorry! Are you all alone? Let me help you!” Rapunzel exclaimed as she grabbed the top box away from her and began to follow her.