#xiaolindude

Six years of being completely obsessed with them! Six years of learning about Rai from @xiaolindude, going so far as to watch XS so I'd better understand this character she was writing. Six years of falling more and more in love with them as they fall more and more in love with each other, over and over and over again.

I don't expect to post anything new there, except maybe links to playlists, but it's a concentrated collection of the art that @xiaolindude and I have done through the years, random musings we've posted about them, gif sets and quotes and the like that I reblogged because it specifically reminded me of them. And everything's tagged super well, as to what verse it's referencing, etc.

Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens. Where it landed, a magical golden gemstone, warm to the touch, formed. It was discovered by a woman and dubbed the Sun's Tear.

Now, the magic of this stone was profound. It granted the gifts of healing, longevity, and near-invulnerability. But not everyone can use the stone. Only the woman who found it, and other women of her bloodline, have the capability. Because of this, those women became custodians of the gem and its power, passing it down from generation to generation. It is a great gift, but also a great responsibility. Those who would seek the power of the stone must first locate she who holds it and ask a boon, or else find a way to take the power for themself.

Unfortunately for the current holder, she is being hunted. Fortunately for her, she is difficult to locate...

The wind whipped through Rapunzel's hair as The Chameleon cut cleanly through the waves of the Atlantic. Today was a very important day; it was the three-year anniversary of the day she had become a pirate, having run away from home after her father accepted a proposal from an admiral she despised on her behalf. It was also her 23rd birthday.

Her crew, a cutthroat band of ruffians and thugs, were all smiles as they made their way south toward the equatorial band. Warm seas and fair winds called, as did the merchant ships that sailed from Europe.

Though she had been born noble, Rapunzel had taken to a life at sea with little problem. It offered a freedom that her home did not, as well as adventure and travel -- all things denied her as the daughter of a marquis -- plus, it made her a moving target in an impossibly large sea. For Rapunzel was also the custodian of the Sun's Tear, having been gifted the gem by her mother on her 18th birthday. For five years, she had cared for, used, and kept secret the gem, wearing a non-magical replica around her neck as a red herring. And for the past three years, she had been hunted mercilessly by the man who she had been promised to. Whether it was out of pride, vanity, or revenge, she did not know, but The Chameleon was a fast ship, one of the fastest in the ocean, and had an uncanny ability to blend in with its surroundings. She didn't know how or why it managed it, but there had been so many close calls where her pursuers had sailed past without seeing them.

But for now, she wasn't hiding.

"Hook Hand!" she called out, and was promptly answered by her first mate, a burly man with a bald head and a thin mustache that drooped around the sides of his mouth.

"Aye, Captain?"

"Let me know the moment the Bella Seraphina is spotted."

"Aye, Captain! Her cargo will make an excellent birthday present for you. Happy birthday, by the way!"

She couldn't help her warm smile. "Thank you!" she answered with sweet sincerity. "But I'm more interested in our anniversary celebration tonight! Happy anniversary, Hook Hand!"

aka Titanic AU

created to RP with @xiaolindude

It's April of 1912. Rapunzel has spent her whole life in luxurious isolation, living in wealth and splendor, all her needs met, and wanting for nothing but company. Her entire life, she has seen and spoken to no one but her mother in a country estate in England. One day, she has had enough, and runs away to see the world at last. Hitching a ride to Southampton, she finds herself in the perfect time and place to purchase passage on a large ship that is crossing the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. She manages to book a first class stateroom -- one of the few left available at so late a date -- and on the 10th, she boards the glorious Ship of Dreams to begin her new life in America.

Unbeknownst to her, her "mother," who kidnapped her when she was an infant, discovers where she has gone, and hires two men to bring Rapunzel back to her. Posing as law enforcement authorities, the burly twins are able to board as well, and know they have a scant ten days to locate her before she is likely to disappear into the streets of New York.