Who: Tas and Rapunzel When: Early April What: Stories and admiring each other's dream hair. Where: A park Rating/Warning: Squeaky Clean! Status: Complete
Tas rather enjoyed this park, and he found that he came here often since he’d moved to the OC. There were often children playing in the playground, and Tas loved telling them tales that made them balk in terror and gasp in delight. The green grass was lush and great for lying on. The few sprinklings of trees offered some wonderful shade to sit under sometimes. In short, the park was everything a park ought to be.
He wasn’t telling children stories today. In fact, he was cheerfully working on the maps he’d been commissioned to draw up for Luisa. It wasn’t difficult work, not really. He was copying maps of the town Luisa’s story was set in, simplifying things where he could so that readers would better be able to read it, and adding in the secret passageways that Luisa had asked him to. He had his tongue sticking out in concentration, and his brown hair, tied in a topknot at the top of his head, fell across his shoulders, brushing against the page as he worked.
With an art show finally on her docket Rapunzel really need to find inspiration to get some new paintings done that would be worthy of being shown off. And one of her favorite places to do that was at the park. Her backpack was full of supplies and she was carrying a couple canvases with her as she wandered around looking for a good spot. She really had no idea what she wanted to paint just yet, but she was hoping maybe some time just relaxing in the park (perhaps some meditation) would make an idea strike.
As she wandered the park she caught sight of a familiar friend and stopped briefly when she realized that his hair had grown as well. It wasn’t as long as Rapunzel’s by any means, but it was certainly long for a man. Her own hair was currently done up in a large braid that was keeping some of it from dragging along the ground. It only took a second for her to decide to approach him even though he was working on something and she put on a smile when she reached him, “I’m not the only one whose hair grows apparently. Hello, Tas!”
The only time Tas enjoyed being distracted from his work is if someone had something Very Important to tell him. Luckily for Rapunzel, Tas had a very loose definition of ‘Very Important’ and having one of his Close Personal Friends show up certainly fell under its scope. Even more so when Rapunzel mentioned his hair, and he looked up to see her. She certainly had more hair than the last time Tas saw her. Even more than Tas himself had managed to get, and he looked at her with awe for a moment.
“Hi Rapunzel!” Tas said cheerfully, laying aside his pencils and his sketchbook and leaping to his feet so he could give her a hug. “You got even more hair than me! Did you get them from your dreams as well? It’s awfully pretty!”
The excitement from Tas made Rapunzel laugh melodically and she happily returned the hug that was given to her. When the hug parted she held him at arm's length and then reached up to play with his hair, “Oh my goodness! But look at your hair. And yes, it came from my dreams. I have hair that is even longer than it is here in my dreams. I don’t want it to go that much because I wouldn’t be able to function very well, but I don’t mind it so much right now.”
That part was most certainly true because how else would she get around if her hair trailed for a mile behind her? The being able to swing around on her hair would be great, but she didn’t want it to get there. Green eyes surveyed the area and noticed Tas’ supplies, “Oh! What are you working on?”
“Even longer?” Tas asked, marvelling at the idea. “If you were in my dreams, you’d be a great kender! You’d have the nicest topknot everyone has ever seen!” Topknots were the pride and joy of the kender race, much like beards were for dwarves, or mustaches were for the Knights of Solamnia (though, the kender topknots were much nicer than either of those things, so Tas thought privately).
He gathered his map from the ground. “A map!” He said cheerfully. “I mostly just get to copy a map of London, but I get to add secret passages and tunnels too!” He said, pointing them out. As opposed to the regular streets, the secret passages were lighter, the lines dotted, and they were labeled in looping cursive.
“Yes, it is incredibly long in my dreams. And is kender a race? And I might have to try wearing my hair in a topknot,” Rapunzel didn’t know too much about his dreams, but she wanted to learn a little more. It sounded intriguing and she had to admit that the idea of a topknot with her hair was a little laughable. She would look so much like Jeannie from that tv show that she would even do that as a Halloween costume.”
She moved to sit beside him and looked at the map with a smile. His map work was so creative and she really enjoyed that his mind was able to find ways to create what others saw, “And that sounds lovely. I think London would be a lot more fun if there were secret passages and tunnels. Is this for someone’s book or just a fun project for yourself?”
“Kender is a race!” Tas said cheerfully. “In my dreams we have kender and dwarves and humans and elves and goblins and minotaurs and even draconians - though they’re pretty new I think. No one’s ever seen them before the last year or so in my dreams. They’re these really ugly lizard men who turn to stone or blow up or turn into acid or poison when you kill them.” Tas much didn’t like draconians, despite how very interesting he found them.
“It’s for a book! My very good friend Luisa is writing it! It’s a mystery novel, which I don’t normally do maps for, but I did enjoy the idea of getting to make secret tunnels and drawing Big Ben was pretty fun,” he pointed to the tiny clocktower at the end of Westminster Bridge. “She lives here in the Orange County - do you know her? - which is different because I usually travel to meet authors when I meet them, but I’m glad she was here. I’d hate to leave and miss something exciting like everything turning to lava or something!”
“Woooow, that sounds quite interesting. I know I’ve heard of most of those - what makes Kender different from the rest? And don’t sign me up for being a draconian, that doesn’t sound like fun at all,” it would be good for being in war with someone, but she definitely didn’t want to be one of them. She was curious want made kender different from dwarves and humans. They all sounded like normal fantasy races.
“Oh wow, that’s really neat that she asked you to do that for her. And I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her. Are her books good?” Rapunzel was going to assume they were if she was a successful writer and having Tas make maps for a new novel, “And don’t go sayin’ everything is going to turn into lava because now it might happen. And that would probably be even scarier than the creepy fog that burns people.”
“I never heard of kender before my dreams either!” Tas said excitedly, glad that he could be such a unique and interesting race. “Kender are kind of short, like dwarves, and they have pointy ears like half-elves!” He was currently neither short (which he was glad about. He wasn’t going to be playing in the NBA at 5’4”, but it was infinitely better than 3’9”), nor did he have interesting ears (which was a little disappointing). “And we travel all over Krynn - Krynn is the name of our world - and go on all sorts of adventures. When we turn sixteen, we get what’s called wanderlust and it compels us to travel all over the place and to take in all the sights and to learn everything we can! Kender are really curious, which is an interesting story if you wanted to hear it.”
An almost guilty expression crossed his face at that. “I haven’t actually read them,” Tas admitted. “Though, I bet they’re great! She’s really nice and her books have secret passageways so I just bet they’re amazing. I think the floor turning to lava would be a lot of fun. Just like when we were kids and we jump from pillow to pillow so we didn’t touch the floor. Didn’t you ever play The Floor is Lava when you were a kid?” If not, that was very sad.
As he explained what Kender was Rapunzel couldn’t help but drawn in. It was fascinating stuff, honestly, and she really loved the idea of the wanderlust thing because that’s how she had felt inside her tower after eighteen years, “Wow. So it just compels you and you get to travel around just because of it? That’s kind of amazing. In my dreams I’ve grown up in a tower, so when I turned eighteen I really wanted to get out and go see the stars in the sky, which ended up being lanterns that the kingdom released up into the sky. But, I think having a case of wanderlust would be a lot more fun. And sure, I would love to hear that story.”
“Oh no,” Rapunzel replied automatically when he admitted that and then let out a giggle, “I won’t tell her if you don’t. You’ll probably read them eventually. And I totally played that game. I was really good at jumping from my couch, to a pillow, and then onto an arm chair. My mother used to laugh at me as I did my best to avoid stepping on the floor. We also used to have competitions when I hung out with my friends as kids.”
“Yep! It’s pretty great! I guess I got it here too though, even though I didn’t start dreaming until recently. I left home to go travelling when I was fourteen!” And he didn’t regret it for a minute. He missed home sometimes, but the feeling always passed before Tas managed to get around to making plans for a homecoming, and then he always forgot about it. “A bunch of lanterns that look like stars sounds so beautiful though,” he said with a wistful sigh. “I think I’d like to see something like that. I haven’t yet. Did you also learn how to do your hair like that in the dreams? It’s really pretty.”
Tas wasn’t sure if he would read Luisa’s novel, but he just smiled and nodded, saying “of course” as though he was being completely genuine. “See?” He said. “So you agree that it would be a lot of fun if it happened in real life, right?” He didn’t see how she couldn’t agree. But then he cleared his throat, and began to tell the story of the Grey Gem.
“When the Gods made the world, they made the races of Krynn. The gods of good - there’s a bunch of them, like Paladine and Mishakal, and probably others too but the gods have only just come back from a three-hundred year vacation so I guess I don’t know as much about them as I might if they hadn’t all left - they created the elves. And the gods of evil - that’s Queen Takhisis, who’s trying to take over the world in my dreams, and I bet there’s others of them too - they created the ogres. And the gods of neutrality - like Reorx. My best friend Flint is always swearing by Reorx’s beard, which I think is a delightful little phrase - made the humans. The humans didn’t really get along very well though, so Reorx turned some of them into gnomes! Gnomes are tinkerers, and they’re always inventing all sorts of interesting gizmos. I haven’t dreamed of any gnomes yet so I don’t know what kind of gizmos, but everyone’s always saying how dangerous they are so I hope I get to dream of gnomes soon! Anyway, at some point, the gnomes got really close to the Greygem of Chaos and it split the gnomes! The gnomes who were greedy and loved gold were turned into dwarves, and the gnomes who were driven by curiosity and learning things were turned into kender! And that’s how kender were made. We’re practically cousins to the gnomes and the dwarfs!”
“I made some paintings of the lanterns, so I’ll have to send you a photo of them or have you see them in person. And yes, I had some little girls do my hair in the dreams and I’ve been working on making sure I can do it here because it’s getting too long,” Rapunzel explained. She liked the idea of wanderlust even though this was her first place away from home, but she did want to travel around and see the world soon.
When he began to tell the story she settled in and listened intently. It was a very elaborate story of the beginning of their world and Rapunzel was surprised to hear something that sounded quite like myths here in this world, but certainly different in the way that each race was evolved. It was very interesting that because of small details a whole other race was created and she liked the idea of being related to those different races, “Wow. That’s really cool. I think that’s funny that gnomes came from humans, but they eventually ended up creating kender! It all trickles down like a river.”
“I would just love to see them in person!” Looking at photos of a thing were never as good as seeing it in person. He admired her hair for a moment, and then smiled. “It’s awfully pretty,” he said, and without bothering to ask for permission he reached for it. “That’s so much hair though! How long does it take you to do? Is it very difficult? I’ve only ever braided strings and strips of leather, I’ve never actually done hair.” He went to lift it up. “And I bet it’s really heavy too! How does your neck handle it? I remember when I woke up with a bunch of hair I was surprised at how heavy it was! Not that I’m complaining, mind you, because I like it a whole lot better than my old hair,” he stroked his topknot lovingly, “but I can’t imagine how heavy yours must be!”
He was impressed at how good of a listener Rapunzel was. Just like Anna! So many people got tired of his stories, or cut him off. But he supposed that would be extra rude, especially since Rapunzel had asked him to tell it. “Oh yes, my dream world is really really interesting,” Tas said, beaming. “Like I said, there’s dragons and minotaur and all that. And also, there was this Cataclysm hundreds of years ago when the gods left the world and they threw a huge fiery mountain down on Istar and changed the whole world!”
“I will make sure to send you a picture or we can meet up and you can see them,” Rapunzel leaned into his touch when he reached for her hair because she honestly didn’t mind. It was something that just happened now and she went with it, “And it takes a lot of time - usually at least 3 hours to get it all up. And I’m really not sure how I handle it, but I don’t really notice it most of the time. It’s probably part of the dream magic that made it grow so much. Would you like me to show you how to braid your hair up? That would make a really neat topknot.”
“Wow, that sounds a lot of fun to explore. A little scary, but I’m sure you know how to fight and make sure you survive while you’re out exploring. Do you mind if I hang out by you and sketch while you work on your map? It’s really nice out,” Rapunzel liked the stop that Tas had picked and it was nice to work along someone. Especially if Tas wanted her to show him how to braid his hair.
“Oh yes, we’ll absolutely have to meet up sometime,” Tas said excitedly. “Three hours?” he gasped, and immediately his mind flashed to all the things he could do in three hours that didn’t include braiding hair. He could rescue a maiden from a castle, probably, or go fight an evil wizard if he wanted, or tell stories in a bar. The possibilities were endless! Then again, if Rapunzel didn’t do it it looked like she would probably trip over her hair at some point, and Tas had already got his top knot trapped in doors. He didn’t think stepping on his hair would much more comfortable.
Anyway, Tas didn’t have as much hair as Rapunzel did, and the braid really was awfully pretty. “I would love that!” Tas said. “Do you know how to braid things into it too? I’ve always loved seeing people with ribbons or flowers braided into their hair!”
Tas nodded. “All kender kind of know how to defend ourselves when we’re on the road. It’s a lot more dangerous to travel with goblins and things just wandering around all over the place. But I do know how to fight better than most! My friend Flint taught me in the dreams! And Tanis and Kitiara too. And in this world, Kitiara taught me how to fight too! Her and Caramon. They’re both siblings of my roommate, Raistlin. It’s kind of funny that we’ve been friends since forever and then it turned out we have the same dreams, isn’t it?”
“Perfect. And yes, three hours. My girlfriend really likes to help do it as well, so if she happens to be over then it goes a lot faster,” Rapunzel explained with a laugh. It was really amusing how much Laura really loved playing with her hair and Rapunzel would never object to having her help with how big her hair was right now. It was also really relaxing.
“I can certainly try. I don’t think braiding a ribbon in is too difficult, but I haven’t really tried flowers. I usually put some fake ones into mine with a bit of a longer wire stem to connect it to the hair. We can totally try that though. Do you want me to show you right now?” Rapunzel was more than willing to help him out even though she didn’t have a ribbon at the moment, or else it could happen the next time they saw each other.
“Wow, I’m impressed. The only fighting I do is with a frying pan and there’s not a ton of fighting to do in my dreams. Yours sound far more adventurous when it comes to encountering strange and different creatures. And you dream the same things as your roommate? That’s really nice - almost like fate making sure you two were together so you could go through this together.”
“Yes, that would be wonderful!” Tas said setting aside his map making supplies. “I can’t think of a better way I’d like to spend my afternoon than sitting out in the sun and learning how to braid my hair!” There wasn’t an ounce of sarcasm in Tas’ voice, either. He really did think it was a great way to spend an afternoon. “I saw wedding photos of my mom, and she had her hair all braided with lots of flowers in it. Piled all on top of her head. She looked really beautiful.”
He giggled at that, his mouth covered up by his hand. “My friend Tika in the dream fights with a frying pan too! One time we were surrounded by about two dozen draconians, spit dripping from their fangs like venom. All of us were fighting, but Tika never really learned how to fight before. Not like the rest of us. She just used to be a barmaid and then got taken up with us when the Dragon Armies attacked Solace and took her for a slave, but she got her hands on a frying pan and,” he swung like he was holding a baseball bat, “WHAMO! Turned one of them right into stone just by beating him with a frying pan!” He looked awfully pleased when Rapunzel mentioned fate, too. “You think so? That would be nice! Maybe fate will bring us the rest of our friends too! Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Rapunzel reached up to his hair and took it out of the top knot and began to run her fingers through it as she listened to him tell the story of his friend. It sounds very frightening, but it as also amusing that Tika managed to get up the strength to just take down these draconians with a frying pan. She was incredibly impressed by that and let out a chuckle, “Wow, she is a really smart and really strong! I liked that story. And I hope that fate does bring the rest of our friends around. Alright, let me talk you through what I’m doing here and then you can tell me more stories while I paint.” That would be a good way to just relax and she was thinking of possibly trying to paint out some of the things from his dreams.
“She is! And she’s really beautiful too! Just like you!” He kind of missed Tika, though he knew that when he’d go to bed at night he’d see her and the rest of his friends, so it wasn’t enough to make him sad.
He relaxed a little as Rapunzel started manipulating his hair. It was awfully nice when people played with his hair, he thought. It was even enough for him to stay silent for a couple of minutes while he listened to her explain. Still, it was very difficult to keep a kender quiet for more than a couple of minutes, so soon he was asking her questions and relating stories, and he’d be happy to ramble on through the hair braiding and once she stopped to paint.