Day 63: The Twin Pine Restaurant

[hairraising]

With Eugene in need of some time to just rest up and let more of the drug get out of his system, Rapunzel had to wonder what she was going to do for lunch. It would be too loud and crowded in that Tasty Burger place, but she doubted he had the energy to sit down to a full meal with her either. In the end, they compromised. Eugene came with her to the Twin Pine Restaurant, but opted not to eat just yet. There would be other opportunities for him to get food later, when he was more ready for it.

So Eugene sat in a comfy chair near the front while Rapunzel found her way into the main seating area of the restaurant. To be honest, she had other reasons for wanting to sit down by herself for a bit. This was the place she had met Facilier the week before, and with any luck, she hoped he would show up to have lunch with her again. She hadn't seen him since the night they had talked to Harrington. Moreover, as much as she wanted to show off her boyfriend (could she actually call him that now?) to people as soon as possible, she doubted either Eugene or Facilier would be up for awkward drugged-up conversation during a meal.

She sat down at a booth, picking up the menu as she had the week before. What to try that she hadn't tried last time, she wondered as her eyes scanned down the page.

[Facilier]

Comments

[hairraising]

"Doctor Facilier!" Rapunzel beamed when she saw the familiar lanky figure strolling in the door of the restaurant, waving him over as he greeted her. "Of course you can join me! I was hoping you'd show up. We've got some major catching up to do," she said, smiling and gesturing to the seat across from her. Indeed, they did have a lot to catch up on, considering all that she had leaned since the last time they had met.

"I'm just sorry that my... My uh..." She wasn't sure what to call him to other people yet. Boyfriend? Lover? Flynn? Eugene? "...That, uh, my guy over there can't really meet you right now. The nurses got him pretty good. Maybe he'll be more awake. before lunch is over?" she said with a shrug nod in Eugene's direction. (Rapunzel winced internally. Guy? Really? That was the best she could come up with?)

[doctor_voodoo]

Facilier beamed back. It was good to see Rapunzel alive, but it was even better to find her magical hair to be still intact and most of all usable. He graciously seated himself in the booth across from the girl and untied his scarf. "Indeed we do!" he said with a soft chuckle. "So much happened since those crazed riots nights ago... Yet all seems the same, even with them soldiers and their General gone. Otherwise, I do hope all that's new with you hasn't been life threatening so far!"

Looking over his options in the menu, Facilier's eyes shifted away from the listed lunch specials towards the aforementioned "guy" slouched over near the entrance. "I see..." The Bokor's eye brow twitched up slightly. So the odd stranger was a new prisoner, and sedated no less! Only a fool would get himself incapacitated like that! You had to get on your captor's good side first before striking them when they least expect it! Hmph! No tact at all!

Meanwhile, none of Facilier's critical thoughts were reflected upon his face, as he faked a sympathetic grimace before returning his gaze back to Rapunzel. "A new friend of yours then?" he asked, "It must be quite the adjustment for him if he's just arrived under Landels'... erm care, if y'all get my drift there."

[hairraising]

Rapunzel rolled her eyes in complete agreement. "Pretty sure I do. Landel's has top notch care, all right," she said, glancing back over at Eugene again. She could only hope he wouldn't do anything else during his stay that would earn him a jab of the needle. Well, much else, anyway.

Her cheeks went pink as she came back to Facilier's question, though. She really was going to have to explain this, wasn't she? It was actually kind of exciting. "Anyway, yeah, you could call him that. He's someone I know from home. Someone I recently became very close to," she said, smiling warmly as she watched Eugene nap. "He saved my life..."

She realized how that sounded after a moment, then shook her head and gave Facilier a reassuring smile. "Oh, not here! Back home, I mean. Don't worry, I haven't been through too many more life-threatening things since we last met," she said, unconsciously running fingers through her hair as she continued: "The most that happened was that night when everyone's powers came back. My roommate and I were chased by a swarm of giant dragonflies snapping at us. Neither of us were seriously hurt, though."

[doctor_voodoo]

If Facilier's eye brow was subtly twitching before, both of them were now completely raised towards the ceiling! Intrigued by this new information, Facilier pursed his lips and glanced back at Rapunzel's currently lame savior with growing interest. Facilier had yet to see more than one prisoner who came from the same home world. He made sure to keep this new detail in mind; as small as it was, it could be another valuable piece to Doctor Landel's distorted puzzle. Already Facilier was sizing up Rapunzel's friend. Landel didn't just snatch away useless people, and if this fellow was that sort of friend to Rapunzel...

Looks like his access to Rapunzel's magic just got some competition...

"He's from the same place as you too?" Facilier mused out loud, pretending not to notice Rapunzel's blush as he returned his focus to his menu, "I wasn't aware that Doctor Landel took more than one person from one place until now!"

"As bad as the situation is, it must be reassuring to have such a good friend like him with you now!" Facilier added with a consoling smile. "He must be very talented and valiant to have saved your life before, am I right?"

Deciding on one of the soup specials for lunch, Facilier placed his menu down on the side of the table, grimly shaking his head at Rapunzel's story. "A swarm of giant dragonflies, you say? I've seen plenty of them bugs back 'round the bayous near New Orleans, but I'll believe you if there be monster-sized ones flying about in Landel's night time zoo of horrors!" Facilier exclaimed, remembering the enormous claw he discovered during the riots -- not to mention the owner of said claw. "I'm just relieved to hear that you weren't hurt-- Mon Dieu! Your hair!"

Facilier's train of thought was instantly derailed when his sharp eyes spotted something worryingly different about his table mate. Slipping through Rapunzel's fingers were strands of dull, brown hair! How could such hideous anomalies befoul such priceless gold?! Facilier immediately became agonizingly crestfallen; did this mean that Rapunzel's healing powers had been lost? He hadn't even been able to witness the magic of her hair yet, and now he may have already lost such a precious opportunity before he could even use it!

Easing out of his outburst to fake another concerned demeanor, Facilier leaned closer towards Rapunzel, his eyes locked on the distressingly brown clusters that stuck out like sore thumbs against the pristine waves of golden hair. "Some of your beautiful golden locks are missing! Are you sure you've been alright? Your hair magic hasn't been lost, I hope!"

[hairraising]

Rapunzel's cheeks flushed pinker (oh gosh, had they been pink before?) when Facilier called Eugene things like "talented" and "valiant". While it was true that Eugene wasn't the noblest of men, and could even be annoyingly cocky at times, it still stood that he was all the things Facilier was saying. He was talented, and he was valiant, whether he wanted to admit it or not. And even if he hadn't been, Rapunzel probably would have fallen for him anyway. Underneath whatever flaws or alternate personas the man may have had, he was still Eugene Fitzherbert at bottom, and Eugene Fitzherbert had a good heart — one that Rapunzel wanted to keep close from now on.

"Mmhmm, he is those things, for sure. I don't even want to guess how lucky I am to have him here now, and with his memories all back, even," she said, continuing to stroke her hair as she spoke. "I'd hope that you meet someone from back in New Oreleans some— hair?"

Rapunzel blinked, wide-eyed and confused. It took a moment for her eyes to follow Facilier's horrified gaze and realize what he meant. Her eyebrows lifted, and she went "Ohhhh! Oh these!"

She carefully lifted one of the lone brown strands out of her long, full mane of gold. She was surprised Facilier had even noticed. She had barely noticed herself for a while after they had appeared. "That's just what happens when any of my hair gets cut. Thank the dragonflies for that," she explained before sliding her hand around the back of her neck, lifting the hair there, and turning her head so that Facilier could get a look at the base of her hairline. There, in a place few had ever seen, was an old but silky lock of short brown hair. "See? When it gets cut like that, it turns brown and loses its power. That's kind of why it..."

She sighed, letting the hair fall back into place. "Why I'm so valuable to some people." Her expression had fallen at that, a certain someone starting to take over her thoughts.

[doctor_voodoo]

"Goodness! Y'all should be more careful next time!" Facilier chided the young girl, "What if something took a huge chunk of your hair off? Or your whole head?" Facilier paused a little too late after that blurting out that rather unpleasant detail. Giving out a small, uncomfortable cough, Facilier carefully steered the conversation towards a less bloody topic.

"Ah... That certainly seems to be part of Doctor Landel's game..." he grimly replied, cupping his hands together upon the table with a saddened visage placed over his face. "But don't y'all worry dear!" Facilier added, suddenly shifting his expression into a reassuring grin, "I'm sure your valiant friend over there will protect you once he's recovered."

If he recovered of course; and if that dopey fellow did but proved to be a nuisance after, Facilier would give him a good reason to wish he never ended up in Landel's limbo in the first place!

"I can give you my word that I shall be of service as well!" Facilier said, gently patting Rapunzel's shoulder with a cordial smile. "No one should ever be used like some poor work horse!" Not if said horse was being used by the wrong owner...