our hearts stay warm cause they are filled with hope

[primafacie]

[Okay, well. That happened! It's probably like 2pm right now, because this all happened at like 4am! So anyway, Sugarplum has set out the rest of her cake from Tuesday out in the lobby. It's just the bottom layer, and the fondant's seen better days but! It's cake!

This isn't exactly a party, per se, but there's also juice and water set out. And it's the salon, so there's alcohol if you're into that. Also there's pancakes! Listen, Sugarplum only knows how to make a limited amount of non-baked good food and the list pretty much starts and ends with pancakes.

Everyone got an invitation, since presumably they would want to wash . . . up.]

Everyone is welcome to join me in the salon for a meal.

♥ 𝓢𝓾𝓰𝓪𝓻𝓹𝓵𝓾𝓶
[The meal is pancakes and cake. Look, Sugarplum's only got the vaguest idea of what humans eat, okay? That seemed sufficient for her.]

Comments

[prodigalhairess]

[She'd let Cass clean her hands and her face, and she let her scrub her now much more manageable hair. But she still needed to take a hot shower, as hot as she could, to try and wash the feeling of all that blood off of her. It was hotter than she usually liked her baths, hotter than how warm Varian's machine made their new water delivery system, so when Cass rejoins her, Rapunzel's skin is looking a rather flushed shade of pink.

As Cass sits next to the princess, Rapunzel leans to the side, until she's leaning against Cass, her head on the other woman's shoulder. For a few minutes, she doesn't say anything, instead just... feeling the presence of her best friend. When she does finally speak, her voice is quiet:]

Was that our fault, Cass?

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Talk of Corona's hot running water had spread farther than even Cassandra had gone. She would've liked to pop back to the castle, for a small visit and to test Varian's machinations out for herself. Even now, she could tell instantly that Rapunzel had scrubbed hard in water on the verge of burning. But if that was what it took for her to feel clean, how was she to complain?

They fit together perfectly, Rapunzel's head finding the crook where Cassandra's shoulder met her neck. And she leaned into it as well. After a moment, her arm reached out, wrapping around the brunette's other shoulder.]

No. Don't think that.

[Her voice is less quiet, more stern, controlled.]

It's the mastermind's fault.

[prodigalhairess]

But... but we voted for him! Even if he admitted to it... we were the ones that condemned him...

[Typical Rapunzel. Even for someone as annoying as Bill, someone who murdered another man for the fun of it, she still agonizes over what happened to him.]

We could've tried to fight back, to stop what happened....

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[It was one of Rapunzel's best, and most annoying, qualities. She cared so much about other people, even if it felt like they didn't deserve it.]

And maybe if we did we would have ended up with the same fate.

[ugh. UGH.]

I don't like it, Rapunzel. But I didn't like Bill either, and I can't see you going through the same thing.

[prodigalhairess]

[Ugh, indeed....]

I don't want to see you or any of the others go through that either! But we can't... we can't let that happen again. Even if someone did something terrible, to punish them that severely... it's unfair.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Another deep sigh.] You're right. It's not fair. Nothing about this is designed to be fair.

[They're here to play the master's game. It's no way anything should be brought to a decision. This was the kind of nightmare Cass thought of in the quiet moments back in Corona, when she thought the people would turn her in for her crimes.

Her arm around Rapunzel's shoulder pulled her closer.]

We'll stop it. Somehow. There has to be a way.