Day 57: Waiting Room/Lobby 1 (Fourth Shift)

[hairraising]

Since her talk with Soma in the morning, Rapunzel had been afraid this moment might come. Even as she distracted herself with other things, there was a tightness knotting up inside her stomach. Even as she assured herself that she would be prepared if it happened, the feeling wouldn't pass. And now, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder, and the

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[damned_visitors]

[Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your golden tags!]For more than a few minutes, Zack was pretty sure he was in the wrong place entirely. Amanda could be a handful at times, what with the naivety, the issues with her mom, and that weird attachment to stuffed animals, but she wasn't crazy, right? He checked the envelope in his satchel again. Yep, this was the place. It looked like Mrs. Blumenthal had been telling the truth about something for a change, even if she had been screaming at the top of her lungs at the time

[hairraising]

Rapunzel's chest fell when she noticed Soma entering the room. So they were both in for this today, it seemed. She gave the other girl a small smile of support, and made a note to herself to look over to her at least a few times this shift to make sure she was coping okay. That was, if Rapunzel could handle her own session well enough.

And that really was the crux of the thing, wasn't it? For as it turned out, no amount of mental preparation was enough to prepare Rapunzel for actually seeing the man she had been half-expecting to see walking through that door. Her heart leapt, partly in elation, partly in panic. He was dressed differently, and he seemed a bit uncertain. But his face, his hands, his beard - it was all the same as she had last seen it. Rapunzel was stuck between leaping out of her seat to throw her arms around Eugene, and holding herself in the seat like her hands were made of glue.

After a few moments of decidedly awkward tension, the former won out.

Her arms were around him near-instantly. "Eugene!" she cried out

[damned_visitors]

Well, he'd expected she'd be happy to see him, but to see her that thrilled made the trip worth it, even if she did get his name wrong. It was discouraging, but his girl was definitely in there somewhere. She had to be- they'd been through tougher times than this. Though he returned her embrace, his expression was pitying when they parted.

"Still going with the whole Rapunzel thing, huh?" he said quietly, his hands still on her shoulders. He brushed a strand of hair from in front of her eyes, trying not to let the whole situation sting him. He gave her a half-smile. "Guess I should've known. Your hair has gotten so long. Not that it doesn't look good long."

[hairraising]

And then a gush of just wrong words from Eugene's mouth splashed in between them, shocking Rapunzel out of the initial enthusiasm of the hug. Her arms loosened around his torso somewhat, though she didn't let go just yet

[damned_visitors]

Yep, she was still going with the whole Rapunzel thing. Zack held in a sigh as Amanda's arms around him loosened, his own almost unwilling to let her go. They had been through a lot, shared secrets with each other that they had told no one else. Sure, she sounded just this side of loony when she tried to convince him he'd climbed her hair- which sounded unimaginably painful, by the way- but the look in her eyes said she really believed it happened

IT LIIIIIIIIIIIIIVES

[hairraising]

Rapunzel's mouth opened for a moment as Eugene denied ever climbing her hair, like she was going to protest. Then it closed. He sounded so sure in that flippant way of his - intensely familiar, and yet alien at the same time. She couldn't help a glance over to Soma again. How had the other girl managed to even get through this? Twice, no less?

Her front teeth shifted over the inside of her lip again, this time biting back the beginning of tears. She wasn't going to cry. She couldn't. He hadn't even been here for two minutes yet.

The contortion of her face as she fought the lead weight in her chest and throat, however, said otherwise.

Rapunzel let her forehead sink down on Eugene's chest. Hearing that even his memory of the floating lights was tainted just made everything worse. "How could you let them do this to you?" she said quietly against him, a shudder wracking her body. "You don't remember anything, do you?"