Fourth floor common room, Wednesday morning

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

Rapunzel was feeling pretty good this morning, and as part of that she was trying to get back into a regular routine. She'd gotten up early, tidied up her room, and almost immediately headed to the common room where she'd made a huge batch of muffins.

And now that said muffins were in the oven (and smelled positively delicious as they were baking!) Rapunzel had a moment to sit down and brush her hair. A few moments.

A lot of moments.

This could take a while.

Comments

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Oh.

Yeah, she didn't know what that was, but she knew it was pretty much guaranteed to be bad.

"I'm sorry," she offered sincerely. "But you're... okay now?"

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"It was a year ago," Dolf said, with an idle shrug that he didn't mean in the slightest. "Life goes on. And this place must be very different from Los Angeles, too."

Impromptu subject change out of awkwardness and an unwillingness to talk? Why, yes.

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"It is!" Miley agreed, gratefully jumping into the change of topic. "Like, not just the weather, you know? Or the whole... lack of cars thing. Or lack of closet space. I mean, seriously, who makes a closet that's less than fifteen square feet?"

#popstarproblems

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

There was a moment as Dolf worked out the feet-to-meters thing in his head.

Then there was another moment as he mentally boggled.

Then a third moment, before he said, "...everyone?"

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Not at home!" she said emphatically. "The ones here are tiny compared to my closet at my house."

True (http://i51.tinypic.com/2ezrdqr.png).

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"So?" Dolf asked, blinking. "It's not like you could ever get that much stuff anyway."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Head-tilt.

"But... I do."

Of course she did.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"...Well, you don't need it."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Of course I do!"

Oh, Miley, please stop.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

And now Dolf was starting to get angry. Congratulations, Miley. "And what's so important about your stuff?"

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"It's cute! And there's sentimental value! Like, see, this bracelet here, my best friend Lilly gave me when I was, like, thirteen. And I have this totally ugly shirt my dad gave me on my fourteenth birthday, and I'm never going to wear it, but it's important to him that I have it! See? Important!"

Had she really managed to piss off the sweetest guy at Fandom? God, Miley.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"And all of this is enough to fit in a closet that big?" Dolf asked, staring. "You don't need all that. What you need is food and water and something warm and someplace to sleep."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Well, yeah, but I have that," Miley said reasonably. "That doesn't make me not need clothes."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Not a fifteen feet big closet," Dolf retorted. "That's not just more than you need to keep warm, but more than you need to keep clean."

Sorry, Miley. Dolf just had limited patience with first world problems.

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, this was entirely Miley's fault. Dolf was entirely free of blame.

"Yeah, but they're important to me," she repeated stubbornly. "And they make me feel good about myself. Isn't that important?"

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Dolf squinted. "Isn't it bad if you need clothes to make you feel better about yourself?" he asked.

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Oh, please," Miley said, waving a hand. "Come on. With the billboards and the advertisements and the pop stars in the glittery clothes, all girls want to look pretty. And looking pretty means pretty clothes, and pretty clothes take up space, and space requires a closet." She nodded vigorously. "See?"

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

The first image that came to Dolf's mind was Mariecke, mud-stained and blood-stained and thinner than she should be, but so happy, because Dolf had brought bread.

The second was Cally, who'd never cared that much about her clothes, and had been amazing anyway.

"Not really," he said. "Looking pretty isn't that important. Especially not when the girls are hungry."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"It is to most girls," Miley insisted. "Ask anyone."

Miley, please stop.