[ If her heart is a frozen lake then Lili's words are like an axe, each sentence making a crack in the surface of her apathy the way she'd made cracks in her mask. Too small and insignificant to measure and yet and infinitely valuable for all that.
Rapunzel hesitates before answering this time, and when she looks at Lili her brows are drawn closer together, matching the splinter of confusion in her eyes. ]
That's pretty hard to do right now. [ The same flat, distant voice as before. ] I keep forgetting what the point of wanting to stay in Cerealia was in the first place. I keep wanting to lie down and go to sleep and never wake up. None of this feels real.
[ Beat. ]
You're - helping, though. [ There, her first inflection! She says "helping" with some uncertainty, like an A.I. being introduced to the concept of love for the first time and clumsy with the word. ] Being proud of you helps. Thank you, Lili.
no subject
Rapunzel hesitates before answering this time, and when she looks at Lili her brows are drawn closer together, matching the splinter of confusion in her eyes. ]
That's pretty hard to do right now. [ The same flat, distant voice as before. ] I keep forgetting what the point of wanting to stay in Cerealia was in the first place. I keep wanting to lie down and go to sleep and never wake up. None of this feels real.
[ Beat. ]
You're - helping, though. [ There, her first inflection! She says "helping" with some uncertainty, like an A.I. being introduced to the concept of love for the first time and clumsy with the word. ] Being proud of you helps. Thank you, Lili.
( CONTINUED HERE! )