The Moon Calls

5

It was nice having Varian back in Corona. Cassandra had noticed that Rapunzel seemed to be skipping with a lighter step now that her little shadow was around. Sure, she had Pascal, but there were some things Varian could do for her that the lizard couldn't.

Such as helping her style her hair in really weird ways. Cassandra internally groaned as she thought about having to help her undo the many braided buns before she tucked her into bed tonight.

"Do we have enough pins?" Rapunzel asked.

"Don't worry, I checked the number and calculated based on the volume of your hair how many I would need and we have exactly the number I need for this." Varian assured her.

She giggled. "What are you doing, anyway?"

Her eyes were closed and she had her hands up to cover them for good measure. Cassandra sighed as she watched the boy make her look like her chameleon with the hairstyle.

"Need any help?" She called.

"Nope, I got it!" Varian assured her.

"Well, do you think you'll be done by dinner?" Cassandra smirked.

Varian checked the clock. "Yeah, should be." He went back to work. "Don't worry, we won't be late."

"Raps, are you really going to dinner with whatever style he picks for you?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I am! I trust his judgement." She said cheerfully.

'I wouldn't.' Cassandra thought. Then again, Varian and Rapunzel were two bratty peas in a pod, on opposite sides of the spectrum. Rapunzel was a brat that caused trouble trying to be too nice. Varian was a brat who sought enjoyment out of chaotically shifting situations to be slightly less pleasant.

At least his pranks were more interesting, even if Rapunzel's were, uh, unpredictable but nice.

She also found that every time she and Eugene would start arguing, they would end up encased in goo. She would have to inspect his pockets sometime and find out just how many of those bombs he was carrying around. As a result, she either dumbed it down, or made sure they were actually alone before she started to sass the ex-thief.

Sweet kid, but the goo was really unpleasant.

"There!" Varian stepped back with a grin.

Rapunzel opened her eyes and gasped. "Ohh, it's so cute! Cassandra, look, it's so cute!"

"Yeah, great." Cassandra smiled. "You're gonna wear that to dinner?"

"Absolutely." Rapunzel headed for the door. "Come on, Varian, Cass!"

Cassandra shrugged and followed her out with Varian, who quickly took up his place as her shadow. In fact, she noticed, it didn't take long for him to change out of his Old Corona outfit and instead wear a blue and black outfit not too different, but less stuffy, to his coronation outfit, giving him the look of really being a shadow from a distance.

Especially with that hair in his face. She considered asking him if he wanted it pinned back, then remembered that all the pins were in Rapunzel's hair. Any of her hair that wasn't in a braided bun was in a normal braid.

"Wow, your hair looks amazing, sunshine!" Eugene called as she passed by him.

"Thanks! Varian did it." She grinned at him.

Varian smiled and took her hand in his gloved one. Cassandra couldn't help but notice that the kid was constantly wearing gloves and, when he wasn't in formal wear, he always wore the same leather goggles. She wondered if he was hiding something or if it was a security blanket.