Destined Couple

Desperate

"You two are the Striker?" Rapunzel asked with surprise.

After taking Nonya and Ness to get some food, Varian and Eugene had then taken them to meet the light of their lives, Rapunzel. She wasn't alone of course, Pascal, Cassandra and Andrew were with her, and Lance was looking a bit sheepish as all three of them glared at him.

"What did you do?" Eugene whispered.

"...Tried to eat the special dinner the lizard prepared for the princess." Lance whispered back. "Those two were with him and I got chased out."

"Long hair and brains? Good for you." Nonya said in a snarky way before walking past her to look around her bedroom.

Rapunzel laughed. "Well, being master thieves, I bet you're really good at playing Hide and Seek."

Nonya scoffed as she continued to look around,. "That's kid stuff."

"Ah, too bad." Rapunzel said casually. "I was hoping you'd play with Pascal and me, but it's probably better if you don't." She took Pascal off her shoulder and smiled at him. "He's kind of a pro."

Pascal flexed his little arms and stretched them out, giving Ness a smug smile. Rapunzel knelt down and he hopped onto Ness, blending into her shirt and then climbing up and blending into her hair a couple times, even making her blue flower appear on his own head. Then he hopped down into her hands and bowed.

She reached up to stroke his back and looked up at Rapunzel. "Can he turn into any color?"

They all looked surprised - except for Nonya, who looked mad. "What do you know, mine does talk." Lance said casually.

Nonya moved her finger in front of her lips to shush Ness and Varian frowned before moving between them, facing Nonya. "Why are you silencing your sister?"

"What?" She looked taken aback.

"That is super toxic and abusive of you." Varian crossed his arms over his chest. "Why do you silence her?"

She stammered a bit, clearly not expecting to be confronted over this. Ness looked a little nervous and Varian picked up Nonya into his arms and carried her out of the room to talk.

"Hey! Let me go!" She yelled.

"Uh, Varian?" Eugene spoke up as he carried her out.

"We'll be right back." Varian assured him as the door closed behind them.

"I said, to let me go!" Nonya yelled.

"Shut up." He said firmly and set her down, but held onto her wrist firmly. "Now it's your turn to be shushed. Your sister has a right to speak, and you need to stop talking over her and trying to keep her quiet. If you do that again, I'll put those rocks I bound you with before over your mouth for a few hours and see how you enjoy being silenced. Understand?"

She nodded, looking scared. He sighed and softened his tone. "Look, I get it, you want to protect her. But, that doesn't mean you should silence her and limit her and order her around. You both seem like really smart girls who love each other, and I get that it's rough on the street, but you don't have to live like everything you do is life or death anymore."

She sighed and looked to the side. "...Fine, I get it. Can you let me go now?"

He stood up straight and opened the door. "Let's go back inside and I want you to apologize to your sister."

She sighed and begrudgingly walked inside, stopping short and staring ahead of her. Varian shut the door and nudged her and she walked over to Ness. "Hey, uh...sis." She said quietly. "I'm...sorry for shushing you just now."