[ Joy's recently discovered that she can message literally ANYONE in this world, and she's beyond delighted by the discovery. She wants to talk to everyone! She wants to make them happy! This can only go well.
She's had mixed success with her sales pitches so far, but she's not about to let that get her down. It might seem silly, but she's DETERMINED to get this right. Part of it is a desire to take part in an interesting human custom (the exchange of goods and services), but mostly she just wants to make people smile.
Rapunzel is her next victim in the strange advertisement trilogy. ]
Hello! You are my 3rd human (or not) customer, which is somehow important when selling things. How amazing! I guarantee you will not get another deal offer like this one, so do not miss out on this opportunity! 🫧 🫧 🫧 🫧 🫧
Using water and illusions, I can show you your hearts desires. It will bring you endless happiness, guaranteed or your monetary equivalent back!!
🫧🏊♀️🫧 All you need is to give me fish food, 3 different types of moss, or a very interesting weed and the illusion of your dreams will be made real! It is very exciting! Trade now!!!! 🫧💧🫧🌊🫧💧🫧
[ Wow. This is the most like a scam she's sounded yet. ]
[When your hair exceeds the seventy-foot mark you learn to set aside sufficient time for washing. Rapunzel has gotten it down to an art, but it was admittedly a lot easier for the past three or so years when she had the help of extra hands.
Not that you'll find her complaining, it just means that she's got a lot of time to think while she's going through the motions. Joy's message reaches her just as she's coming to the middle section. She dries her hand just enough to pick up said phone and check the message, and as soon as she sees the first bit of text curiosity over the strange wording has her holding it with BOTH hands, hair forgotten.]
[ It takes her a little while to understand what this says. She squints at the letters, then flips her phone upside down. When that doesn't work she tries tilting it from side to side. She looks under the phone. She shakes it. The letters still look jumbled. Hm....
She tries sounding them out, and...OH!!! She has an interested customer! HER FLAWLESS BUSINESS STRATEGY IS WORKING!!! ]
I can jureallyu! Joyous illusions are my specialty!
So when you say made real, do you mean like something I can touch and hold?
[Because if she does, then, well, asking to see Pascal is out. If it wouldn't really be him that would be unfair to Pascal. And if it's Eugene, that's... tragic and complicated and heartbreaking to think about.
But then if it's NOT... there's so many things she can think of, but one in specific that she'd love to see again.]
Hey, you see the quest board? There's an interesting restaurant that just opened up. I guess eating the food there causes random stuff to happen. Some of the effects are a little...risqué, but it seems like it could be fun to check out. Plus, free food is free food, right?
[Honestly? She HAS to laugh. Because she did not expect him to reach out to her the same time she did to him, but also she wasn't sure he'd even be interested, hence her attempt to be super cute when asking.]
Really? You'd be interested in going with me? Because I'd love that.
[ Jinhai can't help but laugh at the timing of their respective messages. What were the odds they would both see the quest and have the same idea? ]
Great minds really do think alike, don't they?
[ He switches to voice to match her original message, his voice filled with mirth. He teases her a little when he first responds.]
I wouldn't ask if I wasn't interested, doodles. If anything, I'm even more interested after how cute you were being. I half expected you to start battin' your eyes and everything.
Wha-! Who, me? ["Me? Noooo! That was a perfectly normal, completely natural message!"
She sounds flabbergasted at being called out, but more amused than put out, by a long shot, especially hearing the nickname he'd finally decided on for her. Doodles is so cute...!!!]
Okay, fine, I admit it. I did it on purpose. But you admit you think I'm cute.
[Oh. Ha ha...! She'd only been trying to tease him a little. She didn't think he'd been all that serious, but he answered so directly.]
...
[She shouldn't ask, that would be like fishing for compliments, wouldn't it? But...! She's so CURIOUS! And never let it be said that Rapunzel didn't know how to flirt! She'd learned!! A LOT!!!]
[ Aha! She's fallen for his very obvious trap card. His aim from the start was to compliment her and flirt a little, so this is going exactly as he expected and hoped for. ]
Then I'll have to call you cute more often, right? Can't have you thinking I'm not interested.
[It's a GOOD THING THIS IS VOICE! She'd be hiding her face behind her hair otherwise!]
Oh! Well! That would be a real shame, because I'm... interested in you too.
[It's complicated, but this trap card is basically uncharted territory. This is something she'd been dying to say in the past to the people she came to like, but the nature of the rules of the worlds she'd been trapped in made it less than ideal, and now... those restrictions and excuses are gone. Of course she's going to jump on the opportunity to be honest about her feelings! Was it love? No. Right now it's just something new, and exciting, and she's curious about him, drawnget it, drawn? because they're both- but that didn't mean it wasn't real.
So this is the part where people who have a mutual interest normally go on a date? And they'd both asked each other out to dinner, so that was a date?? THIS IS A DATE???]
Oh, are you now? [ His voice is warm but teasing, happy. ] Well...since we're on the same page as far as interest goes, I guess that makes this a dinner date, right?
[ And with that, Jinhai makes sure to nix any doubts she might have about whether or not this counts as a date. Honestly, he'd gotten the sense she was also interested in him before now--If their flirting hadn't been enough of a clue, then making out in the rain was definitely a tip off. He just hadn't wanted to take his assumptions as fact until she told him herself.
Now that she has admitted to being interested, well. There's no reason to leave any room for ambiguity, is there? All that would do is lead to misunderstandings, uncertainty, and possibly hurt feelings. None of which he wants to see happen.
It's strange. Jinhai is used to keeping things casual and string-free. A few fun dates that he never lets go anywhere, relationships he ends before they can get serious--before anything beyond hand holding, kissing, or cuddling can come into play. He's always wanted to fall in love, of course, but after the disaster that was his first relationship (and the disaster that is his life in general), Jinhai's long since resigned himself to his inevitable bachelorhood. He's contented himself with short, easy-going relationships even if he wants something longer lasting deep down.
With Rapunzel, things are a little different, though. He doesn't love her, they don't know each other nearly enough for that, but he does like her. He likes her a lot, enough that he can see the possibility for more on the horizon. And that possibility is more enticing than any other.
He just hopes...he doesn't end up disappointed or heartbroken. ]
[If she lets herself stop to think about it too long it won't end well. Banter like this is something that doesn't always come easy. In the past its taken hours, days, or even weeks of getting to know someone enough to build that sort of trust and rapport. And every time that she's allowed herself to start to open up to them, they've been ripped out of her life by powers beyond her control.
She had this with Naruto once. She really liked him, too, but just when it felt like the two of them were on the same page he was sent back home, or at least taken away from Ourana. Maybe he's out there somewhere on one of these other worlds, or maybe he's back home where he belongs, with no memory of her.
Next was Cloud, and she'd taken it a lot slower with him. By then she knew that monogamy wasn't really in the cards when serving the Twelve, and Cloud had scars just like she did, but he had a lot more and his ran a lot deeper. They had something special too, but they never put a name to it. That was hard on her in the end, especially when he disappeared too. She hadn't known before, but after arriving here and realizing he was here with no memories of Ourana, well...
And then of course there was Eugene. She... couldn't think about him without feeling crushed under the weight of her guilt. There was still a possibility that he was alive, and that was what she had to believe to keep going, but just knowing that he'd been put in danger because of her was almost enough to send her spiraling headlong into regret and remorse. She'd been lucky enough to have a friend to pull her back from the brink of that. That was a dilemma she'd have to tackle when she got back home. Until then, she had to keep moving forward. If there was any chance she could take anything she'd gained or learned back with her, then she owed it to herself and to Eugene and everyone waiting for her to do her best in the here and now, right?
So now here she is again, with someone new, in someplace new, experiencing feelings that weren't really all that new, but felt brand new.
They're both scared for different reasons, but they're also both still hopeful enough to try, and that's what matters.]
I guess it does. [She quips back, but more than just playful her tone is pleased and warm.] So when do you want to go?
[ His voice is warm and tinged with amusement. He needs a better nickname for her, buuuuuuut he can think on that later. Right now, he's got a business proposal. ]
I saw you were also commissioned for that statue job. What do you think about workin' together?
[She answers with a laugh, but it calms quickly enough. Honestly what he's suggesting had kind of crossed her mind, but she'd been busy getting settled in after that (figuring out how to change her user name...). So him approaching the subject first is perfect!]
I think that's an amazing idea! That sounds like so much fun!
Maybe something a little more personalized would be nice.
[It's said with a somewhat joking tone, like she wasn't actually all that put off by the nickname, but she wouldn't say no to a better one either! And speaking of...]
Like Jinbug. See? Because I put your name in instead of Junebug? It's cute, right? Yeah, it's definitely cute.
[SOMEONE SURE IS FEELING HERSELF.]
If you're going to come up with a nickname for me I think it's only fair I have one for you too, right?
[ There's a sharp intake of breath that he tries to quickly muffle by covering the mic on his phone. He feels warm, but at the same time, his heart aches. It's been so long since someone called him Jinbug. He misses his mom.
Normally, he would be mortified if anyone other than his mother called him Jinbug, but...it's so nice to hear the nickname again that he can't even find it in him to be embarrassed.
He clears his throat, his voice thick. He tries to play it off. ]
Yeah. Yeah, it's only fair. Gotta say, you've got a way with nicknames. Jinbug really is, uh, the cutest.
[ HMMM. He really should think of one for her now. Otherwise Chicken lady is going to stick, and...that won't do, right? Let's see...Rapunzel...There are a few obvious options, but he doesn't really want to go that route. He'd like to come up with something a little more special, since she inadvertently gave him the gift of his childhood nickname.
Rapunzel's a fairy tale, right? The name was based on the Rampion plant, also known as the bellflower. ]
Rapunzel is immediately concerned, regardless of the attempt to cover up. It's the thickness in his voice that clues her in, rather than that sharp intake though. That's why when he shifts gears and starts going through possible nicknames she's only half listening. She's paying more attention to his tone than his words.]
[ Looks like he didn't do a stellar job covering up that little surge of emotions. He feels a little bad for worrying her, but it's admittedly nice to be worried after.
He takes a breath and clears his throat to try and shake the heaviness from his tone. ]
Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. It's just nice to hear that nickname again. It's been a while since I heard it.
It brings back good memories, not sad ones. Don't worry.
[ And he means that. ]
It was the nickname my parents used to call me. [ His mom mostly, but his father would use it on occasion. ] It used to embarrass me when I was younger, but I don't think I'd mind hearin' it from you.
[There's a soft expression of relief for a moment. She's glad that she hadn't opened up a more serious old wound, but she wonders what he means. Is he simply homesick or was he separated from them when he was young, too?]
Well if you're sure it's alright, I think I'll stick to it. It's a pretty good one, if I do say so myself.
Glad to hear it, because you're right, it's an excellent choice.
[ He finally manages to find an even keel and shake the remnants of homesickness from his tone. ]
Now then, how should I personalize your nickname...? I should figure that out before "chicken lady" ends up stickin'. You're allowed to veto anything you don't like.
[ Jinhai doesn't usually ask for input on the nicknames he picks for people. The only time he'll change things up is if hey have a really bad reaction to whatever he picked. Rapunzel is different, though. He wants her to like whatever he ends up calling her. ]
[Having JUST gotten out of that little dark spot she really doesn't want to pull them back down there. She's glad to hear him back to his usual self, and more importantly she's glad to know that her using that nickname would be something that brought him joy rather than pain.
That being said, she hadn't missed the suggestions earlier, and she feels like it wouldn't be fair to either of them to keep quiet about the truth. So as much as she'd like to start disassociating flowers from Gothel's abuse... this... probably isn't the best way to start.
She's reluctant to admit it, but she tries for a more easy going air than she strictly feels.]
Well, it's not because I don't like it, but I'd like to avoid nicknames that have to do with flowers for now. I promise I'll explain later.
[She sounds just a little smaller and more subdued than usual, but not upset or dejected, just a little lower energy than before. It just takes a lot of energy to think about everything that she went through with Gothel. She's also pretty close to being back to normal right after, though!]
Hmm.... maybe something art related? Since we have that in common?
[ Even though she tries for a more easy going air, he picks up that there's probably more to it, something complicated most likely. Or emotionally straining. Maybe she was called something flower-related by a former partner or loved one. He trusts that she'll tell him when she's ready, so he doesn't stick on her discomfort easily moving past it to the more neutral territory of what he can call her. ]
Sure, no problem.
[ HMMM something art related.... ]
Give me some time to think. I want to come up with somethin' you'll like.
[Moving forward is definitely good, and it spares both of them from possibly feeling awkward, guilty, or at a loss for how to move on. She wouldn't want anyone to linger and fret unnecessarily on her account.
Excellent!]
I'm looking forward to hearing what you come up with, Jinbug.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
✿ || Text Messages
text; un: abcdefgg
She's had mixed success with her sales pitches so far, but she's not about to let that get her down. It might seem silly, but she's DETERMINED to get this right. Part of it is a desire to take part in an interesting human custom (the exchange of goods and services), but mostly she just wants to make people smile.
Rapunzel is her next victim in the strange advertisement trilogy. ]
Hello! You are my 3rd human (or not) customer, which is somehow important when selling things. How amazing! I guarantee you will not get another deal offer like this one, so do not miss out on this opportunity! 🫧 🫧 🫧 🫧 🫧
Using water and illusions, I can show you your hearts desires. It will bring you endless happiness, guaranteed or your monetary equivalent back!!
🫧🏊♀️🫧 All you need is to give me fish food, 3 different types of moss, or a very interesting weed and the illusion of your dreams will be made real! It is very exciting! Trade now!!!! 🫧💧🫧🌊🫧💧🫧
[ Wow. This is the most like a scam she's sounded yet. ]
1/2
Not that you'll find her complaining, it just means that she's got a lot of time to think while she's going through the motions. Joy's message reaches her just as she's coming to the middle section. She dries her hand just enough to pick up said phone and check the message, and as soon as she sees the first bit of text curiosity over the strange wording has her holding it with BOTH hands, hair forgotten.]
no subject
OH MYGOSH WAI T CAN YO JUREALLYU???
[SHE NEEDS TO BUY FISH FOOD I M M E D I A T E L Y!!!]
no subject
She tries sounding them out, and...OH!!! She has an interested customer! HER FLAWLESS BUSINESS STRATEGY IS WORKING!!! ]
I can jureallyu! Joyous illusions are my specialty!
no subject
So when you say made real, do you mean like something I can touch and hold?
[Because if she does, then, well, asking to see Pascal is out. If it wouldn't really be him that would be unfair to Pascal. And if it's Eugene, that's... tragic and complicated and heartbreaking to think about.
But then if it's NOT... there's so many things she can think of, but one in specific that she'd love to see again.]
un; watercolors
Wanna come with?
no subject
Really? You'd be interested in going with me? Because I'd love that.
Voice;
Great minds really do think alike, don't they?
[ He switches to voice to match her original message, his voice filled with mirth. He teases her a little when he first responds.]
I wouldn't ask if I wasn't interested, doodles. If anything, I'm even more interested after how cute you were being. I half expected you to start battin' your eyes and everything.
Voice;
She sounds flabbergasted at being called out, but more amused than put out, by a long shot, especially hearing the nickname he'd finally decided on for her. Doodles is so cute...!!!]
Okay, fine, I admit it. I did it on purpose. But you admit you think I'm cute.
[This is going to backfire horribly.]
no subject
Of course I do. Thought I made that pretty obvious, but if I didn't...
[ He trails off, tone turning mischievous. ]
no subject
...
[She shouldn't ask, that would be like fishing for compliments, wouldn't it? But...! She's so CURIOUS! And never let it be said that Rapunzel didn't know how to flirt! She'd learned!! A LOT!!!]
... If you didn't...?
no subject
Then I'll have to call you cute more often, right? Can't have you thinking I'm not interested.
no subject
Oh! Well! That would be a real shame, because I'm... interested in you too.
[It's complicated, but this trap card is basically uncharted territory. This is something she'd been dying to say in the past to the people she came to like, but the nature of the rules of the worlds she'd been trapped in made it less than ideal, and now... those restrictions and excuses are gone. Of course she's going to jump on the opportunity to be honest about her feelings! Was it love? No. Right now it's just something new, and exciting, and she's curious about him, drawn
get it, drawn? because they're both-but that didn't mean it wasn't real.So this is the part where people who have a mutual interest normally go on a date? And they'd both asked each other out to dinner, so that was a date?? THIS IS A DATE???]
no subject
Well...since we're on the same page as far as interest goes, I guess that makes this a dinner date, right?
[ And with that, Jinhai makes sure to nix any doubts she might have about whether or not this counts as a date. Honestly, he'd gotten the sense she was also interested in him before now--If their flirting hadn't been enough of a clue, then making out in the rain was definitely a tip off. He just hadn't wanted to take his assumptions as fact until she told him herself.
Now that she has admitted to being interested, well. There's no reason to leave any room for ambiguity, is there? All that would do is lead to misunderstandings, uncertainty, and possibly hurt feelings. None of which he wants to see happen.
It's strange. Jinhai is used to keeping things casual and string-free. A few fun dates that he never lets go anywhere, relationships he ends before they can get serious--before anything beyond hand holding, kissing, or cuddling can come into play. He's always wanted to fall in love, of course, but after the disaster that was his first relationship (and the disaster that is his life in general), Jinhai's long since resigned himself to his inevitable bachelorhood. He's contented himself with short, easy-going relationships even if he wants something longer lasting deep down.
With Rapunzel, things are a little different, though. He doesn't love her, they don't know each other nearly enough for that, but he does like her. He likes her a lot, enough that he can see the possibility for more on the horizon. And that possibility is more enticing than any other.
He just hopes...he doesn't end up disappointed or heartbroken. ]
no subject
She had this with Naruto once. She really liked him, too, but just when it felt like the two of them were on the same page he was sent back home, or at least taken away from Ourana. Maybe he's out there somewhere on one of these other worlds, or maybe he's back home where he belongs, with no memory of her.
Next was Cloud, and she'd taken it a lot slower with him. By then she knew that monogamy wasn't really in the cards when serving the Twelve, and Cloud had scars just like she did, but he had a lot more and his ran a lot deeper. They had something special too, but they never put a name to it. That was hard on her in the end, especially when he disappeared too. She hadn't known before, but after arriving here and realizing he was here with no memories of Ourana, well...
And then of course there was Eugene. She... couldn't think about him without feeling crushed under the weight of her guilt. There was still a possibility that he was alive, and that was what she had to believe to keep going, but just knowing that he'd been put in danger because of her was almost enough to send her spiraling headlong into regret and remorse. She'd been lucky enough to have a friend to pull her back from the brink of that. That was a dilemma she'd have to tackle when she got back home. Until then, she had to keep moving forward. If there was any chance she could take anything she'd gained or learned back with her, then she owed it to herself and to Eugene and everyone waiting for her to do her best in the here and now, right?
So now here she is again, with someone new, in someplace new, experiencing feelings that weren't really all that new, but felt brand new.
They're both scared for different reasons, but they're also both still hopeful enough to try, and that's what matters.]
I guess it does. [She quips back, but more than just playful her tone is pleased and warm.] So when do you want to go?
✿ || Voice Messages
Voice; un: watercolors
[ His voice is warm and tinged with amusement. He needs a better nickname for her, buuuuuuut he can think on that later. Right now, he's got a business proposal. ]
I saw you were also commissioned for that statue job. What do you think about workin' together?
voice; un: lifeisacanvas
[She answers with a laugh, but it calms quickly enough. Honestly what he's suggesting had kind of crossed her mind, but she'd been busy getting settled in after that (figuring out how to change her user name...). So him approaching the subject first is perfect!]
I think that's an amazing idea! That sounds like so much fun!
no subject
[ Though he might still crack it out from time to time. Just try to stop him.
He chuckles again. ]
And I'm glad you like the idea. I figure two heads are better than one, and besides...makin' art's definitely more fun in enjoyable company.
no subject
[It's said with a somewhat joking tone, like she wasn't actually all that put off by the nickname, but she wouldn't say no to a better one either! And speaking of...]
Like Jinbug. See? Because I put your name in instead of Junebug? It's cute, right? Yeah, it's definitely cute.
[SOMEONE SURE IS FEELING HERSELF.]
If you're going to come up with a nickname for me I think it's only fair I have one for you too, right?
no subject
Normally, he would be mortified if anyone other than his mother called him Jinbug, but...it's so nice to hear the nickname again that he can't even find it in him to be embarrassed.
He clears his throat, his voice thick. He tries to play it off. ]
Yeah. Yeah, it's only fair. Gotta say, you've got a way with nicknames. Jinbug really is, uh, the cutest.
[ HMMM. He really should think of one for her now. Otherwise Chicken lady is going to stick, and...that won't do, right? Let's see...Rapunzel...There are a few obvious options, but he doesn't really want to go that route. He'd like to come up with something a little more special, since she inadvertently gave him the gift of his childhood nickname.
Rapunzel's a fairy tale, right? The name was based on the Rampion plant, also known as the bellflower. ]
How about Bell? Bells? Goldbell? Florabell? Hm...
no subject
THAT'S suspicious....................... THAT'S weird.Rapunzel is immediately concerned, regardless of the attempt to cover up. It's the thickness in his voice that clues her in, rather than that sharp intake though. That's why when he shifts gears and starts going through possible nicknames she's only half listening. She's paying more attention to his tone than his words.]
Jinhai...? Are you okay?
no subject
He takes a breath and clears his throat to try and shake the heaviness from his tone. ]
Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. It's just nice to hear that nickname again. It's been a while since I heard it.
no subject
[Who called him that before, she wonders?]
I don't want to if it'll bring up... sad memories.
no subject
[ And he means that. ]
It was the nickname my parents used to call me. [ His mom mostly, but his father would use it on occasion. ] It used to embarrass me when I was younger, but I don't think I'd mind hearin' it from you.
no subject
Well if you're sure it's alright, I think I'll stick to it. It's a pretty good one, if I do say so myself.
no subject
[ He finally manages to find an even keel and shake the remnants of homesickness from his tone. ]
Now then, how should I personalize your nickname...? I should figure that out before "chicken lady" ends up stickin'. You're allowed to veto anything you don't like.
[ Jinhai doesn't usually ask for input on the nicknames he picks for people. The only time he'll change things up is if hey have a really bad reaction to whatever he picked. Rapunzel is different, though. He wants her to like whatever he ends up calling her. ]
no subject
That being said, she hadn't missed the suggestions earlier, and she feels like it wouldn't be fair to either of them to keep quiet about the truth. So as much as she'd like to start disassociating flowers from Gothel's abuse... this... probably isn't the best way to start.
She's reluctant to admit it, but she tries for a more easy going air than she strictly feels.]
Well, it's not because I don't like it, but I'd like to avoid nicknames that have to do with flowers for now. I promise I'll explain later.
[She sounds just a little smaller and more subdued than usual, but not upset or dejected, just a little lower energy than before. It just takes a lot of energy to think about everything that she went through with Gothel. She's also pretty close to being back to normal right after, though!]
Hmm.... maybe something art related? Since we have that in common?
no subject
Sure, no problem.
[ HMMM something art related.... ]
Give me some time to think. I want to come up with somethin' you'll like.
no subject
Excellent!]
I'm looking forward to hearing what you come up with, Jinbug.
✿ || Video Messages