Season 3 (before Flynnposter)
"You've done great!" "I can't wait to hear you sing again!"
Lashanie does a light bow, before she bids her audience adieu. "Thank you. It was my pleasure!"
One last smile to the people, who had been listening to her, before she takes to leave.
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What happened to Cassandra, how she unleashed her anger at everyone, made it very clear - Corona needs to be better prepared in case of an attack.
After he's been taken by Cass, Varian started to work on a security system, that should alert the people of Corona early, if it actually would be under attack. Now he only needs Rapunzel's approval for his newest invention.
So when Lashanie left Old Corona that morning, they agreed to meet in front of the castle in the early afternoon.
With a bright smile, Lashanie is walking the streets, while the coins in her pocket chim a melody along with her bracelet bell. It's a nice, warm day and most of the people she meets on her way, are in a good mood. A tempting smell comes from the bakery and a few kids are playing on the streets.
Laughing, she makes way for them. "Whoa, careful."
Her eyes take in all the colors and faces she comes across. Yes, Corona is a good place to live and with Rapunzel taking care of the kingdom, it seems to become better day by day. It's a place worth protecting.
Lashanie speeds up a little, she doesn't want to keep Varian waiting. Also, she's really excited to find out, what the princess will say to his plans.
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Short time later, she arrives at the castle. But it obviously took her longer than she expected, she's probably been enjoying the walk a little too much, because her beloved alchemist is already there, showing his first drafts to Rapunzel. His face lights up, as he excitedly explains the idea to her and when Rapunzel praises him, he seems ready to explode from happiness.
"Hey!" Lashanie waves at them "Sorry I'm late!"
She's about to run to them, when she feels the touch of a hand on her shoulder. "Hello again."
"Wha - you!?" The look on her face speaks of the sheer surprise, to see the person standing behind her.
"Oh! You know each other?" Rapunzel and Varian walk up to them, while Varian eyes the stranger up and down.
Lashanie's eyes wander between them, before she starts to explain with a doubtful grin. "Well..."
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Earlier that day - Corona's marketplace
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Like she usually does, Lashanie was performing her singing in the streets and like they usually do, a few people gathered around her, to listen. The day has been going great so far, she's taken some requests from the audience and already made a good amount of income, which she was collecting in a flowerpot to her feet.
But then, out of the blue, the screaming and shouting between two woman disturbed her performance. At first, she tried to ignore it, by simply singing a little louder. But when the woman actually started to physically fight each other, her and some of her spectators saw the need, to keep them apart.
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"Whoo, whoo - hey! Calm down!" With the help of an older man, Lashanie could hold one of those women back, while others held down the second troublemaker.
But one man from the crowd took the chance and grabbed Lashanie's flowerpot with all the money inside it. The sound of dropping coins, drew her attention back to her spot and she finally realized, that she was being robbed. The eyes of the thief and hers met and he gasped in shock.
Lashanie pointed at him with an upset face "Oh no, don't you dare!" But as soon, as she did let go of the arm, of that angry women, she was about to throw herself on her opponent again. She had no choice, but to keep holding her. That money wouldn't be worth letting them hurt each other.
The thief quickly understood, that she wouldn't follow him, not on the cost of letting this conflict escalate. He started to run, his lips forming a victorious smile, as Lashanie only shouted after him "Come back here!"
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But his raid ended abruptly, when someone standing a bit aside from the crowd, tripped him up. With a loud noise, the flower pot burst into pieces and the coins lied scattered on the ground.
A sardonic grin showed on the face of the young male, when he leaned down to the thief and said "My bad. Need a hand?"
Hastily, the criminal knocked the outstretched hand away and hurried to escape, leaving the money behind.
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The stranger picked up the coins from the ground, put them into a small bag made of green silk and walked up to Lashanie. Watching the incident, the anger of the two women seemed to have ebbed away and carefully, Lashanie let go of the arm she was still holding.
As he was standing in front of her, the man took her hand and placed the satin bag inside it. "It think this belongs to you."
Perplexed, she only nod and mumbled "Thank you."
Without putting any more attention to her or the people watching him, he turned around and left, under the excited chattering of women.
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Rapunzel pays her guest an appreciative smile. "I see."
And he smiles back at her, before he adresses Lashanie. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself to you properly before. If I had known, that you're of importance in this kingdom ... I'm Leopold, but you can call me Leo."
Lashanie nods and tells him her name, before she puts her head in a light tilt and adds "And it's alright, because I'm just as important, as every other citizen. I'm just lucky to be friends with the princess and the love of Corona's brightest mind."
Her words put a slight blush to Varian's, and a happy smile to Rapunzel's face.
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The princess clears her throat and places a hand on Leopold's shoulder. "Well, Leo here, came to offer us help. His organisation has specialiesed in - how did you call it?"
"We protect the common folks. No matter what kingdom or country." As he proudly states this, he looks around the group.
"Right." Rapunzel tries to seem all positive, but her face tells, that she's worried. She motions to Leo with the open palm of her hand "They've heared of our problem with..." She takes a deep breath "With Cassandra. And come to offer their help in battle."
Varian's eyes widen, but Leo only keeps his polite smile.
Gently, Varian pulls Rapunzel with him "Can - can we have a word please?"
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Their visitor doesn't move an inch, but Lashanie joins their word. She wants to know, what Varian has to say. He looks at her, not pleased by the fact, that she ignores that unambiguous hint, but he speaks his thoughts out loud anyway.
"Rapunzel, you don't really plan to accept their offer, do you!?"
In order to calm him, she puts both her hands to his shoulders. "Of course not. We won't hire anyone to fight Cass. We will make this right again and we will do it our way."
Immediately, the worried look on Varian's face get washed away and is replaced by a happy smile, as he places his own hand on top of Rapunzel's.
In a quiet voice, Lashanie asks "Have you told him already?" She motions to Leo by tilting her head.
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In that short time, they had been talking, Eugene and Lance have taken notice of their visitor. Now he's showing off some moves with his sword, while the buddies pretend to be totally unimpressed.
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The princess shakes her head "Not yet. He - he's our guest and I want to be polite. So I'm going to show him the town. He'll see that everthing's under control and running just fine."
"And that will underline your reason to decline his offer?"
"Yes!"
Varian doesn't seem like he's one hundred precent convinced, Leopold would see it the same way. Even more, after taking down a thief his first day in Corona. But as long, as he won't get the chance to harm Cassandra, the boy won't complain.
Lashanie simply shrugs, that whole affair should be solved then. She exchanges a look with Rapunzel and Varian "Alright. So, what about our construction plans?"
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Later, in Varian's laboratory
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With her legs hanging down, Lashanie's sitting on the plate of Varian's table. She knows he doesn't like it, when she's sitting there while he works - and that's exactly why she keeps doing it. He probably thinks, she keeps forgetting about it, but actually, she just likes the annoyed look he gives her. He doesn't say anything then and he really doesn't have to. His face, so serious, all alone speaks volumes. Do you have to?
She keps swinging her legs back and forth, while Varian does the final corrections to the construction plan of the early-warning system. He wants to start with the installation, as soon as possible, so all his attention goes to his work now. Until he draws a long line and his hand bumps against Lashanie's thigh. He slightly coughs, pulling the face she's been waiting for.
"Of course!" Happily, she jumps off the table, her lips forming an amused grin.
Even though he's almost certain she did this on purpose, Varian can't help to return that grin. "Thank you."
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To get a glimpse at his work, Lashanie stands behind him, resting her chin on his shoulder. "So you've got a name for your newest invention?"
"Oh, I do!" Burning with excitement, he turns around, making Lashanie quickly take a step back. He's can't wait to see her face, her reaction, when she hears the name for his project, the perfect name. "Listen!" He spreads his arms, to spice up the reveal "The Rooster!" With wide opened eyes and a childish mien, he waits for her to say something.
But as he told the name, he rolled the r and so Lashanie responds with a cute chuckle . This wasn't the reaction he was hoping for, Varian pulls a pout. But he wouldn't know, how much happiness she feels, seeing him so excited and passionate about his work.
She leans in to him and repeats "The Rooster...", immitating the way, he rolled the r before.
Now it dawns on him, what caused her to chuckle and a soft smirk adorns his face, as he brings it closer to Lashanie's.
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Without being knocked first, the door flies open. So unexpectedly, that Lashanie pulls back being a little frightened . "Oh my - Leo! Haha, it's you!"
The young male, makes a sorry face. "Oh, my apologies! I didn't mean to disturb you with ... anything."
Lashanie lips from an O, as her cheeks turn red. "Oh no, you didn't! We weren't - we were just..."
She looks at Varian, waiting for him to give her some backup. But he just kept watching her, amused by how flustered she got. To keep herself from stuttering more, she bites her lips and inhales deeply. She qickly calmes down and asks him, with a straight face, "What brings you here Leo?"
"The princess. She said I could take a look at your perfectly planned security system."
Hoping to be able to ignore him by leaving this to Lashanie, Varian turns back to his work. But their guest, of course, has already noticed Varian's rejection towards him and he's got a plan to maybe change that.
"Also, I've heared that Varian is an outstanding scientist."
For a moment, Varian's mien brightens up. "Rapunzel said that?"
Leo nods "I thought you might be able to show me some of your work. If you're not too busy, of course."
With a telling look at Leopolds sword, Varian asks "Sure you don't want to catch up with the skill of our guard instead?"
And Leo laughs. "I can imagine the kind of image you've build of me. But me and my allies, we understand ourselves as man of progress, of growth. And what else does science bring..." He takes a close look at Varian's instruments "... than progress?"
They just keep looking at each other for a moment and it's easy to see, they definitely won't become friends. But then, Varian gets up from his working place. "Alright, let me show you Corona's progress!"
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He leads Leo to a table standing in the back of the room, where a few chemicals are set next to some instruments. Lashanie follows them, but suddenly, Leo turns to her.
"Oh Lashanie, I almost forgot. There was a man looking for you."
She blinks at him. "A man?"
"Yeah. A tall one, his hair tied in a ponytail..."
"Where?"
"I just met him a moment ago. I'm sure you could still catch him, if you hurry."
After paying Varian an apologetic smile, Lashanie leaves with fast steps...
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Even though she really hurried and kept looking everywhere close, Lashanie couldn't find her dad. Or maybe Leo was talking about someone else and she just drew a false conclusion? But who else, with a similar look, should be looking for her... Whatever, it doesn't make sense, to spend more time looking for someone, who obviously can't be found and so Lashanie heads back to the lab. She's almost there, when an explosion makes her double her pace. Only thinking to herself "Oh Vary!"
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She didn't really know, what to expect... but that sure wasn't it! Leo's face is covered in some green slimy liquid and Varian just takes off his mask. He doesn't look confused or startled or anything, not like he usually does, when one of his experiments goes wrong. And then it hits Lashanie, he did that on purpose!
Half-hearted, Varian tries to make up an excuse. "I'm sorry. I must have miscalculated-"
But Leopold stops him, nothing of that polite look left. "You might think this is just about Corona. Something you'll deal with on your own." He turns to leave. "But I fear that neither your, nor your princess understands the consequences of your little dilemma. I hope, for the sake of Corona's people, you won't regret your decision!" His eyes only brush Lashanie, as he walks through the door.
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Varian drops his mask into the mess on the table "Bragger" and gets back to his construction plans.
"Was that really necessary?" Lashanie starts to clean the mess, first picking up his mask again.
Upset, Varian turns to her. "That - yes! He only came here, to talk me into his idea to battle Cassandra! And he even suggested, that I should try to change Rapunzel's mind about his offer!"
"Yeah, that's bad. But you could have just said no."
"You don't understand. Cass might be dangerous, but she's also our friend! He's got no idea what he's talking about, when he insists to fight her. And he sure got no right to judge her!"
Abruptly, Lashanie stops the cleaning to look Varian in the eye. "I do understand", she says calmly. "When all of Corona saw a threat in you, when no one wanted to believe that there still was good in you - I have never given up to see the person behind that anger and agony. And I would have never stand by and let anybody hurt you. Not as your lover, but as your friend!"
Instantly, Varian calms down. His face and voice turn softer. "I know... I know, Birdy."
Lashanie wipes the rest of the liquid from his mask, while she walks towards him. "And I get that there's a difference between stopping Cassandra and hiring someone to fight her. There's no need for things such as this. I trust in you... and Rapunzel and Eugene, I trust that we'll get through this without Leo and his allies and their weapons." She puts the mask down on the table beside him, before pressing a kiss to his forehead. "But since our greatest weapon is our mind, let's keep it cool."
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"You're right..." Varian exhales loudly "You're right, Birdy!" and gladly smiles at her. "Let's get back to work!"
She nods and gently runs her fingers over his cheek, before she turns back to the mess he caused. "That's the spirit."
Ready to continue his work, Varian has already picked up his feather, when he turns back to his girl once more. "Lashanie?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
Showing him her warmest smile, she answers "Of course Vary. We're in this together."
-x.ღ.x-
