for luke, dated 1/6.

[fatesdesign]

Rapunzel had heard rumors about the scary things that happen in this city, but she wasn't prepared for the animals going crazy. Thankfully, Pascal as unaffected. She doesn't know what she would have done if Pascal had lost his mind. The first time she had gone outside after New Year's, she was chased by a small group of cats until she ran back inside.

They stayed until the madness seemed to have passed, and then Rapunzel went out to get herself a nice hot meal and do some more exploring. After lunch, she and Pascal go down a street that she hasn't really seen yet, and she comes across a place with a sign reading bookstore. She perks up and goes up to the window, peering inside and gasping when she sees all the book-lined shelves inside. It's more books than she's ever seen in one place, so much more than that tiny shop in Corona that Eugene showed her.

"Pascal, look!" She lets out a pleased squeal and makes for the door. Her hair is braided loosely and curled around her arm, and she's wearing the coat and shoes that Beth helped her pick out. They're the warmest things that she owns, and wearing them makes her so happy. Almost as happy as books!

A bell dings when she goes inside, and she gasps as she bounces over to one of the display shelves, hair trailing behind her as she lifts her arms to lightly slide her fingertips over the spines. "Oh, Pascal. There's so many books. This is amazing!"

She pulls one of the books down to read the back cover, too immersed to even hear someone else enter the room.

Comments

[notaretriever]

Luke laughs at her curiosity and begins to shelf some of the new inventory. "A library is a giant building filled with books and magazines and newspapers. It's more than a store like mine can ever hope to be and you can get a card, which makes you a member of the library, and then you can take out most of the books they have there, but you have to return them after a certain period of time. It's especially good for things like history or research, since most of what I have in my store is fiction."

Glancing at the book she's picked up, his laughter dies away, because while the book she's holding is a fictional horror story, there are vampires in Darrow. And not all of them are very nice.

"Vampires are creatures who survive by drinking blood," he says. "They can't go out in the sunlight and they live forever. They're very hard to kill. A lot of people write books about them, but they're not entirely fictional. Some of them are real and some are very dangerous."

[fatesdesign]

It's a lot of information to process all at once. Luke tells her about the library, and it sounds like such an amazing place. Her eyes go wide and round, sparkling with wonder. She has to find the library. It sounds almost too incredible to be real.

But then he tells her about the vampires, and the color sort of drains from her face. She looks at Pascal, who glances down at the cover and then looks at her, putting his hands up by his mouth like fangs.

"Men with pointy teeth," she whispers to herself, hearing her mother's song in her head. Maybe she wasn't entirely wrong after all.

"I'd rather talk about the library," she admits, smiling timidly at Luke before setting the book down. She looks around and then closes the distance between them a little, suddenly wanting to be near him. "Do you think I could read here? I like it here."

[notaretriever]

"They're not all bad," Luke is quick to say, not wanting to scare her. "Whatever you read about them in books won't be entirely true. There are all sorts of creatures that exist in Darrow and they're far from evil even if they're not quite human."

Even having said this, he's sure if she ever sees him partly transformed, he'll terrify her. It's a thought that makes him briefly sad.

But he smiles and nods. "Of course," he says. "I've put some chairs near the front here for that very reason. Not many people use them, I'm usually the one sitting there while I'm doing my accounting, but you're very welcome to come by any time."

[fatesdesign]

"Oh, well that's good to hear," Rapunzel says, smiling up at him. She's learned not to judge books by their covers, after all. The thugs at the Ugly Duckling had seemed so scary, but they ended up being kind. They helped her. "My mother always told me that men with pointy teeth would try to hurt me if I ever went outside. Well, she said a lot of things would try to hurt me, but the men with pointy teeth were a big one."

She grins delightedly when he says that she can read her, and she jumps up to loop her arms around his neck, hugging him briefly. "Oh, thank you, Luke! That's very kind of you."

[notaretriever]

Luke doesn't know the story well enough to remember much being said about Rapunzel's mother, but he has to imagine that any woman who would discourage her from going outside can't have her best interests at heart. For that reason alone, Luke's glad she's here in Darrow instead of where she used to be.

He laughs when she hugs him, surprised by the gesture, but he wraps his arms around her in return and gives her a tight squeeze. "You're very welcome," he says. "I like having people read here. In my store in New York, my daughter used to read in an arrangement more or less like this one. It was nice having her there and it's nice having other people here when she can't be."

[fatesdesign]

Luke's hug feels so much different than any of the hugs she ever received from her mother. He squeezes her tight and in that moment, she feels safe. She clings to him for a moment, and then pulls back to give him a bright, sunny smile.

She really does like Luke.

"Oh." Her face falls when he talks about his daughter that isn't here, and she rests a hand on his forearm. "I'm sorry that she isn't here."

Rapunzel smiles up at him, and vows to make him a batch of cookies. She'll bring them in next time that she comes, and hopefully that will be a nice way to say thanks. He's given her a wonderful gift, and she wants him to know that she's grateful.

[notaretriever]

"Thank you," he says. "Sometimes so am I."

But this is a place he doesn't know if he can wish Clary to. The world she's still in now may be dangerous, but at least she has her mother there. At least she has Simon. He very much wants to see her again, but he also doesn't think he can wish her to a place like this, a place where she may very well feel trapped.

"What else have you discovered in Darrow that's to your liking?" he asks. "I suppose New Year's Eve was a bit of an adventure." That's putting it lightly. He hadn't enjoyed those days at all.

[fatesdesign]

"Oh gosh, it was," Rapunzel says, eyes going wide. "Luckily Pascal stayed normal. We got attacked by a pack of cats when I went out for some food, but we mostly just stayed inside until it was over."

She thinks about his question, reaching up to tap her lips. "There are so many things. I do like waffles. And wearing pants. And electricity!"

[notaretriever]

He'd grown up under witchlight, the soft, pale glow of the Demon Towers, and the first time he'd gone out into a mundane city and been confronted with electricity, Luke has to admit he hadn't exactly reacted as a professional. He'd stared wide-eyed at the lights overhead until Valentine had elbowed him hard in the ribs.

Now he's grown so used to it that he sometimes forgets there was a time when it had seemed new and unusual.

"Electricity is awfully nice," he agrees. "And waffles. I imagine dresses might be more comfortable than pants, though."

[fatesdesign]

“I do like dresses better,” Rapunzel admits. “But I had never worn pants before I came here. They’re much warmer. You know what I do like? Leggings under dresses. The best of both worlds!”

She grins and then looks around the store, eyes wide before she looks at Luke again. “Do you have a book that you would recommend? Maybe an adventure story?” She asks, because now that she’s had one, she wants to read about more. “One with a happy ending?”

[notaretriever]

Luke considers her request for a moment, then smiles and says, "Yes, I think I have something that might interest you." He turns back toward the shelves, glancing over titles for a few quiet moments before he selects one particular book and holds it toward Rapunzel.

"Journey to the Centre of the Earth," he says. "It's a story about a man, his nephew and their guide, who journey into a volcano and travel toward the centre of the Earth, but they have many fantastic adventures along the way." And no one dies, which he assumes is more or less a happy ending. All three characters return to their home to great acclaim and happy lives.

[fatesdesign]

“The center of the earth?” Rapunzel asks, looking interested. “I’ve read a few learning books since I got here. Well, on my phone. My friend Peter showed me how to find books on my phone, isn’t that amazing? Anyway, one of them said that the middle of the earth has a molten core. So I don’t know why anyone would journey to the center of it.”

She reaches out to take the book from Luke’s hands, opening the cover to read the flap with an interested expression. “But it does sound like quite an adventure.”

Rapunzel finishes the summary and then looks up at Luke with a slightly pleading expression. “Is it okay if I start to read it now?”

[notaretriever]

She seems to happy just at the prospect of reading that Luke can hardly ask her not to start and so he smiles and nods, gesturing toward the chairs. It's nice, the idea of having someone here, reading in the chairs he'd originally set up for Clary. So much of this store and the apartment above had been designed with his daughter in mind and it's been more than a year and she's still not here.

It's time for him to allow other people into those areas of his life.

"Absolutely," he says. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable."

[fatesdesign]

"Thank you, Luke!" She grins and presses up onto her toes, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. His beard tickles and she giggles softly, rubbing her nose as she pulls away.

Luke is just so warm and thoughtful, and the store reminds her of the good parts of home. She feels happy and relaxed here, surrounded by books and Luke's calming presence, and she gives him a grateful grin before wrapping her arms around the book and bouncing over to a chair.

She sits down and cracks open the book, but Pascal clears his throat. Rapunzel looks down at her hair, trailing all the way through the store, and she gives Luke a sheepish smile before reeling it in until it sits in a pile next to the chair.

And then she buries her nose in the book, losing herself in an adventure.