Rapunzel had only met Jack a few times, but when she had never noticed that he sported ears and a tail before. She was quite surprised, but also curious. Then again, she was a girl with 70 ft of hair, so she shouldn't really have been one to notice abnormal things. Still, she eyed the ears a tail with confusion. "Have you /always/ had those?"
Jack’s eyes widened. “What? No,” he said, crossing his arms. He’d been trying to avoid looking at them or touching them so that they wouldn’t attract attention, but it seemed to me failing. More and more people had been noticing. “No, no, uh, this is pretty recent, actually.” He rolled his eyes. “Anons cursing me and stuff.”
Obviously Jack wasn’t pleased with the recent development, he almost seemed self conscious. “Maybe they aren’t really that bad,” Rapunzel suggested. “I mean, you could probably hear some stuff you couldn’t before.” She actually thought the ears and tail were kind of cute, made him look more like a puppy than a snarky teenager. On the puppy note, she giggled and covered her mouth, not wanting him to think she was laughing at him—that definitely wouldn’t help the situation. “So..” she started, stifling another giggle, “Does your tail wag if you get scratched behind your ears?”
“Maybe, but I haven’t noticed anything so far,” he said, almost blushing with embarrassment. His furry grey ears curled down, as if it had a mind of its own and was trying to conceal Jack somehow. When Rapunzel said something about wagging his tail, he stepped back warily. “I- I don’t know, but don’t get any ideas.” He held his two hands in front of him, his ears still tucked down.
Ah, the moment of truth. Rapunzel sighed and nervously tapped a finger on her frying pan, “Well, you see, I think that might be my fault. I wasn’t exactly supposed to leave. And when I got back she was just gone. I thought she might be looking for me, but no one said anything about seeing her.” She felt a bit better having gotten that off her chest, but the worries still plagued her.
“Yes, actually,” she said, her smile somewhat returning, “that was my plan.”
Jack raised an eyebrow as she narrated her misadventure. “Ah, quite the badass, are we? That’s good. Rebellion can be a good thing, you know,” he said with a smirk, noticing her frying pan. He wondered why she had brought it along; was it a weapon of hers? He intended to know. “What’s up with the frying pan, though?”
“I was actually headed to Corona tonight,” he announced, a bright smile on his face. “Mind if I tagged along?”
“I think she does, I’m just not quite sure where she is at the moment,” she admitted. It had been days since the time she should have returned, but maybe the roads were just busy.
“No. I haven’t,” Rapunzel sighed, she definitely didn’t feel like explaining that one. “But I’m excited to!”
A small frowned appeared on Jack’s forehead. “Wait, what?” he asked in confusion. “Why not?” He bit his lip, not knowing if that was a rude response or not. Usually cared-for kids knew where their mothers were.
“Anyway,” he said, trying to shake off the frown. “Are you going to town, then? I hear there’s going to be a huge celebration.”
“No, no, no! Not stupid I just..” She looked around and nervously tugged on a strand of hair, mumbling, “I’ve never spent a New Year’s Eve outside my tower and Mother never talked about New Year’s kisses.”
Grimacing, she looked up, then grinned when he mentioned people liking each other. Since getting to Corona, Rapunzel had spent a lot of time in the library, reading books. “Oh! That must be so romantic!” She gushed ecstatically, “I’ve read about stuff like that!”
“Well, your mother must love you a lot,” he said, an amused grin on his face. He didn’t remember much from his childhood, but being the rough, mischievous rascal that he was, he figured he didn’t have the most innocent upbringing.
“But seriously, you’ve never spent New Year’s Eve outside?” He tilted his head curiously. “That’s where all the excitement happens!”
After his explanation, Rapunzel looked to Pascal for guidance, but he offered no assistance. “Oh, uh.. Right.” She said, deciding that she’d probably see some of these New Year’s kisses later that night. “So you kiss people on New Year’s day and it’s a New Year’s kiss. That makes sense.” Sort of.
“I guess it’s kinda stupid,” he said with a shrug, getting off of the rock. He never really was that good with explanations, especially with pretty blonde girls he’d never met before. “But some people do it because they like each other.”
“Uh, not exactly, no,” she admitted, guessing that it was probably common knowledge to those who hadn’t grown up in a secluded tower. Rapunzel was a bit embarrassed, but her curious nature wasn’t going to let it go. “So what is it?”
Jack paused for a while, not quite sure how to explain. “It’s when two people kiss on New Year’s day,” he began after clearing his throat. “To show how much they like each other. And to probably celebrate the New Year, too.” He shrugged, hoping he had made himself clear.
“Oh, yeah, thanks.” Rapunzel said, glad he didn’t comment on the length. She still wasn’t certain who she could tell her secret to, so explaining why she had 70 foot long hair could be awkward. “Yours is very, white.” Remembering how Mother would act when her hair had bits of white streaking through it, Rapunzel quickly tacked on, “Not that you look old! You look young! Just with white hair! Heh.. Heh,” laughing nervously, she tried to recover with a smile.
“It’s cool, don’t worry about it,” he said, biting his lip at the unintentional pun he had just made. The girl probably wouldn’t get it, and it would be awkward if he tried to tell her that he was a three-hundred-year-old winter spirit who is invisible to most. And he didn’t even know why. “People say that all the time. But just in case you were wondering, I’m just eighteen,” he clarified, a small smile on the corner of his lips. Physically, at least, he thought to himself.
Rapunzel hadn’t expected to see anyone else at the lake, but when she heard someone speak, she looked up, dropping the ice skates she had brought with her. “A New Year’s kiss?” She asked, puzzled. Mother had sometimes kissed her forehead, but Rapunzel couldn’t figure out what that had to do with the new year.
“Yeah, a New Year’s kiss,” he said with a nod. He noticed her confused expression and tilted his head. “You’ve heard of it before, haven’t you?”
