Count the Stars

(I hope this is okay!)

The Lost Boys were as energetic as ever, Peter realized with a laugh as he engaged them with a game of hide-and-seek. He was considered it, but he was almost certain that he would get bored with it before he even started; that was usually what happened. It was something the Lost Boys were used to, though, so they never held it against him - not that it would matter, since he was considered 'father' to them.

After he finished counting, he called out a quick, "Ready or not, here I come!" But, as he expected, he didn't even bother to go searching for his little friends. They'd forgive him, he was sure, and, looking to Tink, he grinned before he flew off.

At first, he wasn't entirely sure where he was going, but he knew that he wanted a bit of amusement for now. And, where was a better place to get amusement than to watch the mermaids argue with one another, usually over him? As he approached the mermaid lagoon, he took note of the mermaids there, most of whom he knew.

"Peter!" he was greeted almost immediately, the mermaids swimming over to the boulder that he sat on. "It's been a long time. Where have you been?"

"Oh, around," Peter hummed out in response. "I've been a bit busy." Not really. He had just been having more fun than usual lately, so he hadn't had much of a reason to come around the lagoon as much. "Did you miss me?"

"Of course!"

---

"Pascal!" Rapunzel called out as she wandered her tower, brows furrowed. Oh, where was he? Usually, she didn't have a problem finding her small friend, but she was a bit distracted today, for some reason. With a sigh, she plopped down on her bed, only for Pascal to fall onto her lap from the ceiling. Sighing with relief, she stroked his head. "There you are, you had me worried."

She was almost afraid that her dear friend would disappear, that he would go missing one day and she'd never see him again. It was a painful thought, one that was often brought about by the matter of an old friend that she recalled, Jack Frost. Of course, she had decided long ago that he had just been an imaginary friend, that she had been so lonely in that tower that she had just made up a friend of her own.

And, then, one day, he just stopped showing up. So, yes, definitely an imaginary friend; people didn't just stop coming around, right?

Leaning back until she was lying down on the bed, she stared up at the ceiling. "We need something interesting to do today, don't we, Pascal?" Of course, the dear thing couldn't speak back to her, but that didn't stop her from talking to it. At least it nodded in affirmation.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to do. She had read all of her books too many times. She had baked and eaten whatever she made so much that she didn't even want it anymore. And brushing her hair was just... frustrating.

[it was great ::cute]

Jack raced through the evening air, the sun was warm on his back as he felt the winds whip around him. His crook was held tightly in his hand and huge grin was spread across his face as he moved toward the castle that he could see perfectly on the horizon. It was an odd shaped castle but that's what made it so recognisable as he floated through the air.

The closer he got the more prominent her voice became, her sweet melodic voice that he hadn't heard for months. Rapunzel.

Once he was at the window of her home he floated down on to the window seal before jumping into her room. He saw her on the couch her pet nestled on her lap as she gently patted it. The creature changed colour out of comfort and happiness, one minute he was green, the next he was pink, then blue, then purple. He was an interesting creature and Jack suddenly became very interested in it.

"Rapunzel," he greeted, however was stumped when she didn't reply, he tried again but received the same silence. Walking over to her he reached out one of his hands but snatched it back when she got to her feet. He watched her intently.

---

Ariel had been swimming for hours Flounder followed closely behind her muttering about how they shouldn't have swam so far away from the castle. The red haired mermaid simply laughed off his comments instead she sped forward the yellow fish speeding up to try and keep up with her.

"Ariel!" he cried when he began to fall behind rapidly. Quickly the red head did a three sixty and hurried over to her finned friend swimming beside him.

"Come on," she giggled grabbing one of his fins and pulling him through the water. Suddenly a shadow passed over her and the fish gave a loud cry. Looking up Ariel saw it was gone, it was too quick to be a ship.

So what was it?

Swimming up she broke the surface and saw a male no older then sixteen possibly seventeen flying ahead of her before descending down into a lagoon where several other mermaids swam over to him. Slowly she began to move toward them curiosity thrumming through her body.

(Okay~ I'm glad!)

Rapunzel had spent a few minutes deciding on what she should do before she finally grinned down at Pascal. "How about we paint a little, Pascal?" she hummed out before she stood up quickly, walking forward to gather her paints. In the process, she unknowingly walked through her invisible visitor. Pascal on her shoulders, she made her way over to her paints and gathered them quickly before heading over to the wall, in search of a place to paint.

There wasn't much room left, she realized with slight disappointment. Off to the right, there were paintings of Jack that she had done when he visited; she had even made him pose, because he wouldn't sit still long enough for her to paint him. All in her imagination, she reminded herself as she found a spot and started painting.

She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to paint at first, so she just started adding to the constellations that she had already worked on before. Technically, they were already done, but she liked touching them up on occasion.

---

Peter grinned with amusement as he watched a few of the mermaids start arguing a bit - as per usual, they were arguing over him. It never made much sense to him, how they could always find some reason to argue with one another due to trying to gain attention from him, but he was pretty much used to it by now.

That was when he noticed a new mermaid - or, he assumed she was new because he didn't recognize her. She was pretty, though, and she wasn't trying to argue with the others because of him, which wasn't something he was used to. Eager and curious, he hopped off the rock and flew over to her, hanging upside down above her head with a grin. "And who might you be?" he asked with amusement.

His words seemed to attract the attention of the other mermaids, who immediately turned jealous of the newcomer for having received any of Peter's attention. He ignored them, though. "Is this your first time in the mermaid lagoon?" he asked, tilting his head as he moved to float right-side up, instead of his upside down previous.

[so sorry for the lateness been busy but I am back and starting to reply to all my role-plays]

Jack stood in the corner of her spacious room watching as the blonde walked around, talking to her pet before heading over and starting to paint on her walls, she added to the constellations, touching them up and keeping herself busy. The white haired male walked over to stand next to the young woman. His light eyes scanned over the several paintings she had done of him. A smile spread across his across his face at the memories as the blonde tried to get him to sit still but he couldn't. The male was unable to stay still for long periods of time, he always had to be on the move.

"Rapunzel... you're work is amazing," he said turning to her but it seemed to fall on deaf ears, she didn't answer him.

---

Ariel was startled when the male spoke to her, the red head saw the way the other mermaids looked at her with jealousy in their eyes. Slowly she nodded her head watching as he floated turning the right way up. A small smile stretched across her face as she watched him.

"Yes it is," she admitted slowly moving toward him.

@ momentai.
are you still interested in this role-play?

@ momentai.

(Did we ever decide how Jack would make Rapunzel realize that he was there? I was thinking he could do something like what he did with Jamie, maybe – we might have already talked about this before, really.)

It was easy for Rapunzel to touch up the constellations, which she was glad for. Except it meant that there was less for her to do to keep herself occupied. There weren’t many places left for her to paint on the walls, after all. Moving to a small spot that had enough room to paint something simple, she got to work. Before long, though, Pastel walked across the paint that was still trying to dry and created footprints on the wall, which made Rapunzel laugh a bit. “Pastel!” she said quickly, shaking her head, “Do you want to paint as well?”

After receiving a nod from him, she gently picked him up off the wall and gathered a small tray of paint for him.

---

Peter nodded in understanding to her words, though, really, it was more than a little surprised to hear that it was her first time there. Not many new mermaids showed up at the lagoon, since not many of them knew of the place. Still, it was nice to see a new face – and the fact that she was pretty was a bonus. He’d have to make sure to keep an eye on her, though, since the other mermaids could easily because jealous of how attractive she was. They’d bully her and terrorize her as much as they possibly could and that was the last thing that he wanted.

“Well, it’s a fun place, either way!” he announced with a broad grin and a small, firm nod. “What made you come here? Did you hear about this place or did you just come across it?” he asked with curiosity.

@ momentai.
[I think we did but I honestly can't remember how they met haha]

Jack was confused as to why the blonde wasn't talking to him, he had just complimented her on her work and she had ignored him and instead continued to paint, he watched as her pet climbed across the wet paint leaving footprints making her laugh. Jack chuckled to before calling out again.

"Rapunzel, let's get out of here," once again he was greeted by nothing, realisation hit him and he knew what he had to do. She had forgotten him, somehow he had to find a way for her to remember him. How though? As the blonde hung from the rafters painting he flew up and began copying the constellations scattered around the room willing them to come alive and move around the blonde. He hoped it worked, he watched her waiting for her reaction.

---

Ariel smiled at the male, he wore such a bright and welcoming smile. It held playfulness and made her feel funny inside, her stomach felt fluttery and her heart raced ever so slightly. She watched him as he sat on the rock speaking to her.

"I stumbled across this place, I was out exploring with my friend... Flounder... when he... he took off and I kind of drifted along and ended up here." and she was glad she did not that she would say that out loud to the male.

@ momentai.
Hey is this still going?