suddenlyfree | "Tied Down to Random Things: A cautionary Tale" by Lance of the Red Lion

His head was pounding when he finally began to come around, leaving behind what he was sure were fever dreams of not-Earth, pissy bears, and a mysterious fairy-tale tower in the middle of the woods- or... was it? He'd ended up split up from the others after some wild, crazy animal had turned up and attacked them. He couldn't remember much about where the others went, but he definitely remembered the whole "hurtling off of a cliff" part, his jet pack being the only thing that had saved him from breaking his neck in the fall. What, though, after that?

The tower, yeah... but... How did he end up tied to a chair?

He'd half flown, half-climbed up, that much he remembered. His pack was damaged in the fall and he was hoping to get a better vantage point from the top of that structure. He remembered wondering what it was doing out in the middle of no where, a sniper's dream- or nightmare depending on the situation. Good tactical advantage, since it was the only structure of its height aside from the cliff walls. There was only one ground-based exit in or out of the little valley, but no cover overhead for ships that might pass by. It looked dated, too, like... ancient. Like... FAIRY TALE, cobblestone, painted shutters and wooden doors old. No metal in sight, aside from a hook at the only visible entry and exit point. That was where he'd gone in, calling out to see if anyone was living there. He hadn't made it five steps inside when he felt the ringing pain at the back of his head and pitched forward onto the floor. He'd had a brief, hazy glimpse of bare feet and a pink and purple skirt, blonde hair, and big, beautiful green eyes before his world went black.

Now, as Lance began to regain consciousness there were two things he immediately knew to be true:

1: Keith and the others had better not ever learn of this, or he'd never live it down.

And 2: He absolutely did NOT get jumped and beat up by an extremely cute girl in a frilly dress... AGAIN (though in his defense, the first girl had turned out to be an exceptional fighter anyway. Allura was in a league of her own in his eyes). There is no way that could happen to the same guy twice in one lifetime, right? RIGHT? ... Yeah, no, that's definitely what happened, and he could feel the bruise developing on his wounded pride.

"Aw, man...! Seriously? Again?"

The first thing that he did was try to take stock of the situation. For one, where had his captor gone? Maybe if he could speak with her he could charm his way out of it. Hm... no helmet, meaning no way to get in touch with the rest of the team until he found it. And how long had he been out? Minutes? Hours?

Okay, keep calm and take it one step at a time. If his captor was no where in sight, and he couldn't get word to the others that he'd been abducted, then... maybe he could use his bayart, get it to return to great sword form and cut through the ropes.

The... very, very blonde, shimmering, shifting, warm rope.

Slowly, his eyes drifted from that which was wrapped tightly around him, binding him to the chair, expression surprisingly not surprised.

"... This is hair, isn't it?"

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For Rapunzel, it was her heart that was pounding as she stayed hidden, crouching in the rafters above the strange man who had - somehow - actually found her in her tower. As he came to, Rapunzel shrank further back into shadows, and listened carefully to what he said...

Not that she could make any sense of it. The words she understood, but... What was happening 'again', exactly? That didn't seem to add up, although if this man found himself in these situations often - well, that had to mean he was an individual who caused trouble, now didn't it?

Rapunzel took in a sharp breath as he identified his bindings as her hair, her grip on the helmet he'd been wearing tightening. Pascal, seated on her shoulder as usual, shot her a warning look when she made the noise. Rapunzel nodded her understanding and agreement. Moments passed into minutes, though, and Rapunzel's curiosity began to urge her down. She leaned in, just slightly; hoping to get a better look...

And she slipped off the beam, just enough to make her call out in surprise, despite the fact that she quickly grabbed at her own hair to keep herself up. She recovered as quickly as she could, replacing her terrified expression with what attempted to be a stern look, though it only half-succeeded.

"Don't move," she ordered her captive. Half-crouching and half-hanging in the air, she wasn't sure what her next move should be - but she was determined not to let that show.

For all the teasing that he often got from others for not being the sharpest tool in the shed, his senses were still pretty honed. He heard the sounds coming from the rafters, but before he could even think about calling out the hair on the floor gave a shift with a sound like silk sliding over silk, and he heard a startled yelp.

His eyes snapped up towards the source, and Lance wasn't sure if he was surprised or not. It WAS a (very cute) girl, it WAS hair, and- and... annnnnd he really wasn't sure WHAT exactly he was looking at right then. How was it POSSIBLE to have hair that long? He thought Allura broke the record a long time ago for longest hair he'd ever seen in his lifetime, but then here was this chick.

For a long moment Lance just stared, seemingly complying with her demand to keep still, but then his expression shifted into a more comfortable smirk.

"If you say so, beautiful. But... uh... you think you could loosen your hair just a little? I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingers."

He gave a little wiggle for emphasis, hoping that maybe she'd take a little pity on him. This was all just a big misunderstanding, right? He'd apparently been trespassing but! It wasn't intentional! She'd understand once he explained, yeah?

Rapunzel scowled at the man's apparent comfort. This wasn't supposed to go like that - he was captured, after all! Shouldn't he be frightened? (She'd be frightened...) But that wasn't important, because she had the upper hand right now. She had to remember that.

Rapunzel swung down from above and landed before Lance, keeping his helmet under one arm. Be intimidating, she told herself. "I'm not letting you go. And how did you even find this place? You shouldn't be here."

The problem, of course, was that she couldn't just send him away. Now that someone knew where the tower - and her hair - were, she and Mother weren't safe anymore. But at least if she knew how he'd found her, Rapunzel could think of a way to make sure that didn't happen again.

Her scowling did not phase him in the slightest. He was too well accustomed to being scowled at by beautiful women with no patience for his nonsense. Besides, she just didn't know him yet. Watch that scowl turn upside down after they'd had a chance to talk for a bit.

Lance observed, transfixed as she came back down to ground level, impressed by how nimble she was, not to mention the way she navigated around with her HAIR. I mean, sure there was a LOT of it, but he was amazed it didn't hurt like the dickens... yet she showed no sign of discomfort. Maybe it was an alien thing, maybe this girl was actually an alien and this wasn't hair but- nope nope nope stop that train of thought right where it's at.

"Then it must've been fate or destiny-" Or a broken jet pack. "-that brought me here. I'm more curious about you. What's someone doing living all the way out here alone in the woods?"

Rapunzel's scowl stayed in place, to start, although her mind began to race. Why was he curious about her? Rapunzel had always assumed that if someone came to the tower, they'd know exactly what the story of her hair was, and that was why they'd be here. But this man seemed genuinely unaware of why she was all the way out (and up) where she was. It was interesting. Could this be an opportunity? She wasn't sure if she should count on it.

She changed her position as her scowl melted into a curious expression. Lance's helmet now held against her chest, she asked softly, "You... Don't know?"

Pascal rolled his eyes, displeased with how quick Rapunzel was to trust this guy, and decided that perhaps it was time to take matters into his own hands. He jumped down onto the helmet and glared at Lance, looking as ferocious as a little chameleon could manage.

Look, there, you see? It was already starting. She was softening up already!

Feeling rather accomplished with himself (space Lord only knows why) he sat up a little more- as much as the seat and her hair would allow -just to try to pull off a relaxed lean back, bringing one leg up to cross over the other with a little effort.

He still hadn't stopped smirking.

"Know that this was the happiest accident of my life? Oh, I know."

No, but really. What was she talking about? Something was niggling at the back of his mind, telling him to focus. His eyes shifted to the chameleon resting on her shoulder and he saw a golden opportunity (~~LANCE NO~~), being as good with animals as he was.

"Who's your little friend there? He's kinda cute." Wait. His head tilted to one side, studying a little more, brows furrowing together. "... Is that a chameleon?"

He'd heard of people keeping exotic pets before, sure, Keith's wolf being a prime example- or Kalternecker- but she wasn't a pet. Chameleon's were... supposed to be bigger though, weren't they? And why did he get the funny feeling that it was giving him the stink eye? It was a chameleon.

Rapunzel eyed Lance with a cocked brow for a moment, then her face settled into it's own rather smug expression. He really didn't know, did he? She was actually safe, and she was actually with a human who wasn't her mother - a literal first for her.

"Well, I don't know about that," she said, trying to build up confidence. She felt like it was starting to, hopefully, sound convincing. But before she could go on, he asked about Pascal. She paused, then nodded.

"Yes. That's Pascal," she explained, and said chameleon wasted no time in scurrying back up from the helmet to Rapunzel's shoulder - albeit doing so backwards, so he could keep his glare on Lance.

Smugness, smugness of acceptance. That's what that was. Yup. Had to be.

Or, maybe because he was completely at her mercy at the moment, since- pretty girl + Lance = a terrible combination in a high stress situation. He had no head for what was really going on, hadn't pieced together the obvious signs she was hiding something. Keith would've sniffed it out in a heartbeat. Shiro would've known what sort of approach to take. Pidge would have eventually gotten over her mental BSOD to wonder about Rapunzel's skittish behavior and how it tied to her being in such an isolated environment. Even Hunk would've picked up on something by THIS point! But Lance? The "dumb" one?

He's more concerned by the fact that a chameleon is glaring him down."Hey, uh, nice to meet you, Pascal? And does your beautiful friend here have a name?"

His gaze shifted from the glaring lizard back to Rapunzel, and yes, those WERE his eyebrows waggling "charmingly" for effect. "I'll go first. I'm Lance, paladin of Voltron, pilot of the Red Lion."

"Tied Down to Random Things: A cautionary Tale" by Lance of the Red Lion

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