Welcome to Gaia! ::

All of her pretty, fancy things had been put away, and she'd mourned them each time. All the jewelry had been carefully put back in their respective boxes and hooks, and the dress had been hung in her closet, flattened several times just to feel the fabric before having to tear herself away.

But it was over now, and she sat in her little pink shorts and tank top, and staring longingly at the crystal slipper shoes sitting on the side of her bed.

Everything had to go back to normal, now. Including her.

She'd invited Dawson over to finally have the pina coladas, and waited patiently for the knock on her door. She refused to leave it unlocked just because she knew he was coming - no amount of fancy dinners would make her forget why she did that.

It took her a few seconds to climb off of the bed and open the door - there was no chair blocking it, this time. She unlocked it and opened, her expression brightening helplessly the moment she saw him there. Oh, God, how it hurt to feel that way just by looking at him. "Perfect." She hummed out, leaving the door open for him and going back to sit on the bed and hold her arms out. "They look so good. Did you carry those all the way up here from your room?"

Maebe watched him put the drinks down instead of giving her one, and just kind of stared for a minute at the drink, before that big lug of a man came at her in a hug that wasn't exactly a surprise, as much as it was not the drink. She patted his back gently, lowered her hand and got him right on the a**, before watching him pull away. Her face was plastered with a smile that was too goofy, too delighted to be normal. The squeak of the bed underneath exposed the fact that she was bouncing just a little bit.

Then the drink was finally handed to her, and she stopped bouncing so as not to spill it.

"Thank you very much", she purred out happily. She took a sip, and made a highly inappropriate groaning sound.

"Fuuuuuuuuck." She muttered, taking another sip before even trying to speak. "They're so ******** good."

They did have a beach, but.. she couldn't bear to think of moving from the spot she was in. Everything felt warm, and cozy, and just right in that moment. There was no need to go out in the sun and sand to feel better about her pina colada, or herself.

"Whooooshhhh," She blew air out, trying to make ocean sounds for him, and failed miserably. It made her laugh, and then crawled up to the half of her bed that the sun was still shining down on, to curl up in a corner of it and soak in the sun. "There. Now everything is perfect."

She took another long sip of her pina colada, and felt the slush of too much liquid in her stomach. She leaned in to put the drink down on her desk, and then returned to her little spot in the sun, basking in the warmth. Her eyes closed for the moment, and she let out a long, satisfied sigh.

"This feels real good." She purred out, stretching out her legs in the sun.

She bit her lip, and grabbed for her phone. It was sudden, and ridiculous, but the moment he'd said it, she knew she needed it.



She beamed, pleased as punch at the idea of Dawson rocking on her porch. When he asked her about Hades, she gave him a wide, mischievous grin. "Hell yes. Literally. He was funny, clever, and he was all over Meg sometimes, I just, nnnffff."

Yes, she liked Hades. A lot.

"Why? Got a problem with the men I like, Sir Grace?" Her smile turned cheeky, and remained even as she coyly sipped her pina colada.

Maebe crunched her nose up in dismay when he mentioned Hades' rather bad reputation. "I can't even tell if you're being sarcastic or not. But in case you're not, Jafar's just too slimy for me. Also, do you remember what he looked like as an old man? No thank you." She stirred her pina colada with a finger, watching him carefully, and then pulled it out to suck on it thoughtfully.

"Okay." She pulled it out with a pop and sat up straight. "Then who's your favorite Disney girl? You have to pick a good girl, and then a bad girl. I say this with all honesty because I am a bad girl, and you must respect us as equals. Go."

Her little smile disappeared at Belle, but then he went on, and on, and she started to wonder if Dawson just had a crush on animation in general than anyone in specific.

"That was a lot of people." She murmured, looking more confused than anything else. "I don't even know what to think." But he was nudging her for her list, and she was coming up blank.

"I already told you. Megara. She's my good list, and my bad list. She's - " A distant, and regrettably fond memory hit her, and she realized that there was one other Disney princess worth being on her list, but she was loathe to admit it. So she buried her face down into the rim of the pina colada glass, trying to hide the flush of red filling her cheeks, and muttered gently.

"She's enough, I guess."

Calling Jessica Rabbit overblown brought a sour look to her face, but she was too busy trying to be ignored to say anything about it, and that didn't work anyhow. He was still prodding, trying to get more out of her.

She fingered the rim of the glass with one digit, and her voice was almost too quiet to hear. "I thought. I wanted to be a mermaid when I was little. 'Cause I loved Ariel so much. I wanted to be her. And I knew I never could be."

Not even because she was a mermaid. Ariel was everything Maebe never could have been, and she knew it, even as a child.