[OPEN] ish?

[uncurse]

WHO: EMMA SWAN, and OPEN!
WHERE: De Chima #002
WHEN: September 5th
WHAT: Emma arrives and scopes out her new digs.
WARNINGS: Updated as needed.

As days go, this one has proven itself a special brand of confusing.

When she’d first come toppling through into this world, she had to guess that Zelena’s time portal had worked. Granted, she’d really expected it to take her to the Enchanted Forest’s past—not the World Without Magic’s. The more she saw of this world, and the more the government explained, the more she realized that something had gone wrong. Really wrong.

This wasn’t the past of any world she was familiar with. Armed with a cell phone, a file detailing her magical abilities, and not much else, she made her way to her assigned housing, tense and suspicious. The best thing she could do was to follow the rabbit hole down at this point (a notion she had become entirely too familiar with in the past year), and yet …

Looking up at the building, she sighed.

She hated public housing. Almost ten years since she’d had to live in it, and now she was right back. Her eyes drop down to her phone to confirm she’s in the right place. For a moment, she lingers outside, scanning the network they’d briefed her on, but …

The last thing she needs is some kind of digital footprint in a world that she doesn’t even understand. Swapping her phone for her keys, she lets herself into the house and begins to explore, skimming the fridge, and checking bedroom doors until she finds the empty one.

Comments

[unhand]

He frowns, stopping where he is, but not backing off. "I simply thought I might speed up the process. Get you familiar with the place so we could work on our way out."

Perhaps the bedroom wasn't the place to start with.

[uncurse]

Her heart thuds against her ribcage, a deafening sound that rattles her body. Tightening her grip on the file in front of her, using it as a shield, she waffles. On the one hand, there’s something undeniably relieving about knowing he’s here, and she’d not facing this alone.

On the other hand, not getting a breather from Hook feels like a very dangerous position to be in when all she wants is to be able to convince herself to pack everything into the bug and drive off again.

“Without magic, we’re not gonna find a way out in this house.” It’ll be outside of it. And, sure, they'll find it together.

[unhand]

"Ah. Funny you should mention that, actually."

He walks over to the cabinet and pulls out two glasses. He keeps forgetting he has magic because it feels wrong. It's not something he can do. He may have lived for centuries. His ship is enchanted. But he himself has never been anything but normal. Well, as normal as a fairytale pirate with a hook for a hand can be.

He fills the glasses with water and brings them over to Emma. Then, he puts the tip of his hook into the glass and concentrates.

It turns to rum.

He repeats the process on the other glass, then hands one of them to her, raising an eyebrow.

[uncurse]

When he hands the glass out to her, Emma’s eyebrows both arch and she leans back, not raising a hand. Everything about her countenance communicates clearly: don’t hand that shit to me. She’s not drinking it, not least of all because his hook was just in it??

“That’s new,” She notes with no small degree of discomfort.

[unhand]

He holds it out for another moment, then puts it down on the table, taking a sip from his. It's perfectly safe and clean! Even delicious. But this is Emma. He's not entirely surprised.

"Aye, it is. Apparently, I wasn't heroic enough as is. They needed to add magic."

He shrugs, clearly equally uncomfortable. "According to the file, I can do more things. But this is all I've managed to make work consistently." Probably because he was most motivated to try it. The rest seemed pretty unimportant.

[uncurse]

The glass gets a second look once Hook drinks from his own. He doesn’t appear dead, injuries, or sedated. Reaching out, reluctant, she takes the discarded glass and trades it out for the file that she sets on the counter. Not yet drinking, she instead opts to swish the liquid around and give him an uncertain look.

“So, you’ve got magic.” Just to clarify that they’re on the same page. Her gut twists inexplicably at the thought. Hers is gone, and now Hook’s firmly rooted in the camp of people she needs to get away from.

[unhand]

"Seems hardly anyone who shows up in this accursed place doesn't get something." His eyes wander over to the file she's put down. He doesn't pick it up, but he does wonder what secrets it may hold. "I'm surprised you didn't."

[uncurse]

“Yeah, well. Probably thought I was already covered.”

She takes a long swallow from the glass. As she lowers it, she shrugs simply, gulping the liquid back and savoring the burn. Creepy, weird, but definitely non-toxic.

“Or it couldn’t undo what Zelena did to take my magic. Hell if I know.”

[unhand]

"This may be a silly question, but have you tried using your magic since you've gotten here?"

Of course, it's not really all that silly. He knows her magic isn't as gone as she thinks it is. He also knows she's not exactly eager to have it back. It wouldn't surprise him in the least if she'd just assumed it was gone and left it at that.

[uncurse]

Rather than a reply, he gets a slightly impatient look, blue eyes narrowing on him as she lowers her glass. It’s not hard to see what he’s doing: if her magic’s back, it’s harder to go back to New York. It’s not as simple as putting everything behind her—of course he wants to hold onto the hope that he’s right about that.

“You’re right. It is a silly question.” One that she won’t be gracing with a real answer.

[unhand]

That's not an answer. Which means it definitely wasn't a silly question, since she clearly doesn't want her magic back. She still wants to vanish off to New York and leave her fairytale life and all its complications behind her.

"I'm just trying to figure out what we're working with, love. In terms of finding a way home."

[uncurse]

“I told you: Storybrooke is not my home.”

The words come out harsh, strangled out of her throat, but it’s important that she get them out. Even now, missing her family, wondering when she’ll be back, she can’t bring herself to think of it as her home. This world is more familiar to her: she’s a child of the modern age, not a fairytale princess.

"If Henry and I had just gone to New York, I wouldn't even be here right now."

[unhand]

"Are you sure about that, love?" He says it softly, eyes deep with sympathy. He wishes it were as simple as that. That leaving Storybrooke would have kept her and Henry safe. "There are people here from the World Without Magic. Even from New York itself."

[uncurse]

“Not normal people.”

Heroes. Not just heroes, but superheroes. They’re not any more familiar to Emma than fairytales are. Just stories that kept little girls like her from feeling too alone when they were younger.

Kept them believing that one day, someone would sweep in and make things better. Believing in a day that, for Emma, would never come.

"Not the kind of people who lived lives like Henry and I could have."

[unhand]

"A life without your family. Without your friends." Without Hook. "Is that really better?"

And he's not sure she's right. The bloke with the dental floss hadn't seemed like a superhero. He'd seemed like a kid.

[uncurse]

“Henry is my family.” The party line feels safe at this point: if she holds to it, she doesn’t have to get into the nitty gritty. It doesn’t have to be messy. Turning away from him, Emma ducks out of the kitchen. “I’m gonna take a look around.”

[unhand]

"Right." And he doubts she's changed her mind about wanting his company, especially now. "I'll be here if you need anything."