open } burn the land and boil the sea

[unhand]

♬ I'm On a Boat - The Lonely Island

WHO || Hook and anyone who wants to visit him
WHAT || Catch-all post for Jolly Roger interactions.
WHERE || The Jolly Roger, docked in the Thames
WHEN || ~whenever works~
HOW || idk go with your heart

[Hook's pretty much abandoned his room at the castle now that his home is put back together. He's at the Jolly Roger nearly every day, cleaning, doing minor repairs, or sailing her around just for fun.

If asked nicely, he might give a tour.]

Comments

[unhand]

[His sense motive of 20 (which is magic for him omg) makes it clear she has... no idea what he's talking about. Between the fact that it would be a pretty obvious line to follow if she'd slept with Faye and her frequent expression of disapproval of sleeping with someone her age, he starts to get the idea that maybe, just maybe, Faye was just a very convincing liar.]

...and she led me to believe some stories I'm beginning to think weren't true.

[bittersweeter]

[ nope, lila hasn't told her that. she makes a little face, a thoroughly wry smile. ] It's kind of a long story, though slightly less traumatizing than the whole curse thing. Are you sure you want to hear it?

[uncurse]

She does that. [ emma ain't even surprised, and while she'll be asking faye about it later, it's nothing for her to be worrying about right now. but she has to do a double take because her sense motive of 29 has her attempts to put it out of her mind only making it clearer what hook was getting at. ] Did you think - ? [ she can't even voice it because that's the dumbest fucking thing she's ever heard and she sincerely hopes hook isn't that gullible. she shuts her mouth, shakes her head. ] Forget it.

[uncurse]

Why not? I told you mine. That's how this works, right? [ emma's fairly new to this mothering thing and just about equally new to the friend thing, and right now she's trying both. so she figures she'll open herself up to constructive criticism on that. ]

[unhand]

[...that makes a lot of sense. Sympathy flashes through Hook's eyes for a moment, and he nods.]

Fair enough.

[unhand]

She was very convincing. [Which may or may not confirm her suspicions.] Not all of us have your superpower. [His sense motive is a +1 HE REALLY IS THAT GULLIBLE.]

[bittersweeter]

Did I tell you about the different kinds of work? [ she shakes her head quickly, because it doesn't really matter. ] Dream work, emotion work, blah blah blah. There is a really rare kind called transformation work and it basically does what it says on the package. So Cassel, the boyfriend, happened to be a transformation worker. He had, um, a couple brothers, Barron and Philip, older than him. Philip was best friends with my cousin Anton.

[ she swallows, licking her lips, and shifts slightly so her fingers can press against her upper arms. ] He was older than me and before I was born he was supposed to take over for my dad, even after I guess he just assumed. Because I'm not a man. [ her mouth twists into a scowl. ] But Daddy, I was his baby girl, and a Zacharov, so I became the heiress. It was unheard of, even the idea of a female run family was just ridiculous. Anton hated it. [ the scowl turns into the barest hint of a smile. ]

So he tried to kill me. I was fourteen, Cassel and I were watching tv in his basement. Anton and Philip had known about Cassel for a while now, they just wiped his memory so he wouldn't know. They had Cassel do it, my best friend. I remember him holding me down, his hands around my wrist so tight. He was so much heavier than me I couldn't move. And then he leaned down and whispered "run" in my ear. Run where? [ the story breaks off in a brittle laugh. ] And then suddenly everything was bigger and I was smaller, and nothing worked right. He turned me into a cat.

[ her fingers tighten against her arms. ] I tried to run, but I was so small and weak, I didn't get far before Barron caught me. And then I spent the next three years in a cage. Except, Barron is a memory worker. Their blowback kind of... destroys theirs. I tried to escape at first, but then Anton got me a shock collar, so. Three years. Stuck in a cage. With a memory worker who forgot to do really basic things like, feed me, or clean my cage, or acknowledge my existence, that I used to be a girl, a girl he dated. And I would cry and cry and cry for attention, but it never... [ she shakes her head again. ]

[uncurse]

Hey. [ emma's back on her feet in an instant, water bottle dropped to the floor, hands reaching up to touch lila's shoulders. she doesn't go for the full hug, because the girl's already claustrophobic and not good with emotions and emma's not about to make either of those worse, so she's keeping her distance, but she's got to reach out for her somehow. so, she rubs her shoulders. ]

Hey, we don't have to do this. Only as long as it helps.

[ because that's emma's interest here - helping lila. that's the long and short of it. and she'd shoot this anton guy where he stood if she had the chance, not even think twice. torturing his ex-girlfriend and starving her out in some cage is right up there with asshole of the year candidates. worse than any of the guys emma's seen, and she's seen some bad ones. ]

[uncurse]

I'm pretty sure for a story like that, most people don't need a superpower to spot it's a bunch of crap.

[bittersweeter]

[ she shrugs, flicking some ash into the water. ] Yup. Sure is.

[bittersweeter]

[ the deep breath she takes is shaky, but emma's closeness steadies her. she's a glutton for physical affection, but she doesn't trust most people enough to actually let herself receive it. ]

It's fine. [ she looks up to meet emma's eyes. ] I had Anton killed. In front of my dad, so he would know what his scumbag nephew did for three years while I was "missing". Philip's dead, too. It was kind of theraputic.

[undealt]

[Oh my God, Hook, really? REALLY? Gold resists the urge to roll his eyes, but doesn't look up from consoling his cold familiar.]

We have far greater concerns than the finish on your ship, Captain.

[unhand]

Do you speak the Goblin tongue?

[undealt]

[Well, the scarf doesn't help much, but at least Milah is now cold and fashionable about and she likes Lila enough, so she responds by rusting her snout on her foot.

Gold, meanwhile, is hardly offended.]

I have a few contacts outside the castle. People with traffic in difficult to find items. I was a pawnbroker before I crossed the veil- old habits are difficult to shake.

[uncurse]

Killing them doesn't take away what they did to you. [ be nice if it did, but it doesn't. it's just more death - and emma doesn't judge her for it, not for a second. but it's not a good solution, either. ] But, I guess if claustrophobia's the worst thing you're carrying around from all of that, you're doing better than most would in your position.

[unhand]

It did seem... surprising. I never took you for a hypocrite. I simply see no reason she'd have to lie to me about that.

[uncurse]

We're talking about a lost little girl who supplements control for the fact that she can't remember a day in her life when she's believed someone loved her. She doesn't want a reason, she wants a reaction. [ and now emma sounds pissed about it, actually, because that lost little girl is someone that emma understands implicitly and she feels closer to faye than she does most adults because that lost little girl is still stuck inside of her somewhere, and someone had taken advantage of her once, too. ] How hard is it for you to get through your head that she is a kid?

[unhand]

None that can be taken care of now.

[Did you forget the part where they're in open water and traveling still...]

Besides, it's not like crocodiles are known for their spelunking abilities. Why'd you even bring it?

[undealt]

[HE IS MENTALLY PREPARING HIMSELF FOR IT.]

Because I did. [He finally looks up to meet Hook's eyes. Guess what. That's his answer.] She'll be fine. And in a pinch, we'll be grateful to have her.

[unhand]

[It would help if she looked like one, but Hook's not stupid enough to say that to Emma.

But her words make a lot of sense. He hadn't thought much about Faye past her attractiveness and her being a lovely, willing distraction. He hadn't thought about why she'd want to have sex with him. Why wouldn't she? Plenty of other lasses did. But she was young. Younger than Hook had realized at the time, but still.

Emma isn't the only one that can relate to Faye. Hook can remember the love of his brother and the loyalty and respect of his crew, but all that was centuries ago. Before he lost his hand. Before Neverland. Faye wasn't the first woman he distracted himself with and even when it didn't go that far, he'd often found flirting a far too easy way to get what he wanted. It wasn't love, but it was something. Love was terrifying and far too rare. At least lust and sex were understandable and useful. A game, but one he could win.

But lost or not, he was a grown man. He didn't always have much wisdom, but he'd lived long enough to have his naivety and innocence stamped out. At Faye's age, he'd still had his brother, and hadn't even figured out just how seductive he could be. She shouldn't have had to find out so young.

He knew he could hardly be the cause of Faye's troubled life. As angry as Emma was at him, Faye probably had been going after reactions like his for far too long for the individual encounters to matter much. But that didn't mean it had been right to sleep with her when another woman was so thoroughly on his mind. He should have known better. They both should have, but well, he was the adult.

He pulls his flask out from his pocket and takes a swig.]

It's finally sinking in.

[uncurse]

Good. It's about damn time. [ there's a flicker of conflict in her expression as she watches him, seeing something shift within him, but she can't get a good read on it. too much going on beneath the surface. so she just nods, squares her shoulders. ]

[bittersweeter]

No, but my little somnambulism trick is universal.

[bittersweeter]

Criminals. That's who your contacts are, I mean. [ she shrugs like no biggie. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ it's far from the worst, but lila manages to keep most of her scars hidden. professional liar. ] I'm astoundingly resilient. Always land on my feet.

[unhand]

[He offers her the flask.]

It won't happen again.

[He doesn't just mean sleeping with her, which he's already sworn off. He means misunderstanding her so completely.]