knightsoflegend | open ♔ september castle socialization

Entry tags:

open ♔ september castle socialization

WHO || Everyone! [ota]
WHAT || Shenanigans.
WHERE || Anywhere in the castle, surrounding environs, London, etc!
WHEN || First half of September, any time between the September squiring ceremony and the War announcement on September 18th
HOW || Actionspam

[ The castle can be a happening place, even on more mundane days. This log is for random interactions over the course of the first half of the month. Because not everyone is into parties, ok.

You are encouraged to start your own threads and tag around, and feel free to threadjack into any on-going threads that aren't specified as 'closed' in the subject lines since people can enter into rooms even in the middle of what's going on. WE ARE BIG ON THREAD-JACKING HERE. You can also specify 'single thread', meaning you want only one response for all participants, rather than multi-thread, where a number of different scenes/threads can be done as replies to the top prompt.]

On this log:
Drax @ the desk
Kate Bishop @ the desk
Sam @ the desk
Henry @ the desk
Kate Bishop @ roof/dining hall/library/grounds/bathrooms/desk/Dragon's Hoard/etc
Abigail @ Movie theater / library /firing range / training room
Francesca & Val'drin | closed
Penelope & Sam @ the woods
Emma Frost @ the library
Spike @ rec room
Lydia, Stiles, Astrid, Adam | closed

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The almost...restless energy - as he perceives it - isn't a complete surprise. And it's not the easiest thing to just hear and accept, certainly not for someone like his mom. For a moment, he wonders if it was a mistake to come see her right now, if maybe...he should have waited, given her some space after everything that just happened to her.

But there was this selfish need to see her, when it could just be the two of them again, even for a moment. His hands are withdrawn from his pockets in favor of loosely folding his arms across his chest. ]

I honestly wasn't expecting anything, I promise. I just...wanted to see you.

[ He remembers riding with her in that yellow bug back to Storybrooke, telling her she wasn't ready to hear the name he had for her. Mom. He'd known, even then, that she just needed time, and it didn't matter to him that their first hug was a bit stiff. It was all worth it. And he...wasn't expecting a warm, fuzzy reunion now, wasn't expecting her to suddenly reach out and hug him. This is just a first, tentative step, and that suits him. ]

And I'm really glad you're okay.

[ There’s something jarring in that.

Hook’s relief, Lila’s, Faye’s, they’d all been touching, straight to her heart. This feels foreign. Someone she never knew, can’t remember, being so relieved to see her alive.

The guilt weighs down heavy on her shoulders.

For nearly two years, she’s been avoiding the mere thought of him. Hook and Gold had both made it apparent that her son was in Storybrooke: the one she’d given up. Not thinking about him was the only way to live with forgetting him—after all, she’d given him up. And just like when she’d given him up, she’d needed to steel herself against it, convince herself that he had an adoptive family with whom he could be happy.

He didn’t look like the adopted family had worked out for him now, standing before her. ]

I— [ She bites her tongue, struggling with the words. And yet, wrapped up in all the guilt, there’s a question in the back of her mind. She’s not just guilty of missing all those years with him: she’s curious. Curious to know what person he became. Glancing over his shoulder, she debates her panic, her uncertainty, and pushes through it to finally look at him again. To look at him, and see past Neal. ] Henry, huh? Where’d that come from?

[ It's a victory - albeit a small one - that she hasn't excused herself, that she's talking to him for now. He knows it can't be easy for her at all, and...there are a lot of emotions he has to work through, too, but just for this moment, everything feels...good. Weird as it is. And it's not like he's used to the commonly accepted definition of normal, anyway. If this is how it has to go, in small steps, then so be it. ]

My adoptive mom. Henry was her father's name.

[ It's been...complicated, missing Regina, but he does miss her, and a part of him wishes he could see her again, to know the person she was becoming when she came to get him in Neverland. ]

Her name was Regina Mills. It was just...me and her for a while, until I was ten and I found you in Boston.

[ In a flash, Emma returns to her apartment in Boston. The car drive to Storybrooke. The mayor’s house. Why was she there? Her eyes flutter shut and she shakes her head, brow furrowed with frustration. The gaps in her memory grow wider when drawn into the light.

Blinking hard, she soldiers through—straight into disbelief. ]

Regina's the one who adopted you?

[ Not much of one, a sharp voice in the back of her mind criticizes as soon as she thinks it, if Henry came to find her instead. The two had always been at one another’s throats, and Gold’s wraith had, in the long run, done little to change that sour opinion Emma held of her. ]

Christ. No wonder you high-tailed it to Boston. [ Maybe if where a child, she’d bite that back—but he’s not. He’s a grown man. Way too old to actually be her son, but what does she know about how all of this works? ]

[ His eyes narrow just slightly as he watches her seemingly reacting to what he's said as though she's...remembering something? It seems complicated, whatever it is, and he blows out a breath, smiling crookedly. ]

It was an interesting childhood. But then I found you, and even though we didn't have each other very long, that was...good. Really good.

[ Just not enough time.

He's...trying for something a little happier, so: ]

You know what I missed? That yellow bug. I liked that car, good memories.

[ A flicker of a smile lights on her face. There are good memories there: good enough that even after ten years, she hadn’t gotten rid of it. It’s not like she couldn’t afford a newer car, or a more reliable car, or — hell, even really needed a car in Boston. And yet.

Memories of Neal in the backseat, of both of them in the backseat, of hundreds of miles on the road, moving around, running— And of getting the keys mailed to her from Phuket whiles he was in prison. Her eyes drift shut, pushing the memory away. ]

Yeah.

[ The agreement is resultantly half-hearted. Her eyes open back up and she drums up a small smile. ]

I’ve been looking for one like it, but …

[ It’s not the same without the memories. ]

We've got plenty of cars in the castle garage.

[ He can't help the flicker of a smile on his own face, thinking about the "stakeout" in her car, the first drive to Storybrooke, so many good things. But he's old enough now to know that probably not all the memories for her were good. ]

And it's kind of irreplaceable, anyway.

[ He takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. ]

There's so much I wanna ask you, but...

[ Slow. Take it slow. ]

How long ago did you come through the Veil?

Almost two years ago.

[ Holy shit. The answer really puts it in perspective for her: she doesn’t think much on it because there’s no going back, so she’s doing the best with what she’s got. But if that was almost two years ago, she cringes to think of how long she’s been without David.

Or worse, without seeing her mother. ]

I’m guessing for you it’s been longer.

[ Just given the whole.

Not a kid thing. ]

Not to point out the obvious here or anything, but … it's only been thirteen years since I was pregnant.

[ Yeah. That part's weird, since he...shouldn't be more than thirteen. But here he is. ]

Yeah, a lot longer. Feels like a decade, but it's been about five or six years? I lost track. I was thirteen when I came through, the last thing I remember is Neverland.

[ And nothing good, since he'd been holding his own heart in his hand. He certainly had some nightmares on occasion after that. ]

Sorry, not that Neverland means much with your memories. Um. Long story short, we were all there, Peter Pan had me kidnapped, things were pretty tense, and I'm...not sure how it turned out.

[ He's just convinced himself it had to be okay somehow, he's too optimistic to believe otherwise. ]

But we're here now, that's what matters, right?

Neverland.

[ Jesus Christ. Emma raises her hands, scrubbing them over her face. Dear fucking god. She steps back, pacing a little, and shakes her head. ]

Look, I don’t know what Killian told you, or what you gathered on your own, but the last thing I remember was trying to get out of the Enchanted Forest with Mary Margaret. Regina sent us there after the Curse broke.

[ How biases alter memories :’) all Regina’s fault. ]

He mentioned some of that.

[ Wow, her memories are a mess. This will be interesting. ]

But...that's not exactly what happened. Gold sent this wraith after her, not long after the curse broke. I asked you to protect her, and you and David and Mary Margaret were trying to do that when the wraith came after her. The idea was to send it through a portal, and it would've worked, except you got sucked in with that thing, and Mary Margaret went with you.

I was afraid I'd never see you again.

[ He's used to feeling that way by now, though. ]

[ That’s not even a Veil thing, just a grudge thing. ]

I remember what the idea was. [ And now it just feels like, well, defending Regina. Regina, who had cursed all of them. Who had separated her family. Who had gotten them all stuck there. ] Doesn’t change the fact that once again, we got screwed because of her. [ No heartwarming reunion. No Snow to temper the blame game. No knowledge that Regina tried to help them come through. Just pure and simple bitterness. ]

[ And he really can't argue that, because...yes, Regina was coming to get him in Neverland, she was right there with Emma, and his dad, and he has the same hope his grandmother always had, that his mom could change. He believes she could have, but he doesn't know for sure if she did, and it doesn't change that she wreaked a lot of havoc and hurt a lot of people. Still, she was his mom, and he loved her. He loves both of them, which makes this conversation a little tricky. ]

It doesn't. She helped you guys get back, and she helped save Storybrooke, later on, but I know she did a lot of bad stuff, too. And I know it doesn't help much now, but she was trying to change.

[ He doesn't have rose-colored glasses, that's for sure. He nearly died because of that apple turnover, for instance. ]

Speaking of Grams, though, I really wish she was here with us.

“Grams”?

[ Her brow furrows, but she processes and—god, he means Mary Margaret, doesn’t he? Emma squeezes her eyes shut, shaking her head against that. Wow. Somehow that takes more getting used to. Raising a hand up to rub the side of her neck, she presses her tongue to the inside of her cheek, working through it. ]

I—Yeah. Believe me, kid, I know. [ She misses her, too. More and more. ] Did, uh … [ God, what does she call him? The kid obviously knows about all the fairytale crap, but that doesn’t mean he’s beholden to the names. Navigating this is the worst. ] Did Killian fill you in about David?

Sorry. Instinct.

[ Though it makes things weirder, given his age, and his mom's age.

Then his face falls a bit. ]

Yeah, we talked about that. I'm sorry, mom.

[ That slips out accidentally. Unlike when he'd first met her and known she wasn't ready, he's had time calling her mom, and he's wanted to again for so long, but she's not ready, he gets that. ]

Emma. I'll call you Emma.

[ For now. He offers it rather than asking because he doesn't want to put her in the position of having to say she might not feel ready to hear it yet. And if she doesn't mind hearing it, then all she has to do is say so; makes it easy. ]

Killian -- you call him Killian, or Hook?

[ Wow.

It takes the wind out of her, but her will save was fucking awesome (19+8=27), so she manages to hold it together by blinking hard and exhaling. The tears never even get the chance to burn at her eyes because she disconnects before that can happen.

Weight bears down on her chest, and she takes a mental step back to even handle the way it just slipped out. Casually. For more than a year now, Emma has been hovering and looking after Faye and Lila as if they were her own, but she always yo-yos back and forth between a big sister, mentor-like relationship and actual parenthood. What's more, they are distinctly not her children. No matter how maternal her instinct to protect them is, both are too old to require full and genuine mothering. Lila doesn't even want it.

When Henry first found Emma, he had been young enough that the same wasn't true for him. She knows enough now to realize that she can blame the Veil for her belief that they're meeting for the first time now. He got a mother, but she never had a child.

It takes all the self-control she can muster to tighten the muscles in her face and force them into the mould of a smile. The expression fits her face oddly, like the mould doesn't sit quite right, but she holds it regardless. ]

Instinct.

[ She repeats the excuse for his slip, offering it to him. An awkward beat of silence passes between them while she chokes on the word, but she finally moves past it breezily by soldiering on to the new subject (which feels no more comfortable to her than the news of her son). ]

Hook. [ An admission, of sorts. Her expression softens markedly. ] I wasn't sure how he'd introduced himself to you. Our situation isn't exactly traditional.

[ He wants to think he knows her just as well as he once did, but the truth is, he doesn't. He believes he'll get there again; it might be slow, but he will. She's so good at hiding her emotions, and he used to be just as good at seeing through it, but enough time has passed that it takes him an extra moment or two. But he guesses by that imperfect smile on her face that she's not exactly happy to hear him call her Mom.

It doesn't hurt him, though, because he understands why. ]

I'm glad you two have each other, though. He seems to really care about you.

[ And Henry has no reason to doubt that isn't genuine. Even though his last memories of Hook don't match up with the Hook he's met here, he's also more than willing to give people second chances, as he always has. ]

He told me the mission you were on, you were hoping you might figure out a way to break the curse so we could get David back.

[ Somehow, the identification of Hook's feelings, which would usually disarm her, hardly compares to the son standing in front of her, spouting all this familiarity while she grapples for any sort of point of reference.

She can't simply approach him like she approaches Faye and Lila. They have bad histories that Emma wants to fix, but Emma is responsible for Henry's. It's different. As a result, she flounders, swallowing thickly. ]

I—Yeah. But it was a bust. Some psychotic AI locked up in a quarry. [ Which makes about as much sense as it sounds like it would. ]

[ The hardest thing is quelling the urge to reach out and hug her, even now, even after they've been talking for a little while and he's fully aware this isn't easy for her to swallow.

He hasn't completely divested himself of the eagerness and unbridled happiness he felt all those years ago, standing at the threshold of her apartment and meeting her for the first time. It was enough, even then, just to know she was right there.

And it's a lot to take in all in one day, so he holds back. And it has to be enough again, just to be here with her. ]

We'll get him back.

[ As if he has any right to be so certain. But...he just is. ]

I know this is...a lot. So, I just wanna say that I want us to know each other again, but I'm not in any kind of hurry.

[ Optimistic. The smile that wrenches at her lips hurts, in a way. He certainly didn't get that from her. ]

Look, I—I know you probably have questions. [ Her brow furrows. ] Or maybe you don't. I don't know which is weirder. But there are things that I don't—I can't—[ Revisiting Neal to explain him to Henry feels too painful. The very thought turns her stomach. ]

I want you to have me in your life, if you want me there. But I—I don't know that getting to know each other is really … [ She grows more determined, stubbornly so. ] Believe me. There are some things you don't wanna know.

I'll always want you in my life, Emma.

[ It's so hard not to call her Mom when he says that, in particular, but he's trying to be mindful of what she needs right now. ]

And I might know more than you think.

[ He doesn't know all the terrible things that he imagines must have happened to her when she was young, but he still has the vivid memory of hearing that a family gave her away when they had their own kid, and it still makes his heart hurt for her. ]

Even if I don't, we could start with just spending time together? Getting burgers and milkshakes sometimes, training together. Anything, really.

[ She waffles, resistant only because she doesn't want to give him some kind of hope that she can't follow-through on. Letting Lila and Faye down means one thing—letting the kid she'd already given up down all over again? That's something else entirely.

But looking into those big brown puppy eyes of his, she finds herself relenting. ]

… I guess we could … try milkshakes. [ She jumps to the defensive as soon as the words are out of her mouth, qualifying it with a quick, ] Maybe! [ Implying, 'Don't get your hopes up.' ]

[ He'll try to be one step ahead of her as much as he can, making it clear that even just an hour out together getting milkshakes or even seeing a movie sometime is okay for a while.

In his mind, she can't really screw up with him, no matter what she thinks. It won't be easy, and they'll probably stumble through this for a lengthy period of time, but it'll work somehow. ]

Maybe in a few days?

Probably too soon to join a bowling league together for fun, I'm guessing.

[ He's just...trying to lighten the mood??? ]

[ The joke earns an awkward laugh from her, and while Emma doesn't meet his gaze, she at least does seem to understand that he's kidding. That's something. ]

Maybe save the flier for another time.

[ Her expression remains tight, but she fights her way into more casual discourse at least, finally looking back at him and nodding. ]

A few days.

[ If she doesn't make good on the promise - and he takes it as a promise - he'll just find her. She's not gonna get out of it that easily. Besides, milkshakes don't require emotional vulnerability on her part, he's pretty sure she can manage that, at least. Hopefully.

Smiling softly, he once again resists the urge to hug her. ]

I'm looking forward to it then.

[ Thanks for coming back to me. ]

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open ♔ september castle socialization

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