andres ♔ you're gonna catch a cold | from the ice inside your soul

[unhappily]

♬ jar of hearts - christina perri

WHO || Emma, Snow, Regina, Wynn. [closed]
WHAT || Wynn asks some of his Knights to investigate a strange matter on Andres Isle.
WHERE || Andres
WHEN || At the same time as this log ; mid-October
HOW || Actionspam

[ A few weeks into October, Wynn sends a message back to the castle asking Snow and Regina to make their way to the Isle, saying he has a small matter that bears investigation.  When they arrive at the castle, they're ushered by Woodhouse to a small parlor where he's waiting...  And moments later, their other mission partner arrives. :D ]

Comments

[uncurse]

[ Emma stops mid-conversation with her mother as she glances past the woman to spot their third party arriving (fashionably) late. Folding her arms over her chest, she seems to close off a bit from the mere presence, shooting Snow a did you know about this? look. ]

Regina. Hey. [ Tightly said. Her gaze darts over to Wynn. ] So what's this about?

[unlost]

[Snow's responding smile is just friendly and patient. Of course she knew about it. They traveled here together after all.

We're all knights now let's play nice :)

She turns her gaze towards Wynn, then her expression changing to one of concern. They were asked to come here despite having nothing to do with the original mission to Andres (Snow and Regina at least), and it can't entirely be a coincidence that he chose the three of them specifically.]

1/2

[unhappily]

Apparently, they needed someone who knew what they were doing. [ just sayin. ALL THESE KNIGHTS HERE, WYNN, AND YOU CALL REGINA. specifically. no never mind that she's snow's squire, what is snow even good for. ]

[wynn]

Most of the Knights here are already embroiled in relief efforts. I thought Sir White and Sir Swan may relish the opportunity to work together, now that certain things have come to light. [ so. the opposite of that, regina. ] There have been a series of unusual... incidents reported in these last few days, that I believe bear looking into. I certainly don't wish to spread a panic, so I thought we might try to resolve the matter quietly.

[uncurse]

[ At Wynn's correction, Emma can't help the smug smirk that builds, but she does duck her head to hide it so that it doesn't look like she's deliberately taking joy in Regina not being ~the one who knew what they're doing.~ Yeah, that's Snow and Emma, actually.

But she's not petty enough to dwell on it in place of focusing. She looks up. ]

What do you mean by unusual?

[wynn]

Some of them may be tenuously connected at best, however--

It began several days ago in the Shadow Village. An abandoned home caught fire, and by the time anyone stopped it, it had been all but gutted.

It wasn't the last. And what's stranger is that there are those who saw it burning, and claim that the fire looked... odd. Most witnesses report that it was pure white and burned hotter than any fire they'd ever seen, by the damage done.

[unlost]

[That is definitely...worrisome.]

Were all the homes empty at the time of the fires?

[Yes, this is clearly the most important thing.]

[unhappily]

[ as they approach the house in question, regina muses: ] Whoever's behind this seems to know a great deal more about magic than even this Wynn does. He couldn't even identify what kind of spell could produce flame of that sort.

[uncurse]

I can.

[ Now that Wynn's not around to judge her for making rash, sweeping generalizations, Emma will be the magic racist. ]

One of ours used it during the battle.

[unlost]

One of ours? You don't think...

[Snow looks mildly horrified.]

Who?

[uncurse]

Rumpelstiltskin.

[ She hangs back from the house a minute, turning towards the both of them and tucking her thumbs through her side belt loops, hands on her hips. ]

Belle said it caught him off guard, that he was claiming he didn't even realize he knew a spell like that. I've never seen anything like the damage it left, and the people who saw it, that I asked about it later? They described it the same way Wynn described this house fire.

[unhappily]

That name. Rumpel...stilkskin. [ lmao no. but her eyes narrow as she stops to stare at emma. ] Someone asked me if I knew him. Who is he?

[unlost]

He goes by Mr. Gold around here. Rumpelstilskin is like...an alias.

[This is the worst.]

For example, I'm known as both Snow White and Mary Margaret. I answer to both, though each one is more relevant to a different point in my life. [She looks at Emma.] I was under the impression he didn't remember Rumpelstilskin.

regina & snow

[unhappily]

[ off they go back towards the woods~ ] So, what do you make of all this?

[unlost]

[Snow frowns, shaking her head.]

I'm not sure. I don't want to believe that it could be Mr. Gold that's responsible, given he's been a knight for some time now.

[There's an unsaid but, though, because she knows how she feels about him, from her time back home, and it's not...great.]

[unhappily]

But the magic in question: he's capable of all of it?

[unlost]

I'm honestly not sure. Emma seemed to believe that he was, and she's spent far more time with him than I have.

[On this side of the Veil, anyway, but she doesn't know that.]

[unhappily]

He hardly looked all that menacing, from what I saw of him.

[unlost]

Appearance isn't everything. [She shakes her head.] But I can't imagine him being capable of this much destruction, not after so much time as a member of the Knights. This seems too...chaotic.

[uncurse]

[ It takes her some time, but Emma manages to track Neal down to the bar in town. She manages to do it quickly enough that he's still working on his beer, and when she comes in the door, she approaches him at the bar immediately. One arm rests on the bar top, but she doesn't take a seat—rather, she leans beside him, like she's deliberately crowding him. ]

We need to talk.

[fuckingneal]

[He hears her coming, like he could never forget the way her footsteps sound, singling them out from the rest of the noise in the bar (listen 20 total). But he doesn't bolt. He doesn't look up at her either, not at first. He just stares into his beer and takes a deeper breath.]

What happened to two days?

[Definitely the thing to focus on right now.]

[uncurse]

Timeline moved up. You should have booked it while you had the chance. [ She steps back, gesturing for him to stand. ] Everyone's got somebody to answer to. My boss wants to talk. Thinks you might be able to tell us more about what went wrong with your father's dagger.

[fuckingneal]

[His eyes move to her, words half-forming to protest that he wasn't going to book it at all. But he just... doesn't try to say any of that. He just sighs.]

I told you everything I know. I'm not sure how much help I'll even be with all of this.

[He's not refusing. He just doesn't want her to think he's got more info he was holding back.]

[uncurse]

Yeah, well, Hasmed'll be the judge of that.

[ She swallows her personal feelings on the subject, glancing aside so that she doesn't have to look at Neal directly. The whole affair is masked as impatience, fingers tapping on the bar top. ]

Soon as we sort this out, you can get back to ... whatever the hell it is you've spent the last ten years doing.

[fuckingneal]

[His gaze drops to her hand, to her fingers tapping. He licks at his bottom lip idly, trying to fight against that instinct to flee from any conflict that could involve his father in any way, shape, or form.]

Yeah... yeah, okay. I'll talk to this guy. Whatever you need.