{3rd Hope; voice} {Seelie; Open to Hermione's Compass network, backdated}

[cinnamoned]

[There's a pause as she catches her breath after the initial whirlwind of emotion at Emma being affected by the silver sickness, the worry and guilt as they kept searching for answers. That the True Love's Kiss actually worked against this as well as it had any other curse back home. Snow is still a little breathless at that, but she feels it is important to try tell others. This particular method might not work for everyone, but if there's a chance it could help even one other.....it would be worth this.]

I know some are newer around here. Not the best of circumstances to meet but I'm Snow. And I figured at least one method against this silver spreading. But it might not work for everyone. Back home, in Storybrooke, in the Enchanted Forest, there was one way to cure any curse. True Love's Kiss. It works against this too. Of course not everyone would be able to use this option, like I said. But I thought....if it could help even one other person besides Emma, my daughter, I should tell you. I hope everyone is managing all right through this. If I can help more, just let me know.

[Yes, she said her daughter. Snow White has a daughter. And still believes in the likes of True Love in spite of everything. In spite of being separated from her own, Charming, for over a year here.]

Comments

voice;

[notyetlegend]

True Love's Kiss is an actual thing?

[Sorry if she sounds a little skeptical, Snow, but she's only heard it in passing.]

voice;

[cinnamoned]

It is. Back home, at least. And here too, apparently, given that is how I helped Emma with this silver sickness.

[She knows it probably sounds rather. Hopeful, so she can't blame Merida or anyone else that might be less certain on this particular method. But that she herself is still here and alive at all is thanks to Charming and his Kiss saving her from the Sleeping Curse so many years ago now.]

voice;

[notyetlegend]

From what I understood, it was between two lovers not...family. You said she was your daughter?

[It makes her think of how apologising and swallowing her pride had been the reverse of her mother's own curse, the one that she had set upon her in the first place. This whole plague has been a stinging reminder of that, and she wonders if her mother were here... Merida shakes her head, getting it out of that.]

voice;

[cinnamoned]

Love isn't just between lovers. It's between family as well. Between mother and daughter. Mother and son. Father and his child. But yes, Emma is my daughter.

[So grown up now, but still that baby girl they placed every confidence and hope in all those years ago. A daughter they gave up everything for in giving Emma her best chance. It just took time for Emma herself to accept and understand that, seeing the nursery they had for her. All that could have been.]

voice;

[notyetlegend]

I heard rumors about it while I was out looking for information. I thought it was just that though, rumors.

[Which is the only reason why she asks. She pauses, thinking for a moment before responding.]

I know curses can be broken though. My experience is just...a bit different than True Love's Kiss.

voice;

[cinnamoned]

Sometimes in rumors or stories there is some grain of truth. A reason for them to start or have some basis at all. Though I hope your experience wasn't too....

[Too....what? Dangerous? Heartbreaking? Difficult?]

Difficult. I've had my share of curses myself.

voice;

[wwjd]

[Is she that Emma's mother? Well, it's impossible to tell with just this much.]

Just... Snow, madam?

[That sounds a little strange.

But he's no one to judge.]

Thank you for sharing what you've discovered about a cure. I can suggest it to those I see in the chapels. It is exactly what it sounds like, correct? A kiss between two people who truly love each other.

[It's straight out of a fairy tale in that case, though it isn't surprising.]

voice;

[cinnamoned]

[Indeed she is. If only others knew to understand the discrepancies in their apparent age what with Snow having been cursed for 28 years.]

Well, Snow White. But of course. It's not just romantic love either. It could be family. I know this won't work for everyone but....I thought it might at least help some others, perhaps.

voice;

[wwjd]

[Hey, it's none of his business.]

Snow White. [Somehow, he thinks he should have been expecting this.] My apologies, Miss Snow. That information will prove very helpful. I suspect the illness passes via direct skin contact with another individual, but there should be no problems if both are afflicted.

voice;

[cinnamoned]

I hope it is. If it helps even one other person, it would be worth the trouble of trying to get this information out. Of course, this is more limited in that we can't contact the Unseelie as easily as we used to, but even so. It's something. Another possible method to help.

[There's a sigh, she runs her hands through her short pixie cut.]

If people are careful, if we at least know how it spreads then that's something.

voice;

[wwjd]

I have also heard that the Unseelie are similarly affected by the illness...

[Although, he wonders if they should help them, if they could. The Unseelie have entirely the wrong cause.]

In the past, was communication between the two sides truly so much easier? I haven't had confirmation on my theory of its transfer, but I haven't caught the silver sickness since it began and I've been actively treating patients.

voice

[psalmed]

I would assume this only works if someone has a true love in this world.

[Or is loved truly? It really is a storybook to attempt to grasp this.]

voice

[cinnamoned]

Yes, that's true. I just thought - if there was a chance this might help even one other to be free of this. It doesn't need to be love romantically. It can be familial. Perhaps platonic as well in a strong enough friendship. I don't want to guarantee anything but it might help some others at least.

voice

[psalmed]

No, mademoiselle. It is very good of you to try to help others. I do not discount you. I only wish to...perhaps know what it entails.

[It's a cure at the least and it's more than she has been able to come up with on her own.]

Of course you would love your daughter very much.

voice

[cinnamoned]

Of course. It's....hard to explain or describe, exactly. True Love. I've seen it in the family. Me and my husband, my daughter with her son. Me and her, now. I'm not sure how this could be different from everyone else's relationships. I just know it has always seemed to work when we've been in need. When I was under the Sleeping Curse, that was how Charming woke me. How Emma woke her son from the same years later. It of course won't work for everyone if they don't have a True Love here. But it worked for us.

[It's difficult to try and explain. To describe True Love. How it might differ from other loves. Perhaps in intensity. In that feeling of rightness, wholeness. The trust implicit in it. The depth of their feelings.]

voice

[psalmed]

[It is quite difficult to describe. But Lia knows were her baby brother here she would love him most utterly. Without question. Without fear of a disease spreading to her, she would do what she could. Perhaps that was love. Perhaps she doesn't love anyone except for D'Eon.]

You sound as though you come from a storybook. It is rather uplifting.

voice;

[dreamcatcher]

( is there a way to make this thing private? because Emma would kinda like to make it private and isn't sure how. she should have listened better to that pixie that tried to teach her how to use her locket. Snow is very open about the fact they're related, which.. Emma... hasn't. been. whoops. she just wasn't sure it was a good idea, but then again, Emma has always been a lot more secretive than her mother.

more secretive, and, more cautious. )

Look, it might not work for everybody, so people should be careful? It could just get more people infected.

( like if it doesn't work, or if they don't truly love each other. Emma isn't sure how to define that herself, so she doesn't want anyone coming after Snow because their cure didn't work. )

...wait, other people can hear me, right? ( just checking. )

voice;

[cinnamoned]

[Of course Snow can be cautious. She just doesn't see the need to as far as Emma being concerned since there's no reason thus far to think her daughter could be in danger by association with her.

She knows the concept of secrets. It's just. This isn't one she even knew she was supposed to keep. Really, Emma, this helps if you let her know before she goes and tells everyone like this.]

I never said this would work for everybody. But it's something at least. And yes, those in the Seelie court can hear you. I'm just--so relieved it worked! You're okay.

voice;

[dreamcatcher]

( honestly, Emma's overzealous secrecy is probably unnecessary. it's just it wasn't too long ago that openness about her family ended up with Henry kidnapped. and... underneath that, it's hard for Emma to refer to her mother as that publicly, when it's hard enough for her to call her Mom just when they're alone.

it's too late now, though... and it's not like she can be mad. she's just worried. )

Yeah. I still can't believe it.

( hopefully that doesn't sound cruel. it shouldn't be a shock that her mother loves her. (truly loves her, though, that's new. though not a bad new.) Emma is still processing and honestly it's overwhelming. )

voice;

[cinnamoned]

[Snow is well aware of Emma's cautiousness and her hesitancy after such an upbringing. She can't change all that, can't wave a magic wand and suddenly they would be a perfect family with no issues at all. There would always be issues, always that lingering guilt over how things ended up in spite of her best intentions for her daughter.]

I was just trying--well, everything I could think of. That always worked back home. I guess it was just. Instinct.

[If some might take it as cruel, Snow herself isn't one of them. She knows their situation, Emma and her upbringing. Those walls she's worked so hard on even as over time Snow has been breaking them down and reassuring her as best she could. But of course, as her daughter, Snow loves her. The same way Emma loves Henry. Both separated from their child for years as they were through adoption. And other worlds.]

voice;

[dreamcatcher]

You could have gotten infected too.

( it's a little lacking when it comes to reprimand. it would have been kind of heartbreaking to try and cure her with true love only to realize she didn't love her as truly as she thought. that would have been awful, for both of them.

this is... this is good. though intimidating, honestly. true love is so confusing, do they truly love each other? or does Mary just truly love her? it's a lot. )

I guess it was a good instinct.

Voice;

[parallels]

Well.

It's a charming thought at the very least. Most people love a good fairytale.

[And even in her cynical state, the idea is charming. Clara's fond of literary allusions and the like. But she's not up to putting any sort of stock in it.]

Voice;

[cinnamoned]

You have no idea.

[Yes, Clara. She is well aware her life is the basis for fairytales in various worlds. Or real, in certain worlds, given her meeting with Terra and his admission on being the one to hunt that particular version of her back home.]

But nonetheless, it is true. Here and back home, for me. I just thought if there were a chance it might work to help someone else, I should share this.

voice;

[detoxifying]

True Love's--

[ Maker, the entire thing had seemed nothing short of idiotic to him, having first read about it in a particularly saccharine remedy book found in the bowls of both Caer Glaem and Treun's libraries. Still...

Had it not been him kissing Nasrin that might have led to her getting infected in the first place? Was there something inherently impure about how he felt about her or...

No. All of this was ridiculous. ]

That... wasn't what worked for me, my lady. I'm afraid in my experience, such things seem far more likely in stories.

voice;

[cinnamoned]

I didn't say it would work for everyone. I take it from that though you found another cure? Though in my experience, stories often have some sort of basis in them. My life is a fairytale in some worlds.

[So just because something sounds like it belongs in stories, in fairytales, doesn't make the possibility any less real or true. Of course, Snow and her optimism and depth of love and devotion for her family in spite of everything is probably the epitome of this. Even if she isn't quite the woman most might imagine from said fairytales.]