{4th Hope; Video; Seelie}

[cinnamoned]

[The locket turns on to show Snow sitting cross-legged on her bed, a rather large book at her lap, titled 'Once Upon a Time'. Which is decidedly familiar to at least one particular other. If not various others in some more vague way. Fairytales. Though the ones in this particular book aren't quite the traditional ones most would be familiar with. She sets the locket to try show the pages, the pictures and at least some of the text.]

I know others probably had gifts recently, from home. This is what I was given. A book I found in my wardrobe and gave to my grandson. It has stories from our world. From the Enchanted Forest. Stories most probably consider fairytales for children. I thought I'd read at least one of them.

[When Snow White meets her Prince Charming. Of course. To show people aren't always as they seem. To show even if some might disagree initially, they can work together. Can come to care about each other in spite of the obstacles surrounding them.

She tells the story, starting from Charming and his fiance in the carriage, the road being blocked by a tree in a trap from a bandit who steals some jewels from the carriage when the prince gets out to find out what the hold up is. Chasing the bandit, he realizes it is a woman. She smacks him over the head with a rock and flees, only to later get caught in his trap, held up in a net. Between the banter and blackmail - him threatening to tell the Queen he's found the infamous Snow White, she agrees to help him get his ring back for his fiance. They go to the Troll Bridge and she uses her pixie dust to defeat them and save his life. The honorable thing to do. After returning the ring to him as they agreed, they part ways. Not yet realizing just how much of an impact this meeting would have.

There's a hint of an almost bittersweet smile at her lips as she reads, as she finishes that particular chapter and closes the book at her lap. Memories. Charming. How much she misses him in all of this.]

And that's how Snow White met Prince 'Charming'. Or, rather, the Shepard. But we can continue that story another time. Most of you probably already have plenty of questions from that as it is, I imagine.

[Really. Because. Snow please. At least Charming has a scar to forever remind him of said meeting with his future wife. Best first impressions.....]

Comments

perma-vid

[mannersandbombs]

[The lockets are still confusing, no matter how many times they're explained to him. In the end Tom decides that the only way to learn something is to do it. He's glad he made that decision because the story that the woman tells is amazing. Tom's always loved a good tale and this one had all the things he liked: magic, honor, and almost love. Yes, if anyone believes in True Love in this world, it's Tom.]

I like that a lot better than that cartoon where the princess just sings and cleans.

[The excitement he shows would probably fit her grandson, or really any child that wasn't actually a twenty year old]

That book got Red Riding 'ood? That's me favorite, but not like they tell in most books on account the wolf is so mean an' dies at the end.

Must be nice ta get somethin' from home now that you're 'ere.

perma-vid

[cinnamoned]

Cleaning is important, yes. But I can do so much more. As for Red, she's actually a very dear friend. Who's story is probably also rather different to the one you know.

[What with her being the Wolf. Killing her boyfriend before realizing. Her mother, in order to save Snow. Both on the run, Red helping her as she tries to forget Charming after hearing of his impending marriage. But still, she can't help the smile at his enthusiasm.]

But it is nice. I missed it. Missed everyone. So this helps. Even just a little.

[mannersandbombs]

A friend?

[That smile is far too hopeful to be healthy, mostly because of the story he'd created]

She 'ere then? It'd be real nice ta have folk here from home!

[cinnamoned]

A friend who helped me when I was on the run. But no. She isn't here. At least, not that I know of, unless she is over with the other Court and I have yet to hear from her as a result. Still. I do have Emma at least, my daughter.

[Sorry Emma, that might be something you are wary and cautious of trying to explain but Snow is always a proud mother who doesn't really think this through in why she shouldn't give their relationship so easily to strangers when those she's met so far have been helpful and friendly enough.]

[mannersandbombs]

The other court is who we're fightin' right? I don't think I could fight me friends, so I hope she ain't over there so you don't gotta fight her.

[The thought of Annie or even Hal being stuck in that other court makes Tom's stomach turn. He was fairly certain that this was the right side to be on, but he also knew that sometimes the enemy wasn't so cut and dry]

Your daughter? Oh, that's good. Bet she's real happy ta have her mum here; makes things not as scary, 'specially when you're a little bit.

[cinnamoned]

The other court is the Unseelie, yes. I've been in that situation with someone from home before and I'd rather avoid that again if possible.

[Snow is unfortunately far too well-versed in feuds between those who should get along. Between family, given the crusade Regina went on to get to her back home after her father was killed.]

Ah, yes. I mean, it's good to be together at least. But she's....probably older than you're expecting.

[Not aging for 28 years has Snow appearing a lot younger than she theoretically actually is. So most might more mistake her and Emma for friends or sisters than mother and daughter.]

[mannersandbombs]

[There's silence as Tom takes a moment to think]

Is there- I mean, do you s'pose there's a way ta know if someone you know is over on that side? I know we ain't ta talk ta them, but if we jus' want a name, that'd be okay, right?

[He wants to tell himself that he doesn't really miss Hal, just Annie and of course Baby Eve, but the truth is he'd be quite happy to discover Hal was in this world, even if he was on the wrong side.]

You mean you 'ad her when ya was young? I don't think that's so bad. If I had me a mum I think think I'd want her ta be young, then we could have lots'a years together instead of just a few years.

[depicted]

Now there's a nice re-telling. Very exciting. The feminists will love it.

[He doesn't mean that badly. Too many feminist friends who would beat him up for being a misogynist tbh. As it is, he smiles with a fair bit of amusement.]

Dare I ask after that ill-fated fiancee of his?

[cinnamoned]

It's hardly something I did on purpose for anyone in particular. Barring myself, perhaps. I was going to sell the jewels for passage out of the kingdom. But I suppose I can't deny that.

[There's a shrug, a slight tilt of her head.]

Abigail? She found her own love after Charming saved him in order to get out of their impending marriage together. For me.

[Though that's sort of spoilers, it's not exactly in great detail. She doesn't mind the questions.]

[depicted]

Ah, so it's happily ever after all around.

[He has the cynicism of a character more suited to his home genre than a fairytale, but it is charming in its own way. Not his story, not his cup of tea—but charming for another class of character.]

[cinnamoned]

Of course. Good always wins. Back at the Forest, at least. I can't say that's a guarantee here. Or even back at Storybrooke for that matter. But I guess that's part of why I'm generally a lot more optimistic.

[Which isn't a bad thing? Necessarily. Even if some might well take advantage of that. She does have Emma here now to help ground her and try help her be a bit more realistic on this particular front.]

[depicted]

I'd say here, half the battle is deciding who to call 'good.'

[Considering everything? It isn't an easy moral question.]

[cinnamoned]

I know it isn't always so black and white. There's grey in the middle of it all. Emma is helping me acknowledge that much.

[Intentions, context. The history behind what leads them to such actions and decisions.]

[depicted]

Emma? [He isn't familiar with the name.]

video;

[undeterrable]

[He listens to the story, and although he already knew she was different from the Snow White he met back in the Dwarf Woodlands, it simply cements it. Different origin story, though he didn't know whether or not the one back home had a prince.]

He sounds like a good man.

video;

[cinnamoned]

He is. I miss him.

[But surely. Eventually. He'd find her. Or she would find her way back to him. This likely only more confirms she's a different Snow to the one he met, but that's no reason to ignore him or shun him for his actions back home. Intentions must be taken into account. His being placed in Seelie counts for something, surely.]

At least I have Emma. I didn't know if I'd see her again, after....after things back home.

video;

[undeterrable]

It's good that you've got her then.

[Terra knows and understands by now that she and the Snow White back home are two different people, just like he's coming to realize the same for the Zack he knows here and the one he met at the Coliseum. He gives her a smile, if not a bit of a small one. He was lucky that he had Aqua and Riku and, yes, even Zack because of the familiarity, but he can't imagine spending a year here and being the only one from home.]

If he's anything like my friends, he'll turn up. We have...a knack for finding each other.

video;

[cinnamoned]

It is good. At least now there's one familiar face from home in all of this.

[She's hardly unused to being apart from family. But part of that is that they always do have a knack for finding each other, as Terra says. The Charmings are no different in their steadfast determination to stick together. His vow to always find her. Whatever the circumstances, however long that might take.]

Either that or I'll find my way back to him. We always find each other. He promised that the same day we met. And he always has. Every time.

[dreamcatcher]

( bittersweet is right. Emma honestly gets a little sad when she looks at her son's book, knowing he's somewhere without her. it hurts, probably as badly as it hurts for her mother to be away from the man she loves so much. it's a reminder of home, and they're not home.

still, it's a sweet story. almost hard to believe it's real, that somebody lived that. if Emma had stolen from a guy and beaned him with a rock, she's pretty sure she would have done her damnedest to stay away from him... or, well. hadn't she stolen from Neal and ended up falling for him? maybe life wasn't that simple. )

Hell of a story. He was really trying to marry somebody else, how did that happen?

[cinnamoned]

He was, an arranged marriage to Abigail, the daughter of King Midas. For the benefit of his kingdom, threatened with his mother and farm if he didn't cooperate with King George in this. Of course, Midas and his daughter had no clue about him actually being a shepherd. But.....well. Things worked out in the end, obviously. Both were able to find True Love regardless.

[Still. It wasn't easy, and Snow would never say that there weren't obstacles. That there wasn't some sacrifice and loss along the way, because that would be a lie. There was. His mother, many civilians in Regina's crusade to try get to Snow somehow or other. It wasn't the best first impression and she knows and admits that, but she'd been doing what she had to to get by while on the run. Even when that might mean stealing to survive.]

[dreamcatcher]

Threatened his mother?

( Emma can see her father agreeing to just about anything to protect his family and the people he loved, so his reasoning doesn't surprise her. she's never really thought about her own grandparents, though, and now she wonders. she knows that Snow's were gone, but... )

What happened to her? Is she in Storybrooke, somewhere?

[cinnamoned]

She--she died before the Curse was enacted. They obviously found out about the cottage she was staying at, where we were going to meet her. We were too late. She was hit by an arrow and we were too late at the lake for it to work.

[And it was thanks to Ruth that they had Emma, had Henry at all. Else Snow would never have been able to concieve. And she wouldn't have agreed if she'd known what his mother intended to do in order to help, to lift the curse of being barren from her intended daughter in law. Maybe one day she would open up about that to someone. But not like this. Not over the network publicly at least.

But of course if she were in Storybrooke we'd have been a family all the more. She'd have been so happy to know we had you. Had Henry.

[dreamcatcher]

I'm sorry.

( it's silly, to mourn a grandmother she never got a chance to meet, but, just because she was gone before Emma was even born doesn't mean she's never wanted a grandmother. she would have loved to meet her, and she'll never get the chance thanks to a war over a little girl not keeping a secret. )

He's a pretty great kid. I think any great grandmother would be proud to have him.

( she's not sure that she'd be as exciting. she's not quite what her parents wanted, Emma isn't sure she wouldn't have found a way to disappoint her grandmother, too. )

[cinnamoned]

He is. And I'm sure she would. Of you too.

[Really, she regrets that neither Emma nor Henry got to meet either of the grandparents. But there's nothing for it. Not when George, when Regina and Cora killed them long before either were born. Just more missed opportunities because of that feud which has long since been buried between her and Regina in favour of trying to work together to protect the town and each other. To protect Henry above all else.]

I'm sure they're in here too, if we go back farther. If you wanted.

[dreamcatcher]

( Emma doesn't blame anyone for the people she doesn't get to meet. it'd be easy to point fingers at regina, but it's way more complicated than that. even Emma has realized that by now.

the offer takes her by surprise, but, not in a bad way. Emma pauses but smiles, not that Snow can see it. )

Yeah. I mean, when you're not busy. I'd like that.