pookabox | open post

[Of course, in a new place, in a world so like the Enchanted Forest, there's no way that Snow is leaving Emma to head off on any quest alone. Requesting, demanding that she go as well. Mostly to protect Emma, of course, but also to spend time together. Naturally, it's been a while since the curse broke and they regained their memories, but Snow still cherishes every moment with Emma. Wants so badly to spend as much time with her daughter as possible to try make up for lost time. For those twenty-eight years apart. It still eats at her, and she admitted as much, finally, in the Echo cave back in Neverland.

Still, she tries to focus. To focus on their mission. She's hardly used to journeying to find certain items and the like but in a war situation, that's the new part. The part that makes this all the more dangerous that she wasn't letting Emma go alone. They're travelling along a path by foot when she hears someone approaching. Wordlessly, she gestures to Emma, tugging at her sleeve to move to the side of the road, out of sight. Watching and waiting until whoever it was went past. Not that Snow isn't friendly and trusting, she's simply wary given their situation. She turns back to Emma, brushing some much longer strands of hair from her face.]

It's hard to say how far we are yet, but we're making progress. How are you holding up?

[She asks, offering a hand as she stands and readies to head back up to the road. Of course she knows of the fairy rings, but that doesn't mean she entirely trusts them. Not yet anyway. But she is aware Emma isn't nearly so used to this sort of thing. Travelling so much. Even if she is used to danger after everything back home in the Forest, Neverland and Storybrooke.]

[Emma felt...out of place. Hardly surprising given the last time she had been in a place like the Drabwurld, she hadn't been able to do a damn thing, and like with the Enchanted Forest and Neverland, she found herself following rather than leading. Even though it was pretty much her quest, Snow had insisted on coming along...part of her wanted to call her mom but she was still tentative on that. It was hard to simply erase twenty eight years of loneliness.

The sword at her hip was heavier than the gun she was used to carrying, but bullets were useless here. She'd learned that in their own worlds as well and while her swordswomanship wasn't that great, she didn't like the idea of traveling unarmed, despite her mother being a brilliant archer (she'd seen her shoot an ogre between the eyes okay? Anyone would be amazed by that, by someone defending them after having to look after themselves for over half their life).

Emma looks up when she's shaken from her thoughts by Snow's voice, looking at the hand before reaching gingerly to take it.]

Uh, yeah. I'm, ah, doing good. Feels just like old times.

[Snow is aware of how Emma probably feels. A fish out of water is probably fairly accurate. She would have felt the same, if she hadn't been cursed with new memories when she arrived in Storybrooke from the Enchanted Forest, after all. But that's what she is here for now. To help Emma through this, to protect her and help her adjust to this new world. Herself so much more used to the likes of fairies and all sorts that seem second nature to accept in comparison to Emma and her much more realistic view of the world she grew up in. It brings an ache of guilt and pain to think how different things could have been, how different Emma might have been had she and Charming been able to raise her. But there's no point dwelling on that. Not now.

She takes Emma's hand and helps her back up to the road, continuing their journey with her bow in hand.]

Like old times? I know this is a lot like hom--like the Enchanted Forest, but it isn't. In some ways it's possibly even more dangerous. As familiar as it seems. I wish we could have shown you more though, while we were there. The castle.

[Of course, the room they'd prepared would hardly be suitable for Emma now at this age. Snow shakes her head, pursing her lips briefly. It's hard, for both of them to think or talk of what could have been. What should have been. A lot of guilt and issues around the past, as much as she tries to make up for it. There's a glance to the sword, hoping Emma won't need to use it but knowing that to likely be wishful thinking.]

A-anyway, shall we check the map? I'm sure we're still heading in the right direction. I'm still not quite sure where exactly this thing is, where we're going.

[She would probably be used to this kind of thing if the curse hadn't happened. It's always been something in the back of her head, that she'd be used to faeries and magic and swordfighting and knights and all of it. No being shifted around the foster homes, into the system, running away. Emma had always told herself to quit wondering about it, but it couldn't help but be drawn back up now that she knew her parents.

Emma rests her hand on the hilt of her sword, turning her head to look at her mother. She'd stopped herself short of calling her 'mom' a few times now, that she knew who she was. It seemed a little strange, referring to someone her age with the title.]

Well that, and...I kind of meant it's a little like tracking people like I used to. I'm just not used to the forest floor and the whole...y'know. Magic thing.

[Before she came to Storybrooke and her life was flipped turned up side down ~~now if I could take a minute, just sit right there~~. Dwelling on what should have beens had never done her any good before, so Emma pulls her map out of her back pocket where it had been resting since her arrival, unfolding it.]

We're supposed to be heading...here, I think.

[She points towards a lake a fair bit into the forest.]

Tracking. Though from what you told me your tracking was a little different to mine. The tracking that Red taught me. Yours involved using technology to help you, which, as useful as it is, we don't have as much access to it here. Not--not that I'm not glad you're figuring something familiar here, Emma. I am.

[That reassurance only seems more awkward though. Snow tries, so hard, but she doesn't want to overdo it, push Emma away by coddling or smothering her now she's finally reunited with her daughter. So she turns her attention to the map, leaning over to check it with Emma before shifting, her gaze following Emma's hand.]

The lake. Let's keep going then. Looks like we might be nearly here. Though I'm still not....entirely sure about this. Going on this quest for them. Seems we're making a choice to help that side when I'd rather we try not get involved, that we talk this through. There are other ways instead of fighting.

[Of course, it is necessary at times. Snow understands that. Has taken losses herself in her own feud with Regina back home. She won't hesitate to fire an arrow to defend herself or her loved ones but she's still hoping to figure another solution to this. Not that people really have any reason to listen if she were to try negotiate. She's not a princess here. This isn't her home. She continues, ensuring Emma isn't too far behind as the other pockets the map again to keep it safe.]

Well tracking is still tracking. I might barely have any info on this but I can read a map. I don't need a GPS for that.

[She doesn't mean to sound flippant, though she does wince a little when she realizes how it probably came out. As nice as it was, getting to know her mother, there was part of her that still wanted to be bitter. She definitely didn't need coddling, despite the childish side of her wanting it. Emma shook her head to snap herself out of it, telling herself to focus on the mission instead. Maybe the forest was starting to get to her or something, at least that's what she told herself.]

If we do this quest we might get a bit more information in return. We'll be able to bargain something at least. I don't like waiting around as much as I don't like these guys.

[Sword training with her father she'd only taken up out of lack of anything else and any other real weapon. She wasn't comfortable with using her magic yet either. Emma drummed her fingers on the pommel of her sword before she folded the map back up and put it into her back pocket. Despite their accommodation at the castle, Emma didn't like being referred to as 'princess' or 'm'lady' or whatever the faeries called her. She jogged a little to catch up to Snow, looking at her out the corner of her eye.]

What do you think of them anyway?

No, of course you don't.

[She can't disagree there. Emma is still capable. She knows that. It doesn't stop her worry, her fear for her daughter in such a place, in a war situation. But that's what family does. What a mother is supposed to do, right? Above all else, in spite of the guilt of their past, Emma is family.]

More information would be helpful. This whole place is just....strange. It seems so familiar, but I know this isn't home. I'm not sure how they knew so much about us from back home, the way they have us in such accommodations. And the whole war....it worries me. I've already lost your father twice. I've no intention of losing him to fighting their war. Or you.

[If nothing else, Snow is fiercely protective of her family. But she knows she likely won't be able to stop them or help herself when things come to a head and they are needed to help. Unable to say no.]

Besides that....Regina is over with the Unseelie. If we're to fight them, if we fight her, that undoes all we've worked so hard on. All the progress we made together.

Maybe they had...I dunno. Faerie spies? I wouldn't have spotted them back...back then.

[Back when she didn't believe. That sounded better in her head, but Emma gives a slight shrug as she starts walking ahead, reaching to hold up a branch for her mother to go under. When she hadn't believed, August's body had just looked normal, not wooden like it was turning. She bit her bottom lip at the thought, gnawing on it softly as she waited for Snow to go past her before she lowered the branch again, slipping under herself.]

I'd say it's more like Neverland than the Enchanted Forest, but I don't know either of those places well enough to even harbor a guess. And believe me, I'd rather hand off my accommodations to the next princess. [Emma reaches up to brush some hair over her shoulder, boots thumping along as she caught up. It was weird, calling herself that. With some hesitation, she reaches out to cup her hand over Snow's, squeezing it.] Somehow I don't think Regina is going to let them manipulate her anymore than we are. If she wanted her revenge again, she'd get it on her own terms. Not theirs.

If they were there during the curse before you came to Storybrooke I might not have noticed. I'm not so sure about....back home though.

[Then again, such things were so normal in the Enchanted Forest that she may not have noticed then either. It's hard to say, whether Emma might be right on that guess. Magic can be powerful, so Snow wouldn't say that idea could be impossible.

She quickly heads past the branch Emma holds back, giving a grateful smile in thanks. Once Emma catches up, there's a pleasant surprise when her daughter reaches for her hand, and Snow takes it.]

You know as much of Neverland as I do, Emma. Hook's the main expert on that front. But you know your room would probably have been similar at our castle. I know it's not what you're used to now, but it's not such a bad thing?

[Having such accommodation was more than Snow ever had for years while on the run, after all. Something she's learned a lot from and has made her all the more grateful for everything. She notes Emma's use of 'princess' there but doesn't comment, doesn't make a huge deal of it. Even if it's the little things that make her smile, that show Emma embracing them, as a family.]

I just doubt any of this is going over any better on her end. Which means I wouldn't be surprised if she were to start taking out her frustration somehow.

[Especially if she still has her magic.]

But she has changed so perhaps she will find a better means of doing so than she used to.

Maybe nobody noticed because you were used to that kind of thing?

[Emma shrugs slightly. She was still weirded out by the fact that Tinkerbell hadn't been the little pixie that Disney had painted her as. The mention of Hook makes her stall, tilting her head as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear before replacing it on her sword, keeping ready.]

I guess it's not. It's just...I dunno, it's something to get used to. And if I ever get sick of it I can always just spend like a week or something at the Station. Get back to modern times.

[Part of her thinks that even if she had grown up in the Enchanted Forest she wouldn't have liked doing any of those typical princess things, let alone her room. She would have probably pestered her father for sword fighting lessons rather than accompany her mother to balls or whatever. She's still having a little bit of trouble embracing them as a family, but she had called them mom and dad before she'd gone to leave Storybrooke as Pan's curse hit.

It was a start at least.]

Well, she's already taken her frustration out on me when we got here so maybe she'll have cooled down by now.

Possibly. Fairies and the like weren't uncommon. A lot of things you'd find strange were, really, in the Enchanted Forest.

[Snow is well aware how out of her depth and confused all of this must make Emma. This and the Enchanted Forest. It's so far from what she knows, what she grew up with, after all.]

The Station seems the only part of this place that can manage technology. If that might help you adjust and feel more comfortable, then that's not a bad thing. I haven't been yet myself. I might join you at least the first time.

[Partly because there were certain comforts she got used to in Storybrooke herself and partly because they're family and at least one if not both her and Charming should be with their daughter.]

I know. I guess time will tell what she might make of this once she clears her head.

[Of course, Snow hadn't taken too kindly to Regina automatically assuming this to somehow be Emma's fault, even if she understands the worry for Henry.]

[She'd trekked through a couple of forests when she was on the run, but that had been easy, in the real world. Emma didn't really know what was the real world anymore. Things up until Pan had seemed like she was slowly getting used to the idea of Storybrooke being not as weird as she perceived it to be. Emma turns her head to look at Snow, a small smile curling.]

I'd like that. They make really good hot chocolate. With cinnamon if you ask.

[God she misses hot chocolate. And coffee. The ale and the meade didn't make up for it in the castles. Emma pauses at that, wrapping her hand over her arm as she continued to trudge along beside her mother.]

At least Henry is safe back home. I wouldn't want him taking any part of this if they kidnapped him too.

[There's a smile at that. Cinnamon. One of the many little things their family seemed to share, or at least, Emma and Henry seem to have inherited that little quirk of hers.]

A drink would be really good right now. With cinnamon, even. One of the things I know I'd miss from Storybrooke. We didn't really have anything like hot chocolate or coffee back home at the Enchanted Forest. In that sense, we were lucky to have some perks with Regina's curse. That is definitely one of them.

[There's a nod at that though, as they continue, Emma's hand lightly in hers and she gives it a faint squeeze of reassurance at her worry for Henry.]

I know. This place is dangerous. Even if the fairies and such might make you think twice, this is a war. There's magic. Powerful magic. Powerful enemies. I wouldn't want him here either. Neverland was....enough for him.

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