EVENT: MELPOMENE ▒ HOME

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: Corridors in the belly of the Tranquility
WARNINGS: Creepiness, disturbing imagery, violence, etc.
SUMMARY: Characters discover slices of sanctuary deep in the maze.
NOTES: Open to all! Covers Stage Four of the plot & Escape.

You've been running and fighting for what feels like weeks now. Exhausted and desperate, you find another door, stumbling through into— You're home, finally, far away and safe from monsters or spaceships. You're not alone, someone here who's been waiting for you, and they're so happy to see you. Relief overcomes you; you just want to rest, and there's no reason to believe anything here isn't what it seems, is there?

Comments

[uncurse]

[ The look in his eyes crawls under her skin, making her sick. It’s not quite a lack of recognition—no, that would be better. That simmering hatred is the real blow, not Milah’s shove or the sword. Emma raises her hand instinctively to bat Milah’s hand away as she staggers back, but it’s Regina’s commentary that jerks Emma out of her distracted state. ]

[ Watching Milah get knocked out of the way is startling, but welcome. The end of that sword wasn’t something she was looking forward to without one of her own, and she doubted shooting Milah would make Hook any more amiable to them. Turning to Gold, she nods. ]

[ Sure. Climbing out the window of a pirate ship. Why not? ]

[ Surging forward, she opts to disregard any discomfort in Hook’s expression and reaches out to grab him by the arm. ]

I might have lied about the part where you have a choice.

italics are milah until she's toast

[capsize]

[ Hook's still struggling to make sense of Emma's voice when the violence of Regina's attack cleanly interrupts his focus. Awareness snaps into clarity, though it's hard to say whether that's an improvement. Emma and Regina shouldn't be here, not on the ship. The sight of Rumplestilskin may be deeply unwelcome, but at least it's not entirely foreign to the landscape.

In the end, it doesn't really matter whether or not the details make any sense. The only thing that truly matters is the attack on Milah, and the response to that is instinctive. The seat is knocked back roughly as he stands, and there's no effort to fend off Emma's attempt to grab his arm. Despite the disorientation, she's not a threat— not compared to the others. He draws his gun instead of bothering to push her away, taking steady aim at Regina.

Milah's regaining her footing in the meantime, one hand braced against the wall as she recovers her composure and casts a vicious look back towards Regina. She holds her ground, and after a tense moment her gaze skips to Hook. ] Shoot her!

[unmothered]

[Regina's head whips around, eyes widening when she sees the gun.] Emma... do something! [She hurls the fireball at Milah, flames splashing out against the wood of the ship, which catches fire along with Milah. Possibly, fire should not have been her first weapon to go to, but that doesn't stop her. Regina prepares another fireball, backing away towards the window.]

[gilding]

[Not distracted by attempting to manhandle Hook or even the flaming figure of his past wife, it's Gold that reacts first to the drawn gun. A clutching force grabs and then yanks the offending weapon roughly out of Hook's hand, sending it flying across the room, no care paid as to where it lands.]

I wouldn't advise giving me a reason to remove your other hand.

[Possibly too close a reminder with the situation they're in, but Gold doesn't really linger for a reaction before he's moving to help Emma with hauling the pirate bodily to the window.]

[uncurse]

[ Were the situation even slightly less dire, Emma might linger on that. As it stands, she grabs Hook's emptied hand and twists it behind his back to shove him towards the window. He can gripe at her for kidnapping him from whatever hell they've walked themselves into later, when he's himself. For now, she just wants to get them all out. Safely. ]

i'm glad my laptop was premature on a thread ur all tracking

[capsize]

No— [ Hook's voice, sharp and likely more panicked than anyone other than Gold's ever heard it. The sight of the flames hitting Milah is enough of a distraction that he doesn't even come close to firing the gun before it's wrenched from his hand, and he doesn't get another word in before he's being roughly dragged towards the windows.

He's not cooperating. Far from it, but the truth is he's in a bit too much shock to put up a valid fight, eyes locked on the flames that are quickly licking their way over the rest of the cabin. It isn't until they're nearly at the window that he finally makes a real effort, yanking at their grip before grabbing hold of Gold's shoulder, focus shifting to him. ]

We can't leave her! [ He watched Rumplestiltskin kill her. This time it's different, wrong, and he's disoriented enough that this is the one commonality he's got to stand on— the others know nothing about her, don't seem to care whether she's left behind, but Rumplestiltskin loved her, once.

There's more to it, of course. As much as it might seem like pleading, there's a hardness to it, an accusation; if killing her had been the mark of a coward, so was leaving her to die. ]

[unmothered]

She's not real, you idiot. [Regina's voice isn't quite as sharp as it could be. She knows how real it feels. The woman means nothing to her, but Hook's pain is the same she felt just a little while ago. Like dying along with the shade would have been better than finding out the truth.

She puts her hand on his back and pushes him down towards the window. Why exactly did they have to rescue him again?]

[gilding]

[Regina's right, of course - right in all of it, snapping at the pirate and continuing to push him towards the window. But Gold's still struck by it for a moment, the look in Hook's eyes and the tone in his words, the fact he'd reached for him at all on the matter when he knew full well that Milah's real death had been at Gold's hands.

For a moment he's the last left stood in the cabin, looking back at the flaming figure of the Milah replica as it burns, flames spreading through the rest of the place. There's no temper fuelling him this time, none of it his doing, Milah's goading not striking as deep as it had the first time, already dismissed by Regina. All that's left is something removed, perhaps the closest he's allowed himself to get to regret since crushing her heart to dust. Hundreds of years, and he almost feels like they'd just been children, selfish and naive, building mistakes upon mistakes with no idea of how wrong things could truly go.

It's only a moment. Then he's turning his back on it all, climbing through the window before the flames can get any closer.]