1st Story - Ten Forward

[goldencobra]

One minute, Henry had been sitting on a bus to Boston, the next, he was standing in a room with lots of other people having experienced a large flash of light. Looking around, he realised he had no idea where this place was. It wasn't in the book, it hadn't been described by his father and he certainly wasn't back in Storybrooke.

Glad that he still had his bag, he clutched it tightly and moved to stand in a corner out of the way. Closing his eyes for a moment, to stop himself from panicking, he took some deep breaths before opening them again and taking a proper look at his surroundings.

First thing he noticed was the bar. It spanned the length between the two sets of doors and behind it was a smiling woman. On the other side of the room were...well they looked like windows but all he could see out of them were white dots on a black background. And between them, only chairs and tables, people and drinks. And no one he immediately recognised either.

Moving towards the strange windows, he touched one, unsure if he wanted to believe what he thought he saw. They looked like...stars.

Comments

[abyssum_invocat]

"It...we don't call it magic where I'm from," she says. "But you're right, they do come with a price," she sighs.

She can't say she's never hurt anyone in the past, but nobody on this ship is in danger in the slightest from her purposefully harming them. "I don't want to hurt you. I'm sorry if I startled you with the pencil." She sets it down, and it stays put, and she folds her hands on the table quietly.

[goldencobra]

"I've just never seen it before. I've read all about it. It's in my book. But I've actually seen it."

He shrugs, not sure what else to say on the matter and wondering how to change the subject.

[abyssum_invocat]

"I won't hurt you," she says softly.

"If you want to help me with my music box, I'd like that," she offers, sliding a sheet over to Henry. "It's not magic, it's just paper and chimes, and mechanics."

[goldencobra]

Henry nods, believing her and wondering if because she had magic, did his father?

"What do I do?" He's glad of the distraction, moving the book off the table to give him more space.

[abyssum_invocat]

"You can write something if you want," she says. "Or you can punch out the notes I marked on one already."

Either way it's a fairly calming activity. "Which do you want to do?"

[goldencobra]

"I'll punch. I'm not good with music."

It would be monotonous but fun. Which was something he needed right now.

[abyssum_invocat]

"You can play them when we're done," she says. "But you have to be careful to line up the crossmarks, and then punch straight down, hard. The hole is what moves the star wheel, and the star wheel sounds the chimes."

[goldencobra]

Henry listened closely and performed his task carefully. He didn't want to mess up her music box. Even if she said she wasn't going to hurt him, she had the ability to, and that was enough for Henry.

[abyssum_invocat]

"It's okay if you mess up," she says lightly, having watched him and not liking the overt carefulness he was exhibiting. "We can fix it together."

[goldencobra]

"If you're going to do something right, best to do it right the first time." He wasn't going to rush and make mistakes just so she had something to fix.

[abyssum_invocat]

"Are you still upset because you think I have magic?" she asks, pulling the half-marked sheet of punch paper towards her with a pencil so she can finish marking this segment of the melody.

[goldencobra]

He wants to say no in the hopes she drops the subject. But he hates to be lied to so he doesn't want to lie to her. Then again, he's not upset per se.

He shrugs. Not really lying but not really telling the truth.

[abyssum_invocat]

Sinthia just looks at Henry for a few minutes, taking a breath and closing her teeth around her bottom lip. She finishes notating the sheet, humming the notes in their proper order to herself though it doesn't sound a thing like the melody it will end up as.

"Where are you from?" He'd told her where he was heading to, and she knew where Boston was, but he could have been coming from anywhere.

[goldencobra]

Henry paused, deciding what to say. Eventually he settled on another half truth. "I was born in Phoenix, Arizona." He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about Storybrooke. That was complicated too.

[abyssum_invocat]

"That's a very long bus trip," she murmurs. "I was born in Berlin. But I don't really remember it well. I've been all over Germany, and even to Norway once. But I don't think I ever went outside there."

[goldencobra]

"Yeah. It would have been." It was only a few hours from Storybrooke. He's certainly glad it wasn't that far away. "I'd never been away from home before today."

[abyssum_invocat]

"It's not so bad once you get used to it here. I like it," she says. "There's a war at home for me."

[goldencobra]

"There's a curse back home for me." He shrugged. Maybe here would be better. No curse. No Baelfire. And he'd still have his father.

It sounded too perfect.

[abyssum_invocat]

"I'm sorry. Can you break curses?" she asks. "We don't...have those where I'm from. Not for real."

[goldencobra]

"No. But my mother can. Or that's what my dad says. He talks about how she's the saviour." He shrugs. "I didn't think we did either."

[abyssum_invocat]

"Savior of what?" Sinthia asks, tilting her head curiously. "Or whom?"

[goldencobra]

"The saviour who will break the curse." Yes, he repeated what had been said already but in a slightly different way.

After a moment, he sighed and pushed the book towards her. "If you're that interested you should read this. Especially if you know my dad."

[abyssum_invocat]

"Uh-huh," she says, blinking at Henry, until she looks down at the storybook. "Do I have to read it now?"

Fast as she may be she doubts she can absorb all the material that quickly.

[goldencobra]

"Suppose not." He shrugged. He wouldn't let it out of his sight just yet but she could read it later he supposed.

Pulling it back, he turned to the back few pages. "Try these for the saviour stuff instead. Read about Dad later."

[abyssum_invocat]

"Okay," she says, putting aside the music box components to take the book.

She reads quietly, and quickly, but her brow furrows a little more as she absorbs the information. "So... Snow White and Prince Charming have a kid. And she's...your mom. And the one who can break this curse," she says, albeit a little incredulously.