OPEN RP 2.0

[effulgent]

Now that I have your attention, this is my new open RP post! Mostly because my old one was getting a little crowded and I want to play ALL THE MASSIVELY COOL PEOPLE on my muse list who I keep not playing/not even giving userpics. So this is the ~experimental zone~ where I try new people and new things.

SO! Here's how it works.

1. Pick one of your characters.
2. Post a comment with an image or a gif or a poem or nothing at all idgaf make me do all the work without inspiration if you want.
3. Put the name of one of my characters or tell me it's my choice.
4. I will respond both with the character of your choice and with someone COMPLETELY NEW AND UNEXPECTED because seriously it's ridiculous how many of these people I haven't used.
5. FUN WILL BE HAD.

Now go forth! Comment! I may be slow as balls on some of these people BUT I WILL PLOD AHEAD. AND EVEN GIVE THEM USERPICS AND SHIT. JUST WATCH ME.

Comments

[unhand]

Finally, Hook has made it out of Neverland. Twenty-four years ago, he missed his chance, and feared it would be another century or so before he found another way, but no. It only took a decades, this time. And now, finally, his quest for revenge is so close to complete that he can taste it.

But first, he needs gold. There are goods and services that can't be stolen and he needs to figure out where Rumplestiltskin's dagger is hidden. He needs to hire on men to replace those that were killed by Lost Boys or deserted him because the quest for revenge was less rewarding than a quest for stolen treasure. Luckily, he's quite adept at stealing the treasure he needs to pay for these things.

The easiest route would be to steal from peasants and carriages, but if Hook were in it for easy, he'd have given up on his revenge long ago. He has no interest in taking the few petty valuables from someone who doesn't have much else. Not when there's a castle filled with treasure just waiting to be dipped into by clever pirates.

It won't be easy, of course, but Queen Snow White and her Prince Charming have grown far too comfortable in their quiet kingdom. The wall that's closest to the treasury, according to the castle blueprints he's managed to obtain, is practically unmonitored. At dusk, when he's getting ready to climb, he spies Princess Emma sitting by the window, but no one else. Easy.

He scales the wall easily enough, though he starts trying to move more quietly as he passes the princess' room. All he wants is to slip by and find his way to the treasury. If all goes well, she won't even hear the quiet scrape of hook on rock as he goes by.

[uncurse]

The daylight waned hours ago, but Emma remains parked by her window, watching the darkness spread across the land. As she moves with a sigh to evacuate her window seat, she hears something though (listen 28). She freezes at the unfamiliar noise, watching her door for a moment, then slowly realizes that it came from outside. She crawls back onto her cushion by the window and peers out of it, searching the darkness. Slowly, she turns her head up to glance along the wall of the castle.

The man has managed to pass the window before she could react, but he's not out of sight, scaling the wall, and she recognizes as one of his hands reaches up to find purchase on the stone that the clinking, scraping noise is from his hand - or rather, the hook that's replaced it. Her eyes widen and she sucks in a sudden breath, shrinking back into the window. She remains perfectly still a moment, paralyzed by indecision, and then the anticipation in her gut finally wells to the point of bursting.

She hauls herself off the cushion, grabbing her dagger from the side of her wardrobe but neglecting her overcoat as she whisks out of the room and surges up the inside stairs.

After all, he might be willing to scale a castle wall to get inside, but she's perfectly satisfied taking the easy route. She offers quick, placid smiles to the guards that she passes, careful not to raise alarm by hiding the dagger against her night dress.

[unhand]

Hook reaches the correct floor and uses his hook to undo the window latch. This high up, no one would think the window needs a lock, apparently. But Hook is a great deal more determined than most criminals. He slides inside and brushes himself off, glancing around casually.

[uncurse]

Before Emma was born, the only room above hers in this tower had been, like her own room now, been used to store the kingdom's treasures. It had been designed to be easily sealed off from the rest of the castle, a bastille of sorts to remain apart. Snow and her prince, considering their daughter their greatest treasure and someone to keep safe from Regina and Rumpelstiltskin had repurposed the room, and moved the treasure.

The room that Hook lands in is a storage room, true, but not one filled with treasures. He could sell what he finds there, surely, and for a great price, but these treasures are sentimental. The remnants of what had been Emma's nursery. A knight statue and a pirate statue stand on pillars in the corner, a crib, a mobile, a rocking chair.

Emma bursts through the door before he gets the chance to search further, pulling her dagger out hastily and brandishing it at him.

"Who are you? Are you one of the Queen's men?"

[unhand]

It's a good thing she came in when she did. He was about to smash the crib out of anger at how there's no gold. But seeing the princess of all people come in with a dagger distracts him enough to pull him out of his disappointment.

He should probably start out the window again. He's been spotted, after all. But he can't help noticing that she hasn't called the castle guards as any sane princess should. She's come after him herself.

It's interesting enough that he strides towards her, looking her up and down thoughtfully.

"You're the security in this place?" He meets her eyes and smirks at her (diplomacy 19). "I must say, I love the uniform."

[uncurse]

His remark gives her pause, because as she steps in closer and catches his face under the moonlight peeking in the window, she can see that he's handsome and he's drawn attention to her state of moderate undress. She doesn't move to cover herself, but it does fluster her into a moment's silence before she can gather herself (will 17).

"If I can't manage security on my own, I can always serve as the alarm. I scream, and everyone in this castle comes running, so it would benefit us both if you'd simply cooperate. I will ask you one more time: your name." Her tone is hard, quick and quiet, and demanding, but everything she says makes quite a bit of sense (diplomacy 23).

[unhand]

His will save is an 8, so it does sound like a reasonable request. He nods, and gives her a sweeping bow.

"Killian Jones is my name." Though few were alive who still called him that. He wondered if his legend had spread far enough that the princess would have heard of him. One way to find out. "Or Captain Hook, if you prefer."

[uncurse]

"You're a pirate." Her tone is accusatory and defensive, and she waves the dagger in threat, holding it more firmly, but her expression bears no recognition of the name (knowledge 6). Her haunches seem to figuratively raise, and she begins to glance around the room for some kind of leverage should he try something.

"Why come here? - And alone? If you're a pirate, where's your crew?" Why of all places her nursery, her room? A pirate cared for money and himself, kidnapping a princess would only make his job harder, evading the law - particularly with Snow and Charming in power. It's a relief, at the very least, to know he's working for himself rather than for the deposed Queen.

[unhand]

"You ask a lot of questions for a lass that need only scream to have me thrown into the dungeons." He tilts his head, stepping in even closer. He doubts she'll actually use that dagger, and even if she tries, his own weapon is, well, handier.

"Let me ask one of my own. Why haven't you alerted the guards? Why are you here alone?"

[uncurse]

The question makes her hesitate, and she tilts her head a little as she considers him, composing her answer with care before daring to voice it. She squares her shoulders, raising her chin.

"Maybe I'd rather throw you out the window instead of having someone else throw you anywhere. This will be my kingdom, and I won't have it be said that I can't protect it with my own hand." Basically she's saying she's Robb Stark and she will try to cut your head off herself and fail.

[unhand]

"Maybe." He steps in a bit closer, so that they're almost touching. "But I'm hardly a threat to the entire realm." He gives a twisted little smile, looking down at her. "In my own way, I might even be saving it." Rumplestiltskin being gone will benefit everyone. He's sure of it. "No, there's something else. Do you wish to prove yourself?"

[uncurse]

"Save it from whom?" The question as a response is all too clear an answer to his question; of course she feels compelled to prove herself. Snow and the prince had fought hard to win this kingdom and protect it, battled dragons and evil queens and gone through hell for it. How could Emma hold the same respect of her people if she'd never been anything but a cushioned princess?

The blade lowers and she searches his eyes, but her gaze never softens from the sharp determination that she fixed him with to start. "You're a pirate, not some savior of the people. What gain do you see in heroics?"

[unhand]

He scoffs. "Nothing. I'm no hero. It just so happens that my goal will leave the world a better place." He hesitates for a moment, debating whether he should tell her at all or simply knock her out and leave. But he recognizes that look in her eyes. He can all too clearly read why she didn't simply alert the guards. Why she's interrogating him instead of attacking him. She wants to be a hero like her parents. It would hurt her a lot more than physically if he did overpower her.

Besides. Maybe he can use her.

He leans in to murmur into her ear. "Tell me, have you heard of the demon Rumplestiltskin?"

[uncurse]

Her body tenses perceptibly as he draws closer, but she doesn't budge - she won't allow him the satisfaction of feeling like he's made her flinch. Instead, she holds her chin high, and doesn't even look sidelong towards him as she answers in a cold voice.

"The man who stole Cinderella's daughter." Stole - an interesting word for it, but no one holds Rumpelstiltskin's deals as fair when he takes advantage of the desperate. "He was held here, once. His cell is still below the castle."

[unhand]

How interesting. This could prove even more useful than the treasures he'd hoped to steal. "Do you think you could get me there without alerting the guards?"

[uncurse]

"Why should I? You didn't come here for the Dark One, or to save anyone from him." She tries rather uselessly to shove him back (attack 5), but wedges the knife between them again in order to encourage him away when her own strength fails her. "You had no idea he'd been held here; and he hasn't for years."

[unhand]

He wraps his hand around hers, not moving to disarm her so much as... well, disarm her emotionally (diplomacy 17). "I mean to kill him, lass. But it won't be easy. I was coming here to... borrow resources. Nothing that'd be missed." Just some minor gold and precious gems. "But information could prove even more valuable, if you have it."

[uncurse]

"You've wasted your time." No amount of batting his eyelashes seems to cause her will to waver (will 21). She wrenches her hand free of his and takes a step back, eliminating the advantage he seem sot believe he gains from the closeness (str nat 20 to break that grapple). "The Dark One is a monster, not a man. He can't be killed. Now leave before my mercy does."

[unhand]

Dammit. Usually the eyelash batting thing is more successful, especially on naive little princesses. Maybe he underestimated her. "What if I were to tell you that I know a way?"

[uncurse]

Her gaze narrows and she scrutinizes him a moment, searching for a hint of dishonesty in his demeanor (sense motive 26). Deciding to test him rather than rely solely on her gut, she sheathes her dagger and grants him her interest, if nothing else.

"How?"

[unhand]

He's got her attention. That's something. He grins wickedly and steps in again. "There's a certain dagger with his name written on it. It's the source of his powers and the one thing he fears."

[uncurse]

At the very least, it seems he believes it to be true - but that doesn't mean it is. But if the Dark One can be stopped, she can't help but think it's her responsibility to help see it through. After another studious moment of reproach, she turns to push the chamber door open further and welcome him into the castle proper.

"Well, you won't learn anything of your foe in here."

[unhand]

Now he's the one that hesitates, indecision flickering across his face. As much as Hook's tried to convince Emma his cause is a good one, having her agree seems almost too convenient. What's to stop her from leading him straight to the castle guards or tossing him into the cell herself?

Probably the same thing as what's stopped her from calling them already. He steels himself and steps out after her. "What is that room for, anyway?"

[uncurse]

"A child." Her tone is distant and dismissive, because it's for a child that's been sheltered from the world, a child that was loved by all the kingdom, and a child that has grown into a woman who doesn't believe her potential is being fulfilled because she feels as much locked in a tower as her old nursery is.

She stops at a bend in the staircase, holding an arm out to stop Hook, and then turns to meet his gaze.

"You'll need something more subtle." She raises her eyebrows to order him to stay where he is, then moves around the corner. There's an echo of metal hitting stone and then the slouching of weight hitting the floor. She returns with a helmet (attack 23, dmg 14), and holds it out with both hands for the pirate to take. "Take his armor, but do him no harm."

[unhand]

He looks surprised as she comes back. He doesn't know what he expected from her, but attacking one of her own guards for him is not one of them. He smiles slowly as he takes the helmet.

"I may've underestimated you, lass." He starts past her, then pauses, turning back towards her. "This'll go faster if you help me." He waves his hook at her. "Lend a hand, so to speak."