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]

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."

[uncurse]

"I want you to take me with you."

Though she whirls around as he moves past, Emma doesn't move to help him as she finally comes out with it. It's been marinating in her mind since he crawled in that window, since he came out with this crazy plan of attack against the Dark One. She could rescue Alexandra, stop Rumpelstiltskin, and come back with her own tales of earning her place as the leader of this kingdom. She could be a savior of her people, for her friends.

Emma watches him with determined eyes, hands balling into fists at her sides. Tension ripples in her jaw and neck as she swallows her decision, considering her words carefully.

"You're a pirate, you must have a ship, a crew, a plan. If you want my help, you have to take me with you." And considering the compromising position she's just put him in, with the princess cornered against a dead-end tower and an unconscious guard, she imagines he's feeling pretty inclined to acquiesce right now.

[unhand]

WOW EMMA WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING. Hook freezes and turns towards her, striding up to her to corner her even further because he clearly doesn't understand this is a compromising position for him.

"Are you mad, lass? I can't kidnap a princess. Even a willing one."

[uncurse]

"You need me. Not just to get out of here. You need resources, you need information, there are those who'd feel much better inclined to share any of those things with a princess than with a pirate." She raises good points, and she keeps her tone even and calm while he stomps back towards her (diplomacy 23). Her shoulders square and she straightens her back. "I'm not asking. I'm giving you your options. You'll take me with you, or you'll fail."

[unhand]

He crit failed his will save or opposed diplomacy or whatever it is, so he's pretty much okay with this. Still, he feels like it's only fair to warn her. "This isn't some pleasant little jaunt. It could take months, and all this finery?" He plucks at her nightdress. "No room for it. It'll be hard and painful and there's a good chance neither of us will survive it. We are going up against the Dark One."

[uncurse]

"I never expected otherwise." Her reply is short and dismissive, and she shifts topics quickly. "Change before the other guards come. I couldn't sleep, and I needed to take a walk - you're attending me."

[unhand]

"How come I get the feeling the least believable part of this story is the idea that you'd willingly go for an escort?" But he's heading over to change anyway. He doesn't have any better ideas.

[uncurse]

That remark only gets a derisive roll of Emma's eyes, and she turns her back to him as he moves to change into the guard's uniform. Her arms cross over her chest as she waits, none-too-patiently.

[unhand]

That probably means he's right. Anyway, for all his bitching about only having one hand, he makes pretty good time with the clothes and saunters out dressed like a one-handed guard. A damn fine one-handed guard (disguise 23). "Where to next, Princess?"

[uncurse]

"Only one route to the Dark One's cell allows us to avoid the Huntsman." She's careful in choosing her words, because Graham is what her tongue wants to call him, but it's far too familiar, and it's already terribly obvious that she's specifically avoiding one of the guards for the very reason Jones had assumed - he'd know her too well to believe she'd take a companion.

Without further explanation, she begins to trounce down the stairs past him, pushing down the flutter in her chest at seeing how well he wears the guard uniform.

"Keep your helmet on, and put the glove over your … hook." It seems indecorous, but there's really no more polite way to tell him to disguise his disability. Her tone is low, and it's a good thing too, because the next moment she's straightening up and presenting a smile as they encounter another guard.

[unhand]

"The Huntsman?" Amazing how even as he puts the helmet on, concealing his face, his eyebrow raise is clear. He doesn't ask her to elaborate. It's clear enough that whoever this Huntsman is, he knows Emma well enough that he'd be able to tell something's wrong. Meaning he's right about the likelihood of her acquiescing to an escort under other circumstances.

He doesn't manage to get the glove on fast enough, but he keeps it low and on the other side of his body. Hopefully the guard won't notice. Because he doubts Emma will be very fond of plan b.

[uncurse]

The guard doesn't seem to notice (spot 9), and Emma inclines her head to him as they walk on by, not pausing for explanation or genuine greeting. It's the dead of night, and most are turning in by now. The longer they take, the less lucky they'll be about who does or doesn't ask questions, so her pace hastens as she trods down the stairs in her bare feet.

"Through here." She pushes open a chamber door and steps inside a dark room, holding it for him.

[unhand]

He's finally gotten that glove over his hook as he passes in after her. "Wouldn't it be a bit more proper for me to be holding the doors? Being your guard and all."