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

[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."

[uncurse]

"I can hold my own doors, thank you." Because he certainly can't be motivated by any sense of chivalry; he has none, and she's not going to allow him to call her weak or give him any such excuse to read her that way. She soldiers on, letting the door drop closed behind them and pushing past him to continue leading the way.

[unhand]

It has nothing to do with thinking her incapable and everything to do with pointing out how obvious it is she wouldn't normally be caught dead accepting an escort if she won't even let someone else get the door. But instead of pointing that out more, he smirks at her back and follows her. "So who is this Huntsman, then?"

[uncurse]

"The head of the Queensguard."

Emma says it offhandedly as she leads the way down a series of steps toward the dungeon cell. She doesn't glance over her shoulder at him, only rattles the information off distractedly. The less emphasis she places on it, the quicker he'll give it up. Best to just be at ease about it.

"Graham. He saved my mother, once. He's been protecting my family since."

[unhand]

"And he knows you well?" He doubts the guard is simply that determined to keep people out of the Rumplestiltskin's dungeon. It is empty now, after all.

[uncurse]

"He knows everything in this castle well. It's his job. You were listening, weren't you?" Her tone is critical, and just barely borders on the defensive.

[unhand]

"I don't much care about everything in the castle. I asked about you." He leans forward a bit, stepping in far closer than appropriate for a supposed guard and a princess. But he doesn't much care.

[uncurse]

"And I ignored it. Do try to keep up." She tries not to tense at his closeness, but there's a shift in her shoulders and she unconsciously hastens her steps down the stairs. she pushes open a chamber door and disappears down a darkened hallway.

[unhand]

She's certainly a feisty princess. Not what Hook expected at all. but he's not really complaining. She's far more interesting than he imagined. And beautiful, too. That much, at least, is not a surprise.

"Come now, if we're to work together, you ought to be a bit more open with me."

[uncurse]

It's not so easy to worm under the princess's skin, however. She keeps her tone very calm as she replies, not falling to the side of too defensive or too comfortable with the notion of working with him. No, it's a simple correction, and one that keeps her from 'being more open' with him.

"We're not working together, we're working adjacently."

[unhand]

"Towards the same goal, in the same space... sounds like together to me." And he is getting a bit more adjacent as they walk, arm brushing against hers.

[uncurse]

"You have a skewed definition. Unsurprising, I doubt pirates do much in the way of learning." As his arm brushes hers, she quickly shifts her steps to carry her closer to the wall to keep from brushing against him again. This isn't a social event. This is her chance to prove herself, and she's keeping it about herself - not about any uncomfortable closeness with the pirate she's using to get there.

[unhand]

"You don't know much about pirates, do you, lass?" Hook might not have much formal education, but he's learned plenty over the centuries. "We may not be able to afford private tutors of the sort a princess might have, but that hardly makes us all vacuous."

[uncurse]

Her expression remains unimpressed - judgmental, even, with her lips pursed and her eyebrows raised.

"I see. And did a lord define the word 'vacuous' for you before you killed him, or did you need to pillage his library to find the definition yourself?"

[unhand]

"A lady whispered it to me while she was elucidating the countless shortcomings of her lord husband." He smirks at her. "And I certainly wasn't killing her at the time."

[uncurse]

"Not in the traditional sense, I'm sure. But I suspect she wasn't much of a lady, either."

It's not a criticism of the woman herself, given the way she tones it, but rather a criticism of the phrase and all of its confines. No woman fits the bill for 'lady,' not truly, it's just a matter of what she puts on, and she imagines that very lady put on a very satisfactory smile and reassured her husband he was by no means coming up short until a pirate came to convince her she needn't continue.

Emma's not so easily won over, as she's never truly felt the need to be confined in her attitudes to the role of princess; in her behavior and her actual life direction, yes, she's been confined to the grounds of the castle, give or take a few miles, where the guards may protect her. But she's certainly never pretended to be anything but sour about that, or let anyone believe she's pleasant when she feels otherwise.

[unhand]

"As proper a lady as any you'd seen before she met me." Hook grins at her. He can't help himself. He likes this headstrong princess who seems so determined not to let him win her over. "Tell me, love, have you ever been with a man?" Because clearly this is the time for extremely personal questions.

[uncurse]

Put-upon though the act might be, Emma makes a show of considering his question, as if she's trying to remember every instance that could answer it. Finally, she looks at him, expression placid.

"Have you?"