sit yourself down, and meet the best inn keeper in town ( O P E N )

[checkingin]

Who: Everyone!
Where: The initial arrival rooms, the main lobby, all over the place.
When: February 3rd
What: Welcome, newbies.

ARRIVAL.

you wake up when you hit the floor in a dark room, and the air is knocked out of your lungs. the carpet is threadbare, worn with use, kind of dusty. and you're not the first person to endure this crash landing. nor will you be the last.

once your vision rights itself, you can see the well-lit hallway through the doorjam straight ahead of you. not to say there’s monsters in the shadows, but something propels you towards that door and out into the bright hallway beyond.

and once outside your room, you can hear it: the steady thrum of rain outside.

MAIN LOBBY.

there's a staircase at the end of the lengthy hallway you tumble out of. grab your suitcase and follow the dull green exit signs on the ceiling until you reach the disappointingly bland stairs that lead you down to the ornate old fashion hotel lobby.

to your left is a warmly crackling fireplace, to your right is a lobby desk. straight ahead are three large sets of doors, though only one of them is open to the public. and outside the few (curtained, permanently dark) windows is the continually steady hiss of rain.

welcome to the hotel.

FRONT DESK.

though there is a bell and a plaque designating the desk to be the main desk, the customer service desk, there are currently no staff members behind it. none shall answer your calls, either.

terribly sorry for the inconvenience.

SCREENING ROOM.

on a tall pull-down screen, a silent version of nosferatu will be playing on loop. at the back of the room, between the neat rows of fold out chairs, mounted on a wobbly table is the old timey projector, and mounted on the walls are some rather old speakers that warble out "terrifying" old timey music.

along the curtained windows is another long table, with a large bowl that looked like it once would have held popcorn. but is now unfortunately empty. same for the large hot drink dispensers labeled "hot chocolate" and "coffee".

OTHER.

the ballroom and breakfast hall are currently closed, grand doors locked.

there is no main door leading to the outside, good luck trying to find one.

the door to the courtyard is locked.

ROOMS.

you've a room key with your assigned room number on it. all the new guest residences will be located on floors one & two. while there is an open elevator in the main lobby, and the buttons light up inside, the doors will not close. all in all, you'd be better off taking the stairs.

while they're the same stairs you undoubtedly came down to get to the lobby, the door to the endless hall everyone woke up in will not reappear between the main floor and the subsequent residential halls.

there are twenty rooms per floor. feel free to get to know your surroundings; or your neighbors as they trickle in around you.

Comments

captain hook — ota

[villainously]

ARRIVAL.
[ he was supposed to wake the same place he fell asleep... waiting on the uncomfortable wooden bench of a picnic table near the docks. only when he opens his eyes he can already tell that something is wrong, because it's still dark and there's no sound of the ocean, and certainly no smell of it. no, he's inside somehow, and he has no clue how he got there. he doubts the crocodile has strung up another trick, so what on earth brought him here? the snow queen running around town probably has no business capturing pirates in cellars, and yet here he is.

his chest and lungs hurt a bit from the impact of landing, like he was dropped into the room like a toy thrown in a chest carelessly. he pushes himself up and tries to make sense of where he is. it seems modern (to him, but that doesn't say a lot) but it doesn't seem familiar. the darkness is oppressive in the little room he's awoken in but he can see light just under the door in front of him. he should have been more comfortable in the darkness, all villains should be, and yet he tried the handle to escape it anyway. not a terribly smart cage, considering the door is unlocked. the hallway is unremarkable, yet enticing compared to the dark and dank.

he walks straight into the suitcase in front of him, and eyes it warily. just because it wears his name doesn't make it trustworthy, yet he's not willing to muck around with it now. he reaches down to hook the handle and his hand thumps against the side instead. relearning how to function with two hands is harder than he imagined, but at least with the dangerous one occupied hopefully he'll manage to find his way out of whatever place he's found himself in.

only when he makes it down the stairs to see that he is far from the only one trapped, it might not be so easy to find an escape. people are shouting at the empty desk, milling through rooms, everyone seems aimless... and Hook, well, he has no idea where to start, but it's always wise to watch the group. maybe someone around knows more than he does. ]

LATER.
[ he can't quite decide if this is a waking nightmare or some kind of curse. it doesn't make sense, any of it; and he's a man from a magical world, who has seen all manner of curses and spells in his very long centuries. there's got to be a way out, there simply has to be. even Neverland had an escape route, it was just incredibly hard to find. or handed out by the little devil running the show, and so far? no little devils to speak of. if there's somebody responsible for this mess in their midst, they are intentionally keeping themselves from being known.

in all too many ways, it just doesn't seem real. death is the one thing magic cannot reverse, isn't it? surely Zelena had broken the rules of magic but it isn't — can't be — possible.

he doesn't know what to make of this place yet, but ironically he's more dangerous with two hands than he ever was with a hook. at the moment he's in his room, intent on keeping his distance from the rest. it's for the best. there's not likely answers in his room or in his suitcase. he'll be searching for them anyway.

and, well, his door isn't locked... chances are good someone might open it, either on accident or on purpose. ]

Regina saw you, bro

[gloriouscurse]

[Honestly, Regina hadn't been keen on talking to many people here. Neal was enough to make her question everything she thought she knew about the last memory she had in Storybrooke. But then she had to go and glimpse the one handed wonder out of the corner of her eye. Only he had two hands instead of a hook, and she decides maybe it might be worth talking to him. She follows him, not closely, just enough to see what room he disappears into, and she waits five minutes before knocking.]

I know you're in there, so if you'd be so kind as to open the door and help me figure out where the hell we are, I'd appreciate it.

damnit moms with their eagle eyes!

[villainously]

[ he's not really in the mood for Regina Mills at the moment. honestly, when is he in the mood for Regina Mills? well, there was a moment in the Enchanted Forest where their interests aligned and well things all sort of went downhill after that drink, and mostly because he turned on her to save his sorry hide.

water under the bridge, right?

he considers ignoring her but the queen has a tendency to break doors down when they don't open, and he'd rather not turn this room that is supposedly his into an open-air space. he moves to the door to open it, expression fairly grim. ] Your majesty, if I had an idea of how to get out, don't you suppose I would have mentioned?

[ he still steps aside for her to enter. don't mind the mess, he's still making sense of his environment. who cares if his section of the cage is a little mussed right now? ]

[gloriouscurse]

It's entirely possibly you didn't know I was here.

[Today is your lucky day, Hook. Regina doesn't want to (or at least doesn't plan to be antagonistic. As she steps into his room, she turns to study him.]

You have a hand, and yet you know me and you're dressed like a leather couch which means you're not pre-pirate days.

[No one ever deigned to tell her about the hand incident, so she has to put it together herself.]

The only person capable of reattaching limbs via magic is the Dark One.

[The look on Regina's face right now. Hook. She thought you were better than that.]

[villainously]

You're a hard woman to miss, even when you're not doused in feathers and black velvet. [ he's got to give it to her, the queen knows how to dress impressively. clearly something that the pirate can appreciate.

(a part of him kind of misses his swashbuckling style.)

when she walks in, unsurprisingly, he's expecting to talk about their current predicament. not his current predicament. his eyes narrow, a conflicting mass of things running through him at the very accurate assessment. he doesn't want to go into his (yes, admittedly foolish) decision with anyone. especially not Regina Mills. ]

I don't see how that is going to help us get out of here. If the Crocodile did it [ and it's not impossible, Baelfire is here and that's all the Dark One really wants ] I think we'd know by now.

[gloriouscurse]

Who else is strong enough? He has that damned hat, I have no idea what it does.

[She doesn't even acknowledge the comment about her own wardrobe, she knows it's just fine.]

But...[As much as she's loathe to even say these words -]

You might be right. If it was just us, other people from home, I'd say Rumple, but...There aren't many familiar people here. Just you, Neal, and Emma.

[God, it's a regular party from hell.]

[villainously]

A hat? [ he's no idea what she's on about, unfortunately. just shy of that revelation before he arrived in the hotel. he shakes his head, clearly deciding whatever it is, it's not relevant now.

he's sure that was physically painful for her, to admit he might have a point, but if anyone knows the Dark One, it's him. Regina may have been his student, Hook still chased him for centuries. between the two, they're as close to expert as they can get... except for Neal, perhaps. ]

There's people from different worlds, different lands. What kind of curse has that area of scope? And to what end?

[ he looks baffled, because honestly? he has no idea. ]

[gloriouscurse]

[Ugh, Hook, why can't you get with the times? But then she pauses, looking at him and completely ignoring his questions.]

Your heart...do you have it? [Just asking for a friend, and then she waves her hand.]

I don't know, someone all knowing? Not Ingrid. [She scoffs at the idea of it, but then..]

The sorcerer, maybe.

[villainously]

[ look he's perfectly with his own times. it's just his time isn't hers... impossibly enough. he looks at her like she's sprouted another head. does he have his heart? where the bloody hell else would it be? ] Last I checked you were the one roughing it without, and you've gotten it back since. [ yes, he's got his heart, does she intend to explain what inspired her to ask?

by the times she mentions this sorcerer he's starting to worry something is wrong. ] Regina, honestly. What are you on about?
What sorcerer? I thought were after a snow queen.

later

[kirking]

[Kirk doesn't open the door strictly on purpose. Yes, he's going around trying and testing all the doors and windows and potential exits that he can. And the door is unlocked so of course he's going to open it but he's not looking for the man he finds inside. Just a happen coincidence, or something.]

Oh. Sorry.

[villainously]

[ for fucks sake. it seems like whenever he wants to be alone, people find him even on accident. it's all to easy to be annoyed, thanks to the lovely gift from the crocodile, and his hand tenses, open and closed. he doesn't recognize the man that nearly swung into his room, and narrows eyes at him for a moment, but forces the overreaction down. ]

Right. [ he needs a drink. christ he needs a drink. at least his flask is still tucked in his pocket, and he fishes it out. ] If you were hoping for an exit, it isn't here. [ the room reflects that he's torn it apart looking. seems to just be a normal, dull hotel room. ]

[kirking]

[For a brief, irrational moment, he's reminded of Bones when they first met. Maybe it's the flask, or the way that this guy just looks irritated as fuck to even be near him or the perpetual look of not having shaved in a few days.]

I believe you. [Not judging but wow look at the mess. A man after his own determined heart.]

I'm Jim Kirk, by the way.

[villainously]

[ a shot does make him a little less cross, but christ he's not going to have many of those left. he needs to find a goddamn bar or he's going to go utterly mad.

the introduction is a bit out of place but this is a day of oddities, isn't it? why not introduce yourself to the man you just randomly happened upon in a trashed inn room? ] Killian Jones. I don't recognize you.

[ seems like an off the wall statement but the pirate is still adjusting to the fact he's not in storybrooke anymore. it's still odd to see faces he doesn't recognize. ]

[kirking]

What a coincidence, I don't recognize you either.

[Sorry Hook but you can't shake him that easily. If anything, Kirk just looks amused by him now and once Jim Kirk finds you funny, he clings like a leech.]

You got anything left in that?

[villainously]

[ pretty much everyone looks like they're dressed strangely to Hook, but this Jim is dressed even stranger than most he finds. he's starting to get the sense that they're not trapped with a bunch of Storybrookers, a very late realization.

he was trying to think of a way to tell the fellow to sod off (probably not nicely) when he goes and inquires about his rum. surprisingly enough, the pirate manages a huff of a laugh. ]

If I did, I don't see why that'd help you. [ he generally only shares his rum with pretty blonde saviors and well, Kirk is blonde but it's debatable on the other two.

still, they're all trapped, why not? he offers it halfheartedly. ] No time like the present, is there? [ if any situation required drinks, it's this one. ]

[kirking]

[Successsssss!

Kirk says a quick 'cheers' as he takes the flask from him and takes a drink. Best friends forever, that's how it started with Bones. Only Kirk's not actually looking to stick around here long enough to make friends like that but he appreciates Killian all the same for sharing.]

Where you from, Killian?

[villainously]

[ he's not making you a bracelet, Kirk, he's just not. still, sharing a drink is a good way to get to know someone. the pirate's favorite, most of the time. he just wishes he had more drink to share, because when his supply is gone it's gone.

where is he from... he had to ask a question the pirate can't rightly answer. ] I was in the realm of Maine, before I was here. [ not quite the same but close enough. he eyes Kirk's out outfit again before lifting a brow. ] And you?

later

[sheriffing]

[Emma feels more like herself after a change of clothes, her date dress folded away and her usual layers and jeans back on. They should have known that their night of peace and quiet was going to come with a price. And she's not sorry that they're stuck (not yet, that'll come later) because it's new enough to feel like they might be able to get out of here and bring Neal home with them. If he's here, then it shouldn't take much to bring him back there, right? It's not much different than them carting Marion off before she could get killed - the timeline is preserved, and all that changes is the future. Henry having his father back would be a change for the better, so there's nothing wrong with fighting for it.

He fought to get back to them, now they have a chance to make that work out the way it always should have. It's not supposed to be possible, but if it is, then they need to find a way to make this work. They need a plan, it's just a little early for that. Not knowing what they're up against or why they're here has them at a disadvantage. There's no known motive, no hints of what's to come. It's eerily quiet in this hotel and the lack of answers has her itching to find out what these people are hiding.

There has to be a reason they were brought here. As random as all of it looks on the outside, she doesn't buy it. No one with this kind of power would just collect a group of strangers from different worlds for the hell of it. She's already accepted that she won't like the truth when it does come out, but any answers at all would be something right now.

Which is why Emma is off finding her own, wandering around on the second floor to get some answers. Once she's had some time to roam around and her eyes fall on the door to 207, she doesn't try to open it; she knocks. It's probably a neighbor and a fellow captive, and even just knowing who ended up around her would be more information than she has at the moment. It's not much, but it's a start, accidentally on-purpose bringing her right to Killian's door.]

[villainously]

[ he doesn't think it's random, either. this place reminds him too keenly of Neverland, makes him more paranoid and skittish than even Hook himself wants to admit. nobody seems to know a thing, and that just can't be. there has to be someone that knows, and if they're hiding it he'll find them, sooner or later. he's spent enough time trapped in his life, and he's very tired of the whole process. it's true that landing here has given them a gift, if they can bring Baelfire back to Storybrooke once they figure out the intricacies of this place, then it'll be worth all the frustration. he needs to remember that.

after leaving the conversation he interrupted downstairs, he did his damnedest to do exactly as he'd promised. he'd asked around, looked around, tried to see all there was to see. there wasn't much. the hotel was unimpressive, some doors were locked and no matter what he did he couldn't get through them. there wasn't an exit and there was at least one door that had disappeared — he was certain there was an extra door in the stairwell, he'd arrived in a room just off it, and now it was nowhere to be found. he'd checked around a few rooms, but not all of them. all the rooms for guests seemed the same, just from looking at a few.

when he finally hit his own room (supposedly, he'd found it in the case of his things), he'd torn it apart rather carelessly trying to find something. there wasn't a lot to be found. he was likely annoying all the neighbors he had with his intense attempts to get through a window. his lamp wasn't going to recover, and his shoulder was quite sore from trying to get through it of his own force. so far, not so much as a crack. what in the blazes was this window made of?

he nearly missed the knock, it comes just after the sound of the lamp impacting. he's had more than one visitor, now, he was just about done with socializing for the day, but he dropped the mangled remains of the bedside lamp on his stripped bed and wandered over anyway. he'd be grateful that he did, considering who was on the other side... though perhaps with a bit of sense he might have realized she hadn't been looking for him, she'd simply found him on accident.

she'd still found him, though. that did count for something. his expression softened from the grim determination he'd been using trying to beat his way through the window. he'd promised to find her if he found anything, and well, he hadn't. perhaps he should have found her anyway, but he'd been fairly sure Emma would be distracted with other things. Regina was around, her true love was back from the dead... trapped in a new strange place. her schedule was a bit full all considered. ] Emma. [ he did note she'd changed; he hadn't. simply lost the jacket to try and bust open the window. ] Something wrong?

[ other than, you know, the obvious. ]

[sheriffing]

Killian.

[Well that's...convenient. She was thinking the four of them were probably split up on purpose, but having Killian in the next room simplifies things. By her count, there are twenty rooms on this floor and at least forty other captives in the hotel. It's hard to get accurate numbers when everything they don't want them to see is "under construction". Too many things are locked away around here, and if she assumes the worst (just because she can), that means they'll only be unlocked with more arrivals. Whatever this trap is, they caught it in it's early stages. No matter how fast and loose their captors play it with the housing situation, none of this bodes well for them.

If she was with Neal, or Regina, Emma would put on a brave face. Neal needs someone to believe that they're all going to get out of here together. He's afraid to hope for that possibility, but she isn't. It's not the first time she's thought he was gone and found out otherwise, so maybe this makes it less final for her than it still is for him. Hang around with her parents enough and you start to buy into the idea of happiness, even if it's always just out of reach. She wants that for Neal and Henry and she intends to fight like hell to get it. She wants it for Regina too, although she's noticed that Henry's other mother is lacking her usual confidence.

Not having magic here is harder on Regina than it is on Emma. It's a struggle for Regina to lose it, and a struggle for Emma to have it. It'd come in handy here, but she's willing to bet that's why they took it away. No advantages allowed. For someone who doesn't have years of experience in using it, the loss isn't horrible. She can tell herself that it's temporary, that magic just doesn't work here, and that satisfies the nagging feeling that she's already lost a part of herself to this. She can live without it, so she'll deal. Regina hasn't really had to do that since the curse was broken, and twenty-eight years of peace and quiet on her own terms had to have been a lot more tolerable than being trapped and vulnerable.

It just turns out that even with the better end of the deal, Emma is struggling with all of this.]

No, - at least nothing aside from us being trapped here.

[She takes a breath and shoves her hands into her pockets, searching his eyes to try to get a read on him. Seeing Neal again couldn't have been easy, but she just keeps telling herself his death is something they can fix. They have to, it's what they do, isn't it?]

Can I come in?

[A quick peek behind him reveals he's as unnerved by this place as she is, but Emma hasn't used her room as the testing ground. There are plenty of other places in the hotel to take apart, she wasn't going to start with the place where she's expected to stay for the foreseeable future.]

[villainously]

[ he's certainly noticed all the locked doors and areas blocked off for construction himself. he's not sure what they mean, just that a very confusing attempt to pick their locks showed there was nothing to pick. he wasn't sure if they were new locks and he'd just never encountered them, or if something a bit more ominous was underfoot. a magic lock might not be capable of being picked, not even for a pirate who had never had a problem getting through a lock before. there's got to be something beyond it, the answer might be just waiting beyond reach, and he's never let a locked door stop him before.

maybe that's not something to be overly proud of.

she doesn't need to be strong for him. Hook is, relatively, on level footing. or at least, compared to the man suddenly risen from the dead and the queen stripped of her magic. he had his hand to worry about, but the last thing he wanted was to put an additional weight on Emma's shoulders. she was the savior, she always brought responsibility on her shoulders whether it was deserved or not. it was one of many things he loved about her, but it was also exhausting to watch her on occasion. she rarely had time to be herself, to do what she wanted. Emma was always fighting, always protecting, always... so if he could offer her even a moment of sanctuary, then he'd give it.

he steps aside so she can enter, not particularly flummoxed by the fact a small tornado had ripped through his room. he'd put it back together (more or less) once he had a spare moment. he was surprisingly orderly when given the opportunity, the navy taught lessons one didn't easily forget. the lamp was a goner, but he'd really been hoping to get through that window. perhaps it seemed foolish to tear apart the space that was supposed to be his, but to him it would have been foolish not to. he didn't trust anything about this place, and he wouldn't let himself be surprised by something hidden in his room.

he was used to Neverland, a place rife with traps and a very cruel demon calling the shots. this place didn't seem so different, just no Pan. ]

Is Baelfire... [ Hook stalled out, not knowing exactly what he wanted to ask. all right? well, he wasn't dead anymore, so that was better than he'd been in Storybrooke. that didn't mean things were much easier for him. nevermind, moving on. ] I should have found you, but I didn't find anything new.

[ however foolishly, he had hoped to find some good news to bring back to her. all he'd learned was they were even more stuck than originally thought. ]

[sheriffing]

[Is he what, alright? Caught up? Ready to take his own life back? Emma's not sure what the question is to have an answer - and most of them would be no. They need to take this one step at a time. There's no information available here, no one to even ask about where they are and what brought them to the hotel. There's no guarantee that if they get home, they won't be pulled back and dropped through the ceiling all over again. They need to know why this happened and how to get out of it, and they need to know that when they do leave, they'll be able to take Neal with them.

He can't go back to where he was, that's not an option. Either he's going to realize that too, or he's going to get dragged through a portal the same way they threw Marion into the present. For all the pain it caused Regina, seeing a son get his mother back was worth it. Next time, it'll be Henry and Neal. It has to be.]

He's dealing. It's gonna take some time.

[Time she'd rather he took in Storybrooke, instead of the Bates Motel. It's not real to him yet, Emma understands that much. It probably won't be real until he sees Henry again. If they can get back home and reunite him with Henry, maybe that'll make all the difference. This place is unfamiliar. It's dark, it's old, and they're trapped. It's hard to get someone to hope for the best when the worst has already happened. Alive is a lot better than what he was before they came here, but how is he supposed to think it'll stick when they have another fight ahead of them?]

I figured you'd have found me if you had anything worth sharing.

[Emma steps into the room and lets her eyes dart around to all that he's torn apart. She can feel his frustration just through looking at it, desperation seeping into the attempted destruction. He must feel helpless, because she does too. No way out, no answers, and no magic. Even in Neverland, they had the last one. Here, it's like it's all been wiped away. She's not the savior anymore, but she's stuck with a hotel full of people who still need saving.]

I was going to look for you, but I thought I'd get a look at this place first.

[Might've just scratched the surface, but it's a carefully protected one. She hesitates for a second before reaching out, taking his new hand in hers. Changed his ways, huh? Emma might've bought that in the moment, when the excitement of something new had gotten the better of her. Now, it's a lot more obvious that the Dark One didn't restore anything without him having to pay the price.]

What you said before about your hand - I don't buy it, Killian.

[And she didn't expect...this. She didn't even notice it was there until Mary Margaret pointed it out.]

Are you alright? Rumplestiltskin doesn't own your soul, or have some vital organ locked in a jar somewhere, does he?

[villainously]

[ well, she doesn't need to know the answer, because he doesn't really know his question anyway. just a very base answer that he's all right might have to be enough. Killian can't imagine how Baelfire feels at the moment, and he doesn't think it's his place to get involved. things are strained between them and they might always be, that doesn't mean he doesn't care. it's quite fair that the boy (still, even though Neal has gone a bit gray, he thinks of him as the boy) be overwhelmed, but dealing is better than not. he's been given a gift, they just need to figure out how to make sure it's not a temporary one.

Hook just can't help but thinking that there is surely a price for his revival, and he doesn't want Emma to be left paying for it. they need more information, they're agreed on that, yet maybe the Charming mindset is starting to infect him. there must be an answer, and well, if Emma needs him to carry Neal through a portal then he'll bloody do it.

hopefully it won't come to that, though. he has to think that Baelfire wants to see his boy again, that he wants to live. they're going to give him that, somehow.

he nods idly at the answer and doesn't press more. they're of like minds but talking to Emma about Neal was uncomfortable, likely for both of them. he closes the door behind her, only realizing how badly the disarray of his room looks to an offhand observer. ] Just seeing if there was anything suspect, there wasn't anything I could find. [ not much of an excuse.

she doesn't need to worry about finding him. he knows she will when she needs him; she's got more than enough to worry about, he won't be one of those things if he can manage it. her subject change, therefore, is a bit unexpected, and exactly what he hoped to avoid. his expression colors a bit with regret — she shouldn't have to carry this. the savior always takes on everyones ills and nobody is to blame for his situation but himself.

her touch wraps around the hand that he is constantly questioning, and even now he looks down like he expects it to hurt her somehow, completely beyond his control. it doesn't, just lingers in her grip. he wants to twine their fingers together, does that qualify as evil? he looks back at her as she presses, battling with himself on what he should tell her. he'd managed to shade the truth a bit before, but now? he's not sure he could manage. when Emma suspects he's hiding something, he never manages to get away with it. she reads him better than a book.

and really, she should know the truth. that he could be dangerous, whether he wants to be or not. he doesn't want her to take his woes on, he'll have to figure it out on his own. he still has to tell her. after everything that happened with Zelena, after betraying her trust already? he needs to tell her the truth, he owes it to her. ]

No, he doesn't, but... it still came with a price. [ he can't quite look at her as he tells her, though. ] It's cursed. My hand. [ that revelation is enough for him to pull his hand back, like he's certain that saying it out loud will cause it to lash out and he doesn't want her to be the one suffering for it.] I didn't believe it, at first, I thought he was playing a trick... it isn't, it's the truth.

[sheriffing]

[ A price. There's always a price. She's already started to wonder if there's any escaping that here. Magic seems to be in short supply, and the thing she thought was a part of her has already faded into nothing. If she can't get it to work, that means whoever brought them here gets to deal with the cost of all of this, even bringing Neal back. Or maybe there isn't one in this world, and that's why the person in power is being so careless with who gets dragged along for the ride. Emma would like to believe that it's more than that; maybe it wasn't his time, maybe this isn't a full-on resurrection as much as it is righting a wrong.They'll find out eventually, whether they like it or not.

But with that too-obvious subject change comes the truth, and it's not exactly what Emma was expecting. She looks skeptical before she says anything, eyes lowering to his hand as he pulls it away, one eyebrow raised to the explanation itself. Cursed? How could it be cursed? It's a hand, it's not like it can function on it's own.]

How do you know it's true?

[He gets the question instead of the denial she immediately wants to offer up. What happened at the restaurant felt a lot more like his temper getting the better of him than a curse. It wasn't just his hand that reacted, it was a response that the rest of him was totally on board with. And if there's anything Emma does understand, it's being pissed at how rudely they were interrupted. Killian wasn't the only one who nearly gave in that time.]

Because I have to tell you, a cursed hand doesn't sound likely. [And before he can remind her of his previously cursed lips, she takes his hand back into hers, just to be stubborn. To call his bluff and see if there is a chance that this could be real.] Especially not here. I can't get my magic to work, and neither can Regina. If your hand was cursed, don't you think whatever dark magic was used on it would stop working with everyone else's?

[And that's if his hand is cursed, which is already a tough sell. Emma threads her fingers with his, grip tightening around him just enough to prove that he'd push back against this if his hand was as cursed as he says it is. Whatever they have, it's good. If his hand has been cursed, that's dark magic. If it was at work here, there would be some kind of a reaction.]

I think he played you; he put the thought in your head knowing you'd obsess over it. There's nothing wrong with you, Killian. You're just overthinking this.

[villainously]

[ how does he know its true? Emma has yet to see the mess he's made of the Knave's face, yet Killian remembers. striking a man out of nowhere does indicate foul play. it started with grabbing him at dinner and it spiraled further. he doesn't want to hurt Emma especially, and he can't trust himself anymore. he frowns as she takes his hand. nothing happens, his hand is not a snapping viper after all, but it seems too dangerous. he'd been so pleased to have it back, to finally be whole again, and it'd fallen apart so quickly and so spectacularly.

he shakes his head at the rebuke that such things don't work in the hotel. that very well may be the case, but that doesn't mean there's no magic around, period. ] It's not worth the risk, Emma. He told me the hand was of the man I was before. I know it's true after I nearly broke the nose of that punk that interrupted our dinner. [ the drunk had been trying to break into the library but it was safe to say Hook had not been trying to do his civil service.

it's true that nothing happens when her fingers twine with his. he looks hopeless, convinced that his hand is a curse and not a blessing. it's better to believe that than resign himself to the fact he might not be as good as he keeps trying to convince people he is. he had believed it was a trick at first, but after how quickly and heatedly he reacted to pointless things, even in the hotel he was jumping to anger faster than usual. she'd seen it first hand twice now (first with the Knave, and angrily separating her from Baelfire hadn't been missed, either) and she still thought nothing was wrong? ] What if I'm not? I could be dangerous. [ he doesn't say it but he hopes the implication is obvious. he doesn't want to hurt her. ]