video: un: swan

[sheriffing]

Uh, hi.

[ can she have points for effort? the wave she gives is more uncertain than friendly, like she's not entirely comfortable addressing the entire network (she's not). she figures it'll work for everyone else the same way it does for her. when Emma has something to offer, she answers. when she doesn't, she leaves it to someone else.]

My name's Emma, and as a lot of you have already noticed, I'm new here.

[ she's been called out on it enough to know that it's obvious. some part of her still doubts everything here and it bleeds into conversation too easily. most people have been here long enough to accept this reality, but Emma's still thinking of home.]

I'm not gonna pretend that my first instinct wasn't to wallow in my disappointment until my family wakes up, but I know there's a lot to be done here. I've seen all of you getting things done here, and I just wondered... how have you been able to use the skills you learned in your home world to keep you busy in this one?

[ because it's time for her to think about taking on a job, and making a difference, and she's pretty sure that doesn't mean a sheriff's badge and a cruiser anymore. so far, she's been part of the clean-up effort, but she needs something else to get by on.]

Back home, I was the sheriff in a town called Storybrooke, Maine. Here, I don't know. How did you know where to start?

Comments

[sheriffing]

Yeah, a little.

[ or a lot, and her tone says as much. she's not sure why she feels compelled to share, but if he wants to admit he's a literal superhero on the network, being the savior suddenly seems a little more normal. there are people around her who've lived complicated lives, its a weird kind of comfort.]

A queen cast a curse the day I was born. I wasn't raised by my parents, and they couldn't remember me. Needless to say, I didn't grow up hearing about magic and fairytales.

I grew up in the foster system, and I learned how to survive on my own. Wasn't really the kind of thing where I was expecting to find out I had a destiny.

[america]

[ Curses? Magic? Fairytales?

It's admittedly a lot to take in, given Steve's own experiences, but he believes her. He's got no real reason not to. ]

Everyone's got a destiny. Yours just happens to include ... well, magic.

[ The way his own destiny eventually included an experimental process and a super-serum. ]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but is this Queen the one who gave you this magic through the curse? Or is it genetic?

[sheriffing]

And curses.

[ because this place, with everyone separated from their loved ones? it feels like a curse, too. Emma is guessing those don't just go away when the world ends.]

It's...

[ it's opening the door up to an unexpected dilemma. the truth is gonna make her sound insane, but so far, Steve's too good a guy to lie to. she doesn't want to get caught keeping secrets when the truth is just going to come out sooner or later. it always does.]

I was born in the Enchanted Forest, and the only thing in that world more powerful than magic is true love. My parents fought to be together and always found their way back to each other, against almost impossible odds. Their love was true. And since I'm their daughter, I get the ... strange magical benefits of it.

[ a pause.]

I swear I'm not crazy.

[america]

Maybe you're not, but a lot of that could make someone crazy.

[ She sounds like she straight up comes from a Grimm Brothers' fairytale, witches and curses and all. ]

I'm guessing the 'happily ever after' bit has yet to come.

[sheriffing]

You're telling me.

[ you're not that far off, Steve.]

I don't think the offspring of two fairytale characters is guaranteed that. Even my parents had to fight for theirs, and right now... it's all kind of up in the air.

[america]

[ Seems like Emma got the short end of the stick if she isn't guaranteed a happy ending, if Steve's got anything to say about it.

Not that he's got any real clear idea what a happy ending should look like. His own hopes and dreams for one are a little complicated. ]

And was that before the Storm or presently-and-after?

[sheriffing]

A little bit of both. They always found each other, but they were always tested.

[ most recently, it was Regina's sister trying to steal her baby brother. nothing is ever easy for her family, it doesn't matter which world they end up in.]

[america]

Can I ask if they're here right now?

[sheriffing]

They're in stasis.

[ she keeps trying to tell herself its good that they ended up here at all, but waiting for them to wake up is harder than she thought it would be. its hard to know if one could even wake up unless the other does; after all, they share a heart.]

[america]

Ah. I'm sorry.

[ He knows how it feels to have loved ones in stasis. For weeks, his best friend Bucky was up in one of those pods in Thesa, sent back to sleep when he'd been down here with him for months.

And the rest of his team, some of them feeling like family to him ... he hasn't seen any of them walking about here, so it's pretty safe to assume they're still in stasis too. ]

[sheriffing]

It's the norm around here, isn't it? Everyone has someone in stasis.

[ but for Emma, literally everyone is in stasis. she doesn't think she has it worse than anyone else, she just knows that her version of dealing with it isn't as reasonable as other people around here. it's time for her to get more productive, that was the point of going to the network.]

If they wake up, I'll introduce you to them.