+ Wanted to get it real home-like... +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE!
Where: EVERYWHERE!
When: ANYT-- Friday, February 20 to Monday, February 23
Rating: An average PG-13? (Consider warning for explicit sexual or violent content in your thread's subject line)
Summary:
For the duration of this event each character will discover that their room has been replaced with one of their own memories, one that they find themselves particularly happy or "at home" in. More information can be found here.

This log is an opportunity for your characters to describe the memory playing in their room, so that other characters might visit, and watch the scene unfold. To help browse the collection better, please include your character's name, and their room number in the subject line (e.g. Seta Souji - 100, 6th floor) of your top-level comment.

Rooms/Comments may be locked to certain people, or be available for all to see & visit. Log participation is completely and entirely voluntary.

Have fun!

Comments

[belovedson]

Neal’s kind of learning he tends to fall just outside the loop when it comes to stuff that goes on back home. It’s no one’s fault, really. He knows they don’t mean it—it’s just crappy to be the dead guy when everyone else you know is still alive and kicking.

But yeah, he’s getting told now thanks to Wonderland’s latest event, plus a blatant disregard for Regina’s privacy. And she’s right to think that the first part, that Rumplestiltskin went after Zelena right away, is exactly what Neal expects to have happened. So someone else had to be pulling strings, and it’s not all that difficult to figure out just how Regina managed to do it.

“So you got the dagger first, and used it to stop him.” Regina’s not going to find what she’s looking for. The truth is, Neal mostly feels numb to all this. There’s just too much mess for him to process, too many pieces crashing down for him to even start deciding what he thinks. He watches again how Zelena suddenly gets blown back, the one moment that should give him some comfort because at least it means Henry’s safe.

But it’s too messed up. All of it.

“So why’d you save her?”

[madehervows]

She nods, just once, to confirm his suspicions about the dagger. While it's a pretty obvious conclusion, confirming it is the least she can do. Especially considering what she's about to tell him. He might not have reacted how she was expecting, but she hasn't told him the worst of it yet. He has more reason than anybody to be angry at her, she knows this, and that's why he needs to be told.

Better late than never.

"Because I wanted to give her a second chance." And honestly, she still does. Connected to Zelena as she is thanks to Wonderland, the little flickers of emotion that aren't anger and hatred are doing nothing nothing to quell that desire. Everything she said to her sister in that cell holds true. They were ruined in different ways, but they're both victims of Cora. And Rumplestiltskin, but she doesn't need to go into that with Neal, does she?

"She deserved one just as much as I did."

Nothing will change her mind about that.

[belovedson]

A second chance. Neal ducks his head, snorts out a laugh as he lets that thought sink in. He's talked to Zelena since she got back, seen for herself that she doesn't regret a single damn thing about what she did--about killing him. That woman's head is so fucked up, she somehow still thinks she's going to walk away the winner in all this, that even after everything she can make her plan work.

And just like before, she's willing to do anything to anyone to make it happen. What more proof could they possibly need than the things surrounding them now, all stolen from people. There's a damn baby in the circle, a child Neal's never met, but one who's name he already knows.

All that's bad enough. But then Regina has to go an dig in that much deeper, twist a blade Neal hadn't even realized was there. That gets him to jerk his head up, gaze narrowed down at the woman, and yeah, now she's going to get that reaction she's been expecting.

"She deserved it? You're--you're kidding, right?" There's a lot in Neal that's different than Rumplestiltskin, but there are just as many ways that he remains ever his father's son. Part of that's involved running when it comes to dealing with hard things, like the prospect of seeing Emma again after he left her. And part of it, the part Regina's about to see, involves one hell of a temper.

"No, you know who deserved something?" He walks up to Regina, gets up in her face, because damn the fact that she has magic enough to kill him all over again, he's pissed. His voice raised, Neal draws a hand up, not to strike but to angrily point at the woman in accusation. "Henry deserved to have a father! But now he has to spend the rest of his life without one, because of her, and you think she should get a second chance?!"

One sharp turn, and Neal again paces away, needing to move, wanting to scream due to his frustration. Ever since he heard about the death thing, he's known his father would be the one to end it--and as dark a thought as it is, Neal can't deny he found some satisfaction in that. Except now, that veil has been ripped away. Neal not only has to face his own thoughts, but now this truth, that not only did that vengence apparently not happen, but the woman who prevented apparently has decided just who is worthy of redemption.

[madehervows]

Oh Neal, you're right in so many ways. But the thing is? Regina doesn't care. When he gets in her face, she doesn't flinch, doesn't move in any way. Stronger people than Neal have threatened her, gotten in her face and let her have it. She wouldn't have been a very effective villain if she caved every time someone got angry at her. This? This is nothing. But in this moment, she can see the family resemblance. Even if she wisely chooses not to comment on it.

It doesn't change the fact that her own temper is rising. It doesn't help that she's had the residual anger from Zelena thrumming in her system, but this? This is all Regina Mills.

"A father? He did well enough without one for ten years." She can admit to her own mistakes, but there was plenty of parenting experiences she did right and alone. "And in case you haven't noticed? You're dead for him. For all of us. We moved on, Henry moved on." Is there such a point as too far? We just don't know, and Regina certainly wouldn't care if there was. "And he's just fine without you."

When he walks away from her, she follows to continue her tirade. The issue with second chances is something Regina has thought long and hard about. The addition of the Author has done nothing but complicate the issue, but it hasn't changed how she feels about them. "She gets a second chance, because we all get second chances. Or did you somehow manage to forget every awful thing Rumplestiltskin did, everything I did? Why do we get second chances and she doesn't? What makes you so special that your death is apparently the worst thing someone could ever do?"

She'd really like to know the answer to that question. Even if her own personal feelings about Neal have changed recently, it doesn't change the fact in the grand scheme of things, Zelena is nothing compared to herself and Rumplestiltskin and that's what gets Regina. Why are Zelena's crimes so much worse than theirs?

[belovedson]

"Not by my choice." Yeah, Neal had left Emma and that's what led to a lot of things, including his absence in Henry's life. But if he'd known about Henry, even had the slightest hint Emma had been pregnant, had given birth to his son? Like hell things would have played out the same way. So that's easy enough to brush off, but the rest of it? There's Regina succeeds with digging claws into vulnerable flesh.

So to answer her question? Yeah. There's definitely a point as too far.

"No fucking kidding, Regina. You think I haven't seen it every time one of you shows up and gets that look on your face? Because I'm alive here, except like you said, everyone's moved on." Found new lives, new loves--new people to act like fathers to them. "Including my son. I can tell you're real broken up over that too. You know, maybe part of you was happy to hear I died. You barely wanted Emma in the picture, right? Bad enough Henry suddenly had one other parent he loved, but two?"

Nah. It'd be easier for her if he weren't around. Maybe for all of them. He'd been through it with Emma, and sure, they'd found a sense of peace or whatever. But look at how long it'd taken--and Neal can't say he's thrilled with the results. More like the best end he could expect out of the worst case.

But they've moved on. They were better off for it, and that could very well include Henry. In his heart Neal fears it as much as he believes it, and he doesn't need Regina to remind him of that, thanks.

She follows after him, throwing questions at his back, and when Neal faces her again the answer comes easily. "Yeah, right. I've heard what you did, and I spent centuries living with what he did. But the difference is, you both at least act like you want to change. When's Zelena ever said she regrets anything about what she did, or that she wants to be different? You want to keep my father from killing her, you want to try and redeem her, whatever. I can't stop you, clearly.

"But don't you dare tell me she deserves it. Because maybe my life doesn't mean a damn thing to you, but it does to me."