entrancelogs | (no subject)

Who: captain swan
Where: uh... beach i guess
When: uh... not during the event i guess
Rating: uh... probably nothing really racy i guess
Summary: i guess they're gonna do magic and junk
The Story:

It hadn't taken long to figure out that simply resisting the use of magic wasn't enough. It didn't abate the voices that tried to convince him it was harmless, that there was no reason to resist. It didn't make him sleep any better at night, it didn't make him feel any stronger or any better. It had taken some bravery to ask Emma for help on the matter, considering she'd been rather firm on the suggestion not to use it. In the end, perhaps that was still the better idea, yet it felt like being controlled by the curse, slowly brow-beaten into being something he didn't want to be. He needed an outlet for all of it, like sucking poison from a wound, and letting it collect inside of him wasn't helping.

Using it, using it correctly, using it for good things instead of selfish and useless things... Well, he wasn't sure it would help, and Emma didn't seem particularly sure, either. Still, it was worth a try, because anything would be better than feeling like a teapot left too long on the fire, set to boil over and just begging for someone to burn in the explosion.

The beach seemed the safest place, considering the mansion was full of people and his ship was... his ship. Killian honestly didn't have much trouble using magic, it was part of the curse, he knew particulars he'd never guessed at before. Still, that didn't mean he knew how to control the roar of it inside of him, and that was indeed something that Emma could help with. She'd faced that power inside herself before, nearly gotten sucked into a hat before she found a way to understand it. And maybe she could teach him to understand it, too.

He's very old and he hasn't had lessons in anything in quite some time. Usually he was a difficult student, to be frank. Hook didn't like to feel stupid and it was hard not to, when he was centuries old and still so lost with so much. Still, in this he was rather determined to learn, and that meant leaving the airs of disinterest behind him. "Where do we start?" If he sounded uncertain, it was because he was. Still, he was there, he was willing to try. Surely that counted for something.

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She agreed to this because he's right, he shouldn't have to quit cold turkey. Emma hasn't lived through being the Dark One, but she's had her own battle with the darkness before. When magic feels more a part of a person than its on entity, sometimes the ability to use it becomes instinctive. If he doesn't have some pattern of using it correctly, in the interest of helping others, he's probably going to use it unintentionally until it backfires on him. On them, because she meant what she said when she promised that this would be their fight. If he wants to learn, she wants to be the one to teach him. At least she knows she won't help him off a cliff the way Regina helped her.

Her answer to his question is a kiss against his lips. They start there, with a reminder that this miserable old student doubles as the man she loves. She knows that something inside him connects with the darkness better than he'd like, but he needs to stop treating this like a test he's going to fail. He won't. He has ties to the world, even in Wonderland, that are worth fighting for. Emma still counts herself as one of them, even with the knowledge of what's ahead. He's upset with her yet not, and she's learned that the best way to handle that is to continue to be who she is now. The darkness hasn't found her yet - it will, but right now, their best advantage is a united front.

"When I first started, most of my magic was instinct. Protecting myself, protecting the people around me." The fight with him and Cora, the barrier, the failsafe. There were opportunities for it to be useful, and in the moment she was able to tap into that part of her. Light magic, instead of the darkness that came when Gold started his manipulation. "If those whispers in your head tell you to use magic, then use magic, but not for yourself. Not for amusement. I've seen you jump through a portal to be with me, I know you have those instincts too."

They don't really know if quitting cold turkey would have worked, because frankly he never actually managed not to use it. That's the emphasis of the problem, really; it's too easy to use and too tempting to use it for reasons he shouldn't. So far he hasn't ripped out a heart or cursed anyone, yet using his magic for the wrong means doesn't have to be quite that black and white. He has used it with selfish intentions, and hopefully that's something they can avoid.

And hopefully they can avoid him falling off a cliff, too. Thankfully there aren't too many of those on a beach, normally.

A kiss seems a good place to start. It does manage to shake most of his sullenness, even though he's more than a little uncomfortable in his present situation. He's never been overly fond of magic in the best of circumstances, willing to use it as a means to an end to get what he wanted. Watching magic take away the people he loved most did sour him on it. Now he was the exact thing he hated, in fact, had hated for centuries for killing Milah... it made he was uncomfortable.

He sighed at the suggestion. It was a good idea, yes, but there wasn't a lot to protect around Wonderland, at least when things were quiet as they were now. Still, it didn't seem a bad plan to practice spells that would help if it ever happened. "And how do I do that?" Emma was the expert here, he'd rather follow her suggestion than whatever the curse turned to instinct. Chances were his instincts were all wrong right about now.