genessia | [Open] World hopping...again.

Entry tags:

[Open] World hopping...again.

Who: Mr. Gold {Rumpelstiltskin} & Open
What: Arrival
Where: Bay exit/entrance + Genessia City/Library

To be honest, Gold isn't a stranger to finding himself displaced onto new worlds. However, he usually is in someway responsible, or at least he knew that he was going to end up in a new world in short order. Neither happened to be the case here. Oh, sure he had taken the portal to get to the Land of Untold Stories. However, he hadn't done a thing to take himself from there to here.

He was reasonably certain this wasn't the world that Hyde had spoken of that held the knowledge he sought. It's disconcerting how easily he found himself in another world that has nothing to do with his end goal.

The white box gets a brief passing look as he makes certain that the two most important items he'd had on him prior to his waking here were still in his possession. Once assured they indeed were, he relaxes enough to leave the bay where he woke up before investigating the white box he'd woken up with; followed by investigating the nearby magazine rack for other answers. He gains a few but remains with others unanswered.

How he'd been brought, why he'd been brought, what purpose really did the neck piece actually serve? If it was only given to those kidnapped and dragged here, was it merely an identification of those not native of this world or did it hold a more sinister and hidden purpose? He pocketed it for the time being, he'd keep it on him but until he learned more of it he had no plans on wearing it properly. The strange currency he placed in his wallet beside that he'd brought from home. He'd look into possible employment in tandem with seeking out answers to his remaining questions as well as possible knowledge pertaining to the one goal he still held.

Collecting a city map from the rack, he could be discovered examining it or even on his way toward the library he'd noted from the map.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Belle had been for the most part a little on edge since the incident. Always having to look over her shoulder even at work; her favourite place in this world. As she climbed down the ladder she could hear the bell she had set up by the door to go off whenever someone was coming in.

"I'll be a minute if you please wait by the front desk." She called, pausing on the ladder in order to place a book away. She was sure whoever it was they just wanted to find a book, but her mind kept being a little cautious. When she reached the bottom she started to make her way over, a small smile on her lips, after all she was still working here, she had to at least show some form of happiness even when her body language said otherwise.

However as she had reached the front desk, she found herself stopping, the smile slowly changing into a look of surprise. She hadn't expected him of all people to be here, nor did she know what to do. After all it had been months since she last saw him.

"Rumple?"

Of all voices he might have expected upon entering the library, he would have never expected the one he actually heard. So she no doubt found him a bit stunned and quietly disbelieving his ears until he actually saw her and heard her call him by that affectionate nickname.

Disbelief was replaced by surprise which was rapidly replaced by apparent delight. "Belle?!" His voice was a mix of confusion and pleasure. Belle was awake and here before him, but how? And why did she look as surprised to see him as he was to see her?

A small part of his mind wondered if perhaps it wasn't Belle, but someone masquerading as her, but he forced himself not to jump to any conclusions just yet.

"How--" He paused, uncertain of which question to voice first. How was she awakened? How was she removed from Pandora's Box without his knowledge? How long had she been here? Was this why he'd been brought?

It was strange that after so long, over eight months now that she saw him again. She didn't know how to feel. Happy? Surprised? Sad, maybe?

Confused was on top of that list as she spoke, a little baffled at the single word he spoke. "How... What exactly?" She sounded puzzled at that one single word. Was he on about how she was here? It seemed logical to her.

"If you are asking how I got here, then I arrived here the same way you did."

"Of course. I mean--I.." He stopped himself from making even more of a fool of himself. Perhaps she could answer his other questions.

"Do you know how they woke you? How long have you been here?" He'd leave off 'how did they take you from Pandora's Box' for now, given she wouldn't even know she'd been placed within it since he'd done that after she'd cursed herself.

"I took you to your father, but he refused to wake you as long as I was around." And he refused to abandon his family again, thus his search into other means of waking Belle, since his own attempt to do so had apparently failed for some reason. "I tried--but...it--it didn't work." The was a quiet pain lurking in his voice and eyes as he admitted the last.

"How they woke me? I just woke up." There was really something off about that question. Why would he have need to ask it anyway? Not like she had fallen asleep randomly or anything before she found herself here.

"You are not making a lot of sense in what you are saying, I must admit. You are talking like I had fallen asleep when I don't ever recall such a thing." She was trying to make sense of it all but at least there had been one question she could answer.

"But to answer a question I can actually answer, I've actually been here just over eight months."

"You were under a sleeping curse. You told me to take you to your father so he could wake you. You really don't remember putting yourself under it?" He wasn't sure if he should really bring up the fact of why she placed herself under said curse, given she didn't recall it and had somehow been here for nearly a year, he decided he'd keep that particular bit to himself unless she inquired after it.

"How is it possible that you've been here so long?" He quietly hoped that she wouldn't say time travel, he doesn't particularly care to think of that piece of magic given who it's associated with in his mind. "It wasn't all that long ago that we were together." In the Underworld, no less. Another piece that he decided to wait to divulge given her confusion over the sleeping curse.

She paused, she was pretty sure if that had happened she would clearly remember. It was nothing in her past, so it started to get her wondering something else. Moving to grab a book from the front desk, she was still going to talk, but she knew she had to at least finish her job as well.

"Can we talk more while I put a few books away?" She gestured to the rather large pile she still had left to go through and put away. Her thoughts were still on what he was telling her though, but she had to admit not a lot of what was going on made sense. However, she was starting to figure out something.

"I don't know exactly, but... I don't recall what you are telling me, but it still happened. But the last thing I recall... I'm sure you'll remember it." She thought she was starting to figure stuff out. At least she really hoped she was. But at her last part she paused. She should still be angry really, but that had been a few months ago. She had just gotten over that hurdle. So was she still mad about what she last remembered or not?

Gold nodded in response to the question. He was willing to follow her as she worked and discuss things. However the following statement just served to further confuse him and quietly worried him.

No doubt his confusion showed more than he'd care for, especially to Belle he suspected. "What is the last thing you recall?" Was he supposed to guess? He'd never been all that good at such games and didn't much care for them when the chances of actually guessing correctly were so low.

"I might be able to figure out just why you don't remember what I do, if I knew where your memory and mine diverge." He'd be able to figure things out better once they'd both put all their answers out on the table so to speak.

"The last thing I recall..." She knew she should say it, it shouldn't be too hard at least since she had gotten over the hurdle while being here. She had stopped what she was doing, staring down the shelf for the moment. "Was the moment I sent you over the line."

It was the last thing she could recall. She could remember every word that was said, how she had felt at the time. Everything. It was a memory she had wished she didn't have to bring up again, but it had to this time. In a way she hoped now would make sense to this whole situation.

That was a memory he didn't care to recall either. He'd been in a low, bad place back then, reacting out of fear of what could be, unable to believe that the brief happiness he'd had could last if he didn't grasp the opportunity to remove his greatest weakness.

The events leading to that moment, the events that came after it still had barbs and still ached, but he pushed that away to focus on the here and now.

"I can still explain why...why that gauntlet led you where it did. I can explain why I did what I did, perhaps better now than then. But I should tell you, it's been a few months since that time for me. Nearly three months."

"Three months?" She had been here much longer, so how did time work here? It puzzled her slightly never the less. Time seems to be an oddity around here.

"That's confusing considering I've been here longer, but I put it down to this place being different in some way." But as to what that was, she didn't have much of an idea.

She had stopped what she was doing for the moment. He said he wanted to explain and she knew she would at least let him this time. "I'll let you explain, but I think it would be better to talk in the backroom since I don't finish work for another couple hours."

Time indeed was was an oddity in this place. Especially given the fact that Belle had seemingly been here for so long, and yet she had still been in Storybrooke despite that fact. It was enough to induce a headache if you tried to reason out just how such could be possible. For now he dropped it and focused on dealing with the issue of explaining things to Belle. Hoping that once the explanation had been given, she'd be willing to work on patching things up once more between them while here.

"That is a good idea." Gold replied to the suggestion, agreeing with it for more than one reason. One, it meant she wouldn't be distracted by her work as he explained and two, it would be far more private than they currently were. Given the nature of his explanation might end up getting far more personal than he would care to discuss in such a public place.

"Lead the way?" Once the explanation had been given, if she wanted him to let her be until she was off work, he'd accede to her wishes.

She nodded, turning on her heels as she started to walk between the shelves, everything was neat and tidy at least and none of the people that were around needed help, so she knew that she didn't need to work anyway.

Once she could see her office, her hands stretched out and held onto handle as she pushed the door open, walking on in first. As she entered the door, she stepped to the side.

Once she was sure he was in, she closed the door. "Here we go. it's quiet here and no one should bother us."

Gold headed on inside the office, waiting until the door was shut and Belle had finished speaking before he spoke. "Thank you. I'll clear up the matter of the gauntlet first. You remember I told you that it could locate anyone's greatest weakness. That's exactly what it did. It led you to the dagger because it is my greatest weakness." He paused, the thumb and index fingers of his right hand rubbing together as he kept himself from checking that the blade currently resting in his coat was still there. The blade was still a great weakness, but he he was no longer the man that he was back then. In more than one way.

"You have never been a weakness of mine. Do you remember what I told you before I--" Died, though he refrained from saying that. Instead he chose a different way to finish the question. "before I killed my father?"

Belle had gone to take a seat by her desk, listening to each and every word he had to say, letting it all sink it. Honestly though she was at least glad that he was talking about it, even if it might be painful.

Her hands gently rested on the top of the desk before she even spoke again after a moment of thinking about what he had said. She could recall the incident, but what was it? After a couple moments, she nodded slightly, recalling it now. "I do remember, I believe you said something about... making you stronger."

It hadn't really clicked why the two things were connected until she spoke the words. She wasn't a weakness because it was the opposite. She went quiet letting what she had just said sink it a little bit.

"I guess that was the point you were trying to get to, right?"

He nodded in agreement. "Yes. You are my strength. You saved my life." But he was getting ahead of himself there and stopped himself from expanding on that.

"As for why I did the things I had--I was afraid. Afraid that what happened with...her, would happen again. The possibility of being unable to protect those I cared about, the chance of being forced to hurt those I love...or worse--those fears, they ate at me. I tried to pretend I could be happy, that everything was fine, but when I saw that hat and knew that there was a chance that I could use it to remove that weakness of mine. To be free of that fear. I couldn't resist. The very idea of being controlled again was too frightening."

His eyes had fallen down toward the ground part of the way through the explanation, his voice halting and growing progressively rougher. He'd managed to bury a good part of what he was now digging up, telling himself he'd moved on past these events and fears. Yet, the fear and pain felt just as great as it had before, and just as real. He would just have to keep the main source of those fears on him at all times, the only person capable of taking it from him while he was awake and able to defend himself sat before him.

"But fear I find is a perfectly normal thing. We all have something in life that we are afraid of." She knew she certainly did, but she accepted them as fact and wanted to work and learn from them. Or at least try anyway.

"But to lesson that fear you'd need people you trust to make sure what you fear doesn't happen." She smiled slightly. Saying those words when she herself wasn't really opening up to her own fear... It didn't feel right at all really.

"But I will at least accept and understand it at least. I'm glad you at least explained it."

And therein lay his true problem really. He didn't trust people, not easily, and once he'd offered such trust and had it broken. Well, then it was twice as hard for him to consider trusting someone again.

"Easier said than done, I'm afraid. Sometimes the mind can't be swayed by such rational and logical thinking. The what-if's override it and the fear of what could happen push you into actions you normally wouldn't do."

The feeling of having secrets between them given their vastly different timelines ate at him a little, his feelings on certain events that were best not brought up again, or had yet to happen to her. He would have to consider how best to approach those in due time.

"You're welcome. I would have then, save--I was not in a good place mentally at that point. I could not find the right words and we were both--both overwrought with emotion and suffering from misunderstandings. It's small wonder that things went as they did."

She figured he had a point, fear was quite a complicated thing, she had hoped she could understand but it figured that she just didn't. Though the thought about fear alone was enough to make her quiet for a moment or two.

It just reminded her of a bad time, something she hadn't really been talking about. But she had still been listening when she snapped out of it.

"True, I guess it's one of the things I regret after a while, but you never really know until after the whole thing happens. But... Eventually we'll move forward, which is what I have been doing."

Toby had a destination; he rarely left his home without one, even when his ends were sometimes only vague constructs that usually stop at the bottom of a beer glass. Lucky, his days roaming around bars and seedy back alleys were numbered. He was running to the store to grab milk among a few others things. He’d been given a list that he had strict instructions to follow; a list that he had then left at home on the countertop.

His hands were shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket, while his stormy gray gaze flicked over the city. He saw enemies in every shadow: looming, waiting, watching, scheming. It was hard for him not to be paranoid.

As he continued his usual route he saw the old man stepping from the bay entrance. The wind shifted towards him and the familiar scent of steel and magic filled his nose. He kept his expression guarded as he came to a stop about a yard from the stranger's side.

Toby was tall, dauntingly so, but he had a feeling his size would do nothing to shrink the man before him. "You smell like magic." It was a simple statement but anyone walking past might pause at its oddity.

Gold did indeed pause at the statement, turning to crane his head upwards a bit to look at the speaker properly. "Given I did just cross a portal, I'm not surprised." He replied. Of course there was the small fact he was also bearing a curse and a magical artifact on him, so he no doubt stank of magic really.

However, he wasn't going to offer such knowledge up willingly when he could blame it on something else currently. "And who might you be?"

"Toby." He informed him in a gruff nonsense tone. He didn't think his name was all that important. He also rarely gave people his last name. Since losing his father he separated from it as if that might choke the painful memories of that time.

Toby wrinkled his nose glancing at the bay's entrance before looking over towards Gold. "Not the same smell." All magic didn't smell the same though there weren't really words in the english dictionary that would allow Toby to explain. He didn't know that many words in the english dictionary.

"You smell like you are maic."

It was the best way he could clarify.

"Indeed not, I suppose." It had been worth the attempt at any rate. He made note of the name, though given the world of his birth hadn't been too big on last names, the lack of one didn't phase him much. After all, until he'd become a citizen of Storybrooke, he hadn't had one himself.

"Mr. Gold. You could say, I am something of a magician. So perhaps that is why I smell like that." While his words in essence were honest, they were once again evasive in nature. There was no reason really for anyone to know about his curse here. The fewer people who knew, the less he'd have to worry about someone seeking to turn it to their advantage.

Toby arched an eyebrow that suggested that he didn't really believe him. Smells gave away more than people knew but he also knew not to test this man. If he really held magic so powerful then Toby didn't want to piss him off. He did however find it interesting, maybe later he'd learn more.

"Yeah maybe."

He wasn't the biggest conversationalist.

"Where are you from? Before here."

Gold appreciated when people knew when to not pry and mind their own business. He's not much for trivial conversation either, so they're two of a kind in that manner.

"I've been to multiple places before arriving here. The world I just came from was known as the Land of Untold Stories." If you want to actually know his birth world then you'll need to be a little more specific.

"Do all words have names like that?"

It sounded like it was hard to keep track of and given that he's never heard of a Land of Untold Stories he has no idea what Mr. Gold is talking about.

"Not all of them, but a few. There's the Land without Color, the Land without Magic, Neverland, and The Enchanted Forest." Though the last one was really more of a location within the world, the world itself didn't really have a name for itself as a whole as far as he was aware of. Though he knew that some in other countries called the Enchanted Forest by the name of Misthaven. And the Land without Magic, was in retrospect, not so much without magic as it had a different type of it.

"You might know the Land without Magic by the name its natives give it. Earth."

Edited 2016-07-30 04:51 (UTC)

"I come from a different Earth." Which had magic.

Toby didn't pretend he understood this other worlds thing but he got the feeling that there were infinite number of worlds.

"Which are you from originally?"

He gave a small lopsided smile at the question. Good lad, most learned in due time that when you wanted answers from him. Straight ones anyway, that you needed to be rather specific in what you desired to know. It was just a matter of how long it took people to figure that little bit out really.

"That would be the Enchanted Forest. Though I have visited all of the worlds I just named at some point in my life."

Toby was used to dealing with people who would answer half truths or leave things out. It was a product of him being a werewolf, it was hard to lie to him, but there were those who skirted that issue.

"You get around." The comment was gruff and slipped from his lips before he could stop it. "You use magic, can you find a way to travel world again?" Its a logical leap considering the smell coming from his skin and about as far as Toby can think ahead.

"I know of methods. However knowing how to travel worlds and actually traveling to them are two vastly different things."

That was something of a sore point with him to be honest. Given it had taken him nigh on two hundred years to get to the specific world he'd desired to get to when others had been able to get to it in far less time and with far less effort. He'd been fortunate to have Jefferson for traveling to other worlds as he'd been working on that goal of his.

Edited 2016-07-31 02:13 (UTC)

"How do you do it?"

He realized that it wasn't that simple but it never hurt to ask.

"That is a bit of a complicated subject. There are multiple ways one can travel. All of them involve magic. Some are rather simple, some rather complex, some only affect the traveler and some affect a great deal more."

He has no intentions on going into it in great detail without reason right now, but a general rundown was easily given.

Toby probably won't understand anyway.

"If you find a way..." He frowned. "I'll help." He wasn't much but Toby was a fighter and a tracker.

Now that was interesting. He kept his interest out of his expression, but to the observative eye, it no doubt came across regardless due to the subtle abrupt shift in his demeanor, almost as if a slumbering predator had woken up having scented an opportunity. A small smile graced his lips at the offer.

"If I find a way, you'll be the first I'll get in touch with. Is there a specific place you're wanting to get to?"

"Like anyone, home."

He had people he had to protect, he was in charge of that and he couldn't very well do it here. It mattered now more than ever. His demeanor didn't change with Golds however the stormy gray in his eyes shifted at the challenge. He knew what Gold was doing but he's fought instinct enough to ignore it.

This wasn't the play for a pissing contest.

Airy spent far too much time at the library. Today she was picking up a lot of books on aquaculture which turned out to be a trickier subject that she’d initially thought. There were a few mechanic books tossed on top of the very large stack making it difficult for the short brown haired girl to see.

If she could have seen she wouldn’t had tried to walk through the door at the same time as the man reading the city map. She also wouldn’t have dropped her books to the floor and stumbled backwards. She didn’t hit him hard but it was enough to throw her off. Books scattered around them while bright green eyes stared up at him in shock.

“I am so sorry!”

Airy jumped to her feet, perhaps a little too quickly, giving herself a head rush and then moved to Gold's side. “Did I hurt you? Can I help?” He didn’t look frail and she wasn’t sure if she ran into him or freaked out prior to that happening and just dropped everything. It was always bad when she lost her focus, even for a short minute.

Gold tucked the map away even as the young lady rushed to his side and began fussing. "Quite alright. No harm done." The words served to brush off both the need for more fussing and any blame that might be cast for the accident. If he hadn't been distracted himself, he might have saved them the collision.

As it was, he merely moved to begin helping to pick up the fallen books. The quicker the evidence of the accident was cleared up, the quicker the young lady could be on her way and he could return to his objective of seeking answers from the library.

"Oh, you don't have to..." She picked up a few of the books before looking over at him. "...help." Airy had to shake her head to get her thoughts to properly form into sentences. Once all the books were off the floor she took the ones that he had picked up.

"Thank you. I'm Airy by the way."

With her books balanced in one hand she pushed the curtain of wavy hair behind her shoulder. "Are you looking for something? I can help." She offers even with an arm full of books.

Edited 2016-07-11 00:21 (UTC)

"Mr. Gold. A pleasure to meet you, no matter the manner of it." The last part was spoken in a jesting manner. She reminded him a bit of someone else, someone he was trying to reunite with eventually.

"I'd appreciate the help. Perhaps you might direct me toward an aisle of books that might hold information about this place."

Airy's grin brightened at his introduction. "Mr.Gold. Cool name." She turned and shifted the books to one arms so she could point. She almost falls over again but managed to remain on her feet with the books safely balanced in her arms.

"It's over there and then there are some across the back wall but you can't see it from here." She had a lot of friends who worked in the library and spent to much time here.

Airy's head turned back towards gold, her bright hair falling in curls around her shoulders. "Anything else?"

Gold returned the grin, a bit of amusement coming through as she nearly lost her books again. "Thank you."

A certain voice cut into his thoughts as he considered the question, the confusion it caused decided his answer. "No. I'll be fine. Good luck getting to where you're going with that load." He turned away, with the intent to seek out the owner of the voice he'd heard. Surely it couldn't actually belong to whom he thought.

After the hell Jefferson had been through in recent days, it took him a lot of resolve to force himself to continue on with the routine he had taken so much time to calculate upon his own arrival. Back then he’d had no one and repetition was the only security he had to keep his mind occupied and away from breaking down into a whirling despair. Everyone always said repetition was the sign of madness, but it had been what kept him away from it. Then again, that might have been because he hadn’t been expecting different results aside from the stray selfish wish that he would one day see Grace in the many times per day that he passed the Bay.

Lately, however, his routine felt like a chore. A burden. Checking the Bay, going to work, checking the Bay again, mapping out the cities and trying to learn all that he could -- it did little to help ease his mind as it had before. Maybe he’d literally lost his head one too many times.

With his hat tipped to cover his eyes and hands buried deep within his coat pockets, the glance he stole at the area surrounding the Bay was a quick one. Much quicker than usual. His hope in seeing a certain girl there was diminished by the fact that he was weaker than ever and he knew he wasn’t strong enough to be the father she needed and deserved. Home was a much better place for her. Really, it always had been. He had complete intention of moving on, but a certain unmistakable silhouette made him stop in his tracks.

He couldn’t help but consider that he was seeing things. Hallucinating. Gone completely over the deep end. But if Belle was already around...

Jefferson took a few uncertain steps in the direction of the man, but stopped before he got too close. That was all he needed, though, for his suspicions to be confirmed. He had seen exactly what he thought he had. Rumpelstiltskin was there. In Genessia. How did he even feel about that? How would Belle feel? Most importantly, just what timeline had the Dark One come from?

There was only one way to find out the answer to at least one of those questions, but he didn’t know if he was ready for it. He knew that if nothing else he and Rumple had never been enemies. Even with broken up timelines, he couldn’t imagine that they ever would be. Their unique brands of eccentric had always lined up for a solid working relationship, but outside of that... things were shaky. All those years in Storybrooke and they’d never exchanged a word. Maybe a past so far gone wasn’t a good basis for the present, but he didn’t have anything else to go by. It would have to work.

He pushed his hat up and approached casually with his arms behind his back, forcing himself to act as he always had in hopes of both garnering a good response and as a way to masquerade as a man much more confident than he really was.

“You know, I’ve always thought those maps were severely lacking.” His tone was leisurely and he gave Rumple a curious smile as if nothing at all were out of the ordinary.

Gold heard the voice and turned to look in the direction it had come from. A small, slightly lopsided smile came to his lips upon the sight that met his eyes.

"Are they? Little wonder they give them away for free then." He replied with good humor as he moved to fold the thing up so he could put it away. Of all the familiar faces he might have been greeted by from home, Jefferson was one he was glad to see.

He could be a good ally to have in this strange world and possibly he might get some of his questions answered. He still owed Jefferson for his actions just before the curse breaking, letting Belle go so they could reunite. Perhaps he could finally find a way and the time to repay that debt off while here.

"How long have you been here, if I might ask?"

A smile was a good sign. He'd take it.

His behavior made Jefferson wonder even more about timelines. The last he'd seen of the other man he had been off to Neverland with an uncertain probability of returning. Some time had passed since then and his own arrival in Genessia, so he could only assume that he'd made it out of that mess alive. For the sake of his own sanity he would assume the same of everyone else who had made the journey, even if he wasn't particularly keen on what he knew of the pirate.

What little he got out of Belle made it seem as if Rumpelstiltskin had taken a turn for the worst, but if first impressions meant anything as he liked to think they did, things definitely weren't adding up. Was he from a time beyond Belle's future, even? A future where he had returned to trying to walk a better path?

Maybe he shouldn't speculate so much when the answers were right in front of him.

"Two months, one week, four days. I think?" He brought his fingers forward, seemingly recounting something. It only resulted in him squinting. "I think lost a few days. That might be off."

The length of time stated earned a bit of a raised eyebrow. Though given how much he's been through himself in the same length of time, it's entirely possible that Jefferson's been missing from town and no one bothered to notice. He's already well aware of how narrow sighted the so called hero's can be if it doesn't concern them or their family. It's partially their lack of concern or care that saved him from feeling any real guilt or regret over the deal with Hyde.

If they hadn't thrown his wife to the wolves to save their own hides, then he wouldn't have sought the man out to retrieve her from him. Therefore they deserved to reap what they'd sowed with Hyde.

Of course, the length of time also made it all that more possible that Jefferson could indeed answer his questions. "Perhaps you could answer a few questions of mine?"

Had he not been aware of the standstill of time, Jefferson would have unquestionably believed that his presence would have remained unnoticed with the singular exception of his daughter. Part of that was his own fault with as big of a recluse as he'd become, but it was still uncomfortable to realize that almost no one would have cared if he had up and disappeared.

Jefferson didn't hold disdain for Emma or her tag team short of Regina, but he also knew that he didn't really belong in Storybrooke. That was one thing that hadn't changed even after the curse was broken.

He could have never begun to imagine how different things and people would become in the town's future.

"I'll try." He raised his own eyebrows, shrugging. "I've learned a fair amount."

Gold pulled the jeweled neck piece from the pocket he'd stashed it in a pocket to reveal it to the other man. "What can you tell me about these? Are they as harmless as it's claimed? Simply identification or is there more to them than that?"

Jefferson would have to forgive him his suspicions if he didn't hold them himself. Trust was still something he didn't give lightly. Be it a person or a situation. He'd been bitten one too many times by misplacing it.

"Is there a purpose to the kidnappings or do you think it's more akin to an unfortunate accident?"

"I can't tell you a whole lot, unfortunately." Jefferson leaned a bit closer to inspect it but stood up straight again after only a few seconds. "All I can say besides what you already know is that some people have different colors. Ours are exactly the same. What significance any of that holds is beyond my knowing so far."

He didn't bother to show his off. He preferred it buried under his scarf and out of sight where it was easier to forget about. Gold would know he had no reason to lie about a situation neither of them had an advantage in. Lies were a bad thing to reestablish a relationship with regardless of what form it would end up taking.

"I'm skeptical to believe it's accidental." Some people seemed to hold on to that belief, but he'd dropped it pretty quickly. "There are too many people from the same worlds here. You showing up is just more proof."

He wasn't sure if he had the right to mention Belle or not.

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[Open] World hopping...again.

Library

no subject

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Bay exit [Genessia]

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Library [Genessia]

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Bay Exit

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