TEST DRIVE #6 - The Bridge and Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 01. Ten Forward: The first thing you see is a bar. A large, lively bar filled with many different faces and many different smells, sights and sounds. This is Ten Forward, the Enterprise's off-duty lounge; feel free to get acquainted with your fellow travelers and try to find somebody who's in charge: this is your new home now, after all...





Option 02. The Bridge: Well, aren't you a lucky duck? You've found yourself in hallowed quarters. Wherever you were before, you're not there anymore. Now you're in a room that could be some kind of command center or control room; there's a captain's chair flanked by seats for his chief officers, computer panels and stations at each interior wall, and before you a broad viewscreen that shows the wide expanse of space rushing towards you. Have you ever wanted to be a starship captain for a day? Well, here's your chance. Feel free to roam around, but try not to touch anything shiny.


[OOC: The Bridge isn't usually available for in-game posts, so if you've ever wanted to play there, here's your chance!]

Comments

[chippedvaliance]

He grew up. Of course he did, but people don't just age a good thirty or forty years in one go. She purses her lips a touch until her mentions Emma and Killian. It is true that those two brought Marion home even though they weren't supposed to. Belle stays quiet scrutinizing the man in front of him. She was trying to picture his face next to Henry's, trying to find some sort of resemblance but her mind was far from that at the moment. At the very least she lowers the dagger to her side, no longer holding it offensively.

"Well you are from Storybrooke." She says, finally. She still isn't sure how much she believes that he's Henry. "But what do you mean you haven't seen me? I shouldn't be dead yet if you're just older."

[darkestbeliever]

And that was the awkward part. "I'm older than I look." He paused and shrugged. "Magic." He hoped she'd leave it at the, at least for the moment.

With the dagger down, he took a step closer and managed a glimpse at the name etched within it. He couldn't read it but he saw the length which meant it had to Gold's. Not his.

"So what are you doing with Grandpa's dagger out?"

[chippedvaliance]

Magic, huh? That seems to be the cause of all the troubles. Belle's expression betrays her completely when it falls into something between guilt and resentment. "I'm--" She doesn't want to trust this person, even if they are Henry. Could she live with having just another secret to hide? She buried Anna in her memories for so long that she had almost forgotten about it.

Why is she even considering doing such a thing again. "I had it in my hand when I appeared here." She is a terrible liar and it probably shows. She isn't holding the dagger for no reason. "I was. . looking at a mirror before this." There, that's not a complete lie. Maybe she isn't telling the whole story but at least she said some of it.

At least she doesn't have to mention how she just shattered her true love's trust. She looks away.

[darkestbeliever]

"Mirror...mirror..." Henry muttered, racking his brains for when that was important. It took him a long way back. Back to the very beginning of the time when she'd worn that ring. Once he got there, he snapped his fingers.

"Snow Queen. That's when you're from. No wonder you had his dagger." No wait, that was the time when Gold had given her the fake. Not something to mention. "It's going to be okay. You and Grandpa are together until you died. Whatever you did, didn't affect your relationship."

He hopes that makes her feel better.

[chippedvaliance]

The snap makes her jump a little. She chews at her bottom lip, trying not to look more guilty than she already does. She doesn't realize she had is shaking like a leaf and the dagger clambers to the ground. A few tears rush down her face but she wipes them away quickly, bending down to pick it back up. "No it's not okay." She gets out finally. "I hurt him and he shouldn't want to be with me." It doesn't necessarily make her feel any better that they're together until she dies. She doesn't deserve him anymore because she's just like everyone else. "Oh I shouldn't even have this." She haphazardly climbs back to her feet. "How could he ever forgive me for something like this?" If he knows that much, then maybe he already knows what she's done. Either way she isn't doing a stellar job filling in the blanks in her emotion state.

[darkestbeliever]

"Because he loves you. And when you look at the grand scheme of things, he's done a lot more bad stuff." Henry shrugged and stepped forward again, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You can't blame yourself for every little thing. You're not perfect. No one is. You just human." Until Henry at this point but she didn't need to know that.

[chippedvaliance]

Yes in the grand scheme of things his sins are far worse than hers but she swore to herself she would never wrong him. Not after what happened with Zelena. "I don't have to be perfect." She replies softly. "But I don't want to be a coward anymore." Especially not one weak enough to take advantage of her own husband. She still can't bring herself to look him in the eyes. She's just floundering at the moment. "Rumpel deserves better than that." She lets out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be dumping any of this onto you."

[darkestbeliever]

"Don't worry about. We're family. And I would never call you a coward. You're so strong. I mean, look at you. You worry over the littlest things because of your love for Rumplestiltskin. No one else could do that. And I know if he was here, he'd say that he doesn't deserve you."

He continues his smile and speech. "I think to him, you are perfect."

[chippedvaliance]

She finally looks up at him with a sad smile. Hesitantly, she reaches up to touch his face. That gesture is moreso to make sure he's real then secondly it's affectionate. "You know you remind me of him a little which is strange since I guess we're just your grandparents. Well, he's your grandfather anyway." She never quite was a mother to Neal, and even if he says their family she still doesn't think she ever made it to being called anything like Nana. The idea amuses her however. She's way too young for that. "Thanks." She draws her hand back. "I hope he forgives me like you said."

[darkestbeliever]

"You're never just anything. You're my grandmother. And you always will be." The smile widens when she touches him, seemingly believing him now.

"I know he does. I know he will. He loves you and he never stopped." Oh shit, past tense. Will she realise he's dead too? Quick, change the subject! "Why don't we find somewhere else to sit and have a drink and catch up?"

[chippedvaliance]

It helps that he has such intimate knowledge of Rumpel. She would expect the two of them to get closer over time once Henry started to see Gold as his grandfather. She just never expected to be seen as grandmother even if she was married to Gold. When it came to family matters she often felt like the odd one out, but it didn't trouble her very much. She knew she wanted to be there in any capacity she could be but she's been displaced most of her life. It wouldn't have hurt her feelings if Henry hadn't ended up considering her family. "You're very sweet." She snickers. "Charming even." Oh the puns. See, she doesn't catch the past tense. He already mentioned that she died so she just assumed he meant that Gold didn't stop loving her after that. "Sure, though I still have no idea where we are or where would even get a drink." She finally takes a good look around the room. "I don't think I've ever seen a place like this before." She tucks the dagger away in her jacket for now, and moves toward the door. Some of the buttons are label. Technology is not her forte. "I'm not even sure where to start. They're labeled as decks." Whatever that means.

[darkestbeliever]

Henry chuckles. That pun was awful but he loved it. "Well, I have been told I take after both grandfathers in different ways."

Moving over to the obvious doors, he pressed the button and they opened. "We can but try." Going inside however, there were no buttons in the usual place. Not wanting to use magic on something he had idea about, he looked around for something different. There was a panel on the wall but again, he wasn't sure he wanted to play about with it. "How do you work?" He muttered.

[chippedvaliance]

"That's an understatement." If she wanted to be truthful he made her nervous in some ways. Why? Well he isn't just charming he's gorgeous. She'd be lying if she said his smiles didn't make her heart flutter in a bashful sort of way. After all she's only human as he said. Still, she thinks it's probably illegal to have such great genes. He must be very popular with the ladies. At least he doesn't sound much like Rumpel when it comes to voice. That would make this five times worse for her. She's his grandmother for crying out loud. She follows through. Obviously it's an elevator. If the buttons are unlabeled. . ."Let me try." She glances up a bit. "What are they called--right--Computer?" But where does she ask it to go. "The lounge area?" When it responds back with a confirmation her smiles widens. Ten Forward. Deck 10 "I'm surprised you couldn't guess." She teases. "I saw you reading all those comics from time to time."

[darkestbeliever]

He chuckled again and let her have a look. Impressed that she made it work, the turbolift started moving and he gave her an eyebrow raise at the teasing.

"This isn't comic book material. You know there's a difference between science and magic. This is like science and superheroes are like magic. Completely different."

Besides, being into comic books did not mean you were into science fiction. And this looked very science fiction. But he was glad she was accepting his identity more readily now. It helped.

[chippedvaliance]

"You never know. I never did get my hands on any of those. I figured it was too much to ask when Rumpel had already given me a library." That took her several years to get through all of the material. Even for a small library and it quiet the selection and she had plans to expand it but life is Storybrooke was never cohesive with that. Events happened one right after the other and it made it hard to find any down time.

"There's only a difference for people who can't use magic." She raises a brow. "Didn't you say you had some now?"

[darkestbeliever]

"Oh you did in my time." He winked, remembering the events fondly, but the smile faltered slightly at the mention of magic. He really didn't want to have to explain his current magical status to Belle of all people.

"Er, yeah. I do." Luckily the doors opened at the moment and Henry stepped out, looking around. "This way?"

[chippedvaliance]

She giggled some herself, idly carding a hand through wavy hair. The change in tone is something she catches but she isn't sure why it bothers her. Can he not control his powers right now? Elsa had that issue when she had harsh emotional reaction to something.

"If we get lost we can always ask someone." She assumes if this the deck with a lounge there will be more people around. "And I'm sorry." She adds. "I didn't mean to pry." It's unknown to her why it makes him uncomfortable but the least she can do is not make it any worse.

"Why don't we try this hallway?" She heads in that direction. Is anything on this ship labelled? She hopes so. It's terrible to navigate through halls that all look the same.

[darkestbeliever]

Henry nods but feels bad that she's apologised when she did nothing wrong. He sighs softly and explains. "It's okay. I'm just not used to you seeing me with magic. It's complicated." He had no doubts that she would hate him if he told her the truth.

He nods again and follows her down a hallway. "Hey. I can hear people this way." And at last, they had found the lounge!

[chippedvaliance]

"Rumpel's had magic for as long as I've known him. I'm not, strictly speaking, new to it. I wouldn't judge you if that's what you're getting at." It's hard to judge anyone when she'd married to the Dark One. Ah the Ten Forward lounge. Talk about a sight to see with different species intermingling together. Some dressed in Starfleet uniforms and some more casually. Wait are those aliens or are those costumes? One thing gets answered when they enter the lounge in light of the huge curved windows close to some of the tables. "Um, Henry." She blinks. "I don't think we'll be getting back to anywhere we're familiar with any time soon." Are those stars out there? This is pretty sophisticated if it's just an airplane but she gets the feeling that it isn't.

[darkestbeliever]

"I'm...pretty sure...you would." He said sadly but then he noticed the stars and his eyes widened. This was bad. Cool. But bad.

Walking slowly towards the windows, he looked out into space. Belle was right. There was no way to get home from here. Not by their own means. He let out a deep breath and headed instead for the bar. He needed a drink.

[chippedvaliance]

She trails after. She doesn't know why she's sad all of a sudden. This should be exciting they're in space! Why doesn't she see it that way.

"How did we get in space?"

It's normal to pass from the Land of No Magic to anywhere else such as the Enchanted Forest, or Neverland but--this just seemed far-fetched.

"Better yet where are we going?"

[darkestbeliever]

Henry asks the bartender for something with alcohol in it since he had no idea how things worked here. And he couldn't really answer Belle's question with any certainty either.

"No idea." He shrugged, appearing not phased by the situation.

[chippedvaliance]

Belle doesn't bother to ask for anything. She just slips into a chair at an empty table. "It'd be nice if people started to ask before ripping people from one world to the next." He's taking this rather well which is even stranger. It makes her question if he's been here before.

[darkestbeliever]

Henry sips at the drink he got. It doesn't have the same kick but it works as a distraction and that's the main reason he got it.

"I agree. But where's the fun in that for the bad guys?"

[chippedvaliance]

"They have more willing victims?" She tries to make that sound better but it doesn't work. Belle sighs. "I could use a break from being a part of other people's plans." A slight frown but it doesn't stay for long. "Can I ask you about your life?" Her tone a little timid. "I'd like to know, but only if you want to share. Since we're stuck here I figure we have all the time in the world."