TEST DRIVE #2 - The Holodeck/Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

Where were you a minute ago? Well, you aren't there anymore. Instead, you're standing in a very large, dark room lined with yellow. There are doors at either end of it.

Here's where things get a little choose your own adventure-y. You could:



1: Approach a console filled with buttons, located a few feet away. Press one, and it'll let you out of the room. Travel down a long hallway and you'll be in Ten Forward, the Enterprises' entertainment lounge. Have a drink, mingle and try to figure out why you're here.

OR

2: Maybe you just muttered some vague request under your breath. Maybe you wished aloud you were somewhere else. Or for help? If you did, might be in a fire station. Muttered something about killing whoever dumped you here? Surprise - you're in a slasher movie!

Though they're confusing, these visions feel about as real as they can be. And guess what - other people can experience those fantasies with you, as if they too were really there. How ever will you escape? Or do you want to?

[OOC: Welcome to the Holodeck! If you choose this option, whatever your character chooses to say out loud will cause a virtual reality program to load and play. While your character feels as if what they're experiencing and seeing is quite real, they're purely living through the latest and best in what he Enterprise has to offer in entertainment. Make sure to detail what your character's fantasy is, so that those threading with them will know how to react.

Open til next month's test drive!]

Comments

[magicsprice]

Though it had taken quite some time to get used to the ship and how it operated, Gold had managed it finally to a degree. While he still wasn't all that trusting of the replicators, he did come to appreciate the things called 'holodecks'. While it had been explained to be nothing but the work of a machine tricking the mind into believing what you saw was real, it still felt a bit like magic. Like he was playing out a waking dream. Like all magic of course, it held a price. But to play out the dreams he'd held onto so long, the price was one he was all too willing to pay. Grief and regret were something akin to an old friend to him by now anyway.

After he'd stepped inside the room though, he abruptly realized he should have paid attention to if the room was already in use or not. The castle looks far too familiar for his comfort and he's left to wonder if someone hadn't accidentally stumbled onto one of the programs he's had saved for his personal use. Though needless to say, when he spots the boy with the book and backpack he's a bit taken back by the sight. If this was the program he'd thought it was, having Henry in it looking as he does before him, is a bit of an oddity.

[goldencobra]

Upon hearing the door to the holodeck, Henry placed the book aside and looked up just as the arch was disappearing. Upon seeing who had entered, he grinned and ran towards the man, giving him a very tight hug.

"Dad!"

And suddenly nothing else mattered. He wasn't alone any more. And despite their differences, arguments or whatever else had happened recently, Henry was glad his father was here. It didn't matter they weren't in Storybrooke because they were together again. And together they could do anything.

[magicsprice]

If Gold had been confused previous, the man was downright dumbstruck at the shout and abruptly being embraced tightly by the boy. For the first several seconds after the arms locked about him in the tight hug, he could do nothing but stare at Henry.

When he was finally capable of speech, he didn't speak to the boy. No his words were directed to the machine that controlled the room. "Computer. Shut this bloody thing off. Now."

If there was a bit of irritation lacing the words, he believed himself the only one capable of hearing it. He only had one son and he very well knew that Henry was his grandson and not his son. He didn't know what sort of glitch had caused this, but hopefully it didn't repeat itself in the future. The programs he did have saved had taken him far too long to actually make for him to delete and start over from scratch with them again.

[goldencobra]

Upon hearing that particular tone from the man's voice, Henry pulled back and watched the castle disappear from around them, leaving only the two of them as Henry's belongings to be seen amongst the chequered lines.

"What did you do that for? I'd only just started it up." As if by magic, all the relief disappeared and Henry looked annoyed. Not bothering to curb his tongue in front of the man and not understanding why his father was irritated in the first place.

[magicsprice]

Gold had to do a bit of a double take at the boy after that question was put to him. The boy should have vanished with the castle. Yet, somehow he was still here and he was still holding onto him. He stared silently for a good second before swallowing and managing to once again find his voice, though the words were perhaps a touch more shaken than he cared for.

"You're not a hologram....why did you call me dad? I'm not your father."

[goldencobra]

Henry looked as confused as Gold had only a moment ago. Not only did that not answer his question, but it raised a lot more as well.

"Oh...um...Sorry mister." He pulled back. "Guess there's people in space that can look like people you knew back home." He turned to go back to his things, his stomach feeling nauseous because he'd thought for a moment that everything was going to be okay.

(comment 555 lol)

[magicsprice]

"What is your name?" He had thought he knew the answer to that, but with the boy's outcry of 'Dad!' and the raised point of the possibility of look-a-likes, he was doubting that now. The very least he could do was to try making amends with the boy. Perhaps answer the questions he no doubt had about ending up here in this strange place.

"You can call me Gold. I can try to answer any questions you might have about being here instead of where you were last, if you like."

[goldencobra]

There was an abrupt turn at the name and the boy stared back. "I'm Henry!" He cried out and walked the few paces back, his brain in overdrive. "What's your other name?" It was the first idea that came to his mind. Probably not the best question to check if his man was Gold but the name he was looking for wouldn't be said so easily.

[magicsprice]

Okay, he was back to confused again. He wondered idly if it was possible for someone to suffer mental whiplash from being thrown so much within such a short amount of time.

"The fact that you know to ask that of me, suggests you already know the answer to it. Or perhaps you just know currently that I have a second name, but not yet what it is?"

He debated briefly on if he should share it or not, but given the boy might already know it regardless, there may be little reason to refrain from giving it.

"Rumpelstiltskin."

[goldencobra]

That name cemented it in Henry's mind. "It is you!" But he was still confused. "But why would say you're not my dad?" His face was fixed on his father's and wished he could see into the man's head. He couldn't think of any reason why he'd be disowned considering how often Gold told Henry he loved him. Just as much as Bae, he'd said. And yet here was saying he wasn't his father. It absolutely made no sense.

[magicsprice]

Gold frowned quietly at the question. "Because I only have one son. Baelfire. However, you are my grandson."

[goldencobra]

That first sentence hit Henry so hard he didn't hear the second. It was his greatest fear ever since he'd learnt the truth and the impact was clear on his face. He was scared and upset and angry and everything in between.

"No!" He yelled, running up to push both hands on Gold's chest. "You promised!" It was only then that he looked down and noticed the lack of shadow and it made him pull back again. "Wh-What happened to you?"

[magicsprice]

"Henry. You're not making any sense. I'll tell you what... you tell me what you're talking about and I'll tell you what happened to me prior my arrival here. All right?"

It would be hard and a little painful to speak of his time on the island, but if it helped to straighten this mess out, he'd deal with the unpleasantness.

[goldencobra]

The deal barely it made it though but after a moment, Henry nodded even though when he spoke, his voice was still raised and higher than it should be.

"You're my dad. You raised me instead of Regina. I was on my way to get Emma to break the curse and then I wound up here." His breathing was also laboured. He was so emotional over that statement that Gold had only one son and he wasn't about to calm down in a hurry.

[magicsprice]

If he'd thought the boy was done with flooring him with his actions, he was proven wrong with that little explanation. He couldn't help but stare speechless for a good several seconds before finally speaking again.

"I'm not your Gold then, as strange as it seems." It was the only explanation he could think of unless someone had been playing with the boy's memories. But why would someone make the boy think that he of all people had raised him?

"I didn't raise you. Regina did. I'm your grandfather, not your father. Before I arrived here, I was working with both your mothers, your actual father, your grandmother and other grandfather to rescue you from...from my own father. The reason I don't have a shadow right now is due to me removing it so it couldn't be used against me while I sought to rescue you." And also to get the dagger out of the game so to speak until he actually needed it once again, but that he'd keep to himself.

[goldencobra]

Not his Gold? What did that mean? But it seemed as though he was getting a small explanation. And this time he listened to everything that was said. And he was floored by the revelations it gave.

If Gold was his grandfather, then Baelfire had to his father. And that meant Pan was related to him too. The nightmare of the flying menace he'd had after learning about him came to the forefront of his mind and he took yet another step back managing not to scream. The idea of meeting Pan scared him so much, he couldn't even comprehend needing to be saved from him. And he wasn't even going to touch the idea of the shadow.

Not able to speak to reply, and not several paces away from the man, Henry felt like he wanted to curl up into a corner and cry. It was all too much and he was too frightened to do anything but stand there looking it.

[magicsprice]

Part of him cursed himself for upsetting the boy once again. He should have just left off with explaining his relationship with the boy. But he had promised in not so many words that he'd tell him what he'd been up to prior to his arrival if Henry cleared up his own confusion as best he knew how.

Part of him wondered if it wouldn't have been better to try pretending to be the man Henry called father, but even as he considered the idea he knew better than to do more than merely consider it. He would fail if he tried that he suspected and to have pretended and let the boy learn he wasn't the man he believed him to be would have been more cruel than this surely.

"Henry? It's alright. No one can hurt you here." He wouldn't allow it. This may not be the grandson he knew, but he was still his grandson regardless. He would not allow anyone to harm the boy if he was capable of preventing it.

"I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm sorry." Inasmuch as he wanted to move and offer some form of comfort, he wasn't certain if he should or if stepping closer would just make the situation worse than it was already. Thus he remained where he stood, looking pained and regretful.

[goldencobra]

He didn't know what to say or think. This was his dad but it wasn't his dad. And this man had tried to save him from Pan at a point in his life just before his arrival here. Baelfire, the boy he had despised and feared for so long, was also his father. But wait? If this Gold wasn't his dad, maybe Baelfire wasn't either back home. Maybe that was just in his world. Whatever world that was.

The idea calmed him slightly, even if it turned out to be wrong, and he finally nodded at the man's words. After a long pause where he finally got his breathing under control, he managed to speak.

"Wa-Wasn't you." It was more a mutter than anything else. "Pan..." He was trying to say the real reason for his fear but the words didn't want to come out. So he tried something else. "You...magic? Dagger?"

[magicsprice]

The fact Henry knew one of his father's names without being told, and given the already established time frame for the boy gave him new questions. However, given how badly he'd reacted to mentioning his father previous, he'd wait for now in asking the boy how he knew of the name.

For the time being, Gold turned his attention to the questions he was being asked which just raised even more questions beyond the issue of his father's name.

"I have magic here, yes. However, the dagger isn't here."

Fortunately for him really that it wasn't. He wasn't all that inclined to try summoning his shadow back to him here. Given what had taken place prior to his arrival, he might not even be capable of summoning it to him. It was entirely possible should he be returned to the moment he'd been taken, or even returned period despite the passage of time, he'd find himself once again prisoner within Pandora's Box.

"How is it that you know of my dagger?"

[goldencobra]

The fact that the man before him had magic almost made Henry take yet another step backwards. But instead, he turned and walked away towards his bag and book, picking up the latter and thumbing through it to the correct page and finally walking back to where Gold still stood.

He handed the book to the man and stepped back, waiting to see his reaction. There on the open page was a picture of a dagger bearing the name Rumplestiltskin. And if Gold bothered to turn the page he would see the same image from a different angle and therefore the man's face. A further page turn would show the face covered in some strange scaled skin. The Dark One.

Henry still hadn't found his voice yet so he was glad to show Gold the answer instead. It seemed obvious to the boy but he didn't realise this book held different pictures and information to the one in the world which the man had come from.