TEST DRIVE #10 - Cetacean Pool and Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

#1

Option 001. Cetacean Pool/Aquatics Lab: Of all the places in the world, you open your eyes and you find yourself in a medium-sized aquatics laboratory, filled with various living specimens along with various science officers bustling about trying to maintain order. There's much to explore here (and hopefully, in the crew's opinion, not break), but the main attraction is the large pool at the far end of the lab; enormous but tanklike in appearance, it contains several dolphins happily swimming about, seemingly without a care in the world.


2

Option 002. Aboard the Enterprise, Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, and now you're on a spaceship, in the middle of a crowded room. It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward a long bar with barstools and a bartender, tables sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but windows out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

[goldencobra]

Henry nodded. "Yup. It's pretty cool. We're not the only ones either. There's people from Storybrooke but also people from so many other worlds. It's just a shame we forget when we go home."

He pondered for a moment. "You could find a lot of work here, Doctor."

[contocricket]

"There's no need to go fishing for clients for me," Archie weakly joked. "Especially if I'll only end up forgetting them if I get home."

[goldencobra]

"You should ask Ezri. She's been fishing around in my head the way I'd expect you to even since I got here. Though, I was a different person back then. I've grown up a lot."

That would more likely confuse the man than anything else but Henry couldn't think of anything better to say. He wanted to stay clear of the timelines for as long as possible.

[contocricket]

"I can't argue with that. Last time I saw you, you were a bit younger. Why is that?"

[goldencobra]

Henry sighed. He had to now, didn't he? "Well, sometimes we don't come here from the same point in time that others did. What can you tell me about the events that had happened in Storybrooke before you left?"

[contocricket]

An alternate timeline? Like what Hook and Emma might've changed when they went back to the past? Or was this Henry just from his own future?

Ugh, he was barely thinking about it, and time travel made his head hurt.

"Ah, well, a lot's happened. Um, your mother--your adoptive mother--had asked me to take you as a patient because she was worried about you seeing her as the Evil Queen from Snow White's story and that the town was under a curse which actually was the truth," Archie explained slowly, watching Henry for a reaction. "Emma broke the curse when she woke you from the Sleeping Curse Regina accidentally put you under when you ate an apple turnover intended for Emma. She and Mary Margaret were sent back to the Enchanted Forest for a while and Gold and Regain brought magic back to Storybrooke, and you, Gold, and Emma even found Gold's son Neal, your father.

"Later on you were captured and taken to Neverland. Both of your mothers got you back with Hoo-Killian's help along with Gold and Neal, but Gold ended up getting killed by Pan and everyone was sent back to the Enchanted Forest for a year except you and Emma. Because you were born in the Land Without Magic, you couldn't go back, so Regina cast a spell to change you and Emma's memories to believe that Emma had never given you up. We ended up coming back to Storybrooke with no memories of that year because of a second dark curse which was cast by your grandparents to bring us back in order to stop the Wicked Witch. The Witch, Zelena, had tampered with it so we wouldn't remember and she could cast a spell to go back and change the past."

He ran a hand through his hair and picked up his drink, freezing as he remembered it was alcohol and setting it back down. Now wasn't the time for that.

"Killian got Emma to remember but there wasn't enough memory potion for both of you. However, Regina managed to break the second curse and restore your memories. She also managed to stop Zelena. Unfortunately Neal died because he brought back Gold, and the price was his life. Then we had friends from the kingdom of Arendelle end up stuck with us for a while because of the Snow Queen, and...well...things were calm for a while, but Ursula and Cruella are now in town...and they brought back Maleficent."

[goldencobra]

Henry stared at Archie as the cricket poured out the information. Some of it he knew but there was a lot that he didn't. Before he could say anything else, Henry opened his bag and pulled out a pencil and a notebook. After checking it was the correct one, for there were many in the bag, he started jotting down notes on what he's heard. If Archie cared to look at the scribblings, they would probably look like nonsense, but Henry had been making notes for so long now that he had his own version of shorthand.

After several pages worth of notes, Henry forced himself to stop and calm down. The part about his father dying (either of them) had raised his heartbeat considerably and he needed to get more information before anything else.

Once his breathing steadied, he found he had enough brain power to say four words. "Yeah...that didn't happen." It was too broad and incorrect but it would have to do.

[contocricket]

"Henry?" Archie called softly as the boy scribbled away. The words on the page didn't make sense but it was easy enough to guess that he was trying to take notes on what Archie knew.

"What's wrong? What'd I say?"

Something he'd said had upset the young man, and whether or not this was his Henry didn't mean that Archie wanted to hurt him.

[goldencobra]

Henry paused again, flicking through his notes, before looking up at Archie. Brace yourself, Doc.

"First thing, I'm not the Henry you know. I figured that out instantly since I've never had a session with you in my life. I'm not Henry Mills, I'm Henry Gold. Raised by Mr Gold aka Rumplestiltskin. There's only a few small differences between our timelines despite the different adopted parentage until we get to the point where Cora dies. In your timeline, I believe that was Mary Margaret, my grandmother, but in my timeline it was me." He didn't dwell on that though.

"Things must have happened relatively the same after that since I was captured by Pan and I was rescued by my family and Hook." He was not calling him Killian.

"But Dad did not die. Neal isn't dead either. No one went back to the Enchanted Forest." He decided not to mention the wedding just yet, considering the reaction he got from both Emma and Hook.

"This Zelena might turn up eventually, but she hasn't yet." As for the Snow Queen, he would file that under older memories and talk to his father about it later.

[contocricket]

With Gold as Henry's adoptive parent in place of Regina, that definitely explained the sharp difference in how both Henrys addressed Archie. It really stung, to be honest.

All he could think of to say was "Ah."

[goldencobra]

Not sure where to go from there. Henry used one hand to look through and continue his notes slightly more legible and the other to scratch Pongo behind the ears.

[contocricket]

"I'm sorry I upset you," Archie apologized after a moment or two.

[goldencobra]

"It's okay. It was just a lot of information to process all at once." And he'll need to go away and process it some more before asking additional questions.

[contocricket]

"I'm sorry. I made a bad assumption based on your age. I thought you'd already been through all that."

[goldencobra]

"I'm only eleven. Though my birthday isn't far off." He paused over some of the notes.

"So...this other Henry and you...you were friends?" Was this a difference in the timeline that was worse because of his different parentage? He knew there had to be some, he just hadn't found any yet.

[contocricket]

"Unfortunately in Storybrooke nowadays, at lot happens in a short amount of time," Archie admitted.

He nodded. "Yeah. I mean, you were my patient but you thought of me as your friend."

He remembered how his Henry had flung himself at him to hug him when he'd seemingly returned to life. That and both of them admitting how much they'd missed each other after his Henry had gotten his memory back.

If it didn't potentially breach doctor-patient rules, Archie would've been tempted to think of Henry as, in essence, his third son.

[goldencobra]

Henry nodded sadly. "Yeah. It's rather annoying. I'm glad we got enough time for the wedding." Oops. That slipped out. Oh well.

"How long was I...he...a patient for? If I'm allowed to ask." He knew about doctor-patient confidentiality but did that extend to other versions of the same self?

[contocricket]

"How are you and Belle getting along?" Archie asked, automatically assuming that the marriage was between Gold and Belle.

"Not long after you...my Henry...got the book, he started believing that his mother was the Evil Queen and was out to get everyone..." Archie shook his head. "A few years total, but he doesn't see much of me anymore."

It hurts a lot, actually.

[goldencobra]

"I only met her once, when she turned up here. And it didn't end well. She's...er...dead...back home." Yup, not looking at you for that part.

He nods at the answer, wanting a change of subject but not able to find one.