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.


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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

[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.