mr. gold pawnbroker & antiquities dealer

[sticktomybooks]

Belle is dusting the shop. Rumple has such a lovely collection but he only occasionally remembers to clean it. Having started, she can see why he avoids the task- there's all sorts of small, delicate pieces that accumulate just horrific amounts of dust- but she refuses to let that stop her. The shop is entirely too dusty, and she is going to fix it.

It's something to do, at least. She doesn't need to be in the library for another hour or so, and Rumple's gone off somewhere again. She suspects he's getting her a present again. She keeps telling him he doesn't need to buy her things, she loves him just the same, but the fact that he thinks to buy her gifts makes her so happy she hasn't really made him stop.

She's free, she's found Rumple, he loves her, she loves him. Life is good. And right now, at this second- this shop is going to be spotless.

She moves onto the next piece, humming to herself in contentment.

Comments

[blooded_poet]

"These will do fine," shrugs Lynn. "Thank you."

[done_reading]

"You're not leaving town, it probably don't matter much," Henry shrugs, clearly not really caring. "Maybe just if you want something to change into. So, hey, do you know where they're going? Why's my mom going too?"

[made_not_born]

"Well then, you're all set," Regina says, smiling. It's an actual real smile this time- Henry!- as she leads Lynn back to Emma. Henry Henry Henry.

[darkest_evening]

"Lynn is good at finding things," explains Adarin. "She is finding something for Rumplestiltskin, and Emma's helping because she owes Rumplestiltskin a favor and Lynn would be utterly lost in a foreign plane on her own."

[blooded_poet]

Lynn fits the clothes reasonably well (they're a bit big on her, but not too bad) and doesn't fit in any of Regina's shoes - she sticks with her own, which look a little rustic, but not noticeably so.

"Thank you," she says, sincerely.

[done_reading]

Henry scowls at 'owes Rumplestiltskin a favor', but then brightens. "Oh! It's Baelfire, right? Rumplestiltskin's son? The Book said he went to a land without magic, I bet that's here!"

[darkest_evening]

Sloooow blink. Oh, he's one of those children. The ones that get into everything. And now he's talking to the one person who, after five hundred years, is still pretty terrible at lying. Great.

"The book? Emma mentioned a book earlier, is that the one you're talking about? What's in it, besides, presumably, Baelfire and Rumplestiltskin?"

[done_reading]

"Everybody! See, the Evil Queen cast a curse, to send everyone from the Enchanted Forest to our world. So all the people we think are from stories are real! And Emma's my mom, and she's the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and she saved everyone from the curse with True Love." He sighs. "Isn't she great?"

[darkest_evening]

"She seemed all right when I met her. I'm sorry - 'True Love'?"

[done_reading]

"Yeah," Henry says, with a strong overtone of duh. "True Love is the strongest magic there is. My mom wanted Emma to leave, and Emma didn't believe me about the curse, so my mom almost got her to eat a magic apple. But I knew what it was, because of The Book! So I ate it, to prove it to her, but then I fell asleep instead. So she kissed me on the forehead, and True Love broke the spell, and the curse. So now I'm fine and everyone remembers the Enchanted Forest again." He's beaming with pride.

An onlooker could be forgiven for being confused at how quickly he switches between calling Regina and Emma 'mom'.

[darkest_evening]

"Congratulations," says Adarin, because that is obviously the answer Henry was looking for. Then he asks, "True - True Love is the strongest magic there is?"

[done_reading]

"Yessss?" says Henry, looking at Adarin like he's maybe a bit slow. "When Mom kissed me to wake me up, and it was True Love, so there was this big FOOMPH wave thing that went out through the town, and I woke up, and everyone remembered everything. And Mr. Gold had some more bottled in a jar, which my mom had saved from a dragon in the library, and he used that to bring magic back to the town. So now there's magic in a world that didn't have any. That's how strong it is."

[darkest_evening]

"'True Love,'" he clarifies, "does not do that in my plane. At - at all."

[done_reading]

Henry grins. "Well, it's good you're here then!"

[darkest_evening]

"I - am not currently in love with anyone, so - it's just a thing that exists and is a quirk about the plane, for me."

[done_reading]

"I'm not in love with anyone," Henry points out. "It's True Love, not dating."

Henry is very into his fairy tales, but girls still have cooties.

[darkest_evening]

"Of course," agrees Adarin, with a faint smile. "My mistake."

[made_not_born]

At this point, Regina comes looking for them. "Henry? Adarin?" she calls, coming up the stairs. "Could you not find the clothes?"

She arrives, sees the clothes spread out in their haphazard piles, and looks at the two of them in questioning confusion.

[darkest_evening]

"... Thank you for the offer of clothes, but they are really not my style. Also it seems I was quite a bit taller than their original owner, I would look silly." Pause. "Plus, my clothes are spelled to be protective. I am rather attached to them."

[made_not_born]

Regina shrugs. "As long as you don't leave town, I doubt anyone will care," she says. "You just look like- you miss the Enchanted Forest. Outside Storybrooke, it would be different." She looks at him consideringly. "That said- it might not be a bad thing, to be able to tell you apart from Gold. He's not exactly popular."

[done_reading]

Henry is not saying anything.

[darkest_evening]

"I never would have guessed. Everyone was so subtle about it, why, it went completely over my head."

[made_not_born]

Regina laughs. "Next time, we'll make banners," she promises.

[darkest_evening]

"Make sure it glows, too, we need to be sure that we get people's attention. 'I am not Rumplestiltskin.' In bold."

[made_not_born]

"Glowing banner it is." She looks down and reaches out for Henry, sighing sadly when he takes a not-terribly-subtle step backwards.

She hasn't done any magic, like she promised, doesn't he care?

She shakes off the mood. "Adarin, guest room's this way, if you'll follow me," she says. "Lynn's all set downstairs."

She heads down towards the guest room, to show Adarin where he'll be sleeping (under her watchful, mildly suspicious eye). She leaves Henry to his own devices, hoping he'll soften towards her again if given a chance to cool.

(This was, perhaps, not a very good decision on her part.)