maskormenacelogs | ɪ'ᴍ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍɪɴɢ ᴛᴏɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴏғ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ I ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ I ᴜsᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴅᴏ...

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ɪ'ᴍ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍɪɴɢ ᴛᴏɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴏғ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ I ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ I ᴜsᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴅᴏ...

WHO: Emma Swan & Ruby Lucas, & others in the comments
WHERE: her apartment! & other places!
WHEN: throughout december!
WHAT: stuff & things
WARNINGS: none that i can think of

Making gingerbread men is practically too festive for Emma's mood, but she's giving it her best shot anyway. Snickerdoodles would have been too familiar, at least their lopsided little men don't have any familial memories. It's easier said than done to make a gingerbread man, though, and Emma is finding that piping on his buttons is edging too close to artistic for her liking.

"He's crosseyed. Again." Lifting the poor thing up to show Ruby doesn't help, leaving his icing features to sloop further down his face, since they aren't dry yet. Emma does the humane thing and puts him out of his misery, biting his head off. At least the poor bastard tastes good. "I maintain that we can go to the grocery store and get the little premade disks and throw them in the oven, no one will know the difference. I think they even make Christmas ones." Emma takes another sullen bite of gingerbread to punctuate her point.

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"Oh, they absolutely make Christmas ones," is Ruby's immediate reply. She hasn't seen them herself but there is no doubt in her mind that this is the case. "Just not for us."

Admittedly, on her own Ruby would be much more likely to purchase pre-packaged than something she had to make from scratch, but she and Emma are the closest they both have to family right now and it's the holidays. A time for bonding (and distractions)! So she sidles over to Emma's side from the opposite counter and eyes the poor, beheaded confectionery gentleman with remorse. Good night, sweet prince. Sighing, she continues, "We started this war and, mistake or not, we're going to finish it."

Emphasis on distractions. Emma is trying not to let her mood ruin their night, but it's an uphill battle. She's frustrated by her luck; without fail, the holidays swing around and she has no family to spend it with. To finally have the people she'd always wanted to enjoy Christmas with and never be with them when December hit was really starting to get old. The only Christmas she'd ever spent not alone was once with Mary Margaret, before the curse even broke, and the once with Henry when it was just the two of them.

(There'd been once, with Neal, but she did her best not to think about Neal too much these days.)

"How do I keep the icing from turning into a disaster?" It may have been the blind leading the blind, but Emma looked to Ruby for guidance. Surely she'd picked up a few things working at the diner for 28 years.

Hey, they've both got their things they don't want to think about. Ruby, for instance, just started seeing her new lady-friend a month ago and already has seen two corpses that look completely identical to her. Which not only terrifies her because the killer is still on the loose, but also it brings up memories of how Ruby's last relationship ended. (Which was very poorly, if anyone was unsure.)

But instead of focusing on that, there are cookies! "It's not a disaster. It's... avant-garde. But, um, if you're looking to be a little less abstract, maybe it'll help if you hold the tip of the icing thing a little more like this?" She attempts to demonstrate but seems less than confident in her instruction.

Hey, if Ruby did want to talk about dying love interests, Emma had plenty of them to talk about. One had even "died" multiple times! Just in case cookie talk wasn't cheery enough, there was always the possibility of dead or dying love interests.

Emma huffs some blonde hair out of her face, observing Ruby's attempts with a concentrated, furrowed brow. Ruby may not be confident, but Emma was going to follow her advice, anyway. "Can gingerbread men be avant garde?" Emma laughs, trying to replicate to... maybe a bit more success? The eyes are still a bit lopsided, but that might just be because the savior can't pipe straight, instead of icing leaking new places.

"You think this girl of yours would want some gingerbread?" Is that a subtle transition? Maybe not. Emma hides the obvious inquiry behind an innocent flash of green eyes and another bite of her cookie, abandoning the icing for a moment to focus on eating. Considering her skill at piping, that might be for the best.

"Um," Ruby pauses just a moment at the mention of Sarah, smiling a little to herself as she tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. She's totally chill and not kinda smitten at all, what are you talking about? Watch as she leans against this counter oh so casually, Emma! "Maybe. She actually has a couple of siblings here, so I doubt any cookies over there would go uneaten, between all of them."

Smitten kitten indeed. Was that weird for a werewolf? Emma smiles despite herself at the dreamy look on Ruby's face. She's been bitter and angry most of December, but she can be happy for her friend. In fact it's a pretty good distraction, isn't it?

Well, before Ruby mentions all her family, and that she's lucky enough to have all of them at that. Some people had more luck than their own good, Emma fumes bitterly, taking a rather vicious bite from her cookie. "Big family, huh? She must be glad to have them all here with her." Okay, toning down the salt. She can do this. "So are you going to introduce me to this mystery lady or what?"

Frowning a moment at Emma's tone there, Ruby can't help a hint of defensiveness in her expression, but she tries not to take it personally. Emma has good reason to be upset as far as the topic of family goes this holiday season. Then again, she's not the only one.

"Not all of them," she says after a moment, trying to keep her tone neutral. "She actually has a daughter back home, so..." So maybe they have more in common than Emma thinks?

She shakes her head and tries for a small smile. "Anyway, of course I'm going to introduce you. You actually just came up the other day, funny enough, while I was telling her about some dumb thing or another I did back home, and I said you two should meet sometime."

Right about this time, a knock - well, more of a quick three raps like someone was pounding a fist on the door - comes and a small moonflower plant starts growing out of the ceiling above the kitchen, the petals of the blooms wrapped tightly around each other. Then a rough voice called out, "It's Daryl. Got something for you."

Emma manages to at least feel guilty that she was so busy on a jealousy trip she didn't think about the prospect someone else could be missing a kid, too. She might have even apologized for it if someone else didn't pound on the door, loud and sudden enough for the savior to startle.

"Who is that?" she mutters, at least managing to redact the hell that she might have liked to insert between the in and the that. The voice sounds familiar, almost, and makes her uneasy, but she can't place it, either.

"A friend," Ruby answers simply. She wasn't expecting Daryl, and his timing could have maybe been a little better considering the conversation that is now on pause, but he's never an unwelcome guest around here. "Give me a second, okay?"

And with that, she heads over to open the door with a, "You know, you could call first," though judging by her smile and her tone, she's not actually bothered at all and is just giving him a little good-natured ribbing.

Daryl frowns a second, head dipping down and looking a little chastised. He could have called, but it wasn't a natural thing for him to do any more in his world and getting used to being able to again was hard.

"Sorry, forgot," he mutters softly before clearing his throat and speaking a little louder. "Didn't mean to interrupt your uh..." He sniffed. Then sniffed hard again, frowning, "Cookies?"

"She's making cookies, I'm not sure what you'd call this thing when his face keeps sliding off—" Emma rounds the corner to introduce herself, and with that unceremoniously drops her poor maligned cookie on the floor. As if he didn't already have it kind of rough, Swan!

Her posture goes from relaxed to alert quite quickly. Whether Ruby's company recognizes her or not, Emma certainly recognizes him. "Who is this?" She may be trying to hide her alarm, but her tone is by no means friendly.

Okay, weirdos. Is she the only one here with any chill??

Ruby looks back and forth between the two of them a couple of times, confusion clearly written on her face, before slowly offering, "Emma, this is Daryl. Daryl, Emma. I'd offer you a cookie, but I'd have to run and get one now." There is a pointed glance at the poor, broken gingerbread man on the ground, followed by a questioning eyebrow raise in Emma's direction.

Daryl hadn't intended to be on the sour side at all. The visit was meant to be a friendly one, between someone he considered one of his own and himself. A few moments to catch up on what had been going on lately and remind Ruby the house was hers to visit any time. No questions asked. With his little vial of scented oil mosquito repellent, he couldn't even tell she'd had a friend over. Not between that and the smell of freshly baked gingerbread.

But when Emma stepped around the corner, Daryl's shoulders immediately hunched and he leveled an unfriendly glare at the woman.

His eyes slid between Ruby and Emma and he frowned further. Ruby had mentioned Emma before. A woman from her world. A friend. And it turned out to be that woman?

Daryl's jaw worked for a second or two before he forced himself to lift his chin in greeting and mutter, "Hi."

'Hi'? She caught him eating a live rabbit in the park, and all she's going to get here is a 'hi'? Maybe the right thing to do would be to take that gracefully, but Emma has always been more blunt than graceful. That whole swan thing was a complete misnomer.

"Seriously?" She says, skeptically, more to Daryl than Ruby, who has to be hilariously lost at this point. "How do you know each other? I guess it's good to put a name to the face, but we've definitely met before." At least Emma manages to restrain from explaining exactly how they'd met. She's a woman that knows the value of a secret. She's just not entirely sure this stranger deserves the shared secrecy.

"He helped me out when I first got here and was confused and freaked out and the only people I knew were Gold, Regina, and Pan," Ruby pulls a face as she says, hoping that both answers Emma's question sufficiently and explains why she's so grateful for the people who were kind to her back then.

"That's how we know each other. Now, does one of you want to explain what the hell is going on between you two?"

"It was a while ago," Daryl bit out, glare all for Emma in the hopes she'd keep her obviously big mouth shut. "And it don't matter anyhow."

His gaze moved to Ruby, "Just came to check up on you. Nothin' important."

He didn't want to get into discussions of what he'd done or why he'd done it. Ruby was family enough. He might do it if she asked. By herself. Alone. But Emma just made his hackles rise.

Word to the wise: glares just did not work on Emma Swan. And trying to hide the truth from the friend she was incredibly protective of wasn't going to work either. Especially when Ruby trusted the guy enough to waltz over and let him in, no matter the circumstances.

(She's not deaf to the fact he helped her when she was alone. She's just also not blind to the fact he could be quite dangerous, considering the circumstances of their meeting.)

"Not long enough to forget," she corrected levelly, arms crossed and attention cool. "Look, you can tell her, or you can leave and I can tell her. I guess it's up to you."

Well, someone had better tell her. She's not even saying anything now, just looking back and forth between them, frustrated.

Daryl bristled and it didn't take more than a second for him to get yelling, "I don't get your problem! It was just a fucking rabbit! Ain't like no one ever hunted them b'fore! What, was Roger there your pet or something? If he was, he shouldn't have been runnin' around the fucking park!"

"Oh, yeah. He's got to be my pet for me to have a problem with you ripping his throat out with your teeth?" That is so not how it works, Daryl, and Emma is pretty sure anyone would have a problem with that.

Her attention turns to Ruby, and somewhere under the snap of anger is the fact that she doesn't trust this guy. He'd tried to scare her, and while Emma wasn't afraid of what he could do to her when she could hardly be harmed, she didn't want to see anything happen to Ruby.

Children, children, you both make good points. Hunting rabbits isn't that weird. Ruby's done it a million times herself. But then again, she usually doesn't eat them raw unless she happens to be a giant wolf at the time.

"Whoa, hey, slow down," Ruby firmly interjects, not quite stepping directly between them but close enough to it for her point to get across. "Both of you take a breath, then one of you try again. Calmly."

Daryl snarled at Emma, but backed off a step before starting to pace when Ruby stepped in.

"She just don't like how I took down a kill. Nothing else to it," he snapped. Then pointed at Emma, "And I don't need to explain myself to no one, least of all you, Sunshine!"

"Are you joking? I didn't like you eating an animal alive. Anyone with half a heart would have a problem with that, sunshine!" Unfortunately, for how much she's accomplished in her attempts to hold onto control, constant practice couldn't consistently keep her from the worst response she had. Her magic was tied to emotion, and as her voice sharpened a lightbulb not too far away shattered, and spectacularly.

Ruby is about to cut in again when the pop of the bulb makes her jump. For just a moment, she looks around to see if anything else is about to happen, and then her attention is completely focused on Emma (sorry, Daryl).

"Emma, it's okay," she tries, slowly closing the distance between them. "Nobody's biting anything right now. We can just... sit down and talk about this. Or- Or not talk, maybe, if that's better."

One hand went right for the holster at the small of his back while the other went to press against his ear when the lightblub exploded. Over the last few months, he'd gotten used to his enhanced hearing and dealing with the loud noise of traffic and engines and the occasional horn honking among the shouting and other hustle and bustle of being in a city or a place crowded with other people. But sudden, extremely loud (to him), extremely unexpected noises still got to him.

The lightbulb exploding left a ringing in his ears that was difficult to focus past even as he tried to find the source of it. It had sounded more like a gunshot going off not three feet from his ear and instead of looking toward the house, he was scanning the street outside. It took several moments for him to realize Ruby didn't seem alarmed by what he'd thought was an attack, but instead about Emma's well being. At which point he dropped his hand away from his gun and brought it up to the other ear. And it took longer for him to make out the words she was saying over the echo still lingering and disorientating him.

He shut his eyes and turned to lean his back against the wall next to the door. Stayed quiet so Ruby could deal with her friend. She was already focused on the woman. He could wait. Give his ears some time to recover.

To be fair, it was sudden. And it was loud. Emma's senses are heightened, too, though she's less prone to be disoriented by them. She hates how it feels, black magic turning her into more of a weapon than a human. "I'm fine," she says, even arms slink around herself, as telltale a sign that she's not as there is, but there's no way she's leaving now with this guy she doesn't trust in Ruby's house.

If she could, she'd likely make herself scarce, for the reminder how easily she can lose the tensile grip on her magic these days. "I'm listening. If he has an explanation, I'd sure like to hear it." He'd not given one then, and clearly Emma had not forgotten. And she wouldn't forget, either, as long as Daryl was apparently so close to her only friend from home.

"Good. That's... good." Thankful that things hadn't gotten any more out of control than they already had, Ruby shares a sort of sympathetic smile and briefly reaches out to give Emma's arm a squeeze, before turning back around to see how much more shaken Daryl looks than she expected.

"Daryl?" she checks, taking a step in his direction now. "How about you? Are you alright?"

"It's fucking rabbit! It shouldn't matter this much!" he hissed, voice soft, barely audible even to his own ears just to keep the noise low. He continued to press his hands to his head, now starting to rub his temples to try and clear out the headache that was forming before it got too bad.

"The fuck was that?" he asked, squinting over at Ruby. "She got noise powers or some shit?"

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ɪ'ᴍ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍɪɴɢ ᴛᴏɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴏғ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ I ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ I ᴜsᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴅᴏ...

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/slides in here

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SORRY GUYS oh my god my first week of school destroyed me

UMMM how dare you have a life??? what were you thinking????

Well, I had a life get in the way, too, so there. Two against 1. Life beats no life. :P