1st Dream || Video

[youthfulheart]

[One dark brown eye fills the screen. There are flecks of honey in that brown eye.]

I don't see anyone in there.

[She pulls the communicator away, brushing back a lock of her always difficult dirty-blonde hair. She's had a hard life and she's somewhere in her 30s.]

Well, that little white beast said that there were people I could talk to on this thing. And that my world was destroyed by the darkness. So how did I get here, huh? Why wasn't a wizard like Schmendrick spared? Or the Unicorn? They're both more powerful than I am and the Unicorn can fight the dark.

[More softly.] What's the point of being a wizard if you end up being the one needing to be saved? Damn that man. [Despite her angry words and tone, she's worried about him. He has become so dear to her.] And damn these demons for doing this.

Comments

[youthfulheart]

Lifetimes? How old are you?

[intogold]

[Another trilling laugh and he shakes his head.] I'm not sure I remember. Older than I look, to be certain.

[youthfulheart]

[He doesn't really look like a monster to her. He has her really quite curious.] Was it a curse?

[intogold]

[Oh! His eyes widen just a bit. A perceptive little thing, was she? That was always interesting. And dangerous.] That's right, deary. It was indeed. But sometimes curses have their... perks!

[youthfulheart]

Sometimes they do. Schmendrick was cursed to be immortal until he surpassed his master in skill. Of course, sometimes things can lose their appeal.

What sort of perks did yours give you?

[intogold]

Strength. Strength enough not to be a coward and a weakling any longer.

[youthfulheart]

And you couldn't find that in yourself? [This is Molly judging you.]

[intogold]

No. [It's answered simply, none of his usual smile.] In the face of an army backed by a sorcerer trying to take my son from me, I was not nearly strong enough.

So I changed that.

[youthfulheart]

That's... a lot more understandable.

[Softly.] Were you able to get him back?

[intogold]

Oh, yes, I stopped them from taking him.

But I lost him anyway, later. [A wave of a hand as though he can brush away the seriousness.] Lifetimes ago.

[youthfulheart]

And it's really been so long that you can just wave it off now?

[intogold]

[...he doesn't talk about these things. Never mentions Baelfire. For good reasons.

It's painful. And he's still a coward who runs away.] No other help for it.

[youthfulheart]

I suppose that's true enough.

[intogold]

I'm a solitary creature. [A slow, calculated smiles.] Monsters often are.

[youthfulheart]

You really don't look the part, you know.

[intogold]

[And his eyebrows shoot up at that.] Don't I? Are your eyes in working order, deary? I can craft a potion for that.

[youthfulheart]

[She laughs.] I can see you just fine. You don't look any more frightening than Mabruk. He was a powerful magician, and I'm fairly certain he was a man.

[intogold]

[Rumpelstiltskin looks at her a bit quizzically before laughing as well, an amused little chuckle.] Fairly certain, is it?

Well I was a man as well.

[youthfulheart]

I only met him for a few brief moments. He wasn't happy to leave, but given everything else that happened, I doubt he carries a grudge. [Well, she hopes not. Mabruk had been a very powerful magician.]

So you said. [She pauses.] Do you think you've become a monster, in ways than just looks?

[intogold]

Oh absolutely, yes. Much more than just looks. [At least he's honest.]

[youthfulheart]

Why?

[intogold]

I am a man possessed of powerful magic now. And... [Little lift of his finger like a professor coming to his ultimate point.] all magic has its price.

[youthfulheart]

And just having the magic made you a monster? [Yeah, she doesn't buy that. Schmendrick has some very powerful magic and he's no monster.]

[intogold]

This sort of magic? Perhaps. But [And now he looks about, a bit conspiratorially, as though this next part is quite the secret indeed.] I'm a dangerous man.

[youthfulheart]

Ahh, well that'll do it.

[She smiles a bit.] Do you plan on being dangerous to me?