milliways_bar | (no subject)

"-don't think it's unreasonable," Snow White said, edging through the doorway, eyes only on the man behind her at first.

She'd only turned her head to catch the first flash of noise and movement in a room that was not The Conservatory, when her posture shifted quick as lightning. The straighten of her back, the broaden of her shoulders, the way even her the hold of her fingers might make a weapon of the object in her hand (a delicate pearlescent comb, the most recent of congratulatory gifts she felt compelled to use).

Realization and recognition of Milliways struck the next second, with a soft, "Oh," before she had turned her attention back to him. Surprised seriousness clearing as completely as a cloud having passed across the path of the sun.

Her eyebrows raised, standing in the doorway, almost leaning against the door, with a playfully teasing smile having taken back her mouth. "I've already agreed to let the fairies do something to my hair that makes it look like a bedecked pastry, I should be allowed to pass on the train."

"I'm sure you'll be beautiful," the man beside her said, his gaze fond and unwavering as his fingertips lightly brushed against the underside of her arm, cradling her elbow as they lingered in the doorway. He drew her close against him, pressing a kiss to her hairline.

"Pastry or otherwise." Prince Charming's smile remained long after he pulled back to gaze at his bride-to-be.

Snow's head ducked, first, and then cocked to one side. As if to point out compliments and kisses did not get you anywhere with this discussion, but her eyes had lightened, as her cheeks pinked, and her smile had become far more fair. "You're only saying that because no one has tried to make you wear an intricately beaded, ten foot, train yet."

Two pups, Two muns, Have fun!

Tiny Tags: Snow White & Prince Charming

[Also, an important Disclaimer]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh, we're aware," Snow said, brightly. "It took me a long time to stop trying to make sense of it when I was a child."

Meeting people who were very aware of her name long before she'd ever even learned theirs. She'd been so sure it must make sense. Somehow. Like all good stories and fantastic magics.

"We're well-acquainted with this place and the unique way it deals with time," he admits, smiling.

And while he'd anticipated a certain level of recognition given his brother's popularity with the people, the fact that there are those who know him here too is a somewhat staggering realization.

"It's still surprising me but then I seem to have strange encounters with it. Months pass while I wasn't aware and sometimes even longer. I'm sorry that I don't know you then,"

Though his own time in Milliways has been odd so its quite possible he missed them when he wasn't paying attention.

"Its always been the same for me." It was meant to to be understanding and soothing. She never came here often, even though she'd heard several tales of how that was far more normal for people. She never know it but to have missed long jags of time both on her world and its'.

The other comment is far easily answered, too. "I'm Snow White, and this is James." The second whom gets a slightly teasing edge to her smile. They didn't have to bludgeon him with titles, the way home observed them -- and they'd both spent a good deal of their lives without them, too.

He offers a smile to the man when his name is brought up, offering his hand in an even further gesture of greeting. It seems strange to be addressed without the moniker of prince when he'd learned to become accustomed to it for so long, but they're both willing to shed titles here, in a place where their kingdoms have little to no significance. It could almost be considered refreshing.

"Yes, and what is your name, stranger?" he asks.

"Sameth of the Old Kingdom,"

As neither of them are offering titles he won't offer his own but still adds a half bow to the handshake. Alongside the scars of Hedge, his hands could be that of a smith other than a few half-healed cuts.

"It's lovely to meet you," Snow offered, standing to the side of the handshaking. And not missing at all the bow. The way it is correctly done, no matter where he might be from. It wasn't just tossed in there as a lark.

"The Old Kingdom?" His brows rise in curiosity, though he still shakes the man's hand firmly in introduction.

"It doesn't sound very much like ours at all. Where, pray tell, is this Old Kingdom?"

"Across the Wall from Ancelstierre, but don't worry if you don't know it. The only people I've met here who do are from my world. What kingdom are from?"

He probably won't know it but there's always a chance he might.

"The Enchanted Forest." Which might have been a little broad, between his and hers and others, too. It had become far more a conglomerate of so many working together, hand in hand, toward that final front that had knocked The Evil Queen from her seat. "There are only a certain number who pass back and forth from our world to here, too."

"And others neighboring," he admits, though they all seem to have conjoined into one against the Evil Queen, realizing that they were stronger together than apart if it meant ousting her from her place of power.

"And there may be many more besides that we are unaware of. The Forest holds many people."

"I see and magic is commonplace there?"

The name seems to imply it but names don't always mean what they say in Milliways.

"I am not certain I would call it common," Snow said repeating the word, with a glance at James. The hold of her fingers had shifted without her realizing it. There's more tension to her touch that she can't shake from instant reaction. Her StepMother. Every step there. Every bit of magic.

"As most people do not have it." Herself, included. Except. Except for Their Love, which beat even the encroaching shadow of death. "But there are fairies and witches and other beings who do have magic in our world, that most everyone does know about."

And. And The Evil Queen. And The Dark One.

"People are aware of magic, yes, and there are those who possess it." There are those who do good with the magic they have, however, and there are those - like the Queen, like the Dark One - who choose to do evil with it, to prevent others from enjoying the happiness they've been afforded.

"Luckily, we have chosen to surround ourselves with those who use magic for good purposes, a means to a happy ending," he adds, giving Snow's hand a firm squeeze before releasing it to slip his arm around her back, cradling her gently.

"I understand. In the Old Kingdom, my family works to protect our people from those who wield darker magic,"

Sam looks away from them for a moment, he shouldn't miss Kait. Their lives have moved away from each other and that's how it is.

She isn't sure what causes him to turn away slightly, but her heart goes out to him, even she does take some comfort in the hand against her back. It's too recent, and in the end she can't be sure it won't always be that way.

A slate of ice and sharp reactions that involve her Stepmother.

(The feeling that no matter how much ground they reclaim, it will never stop her.)

"What is your Old Kingdom like?" She asked, hoping it wasn't the subject that pained him.

"Yes, please tell us about your world," he replies, smiling encouragingly.

It's more of a rarity for him to encounter anyone from the land they originate from, and he does so enjoy hearing about new places. His adventuring has likely come to a close as they near the eve of their wedding, so it's a way for him to feel as though he's experiencing these worlds without ever having stepped foot there.

"It's nothing very special. The Old Kingdom is held together by the magic of the Charter and bordered by the Wall on one side,"

He doesn't have a hugely good grasp of the size and numbers of people as things are still being put back together but he's able to provide some information. Since what happened at the Fulwin's Mill, he's been doing enough diplomatic world that he can talk about the Old Kingdom fairly easily.

Perhaps it is that same whimsy, curiosity even when it is set aside for duty, for their people, that she feels. That shapes the entirety of the question that comes from Sameth's words. "What is on the other side of the wall?"

In her experience, walls were not built, whether physical or not, without something to keep out and something to keep in.