findinghappyendings

      Ruby stares blankly at the plethora of toppings spread out across the table, brows furrowed. It’s not that she doesn’t know what this is – she hasn’t been locked away long enough for that – but after having her every choice taken away for years on end? Even a decision as mundane as waffle toppings leaves her PARALYZED. Glancing across the table at Archie, in the end she simply follows his lead, spraying on whipped cream and scooping strawberries atop that. 

        After a moment’s hesitation, she douses it all in syrup, too. 

        She’s only just started cutting into her breakfast when his questions hit, lifting her gaze up once more. “It… was fine.” Ruby answers, words slow, sitting BULKY and awkward on her tongue. The old Ruby might have chatted Archie’s ear off with each and every little detail, but that girl? She’s been dead for a long while, now. This Ruby? All she does is pop the first piece of waffle into her mouth, another nod tacked on in afterthought.

Archie was almost afraid that Ruby was copying his choices, until she poured syrup all over her breakfast. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on with his neighbor’s brain, but it was good to know whatever it was didn’t force her to copy other’s actions. She should be able to make her own choices, Archie thought.

He took another small bite as Ruby answered. It was an extremely short answer, and it hadn’t done much to help get his guest talking. Archie wasn’t quite sure if he should press her further or let her be. What would be better for her? It was impossible for him to know since he didn’t know her situation.

Archie chewed thoughtfully, before swallowing his waffle and deciding to attempt another question. “Did you sleep okay? I know Pongo can sometimes take up all the space on the couch.” Archie had fallen asleep on that couch many times after a hard day’s work, and he knew what it was like to share with his canine pal.

Tea was one constant, something to bring a touch of normalcy to the strangeness around him.  Cyrus took the offered cup with a smile before he followed the other man’s lead and took a seat across from him.  All of this was strange; nothing made any sense and this room looked to have more oddities then he had managed to find within the house he shared with Felicity.

Lifting the cup to his lips, the genie couldn’t help the slight bit of annoyance when the wrong name started to pop up when he thought of the woman he had thought he would marry. Only a few days, he was sure it was only a few, and he was already thinking of her with this new name instead of her real one.  If only he could figure out what was going on, but instinct told him that was going to be an uphill battle.

As he took a mouthful of the warm beverage, he couldn’t help but notice how the other took a quick note; was asking to be referred to by the only name he had that odd? He’d been confused when people started adding dijinni to the end of his name; had actually taken whom he’d thought was Alice at the time aside to ask her why she was referring to him as what he happened to be.

The explanation made sense though, he mused while setting the cup down on the table in front of him.  “Oh, I suppose that is logical.  I simply do not care for being referred to with that name.”  No one knew it was because he’d been called genie only for centuries; surely they all realized the spelling may look odd to them but the pronunciation was spot on.  Not even Alice realized he was a genie, her genie at that, but his objections to the name couldn’t come across as all that off.  “I prefer Cyrus, it is what people always called me before.”

Before being cursed, that he kept to himself as he studied the other in the room.  He seemed like a nice enough sort, caring on top of it all.  Cyrus’ mind wandered to the one called Dr. Whale, he seemed intelligent and proficient at his job but he wasn’t overly convinced he cared at the same level this man did.  “What am I to call you?  Do you have a title such as that healer, or sorry, doctor at the hospital?”

Hospital…doctor…how curious these words were becoming rather common in his thoughts, despite it only being a few days having past since he’d woken up in this strange world.  Once again, his attention began to wander as this new doctor looked at whatever papers he had in front of him, probably information about this supposed accident which Cyrus couldn’t talk about.  Whatever had brought him and Alice to this town had altered her memories and obviously given everyone else some reason for his presence, yet he had no idea what they all knew of him.

“Before?”  His gaze moved back towards the other man, eyes opening slightly in surprise.  He could remember centuries of servitude to many different mortals, some good and others less than so.  His family, the way his mother would sit with him as a boy when he was scared of a storm, the tricks he and Rafi used to play in a bid to get Taj to play with them while still young children and how it all fell apart.

Alice showing up in his bottle, their adventures…the night he thought he would lose her forever…the proposal interrupted by the Red Queen did not dim the way Alice’s blue eyes had lit up and her excited answer to the question he never had the chance to ask.  Cyrus’ smile dimmed, gaze casting down towards the teacup as he studied the steam curling off the drink.  “I fear nothing I could say would be taken as truth; no one else has believed a word and perhaps they are right not to.  What difference does it make, I cannot remember this accident everyone insists happened – if I cannot remember that then maybe all my other memories are false as well.”

Archie wasn’t sure he could believe that Cyrus had never been called by his last name before. Often, it was mentioned in schools or in professional settings like doctor’s visits. Yet, Cyrus was acting like he hadn’t been called Djinni often. He didn’t even want to say his last name. Archie couldn’t help but wonder if Cyrus had some difficulty with his parents, and that was why he disliked the name. That was unrelated to the car wreck, however, so he did his best to put it out of his mind for the moment, and simply accepted Cyrus’ explanation.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I assumed Dr. Whale or Felicity told you. I’m Dr. Hopper. I am not quite the same doctor as Dr. Whale is. I can do much of what he can, but I’m more focused on the brain. Dr. Whale heals physical injuries, and I try to help heal emotional ones.” Archie smiled as he gave a version of the explanation he usually told children. It seemed odd that Cyrus didn’t even remember the word doctor easily. Much of this seemed out of place. He wasn’t sure what was going on with Cyrus. The only theory he had that made any sense was that Cyrus had lost some of his memory in the car crash.

It was only after Cyrus stated that his memories might be false that Archie decided to share his theory with his patient. “I wouldn’t say the memories you have a false, per say.” He paused a bit, to gather his thoughts and let Cyrus take in what he’d just said. “I think that, perhaps, your brain was more damaged in the accident than Dr. Whale first thought. You … you don’t seem to understand the purpose of last names, and the word doctor is new to you, yes? Those are things most people understand. So I think you might be missing pieces. Perhaps the memories you have are true, or mostly true, and the inconsistencies with the memories of others are your brain attempting to fill in the gaps.”

Emma walked toward the training area, wooden sword in her hand. It had been a few days since she’d been able to practice, but she knew it was important to keep up her skills. One day, Emma would be queen, and she needed to be ready for any challenge that might arise during her rule. War strategies and diplomacy were very important, but so was being able to defend herself.

Pongo stood beside his trainer, looking at the stranger curiously. They lived in a small town, and it wasn’t often Pongo ran into someone new on his walk. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of them. So he walked toward the stranger, sniffing at them to try and figure out more about them.

Regina strode up the street watching the people of her town go about their daily lives. None of them had any idea that she wasn’t just their mayor, but also one of the leaders of Team Rocket. It was almost pathetic, how easy it was to keep them under her control.

However, Regina soon spotted a face that wasn’t familiar to her. This person must be a newcomer to town. Regina felt a twinge of fear as she realized this could be an officer trying to hunt her down. Regina hated being afraid, so she walked up to the person.