❝ it doesn’t feel as good as i thought it would. ❞

❝ i don’t need your help. i don’t need anybody’s help. ❞

❝ nobody should talk to you that way. ❞

❝ your heart is pounding. ❞

❝ i need to sit down. ❞

❝ you need to sit down. ❞

❝ i didn’t know if i’d ever see you again. ❞

❝ i don’t even recognize you anymore. ❞

❝ i’ve been waiting. and waiting, and waiting, knowing nothing’s ever gonna change. ❞

❝ slow down. i need you to slow down. tell me what happened. ❞

❝ don’t be sorry. i did it to myself. ❞

❝ i’m not like you. i have nothing left to lose. ❞

❝ i can’t help you if you don’t let me. ❞

❝ what the fuck is wrong with you? ❞

❝ what the fuck is wrong with me? ❞

❝ it’s not just a feeling. it’s the truth. ❞

❝ i don’t care what you did. you didn’t deserve this. ❞

❝ he was supposed to protect me. ❞

❝ i was supposed to protect him. ❞

❝ you don’t love me. you just think you do. ❞

❝ i thought— this was what you wanted? ❞

❝ no. i’m not explaining this to you again. ❞

❝ they always say, it’s okay not to be okay. but they don’t really mean it. ❞

❝ i needed you. and you weren’t there. ❞

❝ it’s okay to struggle. you know that, right? ❞

❝ i can’t get that image… out of my head. ❞

❝ how am i supposed to believe it’s not my fault? ❞

❝ i don’t— i don’t know what’s happening. i don’t— ❞

the blonde glanced up from the newspaper, a small smile spreading across her lips. "anne - i didn't think you'd make it." katherine admitted, folding the newspaper and placing it on the bench between them. "honestly i have to admit it's good to see a familiar face."

the familiar scent of roses in the air has never failed to uncoil coriolanus’s nerves. perhaps it's why he's been frequenting the island's botanical gardens more often as of late. though decidedly less elegant, the section of rose bushes remind him of the grandma'am's back home. she probably would've liked these were she here. poor, delusional grandma'am. he can't help but wonder how she's doing now. did word ever reach the snow residence that he disappeared into thin air before ever reaching the districts? coriolanus can only imagine her reaction — to hear that their last hope of ever bringing their family name out of the gutter was up and truly gone.

as he walks along the winding pathway between the rose bushes, his mood now soured, coriolanus spots a single white rose in full bloom. it feels like forever ago that he gave lucy gray a similar one at the train station where they first met. how well things seemed to be going for him then.

to say that this place had grown on regina over the last few months would be a truth, though it was a very tentative one. in truth, it unsettled her to not know the answers as to how she and henry had ended. up here at all considering she'd assumed that he was heading off to new york with his other mother and she was going off somewhere else with the charmings and the rest of storybrooke. somehow, she just knew that this was not a result of pan's curse otherwise they would all be here too.

as unsettling as it was, she was glad she at least had her son with her. she didn't know what she would have done if she'd ended up in some unfamiliar place completely alone. as far as she knew, it was just the two of them and really, save for a couple of people she wouldn't completely despise showing up, she was fine with that. their lives were peaceful here and she could be her own person, without her past following her.

lucy gray held her guitar as she sat in the park, strumming slowly as she tried to come up with a tune to her new song. she liked writing out in nature, it helped her to think clear. the covey used to write all of their songs out away from district twelve in places most didn't know about. letting out a frustrated groan, she set her guitar down, usually songs came easy to her, but she didn't seem to have the inspiration. " have you ever felt so stuck in a rut but don't know how to get out ? " lucy gray asked the girl near her, running fingers through her curly brunette locks.

After finishing up with one of the local kids, Nora poofed away, reappearing on a bench in the botanical gardens next to someone, but she barely registered that anyone was there. "It's always 'what can you do for me Fairy Godmother? what am I getting today Fairy Godmother? make me happy Fairy Godmother!' It's never 'Hey Fairy Godmother, do you need a cup of tea? Do you want a break? How are you feeling, Fairy Godmother?" Nora griped. Glancing up at the person she was sitting next to on the bench, she sighed. "Don't mind me."

So far there was only positives about this place. He wasn't in a prison cell anymore, especially as he hadn't really done anything. Closed a door, that was it, and he was sentenced for it. He couldn't really blame his father for that, he was simply keeping up appearances. Wasn't that all that would ever truly matter? Appearance and reputation, and no one here knew what his had been turned into. Least that's what he believed, until he turned the corner and saw Anna. Oh he did not want or need this, but it was too late, she'd seen him. "Anna? You're here?" a terrible start, but he'd had no preparation time.

it was strange to emma that she'd yet to find her family here. they always found one another, so why was this any different ? maybe they weren't here, she thought as she stood in line for coffee. looking behind her as the line formed, she let out a soft sigh. " i am so glad i got here early, aren't you ? " she asked the woman in front of her with a chuckle. typically, she wouldn't start a conversation with somebody she didn't know, but there was an odd familiarity about this woman that she couldn't shake. " i mean, i think i'd go crazy if i had to go all the way to the back of the line now. "

Charlie was up to bowl. Her eyes trained down to the end of the alley way. It can't be that hard, right? Her blue eyes drifted down to her shoes and then the dots on the floor. What's this for? She was completely clueless. Looking back at her friends cheering her on, she couldn't help but to swallow. They can't know that she can't bowl. Already, the embarrassment was turning her cheeks a shade of scarlet. The lump came back in her throat, just as she viewed the person in the game over bowl. So you just... She peeked at the floor again, lining herself up with a couple dots. It was the overwhelming feeling of wanting to crawl up in a ball and cry that sent her off balance. What happened next was something straight out of a cartoon or one of those ABC sitcoms; the ball jumping over to the game next to Charlie and her crew. Her eyes were shot open at the sound of the crack it made upon landing on the other's alley. That was before both balls knocked over all the pins at the end with another loud crash. "Hey! At least we got a strike?" The petite woman blinked, her voice an octave higher than usual, unsure of how the other was going to take it. But, she was going to see the good in it.

especially since... bowling was something that morgan was fairly adept at, which meant her competitive side could come out to play for a night. when her turn came up, she took a sip from her beer as she stood, picking up the purple bowling ball she'd claimed as 'hers' for the night and made her way up to a few steps from the lane, squinting as she aimed and then followed through with her shot.

she watched as her ball shot down the lane and then was knocked into by the ball from the game next to her and her friends, her jaw dropping when both balls collided with the pins, knocking them all down.

it was the sort of thing one couldn't make up or do a second time if they tried and morgan couldn't be mad even if she tried. she was impressed as she let out a laugh. "hey, teamwork makes the dreamwork, right?" she joked with a shrug as the bowling balls rolled back into the rack. she lifted up the others' and handed it over to her.