all_inclusive | mirror mirror on the wall, who the hell is she?

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mirror mirror on the wall, who the hell is she?

It takes Charming a moment to place herself when she wakes up, but eventually she remembers that for the last few months, she's been here; stuck at the Nexus with little to no idea on how to get back to her family in Neverland. Taming back her hair, she tries to settle that familiar ache in her chest, wondering if Snow is fine without her, if Emma is doing okay with only one mother -- except that's not how the Nexus works.

And, because Charming knows that their family finds each other when they're lost. It must mean that they don't think she's lost. Curling her toes and reaching for her henley, Charming gets dressed and rubs a hand over her face as she wanders out the door, trying to shake the niggling feeling that she's meant to remember something -- something about last night and a door?

She'd been drinking, though, so whatever had happened is lost in a blur, now. As she walks, she begins to tame her hair the way Snow used to, knotting it back and pinning it in place with a few pins while keeping an eye out for clues, any kind of clue that will get her back to the land she's lost -- which, given where she'd been, is almost a touch too ironic.

That's when she sees the glimpse of green out of the corner of her eye. "Hey!" she shouts, trying to get the attention of the person closing it. "Don't close that door, I need to get back there!" But it's too late. She gives a frustrated sigh and swears under her breath. She slams her palm against the door and wonders how the hell Princess Charming is supposed to get home to Snow White, now.

[Find Charming wearing his normal clothes but under the complete belief that he is, and has always been, a shepherdess/princess]

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Anna has been enjoying the first few days of spring (especially since Arendelle's summer had gotten a little...held up last year) and she's fresh from the gardens with an armful of flowers when she runs smack into someone in the hallway.

"Oh, oh no! Sorry, I'm so clumsy," she says, scooping up the flowers and looking at the girl. Her clothes remind her of someone but she's not quite sure who - but the face is a new one.

"Um, hi. I'm Anna!"

Taken aback, Charming gives her a curious look, wondering if this is just another step in Anna (or Joan, whoever she is) swearing that they've never met before. "Anna, it's me," Charming says, reaching up to touch her face, like she really has to verify whether she's still looking in decent shape. Pausing, she crouches down to help with the flowers, bundling them up in her arms. "I don't suppose you saw a door to Neverland when you were coming inside? I swear I saw it, but the last person going through closed it before I could catch up."

"Look, I know I'm a feather brain but I swear I've never met you before," Anna says, frowning a little. Really? Has she completely forgotten someone she met here? Anna has always prided herself on an excellent memory.

"And um, Neverland? Nope. The only door I found was Arendelle and some pirate ship."

"Anna, it's Charming," she says, starting to worry that maybe she's gone and hit her head. "Do I need makeup or something?" she tries to joke. "I mean, I know Snow's always talking about how I'm plenty beautiful on my own, but I'm starting to think twenty-eight coma years are catching up with me." She tunes in, though, when Anna says 'pirate ship'.

"What kind of ship?" she demands. "Was it the Jolly Roger?" Had Hook come after her, of all people?

"Um, I don't know. I didn't get too close to find out." When she says she's Charming, Anna gasps and covers her mouth.

"Charming? Aren't you like, normally a guy?"

She gives Anna a confused look. "Not unless there's some magic out there that I don't remember," she replies, but there's a flush in her cheeks high and red as she thinks about how she and Snow had conceived Emma, which had involved yes, some magic, and the handy touch of temporarily being...other. "Maybe you've met my twin brother? James?" she suggests.

Anna shakes her head. "Unless he's in the habit of going around and giving out your name and all that, probably not. I'm pretty sure it was you. Or maybe I'm just confusing myself. You know, I do that."

She laughs, trying to dispel some of the awkwardness. "I mean, anything's possible with magic, right?"

Charming gives a sheepish smile. "It's a complicated story," is what she says, because while she's not James, she did take up his place and she supposes that Snow would've called him Charming instead of her, had her brother been the one to ensnare her. "Maybe it's some sort of spell?" she suggests.

"I've had a lot of experience with thinking you're someone you're not supposed to be. It's why I've sort of got two lives in my head. The real one and then Dana Nolan's."

"Kinda like how you call me Joan?" Charming's the only person in existence who has ever referred to her by that name and she isn't sure why but she's willing to go with it; he's a nice guy, normally, when he's a guy.

"Is Dana your other name?"

"It's the one I had back home and my cursed name," she agrees, shooting Anna a sheepish smile. "When I say it's complicated, sometimes I think that doesn't even begin to cover it," she admits, given that her head hurts at times. "Before, I was just a shepherdess, but the cursed me was in a coma. And when she wasn't, she was a volunteer at the vet's hospital. But real me is the deputy," she clarifies. "With my daughter."

"Who's your daughter?" Anna hasn't heard this part of the story and as weird as it is, she's also totally into it. It's a complete mystery, how someone introduced to her as Charming and a guy could become Dana and a woman. It's much more interesting than the needlework she was going to use to occupy the rest of the day and Dana's story is a welcome distraction.

"Is she here?"

"Emma Swan," Charming says proudly, happily, thinking of their perfect baby girl, even if she's hardly a baby these days. "She comes and goes, but I've seen her here. She and Snow, they're who I have to get back to," she says, as determined as ever. "They're in Neverland and I have to get back to them. It's dangerous and we should be facing that together."

"Can I help?"

Okay, so, Anna knows that rushing headlong into things is probably not the best idea based on her own personal track record but she can't help but try to give someone she cares about a hand when he (she?) needs it. This is a perfect opportunity.

"I can totally help you get back to them, I bet. Maybe. Well, I can give it a shot, anyway."

"If you can find me a door to Neverland, I'd really appreciate it," Charming admits with a low, soft laugh. She feels like she's been trying to get back there for so long that she barely recognizes what she's trying to do anymore. "I'd really appreciate the help. Really," she vows. "I'd owe you so many favours."

"Well, let's give it a shot!" Anna is perpetually optimistic and this is no exception. Maybe this isn't the Charming she knows but it is Charming and she feels honor-bound to help her.

"All we can do is start trying doors, right? Maybe it's better if we go together, though. If we get stuck, it's probably better if there's someone on the outside still to call for help."

That sort of bright enthusiasm is just one more reason that Charming honestly thinks that Anna has to be related to Joan, somehow. They're just so similar that he doesn't think they could be different people. "I wouldn't want to drag you into my issues, finding my grandson," she warns. "If we do find Neverland, you have to swear you won't come through with me. It's dangerous," she vows. "I only barely just escaped death myself."

"Grandson? You look barely old enough to have a son," Anna says, utterly shocked at the idea that Charming could have a grandson.

"How old is he? How old were you when he was born? Because that just doesn't seem possible."

"Fourteen and trust me, it's a complicated story," she says, her eyes showing a few of the lines she's inherited in just a few years since then. "I was in a coma for a very long twenty-eight years. Long enough that my daughter and I are very nearly the same age. That's not exactly something you get used to."

"Wow, that's like magic or something," Anna says, grinning wide. "Well, we have to get you back no matter what. I'll do anything you need."

"Definitely magic, but then, I'm used to that," Charming agrees, even more antsy to find the right door the more they talk about it. She's beginning to get a touch suspicious, though, and she turns her gaze to Anna. "Are you sure you don't know anything about it? Or Joan? Every time I think I've reconciled it, you do something that's just like her or say something exactly as she would."

"I've never had a sister other than Elsa," Anna promises. "And the only place I've ever been other than right here in the hotel is back in Arendelle. It's not any kind of trick or anything, I promise. But I just don't know her. I've never been called Joan in my life."

Anna doesn't even think that's a name used in Arendelle. "C'mon, let's get started looking?"

Charming nods suspiciously, deciding to tuck away these theories for now. If they ever get out of Neverland, maybe she'll be able to investigate properly and find out whether maybe Anna doesn't even realize they know each other, but that's not for right now. "Do you have some kind of system for this? Some logic or reason why a certain door is the right one?"

"Nope," Anna says brightly.

"I just pull at doors and see what happens. It's probably not the best way to do it but it's my way and um...anyway. Did you have an idea? Something a little more organized?"

"No, not really," Charming admits. "I suppose I've tried pretty much everything I can think of, so I'm willing to entertain any kind of ideas, at this point," she says with a shrug, wishing that there were some kind of method to the madness that would help to explain it all.

"Well, random chance it is!" Anna guesses that being positive about it is probably the best thing to do even if she's not methodical and careful the way someone like, oh, her sister would be.

"Let's try some of the fancier looking doors. Ooo, I wonder...do you think you could get there from Arendelle? Elsa marked that door for us."

"If I had a vessel that could sail me there, I might be able to get there," Charming admits, but he's not entirely sure he's going to be able to do that without Hook and his flirtatious ways, which makes her scowl to think of her daughter being treated the same way. "I'd love to see Arendelle, though," she says warmly. "I've heard so much about it."

"Well, we can always try going through Arendelle. How far is it by boat? I can get one for you. I'm a princess, it comes with the territory."

Normally Anna doesn't think about the perks that come with her position but if it can help Charming, she wants to give it a shot.

"I'm a princess too," Charming says with a shrug. "But boats weren't really our kingdom's thing. Armies and a lot of magic, yes, but boats? Well, we had allies for that," she says, still hopeful. "It takes a few weeks to get from Arendelle to the Enchanted Forest by boat. It takes a magic bean or some more of that to get to Neverland, though."

"Hmm. Well, we could get a boat from Arendelle and if we can find a map, maybe we can chart a way to Neverland," Anna says. Strategy isn't her strong suit but she has a big heart and she just wants to help.

"Does that sound like a good idea to you?"

"It sounds like a great idea," Charming promises, having been eager to just find something to do. It's sitting around with inaction that's killing her. She needs to be moving, doing something, and if she can't be productive, then she feels as if she's failing. "Let's start," she says, buoyant and warm.

The door to Arendelle is marked with a snowflake, glowing and blue, and it doesn't take Anna very long to locate it. She opens the door and is greeted with a stiff spring breeze - she loves spring more than anything.

"Let's do it, then! The docks are down closer to the castle. Do you mind walking?"

Charming laughs at Anna's enthusiasm, feeling somewhat overwhelmed and charmed by it as she follows after, happy to see some place that resembles home. "I've never minded a good walk," she promises. "I'm just so happy to be here," she says. "Even if it's not Neverland or the Enchanted Forest, it's part of my world."

"Well, if it's one step closer to home, that's one less step to take?" Anna is glad she's made Charming happy. He (or she now, she guesses) has been one of the people who have made her the most welcome since arriving in the Nexus and she's happy to return the favor.

"We can get one of the clipper ships that carries messages. Without cargo, we'll get there faster. Less stops along the way."

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mirror mirror on the wall, who the hell is she?

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