InsaneJournal

Who: Snow and Faust
Where: Beast's castle
When: Backdated a little bit
What: Pretend family reunions!
Warnings: None



Snow was still scowling by the time she reached the Beast’s castle. The last time she had darkened this doorstep she had been made a fool of and been nearly kidnapped. The former irritated her more than the latter but she still made a silent and solemn promise never to return. As usual, however, Rose managed to get her to request precisely what she didn’t want to give, namely her unceremonious return to this place, and she cursed herself for letting her sister get to her so often.

It had been years since the incident, where Snow had left the small cottage they called home and her twin behind, and though she couldn’t recall why she had left, or under what circumstances, the redhead never let her forget that she had left, and broke a promise in doing so. Hundreds of years had passed for Snow and even though she knew time flowed so differently here, she found that she was still paying the price. Resented it, even, constantly trying to make it up to her sister who would, at any moment, throw it back in her face regardless.

Such dark thoughts continued to swirl through her mind, pulling a deepening furrow on her brow and frown on her lips. She gave the large doors a customary knock but took her sister at her word, that the Beast and their new brother were expecting her arrival, and showed herself in. Though she wore a green cloak that was common in the Homelands and allowed her to pass anyone with only a cursory glance, beneath she wore her modern clothing, thinking that her trip would be a quick one and she could easily return to New York after she dropped off the newcomer at the nearest inn, safe from the Beast’s territorial temper. A pair of blue jeans and a grey sweater became visible now that she was tugging the green fabric off her shoulders and slinging it over her arm before smoothing back her loosely tumbling hair.

“Hello?” Her voice echoed off the stone walls as she walked and glanced around for any sign of, well, anyone. “Rose?” No answer, and after a few more steps she recalled the name that her sister had given her. “Faust?”

Faust was outside in the servant’s unused and grown over carpentry bench (well, really it was more of a shack) working on the fiddle he had set out to build. He had tried to make quick friends with the quivering candles and shy broomsticks with silly little stories of his past adventures and questions about the castle they had been forced to haunt for so long. Most were wary of him or treated him like there was a death clock above his head, but every once and awhile some rogue chair would hobble out to show him spare lumber or a sandbelt that simply needed to be cleaned. Cursed things wanted to be kind, wanted to fight the boredom of living each day and invisible and speechless.

So, he sat on a chair that had followed him out to the garden that day and slowly, gently sanded down the side of a misshapen piece of wood that didn’t look much like a violin at all. Faust was dressed like a rich young man enjoying his Sunday afternoon in a black vest, white long sleeves rolled up, somewhat dirty black pants and a top hat tilted to the side on his red hair. In his throat he hummed an old sailor’s melody about lighthouses and women waiting on coves, his song nearly drowning out the echo of Snow’s voice across the stone. He perked his head up curiously and then remembered Rose’s promise that their sister would visit despite some obvious trepidation about the castle and Faust himself. It made him smile. Most people who were wary of him heard of his exploits before meeting him and this seemed quite the opposite.

Faust stood and made his way into the castle towards the grand foyer with a modern looking woman standing in the middle of it. Truth be told, he was expecting someone dressed like a queen even if she had apparently given that up. He was also expecting red hair. “Ah, Snow. You look less and less like my sister and I with each passing year.” Faust said clearly across the room, a small smirk on his face. “You’re a little early for the feast. I don’t believe Rose has even located a goose to stuff.” He took a step towards her, looking over her wardrobe with disappointment.

Snow turned immediately at the voice, tensing at the surprise and readying to fight or flee, a bad habit that she happened think was practical enough to keep. She took a quick survey of him though she immediately realized that Rose gave her no descriptions and no expectations, other than being handsome. He was certainly, but Snow long stopped deeming that to be a quality to care about. Instead she gave a soft half snort at his remark on their familial looks.

“Why it’s as if we aren’t related at all,” she countered dryly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Regardless of the fact that the twins looked nothing alike, Snow wasn’t pleased with this lie. Really she wasn’t pleased with this ruse in the first place. She was just about to pull her cloak on once more, ready to tell Faust how they should make a run for it, when his words finally settled.

“What feast?” Clearly this was news to her, and unwelcome at that. When he looked over her with such disappointment she squared her shoulders back and straightened up. Like hell if she was going to let someone back in the Homelands judge her.

Faust took another step towards her, hands behind his back. Yes, she was stern as Rose had warned and looked as though she had been unamused by the world for quite sometime. “Oh, I was certain she told you.” He said, walking over to her until they were in speaking distance and shrugged. “She wanted to prepare an entire feast for a handful, maybe a dozen, guests from around the kingdom. Invite them into this lovely, dusty castle for a meal and some drinks. Maybe even a few party games.” He made a face like he completely understood how insane the thought of such a thing in Beast’s Castle would be, but seemed still very delighted by the prospect of a party at all.

“You should stay for the feast, Snow.” Faust smiled down at her. Squared shoulders and all. “It will make your sister happy. And, maybe if we’re lucky the Beast will eat one of them.”

Making Rose happy. Snow took a deep, angry breath at that, glowering up at the stranger even as he smiled down at her. This was always how it was and, as she was quickly finding out, how it would be. Must make Rose happy. Never mind that it was still putting people in mortal danger. Never mind the absolute inconvenience of it all. Never mind the lies that it takes to concoct the scenario. Never mind what anyone else was doing with their lives. Stop the presses everyone: Rose wants something. It’s Rose’s happiness that’s important, fleeting and fickle though it was.

“I’m surprised he’s even said yes to the idea. He wasn’t very hospitable the last time I was here.” Though she was in stubborn denial at how dangerously close she had been to being chomped on, she didn’t think her luck was enough to save her from those jaws a second time. “It’s funny because Rose did speak to me, but that I was to take you home, brother dear.” At least that was the impression Snow had. “The castle and its master don’t appreciate surprise guests and you have been quite the surprise. It would be wiser to make your stay a quick one.” It was as best a warning she would give in the Beast’s castle without being even more obvious but Snow hoped her message was clear: She certainly wasn’t going to stay.

Faust raised a brow at her scowl, surprised that something as petty as sibling rivalry between sisters could get under Snow’s skin. Surely it was more complicated than that, but it always came down to childish games. Rose sat in her mother’s lap and had her hair combed while Snow was scolded for not keeping her back straight during dinner. All sisters suffered the same, but most grew out of it by now. Still, he was just as interested in keeping Snow’s good favor as Rose. A delicate game to play that he wasn’t sure he could win.

“He still isn’t.” Faust knew the Beast was never going to be tamed, but he obviously had a weakness. “I believe he’s in love with her. It’s the only explanation for not eating me whole and allowing this feast.” Still, that didn’t mean he was planning on testing the animal’s patience. The castle wasn’t a permanent residence. Just one to get him back on his feet. “Rose made it abundantly clear you were not to steal me away. I don’t blame you for wishing not to linger, but let me at least make you some tea before you go.”

Snow remained quiet for a long moment, and then another, looking every bit like she was going to refuse. And she certainly wanted to. She just confirmed that the Beast was going to kill them if they remained but he wanted tea. He was an idiot, or mad, maybe both, and that didn’t raise her regard of him very high. But he was, strangely, important to Rose and though she made a big deal out of not caring for her sister’s feelings, Snow knew playing nice with the mad idiot wouldn’t hurt too much. It was the least she could do for not staying for the party.

“Fine,” she groused, though the angry effect was softened as her scowl fell into a soft pout. Maybe if she could talk to him for a few more minutes she could convince him to run. Maybe. “So Rose said I wasn’t to save you, hm? I’m going to assume she thinks you can convince me to stay here too?” The real question was how she convinced Faust to stay, when he had no curse, no promise, and no reason to not go somewhere safer. “Why are you here?”

“She does think that, yes.” He smiled warmly at her scowling concession to tea and lead the way back into the kitchen. The place seemed a little more clean thanks to his and Rose’s presence. Faust felt more comfortable eating over the kitchen counters than in the grand dining hall or up in his room, so he took the effort to keep it clean and presentable. As much as he could anyway. He pointed at two of the stools in the corner and snapped which made them seem to wake up and hobble over to the counter. “I thought that the only way I could get you to stay longer than a couple moments was if you found me amusing. Most people do.” Faust looked over his shoulder at her, taking off his hat and placing it on a coatrack near the door. “But, I shall tell her I could not even get you to crack a smile at my expense. She’ll lose some faith in me, but somehow I will struggle onwards.”

He busied himself with the hot water and a box of tea high up in the cabinet so that no one could reach it but him. An amusing trick that most tall people like to play. “I’m here because I have no where else to go. Rose is good company and the Beast doesn’t frighten me. Leaving her alone in this castle without anyone to entertain seems unfair. Don’t you think?”

“Amusing isn’t the word I’d use.” In truth she wasn’t sure what she would, watching him carefully before turning her attention to the hobbling stools. That was interesting but that didn’t quite apply to the man. He was pleasant enough, but still a dead man walking. Amusement or anything on par would mean her staying longer than she was already daring.

“I doubt she’ll be that surprised. She likes you better than me. I really doubt her opinion of you will lower.” Rose had set him on an impossible task and she knew it, and Snow shrugged as she sat upon the stool and watched him prepare tea. His trying to get her to stay wouldn’t change how Rose felt about either of them. “I tried to get Rose to leave once and she insisted on staying. Refused to leave, even. If it’s unfair that’s her problem and I have things at home that I need to take care of. I can’t drop everything just because she’s bored.” That was, well, half a lie at least. She did care about her sister having company. She did let that Draco boy come and visit. Best not to dwell on it. “So the Beast doesn’t scare you? Is there something worse than him where you’re from?”

“That’s because a part of her cares for the Beast, too.” Faust had a measured way of making tea with the sort of flourishes that matched how he spoke. An extra shake of the box, for example, or maybe a careful pick of the right tea leaves to make the brew twinge a little on the lips. Alchemy wasn’t all that different from making tea. Or magic, for that matter. “A large part of her. Your sister likes challenges, doesn’t she? The garden is one. This boy she let visit might be another.” Faust let the kettle put itself on like a good servant and pulled up a stool adjacent to Snow. “But, the Beast. The Beast is a nearly impossible challenge. How many prisoner girls has he holed up in this castle? Five? Twenty? All of them screamed and tried to fight him. But, Rose doesn’t.” Faust rubbed his hands together, placing his elbows up on the counter. “I knew a man like that. A retired pirate who wanted to find a wife that was worthy. Chopped up each one that didn’t fit the bill. One day he did meet her, but she had her brothers slay him. There was no love lost between them. This...this is different.”

Faust knew Snow was too smart for his stories (even if that particular one was true). No, she had seen enough deadly pirates, thieves, murderers and liars to fill up the whole castle. It was written all over her face. The way she carried herself above everyone else. It was for strength, wasn’t? Faust gave Snow a look like he understood Beasts like the one in this castle just as well as he understood Queens like her. “Yes.” Faust smiled faintly. “Something much worse.” If she was smart. If she had the keen eye he thought she did, Snow would be able to tell it was him. Nothing could be worse than a man who drummed up hell because he was bored.

Interesting was gradually being applied to the man as well now as Snow took in the way he moved about. A man who could make chairs move and treated the tea like it was a special concoction. Magic never bothered her, even when it had orchestrated some of the more distressing parts of her past, for it was so interwoven with her life in the Homelands and also in New York. But it was still interesting to see someone who acted so at home with the motions and who wasn’t trying to kill everyone else in the room. At least, she didn’t think he was.

“You’re not wrong about Rose,” she admitted with a shrug. “It’s clear she cares, but I can’t tell you how much. But even before she seemed to care, she wouldn’t leave. I tried to spring her right when she was there and still she insisted on staying. She talks about promises, fine. She can keep her promises. She needs to also reap their consequences, even if it’s boredom.” She did have to raise a brow at his stories though. “I knew someone like that.” A few, in passing and some others as they crossed her path, though she hadn’t seen them since the recent Vegas development. Still, men like that were plentiful in the Homeland and places like it. “It might be different but the real question is, is it going to last? Rose likes pushing limits and doesn’t look like she will stop. The Beast wants no one to see her or disturb them, but she invites and lies to get people to come and visit. Something will eventually give and we have no brothers.” A beat and then a wan smile. “Other than you, of course.”

Keen eyes she did have and they narrowed slightly at his smile and his ominous words. She silently appraised him for a moment longer before shaking her head. “The three of you in one castle?” A territorial beast with a temper, a man of magic who was more frightening, and a girl who threw herself against every challenge she could find. “The castle won’t long enough to have a dinner party.”

He laughed brightly at her assertion that they couldn’t be left together and shook his head. “No. I have excellent manners. The Beast may act as though he doesn’t know what those are, but anything with territorial issues appreciates them.” Faust got up to carry over the teapot and two cups, allowing the funny little thing pour tea for the both of them in the same way it did when he first arrived here himself. “Enough about this stuffy castle. Tell me why you’re dressed like someone from Las Vegas.”

It was clear that even though this particular wizard knew plenty about the people he had already met inside of this castle, he didn’t have a firm grasp on his own reality versus someone else’s. He knew Las Vegas was some sort of futuristic world and could recognize the popular garb, but he didn’t know much else beyond that. Sometimes Rose would talk about the mundane, but Faust didn’t know that was more than just a way of politely calling someone boring.

Snow straightened back at his question, for a moment forgetting that she was in strange clothes. “Because I... Well, I come from some place not that unlike Vegas.” More often than not the few strangers there in the Homelands treated her as some foreigner, which was fine and not untrue. But she had forgotten that those with a counterpart would know modern attire when they saw it. It say this was going to be a somewhat complicated explanation was an understatement.

“Rose and I aren’t from here. Not this exact area. Our home was overrun by the Adversary and his army, and we were separated when we were going to safety. After a while she ended up in this land, I think. I found New York -- a city in the Mundane world, modern now. Hence, the pants.” She gave on quick gesture down to her attire before wrapping her hands around the cup of tea. “Where are you from? Before you... I think she said you fell into the castle?”

Faust nodded, though he didn’t understand much of what she said. It wasn’t the first time he was told of other lands that were less than a mark on a map in his mind, so he just took the important parts. They were refugees and Snow found a completely different land to make a home while Rose was here in some castle. It explained a lot about their personalities, he thought. “I’m from a small village that doesn’t quite match this time or place. There was magic here, but it felt differently and came with such a high price that most didn’t try to conjure it up.” Faust had been trying to find a good way to explain his world to people who clearly didn’t have angels screaming down from the heavens and demons bubbling up from the ground.

“Do you know anything about Christianity?” He said, expression turning sort of bashful at how inane that question would have sounded in his own world. “The man in my head tells me that carving a pentagon achieves nothing but a ruined dining room floor in Vegas. Where I come from that’s a surefire way to call something from Hell. In my world, the religion is all very literal.”

It was strange but not surprising to hear that he hailed from an entirely different place. She was seeing people with names she knew but came from other worlds that didn’t quite match up to this one. Very few, it seemed, were familiar with this particular place but they all took it in stride. What else could one do?

She nodded slowly, cautiously, when he asked her about Christianity, a knee jerk reaction from living in the modern era and no door to hide behind to pretend she wasn’t at home. It quickly faded into understanding when he elaborated, finding herself at ease finally as she took a sip of her tea. “It’s like that where I’m from. Sort of. Heaven. Hell. Angels and the like, they don’t exactly exist there. It’s like how it is in Vegas, and your head case.” One pale finger tapped at her temple. “But at the same time it’s not like his world. It still has magic leftover when I and others fled and brought with us to the city. The witches can still cast spells, we just tell them not to. The animals talk, we just tell them to be silent.” If it was fantastical she didn’t sound enthused, just giving him a slight shrug as she took another sip of her tea.

“But you can do magic.” She glanced at the teapot that had just been pouring them tea. “In a land where there’s an actual God and Devil, how does that work out?” She had one idea how.

Faust folded his hands together in front of him, listening to her with the interest of a scientist or an explorer. It was still a bit muddled in his opinion, but Peter told him to not worry about it all too much. Laws were different in other worlds and that was something he simply had to accept. “Oh.” He said about the magic, looking down at the teapot. “No, no that’s the castle. Cursed servants.” Faust considered lying to her about his abilities, but Rose knew about it and sisters were bound to talk. “But, you’re correct.” He lifted one hand in a sweeping movement with a black vapor trail following it. His magic felt wrong, but after all that talk of heaven and hell it couldn’t be a surprise.

“I think my curse manifested in its own way here according to these laws.” Faust had spent plenty of time trying to work out the technicalities of it. “I’ve been trying to keep my abilities dampened. I don’t want to hurt the Beast or cause unnecessary pain to anyone else here.”

She looked surprised when he mentioned it was the castle’s doing. Her previous trip there hadn’t really involved showed that particular feature. Then again she had been more than a little preoccupied at the time. She paused as if readying to apologize but he beat her to it with a further explanation, and a flicker of relief passed over her face. So she wasn’t wrong. Always a good thing.

She watched the black vapor follow his hand with a slight frown, more intent watching than glaring. “Manifested how?” He spoke of control and pain and she couldn’t help that her thoughts drifted to the safety of Rose. “And here I thought I would have to protect you, not them. Are you sure it’s wise to stay here?”

Faust saw the worry on her face and waved his hand as if to say this problem with magic seemed a lot worse than it actually was. “Gazing into the pits of hell gives a man quite a bit of self control. And, if the Beast does anything to try and hurt Rose, I can protect her.” He took a sip of his tea and thought to himself that this was the most mature conversation he had had in a long time. So far it had been a mix between silly playtime with Rose, endless musing with Peter and whatever in good god’s name the journals were on about. “I won’t be here for much longer, though. This place is safe and quiet. Once I get myself together, I plan to go find a more suitable place for myself.”

Both her brows raised in admission when he said he could protect Rose. He had magic, something to that could contend with the Beast’s might, and the same could be said in the other direction, should Faust get out of line. It wasn’t an ideal situation, not with Rose caught in the middle between them but there was little to be done with her sister insisting the man stay. She nodded as he spoke of one day leaving the castle and she sipped the last bit of her tea before setting the cup down with a soft thud.

“I don’t know the area very well. There’s a town not too far from here, and as long as you steer clear of this forest you should be fine.” She knew he didn’t need her advice, not with his abilities, and she certainly was no expert, but she couldn’t help it. Despite her best efforts and demeanor, she always did find herself helping people.

“There are some nice folk around here. A girl nearby in the woods. A witch hunter or two.” She shrugged a she slipped off the stool and began pulling her long cloak around her shoulders. “Just steer clear of anyone who does magic, and try not to advertise that you do it as well.”

“Thank you for the advice.” He said, though clearly thought he could take care of himself. Faust was wrong thinking that he could navigate this new world with the same ease that he did his own homeland, but arrogance in a wizard wasn’t that uncommon was it? Faust collected their teacups and the wiggling kettle to put in the sink before grabbing his hat. “I’ll inform Rose that I’ve failed miserably to keep you around, though perhaps you’ll be more inclined to visit now?” Faust followed her out of the kitchen and stopped halfway towards the back door to the garden.

“Don’t answer that. I’ll tell her it anyway.” He smirked. This castle was a bit of a madhouse and Snow was clearly someone who wanted to stay far away from that sort of complication. Faust tipped his hat simply and turned to go back to building his fiddle.