#pinnochio ouat

[vasfasan]

[victoriously-regal]

I didn’t put as much effort into this as I normally do when I draw, but hope you guys like it anyway :-)

[angel-soma]

Fanart of Archie Hopper / Jiminy Cricket. Storybrooke's best boi. 💚 

[knight--error]

I love how the OUAT showrunners handled August. You could tell they wanted to tie his story up and give him and Marco a happy ending, but also, they realized that having not one not two but THREE tall, dark-haired men romantically pining for Emma was just a touch too much. Ergo, he is now teeny-tiny again. Direct, effective, simple. More shows should do this.

[poisonappleeater]

ouat rewatch journal (s1e16):

oh my god august is such an edgelord jesus christ😭

[timelordhonour]

Unveiling Secrets

Story link

Regina, Maleficent, and Cruella stood in awe as the wood engulfed August, while Missy returned from the console with a mischievous grin. Soon, August's groans filled the air, and the wood retreated, revealing him as a man once more.

"Oh, temporary indeed!" Cruella laughed. "You do love your little tricks, don't you?"

"He may have shed his puppet form," Missy remarked, her voice dripping with a mix of delight and madness. "But the crucial point is that his innate lie detector is fully functional again."

"I'm afraid I haven't the foggiest notion of what you're on about," August replied, wincing as a sharp pain pricked the tip of his nose. The women observed as his nose began to grow.

"Now you're getting the picture," Missy said, seizing August and dragging him toward the doors of her TARDIS. Stepping into the living room of Mr Gold's cabin, she beckoned the three women to follow. With a mischievous glint in her eye, Missy turned to them. "Could one of you darlings be a dear and set that fireplace ablaze?"

Maleficent conjured a fireball in her palm and hurled it into the hearth.

"Marvellous," Missy chuckled. "Now, August, I must offer my apologies. This next lie is going to hurt." She yanked him up by his collar, dragging him closer to the fire, ensuring the tip of his nose hovered just above the flames. Ignoring August's pained grunts, she interrogated him further. "The Author, dear. What do you know?"

"I've already told you everything," August replied, his nose growing again, inching dangerously close to the fire.

"Have you now?" Missy questioned, then she leaned closer to his ear. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," August responded, his nose lengthening further.

"You're not catching on, are you?" Missy taunted. "I require this answer. Tell me where the Author is. Tell me, right now!"

August sighed, relenting. "All right," he conceded. "I'll tell you what you want to know. The Sorcerer, uh, trapped the Author behind a door."

"The Sorcerer? A door?" Cruella chimed in. "He's speaking in riddles."

Missy fell silent. The Sorcerer? Could it be the Sorcerer's hat? The very hat that had once entrapped her?

August stole a glance at Missy. "You've heard of the Sorcerer, haven't you? It's written all over your face. You know I'm telling the truth," he asserted, then shifted his gaze to Regina. "And Regina knows about the door too. I know my father gave you my belongings. There was a page I tore from the book—a sketch of the door."

Missy furrowed her brow at the revelation. "Regina?" she inquired.

"They were just fragments," Regina responded.

"Well, then you shouldn't have any qualms about sharing them with us now."

"I would, if I hadn't already given them to Henry."

Missy nodded slowly, turning back to August. "Can you recall what the door looked like?"

"Um," August hesitated, straining to remember. "It was crafted from wood. Elaborate carvings on the frame. Gleaming with golden accents."

"Where can we find this door?"

"All I know is," August replied, "it's somewhere in Storybrooke."

Missy chuckled, patting his back as she forcefully pushed August back into the chair. "Wasn't so hard, was it?"

“This Sorcerer has a mansion by the lake,” Regina commented. “Maybe we could start there?”

Missy's eyes sparkled with delight as she responded to Regina's suggestion. "Well done, you! We shall embark on our quest for this elusive door at this Sorcerer's magnificent abode." She turned her attention to Maleficent. "Maleficent, my dear? Are you joining us?"

Regina looked at August. “I’ll stay here and watch the puppet.”

"No, no, no, dear. That duty belongs to Cruella," Missy declared firmly. "You, my dear, are the sole possessor of the knowledge encapsulated in that drawing of the door. Hence, you must aid us in our search."

[12freddofrogs]

I am assuming, of course, that only about seventy percent of this is canon according to the later seasons, but I am still yet to finish season one.

I’m not sure how much of August’s backstory is going to be revealed. He seemed like, narratively speaking, the writers were more interested in his mystery. Most of who he was has been revealed. He was implied for a moment there to be a potential love interest for Emma, but although that isn’t completely impossible just yet it doesn’t seem that likely anymore? So I’m not sure how much the writers are going to care about him moving forward.

That said, he knew about the Dark One’s dagger. This is absolutely not common knowledge. Unless a Rumpelstiltskin flashback unrelated to Pinocchio will soon reveal that all of Snow’s castle found out about that, but then I have some major questions about why he needed to be held in prison (although honestly, I can see Snow agreeing that the dungeon was a more humane place to hold someone then to magically enslave them.) But yeah, no, people don’t know about it.

Currently assuming that there is some kind of link between the fairytale world and the real world? Like, people know the story of Snow White, even if they got it slightly wrong. I can absolutely accept that there is an old book in a library somewhere that details old magic kept hidden in the world it applies to, an old book that a certain writer who has spent almost thirty years looking for would absolutely be able to get.

But, like. OUAT might not answer the question of when Pinocchio first discovered his story was a fairytale, but they are going to answer the question of how he knows about the dagger.

 That said. Unless it is explicitly stated otherwise in later seasons, I am going to assume that the real world successfully gaslit August at several points during his life into accepting that he was not really a puppet charmed to life. Not necessarily permanently, if we get confirmation that he has spent time working on the problem. Just… like, a year when he was sixteen or so that he found denial was more comfortable than not.

Yep. It’s been almost a week now, and I am still thinking about all the implications of August’s backstory that have been revealed, implications that I don’t think Once Upon A Time is actually going to touch on.

He was seven years old. At a guess, actually. Did the Blue Fairy tell him he was? Did Geppetto intentionally carve a child to be seven – no, six years old? Did they just judge based on his height and maturity level how old he probably was and went from there? Pinocchio may have been younger. Probably older.

He was seven years old and alone in a new world. And unlike everyone else, he did not get any new memories.

Everyone in Storybrooke was given fake memories about who they were, were told that this is where they had always been. I assume even Regina got fake memories so she could understand what everyone else thought, and also understand what a car is, although she knew her memories were faked. Perhaps if we got a flashback to just as the curse was enacted, they would be more confused about the world around them, but at the same time everyone was equally confused.

August had a seven year old’s maturity, and could only have existed for a year or two prior to that (and I refuse to accept that the whale and everything else happened when he was five, so let’s say Geppetto just underestimated his age), and was left holding a newborn.

His name was Pinocchio. He didn’t get a new name when entering the world, he kept his old one. When the people at the diner called the police and the social workers about two very small children, lost and alone, he told them that his name was Pinocchio. That is a name that has implications. At best, it meant his parents liked the fairytale.

How long did it take before he found out that everyone already knew his name? Did the police woman say, “Like the puppet?” or was it not until he got to the foster home?

Did the first social worker, in those first few days before they found an emergency placement (because babies are hard to place and the seven year old refuses to be separated, and despite what Emma thought about Hansel and Gretel social services actually will do their best to keep siblings together), figure that little Pinocchio might like the fairytale he was named after and put the Disney movie on?  Hopefully, they didn’t have the DVD immediately available, and Pinocchio had already been exposed to the concept of a TV show first, because if the first movie he ever watched was his own life that would entirely break his idea of what TV was.

Pinocchio was a real boy. He’d be annoyed if someone made a reference to a puppet, and overall everyone’s main priority is making sure he and the baby are taken care of. So it wasn’t actually immediate that people realised little Pinocchio genuinely believed he used to be a puppet. The poor kid. Something must have happened to him that was so bad it broke him, that he completely repressed his real memories of how he came to be beside that highway and decided he was actually his favourite Disney movie.

The kid desperately needs therapy.

Pinocchio ran away.

He got caught again, only a few weeks later, but the old foster parents didn’t want any of the children who had left. He was too ashamed to ask for Emma, but the new foster parents weren’t prepared for an infant anyway. These parents were nicer, though. Still didn’t let him play with tools, but they let him play with Lego and they were building blocks that felt kind of like being back at his father’s workshop.

He was eight years old. He couldn’t take care of a baby, couldn’t take care of himself.

He went to therapy. People asked him why he thought he was Pinocchio, and he answered about his father and the Blue Fairy. He talked about the Evil Queen and her curse, but he didn’t really know the full details of it.

Some of the therapists indulged it, asked questions about the Enchanted Forest. Most of them didn’t, overworked and underpaid and part of social services, and told him – only sometimes gently – that magic wasn’t real. His father wasn’t Geppetto, he never spoke to a cricket or a fox or a cat, never was swallowed by a whale or almost turned into a donkey. One of the therapists got deeply interested when he mentioned being held in a cage, but she seemed to pull back a little when Pinocchio mentioned that Stromboni had threatened to cut him into firewood.

He was nine years old, ten years old, eleven. He’d worked out what a movie was, understood that most of them weren’t real. Some of the stories were familiar – he’d met Cinderella, had helped carve toys for her unborn child; Snow White once found him sneaking cookies from her kitchen and had distracted the chef so he wouldn’t be caught; Red Riding Hood had to babysit him once when his father and Jiminy had been called away. But the stories weren’t real, were they? He was on medications and therapy and was told day in and day out that fairies weren’t real.

How long did it take before a child, entirely alone in a different world and without any proof of his own, started to believe them?

He tried to check in on Emma as a teenager, but she’d been moved through too many other homes by then. Maybe he could have looked harder. He didn't.

He changed his name when he was ten years old, tired of everyone reacting to the word Pinocchio. He changed it again at eleven, and at twelve. He picked August Wood at fourteen, changed it again and then eventually came back.

He snuck out of curfew with no conscience on his shoulder. He took woodworking in school, got a job in fast foot specifically so he could afford to take weekly classes at the centre across the road.  

He spent his second pay cheque on a marionette puppet on a whim. It was plastic, not wood. He’d had the idea of learning to move it, but it creeped him out for reasons he couldn’t answer. He wanted to ask it questions, but the puppet never replied.

As a kid, Pinocchio had been aware that the puppets in his father’s workshop weren’t alive, in the puppet show with Stromboli. It had always given him an undefinable feeling that he’d never managed to articulate anyway, watching those faces stare down at him.

August kept the puppet locked in his closet.

He got his first girlfriend at fifteen years old. They dated for a few months, and it went well, until in a moment of vulnerability he confessed that as a kid he had been convinced he was actually Pinocchio. She had thought it was cute until she realised that part of him, buried deep, still kind of believed it.

August grew out of the foster care system. He made a half-hearted attempt to track Emma down, but she wouldn’t have recognised him. He wasn’t even sure if she was real, either, but the baby on the side of the highway, at least, he found articles on. He could confirm she was real. He remembered her mother, and couldn’t quite picture Snow White as anything but the Disney princess.

He went out on adventures. He went out whale watching, and tried to convince himself that the panic attack was seasickness. He got a cat that he named Figaro. He went to Disneyland and, twenty years old, cried on the Pinocchio ride as they went through his own childhood, through a movie that he had seen a thousand times. He went on it three more times that day.

It was a game to go to every Disneyland park in the world, now, so he did it. He liked travel, liked to see the world. Every single time, though, no matter who else he went with or the amount of rollercoasters they went on, he’d regularly touch at his ears, checking that they weren’t growing into donkey ears.

August said that he was a writer. That could have just been a cover, a reason for why he was there. I’d like to think it was real. He wrote poems about growing up differently, poems people assumed were metaphors about being carved out of wood.

He had a couple of kid’s books, aged ten and under, that actually sold okay. They weren’t about Pinocchio, but they were about kids who travelled from a magical world into the real world, and had to learn how to survive. That series ended with the kids getting back home, however, having saved the day.

He tried to look for his real parents, the ones who actually existed, not Geppetto. Maybe the image in his head of a kindly old man really was his father. Real people in real life knew how to carve.

If Geppetto didn't exist, that meant he'd never broken his promise, right?

August, Pinocchio, was a child left alone in a world that told him his memories couldn’t be real. He learned to lie about them, keep himself away from questions, cut down his childhood into the parts that people believed, about carving toys and playing games. Part of him genuinely stopped believing, and part of him just learned to lie.

And then one morning, in Phuket, Pinocchio woke at 8.15 am to find that three of his toes had turned back to wood. The doctors couldn’t even see it, but an X-ray revealed something was very, very wrong. His toes looked normal to the naked eye, but there didn’t seem to be any bones in there. He got sent for more tests.

August didn’t take them. He fled the hospital instead. He returned to his hotel room, panicked but not actually being chased, and threw his medication in the bin.

It was real. He was really Pinocchio.

Be honest, brave, and unselfish and you will always be a real boy.

He’d broken the Blue Fairy’s promise, and the spell was breaking.

It took over a day for August to realise the real problem.

He couldn’t move his toes.  

Geppetto was a master craftsman, and had put all his effort into it. Pinocchio had been carved with fully articulated joints, including the ones under his shoes. The toes still bent when August picked them up by hand, but he couldn’t move them consciously.

He stabbed his foot with a knife, peeled off chips of wood.

It was years ago, but August remembered that in the Enchanted Forest, he had felt pain. Not in the same way as he had as a real boy, but he felt it. He used to be able to feel things through his wood.

Magic didn’t work in this land, though. He wasn’t turning back into an enchanted puppet. Just a puppet. An actual, lifeless piece of wood. Piece by piece, his body was breaking down.

Storybrooke wasn’t that well hidden, honestly. It was easy to find once you knew what to look for.

He recognised people. He saw Geppetto walking down the street and froze. He actually didn’t recognise Archie until they’d already started up a conversation in Granny’s diner and nearly choked on his lunch. He worked out who the Blue Fairy was, and went to ask her for advice.

He hadn’t known what Emma grew up to look like, but he’d recognised her anyway from the moment he walked in.

-------- I mean, I'm only a single season in, but even if his backstory is given more detail, they're not going to actually explain every day of those twenty-eight years. He's been existing in the real world without the Enchanted Forest. Regardless of what else we find out about him, OUAT is probably not going to say that he didn't go to every Disneyland.

[mccallhero]

okay so i just finished ouat for the first time ever (watched it years ago but stopped in s5b) and i just wanted to ask one question about the finale lmao

(discussions of r*pe, the r*pists on the show, the erasure of graham, and regina's crimes)

first. some context. i absolutely hate what happened to graham's character (being r*ped and then murdered by his r*pist and then the crime never ever ever ever being acknowledged) and it's really really hard for me to like regina's character after that. for the longest time i always told myself it was the writers that didn't actually understand what they were writing, and then once they did, they tried to ignore it and sweep it under the rug because that wasn't their intention for regina's character

for example, with the other two r*pists on the show (there's arguments for a lot more, but these ones are confirmed in the canon), zelena and mother gothel are both treated as villains (regina actually calls zelena out for the r*pe, telling her she 'deceived robin in the most vile way possible,' which is another reason i thought the writers were trying to kinda retcon what regina did to graham once they realized what they had actually written). zelena eventually does get her 'redemption' (kinda. the only person who ever treats her well is regina. we just stop seeing zelena with other characters. the only exceptions really in s7 are wish!killian, robyn, and chad and they all don't know about her true crimes), which is something i hate, but again, zelena and mother gothel (for the majority of their characters) are treated as villains, which is genuinely why i thought for over a decade now that the writers realized they made an oopsie with regina and graham and just ignored it

however. then i watch the season 7 finale

and regina's getting crowned the good queen which. okay. interesting take i guess (love or hate regina's character, she burned down entire villages, who the hell is voting for her???). and then regina, the good queen, supposedly forgiven and redeemed for all her past evil deeds, gets to give a speech. in fact, the last speech that's ever given on ouat, the last words ever spoken on the show is this speech

she starts off by saying: 'i thought my story came to an end a long time ago, and then new people came into my life... people who gave me a second chance. i can't wait to see what's in store for me next. well, for everyone'

and then with this speech, as it continues, there's a lovely little montage to give us a reminder of the journey that was ouat and all of the characters along the way

regina says: 'i refuse to believe there won't be more adventures' and we see the jolly roger, charming on horseback, rumple in the heroes and villains au on horseback (interesting choice), grumpy being hatched, jiminy cricket, pinnochio and gepetto being swallowed by a whale, regina casting the dark curse over snow and charming's dying body (.......), emma freeing merlin from the tree, elsa using magic, ursula and maleficent tussling, monkey!walsh, rumple being bitch slapped by a bear, belle being attacked by fire-doggie!phillip, snow hitting charming with a rock, and cruella's stank breath

these are all, so far, decent choices. some are a little iffy but, for the most part, just moments reminding us of everything that's happened

and then regina says 'more love' and we see outlaw queen, snowing, swan believer, phillip and aurora, rumbelle, henry and violet, cinderella and her guy (shawn?), jasmine and aladdin, snowing again

this one's a little more questionable (just like. where is captain swan? and why is swan believer here when everything else is romantic love? did someone mix it up? idk. not the point but still)

'more family' and we see snowing and baby emma, emma and baby henry, the heroes in s2 walking together, snowing and neal, gepetto and pinnochio, henry smiling, and the last supper ouat version

this one's fine. i think including gepetto and pinnochio there is kinda funny when it could be replaced by any other scene of the actual main family (regina and henry maybe???????????????)

and then. finally. why i am making this textpost

regina says 'and yes, there will be more loss'

and. okay. we see robin dying, robin's funeral, regina at her father's grave, and then ???????????????????????????? for SOME REASON they show GRAHAM DYING????????????????????????????????

and at this point i don't care what else they show because regina's then saying 'because that's just a part of life' and i am just wondering. HOW. after SEVEN SEASON. did ouat think that was a good idea

and it genuinely makes me feel nauseous because yes, he is a forgotten victim, he was controlled and r*ped and murdered and nobody ever found out about it and, in fact, he is rarely ever even remembered (emma wearing his shoelace was such a fucking blessing to know at least ONE PERSON cared about him after he had died. that he at least wasn't forgotten by her) but for YEARS i thought it was just ouat being ouat and trying to ignore their mistakes because addressing them would make regina truly unforgiveable

but then. regina. in her final act of being truly redeemed, switched completely from the evil queen to the good queen, her crimes being forgiven by her victims and everyone electing her to be queen (WERE THERE NO OTHER CANDIDATES?), regina reminds us of the crime that she never ever told anyone about, the crime that she will be taking to her grave, and we see graham dying (because she r*ped and then murdered him)

and it just feels so so so wrong. ESPECIALLY. especially. ESPECIALLY after season seven, where we're forced to watch rogers be taunted by his r*pist, the knowledge of her crime being unknown to him (she taunts wish!killian too when he does know), and that entire plot is sickening and heartbreaking but that's what it's supposed to be. like one of the biggest plots of the season was about a r*pist taunting her victim and destroying his life and making him miserable and being the cause of his death (gothel poisoned wish!killian's heart, regina crushed graham's, wow ouat sure does love their parallels). never once are we expected to be on gothel's side and literally everyone on the show hates her besides characters she is also manipulating (ivy and anastasia). so how are they going to have that be one of the main plots of the season (if not the main plot, considering it's why rumple dies and killian/alice/gothel have the most backstory eps out of any other plotline) and then do this?

how are they going to give regina her redemption and then remind us of graham's death, arguably one of her worst crimes that is kept secret from everyone on the show? she took his heart and then commanded him to her bed chamber and then created a curse where they had a sexual relationship despite graham being miserable every single day and never wanting or feeling anything because oh yeah she stole his heart and controls him. and then she killed him when she couldn't control him any longer

and now she's the good queen, getting her second chance? ('second' chance. okay ouat. sure)

how are they going to forgive regina for her crimes while reminding us, the audience, that nobody even knows about graham?

[essential-npc]

We didn't need a live action Pinnochio movie. We needed more Pinnochio OUAT content.

[winter-in-wonderland]

so i just saw this episode of once upon a time… they massacred my hot biker pinocchio

[poptart-cat-78]

@kazoosandfannypacks

"Remember, Pinocchio. Be brave, truthful, and unselfish. So long as you do that, you will always remain a real boy."

[ouat-rare-pair]

@crying-is-your-latest-fashion :

August Booth/Sheriff Graham for a rarepair? There’s less than ten fics about them and I’m desperate for someone to converse with. They have so much in common story wise and Graham deserves someone who will treat him well and go on adventures with him.  

I have to say, I’ve never thought of this, but I dig it. Let me offer you my thoughts:

Let’s talk storyline first. Graham is the first one to start to wake up from the curse, other than Gold. August is one of the few people to believe and know the curse is real. If August had been in town when Graham was still strutting his stuff, they definitely would have had an interaction Maybe having a drink at Granny’s, August is a few stools down from Graham and notices he’s really putting them away. Of course he says something, and Graham vaguely alludes to thinking he’s going mad, and then asks August, “Do you ever feel like you’re another person? Like maybe there’s more than one version of you?” August is curious and prods him on, and Graham starts talking about his weird dreams and whatnot. At the end, August gives him a little wink and says, “I dunno...you don’t sound crazy to me.” And that’s what encourages Graham to keep investigating the weirdness. 

Character-wise, Graham is the epitome of good: the purest good, and not just because his cursed persona is literally the nicest person ever. As the Huntsman, he is separated from society, so he is untouched by their corruption. What Regina takes as sociopathy and heartlessness, is really a disdain for the immoral, corrupt cancer cell that humans are to the world (in Graham’s view). He’s all about respecting nature, cycle of life, he won’t harm anything innocent out of malice because he’s incapable. August, on the other hand, is SO SUSCEPTIBLE to corruption. He wants to be good, and he has to be good, or he’s back to being a Chucky doll. I think August’s struggle with morality would be an interesting tension between the two of them.

Please, please, please, feel free to send me your thoughts regarding this--anyone, really, who wants to discuss it. Or other rarepairs or headcanons or prompts (writing or gifs). ​

[wicked-chocolatine]

It is really a shame we didn't get more of August/Pinnochio. His character was great and very likeable. He's not one of those characters that A&E kind of gave up without proper closure so I'm not accusing them of bad writing here.

It's just wasted potential, another big OUAT issue.

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One: Breaking the Curse

Chapter 48: Reconnaissance Work

If it weren't for Baelfire, he'd have called Dove to do this for him. Getting information, digging around and snooping…those things weren't really his job. And in this world, with his ankle injury, it wasn't something he was often physically prepared, or sometimes, even able, to do. If this were any other job not related to potentially finding a link to his son, he'd have sent Dove in a heartbeat. But since it was Baelfire, he'd opted not to summon his bird and simply do it himself.

Of course…the fact that he'd sent Dove on a nice little vacation didn't help.

After checking Granny's records in the office, carelessly left out for anyone to find really, and learning which room Booth was staying in, he'd taken to the stairs. That was the first time that he started to think he would have rather liked to have Dove with him in this case. He wouldn't have trusted the bird to come alone lest he find something too damning, but having a second pair of eyes might have been incredibly helpful given the fact that he was giving himself such a short amount of time to get this done. On the stairs, he'd set the alarm on his cell phone for seven minutes. That gave him time to get up the stairs, pick the lock, look around for five minutes, and leave. It wasn't a lot, but anything more than that would be risky. Booth could leave Mary Margaret's party and return here, he could come back with Emma, he could catch him and call Emma, Granny or even Ruby could come back to change for work, and he had no doubt they wouldn't keep silent. No, more than five minutes was just too risky.

He wore gloves, just on the off chance that he couldn't get the door locked again or he made a mess of something and Emma was called after. He wished he had one of Regina's skeleton keys, but the best part of being Mr. Gold meant that he didn't need it. Would it have been helpful? Sure. But necessary? Not at all. He picked the lock with some tools from the shop. Dove was good with locks, but he'd wager that he could do better. Being a pawnbroker meant dealing with locks of all types. He had hazy false memories over the years of people bringing him objects of value that had locks but keys that had "long ago" gone missing. Picking a lock was second nature; it was just another day at the office for him. Now, if he had two healthy legs, then he could dismiss Dove for good. But as it was right now…

Suddenly he felt the tumblers fall into place and heard the snick of the lock opening. He swung the door open, limped inside, and closed the door to give himself a few minutes of privacy. A few minutes…he had to make those minutes count.

There were a few lights that have been left on, which helped. His first priority was doing this quickly, but his second was to keep things tidy so that no one knew he'd been here. The lights on meant he didn't have to turn any on or remember to turn them off. He noted that the room looked well lived in, but wasn't terribly shocked at that considering how long Booth had been in Storybrooke by now. Bed, nightstands, desk, all common items one might find in a B&B room. But the desk would probably yield the most information. It was the most cluttered.

There was a hat of some kind, sitting next to a typewriter. It was old, older than Storybrooke. It didn't belong here in the B&B, and Emma had mentioned something about a typewriter when he'd spoken to her a bit ago. It was probably August's. It was an antique but…nothing more. Probably worth about one hundred dollars in a shop like his. There was no meaning to it except perhaps sentimental. If it was sentimental, he wasn't going to discover its sentiment without August. So he kept looking. He checked the paper in the typewriter, but it was blank. No words. No letters. However, there was more paper stacked next to it, under a wooden paperweight—a donkey of all things. Beautiful craftsmanship, it appeared to be handmade, but…also meaningless in addition to being worthless. He doubted the donkey was standard at Granny's either. But it, like the typewriter, was an odd thing to travel with. More sentiment?

He moved the donkey aside and looked to the small stack of paper it guarded. The top page held a simple typewritten paragraph, probably a continuation of whatever was on the page-

His heart stopped for a moment before thudding painfully back to life. He felt cold. As if all the blood had drained from his body.

He'd turned that page, expecting to find another page of text. Instead, he'd discovered a drawing, a sketch of something deadly, something he couldn't have prepared himself for.

It was a drawing of his dagger.

His name was spelled correctly.

"L" before "E". And every other detail aside from that was perfect as well. The way it waved, the etchings on it, the handle's design, the point of it, everything right down to his fucking name was perfect!

It was disturbing. Of all the things he'd expected to find, that certainly hadn't been in. It changed everything. Everything! He couldn't just leave August Booth to his own plans, not when he had a drawing like that. And he sure as hell couldn't call in one of the birds to watch him. No. He had to get to the bottom of this. And he had to do it himself. He had to do it quickly. He knew Baelfire and knew about the dagger…this didn't end when his cell phone alarm went off. It couldn't.

For once, he closed the shop the next day without warning or reason and spent the day trailing after August Wayne Booth. It wasn't terribly difficult. Where his motorcycle as he was usually never far. He'd gone to see Emma early that morning, but it had been a short visit. He still had two workers watching Emma and Regina, the two last remaining players in the Mary Margaret Scandal. He knew what they were doing. Emma was trying to figure out a way to take down Regina; Regina was trying to figure out how to cover her ass. They'd be too busy for Booth.

That was probably why he'd had lunch alone at Granny's that day. Hungry as he was, he didn't allow himself to go inside or eat anything. If he did that, he might get held up and miss August on the way out. He was a man on a mission—a mission to get information. Having a picture of that dagger was a threat to his existence. A threat to his existence was a threat to seeing his son.

He didn't take threats well.

Finally, August emerged from the diner, mounted his motorcycle, and sped off. He followed at a distance as he sped through the streets of Storybrooke, up into the woods, and arrived at, of all places, the convent. He parked his car in a spot that he knew would give him a good visual once Booth parked his bike and then watched as he strode up the stairs. He waited outside, pacing until Mother Superior appeared, they exchanged a few words, and then the pair of them went inside. It was curious. Very curious. What would Booth want with an Old Bug like her?

Fortunately, after an hour of sitting in his car, waiting for him to come out, he knew how to find out. Mother Superior…finally he'd talked to someone that he could have sway over! Fairy or nun, in this land, she was nothing but a tenant, and that meant he could ask her about him, threaten her if need be. In fact…this was great. Either Mother Superior would tell him what Booth wanted, or he'd find some legal reason to kick them out of the convent. One way or another, he'd be leaving here with a problem solved. The only question was which one.

One hour later, August emerged from the convent with the Bug. They chatted amiably on the porch for a few moments before walking down some steps and finally parting. That was his chance. And yes, the moment he got out of his car and made his way to the nun while August sat back on his bike, he was aware that he risked losing the man. But if he could learn anything substantial, then it might be worth the risk. For Baelfire…anything was worth the risk.

"Mother Superior. Good afternoon," he muttered without bothering to hide his disdain for her. She knew he didn't like them. No need to hide it. After all, the way she glanced up at him and then sighed didn't hide her own disdain.

"Our rent is paid in full," he explained simply. Yes, he knew that. Rent had been due the day Kathryn was freed…he'd had Dove collect it like usual so they could talk over the Kathryn situation. Then, once he'd given him his cut, he'd disappeared up to one of the cabins he owned by the lake for his well-deserved vacation while he'd done the books. He'd been irritated to see the convent had paid in full but not surprised after the events that had taken place over Miner's Day.

"I'm not here about the rent."

Mother Superior smiled one of her falsely sweet but innocent smiles. "Well, good day to you, then," she sassed before attempting to walk away from him. Honestly, the Curse had a sense of humor. This woman…a nun…innocent?! That was utterly ridiculous when talking about any fairy, least of all their leader.

"Tell me, that man who just left here…who did he say he was? What did he want?" he called before she could get too far.

She turned, her smile still in place as she whispered, "I don't have to tell you that."

The thing was, ever since he'd decided to ask her, he'd been expecting an answer like that. And he was more than happy to give her the answer that he'd prepared.

"And I don't have to not double your rent," he snapped, wiping the smile off of her face and putting it on his own instead. Their rental agreement was indeed specific. And Mr. Gold had longed for years to tear it up, which meant he practically had the damn thing memorized. He couldn't kick them out unless they failed to make rent. There was nothing in it that mentioned the rent had to stay the same year to year or even month to month. And by the look on her face, the Blue Bug knew it too.

"What did he want?" he pushed.

"Advice and counsel," she answered. "He came to town looking for his father after a long separation and he recently found him."

"Ah," he managed to let out a choked noise but only because his heart had suddenly leaped up into his throat as his body went cold and then numb all over again. It was identical to the feeling he'd had last night when he'd seen the drawing of the dagger only...different. This was different.

A son who had found his father after a long separation. A man who knew Baelfire.

It wasn't possible…

"And a happy reunion has already taken place?" he asked, trying not to put too much emotion into it. That was a difficult task. He was nothing but emotion right now. Emotion after emotion…fear, hope, love, joy, pain, sorrow, panic…lots of panic.

Why panic? All the others he understood but panic…

"No. He hasn't spoken to him yet."

No. It couldn't be Baelfire. If it was, they'd spoken just the other morning. Not that he would call that a happy reunion, exactly. But nuances…

He swallowed. "And why not?"

"Mm, it was a difficult parting. There are many issues to be resolved between them."

"I see…" he whispered, looking out across the property without actually seeing it. He felt a shiver creep up his spine and just barely managed to mutter "Good day, Mother Superior" before turning and leaving.

When he fell back into his car, he felt like he couldn't breathe.

August Wayne Booth…here to reunite with a father he'd parted badly from…it couldn't be…

Could he?

[operaghostly]

I need a multi chapter fanfic that follows the entire series of Once Upon A Time, but has Wooden Swan as endgame.

[justanoutlawfic]

Happy 17th birthday Jakob Davies!