Bloody Bee followed Rumple, carrying a box of old potions that he had gotten in a deal that needed to be disposed of since he had gotten what he wanted. The box was rotting and falling apart but Bee was alright carrying it, while she was asking advise on how to handle the giant since she had gotten another love letter “any case I hate to have him come herEep!” She had fallen the potions burtsting and Bee right in the middle of the unknown potions and shards of glass.
Rumple was rolling his eyes at the mention of the giant, not even remotely a fan of him. If Bee hadn’t been so insistent then he would have killed the Giant by now. Or, ironically, turned him in to something tiny. He enjoyed ironic punishments for crimes, or perceived crimes in this case.
As he was about to answer her, to tell her that the Giant was not allowed on his grounds and he would be punished if he tried fit, he was spinning to look at her. Her cry, the shattered glass and the feel of the magic filling the air and mingling together had him on high alert. Oh, it was not good that they all shattered like that, and he was quick in trying to remove some of the potions with his magic.
Chapter 7: Belle learns about the mysterious inhabitants of the mansion and the price to stay there.
Notes: Took me some time to get this out, because I found I had no idea about what was going to happen, but that has solved itself. People are going to learn how truly terrifying the imps can be and what a ruthless mastermind Nugget can really be.
Walking into the lunge she saw Mr. Gold already seated on the large comfy chair, and Ore in the love seat where it fluffed up the pillows as it gave her an expected look.
“Thank you Ore,” she said as she sat herself down on the seat which the creature had been preparing for her. The creature puffed his chest out proudly before settling down close to her, resting against her legs.
Belle rested her hand on the creature’s small body, which made it let out a happy sound towards her.
“He is quite adorable isn’t he?” she asked.
“Why I figured that he was the best introduction to them. He is rather eager to please and he do enjoy your attention,” Mr. Gold said. “However… the rest are getting rather… impatient too.
Belle followed her host’s eyes up towards the ceiling.
Among the decorations on the walkway lining the ceiling, now seeing several glowing eyes looking down at them.
“There really is quite a lot,” Belle said in a low tone.
“Yes, as we went over…” Mr. Gold said with a shrug. “Will you be alright with them coming down?”
Belle nodded slowly. “Yes, of course.”
On cue they scurried down the ceiling and quickly Belle found herself surrounded by the creatures, some practically on top of her lap.
“Oh! You are eager!” she exclaimed, continuing to run her hands over the many scaly backs. All of them letting out several chirping sounds.
“And a bit loud,” she laughed, doing her best to pet all of them.
“Hm… well, they do not usually make sound, they have no need to… however they have a rather… misunderstood idea of what language is. Humans make sound to communicate, so to bond with you they attempt to “speak” with you,” he said as he observed her closely with those golden eyes.
“Oh… that sounds rather… interesting, and nice of them,” she laughed a bit as she continued her impossible task of petting all the creatures.
“They do try,” he said softly, observing how the human who were practically swarmed at this point, but showing no sign of distress.
Well… she did not know the truth of them. But it was still impressive.
A rather loud thud then silenced all the chirping and all of the sudden Belle felt herself alone on the loveseat. Looking around confused as to why the creatures all the sudden ran away, wondering it was something that she did, she turned to see another one seated on the table.
It was far larger than the rest of them, nearing twice the size of the rest. The leader no doubt. It regarded her for a moment, and while she did not fear the rest of them… she could not help but imagine that this creature was looking straight through her.
It then seemed to have judged her… well… Belle was not certain… but it at least seemed to accept that she was there.
It then turned its back and jumped into one of the chairs and sat itself down with some of the other ones bringing one of the plates of bacon from the kitchen, putting it close where the creature sat, where it proceeded to picking it up and eating it.
Belle watched as the rest waited as the big ones ate it down. It then closed its eyes and the rest scurried over to the kitchen and soon Belle was well aware why Mr. Gold had made so much food.
They were hungry little critters. Ore then climbed onto the love seat and settled down next to Belle and nudged against her hand for another pat.
“Uh… Mr. Gold?” she asked mentioning her towards the large imp which continued to look at her, even as it was chomping down at the bacon.
“Ah… yes… I suppose I should introduce you to the true lord of the mansion,” Mr. Gold mentioned towards the large imp, who did not spare him a glance.
“Oh… uh… I am very grateful for you allowing me to stay here… uh…” she glanced over at Mr. Gold. “Does he have a name that you refer to him by like Ore?”
Mr. Gold moved his shoulders slowly. “Well… it is Nugget.”
Whatever Belle had expected it was not this. She had to take a minute to be certain if she had heard what she thought that he had. “Uh… Nugget?”
“Yes… we met when I was rather young and… now the name has sort of… stuck,” Mr. Gold scratched the side of his head. If Nugget was aware that he was being talked about he did not show any sign of it.
Belle had to let out a small laugh, hiding her mouth a bit. “That is rather adorable,” she had to admit.
“I wouldn’t quite put it like that,” Mr. Gold said as he shrugged his shoulders. Belle decided not to take it up further.
“But now I must ask… what are they?” she asked confused. Already she was aware that these were smarter than she thought. Hell, looking in Nugget’s eyes she felt like that creature had an intellect beyond her comprehension.
Mr. Gold glanced over at Nugget who gave a short nod.
“They do not have a name… again… they do not have a language,” he explained. “Imps are a rather good one, I admit. Let us just go with that for now.”
“Alright… it does fit,” Belle smiled down at Ore scratching his chest gently who stretched his limbs happily, just as another one with a bow like pattern on the scales under its chest, flopped over on her lap and presenting its belly for petting. Belle of course gave into its demand.
“As for what they are… I suppose you can call them exiles. They are from the depth of space. The reason they have no need for names and language is that they belong to a hivemind… they have access to everyone’s thoughts. There is also this entity… the Other Mind I have come to call it. It controls their species. Nugget here was deemed as a rebel. Him and his swarm… think pack… were sent here to this world. I believe the Other Mind expected him to die, but… earth is rather comfortable and he has done rather well for himself,” Mr. Gold mentioned across the mansion.
Belle sat absolutely astonished, the imp in her lap now pawing her hand to make her continue to scratch its chest.
“That is… I don’t know… I suppose I cannot even imagine,” she swallowed.
“Well… you are still here,” Mr. Gold shrugged his shoulders.
“Of course not. I just feel bad for them! Nugget is quite the impressive creature, to take care of his swarm and succeed,” she looked towards the large imp who blinked his eyes slowly.
“I suppose all of us living here owe him a debt,” Mr. Gold said in a low tone.
“I owe him a lot as well… letting me stay here is very kind of him,” she said. “If there are anything I can do…”
Mr. Gold held up his hand to stop the deluge of words. “No need-“
However he was interrupted by several disgruntled chirps, with Nugget looking over at him and nodded his head slowly. Mr. Gold simply let out a sigh.
Belle looked around confused looking around, understanding that something was going on. “… what?”
Mr. Gold simply rolled his eyes a bit, before he let out a long sigh.
“The payment for you staying here until we can get you back to civilization is you giving out pets and scratches,” he explained, Belle sitting there before she burst out laughing.
“I think I can do that,” she managed when the laugh died down.
I really liked it!!! Like I am surprised by how much I liked it! Gonna admit, not sure how much of this is logical enjoyment and how much is my guilty pleasure... lol!
I’ve said before but I always wanted a truly Evil Rumplestiltskin and this is the most perfect kind I have ever seen in my life and it just makes me so happy! And he’s not the usual villain dragging it out either. His got a plan, he’s got a goal, and he’s sticking to it. (I know that has a lot to do with the number of episodes left but I can still enjoy it!) But on top of that, I do like Weaver. So I’m getting a best of both worlds kind of deal with Evil Rumple Vs Weaver!
All Weaver scenes - including Woven Rook scenes - are fantastic and I love it. I really like how far his character has come and I know it’s not perfect but it’s still pretty damn good.
There wasn’t enough Curious Archer scenes but then there never is. At least the scenes we did get were very cute and perfect and sweet! This is one thing I’ve noted: We don’t get enough Alice and Robin but what we do get has always been so damn good, it makes it hard to complain lol.
It’s not a perfect episode. There’s still some things that didn’t work/that I want them to address. (Wish Rumple’s past for example like what happened to Bae and why he doesn’t care about Bae’s son and such, or that really dumb scene where Cruella freaked out when Henry took the ink from her hair - like... I had no idea she was so attached to back and white hair. I mean seriously. Just go get some dye girl.) But in general it was so much better than I thought it would be and I really liked it! Not the best episode but definitely in the top five.
It was supposed to be a simple enough day as far as he knew but there was no such thing in his world, was there? Unfortunately that meant that Bee didn’t seem to have those days either, and he was left in shock at the sight before him.
But he wasn’t shocked at seeing a body, no. He’d killed so many people in his time that it didn’t matter anymore. But it was seeing that she had killed someone that shocked him. Still, it didn’t matter, did it? It was done, and she was something close to a friend to him. So he would take care of her.
A wave of his hand and he was putting a cloak over her to keep her modesty, his next wave surrounding them in smoke to take them back to the castle. The body he had taken to one of his dungeons so he could work out what to do with it next - what she would want him to do with it - but for now he looked at her, concern on his golden features.
“...tell me what happened.” There was no judgement, no desire from him to share this with anyone else. No, her secret. would be safe with him.
Grumbling as they were roused, they let themself step half outside to greet whoever it was. Their skin was green, hair long and brown, barely covering any of their bare heaving busom or well rounded stomach. "Yeah?" They mumbled, rubbing their eyes.
It was near never that Rumplestiltskin had to make a deal in which he felt he would have to give more than he wanted to get what he needed. There was a plant, an incredibly rare plant that he needed for a potion that would be vital in moving along his grand plan of a curse to take him to the land without magic.
The catch? His magic couldn’t break through the protective barrier around the plant to take it for himself.
Which meant he had to go to someone he’d only heard of before now and never actually met until today. Someone who allegedly was able to control plants. So, perhaps, this person could break through, get him the plant in question. Either way he had to try.
So, he stood with his usual flair and bluster, skin glistening gold under the sunlight. Flashing a dark smile their way, he gestured towards them with a wave of his hand. “Are you Pot?”
"Excuse me?" The woman called out, knocking hard on Rumple's castle's door. "I need shelter!"
Who dared approach the Dark Castle?! More importantly, who dared knock hard on his front door and disturb his thoughts! Not that he had anything but peace and quiet every other second of the day that he spent there but it was those few disturbed seconds that suddenly felt all too vital to him.
A dramatic huff to himself, magic used to open the doors leading to the grand entranceway before the front door, he took a second to make sure he was in his finest attire, a wave of his hand to freshen up his waistcoats and boots. A flourish of his hand once more and the door to the Castle itself opened, Rumplestiltskin looking at her with disdain.
