In the car this afternoon I realized I hadn't posted this yet for??? Indiscernible reasons??? So have them. The carloverse girls lmao
“I need to ask you something,” Violet blurts out, apropos of nothing. “About Henry.”
Ava shoots Grace a look. Grace, who has been her friend since they were cursed schoolmates and knows very well how destructive an Ava look can be, doesn't meet her gaze. Coward.
That, unfortunately, leaves Ava herself as the only one who can answer. “We're all ears. Keep it safe for work, though.”
A steady blush creeps up Violet's cheeks. “That's not- It's nothing like that!”
“Don't listen to her,” Grace says, finally joining the conversation with a heavy sigh. “Like, in general. What do you want to know?”
The girl hesitates for a moment, pursing her lips. Then: “How do I make Henry's family approve of me?”
Well. That is most certainly unexpected. This time the surprise is enough to make Grace actually turn to Ava, the both of them raising their eyebrows.
“I thought they were all super stoked about you,” Ava replies, slowly, after a long moment of elaboration. “I mean, aside from the whole heart ripping thing.”
“Yeah,” Grace echoes her. “And most of them are down in this Underworld with him, so it's not like you can do anything right now.”
“Not all of them. His mothers apologized, and his grandparents are alright, but… What about his brother?”
It can't be helped. A sudden, sputtering laugh escapes Ava's lips, and she finds herself snickering almost breathlessly, immune to Grace's slapping on her back as her friend tries to contain her own amusement. When she finally manages to meet Violet’s gaze again, however, the other girl looks almost betrayed by the reaction she got, her brows knitted in an indignant frown. “Gods, stop making fun of me!”
“Sorry, sorry.” Somehow, Ava reins in the giggling fit, trying to regain some composure. “I promise I wasn’t laughing at you though.”
“Weren’t you? It certainly looked like it.”
“It’ll be clear in a minute. You’re talking about Carlo, right? Not Roland.”
Violet nods, even if she still doesn’t seem convinced. “Yes. Carlo. Though I’ve heard Henry’s mother call him something else at times-”
“Okay, that’s the first point of order. If you call him anything but Carlo, he’ll try to fight you. I’m not saying he’d win, but it would be annoying.” Ava pauses, wondering for a moment how to best word her answer as not to hurt this Camelot girl’s feelings - they do seem awfully fragile, at first glance, even if she’s probably tougher than it looks, to have taken her forced displacement to Storybrooke so well. The rest of them certainly didn’t, when their memory returned.
“Secondly… Look, Carlo doesn’t like most people. If you want to try and be on good terms with him, be my guest, but don’t take it personally if he’s super hostile. He’ll probably be mad at you just for existing for a good long while.”
“Wouldn’t that influence Henry as well, though? He seems to listen to his brother a lot.”
“If Henry avoided every person Carlo dislikes, he wouldn’t talk to anyone in town except, you know, us. As you’ve probably already seen, that’s not the case. They’re just very protective of each other, that’s all.”
“She would know,” Grace chimes in, distractedly, rummaging through her bag. “Ava’s the Carlo whisperer.”
Ava shrugs. “I just think he’s a funny kid. And he raises some good points, every so often.”
“What, you’re not allowed to be right about anything until you reach middle school?”
“You’re well beyond that and you’ve never been right once, so…”
“So what you’re telling me,” Violet says forcefully, trying to lead the conversation back on track, “is that I can’t do anything?”
“That’s not what she’s saying.” Grace seems to have finally located what she was looking for; she produces a pack of gum and pops one in her mouth before offering the rest to the other two girls. Ava takes a piece because mooching off Grace is her favorite sport, and Violet mirrors the gesture with a lot more hesitation, as if uncertain of what she’s expected to do with it. “What you actually need to do for Carlo to tolerate you and not hate your guts is to treat him like a person and not like, uh-”
“Like a piece of furniture,” Ava adds helpfully. “Or an annoying pet.”
Violet stares at them blankly. “People do that? Openly?”
“More than you think. But I bet now you understand why he and Henry are like, intertwined sometimes.”
“In part, yes. I guess- thank you? Maybe? I don't know, I have a lot more questions now than I did before.”
“That's just what life in Storybrooke is like, Violet.” Ava pats her comfortingly on the shoulder before linking their arms together, then grabs Grace with her free hand, pulling her along. “But it has its perks, too. Have you tried ice cream yet? The quality went down since the snow lady owned the place, but it's still good.”
“I… will trust you on that.” Violet purses her lips for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before adding: “You don't suppose I can bond with Henry's brothers through animals, do you? Most of our stuff is still in Camelot, but the horses and my father's hunting dogs crossed over with us.”
“Roland will pet whatever he sees, yeah, but just stick with dogs around Carlo. He likes Pongo, but horses are a big no-no.”
“She's right,” Grace echoes her, flashing their new friend that enigmatic grin of hers.
“In fact, just keep him clear of anything with hooves. For our collective sanity.”
