Stay with me

Hi! I'm Antonia, but you can call me Toni. It's okay to look at my arm, just please don't tease me about it. My big brother Harry has ears like a dog, and he'll probably show up out of nowhere and get mad at you... Oh no, I don't mind at all. I've had it since I was little.

[kellanconteur]

Every Man's a King, Every King's a Clown || Kellan and Antonia

[kellanconteur]

Kellan looked up when he heard a small voice, turning around to see a girl there. “Thank you,” he stood, moving from where he’d been crouching over some work, taking a grand bow in her direction. But then he smiled slightly, running a hand through his hair, “You should see my sister, she’s the dancer.” Not as much at the moment, pregnant, But usually Estelle could dance circles around Kellan, without a second thought. He dabbled in everything, acrobatics, dancing, assorted stunts, and every sort of performance he could think of. But the jack of all trades was only a master of one: storytelling.  The rest was… impressive to everyone else, but not good enough for him.

"Happy Topsy Turvy day," he suddenly exclaimed, bouncing slightly as he spoke, "Is that what brought you to the Court this fine morning, Miss?" Usually, a stranger in the Court was ominous at best, always putting everyone on edge. But January sixth was the one day that wasn’t true. And today, anyone was more than welcome. Though this girl was a bit early for the festivities to begin.

[wishihadwings]

Toni's eyes crinkled at the corners. "If she's anything like you, I'm sure she's incredible!" Ever one to wear her heart on her sleeve, the young girl made no attempt to hide her fascination. 

"Topsy Turvy?" she giggled. "That's a funny name!"

His excitement was infectious, and Antonia found herself bouncing on her toes as well, much like he had. "What does it mean?" She'd never been to the Court before, but found herself uplifted by the energy in the air. For once, it seemed that something else matched her own sense of joy that always bubbled inside.

[kellanconteur]

Every Man's a King, Every King's a Clown || Kellan and Antonia

Every January, Kellan’s favorite day of the year rolled by. The sixth of January. Yes, the date was his birthday, but that wasn’t the reason for his excitement. The date marked Topsy Turvy Day. The day when everything made sense, because nothing did. The day that brought the sincerest of smiles onto his features, regardless of what was going on. He had out of bed by three in the morning, giddy as a young boy, and unable to try and sleep for even a moment longer. Out since that time, he worked hard and fast to set everything up, wanting this year’s festivities to be grander than last year’s, more spectacular. It was a difficult feat, but one that the people of the Court had yet to fail in, to date.

Humming to himself as he worked, a goofy grin was plastered to his features, and for once, even Kellan couldn’t focus on the task at hand, abandoning his work every few minutes to stand on his head or do somersaults, practically bouncing even when he tried to work. But despite his energy, he was fully focused and committed, not aware that someone was watching him, and then approaching, until they spoke to him.

[wishihadwings]

Toni was bundled extra tight. It wasn't that cold outside, but after her scare a couple weeks ago and barely being saved by Ben, she'd become a lot more cautious. Even going as far as to invest in hand-warmers. And since she only had one hand, They lasted a lot longer.

She was exploring (with a fully charged phone, another thing she was now careful about) when she came upon something magical. At least, that was her first impression. He moved like water, smoothly somersaulting, then doing cartwheels, handstands... things that Toni had no name for. And he did it all so effortlessly, like a dance.

Inexplicably, Antonia's eyes watered. She wasn't jealous or sad or any sort of thing... It was just so amazing. And like a beautiful sunset made her want to cry, this did too.

But her smile was too big and eyes were too wide to be mistaken for sadness. after several moments of watching, she felt the desire to express herself. "Excuse me..." she said, taking a few steps towards the Acrobat. "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

[dontflockwithbeck]

Misplaced || Grand Ball || Beck and Toni

[dontflockwithbeck]

She laughed. “I would! But I guess a dress isn’t so terrible… it’s kind of nice but I still feel really awkward.” She shrugged. She did like the dress… on it’s own? Just not on her. That made it awkward and weird and she kind of felt like a monkey in a dress. A monkey actually would probably be a whole lot more coordinated… and probably a lot cuter if she was being honest. At least, in her opinion. She smiled at the girl’s happiness at the comment. This young girl was so pleased to be here, her excitement was obvious in her movement. Even if she seemed a bit nervous she was enjoying it. It made Beck want to put a little more effort into enjoying it.

"My friends are around here somewhere, not really sure where though. We didn’t really come together but we keep meeting up. What about you?" She smiled.

[wishihadwings]

Toni shrugged, not really knowing what to say to that other than what she did say, "It looks nice on you, though." 

She had friends here! That was good. That meant if she really wanted to get some space where she wasn't surrounded by people, she could ask a friend to come with her. 

Toni smiled a little uncomfortably and shrugged. "Nobody here with me, no, except for my big brother Harry, and he is with his friends."

[wishihadwings]

~* Please Don't Shut the Door || Ben and Toni *~

[benjamin-trinity]

Ben walked into a few of the other rooms, looking to find something that he could use to warm the girl up. He didn’t like how cold she appeared to be,  it was never good to get that cold. Not that he ever had, Ben wasn’t someone that got cold easily, in fact he preferred the cold snowy days to the hot sunny ones. 

He collected a sweater from one of the performers, knowing that they wouldn’t care, there was about twenty in the room anyways, almost four times the amount working tonight. It was ridiculous, Ben couldn’t see any good reason for the girls to have this many sweaters. Did they wear two? Or even three? The thought gave him an idea and he grabbed one more sweater before going back to the girl and pulling off his jacket, then his sweatshirt. 

"Jacket off, these on." He told her simply while tossing all three in her, leaving his jacket with himself, as he watched through the room again. "I’ll be right back. Remember, anyone who isn’t a performer or doesn’t look like me, scream." Nodding once, he left the room again, pulling the door shut behind him.

He walked around the people again, this time going towards the kitchen again. They sold food, shitty food, but it was still food and food was good for freezing young girls. He thought… Shrugging he barked at one of the people standing around to make a BLT, then leaned against the wall while he waited for the food. Hopefully if she got a little food into her, she’d perk back up. 

Ben returned to the room with a bottle of water, a bag of cheetos and the sandwich. He set each on the table and moved closer to her while she spoke. “You don’t need to be sorry.” He told her simply while opening a drawer in the cabinet in the corner and pulling out his phone charger, “See if this fits, I’ll go plug it in if it does.” 

[wishihadwings]

There was a lot of moving, and then Toni was left alone. Her jacket came off as instructed, then she carefully put on the multiple sweaters provided. Her icy skin couldn't tell their texture, though she was normally quite sensitive to that sort of thing. 

In the silence, she started to think that maybe she wasn't in danger from him, whomever he was. He was a security guard, right? That's what the people who admitted people to clubs were... at least, so she'd always assumed. And he had warned her to scream if anyone came in who wasn't a... performer? Or didn't look like him.... that didn't make any sense, but Antonia was beyond caring, as she had more immediate concerns. Like getting warm.

When he got back, Toni just looked at him for a moment, then gave him a small smile. It was nice to be told that she was okay, that sorry's were not necessary, in such an honest way. 

And, after inspecting the phone charger, she frowned. "Sorry. My phone has one of those stupid shapes, not the generic charger, the bigger one that fits MP3 players."

[swanofhope]

[Storybrooke Ball] Lonely Princess at a Ball ~ Emma and Antonia

[swanofhope]

Emma was taken back a bit by the kids way of talking; for a moment she could imagine the girl had actually seen fairies flying or dancing or whatever. Henry must be starting to get to her, she smiled at the thought, yeah he definitely was getting to her and surprisingly she didn’t mind.

"Friend or foe?" Emma laughed sardonically, "I’m not looking to be anyone’s foe that’s for sure, and I’ve never really been a great friend…" She thought about that for a second; that really wasn’t exactly her fault considering she rarely stuck around in one place for long. She shrugged, "Never have been one to fit into someone-else’s mold, so they’ll all just have to keep guessing, right?"

[wishihadwings]

"Oh, that just means you haven't met the right people!" Toni informed her. "The friends part. I mean, you're in Storybrooke! Just give yourself some time. Making friends..." her smile faded, but only slightly. "Making friends can be hard, even somewhere like here. You just gotta keep trying! Cuz even though being lonely is easy, it's not as happy as having friends! Trust me, I know." the last part was spoken in an overly-solemn tone, as Antonia sort of poked fun at herself. She was seventeeen. Emma Swan was... however old she was. She knew all this, probably. But maybe Toni had been the one who needed to hear it.

[wishihadwings]

~* Please Don't Shut the Door | * | Ben and Toni *~

[benjamin-trinity]

Ben leaned against the building, arms crossed over his chest, nodding at people to let them in, sure it was a little cold, but he wasn’t staying out in it long enough to really feel the chill. The club was slow tonight, he had a feeling that had something to do with the weather, the good thing about the underworld was that even on a slow day it was still busy. 

As his line disappeared he was about to duck back inside again when he saw a girl come near him, there was no way that she was twenty one, not even close, but he could tell by the way that she walked that she wasn’t okay. Usually he had no problem telling teenagers to go away, but this one needed a little more investigation. 

When she was in front of him his expression turned to one of concern when she spoke. He tried to find her eyes, but she didn’t seem to be able to look up at his face, that or she was too scared to. Her arms uncrossed and she leaned against the wall, he could tell her body wasn’t steady so he instantly reached out and gently held her arm, ensuring that the girl wasn’t going to fall over. 

"Stay close to me when you get inside." He told her while bending down enough to meet her eyes, hoping that she was capable of understanding him, she was cold, much colder than a person should ever be. "This is not the place that you want to be lost in." He kept a gentle hand on her arm while he lead her inside, relaxing slightly at the burst of heat when he walked through the door. 

He nodded once at his brother, signaling for him to take the door while he dealt with the girl. He carefully pulled her along the side of the room, making people move out of his way as he did, it wasn’t long before they were at a small door which he ushered her inside of. 

"Take your jacket off." He told her while pointing to a heater near one end of the large, "Shoes too." He pointed to another door that was off to the left and looked at her, "Bathroom." His finger moved to another two doors, "Dressing rooms. I’ll find you a sweater or something. Do not go father than these three rooms, do not talk to anyone, don’t get lost. If anyone that doesn’t look like a performer or looks like me walks in, scream. Understood?" 

[wishihadwings]

All of a sudden, Toni found herself being pulled through a room that was a flurry of sounds and lights and people, all of whom seemed to be moving very fast, and her tired eyes could barely keep track of any of it. She spared a thought for her safety for just a moment before realizing that she had indeed asked for help, and... she was out of options.

They made there way to a cozy looking room that was very amazingly warm, and the tall stranger started giving clipped commands, which Toni tried very hard to pay attention to as they approached the furnace.

"Scream. Yeah. Um... is someone... am I... gonna hurt me?" she mumbled, looking back up at him, exhaustion heavy in her face but also a bit of fear. Was she in danger? From the people they'd passed? from... him? 

But even as she was afraid, Antonia shrugged her jacket from her shoulders, feeling the heat bombard her icy skin with an intensity that felt like she was being burnt. "Ah!" she cried. "Ow!" 

Her right arm cradled her partial left, a habit she'd had nearly all her life when she was cold, hurt or scared. And tonight? She was all three.

She took several steps from the heater, till she was at a temperature that was barely tolerable, but probably as good as it was going to get. "It... it burns. I'm too cold, I'm sorry." Toni explained, looking back at her savior once more. "This... It's happened before, when I was little. I need... I think I need to start cold, then warm up. Or the.... um, the shock... it'll hurt me. I'm sorry."

If there was one upside to the shocking heat, it was that her mind was a little clearer than before.

[swanofhope]

[Storybrooke Ball] Lonely Princess at a Ball ~ Emma and Antonia

[swanofhope]

Emma couldn’t help but smile at the way the girl talked so excitedly. At least someone was enjoying the ball; still wasn’t her thing, but she could enjoy the pleasure someone else took in it to a certain extent. “Magic? What do you mean?” She looked around the room trying to see it from the girls perspective, “Oh, like the transformation or whatever is magical? Everyday people suddenly looking so dressed up and different? Yeah I guess that can be kind of magical.” She wasn’t about to state that it was all a facade, a trick, of the moment; let the kid have her magical night the drab and shabby reality of life would be upon her soon enough. Emma wasn’t about to be spiteful just because her childhood had sucked; she had had to grow up to fast, but that didn’t mean that this kid did.

She studied Toni for a moment still taken by surprise every time someone she had never met knew her on sight. “Yeah. That’s me. I guess word gets around a bit fast in this small of a town, huh?”

[wishihadwings]

"And... just... the lights. Don't they just remind you of fairies dancing above you? Of some sort of magical greeting between the fair folk? I can imagine them flying around me. It must be nice to have wings..." she mused, looking up at the lights strung in lovely designs above them.

At the next, she turned a knowing eye back to miss Swan. "Yeah, might help that nobody new has come by in living memory. You're a novelty! Everybody wants to see who you are and what you do. If you're friend or foe!" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

[wishihadwings]

Sleeves. (144 words)

Some people with missing limbs choose to hide it. They let their empty pant legs or shirt sleeves hang loose, so that it is less noticeable that they are incomplete. But… Toni has never really felt the need to hide her disability. And besides that, loose sleeves are annoying. They get wet with the rain and frozen in the winter, and since she has no arm to fill the sleeve it ends up all sorts of dirty, and inhibits the limited movement that her arm does have. So, rather than just dealing with it or clipping the loose fabric away like many do, Antonia instead works closely with each new long-sleeved shirt and sews the sleeve shut, form-fitted to her gimp arm. “It’s my gimp-glove!” she jokes when people ask. And it’s sort of true, as the closed-sleeve keeps her small arm quite insulated.

[wishihadwings]

Cold. (162 words)

Toni is a child of the spring and summer, 100%. She thrives in the warmth that sunlight lends, in the feeling of rain-soaked earth between her toes, of dancing amid bloomed flowers and rolling down hills. But with her love of warmth comes a weakness in winter. Just like the little flower-child that she was in her past, Antonia is nearly incapacitated by the cold, and suffers from seasonal depression due to a lack of sunlight. She also has trouble seeing happiness in the snow and lifelessness. It’s like everything has died, and all she can do is hold on to the warmth that she remembers and pray that it returns soon.

[wishihadwings]

~* Please Don't Shut the Door | * | Ben and Toni *~

It was freezing. It was so, so freezing, and her phone was dead. Toni had to get home, though, and soon. Or at least to somewhere warm, because the snow was thick and soaked into her shoes, and she was starting to shiver pretty violently.

But the road was quiet, and she didn't recognize anything since night had fallen. Antonia barely traveled to this part of town in the daytime. At night it was nearly impossible to know where she was.

For a while she trudged along the sidewalk that needed to be shoveled, wrapped tightly in a coat that wasn't helping her as much as it should. She had never been good with the cold, but tonight... it was a nightmare.

Eventually, Toni's feet became very warm, and that's about when she started to panic because she knew that the snow hadn't magically become warm, which meant that her feet were in the danger zone, and the rest of her would probably follow soon. 

She turned the corner to a wider street, and saw a large-ish building an open door, and a guy standing in front of it, plus some people that he seemed to be letting in once he checked them. A security guard?

Toni approached. She'd never heard of The Underworld, but it was probably warmer than she was, and the lights and music that she heard were encouraging. Hopefully it wasn't somewhere bad, and hopefully the guy would let her in.

By the time she reached him, there was no one left in the line, and a sleepy feeling was starting to tug at her. 

"H-hi. I'm sorry. I'm just... really... cold." she said, staring intently at the guy's jacket, scared to meet his eyes. "I'm... I don't know where I am... can I go inside and charge... um... charge my phone? S-sorry." She was so cold, and so tired. Toni stopped hugging her arms to her chest and extended her one hand to steady her against the wall, then looked into the man's eyes.

[dontflockwithbeck]

Misplaced || Grand Ball || Beck and Toni

[dontflockwithbeck]

"I like them as long as I don’t have to wear them. And my friends woulda killed me if I wore a tux." Plus that was just as uncomfortable too. She laughed though. "You look nice, it suits you, I’m just not used to it I guess." She admitted with a nervous laugh, smoothing her dress a bit, not becuase it was wrinkled but because she was nervous and needed something to do with her hands. 

[wishihadwings]

Toni giggled once again "You'd look very spiffy in a tux!" she complimented, then blushed when the compliment was returned. "Oh, thank you. I... I like it too!" she rocked a little from one heel to another, letting the gauze swish against her arms. Then she smoothed it a little with her stump, unconsciously mirroring her companion, and took a sip of her punch. 

"So, um, are you here with anyone? Friends, or....?" she continued, trying to steer the conversation from herself while also feeling genuinely curious.

[dontflockwithbeck]

Misplaced || Grand Ball || Beck and Toni

[dontflockwithbeck]

"It is, but I’m not used to dresses." She said sighing a bit, fiddling with the previously mentioned dress. Adjusting it a bit, though not really doing anything to make it more comfortable. Dresses were horrible. They just— didn’t suit her. She liked jeans, and pants and tank tops, not dresses. "I’m not really a pretty type girl, I like animals, and mud and grass…  She shrugged.

[wishihadwings]

Toni jumped a little at the response, finally registering that she was actually talking to a parson. And the person was talking back! "You're really pretty though!" she assured the girl. "Sorry you don't like it, but... I dunno. I like pretty dresses, but it's fun to wear jeans and do outside stuff too. Being part of both worlds can be fun!" She bounced up on her toes like a little over-excited fairy, gauzy ruffles floating around her waist.

[swanofhope]

[Storybrooke Ball] Lonely Princess at a Ball ~ Emma and Antonia

[swanofhope]

Emma blinked in surprise as she was pulled out of her silent revere about the stupidness of being at this ball thing. Straightening up she met the eyes of the small teenager who had spoken. “Thank you.” Emma said smiling taking the girl in. “Yours too.”

She was surprised to notice the girl seemed to be missing an arm. She had seen amputees before. Had even known a boy in the child who had been missing a few fingers, but this was definitely an oddity in Storybrooke. Admittedly, the kids dress distracted the eye from noticing her deformity, and if that didn’t her beaming smile did the trick almost as well.

"I take it you like parties… or Balls… or whatever this thing is called?" She gestured to the room where the other party-goers were dancing, chatting, and generally having a good time.

[wishihadwings]

"Thanks!" Toni giggled, giving a little half-twirl to let her top flare out. "It's super fun!" she listened to the following question with a rapt expression, then beamed once more.

"A Grand Ball!" she proclaimed, both arms extending in the most dramatic way that they could. "Very fancy, as you can see. And yes! I think it's the most beautiful thing! All of the dresses and the lights, everyone looking so pretty... It's like magic, you know?"

Her single hand extended in a formal yet slightly quirky invitation for a handshake. "I'm Antonia, but everybody calls me Toni. You're Emma Swan, right? Henry Mills's mom?"

[swanofhope]

[Storybrooke Ball] Lonely Princess at a Ball ~ Emma and Antonia

Emma smoothed the material of her tight red dress down around her hips self-consciously. She was glad that she had gone with her own instincts, and not Mary Margaret’s fashion sense by wearing her black leather jacket to cover her bare arms.

She hadn’t been able to avoid the ball, no matter how much she had wanted to, but Graham had made it all but an order for her to be here, albeit not technically in a fully official capacity.

Taking a deep breath she stepped into the hall taking in her surroundings wondering how long she actually had to be here before she could go home and enjoy the quiet evening she had originally planned.

[wishihadwings]

Toni was doing a lot of flouncing around. The atmosphere was magical, and she saw many people laughing and having a good time, so she found herself sort of flitting from group to group, sometimes chatting with the occupants, others just smiling and laughing before slinking away once more. She didn't really have any friends here. But that was alright. At least the bullies that picked on her on the streets didn't seem to be here, and her flowy top distracted from the fact that she only had one full arm.

After some time, she noticed a woman standing close to a wall. Oh, Emma Swan. She'd seen her a few times around town, but never really spoken to her. She looked... uncomfortable. Sad, almost.

It took Antonia a second to realize that she had frozen in place, and before she began to draw stares from being in the middle of the dance floor, she quietly approached Storybrooke's deputy. 

"Your dress is lovely," she said, smiling sincerely.

[wishihadwings]

Antonia Rosario- Grand Ball Attire

[dontflockwithbeck]

Misplaced || Grand Ball || Beck and Toni

Beck was coaxed into going to the ball by the few people that knew she’d taken dance lessons as a young girl. She was most definitely out of her comfort zone in her rather gorgeous full length dress and heels. And Marty had to stay home, he’d be getting under feet if she brought him. So, the blonde was left feeling rather bare as she hovered to the edge of the dance floor, her friends no where to be found. “Ugh this was a mistake.” She muttered, almost glancing to the ground for Mary before realizing her little fox was curled up at home.

[wishihadwings]

"But.... it's so pretty...." Toni replied quietly to the stranger next to her. It was true, there were streamers and lights in all quarters, and people in their shimmering dresses and handsome tuxes looking like a fairy tale coming to life before her eyes. She couldn't help gasping at the beautiful sight before her, and she honestly barely realized that her reply was made aloud.

[bellringerquinten]

Look Out Below! II Quentin and Antonia

[bellringerquinten]

"A-Antonia? A-Antonia." He repeated to himself, as if trying to engrave it into his memory for future reference. "W-Whatever you p-prefer, honestly. I’ll c-call you w-whatever you l-like." Quinten shrugged bashfully and ran by his bed to place the wood Antonia had given him in a chest where he kept all of his spare logs.

"N-Not a s-single one. Except f-for Claude of c-course.." Quinten wanted nothing more than to further know the people whom he carved and painted faces on. There were only so many conversations one could have with figurines. "T-They’re okay I g-guess. It k-keeps me busy and I l-like it, s-so that’s all t-that matters."

[wishihadwings]

Made quiet by the boy's bashful nature, Toni let her usual grin turn into a softer smile. He just seemed... lost. Something inside of her warmed in kinship. He was an outsider, more even than she was. "Call me Antonia." she watched him put the log away. Nobody called her Antonia but her parents, but for some reason she thought that if all the people who called her Toni didn't really understand her, even ridiculed her for something that she couldn't control, maybe she could be called Antonia by the one person she'd met who might actually know what it felt like.

"Why not?" she asked, about his seclusion. "And they're amazing, you know. But really. Why not go meet them? And how come you only know Father Cuivire?" Her hand brushed Figurine Ruby's hair.