[center]Storybrooke: Chapter 1 The Curse
Day 3 Character Summary[/center]
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[hider=Knox Kowalski]
With the earth-a-quaken’, Knox feels a compulsion to leave the hospital to investigate the scene of the emergency, and goes along with one of the ambulances. Portions of the town, here or there, were damaged…but the ambulance brings him to the heart of the problem, the mine. Becoming concerned about the new piece of information, there being a young boy in the mine, the security guard brings up time being of the essence.

As luck would have it, an uncooperative Ruby steps in and offers to go in and save the boy, though Knox is strongly against that notion…and instead offers to go inside in her place. Both of them are dismissed, and though he’d have liked to follow, Ruby runs on in when people are distracted. Knox got more upset than he’d like to admit, bitches at the authorities, and rushes on in to follow the waitress.

The cave is cramped with low ceilings. Knox is a tall man. Bad idea. Ruby has little to no problem coordinating herself, Mark has little to no problems finding his way with his flashlight (who had followed after the two of them). Knox bangs his head on a low ceiling, minor bruising and bleeding all ‘round. The blood scares Mason once they found the boy, and Ruby went to the dog that the boy had chased down into the mines in the first place.

Eventually, they get out. At this point, Knox looks like a serial killer who had little problem with his latest victim, but Ruby pays this no mind and directs him to the nearest ambulance for some treatment. Getting his head checked, cleaned, and bandaged…he rests for almost a whole minute, before Ruby jumps at the opportunity to speak to him alone. Well, he’s glad that she’s thinking about him, and is worried for his health…at least.

Knox braces himself for awkwardness, yelling, something bad…? He’s not met with any of that, and is pleasantly surprised that she is apologizing…? It’s a pleasant surprise that she’s admitting that she has some issues of her own, having had time to think and grow. Ruby doesn’t plan on running from her feels anymore…and Knox shares the same sentiment?! (Though, he still has worse issues managing his feels than she does.) Ruby is happy, Knox is ___...and can feel himself grow more impulsive with actions like this. He finds himself kissing her once again, only for it to be reciprocated. He then tells Ruby to head back to the diner, and she understands what she has to do and reluctantly leaves him to go and apologize now to Granny.

After returning home for a quick shower and change of clothing, Knox returned to the hospital just in time for his head to start bleeding. Checking in with Dr Stevenson, a little bit of small talk here, a little bit of awkward ‘I can’t disclose certain information yet’ there…and the doctor noticed his eye squint-strain. After excusing it as side effect of lack of sleep, Knox was good to go back to work.

A few or so hours later, Knox is prolly eating a granola bar and patrolling, when he’s informed via the walkie talkie about some suspicious as hell activity. Going to the surveillance room, the only other person on surveillance duty saw some d!ck making out with the Jane Doe, and a call from the nurse followed. Watching the footage, Knox just can’t seem to figure out what sort of sicko would make out with a helpless patient?!

Looking about the hospital for Dr Faye Stevenson, as she is the head doctor and the one in charge of the Jane Doe, he finds her and brings her along to the hospital room. On their way, Knox asks her what she wants to do about Mr Gold, who she hadn’t so much lodged even the smallest complaint about for the way that he acted, from the other night’s footage. Both come to the conclusion that it’s best to stick to their guns, and file the complete report.

Getting into Jane Doe’s hospital room, Knox shows Dr Stevenson inside, handcuffs Henry, and plays the taped footage. Feeling Henry suspicious as hell, and possibly sick in the mind…he let the doctor make up her mind about this one…still, there is suspicion in his mind, planted when she asked him to leave the hospital room for the apparent mundane ‘you need help’ condescending speech that wasn’t quite right. But, Knox left it in her hands…fuck, prolly a stupid idea in a long, probably going to lose his job.[/hider]

[hider=Dr. Faye Stevenson]
Faye was in the hospital when the earthquake hit. As much as she wanted to go and investigate what caused the earthquake, she knew that she would be needed in the hospital, in case anyone got injured. Thankfully, not many people were injured. She heard about what had occurred at the mines through word of mouth. Knox came to her and she tended to his wounds. While she did so, she noticed that he was squinting, but he merely passed it off as nothing too serious.

After she finished tending to Knox's wounds, she ran into Henry who invited her to lunch at Granny's. As soon as she could, she went and met up with Henry. They made small talk with each other, until it Faye felt like she was about to black out again. Thankfully, before she could fully black out, Ruby came and interrupted the both of them. Right after Ruby checked on the both of them, Faye noticed that it was almost time for her appointment with Dr. Hopper. She quickly excused herself from the table, and headed for the psychiatrist's office. 

Once she was in Dr. Hopper's office, she immediately noticed that he didn't have her psychological files. She asked him right away, but he lied and said that he misplaced the files. It wasn't until they finished with her session that she pressed Dr. Hopper for the truth. She knew that someone took her files, and she realized from what Dr. Hopper said, that it was Regina who took the files, and that she threatened him for those files. While they were talking, Dr. Hopper realized that the patient who had lung cancer was none other than Mr. Gold.

After the appointment, Dr. Stevenson headed back for the hospital to continue her work, only to learn from Knox that Henry had done something to the coma patient. As he lead her to the coma patient's room, he talked to her about the fact that security caught the moment Mr. Gold hit Dr. Stevenson, and Knox asked her if he could send the report to the sheriff. She allowed him to do so. 

When they reached the room, Knox showed Faye the footage of Henry leaning over the coma patient. After Henry and Faye spoke with each other, Sheriff Leland dragged him out of the hospital, and to prison.

Hours later, Dr. Stevenson headed home, and on her way there, she spoke with Regina. She asked Regina why she took the psychological profiles without a warrant, and to return them to Dr. Hopper. However, the mayor denied having the files in the first place. Seeing that there was no point in continuing the discussion, she bid the mayor farewell, with something sinister hidden in her kind smile. After that, she headed home.[/hider]

[hider=Regina]
Regina had already been awake for a few hours by the time Henry decided to wake up from her bed. She was finishing up getting ready for the day and informed him she had to leave pretty soon and that he should get some coffee as well as telling Henry where his clothes had ended up from the night before. While Henry then got dressed, she went downstairs to get them both a cup of fresh coffee. When Henry finally joined her downstairs, Regina informed him that he was going to be late. Confused, Henry asked what for and Regina informed him that he got the teaching position at the school, earning a cheeky grin from the visitor.

Suddenly the ground began to shake as an earthquake began, lasting the duration of only ten seconds but it was enough to really throw Regina off-guard. She went to her window to see the rest of Storybrooke going outside to survey the damage (broken power lines, shattered glass, etc) and her paranoia only increased when she heard that the mines had collapsed when she had just managed to calm the crowds down after she had joined them on the streets. Regina could only watch in horror as the group then followed Leroy to the mines to further investigate the earthquake that came out of nowhere. Well, out of nowhere to them. Regina knew [i]exactly[/i] where it had come from.

When Regina finally arrived at the mines, she found that Robert had already blocked the area off to keep anyone unauthorized from entering. She quickly approached the sheriff, demanding to know what happened but he, like everyone else deemed it as just being a collapse in the mines causing the earth to quake. Regina didn't like his answer, and went to survey the area herself. She noticed a small, glittering object on the ground and quickly stooped to pick it up, making sure no one was looking. She then informed the gathered crowd that the area was to be cemented off immediately, and that this area had become a high-level danger zone. She was just barking the command to get Robert on cementing the area when suddenly, Mark showed up out of nowhere claiming he saw a child run after a dog into the mines, and hadn't yet come out.

Henry was able to identify the boy as Mason, one of his students after Mark gave a quick description, and thus Regina had no choice but to issue a rescue party to retrieve the boy from the mines. Mark volunteered himself, but then all of a sudden the tramp waitress Ruby was demanding to be allowed to help as well, and then the broody paramedic Knox. Regina shooed Knox and Ruby away and allowed Mark to go in, but just as Regina was sure she had everything under control, the tramp Ruby darted towards the mouth of the cave and headed inside, obviously taking it upon herself to do what she wanted leaving Regina very angry and took it out on Robert, since he wasn't doing his job and could only watch when the broody paramedic followed after the tramp waitress.

It took a few moments, but Mason was finally brought back to the surface as well as the dog and the three who had entered the mines. Regina didn't even bother with 'thank you's' and approached Mason who was getting checked over by the other paramedics. She greeted him politely, and offered to take him out for ice cream. Regina didn't know who his parents were, or why they hadn't come forward yet, and so Regina asked Robert to look into it. Before Robert could even try though, David Nolan came forward and explained to Regina that the boy didn't have any. David had been watching the boy for some time now, giving anonymous donations to the school to ensure that he got something to eat and had clean clothes.

Now that the mines were clear, Regina once again ordered the mines to be paved over and walked away with Mason, pausing for just a split second before a tear in the earth where Regina let go the glittering object she had picked up earlier, now lost into the depths of the mines and made her leave with Mason at her side.

Regina spent the rest of the day with Mason, earning his trust by showering him with gifts. Ice cream, new toys, and now playing at the park. It was here that she informed Robert to meet her, while she waited swinging on the swing set with Mason. She offered Mason that he stay at her place, getting a heightened yes from the boy and a smile from Regina. Robert finally arrived, and Regina let Mason play on his own as they talked.

The order to cement the mines was issued, but Regina was no longer interested in that. She wanted information on Henry Carlyle, but Robert had none to give about his search in Henry's bedroom the night before. He did, however, inform Regina that Henry had been arrested for kissing the comatose Jane Doe. Regina found this amusing, no longer feeling the stress of Henry Carlyle running the streets and ruining everything. It might not have been by her own hand, but she finally had him behind bars. Regina then asked Robert what he knew about the woman without a name that had been in the cells earlier informing Robert that she knew there was some sort of tie between the woman and Dr. Stevenson.

Pleased, Regina patted Robert's chest and informed Mason it was time to leave so they could go home for dinner. Robert then called out to Regina, informing her that he would be stopping by later that evening for...wine...

When Regina returned home with Mason, Dr. Faye Stevenson approached Regina. Knowing that the conversation wouldn't be pleasant, Regina sent Mason inside to go and take a bath. Sure enough, Faye wanted to confront Regina about the stolen psychological files taken from Dr. Hopper's office, but Regina, knowing that she had no proof, lied her way out of it and instilled a few threats of her own to keep Faye away. Regina knew it wouldn't last long, knowing the doctor she would have to read those files tonight and get them back to Dr. Hopper before Faye went to Robert and got a search warrant.

Regina spent the remainder of her evening with Mason, eating pizza and watching a movie together followed by baking cookies. Regina didn't want the night to end, but Mason was overcome by exhaustion and fell asleep on the couch. Regina walked the sleepy boy upstairs into the room she would be giving him and tucked him in with a motherly kiss, and he in turn squoze her hand back before drifting back to sleep. Now that Mason was asleep, she could return downstairs and read over Dr. Faye's files, and put an end to this mystery of the mystery woman.

The files didn't tell her much, between Archie's scribbles and vague reports there wasn't much to go on, but Regina knew one thing was certain. Dr. Stevenson, before she became Dr. Stevenson worked for Rumpelstiltskin, and as fate would have it the man still had his memories. She would make a point to ask him about the doctor later. She took a quick walk to Archie's place and returned the confiscated files before heading to the Sheriff's department to see Henry behind bars herself.

Regina decided that it was time to confront Henry about his real identity, but he wasn't giving out information very willingly. Before Regina had a chance to really dig into him though, Mr. Gold made himself known and informed Regina that he would be taking over Henry Carlyle's case as his attorney. Utterly dumbfounded, Regina had no other choice but to leave, sending a quick text to her chief editor for The Daily Mirror to set up a quick meeting where no one could overhear them or see them together.

Her editor for The Daily Mirror was ecstatic about all the buzz going around town because of Henry, eager to write up a good story but Regina wanted only one thing from her; sabotage. She would ruin Henry Carlyle's reputation no matter what the cost.[/hider]

[hider=Mr. Gold]
In another flashback, Rumpelstiltskin confronts the very pirate that took Milah and Baelfire from him. He had only just gotten the powers of The Dark One a short while ago, but he knew enough now to seek his revenge on the pirate. He confronted Killian, letting him and his crew know that he was now The Dark One, and wanted his family back. Killian informed Rumpelstiltskin that both Milah and Baelfire had died at sea, washed away by a storm.

Completely outraged, Rumpelstiltskin challenged Killian to a duel, both knowing that it would be the pirate's last. Rumpelstiltskin then gave him the satisfaction of having the night to himself, for they would not duel until dawn.

Henry came into Mr. Gold's shop, demanding answers. Why had he given him the book, and how did he [i]know[/i] all these things? Mr. Gold turned it into a dance of words, not exactly answering Henry but leaving other things open that made Henry grow more and more suspicious, finally causing him to call Rumpelstiltskin out, that Mr. Gold had his memories the entire time.

Mr. Gold then dropped the act, since they both knew now but he kept his words careful as he started to explain things to Henry. Mr. Gold then brought Henry's attention back to Snow, and Henry came to the realization that true loves kiss would awaken her, and so he left on his own agenda, believing that it would be he to wake Snow up from her coma, leaving Mr. Gold to just sigh and shake his head. That boy still had so much to learn, and unfortunately it would have be done the hard way.

News spread quickly of the newcomer that was going around kissing comotose hospital patients. Mr. Gold gathered up what patience he had left for the boy and headed to the Sheriff's department where he knew Regina would be sniffing out Henry immediately. He walked in quietly, overhearing the tail end of Regina's conversation with Henry, finding that Regina too was loosing her patience with the hairless cat and decided to cut in, claiming to be representing Henry Carlyle's case as his attourney, causing Regina's mouth to hang open in shock. He could only smirk at her reaction, they both knew with Mr. Gold serving as Henry's attourney, Regina couldn't touch him, and so she left without another word.

Henry admitted his thanks to Mr. Gold, calling him by his proper name of Rumpelstiltskin or The Dark One. Henry then went on to apologize for getting himself into this mess, he knew what really needed to be done, but he was so overcome by jealousy he had to try. Mr. Gold made it clear that Henry needed to get his head screwed on straight in order for him to be able to break the curse, and Henry agreed to do what Mr. Gold wished so long as it lied in the best interest of everyone else.

As Mr. Gold turned to leave, Henry asked one simple question; why he couldn't remember his name from back in Wonderland. Mr. Gold, of course, knew the answer but didn't think Henry quite ready, and so he answered Henry by saying that he didn't wish to remember, and walked out quietly leaving Henry to think over Mr. Gold's words, only able to hold onto the promise that Mr. Gold would be getting him out of prison in a few days time.[/hider]

[hider=Ruby]
Ruby, like everyone else, was immediately alerted about the collapse at the mines and found herself following the crowd to go and investigate. When she got there, Mayor Mills was already speaking with Sheriff Leland, David Nolan, Knox and Mark. They all seemed to be arguing about something, and (beyond reasons known to her) Ruby was able to hear them from behind the caution tape. A boy had been trapped down in the mines, and they were deciding who was to go. Ruby felt her feet moving for her as she pushed past the security tape and approached Mark, who would be the leader of the rescue and informed him that she would be going, ignoring the glaring looks she was getting from Regina for crossing the boundry line.
Knox spoke up first, saying that she would do no such thing and with a little resentment built up in her from the previous night, told Knox to back off. 

Regina, however had the final word and dismissed the both of them, but just as soon as Ruby knew neither were looking, she turned and ran into the mines. She knew she could find that boy, she found Mr. Gold when Knox couldn't even hear him, she could definitely do this. Knox ended up chasing after her, and giving her a right scolding once they were in the mines but Ruby kept going, then noticing that Mark had also followed them inside. There was no turning back now, and so Ruby led the two boys in the direction that she could hear Mason. She didn't know how it was possible, since neither Mark nor Knox could hear what she heard, but as they went down tunnel after tunnel, they finally found the boy and Pongo.

Mark went to check on the boy while Ruby checked Pongo over. The walls of the mines began to shake and they were quickly forced back to the mouth of the cave. Mason went first, and then Pongo followed by Ruby and then Mark. Being the last one out, Knox barely made it out of the mines before the entrance closed permanately. He was definitely the one worse for wear, with him being so tall and the mines being so short and narrow he was sporting quite a few injuries. Ruby went over to Knox as he was getting checked out by the paramedics, and apologized for her behavior the night before. She told him that he was right, that she was running from her problems and feelings, and she aimed to fix that.

Knox took it upon himself then to kiss her. Ruby didn't know why, but she wasn't about to ask and let herself kiss him back before he pulled away and urged her to go and make things right with Granny again, and so Ruby headed back to the diner where she would do just that.

At first it was a bit awkward, walking into Granny's after the elaborate scene the two of them had put on for the diner not too long ago, but Ruby swallowed the bitter pill and got it out that she didn't mean to upset Granny, she was just frightened about filling her shoes, and apologized full-heartedly. Granny then told Ruby the only reason she was pushing her so hard is because she wanted to give Ruby the Diner once she retired, earning quite a shocked expression from Ruby. The two made up, and Ruby immediately got to work, having just a bit more work-ethic in the way she did things now.

It wasn't too long after that, that Granny's got extremely busy. What with the earthquake and all, everyone seemed to want to merge to Granny's to talk it over. Ruby was so busy tending to customers, in fact, that she didn't even see Jake walk in, having forgotten about leaving her cell phone with him completely. It wasn't until Jake had Ashley get Ruby's attention that she finally stopped by, finding Jake and Mark having what she would assume a very awkward conversation, being forced to sit together since the place was so packed. She got her cellphone back from Jake and apologized for not being able to stay and chat, and got back to work.

Dr. Stevenson had made it in with Henry, and Ruby tended to them quickly, having to explain that they were practically out of everything. It was good seeing Dr. Stevenson out, she was such an introvert she would have had to do something about that herself if Henry hadn't beaten her to it.[/hider]

[hider=Robert Leland]
Robert was one of the first to respond to the earthquake, he maintained order and tried to calm the crowd down. While he was leading Mark to the entrance, he was failed to stop Knox and Ruby from entering the mine. Afterward, Robert met Mason, had a brief conversation with David, Mason's temporary guardian. He was unable to find any records of Mason's parents or legal guardian when he called the school, a fact which troubled him. The hospital called when they saw Henry kiss an unconscious Jane Doe, and Robert ejected him from the building. Later, he met with Regina, telling her what he knew about Mason, Henry, and the mysterious woman. Some of what she said disturbed him, especially the fact that she somehow obtained Dr. Hopper's private records.[/hider]

[hider=Henry Carlyle]
Henry woke up the next morning in a strange bed, taking a few moments to reclaim his mental faculties and figure out what had happened the night before. It only took a few moments before he realized that he was naked....in Regina's bed. Overcome by shock and guilt, Henry practically scrambled out of bed and got dressed – accepting a rather nonchalant Regina’s offer for coffee.

Henry made his way downstairs hurriedly, showing a mixture of fear and regret at the events that had just transpired the night before. He had little time to dwell on these thoughts, however, as Regina came down the stairs shortly after him; giving him a mug of coffee.

As Henry waited about the house with his beverage, Regina casually told the newcomer that he’d be late for work that morning. Slightly confused, Henry begged her pardon, causing the mayor to elaborate that he had indeed been given the job of school-teacher. Henry was ecstatic, practically bounding up and down in his excitement (though Regina didn’t return the sentiment).

Henry’s mini-celebration, however, was short-lived as a flash earthquake struck the town, immediately causing the schoolteacher to dive under a table for cover. He slowly climbed out as the shaking stopped, quite dumbfounded at the sudden disaster. Regina was no-sooner out the door without another word, Henry following quickly at the mayor’s heels.

A large crowd of townspeople formed near Regina’s house, all begging answer as to what caused the earthquake to strike the down. Henry remained silent as the town drunk, Leroy theorized that it was a collapse at the town mines that caused the quake: and without a moment’s notice, the crowd swarmed across to the mouth of the mines.

Henry stayed close to Regina at this time, keeping his mouth closed and eyes alert as he observed the goings on at the mines. According to one of the town firemen, Mark Dufresne, there was a young boy trapped down in the mines after having chased Dr. Hopper’s dog Pongo.

At this, Henry piped up: noting that the young boy was no other than his own student, Mason was the one trapped down there. He fell silent again as the crowd began deliberating what would happen, eventually deciding on sending the firefighter down in the mines – alone.

In true Storybrooke fashion, however, plans changed as Ruby and Knox both sprinted past Mark and Sheriff Leland, resulting in three unqualified people in the mines instead of just one.

Henry couldn’t help but think of the audacity of the situation as he awaited the rescuers to return from the mines – promptly leaving as soon as he could, heading back to his room to think – think on events that were unfolding…

It wasn’t until later that day that Henry walked into the hospital again with renewed vigor – sneaking past reception to speak to Dr. Faye Stevenson and invite her to an unofficial lunch “date”.

The good doctor accepted and Henry left just as quickly as he had entered, a flashy grin on his face nearly the entire time.

Less than an hour later, Henry met Dr. Stevenson at Granny’s Diner and engaged in small talk with her while ‘enjoying’ the meager ‘lunch’ that Granny’s provided: being out of most of their food items for some strange reason.

The doctor suffered some sort of ill effect and promptly left the restaurant – giving Henry time for a surprise meeting with Mr. Gold, during which the Newcomer interrogated the Scotsman about his reasoning for giving Henry the storybook in the first place – this confrontation revealing that Mr. Gold, or Rumpelstiltskin, did indeed retain his memories from the Enchanted Forest: promptly reprimanding Henry for tossing out the memory potion in his own wrath.

This led into a slightly heated discussion where it was revealed that Rumpelstiltskin made previous dealings with Henry, or, the Cat’s now-deceased sister Alice – prompting Henry to demand what he gave her and why; but the Imp wouldn’t budge.

Deciding to change the subject, Mr. Gold subtly hinted at the prospect of True Love’s Kiss being able to awaken the comatose Snow White from her sleeping curse, or coma. Henry, in his arrogance, believed that Snow (who had been his best and only true friend in the Enchanted Forest) loved him as well, sending him in a hasty rush to get back to the hospital and awaken her.

Henry entered the hospital for regular volunteering hours with a certain hop to his step, barely able to contain his unseemly excitement as he entered the Jane Doe’s room; ready to be reunited with Snow (or at least Storybrooke’s version of Snow) for the first time in years.

He walked into her room, somewhat nervous over the prospect of kissing the comatose woman who he had lost for all these years. However, with slight one-sided banter, he overcame this nervousness and kissed her sincerely – to no effect.

Confused that Snow did not wake up, he tried once more, again with no effect. Growing desperate and emotionally unstable, Henry tried to kiss Snow one last time…again…nothing. This sent Henry into an emotional wreck; causing him to fall to the ground in tears as he realized that destiny had cursed him – for he would have to make David Nolan, or Prince Charming kiss her to break the Curse.

Henry had little time to compose himself when Knox Kowalski and Dr. Stevenson had him apprehended for “harassing” a coma patient; quickly having him handcuffed and calling Sheriff Leland. Henry remained almost strangely calm/composed during the entire ordeal; drained by the new information that had hit him.

The fates decided to give him a moment’s reprieve, however, as Knox left the room, giving time for Henry to explain himself to her. He rather hurriedly gave his defense, though it ended in more questions for Faye and less answers to her previous questions. However, she trusted him enough to believe that he would get her answers soon; keeping up the front, however, of the stern doctor.

It wasn’t long after that when Sheriff Leland arrived on the premises, escorting Henry out of the hospital and into a holding cell while he sorted out what exactly to do.

Henry stayed in the prison for the night, remaining almost deathly silent until Regina came to visit late in the night to confront him – making a dry remark about their rendezvous the night before.

Henry wasn’t in the mood for her games, however, and decided to instead reveal his position as the Savior to break the Curse.

Regina kept an intimidating stance, attempting to find out his “real” identity when Mr. Gold entered on the scene suddenly, citing himself as Henry’s lawyer in the pressing case against him. Henry did little but grin madly as the two powers of Storybrooke confronted each other; Mr. Gold holding the obvious upper hand in the discussion.

Regina left, barely able to contain her rage as her plans to expel Henry were extinguished once more. This gave Mr. Gold and Henry time to talk, where the jailed cat promptly apologized for the trouble he landed himself in; reassuring Gold that the Curse would be broken by his hand.

As Mr. Gold turned to leave, Henry decided to ask one more question: Why couldn’t he remember his name? His true name? At this the pawnbroker merely told Henry that he didn’t *want* to remember before leaving the sheriff’s office, leaving Henry to think over his answer…[/hider]

[hider=Mark Dufresne]
Mark was headed in to work as every other day went when he noticed a young boy chasing Dr. Hopper’s Dalmatian, Pongo through the streets. This did little to disrupt Mark until he saw the two of them run into the structurally unsound mines.

Jumping into action, Mark was just about to go in after the boy and dog when the mines collapsed; causing the entrance to cave in and a minor earthquake damaging a moderate portion of the town. This event caused the rest of Storybrooke to rile up into a small mob, disorderly and confused at the sudden disaster that occurred.

It wasn’t long before Sheriff Leland and Regina got involved, establishing a perimeter around the mines; preparing to seal it up. Before this could happen, however, Mark intervened – letting the town know that there was indeed a young child trapped in the mines.

This seemed to (strangely enough) grab the Mayor’s attention, and Mark personally volunteered to go down into the mines after the boy, who was identified as Mason by the newcomer, Henry Carlyle.

Before Mark could head in, however, both Ruby (the town whore) and Knox (the depressed security guard) demanded they help as well; citing their strange abilities of hearing and vision respectively.

Mark was prepared to accept their help when they both began to argue over Knox trying to guard Ruby who didn’t want it. Mark felt a strange sort of pressing urge to find Mason aside from the fact that he was lost (almost like he knew the boy ) and promptly silenced both Knox and Ruby: telling them he would be going in alone.

Before Sheriff Leland could escort him to a small space as entrance, Ruby took off into the mines herself, followed shortly by Knox. Mark was nothing less than furious, and hurried in after them – now having to watch after three people instead of just one.

As Mark entered the dark mine shaft, he immediately caught Knox and Ruby arguing *again*. No longer able or willing to hide his anger, Mark reprimanded both of them harshly; citing their disobedience and lack of maturity as reasons why the boy was still lost.

Mark seemed to finally drop the issue as he now walked down the dark shaft, flashlight in hand. It was true that both Ruby’s excellent hearing and Knox’s strange night vision came in handy, as they were only in the shafts a few minutes before finding the frightened boy and dog who were fortunately uninjured.

Knox attempted to calm the boy himself, but his bloodied appearance due to a head injury only frightened the boy that much more.

Mark felt a connection that he hadn’t before, and, moving Knox aside; spoke to the boy himself. Mason, too, seemed drawn to Mark and let himself be escorted out – the five of them (including Pongo) leaving the mines just as another collapse was about to start.

Knox and Mason received medical treatment and care, while Mark was given the rest of the day off as award for his good service. He took this time to head to Granny’s for a well-deserved break; deeply uncomfortable with his newfound label as “town hero” – he only wanted to be left alone.

It was at this time that Leroy came and sat down next to Mark, prompting the apathetic fireman to ask the janitor why the town was celebrating over Mark doing his job. Leroy, in a strangely wise fashion, told Mark that he had done what few others would have: volunteering without hesitation to rescue Mason from the mines

Mark rather bitterly acknowledged this, receiving a single warning about the newcomer being Regina’s ‘pet’ before Leroy left him in a somewhat more-confused state than before.

Around lunchtime, Granny’s was especially full, with the diner running out of free seats to take. This caused the local bartender, Jake Frostburn to sit at Mark’s table. The young man sought conversation with the grizzled firefighter, much to Mark’s ire. The conversation was at first awkward and clumsy – with Mark giving either short, blunt answers, or dampening the bright demeanor of Jake.

This eventually led to Mark losing his temper and sharply dismissing the boy: telling him that he didn’t like people at all. Though Mark apologized for his outburst, Jake left anyways, leaving Mark (finally) alone once again. …[/hider]