Post by Regina Mills on Mar 27, 2012 13:34:04 GMT -5
OOC/MISC CHARACTER NOTES
Cbox Name: Meekseh
Nicknames: Meeks/Meeksy/Meekz/WHATEVER MAN.
Main Account: Anya
Who else do you play?: Castiel, Ruby, Glory, Ellen Parsons, Effie Trinket, The Blind Witch.
How did you find us?: I WILL ALWAYS FIND YOU.-shot for the once upon a time reference-
Category: Once Upon a Time.
Ranking: Villain with a capital V.
Reason for being on AM: This BIG SCARY WORLD is so horribly cruel and unfair and not-fairytale-like - so via a very powerful curse, she banished all her fellow fairytale characters (along with herself) here to ensure that none of them would get a happily ever after. 'CAUSE IF SHE CAN'T HAVE ONE, NO ONE CAN.
Basic Details
Age: Has been frozen in her mid-thirties for exactly twenty-eight years now, so...basically she's twice the age she looks.
Species: Witch.
Personality:
Regina has a part to play, and she's very careful to play that part flawlessly. As the seemingly normal and non-magical mayor of Storybrooke, Maine, she's a lot of things - but evil never seems to be one of them. Sure, she's a bit...chilly. Not to mention very professional, keeping nearly everyone at arm's length - but she's also responsible, charismatic, and seemingly compassionate towards those who need her attention - everything a mayor ought to be. She's always sure to keep the townspeople in her favor, though oftentimes that requires a good deal of manipulation on her part. Because make no mistake - no matter how kind and generous she may lead people to think she is, she owns that town - and is very much a control-freak when things don't go her way. A composed control-freak who's excellent at disguising her anger, but a control-freak none the less.
And beneath the persona of Regina Mills, mayor of Storybrooke, her true self - The Evil Queen - still remains. If you thought Miss Bitchy Mayor was bad, you really don't know the half of it. Regina, unlike most of the inhabitants of Storybrooke, remembers every single moment of her previous life. And she's carrying every last ounce of anger, pain, cruelty, and resentment with her to this very day in her oh so very blackened heart. Though one might find it difficult to believe, Regina hasn't always been as horrible as she is now. There was a time when she was happy, warm, genuinely compassionate - and of course, capable of love. But her insatiable desire for revenge and the hatred that's clung to her ever since Snow White's betrayal have drained her of every ounce of light and innocence she once possessed - and in its place, and emptiness that's poisoned her very being.
At best, when interacting with someone she really has nothing against or doesn't feel one way or the other about, she's distant, reserved, and self-serving. She doesn't go out of her way to harm others for no particular reason, but she has no qualms with doing so if it will somehow benefit her - Regina really doesn't care about anyone's happiness but her own. And at worst, when you're an enemy of hers, she's downright sadistic and cruel. There's really nothing that gives her more satisfaction than watching someone she despises suffer, especially if she is the cause of it. And being as manipulative, vindictive, and powerful as she is, Regina really isn't a good enemy to have - if you anger her badly enough, she will literally devote her life to making you miserable.
Determined and driven are both words that describe her quite accurately, in addition. She is an extremely strong-willed individual who, once she decides she wants something, will stop at nothing to get it. Even before she allowed her heart to fill with darkness, stubbornness has always been one of her strongest tendencies. As much as this serves her when it comes to achieving her goals, she also has a sense of pride that makes it very difficult for her to admit when she's wrong. She has a fixed view on things (as it so happens, a very cynical fixed view on things), and it can be very difficult to get it to waver from it. Regina seems to think she needs to do things exactly her way, even if someone else's way makes sense. Perhaps if she could simply let things go, learn to forgive, and put her mind at ease, she'd be capable of escaping her own brooding unhappiness - but she is not.
So clearly, Regina is a lot of things - formidable, vindictive, malicious, regal and undeniably classy, the epitome of a leader at times and the epitome of evil itself at others - and, on the occasion that you make her angry, downright terrifying. But beneath the layers she buries herself beneath, the ones meant to intimidate, frighten, and above all control others - and beneath the hatred and rage that has twisted her so violently - she is still undeniably human. She is flawed. She is still capable of experiencing emotion - and oftentimes acts too quickly on emotional impulses. She loves just as passionately as she hates, or she used to - before she closed that side of herself off. And most importantly, a very repressed part of her still mourns the happy, warm, truly beautiful person she once was - but there's no going back, and Regina knows it. She knows what horrible, cruel, borderline psychotic bitch she's become - and it just makes her want to ensure that everyone else is even worse off than she is. She's very much in the 'if I can't be happy, no one can' camp. That's not to say she never feels flickers of empathy for another person - reaching out to her and making her feel anything that...isn't negative is a long shot, but it's possible...if you know what buttons to push.
Powers & Abilities
Main/Important Equipment
Weaknesses
Psychological Flaws...
Physical Flaws...
Other Flaws...
History....
In Character RP Sample
"You will not be seeing Emma Swan again for a long, long time. Do you understand me?" The words were uttered through clenched teeth, barely discernible from a snarl as Regina marched up the stairs of her estate, dragging her son along behind her by his wrist. Not that Henry didn't do his fair share of protesting - he struggled and shouted at her and tried to argue, but she was paying very little attention to him...and her patience was thinning by the moment. Why did he have to be so difficult? Why did he have to insist upon hating her? Were children supposed to be this badly behaved? Surely not - surely this was all that wretched woman's fault, waltzing into this town - Regina's town - and turning her own son against her. The very thought made her dark eyes flash dangerously, and it was with all the more force that she practically wrestle Henry into his room and then planted herself firmly in the doorway, barring his pathway to escape. "Now," she breathed out, slightly winded from the struggle (damn kids these days). "Until your behavior improves, consider yourself..." The former queen paused, searching for the word. What was it? "...Grounded."
...Grounded? Really? She used to be able to condemn people to eternal torture, and now she was reduced to... 'grounded'. Oh, the sacrifices she'd made for this curse. With an internal eyeroll, she squared her shoulders and faced the now incredibly angry look Henry was fixing her with.
"Fine! Ground me! It's not gonna stop me from seeing Emma, and it's not gonna stop us from stopping you, you...evil witch!"
Regina's expression hardened at this. Damn it. Damn it. When was he going to let this go? "Henry, please," she tried to soften her tone a little this time, hoping to reason with him. "How much longer are you going to continue being angry at me for being someone I'm not? Don't you know how ridiculous that sounds?" She allowed her voice to break a little at the end in a portrayal of desperation, an outright plea to get through to him. The irony of it all being, of course, that he was entirely right. Though of course she'd sooner die than actually admit that to him - but who would expect her to? To everyone else, her adopted son's claims sounded entirely delusional.
But Henry, stubborn and defiant as ever, fixed her with a bold glare as he shook his head. "You don't want me to believe. You want everyone to think I'm crazy. And you don't want me to see my mom."
Anger quickly scorched its way across her expression before she could contain it. "I am your mom." Regina ground out sharply.
"No you're not. You're not your mom, you're a wicked witch - and I hate you!"
For a fleeting moment, Regina was convinced that Henry had reached up and slapped her across the face - but no, she realized, that was just the nearly tangible sting of his words she was feeling. And despite her best efforts to compose herself, she could do little more than blink at him dumbfoundedly as he proceeded to march forward and slam his bedroom door in her face. Several seconds passed in utter silence before a reaction finally sparked in the dark-haired woman - her usual reaction to when she took offense to something, a slow boil of vindictive rage that belonged to the Evil Queen and not at all to the cool, always composed Regina Mills. Briefly, she considered knocking down the door and showing him exactly who he was dealing with. If he wanted an evil queen, he'd get an evil queen - who was he to speak to her in that manner?!
..And then, abruptly, her anger just sort of seemed to...deflate. Her shoulders slumped slightly as the tension vanished from her body, and suddenly she just felt...tired. What would fighting with Henry accomplish? Terrifying the child into obedience wasn't going to make him love her - wasn't going to make him think of her as his mother. No, that was one thing that really was out of her power...and she wasn't quite sure what to do about it.
Theme Songs...?
My Side of the Story - David Hodges
Stronger - Kelly Clarkson
Everything Burns
Cbox Name: Meekseh
Nicknames: Meeks/Meeksy/Meekz/WHATEVER MAN.
Main Account: Anya
Who else do you play?: Castiel, Ruby, Glory, Ellen Parsons, Effie Trinket, The Blind Witch.
How did you find us?: I WILL ALWAYS FIND YOU.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category: Once Upon a Time.
Ranking: Villain with a capital V.
Reason for being on AM: This BIG SCARY WORLD is so horribly cruel and unfair and not-fairytale-like - so via a very powerful curse, she banished all her fellow fairytale characters (along with herself) here to ensure that none of them would get a happily ever after. 'CAUSE IF SHE CAN'T HAVE ONE, NO ONE CAN.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basic Details
Age: Has been frozen in her mid-thirties for exactly twenty-eight years now, so...basically she's twice the age she looks.
Species: Witch.
Personality:
Regina has a part to play, and she's very careful to play that part flawlessly. As the seemingly normal and non-magical mayor of Storybrooke, Maine, she's a lot of things - but evil never seems to be one of them. Sure, she's a bit...chilly. Not to mention very professional, keeping nearly everyone at arm's length - but she's also responsible, charismatic, and seemingly compassionate towards those who need her attention - everything a mayor ought to be. She's always sure to keep the townspeople in her favor, though oftentimes that requires a good deal of manipulation on her part. Because make no mistake - no matter how kind and generous she may lead people to think she is, she owns that town - and is very much a control-freak when things don't go her way. A composed control-freak who's excellent at disguising her anger, but a control-freak none the less.
And beneath the persona of Regina Mills, mayor of Storybrooke, her true self - The Evil Queen - still remains. If you thought Miss Bitchy Mayor was bad, you really don't know the half of it. Regina, unlike most of the inhabitants of Storybrooke, remembers every single moment of her previous life. And she's carrying every last ounce of anger, pain, cruelty, and resentment with her to this very day in her oh so very blackened heart. Though one might find it difficult to believe, Regina hasn't always been as horrible as she is now. There was a time when she was happy, warm, genuinely compassionate - and of course, capable of love. But her insatiable desire for revenge and the hatred that's clung to her ever since Snow White's betrayal have drained her of every ounce of light and innocence she once possessed - and in its place, and emptiness that's poisoned her very being.
At best, when interacting with someone she really has nothing against or doesn't feel one way or the other about, she's distant, reserved, and self-serving. She doesn't go out of her way to harm others for no particular reason, but she has no qualms with doing so if it will somehow benefit her - Regina really doesn't care about anyone's happiness but her own. And at worst, when you're an enemy of hers, she's downright sadistic and cruel. There's really nothing that gives her more satisfaction than watching someone she despises suffer, especially if she is the cause of it. And being as manipulative, vindictive, and powerful as she is, Regina really isn't a good enemy to have - if you anger her badly enough, she will literally devote her life to making you miserable.
Determined and driven are both words that describe her quite accurately, in addition. She is an extremely strong-willed individual who, once she decides she wants something, will stop at nothing to get it. Even before she allowed her heart to fill with darkness, stubbornness has always been one of her strongest tendencies. As much as this serves her when it comes to achieving her goals, she also has a sense of pride that makes it very difficult for her to admit when she's wrong. She has a fixed view on things (as it so happens, a very cynical fixed view on things), and it can be very difficult to get it to waver from it. Regina seems to think she needs to do things exactly her way, even if someone else's way makes sense. Perhaps if she could simply let things go, learn to forgive, and put her mind at ease, she'd be capable of escaping her own brooding unhappiness - but she is not.
So clearly, Regina is a lot of things - formidable, vindictive, malicious, regal and undeniably classy, the epitome of a leader at times and the epitome of evil itself at others - and, on the occasion that you make her angry, downright terrifying. But beneath the layers she buries herself beneath, the ones meant to intimidate, frighten, and above all control others - and beneath the hatred and rage that has twisted her so violently - she is still undeniably human. She is flawed. She is still capable of experiencing emotion - and oftentimes acts too quickly on emotional impulses. She loves just as passionately as she hates, or she used to - before she closed that side of herself off. And most importantly, a very repressed part of her still mourns the happy, warm, truly beautiful person she once was - but there's no going back, and Regina knows it. She knows what horrible, cruel, borderline psychotic bitch she's become - and it just makes her want to ensure that everyone else is even worse off than she is. She's very much in the 'if I can't be happy, no one can' camp. That's not to say she never feels flickers of empathy for another person - reaching out to her and making her feel anything that...isn't negative is a long shot, but it's possible...if you know what buttons to push.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Powers & Abilities
WHOA FANCY TELEPORTING - Regina has the ability to teleport in a poof of black smoke. Not exactly subtle, but yeah. AND, with a wave of her hand, she can summon that same windy black smoke to teleport others if she wants 'em to, you know, gtfo.
DAT GREEN THUMB - She's a sorceress who seems to have an admirable amount of control over the element of earth. As much horrible luck as she has with people, plants seem to love her - and she can manipulate them at her will. WATCH OUT FOR GRABBY VINES.
Telekinesis! - Y'know, throwing people up against walls, knockin' 'em over like bowling pins, the usual deal. The size of her opponent will usually effect how powerful this is.
Pyrokinesis! - Ooh, yeah, she can control fire too. Though keep in mind, earth is her element. While she might've learned to extend some control over fire, it's usually only in large, short bursts.
Stealin' your heart~ ...literally. Regina has the ability to rip your heart out of your body without killing you. ..Yeah. But once she has your heart, she more or less has complete control over you, so um. DON'T LET HER GET IT.
Mirror, mirror... - Well, now her beloved Magic Mirror is kind of...a person thanks to the curse. But, y'know. She can still use other mirrors/reflective surfaces to show her whatever it is her heart desires. Granted, the 'no longer being able to ask it any question and get an honest answer' thing is a bit of a downer, but...
Glamour-ous~! - Regina has the ability to glamour, or create a sort of illusion that allows her to seem to shapeshift. For example, one of her favorite forms to trick people with is that of a 'harmless' old hag...U MAD SNOW WHITE?
A little...stone-faced - This magic can effectively turn a person to stone - though it's quite possible to dodge it, or maybe even break out of it if you're strong enough. And if you're not? ...Well, all curses can be broken by TRUE LOVE'S KISS OMGJDSKSDDS!!!1
Do you believe in magic? - Start believin'. As a witch, of course she has the ability to perform all sorts of curses, hexes, spells, and the like - provided she knows the proper ritual for each.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Main/Important Equipment
COLLECTIN' YOUR JAR OF HEARTS... - Hall of hearts, is more like it. Buried beneath Storybrooke are shelves and shelves of hearts - the people she supposedly 'owns'.
Dagger - Long, jagged and of course very sharp, Regina has retained this particular weapon to this day.
Skeleton Keyz - Allowing her to open pretty much any building in Storybrooke.
Engagement Ring - A beautiful, yet clearly very old golden ring that Regina never wears on her finger, yet always seems to keep on her person. Of all the lavish and expensive things Regina owns, it's this tiny trinket that remains her dearest possession - and the one thing she seems to have a heavy emotional attachment to.
Weaknesses
Psychological Flaws...
Revenge is a Dish Best Not Served at All~ - Unfortunately, Regina doesn't really realize this. Like. At all. She is a person who OBSESSES over vengeance - she simply cannot let things go. Her grudge toward Snow White is a prime example of this, and ultimately, this trait has destroyed her as a person. When she decides to get revenge, she will go to absolutely any lengths to accomplish it. It often takes her to places where...no person should ever force themselves to go.
Happily Never After... - Regina has been longing for happiness for a very long time, and she's always blaming others for ruining it for her...but mainly, she ruins it for herself. She has a very self-destructive personality and seems quite incapable of just letting herself be happy. Even when she has everything she wants.
I wanna watch you SUFFER. - She takes a very sadistic pleasure in watching her enemies suffer slowly, when she could just as easily get her revenge very quickly. Of course, this gives people plenty of time to actually STOP whatever it is she's planning.
Big on Those 7 Deadly Sins - Seriously, she's all but consumed by at least four of them. Pride is something that's overshadowed her her whole life - she has a constant need to prove her independence and capability of taking care of herself, and more than once it's trapped her alone in a sticky situation. Envy's another big one for her - she's spent SO much of her time being jealous of the other fairy tale characters and the happy endings that they've all gotten that she spends little time actually trying to, y'know, make HERSELF happy. I think Wrath goes without saying - there are very few people or things that can convince Regina to think rationally when she's truly angry. And lastly of course, vanity. Regina spends a lot of time fussing with her personal appearance, making herself look presentable, striving to be the fairest of them all, and all that jazz. Ironically, though you'd think this would be because she thinks quite highly of herself - deep down it's entirely the opposite. Never mind the fact that she's been overshadowed by her drop-dead gorgeous (and emotionally abusive) mother for most of her life, and then brushed aside by her husband while he fawned over how beautiful his daughter, Snow White, was - that's enough to give anyone a bit of a complex. But more than that, Regina's always harnessed a very much repressed sense of self-loathing that's far more than skin deep. It isn't nice, what she truly thinks of herself. Not very nice at all.
"You mean nothing to me." - Regina's not very fond of personal relationships. She sees them as a weakness - and she is of the firm belief that she must rid herself of all weaknesses. The moment she feels any sort of endearment towards anyone, her first response is usually to push them away - violently. By hurting them, if that's the only thing that'll work.
The one thing she's always wanted... There is ONE exception to the statement above, and that's her desire to be a mother. She has a very noticeable soft spot towards children, though she has somewhat unrealistic expectations of them.
Mommy...AND...Daddy Issues? - Even apart from all that 'hatred corrupts your SOUUULL' thing, Regina's got enough issues to make her pretty messed up. When she was younger, she suffered a LOT of physical and emotional abuse, and manipulation manipulation at the hands of her mother, and pretty much grew up with a self esteem level below zero. Her mother is probably, deep down, the one person she's truly terrified of, perhaps contributing to Regina's own obsessive need to be a good mother to someone else. And then we have her father - who Regina actually DID have a good relationship with, before she killed him in order to enact her curse. ..Yup. Two major sore spots there.
Physical Flaws...
Human...enough - For all intents and purposes, you could kill Regina the way you could any other human - she doesn't have any magical invulnerability or super-healing, or anything.
This ain't a fairytale... - There's no NATURAL FAIRYTALE MAGIC in this world, and as such her magic no longer comes naturally to her. This makes it a bit harder for her to use - and to use as powerfully as she would have in her home world.
Sorcery Stamina - Using too much of her magic in a short expanse of time will leave Regina more than a little exhausted. In fact, that curse she pulled off? It was so big that she's still recovering from it...
Other Flaws...
Friggin' Rumpelstiltskin - The one person she's bound to in a deal they made some time ago - anything he asks her to do, she has to do it, so long as he says 'please'. Of course, when she agreed to this term, she was thinkin' he wouldn't remember anything about it once the curse took effect...which didn't turn out to be the case...welp.
True Love's Kiss..MWAH. - ANY curse Regina might place on you, no matter how powerful, can be broken by true love's kiss under the right circumstances. Yes, I know, Regina thinks it's stupid too. And cheesy, what do you expect? This is a FAIRY TALE!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History....
ONCE UPON A TIMElawlzthere was a young girl named Regina. She came from a relatively humble family, her mother - Cora - being the daughter of a miller, and her father not being of much higher social standing. Growing up, it's safe to say her childhood was just a tad...unstable. She had a very loving, supportive relationship with her father, but...a very rocky, unhealthy one with her mother. Cora worked very hard to make sure their humble little family didn't turn out to be so humble - making deals that were definitely of the shady variety to gain them wealth and status. And she grew to have very high expectations of her only daughter, to say the least. Regina was quite free-spirited and adventurous in her youth; she liked to spend a lot of her time outside - horseback riding (her absolute favorite pasttime), walking in the woods, swimming - aaaand not so much time being a 'lady' and finding a suitable husband. Well, that didn't sit too nicely with Cora. She developed a rather sharp system of keeping Regina in line - with criticisms, thinly veiled insults, and low blows to her self-esteem...and when that didn't work, abuse of the more physical nature.
See, where Cora was involved? Regina didn't really have much of a say in anything. Her mother happened to be a very powerful sorceress - her magic dark in nature and near limitless in power - and Regina herself was often the victim of it. So if her mother said she was going to marry a wealthy, high-status man, then that was what she was going to do. ...Or so she thought, until she met Daniel. They were mere friends at first - he a stablehand who was giving her riding lessons - but it soon became much more than that. The two eventually fell in love, and not just any sort of love, either. Literally, it was the true love you hear about in fairytales. Good, pure, the kind that's supposed to last forever. Daniel was the only source of real happiness Regina had ever actually found in her life. But of course, her relationship with him had to be kept a secret - if Cora ever discovered that her daughter was with a man she'd consider to be of low class, Regina didn't even want to think about the consequences.
One day, while she was meeting Daniel in secret at the stables, a little disaster took place. A young girl had lost control of her horse and was screaming for help as the animal charged away toward the wilderness, barely able to cling to its back as it ran. Without a second thought, Regina leaped onto her own horse and raced after them, ultimately being able to save the girl before she tumbled from the horse's back. That little girl happened to be none other than Snow White...and ironically enough, initially, the two became fast friends. Unfortunately, Regina saving Snow's life caught the attention and gratitude of Snow's father...who happened to be a very powerful king. He visited their home one day, and in thanks, asked Regina to marry him - and to become the mother that Snow White needed. Regina herself was horrified at the very thought - power meant nothing to her, being a Queen meant nothing to her - the single idealistic thing she valued back then was true love. But Cora jumped at the chance of pairing her daughter with a powerful ruler, and accepted the proposal for her.
The next day, Regina ran to Daniel in a panic and explained to him what had happened. She convinced him that they could be together, that they still had a chance if they ran away before Cora could discover them. Daniel agreed almost immediately, even proposing to her beforehand and giving her the engagement ring she still holds on to today. But in a moment of very bad timing, Snow walked in on the proposal - and, upset, fled to tell her father. Regina caught up with her before she could do so, however, and pleaded with her not to tell anyone. She explained to Snow that as much as she cared about her and would have loved to become a mother figure to her, she was in love with Daniel - and true love was like magic, binding you to a person. Enchanted, Snow agreed not to tell Regina's secret - especially not to Cora, who Regina warned would ruin everything.
But of course Cora, being as cunning and manipulative as she was, did manage to get Snow to confess everything. And just as Regina and Daniel were preparing to leave, Cora confronted them...and literally ripped Daniel's heart right out of his chest. Without being permitted so much as a chance to grieve for him, Regina was pulled to her feet and told that she would marry the king, because Cora knew what was best for her. She was a young, innocent, idealistic young girl who'd just had her first and only love murdered in front of her by her mother...needless to say, she was a little too shell-shocked to protest.
In the following days before the wedding, Regina withdrew from everyone. She barely spoke to everyone, never smiled, and her eyes - once so bright and animated - began to bear a glassy, empty look. Quite clearly, Regina had become rather...unhinged by Daniel's murder. Teetering dangerously on the brink of insanity, the queen to-be lived out the next few days in a sort of trance. It was only when Snow approached her and cheerfully mentioned what she'd done that she was snapped out of her grief-induced daze - in favor of utter disbelief at this evident betrayal. It was then that something in Regina snapped, broke, shattered - she'd lost everything. Daniel and the life she loved - and, as she realized she'd spent the rest of her life in unhappiness at the side of a man she did not love and a girl who'd betrayed her trust, every last ounce of warmth and innocence drained from Regina and replaced with cold emptiness - emptiness filled with the hatred and resentment that was beginning to claw its way into her heart.
But not an ounce of it showed - she reassured Snow that she was not angry with her, married the King as her mother desired, and for many long years lived as the Queen her mother always wanted her to be...all the while plotting her revenge. A lust for revenge that slowly grew from living out her life with the people she blamed for ruining it - and seeing them so happy while she suffered only made her loath them more. Eventually her plans fell into place when she was able to trick a man who'd fallen in love with her (incidentally, one who would later make a wish to stay with her forever - and did so by taking the form of her infamous magic mirror) into killing the King for her. Once he was dead, Regina fully took the reigns of the kingdom, but not because of any lust for power - but solely because of her obsessive need for revenge on Snow White, who had become the target of all her pain and grief. In secret, Regina hired a huntsman to murder the girl while she walked in the woods one day. When the huntsman returned, however, it was with the heart of a deer - and Regina immediately spotted the difference. In a fit of rage, she tore out the huntman's own heart as punishment - but did not crush it; instead keeping it locked away and effectively placing him under her control.
Snow knew to run after that - and it wasn't long before Regina put a price on her head, accusing her of murder and treason. It was around this time that Regina was revealed to hold a certain sense of animosity toward Rumpelstiltskin as well; she took great pleasure in telling him that his one true love - Belle - had been killed, though this wasn't exactly true. But by this point, Regina had become an entirely cold and unfeeling woman who had nothing left to thrive on but ruining other people's happiness - in fact, once Snow White and Prince Charming took her throne and publicly outcast her as a villain, Regina decided that she could not allow Snow to live in happiness - to get her happy ending that she seemed well on her way to. In fact, if Regina couldn't get her happy ending, she decided that no one should. After several more failed attempts to kill Snow (one of them being the infamous poisoned apple incident), Regina finally turned to an infamous curse - a curse so dark and terrible that even the darkest of hearts in the land refused to use it - to achieve her revenge.
She forcefully took the curse of Maleficent, who'd been tasked with guarding it from use, and then set to work on enacting it. The curse's most devastating required ingredient was the heart of the thing the user loved most. Regina, who didn't exactly love many things by this point, used the heart of the horse she'd raised from a foal - the one she'd grown up riding in happier times. As it so happened, this...wasn't enough. Sensing that it had been cheated, the curse did not work. Regina furiously set out to confront Rumpelstiltskin, the creator of the curse, who by this time had been imprisoned in the dwarves' mines. Rumpelstiltskin had made a deal with her previously - he'd gain wealth and status in the world Regina created if the curse worked, and she'd also have to do whatever he asked should he say 'please'. Rumpelstiltskin firmly asserted that she had to kill the thing she loved most, no cop-outs.
She was conflicted. Deep down, she knew that there was only one person left in the world that she truly loved - and that was her father. Ultimately, her maddening longing for revenge and her inability to let go of her hatred won out over her love, and she cut her father's heart out - allowing the curse to finally work.
And that was how Storybrooke was created, a little town in Maine full of fairy tale character's from Regina's world. Only they can't remember who they are - can't remember anything from their pasts - and each of them have been purposefully dropped into circumstances where they live lives that are as unhappy and unfulfilling as possible. Except for Regina, of course - she got riches, a position as the town's mayor, and even adopted a child like she'd always wanted to - Henry. Regina was certain that these things would make her happy, that she'd finally get the ending she deserved, but...Henry eventually happened upon a book that told him everything about the fairy tale land and who his adopted mother really was, and hated her from that moment on. Over time, Regina came to realize that she'd never get her happy ending - so she'd just have to settle for taking pleasure in watching everyone else suffer a lot more than she was.
Everything was panning out until Henry's birth mother, Emma Swan, came to town. Regina was immediately suspicious - no one ever left Storybrooke, and no one new ever visited, so something had to be up. What was more, time - which had been frozen as part of the curse - began to move again as soon as Emma arrived. Little did Regina know, Emma was actually the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming - the child who'd been sent far, far away before the curse could take effect in her parents' attempt to save her...the child who was prophesied to return and finally be the one to break the curse over Storybrooke.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Character RP Sample
"You will not be seeing Emma Swan again for a long, long time. Do you understand me?" The words were uttered through clenched teeth, barely discernible from a snarl as Regina marched up the stairs of her estate, dragging her son along behind her by his wrist. Not that Henry didn't do his fair share of protesting - he struggled and shouted at her and tried to argue, but she was paying very little attention to him...and her patience was thinning by the moment. Why did he have to be so difficult? Why did he have to insist upon hating her? Were children supposed to be this badly behaved? Surely not - surely this was all that wretched woman's fault, waltzing into this town - Regina's town - and turning her own son against her. The very thought made her dark eyes flash dangerously, and it was with all the more force that she practically wrestle Henry into his room and then planted herself firmly in the doorway, barring his pathway to escape. "Now," she breathed out, slightly winded from the struggle (damn kids these days). "Until your behavior improves, consider yourself..." The former queen paused, searching for the word. What was it? "...Grounded."
...Grounded? Really? She used to be able to condemn people to eternal torture, and now she was reduced to... 'grounded'. Oh, the sacrifices she'd made for this curse. With an internal eyeroll, she squared her shoulders and faced the now incredibly angry look Henry was fixing her with.
"Fine! Ground me! It's not gonna stop me from seeing Emma, and it's not gonna stop us from stopping you, you...evil witch!"
Regina's expression hardened at this. Damn it. Damn it. When was he going to let this go? "Henry, please," she tried to soften her tone a little this time, hoping to reason with him. "How much longer are you going to continue being angry at me for being someone I'm not? Don't you know how ridiculous that sounds?" She allowed her voice to break a little at the end in a portrayal of desperation, an outright plea to get through to him. The irony of it all being, of course, that he was entirely right. Though of course she'd sooner die than actually admit that to him - but who would expect her to? To everyone else, her adopted son's claims sounded entirely delusional.
But Henry, stubborn and defiant as ever, fixed her with a bold glare as he shook his head. "You don't want me to believe. You want everyone to think I'm crazy. And you don't want me to see my mom."
Anger quickly scorched its way across her expression before she could contain it. "I am your mom." Regina ground out sharply.
"No you're not. You're not your mom, you're a wicked witch - and I hate you!"
For a fleeting moment, Regina was convinced that Henry had reached up and slapped her across the face - but no, she realized, that was just the nearly tangible sting of his words she was feeling. And despite her best efforts to compose herself, she could do little more than blink at him dumbfoundedly as he proceeded to march forward and slam his bedroom door in her face. Several seconds passed in utter silence before a reaction finally sparked in the dark-haired woman - her usual reaction to when she took offense to something, a slow boil of vindictive rage that belonged to the Evil Queen and not at all to the cool, always composed Regina Mills. Briefly, she considered knocking down the door and showing him exactly who he was dealing with. If he wanted an evil queen, he'd get an evil queen - who was he to speak to her in that manner?!
..And then, abruptly, her anger just sort of seemed to...deflate. Her shoulders slumped slightly as the tension vanished from her body, and suddenly she just felt...tired. What would fighting with Henry accomplish? Terrifying the child into obedience wasn't going to make him love her - wasn't going to make him think of her as his mother. No, that was one thing that really was out of her power...and she wasn't quite sure what to do about it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Theme Songs...?
My Side of the Story - David Hodges
Stronger - Kelly Clarkson
Everything Burns
.
.
.
.