from the sea [leon]

It was one of those rare days when Leon had nothing. No work, no plans, and he had decided to take a nice run outside. He always liked running. Running made him feel free, though for some reason he wanted to get on all fours to run, but his body didn’t seem to work quite right and made him just feel awkward. Last time he went out running he nearly died, but he made a friend out of it after nearly killing himself, so it wasn’t a huge deal. He didn’t die and that was what mattered.

So here he was, running as fast as he could, keeping his eyes open this time, dashing all the way through town. He was quick and could practically feel himself creating wind all around him… well, it felt that way though really he was not. However, in the distance, in the harbor he saw something curious, so he changed his path back towards the harbor, even though he told himself he wouldn’t run by the harbor to avoid the same mistake as last time. He was too curious to just let something like this drop.

By the time he arrived, a huge boat had docked, and Leon curved his path to head down the dock, his eyes more focused on the beautiful boat than where he was going. He ran right past a man, and he grinned. “Is this your boat?” He had called to the man before dropping right off the edge of the docks. This time, however, he was prepared and was able to flip himself around and grab a hold onto the wooden edge of the dock, only soaking his body and not actually sinking. He pulled himself up and shook him free of the water then jogging back up to the man. “It’s a really cool ship. Are you working for Keita and Son? They’re looking for shippers last I heard.” He looked at the man with a biggest grin he could muster hoping he didn’t look like a lunatic, or that this man recognized him from before he ran away from his family. His eyes soon caught the hook for a hand. “Where’s your hand?” Smooth, Leon, smooth.

Boat, ship close enough, at least in Leon’s mind. But at least the guy didn’t seem too terribly mean. In fact, Leon kind of liked him. He seemed like a really… nice guy. Then again, Leon was weird when it came to people. As long as he wasn’t going to hurt anyone, Leon would be fine with this guy. Plus, he looked like he was really cool, like a pirate. Leon heard about pirates when he was growing up. Pirates always seemed cool. Then again, this guy probably wasn’t a pirate. Real pirates were mean. He was probably some navy guy or something. Though his uniform looked really weird. He could just be a sailor who liked to sail. Leon wouldn’t be able to handle that life himself, mostly because he hated the water and he would probably throw up if he was on a ship for too long.

No employment? Huh. Leon wondered why he was here then. Maybe it was something personal. But that didn’t stop him from asking. “Oh well… are you doing business with the people here?” Most people didn’t do business with outsiders. In fact… there were not very many outsiders in Storybrooke. That was weird. That really made Leon curious as to why this guy was here.

Leon looked at the hook with amazement, his eyes following it as he waved the hook around. “Like cutting rope or something?” It did look like a terribly sharp hook. He was sure that on a ship that cutting things was very important. It even occurred to him the hook could kill someone, though the guy seemed to have a sword so why would he resort to such close combat as he would have to with a hook rather than choose the sword and be safer with it. Or at least it was logical to him. He could just imagine a fight, a sword swinging at him, caught by the hook and a stab right through the enemy’s chest. It was like a video game almost and he was meeting the main character of a new game.

Captain Hook? Oh yeah, main character of a video game. Leon actually laughed when he asked if he ever heard of him. That was like he was from Peter Pan, but he didn’t wear bright red clothes, his hair wasn’t right, and he didn’t have the mustache to be Captain Hook. Maybe there was some sort of get together in town and this guy was going for charming pirate Captain Hook. It wouldn’t win in accuracy, but it would probably win in the ‘most attractive’ category. Then again, Leon didn’t know there were any get togethers like that ever in Storybrooke. Oh well, he was probably wrong. “Like from Peter Pan? Yeah, but I don’t think you got the right look.” Leon offered his hand to this ‘Captain Hook’. “My name is Leon. I work at the ice cream shop a bit aways from here. It’s called Any Given Sundae. If you stop by, I could get you a free ice cream.” New comers meant new customers, which meant more business. If he could get another customer his boss would be happy.

Something… about the way he was talking began rubbing Leon the wrong way. Then again, it was probably all just in his head. He just didn’t like the way he had said that he was there for personal matters. What was he here for? Leon couldn’t press too much into the matter. It was obviously something that this captain didn’t want to talk about, or at least reveal to him what the matter was. It was probably something like he was meeting up with his mother or something like that. It was embarrassing to go visit your mom, right? Well, Leon would love to see his mother again, she was just not… supposed to know he was still around because well… he was the reason his dad died and he was sure his mother wouldn’t like him any more after that. “Well, I hope you succeed and like it here in Storybrooke!”

Don’t mean killing people. Don’t mean killing people. Leon made sure to chant this in his head, because as soon as the thought occurred to him, he was worried this guy could just kill him with his hook. Then again, why would he do something like that? Graham would shoot him faster than he could swipe his claw, well, at least Leon thought so, having looked up to the Sheriff and seeing him throw darts many times before in Granny’s. He never met the sheriff personally, but he figured he was a stand-up guy and stopped crime wherever it occurred. Then again, Leon had an unrealistic perception of the sheriff, thinking that he magically would just appear where a crime was taking place ready to stop it before it happened. At least when he needed to be there. Maybe if Leon actually met the guy, his expectations would become much more realistic. “You mean… like fishing?” He was running out of ideas other than hurting someone else that a hook could be used for. Then again, Leon wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, and he also wasn’t the most creative guy in the world. He just really didn’t want the hook to be used for killing. That would make this guy not as cool as he looked.

Leon scoffed. Him? Handsome? How was he supposed to judge that? Wasn’t that like… Hannah’s job? To judge how handsome guys were? Leon had no idea how to even do that. However, he supposed that if this guy thought that he looked handsome, Hannah would probably think he was too. It was ridiculous, though. Even if he was ‘handsome’, he didn’t look like Captain Hook. “That’s… not what I meant. Captain Hook has long curly hair, total perm, wears red, has a mustache…” Leon trailed off looking at Hook for some sign that he knew what he was talking about. “You’re too… not cartoon-y to be Captain Hook.”

Okay. There was something really wrong with this guy. Peter Pan? A menace? Accurate representation? Hold on. Did he stumble across one of those nut jobs who thought fairy tales were actually real? He didn’t think they existed… at least not in Storybrooke until this guy started talking about Peter Pan as if he were real. “I don’t know what movie you saw, but Peter Pan was a nice guy. I mean, yeah, he was a bit annoying at times, but he had a good heart. Captain Hook was the menace, you know. At least in the end he was eaten by the crocodile.” Leon laughed nervously hoping he didn’t offend the Captain Hook wannabe. “But you know, it’s just a movie. What would it be representing?” Leon was more… worried than scared at this point, for this guy. He seemed to go overboard for the whole ‘dressing up as Captain Hook thing, but I don’t actually look like the character’ thing, getting a giant ship and everything.

“Well, at least let me show you around town. Show you the best places to eat, who to look out for, those will help you. Might even be able to get you a place to stay… unless you’re going to sleep on your ship.” It kind of reminded him of when he was showing that other newcomer, Emma Swan, around, though he figured she wanted to talk to him more than get a tour of the town. However, by now he was pretty good at the whole welcoming new people to town thing, or at least he assumed as much.

Well, that weird vibe was fading and Leon was starting to feel much better about it. It was totally the mother or a mother-in-law, the mother-in-law sounded even better. That would be even more embarrassing. But hold on, that would mean he was married and he did not seem like the marrying type. Then again, who was Leon to judge? He looked like he was not from around here, maybe some other country? Oh, right that accent sounded weird. Maybe he was from Britain and found a bride online so he could move to the states or something. “No problem, man.” He wondered if he had a passport if that was the case. Or if he was a terrorist. Oh that would be scary. That he knew a terrorist and didn’t stop them before they blew something up or something. Then again, there was no proof it was just his crazy thoughts. He was probably just overreacting anyways at the mystery.

Jabbing. Slicing. “You slice your apples with your hook?” He knew what Hook was meaning but he really did not want to say it, feeling a bit scared of it. Therefore he put on the act of being stupid. Because then he wouldn’t seem like a threat… probably. Then he wouldn’t be on the receiving end of the jabbing and slicing. “I bet that would be cool. Having your own apple slicer with you whenever you want.” Now he wanted an apple… probably because when he was a little scared he tended to get hungry.

How… how could he not know what a perm was? Maybe he was from a country where there weren’t perms or something. How was Leon supposed to know? After all, he seemed to not really know much about Captain Hook even though he claimed to be Captain Hook. He wondered who else was playing dress up with him. And whether they would be weirdly dressed too. “Uh, a perm is curly hair.” Leon wasn’t sure how he could have gone through life without knowing what a perm is, but perhaps Leon was the weird one to know what a perm was. No. He wasn’t that weird. He was sure his dad had some when he was younger, or at least he remembered pictures of his dad with long curly hair and it was funny. “Well, you’re forgiven. Though there might be some picky people so I’d be careful or someone might yell at you about how bad your costume is.” Well, there were some weirdos that would be offended by such a bad representation of Captain Hook. Some movie nerds out there and they were not kind.

But apparently he seemed to remember the movie when he talked about it, but Leon had a feeling he was just pretending. Weirdo. Then again Leon was weird himself and he knew it, so he wouldn’t put too much on it. “Yeah well, Hook was a crook who lost his hand to the crocodile. So it was only fitting the crocodile would get him in the end. You know, I have the movie, I could give it to you to watch sometime. It’s a travesty if you’ve never actually seen it.” Leon loved the movie, but he could always relate to the Lion King for some reason, a reason he could never put his finger on quite. “Turned out in the end the lesson was that everyone has to grow up in the end.”

“Okay, cool. So these are the docks, they are cool,” Leon said and grinned from ear to ear as he began down the docks, “Supplies and such come in here. But you probably already know that. Once we get into town, especially Main Street is much more interesting.”

Yeah, he was totally visiting his mom. There was nothing else that Leon could convince himself this guy had to do that wasn’t something that would make Leon not like him. And Leon wanted to like him. Then again, he could just be shopping for Storybrooke vegetables. Then again… Storybrooke had terrible vegetables, and Leon knew it, being a vegetarian himself. The veggies of Storybrooke sucked, and Leon much preferred the imported foods from elsewhere, which was what his… uncle’s business did. Supporting his family’s business, like a good runaway who was supposed to have taken it over.

“Uh huh.” Leon said hiding his fear behind the goofy smile he was wearing. Just don’t let him know that you know what he means, or he might just stab you with that hook. Death by hook did not sound like it was a fun way to go. He’d rather go in his sleep than get stabbed by some random guy because he was too curious for his own good. Maybe he shouldn’t have approached this guy. Then again, he could be perfectly innocent and not even thinking about the signals he was giving off. He was probably just an innocent guy who had a hook for a hand because he lost his hand and had to replace it with something and the hook was the only thing that he had. “Maybe one day I can get a hook and slice my apples whenever I want to.”

Forgotten. Right. Leon believed he was trying really hard to fit in, and so, he let it roll off his back. No need to make a visitor feel self-conscious. He was probably some different country guy who came from a land without internet or something like that. Maybe he was from Africa. Wait. His skin wasn’t dark enough for that. Maybe like… the middle of the forest in South America? Leon was sure there weren’t very many areas of the world without internet. “Well at least you’re confident with your costume. I would probably run away if someone hated mine. Which is why I don’t do them.” That, and he had no money really. “Though I really like the detail you put in it. I bet you spent a lot.”


Leon nodded and grinned as if he understood. “Books are good. Have you read Harry Potter? Of course you have. Everyone has. Right?” Maybe the forests of South America had them. Maybe they had a lot of books there, after all, forests were made of trees, and books were made of paper which was made of trees. Maybe he could find a book they had both read, but Leon wasn’t a big book person. Maybe ‘Hook’ could give him a few tips on what books to read. After all, Leon really didn’t have much time to read, and would probably read more if he had enough time. Movies were a lot faster than books were. “Which one was your favorite?”

Leon began leading ‘Hook’ all around town and pointing out various things, before reaching Gold’s shop, and just pointing from afar. Leon avoided that place like the plague. From what he heard it was almost like an enchantment on the building that lured you in and made you want to buy something from him, whether it be really ugly puppets or a beat up hat. So Leon kept away. “That’s Mr. Gold’s Pawn Shop. He’s this creepy guy who likes to make deals. Though if you’re looking for something unique, he’ll be able to get it for you, for a price of course. I stay away from there. I don’t want to make a stupid deal and regret it later.”

For Leon, it wasn’t hard to convince people that he was dumb. Mostly because most people tended to think he was dumb all the time, but sometimes Leon pretended to be dumb, and this was one of those times. He might not be the brightest bulb in the box but he did have some light when he was plugged in. He wasn’t completely useless, though he liked to think of himself as a smart guy, but then again, most people seemed to not agree with his opinion. “I’ll slice the apples, and you’ll catch the fish. I won’t eat the fish, but you can eat the fish. Or we could sell the fish and get something else. We’ll be hook buddies.” He laughed, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. Of course he was just joking, he preferred using both of his hands, and a hook would be terribly hard to use as opposed to his hand.

Well, at least this guy was confident. Leon had to admit if he was going for some other character and not Captain Hook, it would probably be spot on. Maybe he was trying to emulate one of the Pan movies that Leon had yet to see. He knew there were several movies based on the same story, and maybe he had just insulted this Captain Hook by just assuming that it was the cartoon one that everyone had to have seen, except apparently this guy. “Well, I hope you’re happy, Hook! Your costume turned out really well.” Leon still had no idea that this guy wasn’t going for a costume but rather he was actually Captain Hook. The thought was so fantastical that not even Leon Keita thought of it.

Leon was a little shocked when Hook said that he hadn’t ever read Harry Potter. Did this guy live under a rock?!? Then again, he probably lived on that ship. And how would he get his news, or the movies or the books when he was on that ship all the time. So maybe he had older books. Now Leon wished he paid attention in English class when they were reading those older books like Charley Disinson or whatever his name was, Leon didn’t know, he barely passed that class because he didn’t really like books. “Oh darn, that’s sad. Maybe you could read them some time. I have them in my place.” Because he had saved up money enough to buy at least the first couple in paperback, even if he didn’t read them often and probably should take better care of the books.

Well, at least Hook was paying attention otherwise Leon might be offended. He just wanted to help this guy do whatever he needed to and perhaps visit Any Given Sundae. “And that’s Game of Thorns. You know that guy Mr. Gold I was talking about before? Well, in the last issue of the Daily Mirror, one of the theories of his new girlfriend is the daughter of the owner there. I haven’t actually met her, but I bet she’s nice. It’s a good flower shop too. If you need any flowers or plants or just advice, you can get it there.”