A happy meeting
Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to their respective owners.
...And so it happened that Emma decided to apologize (well, actually, it was more of a guilt trip from her conscience) to Regina about the whole 'delivery of Maid Marian to Storybrook' thing. And so, she ventured forth to discover the older woman – and she did discover Regina deep in conversation with some strange man of dark appearance whom Emma had not seen before (at least until she went off to Neverland and all that).
"Hello, Regina, and you are not from here, are you?" she said brightly as she joined the conversation. From the corner of her eye she could see Mr. Gold and Belle standing in the distance and the Dark One (now redeemed – maybe the Murky One would be a better choice instead?) was for once not interfering in his usual manner.
"No, good maiden, I'm not," the man replied calmly, in a rather regal tone of voice, but with a foreign accent. "I am Simba, the Lion King of the Pride Lands."
"You are?" Emma has gone through a lot ever since arriving in Storybrook and becoming the town's sheriff, but she still had limits. "I must admit, you're fitting really well in here."
"Not that well," Regina said dryly, as she pointed to his shadow: Emma looked, and it indeed was more leonine than human.
"Ah," she nodded sagely. "Right. Is it an official visit, or-"
"I'm looking for Dorothy," Simba admitted. "I understand that she's still around?"
"Yes, she's that way," Regina pointed in a direction that was the same to every other direction, as far as Emma was concerned.
"Thank you," the Lion King nodded. "It's been a while since the Great Humbug fiasco, and I miss her."
"The Great Humbug?" Emma mouthed to Regina, who just pointed in the direction of Mr. Gold, who, for a change, was using his magical powers to blend into the scenery instead of catching everyone's eye. Somehow, he was not doing a good enough job, as king Simba looked in that direction and Mr. Gold noticeably blanched.
"So, that makes you the Cowardly Lion?" Emma decided to change the direction of the discussion...perhaps not very successfully, as the Lion King palmed himself.
"Yes, I suppose I have earned this name, after I ran away from my kingdom and left my uncle in charge," he groaned. "But, still, I have returned, and I have vanquished him, so if you would be so kind not to use it in the future?"
"Sure, sure," Emma nodded, but was interrupted by the girlish squeal - "Big guy, is that you?" - and suddenly the Lion King was busy embracing Dorothy and all, and did not pay any attention to anyone else.
"Well, that was fun," Regina's voice was dryly sarcastic as she and Emma turned around to give the young couple some privacy and were confronted by another two men. "And you're the Tin Man and the Scarecrow?"
"Hey! I'm Pumba, and I might not be the smartest man, or warthog, around-"
"And I'm Timon the meerkat, and I may be something of a jerk-"
"But I'm not brainless/heartless!"
"Good enough for me," Regina said brightly, as she walked away, followed by Emma, leaving Dorothy on her own with her friends from Oz. "The Great Humbug! I knew that there was a reason why Gold acted as if my sister was his Kryptonite, and not just because she was green!"
"Hey, you've made a modern cultural reference!" Emma said brightly, with a smile, which became frayed upon Regina's glare towards her. "Well, you have, and I'm sorry about the whole 'Maid Marian' situation, and I have brought whipped cream, if you feel like apple pie, because I know that you don't like ice cream-"
"Stop it, before I turn you into a tree instead, and not even an apple tree, because I hate to think what sort of fruit you'll bear in such a shape," Regina snapped and Emma shut up – not because she was feeling scared, but because she was feeling guilty. "You can bring the whipped cream," Regina continued, "by around eight o'clock. Don't bring your mother – I can't handle both of you at the moment."
With these words Regina turned around and left. Emma shrugged, decided that this was the time to pick her battles, and also left, going to get the whipped cream.
End