Disney's Tinker Bell in Storybrooke
A Disney Fairies / Once Upon A Time Crossover
Season 1, Episode 11, Chapter 2
STORYBROOKE, MAINE
The morning crew at Dave's Fish and Chips was busy cutting vegetables, cooking pasta, boiling water for soup, gutting and deboning fish and doing all the other prep work for the midday rush. Dave's opened at 10:30 to serve lunch and stayed upon until nine serving dinner. The storefront was split into two distinct areas. A family dining restaurant on one side and a sports bar which closed at midnight on the other. This configuration was a major accomplishment considering that the establishment was located in a shopping strip on Storybrooke's Main Street where space was always at a premium.
The kitchen was cramped, as usual, with chefs and cooks crowded into their own small spaces. Misty's attitude toward fresh fish off the docks wasn't the most efficient but it did mean the best tasting seafood in town. It was this fact of which she was the most proud. Her first few months working as the manager didn't always go so well. Despite knowing her work, Ms. Wen had to earn the respect of her coworkers in her new position and convince them that her way of doing things was worth the effort.
Beginning as a dishwasher she worked her way up to store manager. This meant she and the other employees were good friends, but now as their supervisor she couldn't always be the "friendly" person. It was her responsibility to get the best out of everyone. Misty's personality leaned towards being nice and pleasant, something which the others found endearing. She brought a similar approach to her work as the store manager and tried to keep her workers happy and in the right attitude. She trusted that her crew members were responsible adults and professionals. They responded favorably to that conviction. However, there were those few moments when she had to get tough and when she did it stood out.
Misty knew this could cause irreparable harm to her relationships with her friends, but as manager she couldn't put friendship above work. It would mean that Dave's would suffer and she could lose her job. (Her subordinates could also lose their jobs, too. A fact she regularly pointed out to them when she had to be their boss rather than their friend.)
"Good work, Mickey. Nice job," she would comment.
"A little faster, Darlene. Time is against us this morning and every morning," she told someone else in her kitchen.
"You're all doing fine. Keep moving, and don't slow down."
This was how she spent her mornings. Her workers respected for several reasons. First was her previously mentioned confidence in them. Second was her work ethic, which perpetually exceeded everyone else's. Third, she found ways to get the best out of her people and it was a satisfying moment for both each time it happened. Forth, Misty took the time to properly recognized success and reliability among her crew. It inspired everyone to feel good about their efforts. Lastly, Ms. Wen was never above diving in and helping out.
The previous manager of Dave's lost the respect of the workers when she considered putting down chairs or filling the salt and pepper shakers to be "beneath her pay grade." Misty, by contrast, was more than willing to do what had to be done for the restaurant to operate properly and open on time. She swept and mopped floors, bussed tables, washed dishes, cleaned the bathrooms, cooked, cut, served plates, anything so the crew wouldn't fall behind. She was a doer as much as a manager and her people saw Misty as one of them.
Whenever someone asked where she lived, Ms. Wen without fail would respond "Dave's." In fact, the restaurant felt more like home than her house. Misty was a very driven and focused young woman. Determined to make her way in the world through her own merit. She slept barely six hours a night and took only one day off a week. That day she usually spent at the restaurant reviewing crew shifts, weekly receipts and watching the large fish tank.
The tank, which was the centerpiece of the dining room, featured brightly colored fish that swam around seemingly oblivious to their environment. Each day off and whenever Misty had a little free time this was where she could be found. She enjoyed watching these lovely, little creatures dart about and interact with their watery world. Often she would get lost in their play and hours would pass before realizing how much time had passed. This was how she kept her head on straight, remaining focused and determined in her work.
~O~
PIXIE HOLLOW, NEVER LAND (The Late Georgian Era on the Mainland)
"Is your head on straight?" Marianna asked Silvermist. The instructor once again caught the young initiate who was lost watching the fish swim in the stream.
"Wh-? What?"
"What is wrong with you? Why can't you keep your focus?"
"Oh, well, the fish. They're so much fun to watch. I could stare at them all day."
"Yes. I can see that." Marianna sighed. "Have you practiced at all this week?"
"Of course. I think."
Marianna groaned. She was growing impatient with this young girl. Somehow Silvermist was the single most easily distracted initiate she ever had the misfortune of trying to teach. Her talent glow was quite bright and much was expected of her, but she wouldn't be able to do anything if the little airhead couldn't keep her mind on what she was doing.
"Alright, show me what you know," Marianna answered sternly.
Silvermist smiled that sweet innocent smile of hers. The young initiate waved her hands over the stream and a ball of water was pulled out of it. Sil was about to pull it into two smaller globes of water when Marianna waved her hands and caused it to pop and drain back into the stream.
"Again," Marianna scolded.
Silvermist tried again. The globe of water formed out of the stream and once again burst due to the instructor's interference.
"Again!" the instructor scolded a second time, this time louder.
The little Asian fairy pulled another sphere of water from the stream and split it into two smaller spheres and then into four even smaller ones before Marianna waved her hands and blew them up for a third time.
"Anything more?" Marianna huffed.
"I can't do anything more," Silvermist pouted. "You keep blowing them up?"
"I see? You think I'm not being fair?"
"No. You are not!" Sil declared.
"I asked you to show me what you have practiced and you did. It was pathetic," Marianna stated arrogantly. "There are initiates far younger than you and with far less talent who have accomplished more in less time. They are already putting dew drops on spider webs, helping fish to swim upstream to spawn, and at least one is now in the gardens irrigating Rosetta's flowerbeds. And all of them arrived long after you did."
To drive home her point Marianna shoved her face into Silvermist's and continued to berate her. "If you had practiced even a little you would have been able to hold those water drops without letting me shove them out of your grasp. But you can't even do that. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Um…, who's Rosetta?" Silvermist asked.
This reply infuriated Marianna to such a point that Marianna grabbed Silvermist's arm and twisted it, forcing the young girl to her knees. "You are going to learn whether you like it or not."
"You're hurting me," Silvermist complained.
"Do you submit that I am your master?" Marianna barked.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Answer! Do you submit that I am your master?"
"Yes!" Silvermist cried in agony.
"Do you acknowledge that you know nothing and I know everything?"
"Yes!" The little fairy's reply became more strained under the painful arm twisting.
"Do you acknowledge that I can have you thrown out of the guild for failing to learn what I teach you?"
"Yes!"
"Will you do all that I ask without question?"
"Yes! Yes!" Tears were now streaming down Silvermist's pretty face.
Marianna twisted Sil's arm even harder, making the young girl cry out. Then she added, "This is arm and its magic is mine now. And as it belongs to me it will be strong. You will do as I say until I tell you otherwise. There will be no complaining, no goofing off and no playing with the fish." She released Silvermist who immediately began to rub her arm and held it against her chest.
The instructor glided towards a hill and a set of steps that led up to a large and empty fountain with a wide basin. Marianna handed her a set of buckets strapped to either end of a twig.
"Each day you will fill these buckets and walk, not fly, walk them up those steps to that fountain where you will dump out the water," Marianna explained, her brow furrowed and her voice boiling over with anger. "This you will do until the basin has been filled to the marker."
"Okay! But why not just use fairy magic?"
"NO! NO QUESTIONS! Begin now!"
The lovely young initiate picked up the buckets and put the cross beam over her shoulders. She filled both buckets and began to fly to the basin.
"I didn't say fly," Marianna exploded. "You will climb every step each time you ascend this hill. And if you don't like how I am treating you, I'm sure the Tinkers would love to have someone help them do the useless busy work of tying knots and hammering nails. Now start climbing!"
Sil ascended the stairs, slowly at first and then with a bit more confidence began to run. Halfway up she stumbled and fell. The buckets tipped over spilling out all their water.
"Well don't just stand there, get some more," Marianna bellowed harshly.
Silvermist lifted into the air on her delicate wings as she returned to the stream. Marianna was incensed. "I SAID NO FLYING! NO FLYING! Get down here. Get! Down! Here!"
When Sil arrived at the feet of her instructor, Marianna grabbed a sticky spider web from a nearby plant and wrapped Silvermist's wings with it, effectively grounding her. "You are going to learn to listen to me even if it kills you," the instructor hissed into the girl's ears. "Now get back to work."
Sil slowly trudged back to the stream to refill the empty buckets before taking the stairs to the top of the hill. It was slow, tedious and mind numbing work. She eventually counted one hundred and fifty eight steps to the top of the hill and that it required one hundred and ten buckets of water to fill the basin, or fifty five trips.
By the time she had completed the task, Sil's feet felt as if she were stepping on razorblades, her legs were like jelly and her arms and shoulders had turned numb. Silvermist slowly approached her instructor who stood there watching as the hours passed by. "I'm done," Sil choked out. Her face and body sopping wet from sweating profusely and her eyes were puffy. Silvermist had broken down into alternating fits of pouting and crying during the last hour.
Marianna looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun was still high. She flittered up to the top of the hill, pulled out a stopper and drained the entire basin dry. Marianna replaced the stopper, flitted back to a horrified Silvermist and said one and only one word to her.
"Again!"
Sil collapsed to the ground and began to bawl. "I can't do this anymore!"
"You will do this each and every day until I am convinced you are ready to learn," Marianna roared.
"NOW, AGAIN!"
NOTE: Parts of Silvermist's training session was inspired by Uma Thurman's "training session" in Kill Bill Vol. 2. Lucy Lui, who voices Silvermist, played O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill Vol. 1.