( now is not the time to mess with Captain Hook.

he's found himself in a new place, and most alarmingly, he's found himself there alone. he doesn't know how that came to happen, and he surely doesn't bloody know what he's meant to do against monsters when he showed up unarmed. he tried to linger where he arrived as long as he possibly could, hoping desperately that someone might follow — someone from the hotel, and most specifically Emma — but they never do and the wretched creature that appeared with him? didn't seem friendly.

now, well, now he's not sure where he's going. he's looking for something, answers, a friendly face, anything would be better than dark streets and uncertainty. the problem with walking about alone, well, that comes quickly and without mercy — a wretched curl of wet muscle ensnaring his throat and drawing him back. he's been choked before and survived it before, but whatever has him is quite gifted in its attempts. he coughs at the smell of stale putrid smoke as he tries to claw the tongue free. for once in his life he'd like his bloody hook back, but he doesn't have it and with one hand only barely working, he's fighting a losing battle. )

( he'd never thought he'd miss that blasted hotel.

it hasn't taken him much to almost yearn for those blank hallways and impossibly lacking breakfasts. he misses the people and he sure as shit misses not having to attempt surgery on strange corpses, though near the end of his stay someone had gone mad enough to slice a little girl at the breakfast table, so really is it that much better? possibly, because it's not him that has to do the slicing.

he sighs, but his company isn't volunteering, and he doesn't want to figure out what happens if they delay too long. )

I'll bloody do it. ( bloody is perhaps not a good adjective here, pirate... he moves forward to pick up the blade, determined, and not as afraid as he ought have been. would he have struggled more if this corpse was breathing? he wants to get back to Emma, but falling back on dark paths won't help him, he should know that by now.

cutting at a dead body, though, did that really count? )

( being starved? sadly, not that new for him. he barely ate in Neverland and that had never bothered him, thanks to the ageless quality of the land. and well, orphans weren't known for their balanced diets, and frankly neither were pirates. the wretched hotel he'd been trapped in really hadn't made his diets that much worse, excluding the time the breakfast stopped coming.

his body still hasn't quite recovered from that, and he doesn't want to go back to starving if he doesn't have to. so it means there is little question when it comes to the fully stocked store of nice, appealing treats. he'll be having supper tonight, and he'll bring enough that he can share with someone else if he has to. if it's wrong then he doesn't care. people slowly starving doesn't really feel right, now does it?

he doesn't even bother looking to see if someone cares as he starts to pick the lock. if they do, well, they'll have to do a bit more than ask him nicely if they want him to stop. )