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Name: dai
DW username: dai_choo_choo
E-Mail: daichoochoo@gmail.com
IM: timiasTutelary
Plurk: disarmingly

Other Characters: Allison Argent || Teen Wolf || driven

Character Name: Mary Margaret { Snow White }
Series: Once Upon a Time
Timeline: 1x22
Canon Resource Link: once upon a time || mary margaret || snow

Character History:

Mary Margaret Blanchard is a fourth grade school teacher.

And for as long as she can remember, that's what she's done. She loves the job, honestly, seeing the look on the faces of those kids when they learn something new or she's able to open their mind just a little wider is what keeps her going each day, and every day. Every day that she ends up bumping into Madam Mayor, who has also been mayor for as long as she can remember, and every day that she apologizes for it and Regina rolls her eyes and keeps going. She's not sure what she did, at what point, to make Regina dislike her so much - or maybe it's not even that Regina does dislike her, that it's just Regina's normal take on the day - but she wishes she could help.

Much of Mary Margaret's life is like that - where she's not exactly sure how, or why, things are the way they are. They just happen to be that way. Like when Graham was the Sheriff, or Ruby working at her Grandmother's diner. In their sleepy little town of Storybrooke, things just are.

But there are those few things that do change. Like the day that she cleans out her closet, and finds a mysterious book titled Once Upon a Time. Like the day she gives Henry, Madam Mayor's adopted son, said book because hope is a powerful thing, and everyone should believe in their own happy endings. His relationship with the Mayor was complicated, at best, which was part of the reason she decided to give him the book. At the time she didn't know just how intensely he'd take to the stories, or their relationship to the town, and when he starts naming people in the town and their apparent fairy tale counterpart, she just smiles. It's a game, as far as she's concerned. A little example of his incredible imagination running wild.

She doesn't know the connection to the book when Regina visits her on what she imagined to be a completely normal day. The woman she comes with, though, surprises her- and not just because it's someone she'd never seen before (a concept that is new to most people in Storybrooke at the time. Tourism isn't that big of an industry, there)- but the accusations that it was Mary Margaret's doing that led Henry to find information on his birth mother using her credit card. She's shocked, and startled, and assures them she didn't give them the card. She even goes as far as to check her wallet, where she finds the card missing. It's there that she's told it has some connection to that book she gave him, and when Regina storms off, Mary Margaret tells Emma to check for Henry at his castle, where he usually goes to think. The next time she sees Emma is when she's dropping Henry off at school, and Mary Margaret lets her know that Henry thinks she's Snow White, a silly idea, honestly.

Henry comes and finds Mary Margaret and asks for her help in getting Emma out of jail not much later, when Emma's arrested for stealing files from Dr. Hopper's office. Despite not knowing Emma any more than their brief interactions, it's a gut feeling that spurs Mary Margaret on to put up the bail money, and talk her into staying to help Henry, which she knows Emma needs to do. She trusted Emma, despite it just being a gut feeling, but she trusts her gut. It's not much later that she finds Emma sleeping in her car, and offers her the spare room in her apartment. She finds out later from Henry that the John Doe she's been watching over during her frequent hospital volunteer days is supposed to be Prince Charming, and Henry gets her (through Emma) to start reading the Snow White story from his book to him while he was in his coma. John Doe, a mysterious man in coma who has been in the hospital for as long as Mary Margaret can remember, has been something of an interest to her. The idea that someone could be all alone, without anyone to claim him, makes her feel incredibly sad. Makes her want to take care of him, to bring him flowers, if only so that when he wakes up and sees the flowers knows that someone cared about him at some point. It's Emma who convinces Mary Margaret to do it, to help Henry, so she agrees. It doesn't help that when she does read the story to him, he reacts. Doesn't help the way it gives her hope - because everyone deserves a happy ending, true love, right? So she does, and while she reads to him, he grabs her hand. he reacts to her, and Mary Margaret is elated. The fact that she could touch him, touch someone, is what gives her hope.

There's no record of his waking up, that night, but the morning after they find footage that John Doe did wake up, and went searching for what Henry believes to be Mary Margaret. They go out into the woods to find him, with Emma and the Sheriff. It's Mary Margaret who finds him, who recusitates him and brings him back to life, and that's what she has. Hope. He's alive and okay and if this could work, what else could too?

But it's not that simple, not in the real world. Because when they take him back to the hospital they find out a few things about him. One, that he's named David Nolan. And that David Nolan is one of two Nolans, the other being Kathryn, who also comes to the hospital - thanks to a certain Madam Mayor. Mary Margaret's relationship with David Nolan, after that, is complicated even further. They find out he's married, that he had a fight with his wife which had left him out on the road, and that he doesn't remember any of it. She remains a volunteer at the hospital, helping him through his recovery, because now that he's awake she feels responsible. At least until he's well enough to go home. Emma moves in with Mary Margaret around that time, and life goes on. It's a few days later, when Mary Margaret realizes she's starting to have feelings for David Nolan (that Emma notices and warns against) that she considers leaving her hospital job. David confesses that she's the only thing that seems real to him, even as he's being told of his life from Kathryn, and the next day she resigns.

She doesn't go to his homecoming party, tries to forget about David Nolan all together. Emma tells her to trust her instincts, she is warned by the mayor not to get involved, but when David continues to find her and want to speak with her, it's not that easy. She doesn't want to be a home-wrecker, doesn't want to ruin a marriage that has such hope, but David keeps finding her. She makes the mistake of going to meet him one night, only to find out that he remembers everything and he wants to fix his marriage with Kathryn. He tells her he has feelings for her - still - but that this is what he wants to do, and she's heartbroken. It's not fair, that her one chance, her one opportunity for true love, and everything goes wrong from the very beginning. The next day Graham comes to her panicked, asking strange things, and the two of them realize that they don't remember how they met. How they met anyone in Storybrooke, ever.

After that point, much of what Mary Margaret does is to help Emma. She helps run her election to become Sheriff, helps give her someone to talk to when things get rough. Mary Margaret sees something in Emma, even when Emma doesn't necessarily see it herself. However, through all this, Mary Margaret has started a few habits - mostly which revolve around having a chance to see David, if only for a few moments. Even after their talk she cares about him, still harbors feelings for him, but she doesn't act on them. That's the important part. But then later on when she is attempting to return a dove to its flock (something that has to be done, or it will be lost. Lost, and lonely, for so long) Mary Margaret gets lost in a storm, only to be saved by David, who followed her into the woods. They end up admitting their feelings for each other, that they both have started up the same stupid habits to see each other during the day, but as they go in for a kiss Mary Margaret stops because the storm has stopped, and she has to free the dove. Things between them are awkward for a bit, before the two of them run into each other again at the diner and decide to try at a relationship - the alternative being too difficult for either of them to handle. This affair goes on for a while, with secret (incredibly romantic) dates at the Troll Bridge, and nights spent 'out', but the affair is anything but easy. David doesn't break his marriage with Kathryn, doesn't even try to lead into the fact he'd want a break, and Mary Margaret finds it too difficult and asks David to tell Kathryn- which ends poorly. Very, very poorly.

David doesn't tell Kathryn, but tells Mary Margaret he did. She's accosted by Kathryn at school, because Kathryn did find out but from Regina, and very publicly slapped across the face. She's hurt more by the fact David lied to her than the slap, but soon feels the full weight of her decision as the town starts to view her as a pariah because of it. Where before, this very sweet, a little quiet, a little timid but with a heart of gold school teacher had at least had a few friends, now she was being ignored. Even when she breaks up with David, because a relationship built on lies isn't worth it, the people still hate her. To the point that every volunteer for a charity she was a part of left her alone. But she soldiers through, because doing good was more important than how she felt, or what people thought of her. She does end up turning the townspeople back around to her side of things, but the delight in that is short-lived. Kathryn's gone missing, and David is the prime suspect in her disappearance, something that spurs Mary Margaret back to David's side. Without Kathryn there, David is back to having no one, no one but her, and she's not going to leave him in his time of need. Not even after what he did to her. She stands by him, tells him that he couldn't have hurt Kathryn, all the way until they find Kathryn's heart with Mary Margaret's finger prints on the box.

Her case is horrendous, with every turn and every new clue pointing to her. Even David starts to question what he knows, what could have happened, which the act in itself is something that completely shatters Mary Margaret. He is supposed to be the one person who believes in her, the one person who will always stand by her side, and even he can't do that for her at the one time she really needs it. Emma and Henry are the only ones that seem to be on her side about things, with Emma caught between her job and her gut. It gets so bad that even Mary Margaret's incredible optimism is questioned, and when given the opportunity (in the form of a key under her cot) she runs. Even though she knows it will look bad, and even though she knows it's wrong, it's hard to see the light in that darkness. So she runs, and is kidnapped by Jefferson, held as bait to bring Emma to the house. It works, and Emma ends up saving her, and finally convincing her to go back to the jailhouse. Telling her that Mary Margaret is the first person to believe in her, and that she can't lose her family, something that really catches Mary Margaret and convinces her to have hope. That it will all work out. Regina comes to her later, after a failed interview with the District Attorney, and admits that she knows Mary Margaret didn't kill Kathryn and that all she wants to do is watch her suffer - and then Kathryn is found, unharmed.

When David tries to resume their relationship, with Kathryn's blessing this time around, Mary Margaret doesn't let him. She claims that no matter what they feel, there is always something keeping them apart, and that she would rather keep hold of the few good memories they had than to keep trying to fight this invisible force. It's hard, and it's against everything she wanted, but she knows that trying to stay together will cause them more harm than good. And she doesn't want that for her, or for him. She meets up with Regina a few days later as well, when she returns to her teaching job, and forgives her despite knowing that it was Regina who had been trying to frame her. She believes, and tells her, that she feels sad for her that Regina must be so lonely, so sad, that she believes the only way to feel happy is to ruin everyone else's happiness. Tells her that despite everything she does, it won't help her. It will only leave a hole in her heart. She finds out later that Emma had tried to leave - when she finds all of her belongings gone - and Mary Margaret gets angry. Emma confesses to her that she doesn't want the responsibility that comes with the city, and Mary Margaret can't understand why Emma would think that would be a good idea for her son. Being family. Despite the fact that in the canon, Mary Margaret doesn't have much family, she is staunchly aware of what is good, and what is bad, especially for family.

That next day Henry eats a poisoned apple turnover to prove to Emma that everything he believes is true, and falls under a sleeping spell. The town is in chaos and Emma takes up help with Regina to save him. Mary Margaret ends up staying by Henry's bedside in the hospital for most of it, especially after finding David and hearing about his plans to move to Boston, to start over, unless she gives him a reason to stay. She can't, and he leaves the next day. Mary Margaret is reading to Henry at his bedside when his heart rate drops, telling him that she gave him the book because she knew real life didn't have happy endings.

Like everyone else in Storybrooke, Mary Margaret has her alternate fairy tale persona. The only difference is that her's happens to be Snow White, Emma's mother and Henry's grandmother. Princess of the Enchanted Forest, wife of Prince Charming, and the fairy tale example of true love.

However, because of the timeline of Once Upon a Time, her background is released in spurts. What we know of Snow, by the end of the first season, is that her father used to be King, King Leopold, beloved by all. He was killed by her stepmother, Regina, the Evil Queen and his death was blamed on Snow White, causing her to become a fugitive in her own land. It is while she's a fugitive in the forest that she meets the dwarves and comes to stay with them, and it is also during her time in the forest that she meets most of her friends - Ruby, being one, and many others - as well as her one true love, Prince Charming. Ruby becomes a close friend and an incredibly ally, all because Snow believes in her ability to be herself, both wolf and human. She helps her through finding out about her ability, as well as finding her mother, but must leave her when she realizes that the Queen's guards will just keep following her and hurting everyone she loves. The Queen leaves carnage in her wake, killing village after village who helps her, just because of her need to kill Snow. This changes Snow, in a very important way, because she starts to understand that no matter what Snow does, no matter where she runs, the Queen will always hate her and will do whatever she can to make her life awful. All because of Snow's one mistake, when she was a child, being manipulated by the Queen's mother that ended in Regina's one true love's death. She becomes accustomed to her life as a fugitive as quickly as she can - her knowledge of weaponry, namely a bow and arrow, extremely helpful in this endeavor.

She meets Prince Charming while living as a fugitive, stealing from the Queen's carriages to survive. She believes him to be a part of the Queen's party, and he believes her just to be a simple thief. But when he hunts her down and finds that she's already sold off the jewels for fairy dust. They go together to retrieve the jewels, and his mother's wedding ring, all the while unintentionally falling for each other as they go. The quest ends with each of them saving each other's lives, and parting ways, joking that if Prince Charming every needed her, he'd find her. However, this love isn't as nice and cheery as she would have wanted - it leaves Snow constantly thinking of a man she can never have. So she goes to Rumplestilskin to buy a potion from him that will make sure she forgets everything about Prince Charming. When she's preparing to drink it, she receives a letter from Charming asking to meet her so they can run away together. Only she ends up being captured by Charming's father's guards and is thrown in jail with Grumpy and Stealthy, two dwarves. She escapes with them, but to save Grumpy's life she has to go and lie to Charming about her feelings. She does, and she goes to live with the dwarves in the forest. The potion works, too, and Snow forgets all about Prince Charming. However, forgetting about him means forgetting about love, any kind of love, and it changes her for the worse. So worse, that she decides to focus, instead, on her revenge on the Queen- something she almost ends up going through with, if it weren't for Charming, not believing her lie, coming after her to change her back with True Love's kiss. It doesn't work then, but it does later, when Charming confesses that he'd rather die than to see her become evil, just in time for Charming's father (or fake father) to find him and take him back to the kingdom, where he is to be beheaded.

Snow goes on a mission to rescue him, with Red, granny, the dwarves, faeries and all sorts of other magical beings who believe in her. They find that the Evil Queen has kidnapped him and taken him hostage, which makes Snow even more determined to find him and save him. What she comes to find is that the Queen has locked Charming away in a mirror, and that the only way that she will let him go, and let him live, is if Snow sacrifices herself by eating a poisoned apple. The poisoned apple, of fairy tale legend. She does, to save Charming, and is put into a deep sleeping curse for what the Queen wanted to be for the rest of forever. The dwarves put her in a glass coffin and keep her out in the woods, where Charming comes to find her and wake her with true love's kiss.

It's after the kiss that Charming and Snow set to take back the kingdom, and regain her palace and her place on the throne. When they have restored the peace, they hold an incredible ceremony for their wedding, one that the Evil Queen comes to, to vow that she would do whatever it took to destroy their happiness. Despite this, Charming and Snow have a baby- a baby that, because of it being the product of true love, is the only saving grace to a terrible curse that the Evil Queen sets on the Enchanted Forest. The only way for her to be able to save everyone, though, is if Snow and Charming put her in an enchanted wardrobe and send her, alone, to another realm. The curse sets in not much later, and all the fairy tale characters are cursed to live in Storybrooke, our world, where happy endings don't happen.

But this is a life that Mary Margaret doesn't remember, though with Emma in Storybrooke, has started to feel the slightest connection to.

Abilities/Special Powers: As far as specific powers are concerned, Mary Margaret has none. She can't use magic, has no recollection of her lifetime as Snow White, and only has the basic understanding of anything as a very patient, very kind fourth grade teacher would have. However, Mary Margaret is not without her special little abilities, her optimism being one of them. No matter what happens (except for very intense circumstances) there doesn't seem to be a time where she gives up. Not when she has someone to believe in. Which comes to her second little secret ability- the ability to see inside of people, even when they can't themselves. It's nothing very specific, and definitely not a super power (like Emma's), but Mary Margaret has this sense, a lot of the time, of what to do, for who, and when, and a lot of the times what to say to help someone believe in themselves. She can believe in them, so why can't they?

Third-Person Sample:

No, no no no no no no no.

If the situation was different, Mary Margaret might have been able to appreciate the snow. She might have been able to look up into the sky and take in the beauty of it all around her. For some reason, she'd always loved the snow. The crisp air and the tingle on her skin, her nose. It was an incredible thing to see, to walk in, and it always filled her with a sense of comfort. Of home. If this were any other day, she might have been able to take a moment and appreciate everything that was around her, with the landscape stretching out far and wide, the smoke coming out of the chimney of a mansion that was just down the way.

Except that it wasn't any other situation, it was this one, and she wasn't supposed to be here.

Just moments ago, she'd been walking down Main Street. She'd been heading to the hospital because a friend of her's, one of the nurses, had told her that Emma was back. That she had heard the news of Henry. Mary Margaret's heart broke just thinking about it, and she had decided to go and check on her. She was walking down the street, her face tear-stained and her eyes red, when suddenly...this.

"Hello?"

She cupped her hands around her mouth, both out of cold and out of hopes it'd help her voice carry. She couldn't see anyone around her, but that didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't anyone there. She just needed to find someone, find someone as quickly as she could, and then find Emma. There wasn't even a point that Mary Margaret thought that Emma wouldn't be here, because of course she would. Maybe she just fell asleep somewhere and it snowed overnight. Maybe she was just dreaming, after a long night at Henry's bedside. Maybe, maybe, maybe, but there wasn't time for maybe because she had to find Emma.

"Is anyone there?!" She could hear the echo of her own voice over the hill, could almost see it carried in the wind. The slight pinch of panic in her chest is enough to get her to take that first step down the hill, hands out and wary of the snow, the ice. Being dressed for this kind of weather hadn't been on her mind ten minutes ago, but she wished it had. She wished for a lot of things, actually, but she wouldn't let herself think too much on that because it'd distract her.

"Find Emma." Mary Margaret whispered to herself, taking another step and slipping only a little. "Find Emma, and then...no. Just. Find Emma."

First-Person Sample:

Emma?

[ when the video comes up, it'll probably be a little too close to mary margaret's face. her eyes are currently looking just about everywhere except for the camera. she's obviously panicked, obviously very panicked. but she's trying to keep it together- meaning that she's breathing a little heavy and biting at her lower lip.

there are tear stains on her face, but they look a little dried. like she'd been crying, but for another reason entirely.

when she sees something on the journal, maybe a light or maybe a sign or something, but she noticed the camera is on and going and she jumps a little, like she hadn't expected that to work. ]

I'm not...sure where I am. But I need to go. Someone- someone very special is in danger back home and if I don't get back... [ she bites her lower lip with a little more intent, this time. like she is holding back on saying what will actually happen. after a moment she takes a breath, calms down just enough to keep talking. ] If anyone here knows Emma, Emma Swan. I need to find her.

[ henry, he's dying. emma we have to get back those are the things she wants to say, right after, right out on wherever this message is going to whoever it's going to, but she can't. emma wouldn't appreciate it and she doesn't think she could bring herself to say it aloud.

so instead she wipes her face, another pull yourself together sort of movements. emma would tell her to stay calm in this situation, emma would tell her not to panic. ]

Tell her Mary Margaret is looking for her.

[ and then it cuts. ]