InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "If I had a fish for every time"

Ned (bakersman) wrote in labyrinth_rpg,
@ 2009-06-11 00:58:00

Entry tags:

complete, day eleven, ned the piemaker, olive snook

Who: Olive and Ned
What: A revealed secret that's a looong time coming
When: Day 11, afternoonish
Where: Olive's room
Rating: Put a PG-13 on it for safety's sake
Status: All done!

It was only across the hall, but the walk from Ned's room to Olive's felt like the longest of his life. Chuck had known his secret right away. Well, minus the telling her that he was responsible for killing her father part. Which was pretty major and the cause of his current dilemma with her. But she'd known about the finger from the very beginning. She sort of had to, it was the whole reason she was alive.

No one was ever supposed to know. Ned had worked his whole life to keep it a guarded secret. Then Emerson had caught him and blackmailed him, and while they were roughly friends in the end, it had started rocky. But no one else. No one. And that had included Olive. How crazy did it sound that he could touch something and bring it back to life? It was like something out of a storybook.

Or, apparenty, a television show. Who knew?

Despite his resolve not to speak a word until he could do so without singing, Ned made the trip across the hall, Digby trotting at his heels. He gave his faithful friend a smile in thanks for the moral support, but ultimately, he was still the human and still had to be the one to knock on the door.

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ittybitty
2009-06-11 08:35 am UTC (link)

Olive was pacing her room. Some of the strangest and most upsetting news had just been revealed to her. She had been flipping through the journal when she'd seen Ned's entry and seen the comments written by that Pandora woman. She couldn't figure out how the woman knew so much about herself and Ned, and evidently everyone else in her world, and it was almost frightening to say the least. Not only that, but the woman hadn't been all that kind about it. She'd gone off and revealed secrets that were better left secrets just because she could. It was mean.

She moved toward the door and hopped up on the chair she kept there so she could peek out her peephole. She was surprised to see that Ned was already there. When he'd said they needed to talk, she hadn't known it would be right away. She sucked in her breath and hopped down, pushing the chair back and reaching for the handle. She hadn't really spoken to anyone that day, except through the journal, but she knew that whatever she spoke was going to be sung. She didn't have a problem with that, she sort of liked her voice, but it was going to be very interesting to speak with Ned when both of them were singing their dialogue.

She sighed softly. Ned had even told her that she had a great voice. She wasn't aware he even knew she could sing. Usually she tried to stop before he could hear her because usually the song was about him. With another deep breath, she pulled the door open and smiled up at him. "Hi." She held the door open so he and Digby could enter and then shut it behind him.

Her room, like everyone else's, was plainly furnished, but there was a table and two chairs in one corner. She suspected it was meant to be a dining table or a desk, but so far she'd used it for neither. She gestured toward it now. "Have a seat." She pulled out one of the chairs and sat down in it, immediately leaning her elbows on the table and crossing her arms. "Looks like you have some explaining to do, Buster."

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bakersman
2009-06-11 09:16 am UTC (link)

The melodic, sing-song tone seemed so out of place in a normal conversation. It might've made Ned smile under any other circumstances. But these weren't exactly normal circumstances and despite the fact that there was far too much singing going on, he had to get this out. Now that his deepest, and honestly darkest, secret had been revealed, he really didn't have much of a choice.

He didn't speak as he made his way to the table. Sitting, he ran over what he'd planned on saying again in his mind, and knew nothing he said was going to come out the way he meant to say it. That's just how Ned's life worked. He smiled down at Digby, who'd settled at Olive's side protectively. At least Olive was smiling. Sort of.

Taking a deep breath, Ned looked up at Olive with a frown. "What she said was true," he told her quietly. Or as quietly as a baritone could. God, that sounded awful. "Every word of it. Chuck, Digby...all of it."

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ittybitty
2009-06-11 12:04 pm UTC (link)

She was pleasantly surprised by the tone of his voice when he spoke, er, sang. She wasn't sure how well he'd do at a louder volume, but this one was just right. She tried not to smile, she didn't want him feeling self conscious about it. Her own voice sounded much the same as it always did. She didn't even look apologetic that she was singing everything. It wasn't her fault.

She reached down and petted Digby's head. He was such a good dog. She could hear Pigby snorting in the bathroom. The pig had taking a liking to it for some odd reason, and Olive suspected it was because the acoustics were so good and the pig enjoyed the sound of her own snorts. She watched Ned, frowned at his frown and listened as he started to explain.

She hadn't exactly expected him to confirm everything so forthrightly and she lifted a brow without speaking. She stared at him for a long minute, blinking now and then. She was trying to sort it all out in her brain, and so many things clicked into place that she knew he had to be telling her the truth. What she wanted to know, was why he hadn't trusted her with the information.

Finally, she nodded. "I see." She felt deflated, hurt, and angry all at the same time, and that did not make for dry eyes. A big fat tear brimmed and then overflowed, sliding down her cheek. Ned and Chuck were two of her best friends, and before they'd been snatched she'd been developing a pretty good friendship with Emerson, too. And none of them had told her. She was surprised at how deeply it cut her, but she cared about them all so much and had assumed the feelings were mutual.

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bakersman
2009-06-11 12:30 pm UTC (link)

Ned wasn't known for being overwhelmingly flirtatious, or even chivalrous, but he couldn't stand to watch a woman cry. He cared about Olive, even if it wasn't in the way that she apparently cared about him. The only thing that had made him feel worse than hurting her was when he'd hurt Chuck by admitting what he'd done to her father.

He gave his eyes a tired rub before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a crumpled but clean tissue. Sliding it over the table to her, he still avoided her gaze. Leaning back in the chair, he crossed his arms in front of him. "It was never that I didn't trust you," he continued, looking down at the table. "I didn't want anyone to find out. Ever. It was bad enough Emerson did."

The silence had gotten to him, more than usual. Probably because the woman he was sitting with was rarely a silent person. So Ned continued babbling. "I've been able to do it since I was a kid. Didn't plan it, don't know how it happened. Digby..." Another glance at the dog made Ned swear the retriever was smiling up at him. "He was hit by a car. When I went to him..." It sounded insane. Like he was some crazy man who needed to be put away. And maybe he was and he did and then this would all just go away.

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ittybitty
2009-06-11 12:49 pm UTC (link)

Olive snatched the tissue from him. The anger was starting to take ahold of her now. She dabbed at her eyes and tried not to hiccough or sniffle. She tried to glare at him, but her eyes were still watery and it came off mostly harmless. She was really hurt, deeply wounded. The three most important people in her life had kept such an overwhelming secret from her. For years!

She had to admit to herself that she wasn't that great at keeping secrets. Well, she was good at keeping them, but they drove her insane. She always felt like she was about to blurt one out and that if she did, she would hurt someone close to her. She had kept Chuck's secrets, why couldn't they have trusted her with Ned's? She took a shaky breath and glanced up at him. "How did Emerson find out?"

She had dedeuced how Chuck had found out. Obviously Ned had brought her back to life after she'd been killed aboard that cruise ship. And she realized now why the Aunts could never find out about that. Everyone in the world thought she was dead. It explained the kerchiefs and the dark glasses that Chuck often wore, too. "So, it isn't an allergy that keeps you from touching Digby?" She didn't quite understand the part about re-touching causing instant death.

Her tears were mostly drying up. The enormity of the situation was also starting to hit her. Ned could bring dead things back to life! Now she was curious. "How does it work? I mean, you touch dead things and they come back to life... Is that how you and Emerson were so successful at solving your cases? You could ask the dead victims how they died?" She gasped and put a hand to her mouth. "Did you talk to Pinky and Gordon after Mamma Jacobs trampled them?"

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bakersman
2009-06-11 02:13 pm UTC (link)

"If I were to touch Digby again, even just a second, he'd die. That's how it works. I don't know how or why but it does. And..." Swallowing hard, Ned looked up at her for a brief moment. This was the sort of thing no one should ever spring on anyone. "And if something stays alive for more than one minute exactly, something or someone else has to...well, die in their place." An eye for an eye. The phrase came to him much too quickly for comfort and his stomach flipped over.

As for Emerson... Well, it was an entertaining story, at least. If not the basis behind a very twisted friendship. "Emerson caught me doing it. Accidentally. Dead guy surprised me. Emerson saw, put two and two together..." Ned shrugged helplessly. What else was he supposed to do? "That's how we solve so many cases. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Not an awful lot you can ask in a minute. And yeah, Pinky and Gordon...they were involved."

A thought occurred to him, and he looked up at her with a slightly shy smile. "So if you've been helping Emerson lately...in your time, I mean, then you've got a good mind on you. The rest of us rely on the finger. You put it together without it."

Maybe it wasn't much of a comfort. Maybe it wasn't any comfort at all, how would he know? But it really was a compliment to the fact that she was actually better at the problem solving than all of them.

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ittybitty
2009-06-12 11:33 pm UTC (link)

When Ned mentioned Digby, Olive looked down at the dog that lay near her side. She gave him a watery smile. She'd grown quite attached to the dog. He had often been her stand in for Ned. She nodded and looked back at Ned. She understood now why he couldn't pet the golden retriever and was grateful that he didn't.

It was a funny story, and Olive couldn't help giggling a little. She felt a little bad for the people he brought back to life, though. "Do they know they're dead when you touch them back to life?" Did they think they were resurrected only to die again a moment later? "Poor Pinky and Gordon." She felt terrible about the whole thing with Mamma Jacobs. But she couldn't help remembering that it had been the first time she and Ned had kissed. Remembering that made her cheeks flush pink and think of what Pandora had said about her loving Ned. Maybe if she was lucky he wouldn't ask her about it.

Her flush darkened as he complimented her for having a good head on her shoulders. "I just have an overactive imagination." She laughed softly, nervously. She was so used to being overlooked by Ned that it caught her off guard to be complimented in such a way.

At least this explained his aversion to touch somewhat. She made no move to touch him even though she longed to reach across the table and hold his hand, only to comfort him of course. She knew it couldn't be easy to have that kind of responsibility. "I imagine your ability hasn't been easy to bear. It must haunt you. Oh, you poor thing." She gave him a sympathetic smile and tried the last of her tears with the tissue.

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bakersman
2009-06-13 12:21 am UTC (link)

Ned nodded, a guilty expression on his face at her question. "We usually tell them they're dead. Sometimes they already know. It can get...pretty gruesome. Missing body parts or faces. It's not always pleasant." A slight shudder went down his spine at the memories. "It's good to have Chuck along then, though, see. She smooths it over really well. Tells them without it being too...weird. You know, as non weird as finding out you're dead and then alive again for a minute can be."

The whole tale was disturbing, but not as disturbing as her sudden display of sympathy. She was supposed to be angry at him. She was supposed to be mad at him for keeping a secret and yelling as much as singing soprano could yell. Instead, she was being perfectly sweet and kind and as friendly as always. With the exception of the part where she'd usually be attacking him with a hug by then. At least she wasn't kissing him.

But the fact was, he was grateful for the understanding. The Piemaker lived a mostly solitary life due to the secret, and he was grateful to have it revealed to someone who was around as much as Olive was. Even if he'd happily throw a pie at that Pandora for snitching. "It's...not as hard as it seems. Well, it can be. I..." He took a deep breath before looking straight at her. "When I was a kid, my mom died. And...that's how I found out about the not touching again thing. It's also how I figured out the not touching them after a minute thing. I... Chuck was my next door neighbor. Don't know if I ever told you that." Swallowing hard, Ned shrugged. "Her dad died because of it. I just told her that. She didn't know. And now Olive did. Well, if he was spilling out his soul for her, may as well go all out. "That's why she moved out."

He didn't know if, in Olive's time, he ever made it better. If he and Chuck were able to ride this tough patch out. But he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know. If he didn't find out the truth, he could keep believing that eventually, things would be okay. That Chuck would come home to him. But what if she went off and found someone who could actually touch her and not kill her while he was...well, gone?

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ittybitty
2009-06-17 08:49 am UTC (link)

Olive wrinkled her nose at his descriptions of the dead guys. Olive had seen dead guys before, but not exactly in the way he was describing it now. Ew. "Remind me to be thankful later that I didn't ever go to the morgue with you guys." Right now she was still stung at the fact she'd been left in the dark for so long.

And then he'd gone and talked about Chuck. Like it was no big deal, like Olive didn't hate her for managing to get Ned to love her when Olive never had. Well he wouldn't say never. Blasted double negatives. She sighed and didn't comment on Chuck's usefulness at the morgue, she just nodded and hoped the conversation would move past her quickly.

Olive may have understood, but she was still rather upset about the whole situation. But she was also conflicted. She was grateful not to have another secret to add to the pile of secrets she already carried around, but also bothered that they hadn't wanted to tell her. Now, that wasn't to say she didn't understand. She wasn't sure she'd go boasting about this sort of power, either.

When he started to speak about his Mother, Olive's eyes widened and she felt tears welling in her eyes. "Oh my God. Ned, that's... what a terrible thing for a little boy to go through." She couldn't imagine bringing your mother back to life, only to discover that once she touched him again (which was inevitable) she would die all over again. And for Chuck's father to have been a variable in all of that seemed to make it that much worse. She felt her little heart break into a million pieces for the loss her best friend and the man she loved had experienced.

When he finished speaking, she nearly vaulted out of her chair, launching herself at him. She hugged him tightly, wanting him to know that she was sorry, that she sympathized with him. She really wanted to tell him that things worked out between Ned and Chuck, but she didn't know how he would take it. She knew he would be happy, of course, but she seemed to be getting closer to him lately and she didn't want any sort of wedge to drive them apart. Especially a wedge named Chuck.

"I'm so sorry, Ned." She let him go after a while, and as she sat back down in her chair she knew that she had to tell him the truth. It was another secret, and they really didn't need that many secrets between friends. "I think she must have forgiven you because after I got back from the Nunnery, she moved back in with you." She sighed and gave him a small smile. There, she'd said it.

"Listen Ned, I think we need to get all the secrets out in the open. If there's anything else you want to tell me, you should tell me. I don't really want to keep your future from you, but I will if you want. I'm sure it's strange for you. Hell, it's strange for me." She gazed across the table at him, waiting.

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bakersman
2009-06-24 12:35 am UTC (link)

He should have been. After all, how long had he known Olive and tolerated her affection? But Ned was surprised at her impulsive action all the same. Before he could even blink she was on him, hugging him, and...well, Ned couldn't deny it felt nice. Hugs weren't something he got from anyone but her, really, and despite her small frame, she was really quite good at them. He felt a bit comforted just knowing she was there, and that energy she often got teased about just radiated from her touch.

Touch. Damn he hated that word. That action. But he didn't tense when her arms went around him, and he even went so far as to lightly put his back around her. Not squeezing, as Ned wasn't much of a squeezer. Mostly because he had no idea of his own strength, seeing as he rarely used it. But he did give her a tiny hug of his own.

And then she said it. And, in fairness, Ned was grateful. He wasn't stupid, despite what some might think. He knew Olive had feelings for him that went beyond piemaker and waitress, next door neighbors, or even good friends. It couldn't have been easy for her to watch him fall in love with Chuck. But she'd told him the result of his time with her anyway. And she'd given him a vital piece of information he'd so desperately needed. Chuck had forgiven him.

But did he want to know the rest of his future? Or, at least, the portions of it Olive had lived that he hadn't? "I don't know," he admitted slowly. "I mean, at this rate? Who knows if we're ever going to get back for me to live it out. And what if I do, but things play out differently somehow because I was here?"

Sighing, he shook his head. This place was insane. Completely insane and there was nothing he could do about it. Never mind that he'd just poured his heart, not to mention his darkest secret, out to Olive while singing, of all things. No one at home would believe that! But now he had the opportunity to find out what happened between his time and Olive's.

And he found he didn't want to. "No," Ned finally breathed. "There's too much weird already. I mean, if you mention something, I'm not going to freak out or anything," he added in a rush. "But...I don't want to know. We've had enough true confessions today, I think."

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ittybitty
2009-06-24 10:00 am UTC (link)

If a dancing bear had entered the room, followed by a marching band made up of frogs trailed by a battalion of singing crickets, Olive couldn't have been more shocked than she was at the way Ned not only didn't stiffen at her touch, but then returned it as well! He could have stabbed her and she probably wouldn't even have noticed. As she sat back, her mouth was slightly ajar and her shoulders were slumped.

Getting over her shock slowly, Olive watched as her news registered with him. She had known it would make him happy, but she hadn't realize it would make her feel so free. Telling him that Chuck had forgiven him had lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. It didn't do her any favors, she realized, but now she didn't have to carry it around, wondering if she should mention it at some point.

She nodded, he was probably right. If he ever got back to his time, he could change the future with his knowledge. She had already told him some things, but she didn't think she'd given him specific details that would change the future at all.

"Okay, Ned." She smiled and clasped her hands in her lap, looking down at Digby, noticing that Pigby had joined them and was lying next to the dog. She glanced back up, grateful that he wouldn't freak out if she accidentally let something of the future slip. It was her past, after all, and it would be difficult for her to keep some things to herself.

"Thanks for telling me, you know, about your finger."

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bakersman
2009-06-24 01:04 pm UTC (link)

If she'd said that to anyone else, it would sound like she was thanking them for telling her about a papercut, or perhaps a sixth digit. To Ned, however, it was huge. And he couldn't help but smile at least a little.

"I was going to tell you eventually," Ned told her, shrugging his shoulders weakly. "I just could never figure out when or where, and then we were here and... I don't know, Olive, it's weird, okay? It's the weirdest thing I've ever heard and it's me it happens to. Well..." he amended, cracking a slightly wider grin, "weirdest till we got here. Vampires? Dragons? I mean, really?"

Digby's tail wagged at the mention of the formally fabled creatures and Ned shook his head. "I swear, you'd think he likes it here. Never mind that some wild creature might make a snack of him, he'd go play with them if he could. I wonder if goblins eat dogs?"

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ittybitty
2009-06-25 08:57 am UTC (link)

She nodded. She could understand his hesitation in telling her. She wasn't sure she'd come right out and confess something of that magnitude, either. She shrugged, too, and gave him a small smile. "I'm sure you would have." Although, to Olive, it seemed as if she walked up on a few conversations that stopped too abruptly and maybe one of those times would have been good to tell her. It didn't matter. She should just let it go and be grateful for knowing now.

She wrinkled her nose and nodded. "Yeah, I'm kind of afraid to meet those things. You'll protect me, right?" She really wasn't sure she wanted to encounter a vampire. The dragon, maybe she'd like to see that from a distance. But the vampire... ick. She looked down at Digby and grinned. The dog wagged his tail. "I think he does. Maybe he's in his element. He's kind of an enigma, you know. A resurrected dog isn't an every day occurrence, I should think."

She frowned. "If goblins eat dogs, I might have to cut a bitch." She loved that dog, and if anything even so much as looked at him funny she'd punt it over the wall into the labyrinth. She glanced back up at Ned. "Sorry." He never, or rarely, used bad language and Olive didn't want to sound like a sailor's whore.

"I should uh, maybe go find some lunch. You hungry?"

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