InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Don't call me Squeakyboy."

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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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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