InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "But I don't want to."

Ned (bakersman) wrote in labyrinth_rpg,
@ 2009-07-07 00:24:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 14, ned the piemaker, pandora

Who: Ned and Pandora
What: A confrontation of not-so-epic proportions
When: Afternoon on Day 14
Where: By the food tents
Status: Complete
Rating: PG to PG-13

The Piemaker had been doing a terrible lot of thinking. It wasn't something he enjoyed. He preferred simply baking and ignoring everything else when things were down. Of course, Emerson had made that next to impossible and then Chuck was someone who tended to pry things out of him. But now, here, he had too much time to himself and not enough kitchen.

Olive knew his darkest secret, and she was right. They should have told her all along. But Ned had fought so hard to keep anyone from ever finding out, and now it felt like the whole world did. He was confused and annoyed and extremely anxious. And, once again, was afraid to touch much of anything for fear of said secret being on display for the world to see. It was bad enough he was apparently well known in some universe, he didn't need the people in this small and insane place to know.

Besides which, he'd met someone from Star Trek. Wasn't that bad enough? Or, well, good enough, but still!

A man couldn't live off of pies alone (and Ned had tried), so he quietly made his way to the familiar tents where he knew he'd be getting ye olde faire food. Smoked turkey legs didn't exactly make anyone look good eating it, but it certainly sounded more appealing than pheasant or quail. What was wrong with good old mac and cheese? Sighing, he accepted the meat and took a goblet of the wine that was offered. He really shouldn't, Ned had never been good with alcohol in him. But it was a special occasion. Or something. He had learned his world was broadcast where at least one person could see, he'd shared the darkest part of himself with a woman who clearly had feelings for him, and he'd woken up that morning forgetting the way Chuck smelled. All in all, a good occasion for some wine, especially since it had to be better than the water he'd drank the previous time the 'faire' was in time.

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burning
2009-07-07 04:33 pm UTC (link)

Although Pandora was old and sunlight rarely affected her if she went out in it for a few minutes, she still preferred to stick to the shadows. In the afternoon, when the sun was at its zenith and its hottest, the shadows were almost nonexistant. So she skirted through the trees which provided a dappled shadow. She was heading for one of the tents and a more concrete source of darkness, or rather lack of direct sunlight. It was happenstance which led her toward the tent that Ned was simultaneously entering.

She grinned wickedly and entered after him. She watched him take some food and wine and find himself a table. She made the pretenses of doing the same thing and then sat down across from him. "You don't mind, do you?" She tilted her head slightly, smiling, but not enough to show her fangs. She wore a short sleeved blouse and a pair of slim fitting jeans with heels on her feet.

She had recognized Ned, and while she knew that she'd shaken up his life by revealing the secret to Olive in his journal, she wanted to find out how it had gone. "Found yourself some time away from the little blond, have you?" She flickered strangely colored eyes in his direction. They were pale, almost colorless, but at the same time a vibrant blue. Her skin was pale and simulated marble and her thick sheen of dark hair was down, curling around her shoulders and down her back. She was intensely beautiful and her eyes and voice were mesemerizing.

She picked at the turkey leg, but never took her gaze off of him. A dark brow rose and she smiled again.

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bakersman
2009-07-08 03:37 am UTC (link)

Ned didn't do well around strangers, typically. It was why Olive took care of the customers and he hid in the kitchen. He did even less well when the stranger was a woman. And when the stranger was a very attractive and alluring woman? Well. Needless to say, he was more than a bit stunned when she dropped easily in front of him. There were other places available, why him?

"No, no, not at all," Ned stammered, waving a hand to the place that she'd already occupied with little trouble. "Though she's not... I mean, we aren't... She's a friend of mine, this place is weird, it's only normal." Why was he defending the time he spent with Olive to a stranger? Why was he defending it at all?

He avoided her gaze as much as possible, knowing he was probably coming off as rude rather than shy or even just awkward. But this was awkward, a gorgeous woman talking to him, of all people. They were surrounded by men steeped in history and legend and myth, and she'd chosen to plop herself down in front of him? No, Ned was definitely on his guard. And, admittedly, a little intrigued. "I don't think we've met." There. That should help.

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burning
2009-07-09 04:56 pm UTC (link)

Pandora raised an amused brow while he stumbled over the explanation for what he and Olive "were". She knew what they were, but to hear him stammer about it was endlessly funny. She even laughed a little. "Of course, she is. A friend. I mean, what else would she be?" She crossed her legs beneath the table and leaned forward, abandoning her turkey leg for the time being.

"No, we haven't met." She was really enjoying watching him squirm. He was cute, really. Even more so in person than on his show. He was so adorably intimidated by her. She couldn't help but smile, but she was careful about her fangs. No sense scaring him off before she let him know who she was.

She flickered her glance down to his wine and motioned to it with her chin. "I don't see you as much of a drinker." With as thin as he was, he probably took all alcohol a little more roughly than other people. "You don't often indulge, do you? Celebrating something, or was there nothing else to drink?" Her voice was smooth and hypnotic. He avoided her gaze, but she really didn't need to keep it in order to take him under her spell. He was only human, afterall.

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bakersman
2009-07-10 05:40 am UTC (link)

Ned bit his lip, hesitating slightly. God, if he were anyone else, he'd swear she was coming on to him. But it was Ned and that wasn't possible. Two women ever in his entire life had made a pass at him, and that was Olive and then Chuck. This woman was just clearly very, very good at looking it. But how was he supposed to reply to that?

"I'm not," he answered quickly. Didn't need to come off looking like some sort of drunk in this place. "I... It's been a long week. Really long. And this guy I met the other day mentioned scotch or something... Right, anyway. It's better than the water they served last time we had this Ren Faire thing."

Why did he have to defend himself around her? He was nearly thirty, for crying out loud! Certainly old enough to allow himself one measley glass of wine. Well, goblet, perhaps. Whatever it was. But something she said had grated on him, and he looked up at her with narrowed eyes. Beautiful or not, she was terribly presumptuous. "And how do you know I don't often indulge?" Did he really look that straight edge? Well, what the heck. This place had changed him in plenty of ways already. Why not add one more?

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burning
2009-07-17 04:26 am UTC (link)

She stared at him, set on making him as uncomfortable as possible. She was having fun watching him squirm. And she could read the thoughts as they scrambled through his mind. She actually chuckled lightly when the idea that she was coming onto him passed through.

"I see. What was wrong with the water?" She was genuinely curious, although she was staring at his lips. They were fabulous lips. She reached out and came half a tick close to touching the bottom one, but then pulled her hand back. Still too soon. She drew her tongue across her own bottom lip and then pulled it back in, pursing them.

She smiled again as his thoughts of indignation moved through his mind. "It's just an observation, darling. You just don't seem like the type to get drunk on a whim. You seem like the careful type." She didn't intend to be insulting, but all his emotions were fodder for her own appetites.

"Please, don't let me keep you from eating." She gestured toward his plate and went back to peeling the flesh off her own turkey bone.

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bakersman
2009-07-17 05:07 am UTC (link)

Ned gulped. What else could he do? She was close. Way too close. He didn't exactly know how to react. He had a girlfriend, after all. She might not be there--heck, she might not even be speaking to him. But Ned was faithful, and he intended to keep it that way. It wasn't his fault, though. She was getting close to him, not the other way around. Damn, where was Olive when he needed an intervention? Sarah was in the Labyrinth, and Ned's anti-social self hadn't met much of anyone else.

"I, uh, don't usually. Get drunk on a whim. Not that I'm planning on getting drunk now, see. It's one glass of wine. One." Oh God, he was never going to stop rambling, was he? Not ever. "And the water tasted like it came from the Thames in the fifteen-hundreds. Thought sure one of us was going to get food poisoning from it. Dysentery or cholera or one of those old-fashioned diseases."

Did he actually just bring up dysentery? In conversation? With a brilliantly gorgeous woman? Oh, he was so going to flirters' hell. Not that he was meant to be flirting anyway. But that wasn't the point there, either.

"I uh... Yeah." Ned tore off a piece of the chicken, but didn't eat it. Now he was too anxious to eat. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

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burning
2009-07-17 04:37 pm UTC (link)

Pandora's tinkling laughter filled the air around them. He was so indignant, and so cute when he rambled. She leaned forward, pushing her plate to the side. She really had no interest in it and he was far too delicious to pretend that she did. She focused all her attention on him and crossed her arms on the tabletop. Her creamy flesh all exposed for him. She could tell by his thoughts that she was making him uncomfortable, and it pleased her immensely that he thought she was gorgeous. She smiled and almost batted her lashes at him. Almost.

"Good that you didn't have to drink something that might have given you dysentery or cholera this time around then. Besides, I'm pretty sure the alcohol would kill any scary bacteria that might have been in the wine previously." She looked into his cup and then smiled up at him. "The Thames in the fifteen hundreds was pretty bad, though. Why would they serve water like that here?" She glanced around. Everything they'd been given so far was, while not exactly lavish, clean and useful.

She watched him try to go back to his eating and smiled as the "stupid, stupid, stupid" thought went through his head. She reached out this time and slid her cool fingers over the back of his hand. She honeyed her voice, made it even more hypnotic than usual. "Eat, darling, it's alright." She soothed, with her voice and her touch, entreating him to obey her.

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bakersman
2009-07-17 04:53 pm UTC (link)

Ned jumped, as if her touch burned rather than cooled. Emerson would describe the tone she used as something akin to 'vocal seduction', rather than anything related to honey, and Ned could understand why.

"I'm fine," he blurted, pushing his plate away. There was no way food was going into him then. Not with her watching. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name?"

Keep her talking. If he could keep her talking, maybe she'd get bored of him and go away. Or maybe he could make an escape somehow. Why hadn't he dated more during the years? Then he'd know how to slip away from a date gone wrong. Not that he was dating the beautiful woman, but it did feel like an awkward blind date. Not that he knew what an awkward blind date was like... Oh, hell, he was talking in circles even to himself.

"Where are you from? So many different people here, you know? Never know who or what you'll run into. My friend has a pig, if you can believe that one." Shut up, Ned. Just shut up.

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burning
2009-07-17 05:05 pm UTC (link)

She pulled her hand back slowly. For whatever reason, her powers weren't working on the human and it was starting to irk her. Her face lost the pleasant expression she had been wearing and she dropped the seductive tone from her voice. "You can call me Pandora." She smiled, but it was humorless.

His mind sped up and went in circles and while she didn't have a difficult time following, it was all very jumbled and his thoughts seemed to trip over themselves.

"Originally, I'm from Rome. Before this, I was in California." She didn't bother asking where he was from. She already knew, but she wondered if he would find it strange that she didn't ask him any personal questions, the way he was plying her with them.

"Yes, there are a great deal of different people here. They're all very interesting, and yes, I know that Olive has a pig." She kept up with him, and found that her amusement with him was returning, but she was still annoyed that her powers didn't work on him. How could that be?

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bakersman
2009-07-18 06:44 am UTC (link)

Well, if she was angry that her advances weren't working before, she'd be furious then. All he needed was a name before Ned's eyes narrowed. "Pandora, huh?" he asked bitterly. "You mean the woman who inadvertently ruined years of a well-kept secret?"

Honestly, he was more disturbed by the fact that she apparently watched him on television. What, exactly, had been seen? What had he been caught doing? If they'd shown him and the finger, maybe he'd been caught doing other embarassing things.

But the fact was that she'd opened up a proverbial can of worms and revealed a secret to Olive long before he was ready to tell her. He honestly had intended to someday. Someday when he wasn't having to use his 'skill' all the time and when things were more settled and preferably when she wasn't living right next door. The opportunity to do it on his own time had been stolen from him, and it was all this woman's fault.

Ned crossed his arms in front of himself, no longer interested in the food or even the wine. No way was he getting even the slightest bit tipsy with this Pandora around. "Tell me, Pandora, did you get a lot of pleasure out of that? Watching my life crumble around me? Really?"

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burning
2009-07-25 03:36 am UTC (link)

She smiled as he recognized the name. "The very same." She leaned forward, a wicked smile on her lips. "Don't tell me that you aren't relieved to have it out in the open. I know how much it burdens you, dear Ned." She crooned out the last bit. She read the thoughts as they filtered through his mind and she sat back, crossing her legs beneath the table. "Oh stop being so melodramatic, Ned. It doesn't suit you at all. Your life isn't the least bit ruined for Olive knowing your little secret. It's the others around here you might need to watch out for." She said, grinning.

"Do you really want to know what I've seen you do, Ned? Well," she leaned forward again and dropped her voice into a conspiratory whisper, "I did see that unfortunate dream you had about Olive. Wouldn't she be delighted to know you dreamed about her? She dreams about you all the time, but I'm sure you already know all that." She sat back and dropped her chin into her hand. "You're really more striking off the screen, if you don't mind my saying."

"I really would love to taste some of your pie, but unfortunately it wouldn't go down very well. Indigestion, you know." She patted her stomach and spoke in such a friendly next-door-neighbor type way, so nonchalant, it was as if they were speaking of someone else's life, not his. It was just as strange for her to be speaking to a character from a television show as it was for him to find out that he was watched on said television show. She waved a hand flippantly. "Believe me, darling, I did you a favor. Now you don't have to lie to Olive anymore. Doesn't that make you feel just the teeniest bit better?"

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bakersman
2009-07-28 02:43 am UTC (link)

Even if it did, he wouldn't admit it to her. Maybe it was better that Olive knew. And maybe things could start to settle down between them with the secret out in the open. But that should've been for him to know and her not to and that--

"What?" he yelped a beat later. It had completely passed him by, what she'd said. Obviously. How? How could someone's dreams be televised? "I-- You-- What?" No, no, no, this was so very much not happening. "You can't tell her. Please. I am begging you." And Ned didn't beg often. Or, you know, ever. Especially not when it came to one Olive Snook. Except there might've been a bit of begging in that dream. Or one of the others. "She already thinks... I mean, I feel like I'm... Just please, don't." As it was he felt like he might be leading her on...again. Just by all the time they were spending together there. But she was all he knew.

Ned rubbed his tired temples with the tips of his fingers. What the hell. Honestly? Was this some sick prank being played on him by the Universe in repayment for his waking the dead for the reward money? And what did she mean by having to watch out for the others around there? What else did she know? And the fact that she kept calling him attractive, or some form thereof, was even more disturbing.

"It still should've been my choice."

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burning
2009-07-29 04:48 pm UTC (link)

Her face positively lit up when he began to beg her not to mention the dream to Olive. "She already thinks what, Ned? She knows you don't love her the way she loves you. She's accepted it, but that doesn't mean she isn't going to keep trying." She leaned back on the bench and grinned. "I would love to see the two of you together. She would be good for you, you know. And you can touch her without killing her. Isn't that a novel concept."

"Bluster about it all you want, boy. What's done is done. You can be angry with me, or you can get over it and move on with your life. If I truly wanted to ruin your life, I could. I know everything about you. And Olive for that matter. And Chuck and Emerson, and Digby." She paused and leaned forward to whisper dangerously. "So don't tempt me." She pushed up off the table and climbed over the bench. She stood, glancing at Ned for another fraction. "You're a lovely boy, Ned, but you really are thick."

She gave him a wiggly finger wave and then walked out of the tent, whistling softly and keeping to the shadows that had grown as she'd been in the tent.

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