Who: Jane & Neil Where: Jane's place When: Monday morning, January 22nd Status: Complete
Neil left work in a rush, half expecting Ty or any of the other people affected by the fog to be out there waiting for him. He didn't feel safe even when he was in the car with the doors locked, not even when he was moving. Ty Solomon was a cop, he could pull him over and put a bullet in his head if he wanted to. Who knew who else was out there and what they could do. His anxiety had its pedal to the metal as he desperately tried not to do the same, hands shaking as he gripped the steering wheel and drove at a legal speed to Jane's place. It was the only place he could think to go that might possibly be safe. Ty hadn't said her name, Neil didn't exactly know a lot of other people in town. As he drove he sent a frantic little message to the others about what had happened and got some annoyed replies back that they'd been trying to tell him that and they were all meeting later today. He would have known in time if he hadn't kept his mental walls up, he might have no had to deal with Ty if he'd just kept an open mind - literally.
They all wanted to meet but nowhere felt safe so he suggested Jane's place but first... well, first he had to ask her permission, obviously.
He parked down the street from her place, it felt like painting a target on his back to park right outside. Ty Solomon knew his car, maybe the others did too. He was shaking more from cold than from fear by the time he reached her apartment, snow flakes in his hair and on his jacket making him feel even more miserable. He just hoped she was home as he knocked, otherwise he might end up having to sit there a while because there was no way he was going back out there again.
Jane was painting in the corner of her apartment when the knock came. She nearly ignored it, not wanting to break off her creative process when she was "in the zone", but not many people came to her place, so curiosity had her setting her paintbrush down and grabbing a paint splattered towel to wipe her hands as she crossed the room to the door. A quick peek through the peephole had her both intrigued and confused and Jane unlocked the door to greet Neil. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, not sounding perturbed at all, but amused.
She had every right to be amused, it wasn't like Neil was eager to spend time with her so showing up was no doubt weird. He was aware of it and he understood, even if it visibly annoyed him. He didn't bother to ask if he could come in - when did she ever ask for permission to enter his dreams? A far more personal space than an apartment - but kind of pushed his way awkwardly past her, nudging at her so he could shut the door. "It's not safe out there," he said. "I need..." He fumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets, fists clenched tight. "I need a safe place to hide. My life is in danger, all our lives- not yours, probably, the rest of us, the ones with the dreams." He swayed forward to peek out through the peephole but obviously there was nothing to be seen out there. "I need your help, Jane."
Jane's brows drew together in confusion and she finished wiping her hands as she walked to the window overlooking the parking lot. "What are you talking about?" She didn't see anything concerning outside, but Jane knew dangers sometimes lurked out of sight. It wasn't that she didn't believe Neil. She knew for a fact that he wouldn't be in her apartment if he didn't truly think he was in trouble, although Jane had no idea what he expected her to do if he was in danger. "What happened?"
"Deputy Ty Solomon showed up at my work and threatened me with a gun," Neil told her, frowning as he watched her peek outside. She knew enough about what was going on with the dreams considering her involvement and their latest (failed) attempt at finding answers through her dreamwalking but none of them could have foreseen how much this would escalate. "It seems that the people who got hurt somehow know about our existence and think we're out to get them. Mr. Solomon accused me of wanting him dead! He had the self restraint not to shoot me right there but I can't be sure everyone else is as calm, who knows how this could escalate. They've clearly gone crazy!" He realized he was wringing his hands and quickly folded his arms,, hugging himself tightly. "He had a gun at the library, Jane. He told me to shoot him."
Jane had heard a lot of weird things in her life but that was bizarre. As far as Jane knew, most of the cops in this town were pretty well respected. But if he was someone infected by the fog... "So... wait, they know about you? Why the hell would they think you're out to get them? That's ridiculous. Unless..." Jane walked over to set her small towel back down by her painting supplies. "Paranoia might be a symptom of that stuff, but the fact that they know who you are, specifically... I wonder if those monsters put it in their heads that you guys are dangerous. Maybe they know you're the ones who can... I don't know, help those people." Neil looked pale and shaken and Jane realized she probably ought to make sure he's okay too. "Are you all right?" Jane arched a brow. "Do you want some water? Or vodka?"
Neil wrinkled his nose at the thought of drinking at a time like this even as he somewhat craved a smoke instead. He knew he could easily light up a joint now but he decided to refrain. His mind needed to be clear if he was in danger, smoking too much made him a little forgetful and while that was a good thing when he wanted to forget, it really wasn't when he was trying to keep everything straight in his head."Do you have tea?" he asked and at the moment he wouldn't even care if it wasn't properly made or even if it was a shitty product. He wanted something hot to drink and holding a warm cup was always soothing in its own right. "We did see them in our latest dream," he added in a mumble. "Or people, not sure if it was them but as a wager it would have some good odds. They may be connected somehow to something in a similar way as we are."
Jane nodded and headed for the tiny kitchen. She had the urge to add some whiskey to that tea, but she doubted Neil would appreciate that. As she grabbed a mug from the cabinet, Jane thought about what he was saying, trying to build some kind of theory around how those people were connected to Neil and the others. She hadn't seen much fog in the dream she had concocted for them weeks ago, but that meant nothing. Things were clearly escalating. "So what now?" Jane asked, trying to find a pot to heat water in. "What do you want to do about this? I'll help, but you know that already. Or I can just make you tea and let you figure this out on your own." It wasn't like she had been super helpful so far. Although Jane had recognized the fog creatures as being the same as in their dreams. So, Jane felt like she deserved a bonus friend point for that.
For now her only role was to provide a safe haven and Neil made sure to avoid the windows as he made his way farther into the apartment and tried to quiet down his mind a little. He'd need to focus and talk to the others and that wasn't easy to do when his own thoughts were swirling around in his head at hurricane speed. Looking at her painting supplies made him feel even more surreal being here, thinking of the painting she'd given him, the strange dreams she'd often forced upon him. What the hell had his life become that he was willingly seeking out help from Jane, not just once but multiple times! "I just need a place to hide for now, while I figure out what to do," he said loud as he somewhat wearily traced her steps to the kitchen. "I need to talk to the others, we might... we'll need to meet. Do you mind if we meet here? I don't think anybody knows you're involved and I can't think of a public space that would be safe."
Jane hummed in response, filling a small soup pot with hot water to start boiling. She found a box of tea bags that she had bought a while back. She wasn't much of a tea drinker, but she knew Neil was. It was good to be prepared for friends, right? "So... you want to stay at my apartment, and you want the others to come here and meet?" Honestly, Jane didn't mind since she wanted to know what the hell was going on with all of this. But who would she be if she didn't give some shit about it? "I'll tell you what, Neil." Jane rested her hands wide on the counter and smiled at him. "You can stay here tonight, and invite the others here to meet, but only if you admit out loud that I'm your BFF."
Neil gave her a long suffering look, biting his tongue on asking why she always had to be so immature about everything. It was such a stupid thing to 'admit' and he wanted to argue with her that no, she wasn't because he didn't even really do friends, let alone 'best friends forever'. It was something he associated with giggling teenage girls and that was probably the point. "Why are you like this," he sighed after a moment of obvious internal struggle just so she was aware that he was only saying this to appease her. "Yes Jane, you are my BFF." Did it sound genuine? Hardly, but she hadn't made that demand of him.
Jane's smile widened. "Thank you. You can meet here if you want to." She pushed away from the counter to check on the water. "Deep down you like that I'm like this. You may not think so, Neil, but you need a friend. And I'm your friend. You wouldn't be here if I weren't because there's nothing I can do to protect you from all of the bullshit and you know that. You need a place to stay, a place you feel safe, and here you are. There's nothing wrong with admitting that." Jane turned back to him and folded her arms as she settled back against the counter near the stove.
Neil rolled his eyes and huffed. She wasn't completely wrong but there were so many errors in her statement and he wasn't sure if he should correct her or not. "It's safer than my apartment," he muttered eventually, not going into the details of it all but not letting it be either. "Thank you," he added then. "For letting us meet here." He couldn't really afford to let her change her mind on that so he could be nice about it at least. He had to admit that she was being very helpful. Of course on some level he felt like she owed him that much for all the times she'd invaded and altered his dreams but he wasn't going to point that out. If anything, Jane was slowly teaching him to shut up about things on occasion.
Jane nearly pointed out that he didn't know for sure that her place was safer than his apartment, but she let it go for the time being. The water was hot enough and she was careful about pouring it into the coffee mugs. After dumping a tea bag into the water, she pushed it towards Neil. "I've got sugar and honey. I'm going to assume you're not so boring that you don't sweeten this stuff. What time are they coming here?" Hopefully none of them were gunned down by a crazed, infected by something creepy, cop on the way.
"Sugar is fine," Neil said tiredly and he felt like he needed more sugar than usually today, like it'd help somehow. "And I don't know, I- I need to contact them." He thought for a second that it was good that at least their thoughts couldn't be tracked the way cellphones could but what if he was wrong? Ty Solomon had known about them somehow, what if they were listening in with their own creepy mind reading abilities? It was all too much and he poured a generous amount of sugar into his tea when Jane provided it. "I'm going on the assumption that these people don't know about you. Deputy Solomon didn't mention you by name." That was the small silver lining in this whole mess but if they could hear him then that silver lining wasn't good for much. Maybe he'd text the others instead, though he wasn't even sure if that was safe either.
Jane wasn't really in the mood for tea but she made some for herself anyway. "Well, you better talk to them. The sooner you guys figure this out, the better, especially with the infected thinking you're all out to get them now." Jane shrugged and dunked a tea bag into her own mug. "I don't care if they know my name or not. I'm guessing not because I'm not a part of this. But if they do, don't worry about it. You guys are running out of time." Rather than use sugar, Jane found her bottle of whiskey to pour a bit into the mug. "There are a lot more of them than there are of you."
Maybe the whiskey was a good idea, but Neil still wrinkled his nose a little when she poured it in. Whiskey and tea, it felt weirdly heretic to him. Everything she said was true though, taste in beverages aside, and his expression quickly became fretful again. "We don't even know how many. We might have some idea if we could get our hands on the hospital admission list after the fog but really, it's not necessarily true that everyone went to the hospital. He got his phone out after sipping his tea, taking a little comfort in the heat and sweetness of it. It wasn't bad tea, better than he expected from Jane, really. "Why is it that our whole existence seems so inundated by dealing with things more powerful than us."
"Hell if I know," Jane said with a shrug. "But you're pretty powerful, Neil, no matter what you think. You could burn me to a crisp right now if you wanted to." She dunked the tea bag a couple more times before tossing it into the garbage can. "So I think it's safe to say you've got an advantage a lot of people don't have. And whatever you can do with your hands is going to be what saves you. I still think you've all been chosen for a reason, and you can all do something. Hopefully you can all figure it out before Deputy Solomon gathers together a mob to come after the lot of you."
Of all the things attributed to Neil in his life, powerful had never been one of them. Weird, aloof, difficult? Sure. Powerful was a brand new thing and for a moment he had a panicked feeling that it would consume him somehow. Power meant responsibility, it made people do terrible things. Neil wasn't a warm and caring person by any means, but that didn't mean he wanted to become a true monster. He took a somewhat shaky breath, hating every word she was saying. There were people out there who'd want this, wanted to be special. Chosen. Why were the chosen ones always reluctant and miserable about it? "You played an important role," he muttered. "Yet you're only part of any of it because I asked you to be. It all seems a little too skewed and chaotic to be part of some divine plan, don't you think?"
Jane sipped her tea, thankful for the whiskey, before she shook her head. "I didn't play an important role, Neil. I helped a little, basically just helping you recognize those shadow fucks. It is skewed and chaotic, but I think you were chosen for a reason. I just don't know if you were chosen for a good reason or a bad one. I can't say it's some divine plan, but I don't think it's random either. Maybe you guys are supposed to save everyone... or maybe you're supposed to unleash Hell on Earth." Jane grinned. "I'm really excited to see which one it is."
Neil disagreed with her on her lack of importance in all of this but debating it seemed like a waste of time; it didn't seem productive and it might even go to her head if he won that argument. She was plenty cocky already. Her speculations were far more perturbing because unleashing hell on earth wasn't just hypothetical anymore, it felt like something that might actually happen and Neil wished he could find it hard to imagine. Thanks to his dreams, it was easy, the whole town taken over by something nasty and organic in a terrible and alien way. He shook his head, mortified. "You shouldn't be excited about something like that," he muttered. "Hell on earth means you'll perish too, Jane."
Jane shrugged. Hell on Earth didn't sound great but it was what it was. She couldn't disappear into dreams, but she felt like she was a survivor. "Who knows, maybe I would thrive in a darker world. But I have faith in you guys that you'll fix all of this. It's happening for a reason. You're all a bunch of misfits, but it works. I'm not worried. Are you sleeping here tonight?" If so she would have to make sure she had an extra blanket for him. She grinned and leaned against the counter, sipping her tea again. "We'll have a fun sleepover. Like a slumber party. We can talk about girls, or boys and gossip about everyone else. It'll be so much fun."
Neil felt it very keenly how much he wanted his own bed tonight and Jane's little joke - god he hoped she really was joking - didn't get a smile out of him. His phone started buzzing with replies from the others and he typed in a quick reply, a welcome opportunity to ignore Jane for now. He'd never had sleepovers as a kid but they always sounded like some hellish nightmare to him, too vulnerable and weird, interrupted sleep, being stuck at someone's house and unable to go home if something came up? He couldn't imagine why that all was fun. "They'll come here in a couple of hours," he muttered and the unwanted idea of all of them sleeping over crossed his mind. A large, awkward sleepover party just for Jane. Miserable! She was right about one thing though and that was that he wasn't ready to go home. So his options were to hide out at Juniper - not safe as someone there might have been injured in the fog - or camp out in his car somewhere in the woods and that wasn't a real option, even in the summertime. "I'd like to stay here for a bit if it's not a bother."
Jane merely sipped her tea as Neil dealt with whatever it was he was dealing with on his phone. She knew damn well there would be no gossip or talking about boys, but what kind of friend would she be if she didn't make him as uncomfortable as possible while he was here? He could always go somewhere else if he hated it that much, but Jane had a feeling he would be staying. Honestly, she didn't think he had any other friends in town. Not real friends who would take him in, anyway. She held her mug with both hands up near her lips before smiling. "Of course it's no bother. You can stay as long as you need to. But you've got to be a polite guest, you know. No sour faces or rude responses."
There was a rude response on the tip of his tongue but he caught it and cringed inwardly at her demands instead. "Of course not," he mumbled even if he was most definitely guilty of both of those all the time. "I am grateful, Jane." Those shouldn't be hard words to utter but somehow they were, like he'd lost a game or was making himself too vulnerable. She had been a lot of help lately and staying here might very well be the only thing saving his life under the current circumstances so he supposed he could swallow his pride this once. He just hoped she didn't push his limits too hard.
Well aware of how difficult it must have been for Neil to push those words past his lips, Jane opted not to tease him about it. Instead she sipped her drink and then pushed back from the counter. "I'm going to work on my painting for a while, at least until the others get here. Make yourself at home, if you want. You can watch tv, or whatever you want. I don't have a lot of books, but there are some on the coffee table. Is there anything you need me to do?" Jane couldn't do much, and everything she could do she'd already done.
Neil could not imagine what kind of books Jane might have that would actually appeal to him but he had to admit he was curious. It wasn't like he felt like he could sit down and read, his mind was racing and his nerves were fraught, but perusing books was soothing and definitely preferable to watching Jane paint her erotic and horrific imagery. He sent another quick message out to the others, then turned off the screen on his phone and slipped it in his pocket. What did he need Jane to do? Other than house him and the meeting? "Just... Don't tell anyone I'm here and let the others in when they arrive," he suggested meekly. "That is all."
Jane zipped her fingers across her lips. "Sealed," she promised. Honestly, who was she going to tell? It wasn't in her best interest to tell anyone Neil was with her. She didn't need some angry infected people showing up at her doorstep. Jane took her "Irish" tea and patted Neil on the arm as she walked past him to head for the living room and her painting. Point Pleasant was full of amazing inspiration for her and she was selling a decent amount of paintings lately. "If you get hungry there's plenty of food too. Or if you want to hide from me for a while, feel free to use my bedroom."
While the idea of hiding from Jane was admittedly appealing, going into her bedroom felt weirdly dangerous to Neil. He didn't think in a million years that Jane would ever try to seduce him - that idea was laughable! - but it was a very private place and given the nature of her art work, he was kind of worried about what he might find in there. So he smiled politely and shook his head no even if she couldn't see him do so. "I'll peruse your books instead, thank you." It was admittedly a bit interesting, in a terribly morbid way, to perhaps get a glimpse of her actually working. He might not agree with her art style but she was talented and it was fascinating to see paintings and drawings in the works. Neil had often fallen down the rabbit hole of those sorts of youtube videos, though those paintings had all had much nicer subject matters. It was obvious Jane loved death and sex, preferably some awful combination of the two, and Neil would never understood that fascination.
"Sure thing." Jane didn't really care what Neil did to occupy his time. She was going to paint and enjoy it until his "friends" showed up. It would be up to him to entertain himself until then. She didn't have a ton of books, but maybe there would be one or two he could flip through. Watership Down, some thrillers and The Dark Half by Stephen King. She had a couple books of erotica in her bedroom and she kind of wished she had brought them out to the coffee table too. Smirking softly, Jane settled on her stool and picked up her paintbrush to continue with her work. She would keep an eye on him, but Jane was pretty sure Neil could handle things on his own.